AN: At 8100 words, this is the longest GR chapter so far. I hope you enjoy.

The next week was a strange mixture of busyness and boredom as everyone waited for the barrier around the forest to go down. The supernatural creatures kept a constant rotation at the barrier, talking to reporters and government officials. Those who could speak English aloud (since telepathy didn't work through the barrier) spent much of their time there: minotaurs like Andrew, hamadryads like June and Ivy, dryads, smoke beings, and so on.

Other creatures made good on Andrew's promise to help humans get to the edge of town for medical care. The townspeople were basically okay, thanks to their survival supplies like generators and food storage. But a few elderly people and young families accepted the creatures' help, and more than one peryton was seen coming to the barrier with little kids on its back.

As for the Symbols, things settled down gradually. Ford and Fidds went back to the Museum and, with Andrew's help, took down the Museum's own barrier spell and gave back the dagger. Waddles went with them, to stay in their care while Dipper stayed at a hotel with his parents. Melody, the Corduroys, and the Valentinos went along to the Museum and spent a day taking all their things back to their own homes.

"Wendy," said Ford at one point, "would you care to explain how you're going to clean your art off the side of my house?"

Wendy glanced at him. "I make the art. Other people clean it up." Her tone, though snarky, was remarkably softer than it would've been with other adults, since she knew the pain Ford was going through — she'd gone through it with her own mother eight years ago.

"I see," Ford said. "Well, as talented as your art is, I do not want a portrait of my brother's killer there for me to see as I come and go. So I hope you can come up with ideas on how to get rid of it."

Wendy flinched just a bit.

Danny overheard the conversation; he didn't mind Ford talking straight with Wendy, and he had an idea. They should get the Gravity Rises news over here to do a segment on the art and interview Wendy. For her part, Wendy was horrified at the idea of an interview, but she did like the idea of her art being on the news. It'd probably end up on the national news, too: The Gravity Rises reporters were the only ones who could get into the town this week, and they were selling their footage to the eager reporters outside the barrier and making good money.

So it was that Shandra Jimenez, local reporter, came to the Museum and did a segment, talking to Ford about the experience of opening his house as a refuge to others, asking various people about Bill and their encounters with him, and taking professional photographs of Wendy's spray paint art of Bill sitting on a throne of human agony.

Once that was over, it was Mabel who had the idea of how to clean it up. "Would brownies have magic to help with that?" she asked, thinking of the illusory brownies she'd seen in the false moon (the moon which, thankfully, had disappeared, and which, thankfully, she'd never have to see again).

