Winterbound, Part 24 - Dawn

For a moment there was only black. It stretched on to infinity, to as far as the eye couldn’t see – a nothingness, an empty void. It enveloped Anaya from all sides, except Anaya didn’t exist either. If she had, she would have found this contradiction interesting. But she didn’t. Nothing did.

It lasted a second. It lasted a thousand lifetimes.

And then it was Everything All at Once. Anaya would have screamed – the sudden onslaught of feelings thrusting her so deep into a sensory overload it was unbearable – but until just now she had been nothingness and in the time it took her to reinvent her lungs and her vocal chords, Kaneq had wrapped herself around Anaya and Everything was quiet again.

The sun rose outside the window, bathing the workroom in a warm, golden hue. Anaya was heaving, her every nerve still vibrating with excitement even as she slowly calmed down. Kaneq sat by the loom. She was in her human form, a forlorn expression on her face.

“I’m sorry,” she said, brushing her hand along the strings. They played out a soft melody. “I couldn’t find you faster.”

“What happened?” Anaya managed. Bit by bit she was becoming aware of herself again, of her physical self that sat in an abandoned temple, of three hands pressed against her back.

“Forming a brand-new bond of anchoring is much more intense than inheriting it,” Kaneq said. The loom wove itself as she spoke, a colorful pattern that did but didn’t make sense to Anaya’s muddled mind. “Normally a new anchor is added into the existing bond of a previous anchor, without needing to touch the other end of the bond. It’s a simple ritual, and one that doesn’t require too much from the anchor. However, the situation being what it is…” She paused, strummed the strings again. “We’ll have to tie the rope to the ship as well, so to speak.”

“I…” Anaya tried then swallowed. “Was that… your mind?”

Kaneq looked at her and she was human, but also she wasn’t. She was so much more, but she was missing something, she was the uncanny valley, she was the perfect form, she was unattainable but easily approachable, she was dangerous, an apex predator and a parental figure, she was the best and worst thing that had even happened to Anaya.

“That was my beginning,” she said, her voice echoing through millennia. “And the beginning of the universe.”

“I need to sit down,” said Anaya.

“You are sitting down,” said Kaneq, a glint of amusement in her voice, and she was correct. Anaya was sitting next to her, on the bench in front of the loom. It felt familiar to Anaya; like sitting there with her grandma, except… not quite.

Kaneq reminded her in many ways of her grandma, but Anaya supposed that made sense. Grandma had been Kaneq’s anchor and based on what little either of them had told her, it sounded like they had been good friends until something had called Kaneq away.

Anaya picked up the weft shuttle and pushed it through the strings. “What happens now?” she asked.

Kaneq received the shuttle on the other end of the loom. “We have to venture a little further into my mind, I’m afraid,” she said as she set it down. “But I promise, it won’t be as hectic as what you first saw.”

Anaya hummed, fiddled with the comb she picked up to smoothen the line they wove.

“We can take a moment for you to get ready,” Kaneq suggested, but Anaya shook her head.

“I won’t get any more ready by waiting,” she said. “Let’s do it.”

Kaneq studied her for a moment, before nodding and taking her hand. Anaya braced herself. The workroom around them melted away.

They were in the void once more, but this time it wasn't empty. And they weren't alone.

~x~

Hacer shields her eyes against the harsh wind whipping sharp snow in her face. She got separated from her party a few paces back; not a good thing even in the best of circumstances, never mind with a blizzard brewing. She keeps stumbling through the snow, towards the direction she thinks the cliffside is. She needs to find cover soon, or she'll freeze to death.

Eventually the dark form of the mountain comes into view through the sheet of white falling down. She hurries her steps and, once she's close enough, presses her palm against the rock. There are several caves around these parts, all she has to do is follow the wall north.

The wind grows stronger the further she goes, as does a gnawing tension in the pit of her stomach, but she knows, she knows, that a cave is just around the corner. She just has to make it there and she'll be fine. She continues walking, never letting her hand leave the side of the mountain.

She sees it finally, the little crack in the wall. The mouth of a cave. She smiles, allowing herself a moment of relief. She will survive the blizzard yet. A strong gust nearly throws her off balance as she approaches the cave and she lets out a small shriek.

Why... why is the wind coming from inside the cave?

Her heart is hammering in her chest, but she steels herself and peeks inside. Another gust pushes her hood off, almost snatching her hat as it goes. She swallows, pressing her hat deeper onto her head and pushes on.

It is cold inside the cave, abnormally so, the gusts of wind brushing past her in a steady rhythm. Her footsteps echo as she slowly makes her way deeper into the tunnel. She rounds a corner and a large cavern opens in front of her, its floor and walls and ceiling covered in a layer of ice, powdery snow piled up in the corners.

In the middle of the room, coiled like a snake, lies a dragon.

The beast is massive, huge wings and three pairs of legs tucked against its body, its long neck resting on the ground. As it breathes out, a wave of icy wind rushes down the tunnel.

It appears to be asleep, but that does nothing to diminish the terror Hacer feels, especially when it suddenly opens one emerald green eye.

Except no, that's wrong. Kaneq isn't a beast, nor is she terrifying.

And her name isn't Hacer, its...

~x~

Gamze is almost vibrating with excitement. Today is her 25th birthday, which means she's finally old enough to have her ceremony. She's yearned for this day for a good decade, the day she can become a part of the living tradition of her family, to become the next piton in the long line of anchors for the Great Kaneq.

A gentle knock on her door draws her attention from smoothing down her dress for the umpteenth time and she turns to see her father's head peek through the door.

"Are you ready, kiddo?" he asks and her heart feels like exploding. He takes her by the hand and leads her through the house and into the yard where the stone dais has been set up.

Her heartbeat is in her ears as she steps up onto it and sits on one of the three marked spots. Her father steps up after her and sits on her left side. He gives her a reassuring smile. She fiddles with the soul stone around her neck.

The wait, scarecly 20 seconds, feels like an eternity.

A coolness settles over them and a small snowflake lands on her arm despite the warmth of the midsummer day. She looks up with wide eyes as the long form of the Great Kaneq floats gracefully down and lands with nary a sound. The grass around the points Her feet touch become immediately covered in a layer of white.

'Hello, Gamze,' a magnificent voice echoes in her head for the first time and her breath catches in her throat.

But no, this is wrong too. She's heard this voice before, she knows this presence like her own by now. She isn't Gamze either, she is...

~x~

Neadi sneaks through the quiet house by candle light. She shouldn't be up this late, she knows, mother will be cross with her if she finds out, but she just has to see the tapestry one more time. She'd watched mother weave it earlier that day and something about it had been so captivating she couldn't fall asleep. Just a quick peek, she tells herself, and then she's back to bed.

The door to the workroom creaks a little as she pushes it open and she glances down the hall to see if anyone heard. When nothing stirrs in the rest of the house, she quickly slips through and presses the door closed again. She lets out a small breath of relief when she's finally alone in the workroom.

Except she's not alone.

She jumps as she turns around and sees a figure standing by the loom, dropping the candle in her shock. The small flame goes out as it collides with the floor, plundging the room into near total darkness.

"Oh dear," says the intruder and then the blinds in front of the window roll up, letting the bright moonlight into the room. It's not a lot to see by, but enough for her to make out the tall, tall form of a person. "Aren't you a little young to be up this late?"

She is shaking, terrified in the knowledge that she is only ten and there isn't much she can do against an intruder, especially one this big, but also her mother has told her to always stand her ground so that is what she will do.

"Y-yes," she stammers. "Yes, I am." She pauses to swallow. "But, but what are you doing in... in my house?"

"Your house, is it?" the intruder says and she can see a glint of snow white teeth in the moonlight. "Not your mother's?"

"Wh-wh-what do you want with my mother?" she demands as best she can. She looks around for something, anything to use as a weapon, but only spots the candle she dropped. She fumbles to pick it up.

"Your mother invited me over, she wanted to present her new tapestry to me," the intruder answers, giving her pause.

"The... the tapestry?" Her eyes flick over to the loom, where the still unfinished fabric lay. Oh no, the intruder wants to steal it! She points the candle at the dark shape standing next to it and slowly begins to inch closer. "Don't touch that! Mother said it was very special!"

"Yes, she did," the intruder says squatting down so that they are around the same height. "She said it was a gift to her good friend Kaneq, did she not?"

"How... did you know that?" she asks, lowering the candle. The intruder reaches over and with a pinch the wick is ablaze once more. The newly illuminated face is gentle and otherworldly and the woman is smiling softly.

"That is because I am her friend Kaneq," she says.

Neadi is silent. On some level she knows that anybody could've come in and claimed that, but somehow, deep in her heart, she knows that this person is telling the truth. That this is the Kaneq her mother often speaks about. Her eyes land on the tapestry once more. It depicts a woman, tall and pale and beautiful, a long white dragon wrapped in a circle around her in the background, and she knows that they are both Kaneq and so is the person in front of her.

She also knows that she isn't Neadi at all, because Neadi was her grandmother and she also knows Neadi is already dead. And finally she knows who she really is.

~x~

Anaya opens her eyes. She is standing on the shore of a lake and in the middle of that lake stands Kaneq, her long whiskers swaying in a nonexistent breeze. They stare at eachother for a while as Anaya regains herself once more, breathing deeply the cool evening air.

"I saw so many lives," she says. The surface of the lake crackles as it freezes under Kaneq's feet. "They were all your anchors once upon a time, and I saw them when they met you."

'You did,' echoes the lake.

"There were so many," she marvels, running a hand through her hair.

'I am very old, Anaya,' the forest reminds her.

"I know," she says. "I suppose I didn't realize quite how old, really."

She falls silent for a moment. Kaneq continues to make her way towards the shore.

"It's a lot," Anaya says.

'I know,' the breeze whispers. 'I'm sorry.'

