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It was a hard thing to reconcile. Everything she’d told me. It had the ring of truth to it. At the very least, I believed very much that she believed. But it was a hard thing to face, and all of the sudden, I had no idea what direction to go. My mind worked in circles trying to find some answer, some reason. Some way that it could possibly be different. But I knew I was grasping at shadows. There was no answer I could find there.

The absol had backed off, but only just. To the edge of our camp, where she curled up and waited. Tempest didn’t come back out of the tent. Mira and Cocoa had gone to join her. Penance sat beside me, with Wendy, but even after I’d explained the whole of it to her, neither of us knew what to say.

Nothing she had foreseen ended in any manner that wasn’t my death. It made me believe two equally argumentative possibilities. Either she wasn’t looking very hard, or she looked very hard for an answer. She, herself, was impossible to read. Was it all a joke? It was too elaborate for that, I felt. Too much effort for the sake of a laugh. No. She meant it. She was certain. Everything about her bled conviction.

I didn’t go into great details when I recounted it to Wendy, just summarized that our uninvited guest had foretold our deaths, if we kept going. She didn’t have much to say, but kept close. I supposed she was waiting to see if perhaps I did. Unfortunately for us both, answers were not forthcoming.

I played dozens of scenarios through my head and kept coming to the same conclusion. I could really believe it happened about the same as I’d been told. Hadn’t I already had the same worry, myself? How Claire’s mother would react? If I reversed roles, I couldn't blame her. If I thought some bastard had hurt Claire? I'd have made it my life's work to destroy him. How could I judge her for that?

But at the same time, I didn’t have a choice, did I? Not really. I had to get her to her mother. That was just the end of it. Stopping now was pointless. I sighed, and got up, crossing to the tent to wake the girls.

I wasn’t surprised that I didn’t need to. The trio looked at me for a long moment, and then gathered up my things. They knew that look. We were pulling up stakes.

“Thanks, for the warning.” I said, as I looked across the camp to the absol. “I don’t know that it changes anything. But thanks for telling me.”

“So you’re going to go, anyway?” She sighed, and shook her head. “You’re some kind of idiot, you know that, right? It’s no secret why nobody else listens. They just don’t understand what I’m saying. But you? I can’t comprehend what’s going on in your head. If anything even is.”

“Life isn’t living without her. It’s as simple as that.” I said, shaking my head. “I’ll try not to get everyone killed, but maybe you don’t want to follow along. Hell…” I paused, looking around at everyone. “Maybe nobody does.”

Tempest stepped forward before I even finished speaking. “I’m not running. Not from lonely, blistering cold. Not from demons in the dark. Not from some creepy absol prophecy. We didn’t get this far because we got scared and went home.”

Cocoa spoke up next. “I promised to take care of you. It’s as simple as that. Mama would be disappointed in me if I did anything less. I reckon ain’t none of us know what’s going to happen, even if we do seem so sure we might.”

Mira didn’t say a word at first, just jumped up into my arms and wrapped her ribbons around me possessively. She made a show of nuzzling me, in front of everyone, and stealing a kiss from my lips as I held her. “Understand?”

Penance looked to Staccato, and then to Wendy. “I’m sorry. I’m going with him. If you can’t, then good luck on the road.”

Wendy shook her head, and stood up. “You kidding? I’m not leaving my best friend to face this alone. I’m going with you, and him, end of discussion.”

For just a moment there, I wanted to remark on her understanding. In the middle of all of the crap, Wendy really understood what was going on. I wonder if she even realized it, herself. I wondered if it would still be true later.

Staccato just grumbled. “Fuck it. I’m done waiting around. Let’s get out of here. I’m bored of her tauros shit. Looks like everyone else is, too.”

It was hard not to laugh at the expression on the absol’s face. Somewhere between stunned disbelief and the most frustrated look anyone had ever given me. But I swallowed past the urge and managed to say the only thing I thought I needed to. “Thanks for the warning. I’m not going to my death. Or theirs.”

I could barely focus on pulling up the tent, my mind a whirlwind of thought and worry. But Tempest took charge of the task, brushing a hand against my shoulder and pushing me back to Wendy. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll think of something.”

There was no sense letting everyone stumble around in the dark, or keeping all of us up all night. Wendy let Penance rest, and likewise, my girls got to enjoy the luxury of a little relaxation. Though I felt awfully exposed without any of them around for me.

Staccato didn’t say a word as he carried Wendy and I towards our destination. Wendy on the other hand, was fuming. Her hands clenching so tight I could hear the joints creak.

“The nerve of that bitch!” She more growled than said, her hands clenched into fists. “First she spends the whole day stalking us like some kind of creepy fangirl, then dumps all that bullshit on you when we’re trying to sleep?”

“You think she had anything to do with those assholes we met before?” She asked, over her shoulder as we rode towards our destination.

“Can’t say. Doubt it, though.” I replied, with a shake of my head. “Don’t know why, I just didn’t get that feeling in the end. But you know, it was my first thought, too.” I sighed at that, and bit back a profanity. Of all the plausible possibilities, that had seemed a flight of fancy, but with how many things had gone awry, and the order it had happened… I could understand a moment’s suspicion.

“Guess we’ll never know for sure.” She said, with a sigh. “No sense worrying about it, now. C’mon, Stacky. Let’s put some distance between us before I decide to go back and turn her horn into a hoof pick.”