She shakes her head. "Don't be," she says and smiles. "It... it's a bit exciting, really. To be a part of something this big. To be connected to my family like this." She lets out a little laugh. Kaneq stops in front of her and lowers her head. "Never had much of a connection before, especially after grandma's passing."

'We were both lost in our own way,' Kaneq says.

Anaya cups her head between her hands. "So let's find our way together," she says and presses her forehead against Kaneq's.

~x~

Anaya gasped for breath as she lurched forward. Her lungs ached, desperate for air, like breaking the surface after a long dive. Three hands were still pressed against her back, but now three more tried to grab at her, to hold her up.

“Anaya, are you okay?” Tiu was the first to ask, desperation in her voice. She had grabbed a hold of Anaya’s upper arm and was squeezing a bit too tight.

“I’m fine,” Anaya wheezed once she finally had enough breath. She looked over at Kaneq in front of her, their hands still interlinked. “Did it work?”

Kaneq was quiet, her eyes closed. Her whole body felt rigid, her fingers twitching occasionally. Anaya could feel her power moving underneath her skin, around their shared bond. It was searching for something that was beyond her.

Finally, Kaneq opened her eyes. She let out a shaky breath.

“It did,” she said like she almost couldn't believe it herself. “I can finally feel the entire timeline again.”

Anaya lunged at her, a joyful laughter bubbling from her chest. In one smooth movement Kaneq grabbed her and stood up, embracing Anaya tightly as she spun them around.

“Whoo, yeah!” shouted Kimo who had also stood up and was jumping around Kaneq in excitement.

“Great job, Anaya!” said Madiza as she stood up, Tiu echoing her sentiments with, “I knew you could do it!"

Kaneq stepped over and hoisted the rest of the group into a big hug as well. She had apparently grown an extra pair of arms to fit them all.

“A big thank you to all of you,” she said. Tears were flowing down her cheeks, and she was shaking slightly. “Thank you so, so much…”

She fell to her knees on the ground. Their connection was almost bursting with joy and relief. Anaya stroked her arm. Before the anchoring, this amount of emotion from Kaneq would’ve probably incapacitated her, or at least made her extremely dizzy and tired, but now she was feeling better than ever.

Kaneq held them for a long while as she slowly calmed down again. Slowly her grip on them loosened and she swallowed thickly as she set them down. Anaya beamed at her and then smooshed her face between her hands.

"Let's go home," she said and Kaneq smiled.

~x~

It had been quiet for several years. Their grand adventure had been exciting, but ultimately excitement always yields to everyday life. Anaya picked up weaving again. She had done it a lot at home with grandma, but after moving to the school, she had understandably let the habit fall. Now though, it felt like the most obvious thing in the world, to start weaving again.

Especially once she turned 19 and was allowed to move out on her own. The house had of course been in use during the decade she'd lived under the roof of the school, but it had been her grandmother's house and now she was finally inheriting it. There were a lot of basic furniture missing after everything that had been in the warehouse was brought back in, but Anaya figured that getting a new table and a few chairs would be easy enough. She had the most important things.

And so, once more, the old loom stood in the middle of the workroom. The room wasn't as it had been, how it was in her mind, but that was fine. It wasn't grandma's workroom anymore. It was Anaya's now.

A few months later on her 19th birthday Tiu also moved in. She had lived at the school for longer than Anaya, and hadn't been quite so lucky when it came to inheritance, bringing in only her personal belongings. But that didn't matter, because they were family and as such Anaya's home was Tiu's home.

Madiza also moved in with them. Being older, she had moved out of the school before them and had lived out of town for a year, trying to reconnect with her father. That apparently hadn't gone exactly great, given how huffy she was when she came back. Still, that didn't matter either, because against all odds, Madiza too had become family, and Anaya's home was also Madiza's home.

And in that home they lived their lives, working and playing, relaxing and having fun. Anaya started selling her fabrics and Madiza began writing and illustrating books about dragons. They became very popular. Tiu on the other hand was content to do work for the community. People with strong magic were always needed for various jobs and with Tiu's powers, people were often coming to her for help. It was a nice life, simple.

It was early one morning, barely dawn. Anaya had been unable to sleep, so she'd slipped out of bed and went to work on her tapestry instead. She sat in front of the loom, lost in the world of colors and textures, when something pinged in her mind. She froze then stood up, turning around swiftly and looking out the window. The sun was just coming over the horizons and somewhere far away she could barely make out a shape in the sky.

A wave of familiarity washed over her.

The shuttle dropped on the floor with a clatter as she rushed out of the room and down the hall. She threw the bedroom door open and it smashed against the wall. Madiza shot upright in bed, sputtering in a panic.

"Madiza, get up, get up!" Anaya called, crossing the room with a few airy strides and grabbing her by the arm.

"Huh what where?" Madiza asked and nearly toppled out of bed as Anaya dragged her out. Her eyes were wide but unfocused. "What's happening?"

"Come on, Madiza, we gotta get out!" Anaya said, still pulling. Madiza turned to look at her, suddenly horrified, but when she saw the big grin on Anaya's face she calmed down again. "Come on come on come on!"

"Stop pulling Ana, I'm coming," Madiza groaned and, a bit reluctantly, Anaya let go. But as soon as she was up, Anaya grabbed her hand again and whisked her out. She let out a surprised yelp and then they were running through the house. She barely managed to grab a shawl from the side of the door before they burst out of the house and into the streets.

"Where are we going?!" Madiza demanded. "And what about Tiu?!"

Anaya just laughed. "We'll grab her on the way!"

And a few blocks down they did. Tiu, on her way form a morning ritual, had just enough time to look up at the two approaching women and then Anaya had grabbed her hand too and yanked her back the way she was coming. She didn't slow down even a little.

"Oh morning!" she said, considerably less perplexed by their situation than Madiza was. "Where are we going this early?"

"I don't know, she won't tell me!" Madiza shouted.

"We're going to the uroxoo tree!" Anaya cheered.

"But I just came from there," Tiu said, but Anaya didn't answer anymore. She just laughed again.

They rounded the corner into town square and in front of them stood the tree. A few people milled about, but not that many this early in the morning. A few fishers were making their way down to the docks and a couple were setting up their stalls for the day. The three women breathed hard, catching their breaths after quite a long sprint.

"And why, huff, exactly are we here?" Madiza asked again.

"We're here to meet someone," Anaya said, gazing up at the sky. "Actually, two someones."

"Two?" Tiu said quietly and then a gust of cold wind blasted through the square.

It had been some years since Kaneq's last visit, but a dragon showing up wasn't something a town forgot very quickly. So, most people just about afforded a cursory glance up before continuing their way. It took a while before people started to realize there were indeed two this time.

Anaya rushed over to meet Kaneq as she landed, cupping the dragon's long face in her hands and pressing their foreheads together.

'Hello, little one,' the familiar voice echoed in her head. 'You've grown since I last saw you.'

"Well, maybe if you visited more," she teased, and then the other one touched ground and all eyes were on her.

'I apologize,' Kaneq said, amusement dripping from every word. 'Guiding someone else over is a lot less precise than coming alone.'

A loud crash caught their attention as Kimo fell face first through the door of his house. He fumbled to stand up.

"My dragon senses were tingling! Is Kaneq back?!" he shouted as he pulled himself into his full height. He'd recently finished his growth spurt, standing now almost a full head taller than Anaya. He stopped dead in his tracks as his eyes landed on the second dragon and his mouth fell open. "Is that...?" he whispered, turning to Madiza.

Madiza's hands were pressed over her mouth, her eyes wide. She took a shaky step closer and Tiu had to grab her to keep her upright. Tears were welling up in her eyes and the soul stone around her neck glowed ever so gently.

The dragon, smaller but wider than Kaneq, her scales glimmering in all the shades of blue and aqua, her long tail whisking behind her, stepped closer as well. She lowered her head next to Madiza, who swallowed thickly.

"Roe," she said and placed a hand gently on the snout of her dragon.

 

End.

____________________________________________________

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

I know I said this'll come out on the 25th in the last one but that was dumb of me, because it was christmas and of course I didn't have time to write! I did manage to write most of this in the train home, but I got motion sickness and couldn't finish and then new years happened and then we just watched anime for the entirety of the 1st, but!!! Now it's finally done so hurray!

This was a pretty interesting one, I have to say... not only did the story not go in all kinds of directions I didn't expect, but also writing with this type of setup was... well, it was an interesting experience. I think next year I'd prefer to write just Mutu and me though, it feels a lot more cohesive that way lol (we'll have to figure out a schedule that works though, because as stated before, uni courses end in December so I have a lot to do, but we'll figure that out next year)

It was also interesting in the sense that I haven't struggled with writing one of these this much since... since Inheritance honestly, which is the first and only story we ever abandoned. I don't even know why, like on the surface I love everything going on, we got dragons and intrigue and rebelling teenagers, but I just could not find words the way I could with, say, Trouble with Time. Or Doors. Or even our earliest stories. I don't know. Maybe that's also a side effect of having such little control over the story (even though I did proofread/edit every part before they came out) I don't know. Anyway.

I suppose that's all from me for this year? Hope everyone had as good a year as 2021 was capable of being and see y'all next year with a new story!

For the final time this (last) year;

Pede out.

Winterbound, Part 23 - The Anchor

 They landed on a small courtyard. Clearly long since used, it was overgrown with weeds, long blades of grass sticking out from between the large stones paving the ground. Rubble and broken stubs of ancient pillars followed on both sides what had once been a path, leading through the yard. The path led to the temple wall and, presumably, to a door, hidden beneath layers upon layers of kudzu. Almost the entire temple was covered in kudzu.

“We go in, I assume?” Tiu said, sliding off Kaneq’s back.

“Can we go in?” asked Madiza as they made their way down the path and to the wall. She brushed a few vines aside, revealing several more. “Is there a door underneath this mess?”

“There is,” Anaya said. She could feel it, or perhaps she could feel Kaneq feeling it. Either way, this place had immense energy. It seeped out through the crack under the door. It made her spine tingle.

“Don’t worry, I got this,” said Kimo, stepping up and cracking his knuckles. “I am an expert kudzu wrangler.”

The three girls exchanged looks and settled in to watch the show. Kimo cleared his throat. He raised his hands. He started a low hum as he scrunched up his face in concentration. Anaya could see his hands shaking slightly.

“HA!” he shouted and began waving his arms all around.

Nothing happened.

“What is he doing?” Madiza whispered with a sly grin.

“Silence in the peanut gallery!” Kimo shouted and she jumped a little, pressing a finger to her lips, perhaps more from habit than anything else. She grimaced and put her finger down, the tips of her ears red. Anaya thought it was hilarious.

Kimo continued to wave his hands around randomly. Except no, as Anaya looked over again, she noticed that the movements weren’t random at all. Every move was in fact very deliberate, although she had never seen anyone do anything like this. What was he trying to accomplish?

Just then the kudzu vines started to vibrate. It was like they were swaying in the wind, except it wasn’t windy and they were all moving in different directions. Before their eyes the vines twisted around, weaving themselves into two neat braids on either side of the big stone door that revealed itself from under them.

Kimo was breathing hard as he finally lowered his arms, their path cleared up. He turned and gave them a thumbs up, a big grin on his face. “I told you,” he panted. “I’m an expert kudzu wrangler.”

“That was… definitely impressive,” Tiu admitted, running a hand through her hair. “Where have you learned this level of matter manipulation?”

“Oh, I’ve taught myself!” he said cheerily. Anaya’s mouth fell open.

“No way!” she exclaimed.

“What, like it’s hard?” he said. “Kudzus are actually very cooperative once you get to know them a little.”

“Why would you want to get to know kudzu?” Madiza scoffed, crossing her arms. “They’re nothing but a hassle! They take over the entire yard and then you have to spend two full weeks weeding everything!”

“That’s why you need to get to know them!” Kimo said with a disappointed shake of his head. “If you just talk to them, you won’t even need to—”

“Can we maybe focus here?” Anaya interrupted, before the conversation got too out of hand. “Kimo’s skills are surprising but very impressive. But we should probably go inside now.”

“Oh,” said Kimo.

“Of course,” said Madiza. They gave each other another glare.

Anaya ignored them and approached the wall. She pressed a hand against the stone. It was cool under her fingers, but there was an undercurrent of energy that sent pulses of warmth rippling through her whole body. She felt a similar echo of power from Kaneq as she prowled behind them. She took a deep breath and pushed.

The door opened with surprising ease. Anaya didn’t even have to put her body into it. It did make a terrible racket though as the big stone slab scraped along the floor. It was dark inside, and dusty. The door opened up to a mostly empty hall, at least as far as Anaya could see. There were more pillars inside, these ones more intact than the ones outside. Mounted on each pillar was a sconce with an unlit torch.

“Oh, there’s a lot of power here,” said Tiu behind her. They all hovered by the door, hesitant to enter the structure. “Like a lot a lot.”

“Which is why I chose this location,” said Kaneq.

Tiu grabbed a hold of Anaya’s sleeve. Madiza made a weird, strangled noise. Kimo yelped.

Anaya had a few seconds to wonder what had gotten into everyone, before Kaneq walked past them. Not the Kaneq she knew, Kaneq the dragon, but Kaneq the human. As Anaya’s surprise reached her through their bond, Kaneq turned, her pale eyes flashing with amusement.

“I am a master of matter manipulation, and this form is necessary for the ritual we’re about to perform,” she explained. “What do you think?” she asked, not waiting for an answer as she cocked her head up, showing off her long, pale neck, before turning to lead them on with a swish of her long white hair.

Anaya blinked once, twice, before hurrying after her. Kaneq in her human form was tall, probably a head taller than the tallest man Anaya had ever faced. Her limbs were long and thin, her skin somehow drawn over her bones in a way that was both slightly unnerving and strangely beautiful. She was dressed in a white, almost ethereal looking attire – a dress, if Anaya had to ascribe it a common name.

Kaneq lead her companions, shocked into silence, through the temple. Beyond the entrance, the structure was no more overgrown than your average mountain cave, the lack of sunlight forbidding the growth of any plant. They followed her through the long corridor, Kaneq lighting the torches along the way with her magic. Although she was an ice dragon, she could handle simple fire spells without problems.

Finally, they arrived in a large hall with curved staircases framing it by the sides, leading up to an overlooking balcony. In the middle of the hall, at the centre of the open floor was a carved circle, old markings running along its border.

Right before they reached the circle, Kaneq stopped. “This is where we must perform the ritual,” she said. Although human in appearance, her words still rang strangely powerful in Anaya’s ears. But at least like this, everyone could understand what she had to say without Anaya’s translations. “These temples, now long forgotten and abandoned, used to be where we taught you humans our magic. In the anchoring rite, the soul stone must be placed at the circle of the ring, while we,” she fixed her icy gaze on Anaya, “take our places on each side.”

Anaya nodded, reaching for the stone now hung around her neck, as she approached the circle and placed the necklace in its designated place.

“You, who have come to lend your strength to Anaya during the ritual,” Kaneq continued, now facing Tiu, Madiza and Kimo, “must take your place behind the anchor, placing you palm upon her back. Through your connection, your energy shall lend to our bond, and for that I am grateful.”

She bowed her head to the three, who appeared quite baffled by the gesture. They all muttered their responses, Kimo bowing straight back at Kaneq. Anaya once again felt her amusement pulse into her own mind.

Kaneq took her place around the circle. She sat down, folding her long legs in a way that seemed strangely beautiful and not entirely human. Anaya kneeled down across her, feeling clumsy in the face of Kaneq’s elegance. Kaneq then smiled, the warmth of her expression slightly melting the coolness of her eyes. She offered her hands to Anaya, palms up in the middle of the circle.

“Take my hands and know that by this magic you are bound to me, as an anchor, for as long as you live,” Kaneq spoke, her words vibrating in the hall, reaching its every dusty corner.

Anaya stared ahead at her, at her palms, suddenly nervous. What if she wasn’t ready? What if despite everything, their struggles had been for naught? Maybe it would be better to wait a while longer still, strengthen themselves and—

Right then, she felt two warm hands settle on her back, between her shoulder blades. She felt Tiu’s and Madiza’s presence, strengthening her resolve and calming her nerves. Just a moment later a third, smaller hand joined them on her lower back, sending a burst of energy through her. It just had to be Kimo, who would convince me to do this, Anaya thought, her laughter barely contained.

And then she took hold of Kaneq’s hands.

______________________________________

Hello everybody, Pede here!!! As Matu has said, the schedule got kinda messed up, but we're still finishing this, with one more part to go. That'll come at some point tomorrow, (or probably the day after bc it will be christmas eve and we have a bunch of stuff to do lol)

This part is a bit different, in the sense that we wrote it together with Oona! I wrote the first half and she wrote the second. That was pretty fun :D

Anyway, I'll leave you with this for now! The final topic is "Dawn", bye now~

Pede out.

Winterbound, Part 22 - Rider

Sweat was dripping down Anaya's chin as she focused all she was on the stone and on the magic. It was the hardest spell she had ever even thought of attempting, but the past few weeks had made them a lot easier. The first time they'd cast it, it had all but backfired when her magic and strength had faltered almost as soon as they'd begun. The only thing that stopped it from being a complete disaster was the fact that Tiu's and Madiza's magic were... well, if not strong and steady, since the spell was beyond their abilities too, but stronger and steadier than hers.

The weeks had done wonders to all their skills. They were all good enough that they were only getting better very slowly nowadays, but this had forced them to use everything they had and then some. They had gotten better because they had to get better.

Anaya would have been proud and amazed at her new skills if she wasn't so very tired.

She caught her wandering thoughts and channeled it all back to the spell. They were almost ready. She gave it one last push, and let the magic fade away, the last of it seeping into the soul stone.

She let her attention go and looked up at the other two. They didn't look quite as unsteady as she felt, but they were just as tired. Anaya smiled at them, a silent thank you. It was all she could give, but it was enough for the others. They knew what she meant.

'It's done, this round,' she sent thoughts out to Kaneq, weaving them into the tapestry in their shared mind, letting almost the full force of her weariness into the weave, as well as the stone in front of her.

The bond had gotten stronger over the weeks, too. She was weaving their fabric with practically no effort now, although she still couldn't do it for long periods of time. And the instances Kaneq shared more of herself than what you would hear a person talk, it made her dizzy fast. And yet, she felt like she didn't truly know Kaneq yet. That there was so much more to her that was under the surface that they would only be able to share after the anchoring. It was infuriating: their connection was already deeper than was even possible with any of her friends, thanks to literal emotion sharing and telepathy, but she still found it uncomfortably lacking. It was supposed to be more, she knew it intuitively, and it was grating that it was taking such a long time being unable to make it so.

She knew this was nonsense. The only thing she had been doing was working towards making it so.

Only a moment later Kaneq answered, her presence vibrating the tapesrty. 'Well done.' She wove colors of pride on the loom. 'Bring it to me to see. I think we may be ready.'

Anaya was about to answer, but Kaneq continued before she had the time, already sensing what she had been about to say.

'Tomorrow, Anaya. Now you should rest. All of you should rest.'

Anaya nodded, out of reflex, and the gesture made itself visible in their shared mind.

"Kaneq thinks it might be ready. I'll take it to her tomorrow."

The others nodded. Tiu dragged herself to her hammock and up into it, not bothering to get up. Madiza did get up, gave Anaya a tired but warm hug, waved good night and left for her own room.

~x~

They waited for Kaneq under the uroxoo tree. It was the place they were now meeting, the most practical place in town. Kaneq could have fit in other places too, she didn't have to be huge if she didn't want to, but it was most comfortable for her to be somewhere with plenty of space. The first few times a crowd had gathered to gawk, but as time had gone on passersby barely stopped to watch Kaneq land, then continue on their way.