I didn’t share their anger. Mostly I was just exhausted. Not from the road or the journey. But from the expectation that things were going to go wrong. I was tired of watching everyone else rally around me to shield me from the things I had to deal with. I was tired of feeling like I was leading everyone down the rough roads and nothing to show for it but the wear of the journey.

I was tired.

I must have drifted off, somewhere along the way, I woke up leaning against Wendy, the sun had come up, and she was trying to get my attention. All I could do was blink away the sleep and wonder for a moment how long I’d been out of it.

We had arrived, a broad gate stood before us, fenced off, marking the public entrance to the sanctuary. A bright, polished bronze plaque sat on a stone pedestal, identifying the preserve, and several prominent donors. Beyond the gate, a single building stood, it seemed as good a place as any to get started.

I let Tempest out, and she took my hands, looking me in the eyes before pulling the straps of my backpack, waiting for me to shrug it off, so she could take the burden for a while. It was a relief, after the night I had, and I was more than content to stretch as we made our way to the building, a well kept structure painted in bright colors.

Walking in, we were hit with the smell of berries, and a ranger, happily occupying herself with the clatter of kitchen tools, looked up as the bell hung above the door rang out with a cheerfully clear sound.

“I’ll be with you in just a moment, and you’ve come just in time! I have some tarts coming out of the oven, and I’ve made enough to share!” She called over her shoulder, before saying a little more quietly, “Annabelle, would you be a dear and go greet our guests?”

From around the corner, a lucario looked out and then approached. “Two and two, Rapidash outside. Doesn’t look like any trouble, but they look a little done in. I can feel the stress from here. How do we play it?”

I spoke up, with a cheerful wave. “Trouble on the road, lots of it. Pokemon thieves, and general doom and gloom. If you happen to be familiar with a moody absol, that part might make more sense.”

The lucario, Annabelle stared for a moment, somewhere between surprise and amusement. “Well, I guess that spares us this little game of telephone. Sorry, we don’t get many visitors, and it’s my job to get a feel for intent.” She apologized, but I waved it off.

“Trust me, after the week we just had? You’re not the only one trying to guess at everyone’s intent. We were ambushed not but a day’s ride from here. Got lucky, and managed to fend them off, but I wonder if it was ‘only just’.”

Annabelle nodded at that and turned the corner. “I’m sure I don’t need to repeat all that. Want to go get on the radio? I can take over here, Gwen.” She offered, over the sound of a kitchen timer going off.

“Now now. Nothing’s going to happen in the span of two minutes. But I tell you what, why don’t you bring them a few of these, and I’ll be right along with something cold to drink.” The ranger replied, from behind the counter. “Poor dears must have been on the road awfully early to get here at this hour. You and I both know that Helena just loves harassing people in the dead of night.”

“Helena. The absol, I presume?” I asked, as Annabelle came back around the corner, with piping hot pastries on a plate. She gestured to a nearby set of chairs around a low table, and the four of us went to sit together, leaving the plush chair at one end open, seemingly by instinct.

“A troublemaker. But…” Annabelle shook her head as she set down the plate. “Let them sit, they’re too hot to eat just yet.” She cautioned, waving off Tempest’s hand with a shooing motion. “As for Helena, she’s many things, but a liar has never been one of them. She may have had her fun in doing so, but whatever she told you? She meant it, and she’s not normally wrong.”

“Well, that’s encouraging.” I said, with a heavy sigh. “Because she told me I’m going to die.”

“Excuse me?” Annabelle and Gwen both spoke up at once. Annabelle looked to Gwen, who paused thoughtfully, before setting down a tray of cups beside the tarts. “Well, in all my years, I’d say that’s a first. Even that photographer only got ‘hospital’ as near a thing as it had been.”

Annabelle sighed, and poured herself a glass of ice water from the pitcher in the center of the tray. “Well.” She said, as she took a sip. “I think you should start from the beginning.”

“I’ll give you the summary.” I replied, shaking my head. “My braixe- I paused, shaking my head, and corrected myself. “Delphox. Her mother lives here. Her evolution was rough, and she can’t control herself, We trained for so long to be open to each other that we can’t shut it off. Her power grew too quickly for her to have a handle on.” I sighed, and shook my head. “And it’s getting worse. It’s getting much worse.”

Gwen stared at me for a long moment, her grey-green eyes boring into me quietly, as she brushed an errant lock of silver from her face. “You missed the part where that’s going to get you killed.”

“Again, summary. She’s not going to be too keen on the trainer that ended up with her daughter.” I said, trying to move the conversation along.

Annabelle shook her head, and took another sip of water. “And again, you’re trying to evade the topic. We can do this all day.” She said, as she stared at me. “All day.”

“Because it’s not really your business.” I said, firmly. “Now, keeping things concise, I don’t know how to handle this, because at the moment, my delphox might as well be radioactive. She’s too hot to handle, and if we can’t get her power under control, she’s going to really hurt someone, maybe several people. Meanwhile, I need to find her mother; the proverbial needle in the haystack. Finally, I then need to find a way to get her to not set me on fire with her mind.”

Wendy spoke up, startling me. “Well, it seems pretty obvious to me.” She said, reaching out for a pastry, and blowing across the surface. “You set up camp, and leave Claire to me. Can’t set you on fire if you’re not there, buckwheat.”

The sound of my palm striking my forehead echoed in the room.