Kaneq had been away from town for most of the time. She had come back every few days, to work her own magic on the stone, but otherwise it had seemed best for everyone if she didn't stay in the town. She'd stayed close, though, only ranging far enough that their connection wasn't interrupted. The radius had grown significantly, but she still remained close. It she went too far for the connection to work, she said, there was a chance she wouldn't find back. They weren't anchored yet. The only time she had gone farther was when she left for the mountains, to find a place to do the anchoring ritual. She had found one she believed would work, but it had taken her four days to find her way back to the right place and time.

Anaya could feel her getting closer. Then a glint off her scales in the sunny sky. A few minutes later Kaneq landed next to them.

In their minds they wove a greeting. It wasn't a hello, exactly, it wasn't any word, but more a feeling of warmth and affection and the joy of seeing each other again.

Anaya took out the soul stone from her pouch and held it out for Kaneq. She looked at it for a moment, then closed her eyes, feeling it. Wordlessly she asked Anaya's description of how the stone had felt during and after the last spell, and she sent it to her in as much detail as her then-tired brain had memorised.

The strings on the loom hummed.

'I believe it is ready. Strong. And it knows both of us already, that it always good. We may have attempted this already before, but I was not certain. Now it is ready enough I believe we will be able to do it. It will be hard, still, with a new stone, but we will be able to do it.'

Anaya smiled at her friends, then nodded. The questioning looks on the faces of Tiu and Madiza turned to joy and relief. 

'You should take another night to recover. I know the spells have been hard on you. Tomorrow we will go.'

~x~

Anaya knocked on the Madam's doorway, a little hesitant, but knowing it was the right thing to do.

"Come in," a voice came from inside, and Anaya pushed the heavy curtain aside and stepped inside. The Madam looked up at her as she entered. She bowed at her briefly, but respectfully, then straightened. The look on the Madam's face didn't give away anything of what was going on through her head.

"I wanted to thank you," Anaya said. "I know I was never your favorite student, and that this whole thing with a dragon must have caused you trouble, or at least been bothersome to deal with. But since we came back, you have been incredibly helpful when you didn't have to. You didn't have to let us take time off our classes, or chores, or tell the teachers to not be too hard on us when we failed at our spellwork because we had been using so much magic already on the stone. I don't know why you did it, but thank you. I also wanted to let you know that tomorrow morning we're leaving with Kaneq, to perform the anchoring ritual. I mean to come back home as soon as possible, but I don't know when that will be."

She bowed again, then turned to leave. Just as she put out her hand to pull the curtain aside, the Madam's voice stopped her.

"My father always told me stories about the dragons. He remembered a time when they were not quite common, but they were seen occasionally."

She paused.

"I always thought those stories were amazing, that the dragons were wonderous creatures. I always wanted to see one myself. And I would like to see those times return."

She fell silent again. Then a small, amused smile appeared on her lips. It was such an unfamiliar expression on her face it startled Anaya.

"And besides, my task is to make sure you learn all that you need for adulthood. If a dragon is what it takes to get you to learn your magic, and learn to focus, then so be it." The smile disappeared, although it lingered as a twinkle in the corner of her eye. "As long as you don't encourage this sort of reckless behavior in others, of course."

Anaya smiled.

"Of course," she said, bowed, and left.

 ~x~

The wind whipped her hair around her face. In her mind she saw what Kaneq saw, or at least flashed of it. Their bond wasn't ready for constant vision sharing yet. Tiu's arm was on her side, there to stabilize her and give her strength. Somewhere behind her she could hear Kimo's voice. She couldn't make out what he was saying, thankfully, most of the voice taken away with the wind, but the excitement in the voice was audible in the notes that reached her. Whatever it was he was going on about was Madiza's problem. She knew how to shut him up more efficiently than Anaya could anyway.

They had all come with, of course. As much as Anaya wanted, it hadn't seemed right to leave any of them home, not after everything. They had taken even Kimo along. He had found the new stone, after all. But they had made him swear he would behave himself and not be a huge pain.

Instead she focused on the movement of the muscles under Kaneq's scaly back and sides, the view from high up in the air as the snowy caps of the mountains were getting closer at a speed that would have been mind-boggling still not so long ago. She had been riding with Kaneq only a handful of times since they had returned to Estirão, but she was getting used to it. She may not be an anchor, yet, but she was already a rider.

And then they were on the high, snowy peaks, not yet where they were going, but gliding over the white icy ground. They weren't far now. Butterflies fluttered in Anaya's stomach, and her grip on Kaneq tightened as an ancient temple came into view from behind a peak, on the other side of the valley, and Anaya knew that was where they were going.

________________________________________

I have no idea what's going on with the schedule anymore. But here's a part for you, fourteen hours late. I don't know how many more parts there will be, and I don't know when. So... come back to check soon?

Either way, the topic is The Anchor.

~matleena

Winterbound, Part 21 - News

They all but crashed into Madiza's room, making her jump as they appeared from behind the door curtain. She barely had time to turn to look at them before Kimo was already talking.

"I grew a soul stone!"

"You what?"

"He grew a soul stone," Tiu said, with almost equal enthusiasm. Madiza stared at them, her gaze moving from person to person. Eventually they settled on Anaya, begging for an answer. All Anaya could do was shrug.

"He grew a soul stone?"

"Well, no," Anaya said. "He happened to find one in his enormous stone collection."

"How did one end up in his collection?"

"I guess you pick up enough rocks, sometimes one of them happens to be useful."

Madiza stared silently for a long moment more. Anaya knew the feeling.

"So you can use it to anchor?" she finally asked.

"I don't know," Anaya said, her quiet calming down Tiu and Kimo's excitement. "I'll need to talk to Kaneq first."

"Then what exactly are we still doing here?" Madiza asked and started pushing them all out of the room.

~x~

'A brand new soul stone?'

Anaya nodded.

'Curious. The boy found it?'

She nodded again.

'Where did he find it?'

"Kimo!" She saw him jump, startled, as she turned to look at him. "Where did you find it?"

The boy shrugged.

"Somewhere in the north, I think, when we were visiting Zuzun. I don't remember."

'Hmm. Show me.'

Anaya held out her hand to Kimo. He looked at her hand for a couple of heartbeats, then pulled away from it, just a little.

"I need the stone, Kimo."

"But it's my soul stone," he said, defensive.

"Not anymore it isn't. If you didn't want me to have the stone, you shouldn't have brought it to me."

He stared at the hand for a moment longer, then closed his eyes, sighed, and handed the stone to her, pouting.

Anaya took it and lifted it for Kaneq to see, sending her feelings of what it was like to hold it through the loom. It didn't feel like much, just a stone, warm and smooth in her hand. But she thought it would be important for Kaneq to know.

'Hmm,' Kaneq's voice hummed along the fabric. 'It would always be best to have the stone passed on from others, one that already knows the connection, and knows me, and knows the anchors. Another stone may make it all fail. It has happened before, and I do not want to see it happen ever again. It would be unpleasant for everyone.'

She quieted for a while, but Anaya could feel her thinking it through.

'But perhaps, the situation being what it is, starting again with a new soul stone is appropriate. It is by no means necessary, your friend's stone will work excellently when she reunites with her dragon, but I admit I like the feel that it has. This is a fresh start, after all, for us and for you.'

"So you think it will work?" Anaya asked, hopeful now.

'Yes. Although we must make sure that we are both ready, and that we perform the anchoring perfectly. And we cannot do it here. Your uroxoo is powerful and it holds great spiritual strength, but it is not enough. But I believe I know a place that will work.'

An image appeared on the loom. She brushed her fingers along it. It was a place, somewhere in the midst of mountains, whether the mountains they had been to only this morning, or mountains somewhere far away, she didn't know. The view was beautiful. Peaceful. She could almost feel the energy making its way from there to her even just through an imagining of an image of it.

'But,' Kaneq continued, 'the new stone is not ready. It is not strong enough. It will need time and magic to grow before we can even think of attempting the anchoring.'

"How long?" Anaya asked.

'Depends on the talent and strength of those casting the magic. And on the will of the stone. Some are easier to cultivate than others. I do not yet know about this particular one. I will help, that will make it much faster, but it may still take time.'

Anaya nodded.

"Tiu is the best mage I know, the strongest. I'm not too bad, but she's much better than I am. And Madiza," she turned to look at Madiza, grimacing. "I think she's probably better than I am. No. I know she's better than I am."

She looked at the two of them.

"You'll help me make my soul stone strong, won't you?"

They both nodded, smiling, and Anaya smiled back at them.

"Then let's get to work."

__________________________________

The topic for tomorrow is Rider.

Winterbound, Part 20 - Scale

They were already about to leave, but Anaya looked around and saw that the village people were still curiously standing around the uroxoo tree, trying to get a grasp of what was going on and whether this was something worrying or important for their own lives. She noticed that there were many worried faces and realised that this might lead into trouble if people didn't know what to think about all of this. They would start to think all kinds of things, that was for sure. So she wanted to use this opportunity to nudge their thoughts toward positive expectations.

So Anaya turned to face them and raised her voice.

"People of Estirão, please listen to me. This is a special day. Those who are old may remember the time of dragons. Those were great days, and people lived in harmony with them. But we forgot the skills to bond with them, and therefore we haven't seen them for a long time. Now these times are coming back, and we should rejoice. Some of you may be worried, even afraid. I ensure you, there is no need. They have brought us skills and prosper, and they will again."

This seemed to work. Even the fact that someone finally addressed them directly and told something about what on earth was going on was relieving to the villagers. Some were clearly excited about the words like prosper and great.

The Madam was not. 

She had many reasons to be upset. Her pupils had lied to her and taken a school canoe and disappeared for a week with false pretext. She had started inquiries after they had not returned in due time. Questions among other pupils had revealed nothing, but rumours had started to spread. The three girls that had disappeared were known to not be good friends, so any shared enterprise was deemed suspicious. Indeed, various scenarios started to gain speed within the school, many of them involving horrible accidents or crimes.

Although the Madam was a rational person and thought most of them were plain absurd, she was painfully aware of their potential impact on the reputation of the school. She had had to use a lot of her time and energy to control the rumours that had spread like pests.

Things had gotten even worse when someone had noticed a connection: a boy from the town had disappeared with a canoe at the same time. Unlike the others, he had left a trace, but that did not really help Madam's position. There had been a note on the kitchen table, apparently written in a hurry with a crayon.

WENT DRAGON HUNTING. NO WORRIES. HAVE EQIPMENT. KIMO

After that there was no stopping the rumours. Many people had seen a dragon from their window on that fateful morning, so this short announcement opened up a whole new level of possibilities. It was no longer about disobedient school girls cutting class in a nearby city, it was about a mysterious threat that had taken four victims already and no knowledge about how it could be stopped.

The fact that the four victims had returned in good health and with the help of a dragon had resolved some of the mysteries but also created many new ones. 

But more importantly, it had made her look a fool and incompetent, when she had tried to manage the chaotic rumours and the reputation of the school. And as the final bitter cherry on top of this poisonous cake, the girls had just now publicly disobeyed and ridiculed her in front of the public audience.

She waited for the right moment to strike back. 

While Anaya was giving her speech, Tiu carefully observed the people's expressions and feelings. She understood that a sudden appearance of a dragon to their holy place was a mindboggling event, and things could start to evolve in very unexpected ways. It was important to understand the general attitude. She was relieved to notice that while Anaya spoke, people started to look more curious or even excited than worried.

Except the Madam.

She had been as sour as lemon when they appeared, and her gaze turned darker by minute. Of course Tiu could not read her mind but she could sense a thunderstorm gathering in that direction. 

When Anaya finished, Tiu stepped forward before anyone had time to do anything and continued:

"We especially want to thank our dear Madam the Schoolmaster for her great work and devotion to this endeavour. When we headed for this quest, it was utterly vital that not all details were revealed until we return. We relied on the Madam's skills and support in this, and that is why this quest was such a success. Let's shout three hurrahs for the Madam!"

All the exitment and anxiety of the people burst out in those shouts, and the noise was so sudden and loud that a flock if birds was scared onto their wings from the trees around them. 

But Madam was quiet and utterly confused. She looked like a wrestling master that had just prepared for a fight against a novice and then needs a second or two to understand that she is already lying on her back on the ground and the game is over.

In this confusing but also partly enthusiastic atmosphere Anaya and Tiu looked at each other in silent agreement that it is time to leave if they were going to get anything done. Anaya grabbed the tapestry from the ground and rolled it up while they headed back toward the school and their room.

They were searching a needle from a haystack but Anaya had a nasty feeling that their haystack was way too small to actually contain the needle. She had been seven when she moved to the school after her grandmother's death, so she did not have most of her belongings. Most of the furniture had been sold or given away to people in need, with some of the more important items, like grandma's loom and other more valuable things had been stored away in the school's warehouse and would be returned to Anaya once she was old enough.

Right now the only thing she had access to was a wooden trunk with her smaller, personal belongings. The tapestry had been there, as well as a twiddled tablecloth, a few books an old doll that could be her mother's or even older.

And a jewelry box.

Anaya hadn't remembered the box at all until she saw it again, its lid decorated with nacre. She pulled it carefully out of the trunk and placed it in the middle of the table.

"Grandma's jewelry box. This is it," she said. "If it's anywhere, it's here."

She opened the lid carefully. It shone in all the shades of a pearl. The box had a purple velvet lining inside, indicating that whatever was inside, it was precious to its owner. Inside was a few pairs of earrings, a bracelet, a silver brooch, and an envelope.

No gems of any colour.

Anaya pulled back in her chair and sighed deeply. "It's not here. I'm sure grandma would have kept it here if she had had it."

"Maybe it has a secret compartment," Tiu suggested. "Let's check for all alternatives."

They turned the box around in their hands and looked at the lining for small defects. But the conclusion was that even if there was a compartment, there was not enough space in the walls of the box to house a gem of the size Anaya had seen in the vision.

They went through the trunk and all the things inside it once more, but they couldn't find anything.

Finally they stopped and just sat on the floor for a long time. Neither wanted to speak. Finally, Anaya said, tears in her eyes:

"They drowned."

"I know."

"They needed to go out of town for the weekend and left me with a babysitter. Something happened during the trip. They never came back."

"Yes, I have heard this story. Their bodies were never recovered," Tiu said. "Oh! You mean... Your mother most likely had the necklace around her neck."

They fell silent. Neither of them wanted to say aloud what they were both thinking. They would never see the soul stone.

It was already getting dim outside. They had promised to see Madiza, but they did not feel like going to see if she was already in her room. It was of no use, because they already knew that she could not have found the stone.

"Hello, are you there?" they heard from the yard.

"Oh, no," Anaya cried out. She didn't think she had the strength to deal with this right now.

"We are here, just come up the stairs," Tiu replied as she knew that he would not leave them in peace anyway.

Kimo rattled up, apparently hitting each stair with a stick of some sorts. He appeared in their room and glanced around all the stuff that was lying around on the table and the floor and then looked at the depressed girls.

"Well, did you find it?"

"No, it's gone. Forever," Anaya snapped, annoyed by his optimism.

"Okay, well, no worries. I did some snooping."

"Please, Kimo, we are not in the mood for it," said Tiu tiredly.

"No, I mean this looks pretty good. I read my dragon book, and it said that soul stone can be cultivated."

"Oh, I know what that is!" Tiu exclaimed. "You go to a handicraft shop and buy this powder and make a solution, and so it starts crystallising and you get your own gem."

"Noo, that it kid's stuff, I did it when I was, like, seven," he said, shaking his head. "It said that a soul stone may be weak in the beginning but you can strengthen it by repeatedly casting a spell on it. So even if you don't find the original stone, you can cultivate a new one." He paused for a moment. "And you just said that the stone is gone."

Anaya raised her finger to object, but Kimo was faster.

"So, I went through my stone collection. You know, it is pretty awesome, I have collected it for many years. Zuzun has also helped me and I have all kinds of stones and gems, even. Look what I found."

He pulled a stone from his pocket. It was already fairly dark, but Anaya had seen enough.

"Kimo, that is just a piece of quartz," she huffed. "This is not helping. Please leave us alone."

Kimo was not deterrent of their reaction, on the contrary.

"Exactly! That's what I thought, too. It is a piece of quartz. But this is unlike any of my other stones. Did I say that the collection is very large?" The girls were not responding, so he went on. "I thought to myself: if I did have a soul stone in my collection, how would I know? That's the whole trick!"

Anaya hid her head in her knees. She was tired, she couldn't take Kimo's enthusiasm right know. But she also was too tired to throw him out. He would leave, eventually. She just wanted to be alone and rest for a while.

"Fungecidious."

The almost dark room was suddenly filled with white glow that made dancing shadows on the walls. Anaya raised her head and saw that the shine was coming from Kimo's palm. He was waving it slowly in front of him, back and forth.

"See? It works! I went through my collection and this one glowed! It is a soul stone."

"What did you say? Where did you learn that" Tiu asked.

"I said fungecidious. Madiza taught it to me when we were swimming the other day. She said that it can activate soul stones of the river. She also showed me a dragon scale that she had found near the uroxoo tree. It's great to have friends that trust you with their dragon secrets!"

Tiu and Anaya glanced quickly at each other. They had not trusted him at all with secrets or otherwise. But it seemed that he had said that sincerely, without any implied criticism. Kimo continued:

"So I thought that it might work in soul stones of ice as well. And this quartz is clearly not from a river. I found it from the mountains when I was visiting the North."

"Fungecidious," repeated Tiu, some of Kimo's enthusiasm starting to change her mood. The glow of the stone intensified and made the room almost as bright as daytime. 

________________

The next topic is News.

Winterbound, Part 19 - Atonement

"Can we use her stone?" Anaya asked Kaneq, not taking her eyes off of Madiza. Kaneq was silent for a moment.

'No,' her voice then echoed in Anaya's mind. 'Another soul stone of ice, maybe. But river, I don't think so. Ice and rivers are both made of water, but they're too different in nature.'

"Why are you talking about my mother?" Madiza asked, clearly holding back a sob.

"My mother and yours were friends," Anaya said, quietly. "My mother never had the chance to become an anchor for Kaneq, she died before they could do that. But yours did. Kaneq says she was the anchor for a river dragon."

Tears were rolling freely down Madiza's face now.

"Roe," she said.

"What?" Anaya asked, confused.

"That's what my mother said when she died," Madiza said, her voice barely audible. "I don't remember much of it. I was so young then. But I remember the last time I ever saw her. I remember she took the stone off her neck, I'd never seen her do that, she always wore it, no matter what. She hung it around my neck and she said 'wait for the dragon, Madiza. Roe will come back, and you have to be ready, you have to find her when she does. She will need you.'"

"That's why you wanted to go after the dragon. You realised there'd been one here, and you thought maybe it was Roe," Tiu said, her voice sad. Madiza nodded.

"I knew it wasn't her, somehow, I just knew. It didn't feel right. But I needed to be sure, because I though, maybe. Maybe this will finally make my mother's last words to me make sense, that I will find the dragon she wanted me to find. And instead what I find is Anaya finding a dragon she wasn't even waiting for."

Madiza's face was covered in tears, her voice bitter.

And then, Anaya surprised even herself. She took the few steps to Madiza and hugged her. Madiza tensed in her arms.

"No one ever told us this," she said to Madiza. Madiza, who she'd disliked since they met, and it was only downhill from there. Madiza, who had spread lies about her best friend. Madiza, who had tattled to the Madam about her and Tiu more than once, when they were doing something that wasn't bad but was against the endless rules of the school. "No one ever told us, but we were family, once. Your family and mine. Your mother and mine. And I promise you, I will help you find Roe. Me and Kaneq will. But first we will need to complete the anchoring, because without a proper connection, we can't do anything."

Madiza nodded in her arms and sniffled. Then she untangled herself, wiped her nose, brushed the tears off her face. She took a deep breath. Her eyes were still puffy, but also determined.

"What can I do to help?" she asked, and her voice was steady. Anaya smiled.

"We need to find my mother's soul stone. I think, if grandma had got it back, she would have given it to me. Or maybe she wouldn't have. Maybe I was too young. But I think she would have. She made the tapestry. She prepared for a situation where she died before Kaneq came back. She would have prepared for her unexpected death. This wasn't something she would have left to chance."

"Maybe my mother had it. If they were very close, maybe she took it for safekeeping after your mother died," Madiza suggested.

"She and my grandmother were close. Why wouldn't she have given it back to her?"

"I don't know. But if we don't know where it is, if we can only guess, then mother's belongings seem as good as any place to begin the search."

Anaya thought for a moment, nodded.

"I should go through grandma's things too. To see if I find it there. We'll come back together after, to see if anyone got lucky."

This didn't seem like a good plan. It seemed unlikely her grandma or Madiza's mother had the soul stone. Someone would have given it to her, if it was in the possession of someone who knew the meaning of it. But she didn't have any other guesses, not without giving it proper thought, anyway. And as Madiza said, they were as good places to start as any.

"What do I do?" a voice piped up, and almost startled Anaya. Kimo was looking up at her, his eyes excited with the idea of what must have seemed like a treasure hunt to a kid his age. Anaya opened her mouth to tell him to go home, but Tiu was faster.

"You said you were a dragon expert once, didn't you?" she said. "That must mean you have a lot of books and things on them, right?" Kimo nodded enthusiastically. "Why don't you go and see if you can't find something out? Maybe about the anchoring ritual, or even if there's a substitute for the soul stone! We could really use some expertise right now."

Kimo's nodding had gotten progressively faster as she'd talked and when she stopped, he immediately darted off.

"He's not going to find anything out," Anaya said to Tiu as he disappeared into the crowd still milling around them and the dragon. "At least not anything we couldn't just ask Kaneq about. Also, I'm not entirely convinced he has any kind of source materials in the first place."

Tiu shrugged.

"You don't know that." Her face turned into a mischievous grin. "And besides, that will give him something to do while the rest of us search. Makes him feel important, if nothing else."

Anaya chuckled.

"Well played," she said and turned to Madiza. "Let's meet at the school tonight, see if we have something, if we need more time to search?"

Madiza nodded. "Good luck."

"You too. I feel like we'll need it."

____________________________________________

It's a little bit short this time, and also nothing happens, but I poured some boiling water onto my finger, like a moron, and it still hurts more than three hours later, and I've had to write most of this three words at a time between having it against something cool, so this is what you'll get out of me today.

The topic for tomorrow is Scale.

~matleena

Winterbound, Part 18 - Scramble

For as long as they had lived there, for as long as any of their parents or grandparents or distant relatives had, the uroxoo tree had stood guard to the souls of their departed. The tree was both a monument to their passing as well as a reminder that despite the loss, life kept on continuing. In this way, it tied together life and death. This was the way of things the people of Estirão all understood intrinsically from the moment they were brought crowned with the tree’s flowers as new-borns until the moment their bodies were laid to rest under its roots.

Now, as she carefully set down her grandmother’s tapestry on the ground in the tree’s shade, Anaya found she understood it better than ever.

Kaneq was watching her keenly, all while she smoothed out wrinkles in the cloth. This she felt more than saw, her own eyes fixed on the pattern before her. The dragon had curled its body around the tree, morphing herself in order to conform to her environment. She was still big, but not quite as enormous as had been necessary for the sake of transporting four people on her back.

Tiu was also watching her, standing to the left of Anaya almost, but not quite touching. Her presence was a comfort.

Actually, it almost seemed like the whole village had gathered on the square to gawk at them, not daring to come close enough to be heard but hovering and whispering at the edges. To Kaneq, this seemed to be a source of amusement, the positive vibrations of her emotions washing through Anaya like a gentle summer rain. The only people still near were Madiza and Kimo, who both had stubbornly refused to take the hint and leave already.

Finally pleased with the way the tapestry was laid out, Anaya took a deep breath and sat down on it. She crossed her legs and closed her eyes. The image carved by the colorful threads danced before her eyelids.

“I’m ready,” she said out loud, to alert Tiu, yes, but more so to steel her own nerves.

Kaneq had explained the process, or how it would have gone had her grandmother been alive. The dragon’s soul would pass through from the old anchor to the new, their memories fusing. As Anaya’s grandmother had passed, the memories would come from the spirit woven into the tapestry, strengthened by the presence of the uroxoo tree. They would be hazy, but hopefully enough.

‘Then open your eyes.’

As if bespelled by Kaneq’s words Anaya felt her eyes open. The sight that greeted her was not the one she had last seen. Everything was shrouded in a white mist, images flashing past her.

‘Do not fear. Find the truth.’

Anaya focused her eyes, trying to envision her bond to both her grandmother and Kaneq in her mind. The images around her stilled, becoming clearer. She saw snow and white peaked mountains. She saw Kaneq, flying above her, looking the same but somehow younger, stronger. She must’ve been lost in the void of time for longer than the years that had passed in Anaya’s reality.

Then the image changed, the sensation not unlike the shifting of Kaneq’s flight, and suddenly Anaya was facing a woman, not quite young and not quite old, but immensely familiar. With a dizzying jolt, Anaya realized she was looking through Kaneq’s eyes, facing her grandmother as she had been, long before Anaya’s own birth.

Standing beside her grandmother were two girls, not much older than Anaya was herself. One of them was dark, her brown curls similar to Anaya’s grandmother. The other was lighter, her eyes brilliant and cool like a frosted lake. Her grandmother was talking to the girls, her words mumbled by the hum of memories in Anaya’s ears.

Anaya’s grandmother took something out of her pocket. It was at this moment that Anaya realized she was wearing clothes such as the people wore in the north, adorned with furs and heavy, embroidered fabrics. So were the girls, the dark one stepping forward towards Anaya’s grandmother as she reached to tie something around the girl’s neck. It was a stone necklace, white and brilliant, hung on a leather string. The girl’s face was determined, her brows wrinkling. It was an expression Anaya recognized – she had seen it in the mirror on the mornings when she felt like she needed to gather her courage to face the world.

Anaya’s grandmother stepped away once more, and the girl relaxed visibly, turning to her other companion. The blue-eyed girl smiled and reached her mittened hand to her own neck. From beneath her shawl, she pulled out a blue stone, similar to the white one now hung around the other girl’s neck. That too, the stone, was something she recognized. It was Madiza’s stone.

Anaya gasped, even in the haze of her memories feeling the way her body so far away reacted. The memory around her swirled, days and months and years flashing past her. She saw flashes of her grandmother’s life. She had come from the north, travelling with the two girls, now young adults. Then their ways had parted, Anaya’s grandmother settling to Estirão whereas the girls travelled on. She saw her grandmother’s house slowly turn to the place she recognized from her childhood. And then finally she saw herself, feeling her grandmother’s sorrow and confusion as she held Anaya in her arms. There was something missing, it seemed. The necklace.

With another startling breath she was pulled back to her body.

Tiu’s hands were gripping her shoulders almost painfully. “Anaya? Anaya? Are you alright?”

Her voice seemed far-off, and Anaya had to really push herself to focus on reality. “I’m okay,” she rasped out. “I’m fine.”

Tiu relaxed her grip, helping Anaya back up to her own two feet.

“I saw my grandma when she was younger,” Anaya said, the words bubbling out as she tried to make sense of everything. Beneath her skin, in her soul, she could feel Kaneq closer than ever before. “And I saw a girl with a white stone. My—my mother? At least I think she was.”

‘Yes. Neadi’s daughter.’ Kaneq’s voice seemed to reverberate deep in Anaya, her feeling as clear as Anaya’s own thoughts.

“White stone?” Tiu asked.

“The soul stone,” Anaya spoke with the words that came not from herself but Kaneq. “Grandma passed it onto my mother after she was anchored to Kaneq. It was meant to prepare my mother to be the next anchor but…” The memory of holding the baby, herself, came flashing to her mind. “It was lost when she died.”

‘We need that stone to complete the anchoring.'

“I… I know we need it,” Anaya said, biting her lip. “But how are we supposed to know where it is? Unless…” Her eyes widened. “The other girl!”

‘Ah, Neadi’s goddaughter. She was an anchor for a river dragon, which is why the families kept together. If I recall, her name was…’

“Leda,” said Anaya, locking eyes with Madiza, who blinked.

“My mother?” she asked, gripping her necklace through her shirt.

__________________________________________________

Next topic is "Atonement"

Winterbound, Part 17 - Purpose

Anaya's brain went blank for a long second. She felt like she should have been processing Kaneq's words, but nothing was happening. She didn't see what was going on in front of her, didn't hear anything but the blood pumping through her ears.

...last anchor...

She was drifting. Her mind was trying to desperately grasp something that didn't make any sense. She barely noticed it, a part of it furiously working, the other frozen in confusion.

...your grandmother.

Her heart filled with warmth as she thought about her. Warmth, and sorrow. Grandma was the only parent she had ever known.

A moment passed. Two. A million.

"Anaya!" someone was shaking her shoulder.

She blinked, shook her head. It was Tiu.

"Where did you just go?" Tiu asked, seeing that Anaya was back with her. Anaya turned to look at her, slowly.

"Grandma was Kaneq's previous anchor," she said, quietly. Tiu's eyes widened in surprise.

And then the murmur of a hundred voices pulled Amaya's attention to the crowd around them.

They were all staring at them. At Kaneq. They were whispering to each other, or talking in low voices, their eyes wide with wonder, or fear, or both. No one came close to them. They had formed a tight wall ten meters away, and no one dared be the one to step any closer than the others.

"What is the meaning of this?" came a familiar voice from somewhere in the crowd, and it parted, letting the Madam onto the open area between the mass of people and the dragon. There she stopped and glared at the dragon, but more importantly, the girls sitting on top of her. Madiza slipped down and bowed.

"The dragon flew us home," Madiza said. She clearly tried to keep her voice neutral, but Anaya could hear the bitterness underneath.

"And where exactly have you three been?" the Madam snaps. "You have been gone for a over a week. This isn't surprising from Anaya and Tiu, though I am highly disappointed in all of you, but you, Madiza, I would have never expected you to behave this way. You are a good girl, a good student. This is unacceptable. I take it you even lost the school canoe you stole under false pretenses."

Madiza looked chastised, but anger wasn't deep below it. Anaya turned back to Kaneq. She didn't care about Madiza being told off. She didn't even care if the telling off turns to her at some point. None of that was important.

"So now we know who your anchor was. We know why you were drawn here. We know why I'm your anchor." It still felt weird to say it out loud. "So why are we here? Is there something here we need?"

'Do you still have something of your grandmother's? The more personal the better. Something that holds her within it. Having something of her with us would make the anchoring easier. It would be best she was there with us, but that will not be possible.'

Grief made the fabric heavy.

"The tapestry," she whispered, without a moment of hesitation. "She left me one of the tapestries. I still have it. I remember watching her make it for me."

She was lost in the memory for a moment.

"I have it at the school."

The threads of the loom in her mind vibrated with joy. 'Perfect.'

"We need to go get the tapestry," Anaya told Tiu as she slid off Kaneq's back and started in the direction of the school. "Come on."

"And where exactly do you think you're going? Stop and come back, or there will be a loss of privileges even higher than there already will be."

The voice took her off guard. She had all but forgotten the Madam was there, lecturing them. Anaya simply stared at her for a breath, then burst out laughing.

The look on the Madam's face was priceless. She had never seen anything like it. It was everything she hadn't realised she wanted to see.

"My dragon needs me," she told the Madam. "So I'm going to the school, and then I'm coming back, and I'm helping Kaneq get home. I don't care what privilege you take from me."

And with that, she turned around and walked right into the crowd that parted in front of her, Tiu following her. She could hear her laughing silently, the air vibrating with the shakes.

~x~

The tapestry was on the wall, in the spot it had been since she came to the school. Tiu had already been there, then. Brought in a few years before Anaya. Anaya had been feeling shy, and sad, so she had stayed in the room, in her hammock, that first night. It hadn't felt safe in the hammock, nowhere would ever feel safe again, but she felt more safe there than anywhere else. She had been crying.

Tiu's footsteps coming into the room had startled her. She had tried to stop crying, wipe the tears away. It had been pointless. Tiu had stopped by her hammock and peeked in.

"Hello," Tiu had said, although Anaya hadn't known her name yet. Anaya had simply sniffled in response.

"You're new here." It hadn't been a question. Tiu had waited anyway, to see if Anaya would say anything. "That means something bad happened to your parents, doesn't it?"

"My grandmother," Anaya had managed to say, and then the sobs had taken over her again, helpless and hopeless, and forceful.

Tiu had simply nodded, her then small face serious, and climbed into Anaya's hammock. And then she had wrapped her arms around Anaya until she had felt... well, not good by any standard, but a little better. Until the sobs eased and the tears stopped flowing, for the moment. Tiu would be there many more times in the coming weeks to hold her through the tears and fear and sorrow.

"What's that?" Tiu had asked her, was Anaya seemed like she could talk again. She was pointing to a roll of fabric that was one of the only things Anaya had brought with her to the school.

"It's a tapestry my grandmother made for me," Anaya had said quietly.

Tiu had climbed out of the hammock to take a better look.

"Can I open it?" she had asked Anaya as she got to the roll. Anaya had nodded. So that's what Tiu had done. She stared at it for a while after she'd spread it out on the floor.

"It's beautiful," Tiu had said, her huge eyes shining with amazement and excitement now. "Let's hang it on the wall!" And then she had remembered herself, and her new roommate's sadness. "Can we hang it on the wall? Would that be okay with you?"

Anaya had hesitated for a moment, then nodded. Tiu's face had brightened up again.

"Will you help me?" she had asked, and Anaya had nodded again.

"I'll go get a hammer and nails!" Tiu had darted out of the door and been back almost in the time it took Anaya to climb out of her hammock.

And so they had together hung the tapestry Anaya's grandmother had made her. They had been too short, and even climbing on the table they had managed to get it just high enough that it didn't touch the floor. In all the years since, they hadn't bothered moving it any higher.

"I'm sorry you don't have your grandmother anymore," Tiu had said as they had stood side by side looking at the newly hung tapestry. "But I'm happy I have you as a roommate and friend now."

And she had grinned at Anaya.

Anaya now put her hand on the tapestry and smiled a sad smile at the memory. The tapestry felt different now, somehow, knowing her grandmother had been Kaneq's anchor. Somehow just knowing that revealed something new about it.

And then she pulled back, a little, startled. 

"What? Tiu asked behind her.

"It's Kaneq," Anaya breathed. And it was. She had never seen it before. She had always thought the tapestry beautiful, but never seen any specific picture in it. Not the pattern, the way the colors fit together, the lines that crossed the canvas, they all painted the picture of Kaneq. The Kaneq Anaya was beginning to know, that her grandmother must have known incredibly well. But there was something else there too, beneath what the eye could see. Her grandmother had woven Kaneq into what you could see, and herself hidden within.

Tiu looked at the tapestry, too, head tilted to one side. For one breath. Two. Five.

"I can see it, too," she finally said. "I'm not in her head, and I don't think I would have recognised it if you hadn't said it. But you're right. I can see her in there."

"Tiu," Anaya said, her mind racing now. "I think grandmother knew she was the last of Kaneq's anchors. I think... I think she knew, and she feared what would happen if she died before I could take on the responsibility. She knew her friend would be lost."

Anaya held her hand up again, laying it on the tapestry.

"She wove herself into it.She wove herself into it, so even if all the anchors were gone, when Kaneq found me, she could still be there with us, to help us when we needed to finally anchor."

She wasn't sure when the tears had begun to fall. Her face was already wet with them. Tiu took her hand, then wrapped her arms tightly around her.

They stood there for a long time, looking at the tapestry.

Finally Anaya sighed and unwrapped herself from Tiu's arms. She wiped the last of the tears away and smiled, though some of the sadness lingered at the corners of her mouth, in the set of her brows.

"Will you help me take the tapestry down?" she asked. Tiu nodded. And so they got to work.

_____________________________________

The topic for tomorrow is Scramble.

~matleena

Winterbound, Part 16 - Brink

'They wish to go back home?' Kaneq's voice echoed in Anaya's mind. The dragon surveyed the group as they packed up their camp. Madiza was huffy, almost violent as she tugged down her hammock. Kimo was no help at all, sulking by the shore.

"Oh, yeah, totally," Anaya said, keeping her voice low. "They're... getting really homesick and stuff. You understand?"

Kaneq turned her long head to face her. Deep emerald eyes bore into her, like they could see right through her soul. Maybe they could.

'I know that you are lying,' the dragon finally said. 'I can feel your emotions seeping through our shared conscoiusness.'

"Oh," said Anaya. She hadn't really thought this through.

'But what I don't know is why you would lie about this.'

"Can't you just... feel that as well?" she asked. "Look into my brain to see my thoughts."

Kaneq was silent for a moment. There was an energy pulsating from her and standing next to her made Anaya feel strong, but also weak.

'I could,' she finally admitted. 'But that's bad manners. And potentially very dangerous for you, with how new and fragile our bond is.'

"That... makes sense," Anaya said. "But how come I can't feel your emotions at all?"

'Because I have millenia of practice. And as before, our bond is fragile. I do not wish to burden it any more than necessary.'

She thought about that. It felt unfair to her. That she was the one burdening their bond with her emotions, when Kaneq was able to keep hers in check. And while she was the kind to wear her heart on her sleeve, there were still things she wished to keep private in her own mind. Dragon or no dragon.

She took a deep breath and tried to focus on the "shared consciousness" as the dragon had put it. It was weird to say the least, simultaneously a part of her but also separate from her. It felt a bit like a magically extended limb, where the magic was hers but not really her. Except this wasn't an extra hand, but an extra... extra... what? She couldn't find the words to describe it. But she needed something, if she was to learn how to work with it.

She sat down. She wasn't feeling dizzy, not at the moment, but she didn't want it to creep up on her, making her fall down. Kaneq settled on the ground with her, the dragon's long body looping around her, creating something akin to a barrier around her. And all the while the eyes never strayed. Anaya closed her own eyes. It was easier to focus on her thoughts that way.

She imagined her mind as a garden. A large expanse of space, littered with flowers and trees and bushes -- thoughts and feelings, ideas. She imagined herself in it, the gardener. She imagined a fence around it. The edge of what was her. Where someone else began.

She imagined a gate. She opened it.

'What are you doing, little one?' a flower flew through the open gate. The gardener picked it up and turned it around in her hands. It was covered in amusement, but underneath the petals, she found worry.

"I'm... trying to understand this connection better," Anaya said out loud. She probably didn't need to say it out loud, but she wanted to. Out loud meant a connection to the real world.

'You have quite a way of thinking about things,' a few mangoes rolled inside. She stared down at them.

"I don't think this metaphor is working quite like I intended," she said. A gentle breeze of amusement blew past her. She took another deep breath and tore down the garden.

'Shame,' echoed Kaneq's voice in her head. 'I thought it was quite beautiful in there.'

Anaya's eye twitched. She felt like she was being patronized. "Maybe, but the fruit were confusing."

The garden was a great way to visualize her own mind, but that's not what she was trying to do right now. She was trying to visualize the shared consciousness. But what could she use to represent the connection?

A memory from her childhood bubbled up to the surface.In it she was sitting on her grandma's lap in her work room. In front of them stood the big loom grandma used to make tapestries and her old, wrinkly hands looked like they were dancing on the threads as she weaved into existence beautiful pictures. Anaya had always loved watching her work.

"Life is like a tapestry," she'd once told Anaya, who had frankly been too young to understand the meaning of such words. "You are the one who weaves the yarn, but unless you have good supporting threads, you won't get anything done." She plucked at one of the threads. "That is why you must do your best to maintain the connections you have in life, to the people around you who want to support you. Lest they snap and break when you need them the most." She plucked the thread again and frowned. It was fraying further down the line. "Of course, it is hard to know when the thread just needs a little extra support and when it needs to be cut out completely."

She stood up and set Anaya down on the bench alone. She cut a piece of red yarn and after rifling through a cabinet, produced a small tin. Inside was a white goop that she used to paste the yarn against the thread where they fraying was. Then she turned to Anaya with a wide smile.

"I like to err on the side of kindness," she said and picked Anaya up into her arms. "We'll let that dry and come back to it. Remind me to be mindful of that spot when we get to it in the tapestry, okay dear?"

Anaya had nodded and then they'd gone out to get some lunch. That tapestry still hung in her room at the school, the red spot where grandma had strengthened the thread visible amidst the other colors.

'What are you remembering?' Kaneq asked her gently.

"Just... something my grandma used to tell me," she answered.

She imagined the room. Grandma's work room. That was easy enough, she'd spent so much time there as a child that even if it had been years at this point, she remembered exactly where everything was supposed to go. She imagined the shelves, stock full of different colored yarns. She imagined the small table under the window, on it a small vase with a branch from the uroxoo tree. She imagined the crates by the wall, filled with finished tapestries and fabrics, waiting to be shipped off to whoever wanted to buy them. She imagined the loom.

It was a big loom. Larger than life. There was so much emotion, so much nostalgia etched into the very being of that loom. She wondered if this was maybe a bad idea too.

'Anaya, this is amazing,' the threads in the loom plucked out.

"Really?" Anaya whispered. She was in the room too, but she was small. She knew she shouldn't be that small, but that was the only sense of scale she had.

'Yes. You've managed to create a representation of our bond that resonates with you, making it easier for you to maintain it and to learn how to master it. This is also intuitive for me to contact you.'

"Wait, are you in the room?" Anaya asked, looking around. She didn't see the dragon, or any other figure. But as her eyes landed on the loom, she saw that the tapestry was weaving itself.

'I am on the other side of the loom,' the weave told her. 'This same loom exists now also in my mind, and as such, I can communicate through it. The threads are our connection and the fabric we create together our shared consciousness.'

It made sense. It really did, somehow. But it was still making her head hurt.

'You've already done so much in such a short time. Now's not the time to push this further.'

"I know," she said. "But I feel like I'm so close to something."

'Your friend is calling you,' the loom said.

Anaya's eyes flew open. In front of her stood Tiu, brow scrunched in worry. She keps glancing at Kaneq, whose body was still encircling Anaya's.

"Are you okay?" Tiu asked. Anaya blinked a few times. It was easier to reoirent herself back into the real world than before, but it was still dizzying. "You were talking with... Kaneq?"

"Uh, yes," she said and rubbed a hand over her face. "I was just trying to figure out this connection thing a bit better."

Tiu hummed. She still didn't look like she fully trusted the dragon or the mind link Anaya shared with her. "We've packed up camp. What is the next step?"

Behind Tiu Anaya could see Madiza and Kimo idling, angry and disappointed.

'If the children wish to return home,' Kaneq's voice filled her mind suddenly. 'I can certainly fly you all over there.'

"Wh-what?" Anaya said, turning to the dragon. The threads were vibrating with amusement.

'There was a reason I originally made my way to Estirão. And I feel like I still need to go back there. So, if that's where those two are heading as well, I don't see why we shouldn't all go together.'

~x~

Anaya didn't like it. She'd wanted to get rid of Madiza and Kimo, but now here they were, all going back home. If there was something there that Kaneq needed, it's not like she could help it, but that didn't mean she had to like it. Especially with how smug Madiza had been when she'd told them the dragon would take them back home.

Kaneq followed the river, staying closer to the ground than the first time they'd taken a trip to the skys. She said it helped her stay tethered to the current time, which hopefully would keep Anaya and the others from getting too disoriented with timeshifting. Anaya did her best to not look through the dragon's eyes, focusing instead on the physical world around them. They were going significanly faster than paddling had been, but not so fast that the world became a blur. The world did become frosty however, the leaves of the trees closest to the river freezing over, a thin layer of ice snaking along the river whenever they dipped down closer to the water.

It was cold, the entire body of the dragon radiating a coolness, but somehow it didn't seem to affect them the same way it affected the world around them.

"What happened to your previous anchor?" Anaya asked after a while. She was hugging Kaneq's neck tightly and she could feel the muscles underneath her tensing at the question. She knew the answer to the question, of course. They had died, like all humans do.

'I've had many anchors over the centuries, over the millenia,' the loom of her mind began weaving. 'While we dragons exist outside time, you humans are bound by it, and so we must take care that we return to our anchors before theirs runs out. Anchoring a dragon is a task usually passed down by the old anchors to the new ones, but the dragon must also be present for it. You cannot tie an anchor to a ship that isn't there, after all.'

"And this is what happens when a dragon can't get a new anchor in time," Anaya sumrised. She ran her hand through the threads of the loom. "You get stuck. Like the threads just stop."

'Usually we have several anchors at once, in case of illness or accident. But as time goes on, traditions change and are forgotten. And sometimes there isn't anyone to pick up the torch afterwards.'

"Is that what happened to your last anchor? They died before they had time to pass on the task?"

Kaneq was silent for a moment, though the weaving yarn was dripping with sorrow and regret.

'I was careless,' she finally said. 'Something was wrong with the dragons, we were... distracted. I can't really explain what was going on, but when I finally realized I only had one thread left anchoring me into the world... It was more or less too late. She was on the brink of death.

'I tried my best to hurry to her side. Some of the others tried to stop me from leaving, but I managed to evade them, and make my way to her home. I didn't expect that she had moved many, many decades ago. And before I could sense where she was...'

SNAP went one of the threads.

Anaya gasped, grabbed a hold of her head. She felt a hand on her shin. It was Tiu, straddling the dragon behind her.

'I apologize,' Kaneq's voice was soft and soothing. 'I let my emotions get the better of me.'

"It's alright," Anaya said, both to the dragon and to Tiu. Tiu didn't remove her hand. "I can't even imagine what that must've felt like."

'I was thrown into chaos. My sense of time, my sense of place, I didn't know where I was nor when, I only knew that my last anchor was gone. The only thing I could do was try to make my way towards the one thing I could still sense. That turned out to be you.'

"Because I have the potential to be your anchor." It wasn't a question.

'Precisely. At this point I don't know how long it has been since my previous anchor passed on. It could be years or decades. It could be only days.'

"I don't think anyone has seen a dragon in... decades at least, maybe even centuries," Anaya said. "I've heard tales, of course, that there used to be a lot of them, but... not recently. Not so that anyone would remember."

'I suppose whatever distracted me also distracted everyone else.' The fabric in the loom was wistful. If Anaya concentrated on it, she could almost see a picture of dozens and dozens of dragons on it. 'We all neglected to maintain our connections.'

"You can always fix a broken thread," Anaya said. She reached over to the loom, taking the ends of the snapped thread in her hands. She brought them together and rubbed them between her fingers. When she let go, where there had previously been a break was now a short length of red yarn. "As long as the thread is willing to be fixed. That's what grandma always said anyway."

'A wise woman.'

"She was," she said. "And kind too. I actually based this room entirely on her work room. She used to be a weaver."

'The loom as well? Is it precise?'

That was an odd question. "Yeah, of course the loom too," she said. Where was Kaneq going with this? "It was her prized posession, she's had it since she was my age."

'What about this?'

A soft glow eminated from under the loom. This was getting very weird. Even weirder than it already was. Anaya stood up from the bench and bent down to see what was glowing. It was a small circular carving on the leg of the loom.

"Yeah, that's been there as long as I remember," she said. She was a bit surprised she had been able to reproduce the loom to this degree of detail in her head. "Grandma said a friend of hers carved it there when they were young. Why are you asking about that?"

'Anaya, that friend was me.'

Anaya stood up from under the loom and suddenly she wasn't in the work room anymore. She was on the back of the dragon, which had descended into the middle of the town square of Estirão, directly in front of the uroxoo tree.

'My last anchor was your grandmother.'

___________________________________________________

OK so I lied, this part was also brought to you by me, Pede. But that's only because Oona has a bunch of English tests she needs to grade and we're running with a buffer of 0 atm... It's kinda funny, I said I don't have time to write half of the story, but here I am with nothing better to do during the days lol Well that's a lie, up until this point I really haven't had that much time, but now I do again so yay!

Anyway I hope you enjoyed this part! It was really interesting to kind of flesh out the mental link/shared consciousness and I really hope the metaphors make sense :DD Or at least that it's kinda clear that all the talk about the loom happens inside Anaya's head. Even though she (kinda) exists there as a """physical""" being and interacts with the loom and stuff. It's still just a very powerful visualization exercise (maybe made more powerful by the literal dragon she's sharing it with) and yeah I hope it makes sense.

I won't ramble more this time. I won't see y'all until the final part now, so like... have fun, but don't derail the story too much at this point, mmkay? I still need to be able to wrap everything up in 8 parts! See ya at the finale!

Next topic is "Purpose"

Pede out.