Rowan and Marigold, who were still hanging out around the Museum, went to go recruit the brownies. It turned out that the brownies were willing and able to use their magic to purge an image of the multiverse's greatest enemy. When they were done, the log cabin walls looked the same as they had before they'd been touched by any spray paint.

~~~~~

While the older Symbols were dealing with things in town, the younger Symbols were going back and forth between Gravity Rises and the hotels in Baker City that their families were staying in. Ellie and Pacifica were staying in one hotel, and the Pines and the Northwest siblings spent a lot of time together in another. It seemed they must've talked for a whole day straight as Grace and Gideon caught up after six years, and the twins tried to explain to their parents the insane (and insanely dangerous) vacation they'd had. Sam nearly fainted a few times, honestly. Camille just sat there with Sam's hand in her own stony grip and with an intense look on her face. Dipper joked that she was never going to let the twins out of her sight again, and Camille nodded in all seriousness, as if that were very much her plan.

Not everything the twins told their parents was scary or dangerous, though. Dipper happily brought some of his minotaur friends to the barrier to meet Sam and Camille, for example. And Mabel told them about the awesome magical flora and fauna she had learned about from Ford's Journals or seen herself. And—

"Oh!" Dipper said, a few days after getting home. "Mabel! I forgot! Amanda!"

Mabel lowered her fork (the Pines, Grace, and Gideon were eating dinner at a restaurant a few blocks away from the hotel) and looked at Dipper with wide eyes. "Oh."

"Dad, did you bring your laptop? Can I check my email?"

"Wait a second," said Camille, "who's Amanda?"

Dipper's face lit up. "She's awesome! We gave each other our emails before she left — she's a selkie, and she swam through a portal to get here but Ford reversed it to send her home — and I thought I'd been emailing her for a while before the internet stopped working, but then I found out about the time bubble—"

"She came during the time bubble, though, Dipper," Mabel said quietly. "It's possible. . . well, you have to be prepared. . . maybe she wasn't real."

Dipper deflated a bit, but then shook his head and looked to his parents. "She's real. I kissed her, Mom. She kissed me back. That couldn't have been fake."

Camille blinked. "I see."

"First kiss, huh?" Sam said, smiling. "Sure, bud. You can check your email when we get back to the hotel."

Mabel and Gideon, meanwhile, inexplicably turned beet red and stared resolutely at their plates. They had glanced at each other when Sam had said "first kiss" and had then immediately looked away.

"Gideon? What's wrong?" Grace asked.

Well, that started quite an uncomfortable conversation, in which Gideon explained the inappropriate kiss in the moon. (Mabel was certainly too mortified to say anything.) Gideon hastened to apologize — partly because he realized he hadn't yet, and partly because the adults were all staring at him in disapproval, and mostly because Dipper looked about ready to beat him up. "I'm sorry, Mabel. I really am," Gideon said.

"Thanks," she whispered, though she didn't look at him.

"Mabel," said Sam, "I'm proud of you. For standing up for yourself like that."

"Yes," said Camille. "And this doesn't count as your first kiss, got it? Your first kiss is when you want it to be."

Now Mabel looked up, and gave a little smile. "Thanks," she said again.

The rest of dinner was definitely awkward, but they finished it with no further incident. They went back to the hotel and sat in the somewhat comfortable chairs in the lobby, with Dipper pestering Sam until he went to the Pines' hotel room, brought back his laptop, connected it with the hotel Wi-Fi, and set it up so Dipper could get on his email account.

And there they were: thirty-three emails from mermaidgirl528. Amanda Jones.

The emails started on January fifth. ("That's the day," Dipper said to his parents. "The day that we lived over and over.") After that there was at least one email a day, with a lot of emails on January twelfth and thirteenth, when the news had gotten out about the town disappearing.

"She is real," Mabel said, smiling. "Weird, though, that she appeared on the one day in the time bubble that we were there to find her at the lake."

Gideon shrugged. "That's the magic of the time bubble for you. Super complex. It must've somehow known to take her to a time when there'd be someone to help her. But I'm surprised that the portal she swam through was active in the first place."

"Shush," Dipper said. His face was so close to the screen that it was a wonder he could read the words at all. "I'm reading her emails."

Gideon rolled his eyes, but shushed.

The emails started off innocently enough. The first one read, "Hi Dipper!!! Amanda here! I told my mom everything that happened today and she is SO thankful that Mr. Pines and you guys helped me get home. So, thanks again, from both of us!! It's weird, though. . . my mom didn't get the message I left for her when I called her with Mr. Pines' phone. Well, whatever. I'm home. That's what matters. Anyway, email me back when you can!"

"The time bubble," Dipper said, leaning back and pointing at the line of the email about the phone. "It blocked her phone call to the outside."

The next few emails were about Amanda's day, or a cool seashell she'd found. After a few days, Amanda said she'd hoped to hear back from Dipper by now, but maybe he wasn't as active on his email as she was. (She had multiple internet friends that she was emailing, she said.) She started finishing her emails with goofy ideas about why Dipper hadn't answered yet. "You're out on a super cool adventure with Ford," she said in one email, "where you're battling a kraken that woke up in the middle of its hibernation and broke through the ice in the lake!" In another email, she said, "Rabid gnomes must've come and chewed through your internet cords. I get it. Happens here all the time! ;)"

Then, on January twelfth, the mood of her emails dramatically changed: "DIPPER! Oh my gosh! There's a story on the news that Gravity Rises has DISAPPEARED!! Where are you?? What happened? Have you not been getting my emails at all? I was just there a week ago! What is going on????"

For two weeks after that, the emails varied between sad and panicky, and Dipper felt an ache in his chest as he saw that Amanda had made sure to email at least once a day. His and Mabel's experience in the township had been terrible, but the experience of everyone outside who didn't know what had happened was terrible too.

But then. Sunday, the twenty-seventh of January. The day the township returned. The mood of the emails flipped again: this time to joy. "OH MY GOSH!" one of the emails said. "YOU'RE BACK! YOU'RE BACK!!! DIPPER! I saw you on the news!! When that minotaur came to the edge of town, and you said hi to him! YOU'RE SAFE!!"

There were a few more emails after that, including one from just a few hours ago that simply said, "I really want to talk to you. I'm so glad you're okay. Please check your email soon!"

Dipper had felt a roller coaster of emotions while reading all the emails, but now he just had a huge grin on his face. He immediately pressed reply. "Dad, Dad — can I do a video call with her?" he asked while typing out an email.

"As long as you don't mind the rest of us being in it too," Sam replied.

So Dipper fired off an email: "HI AMANDA! I'm okay!!! Can you video chat??"

Then he waited for her response.

She didn't respond for about half an hour. Camille left to get donuts and hot chocolate for everyone, and Gideon had the genius idea to dip pieces of his donut into the chocolate drink. "That's good," Dipper said, his mouth full. "Not nearly as good as Melody's hot chocolate, though, right, Mabel?"

"Yeah," Mabel said, taking a tentative sip of her too-hot drink. "You didn't get to try Melody's hot chocolate, Gideon, but we should ask her to make you some."

By the time Amanda responded, the donuts were gone, and Gideon and Grace had gone off to the other side of the lobby to look at pictures of Grace's family on her phone. For a while, Dipper had been refreshing the email page every thirty seconds, but now he sat back in a chair and hadn't refreshed it for about five minutes.

Then a tone started playing from the laptop: Amanda was video calling. Dipper shot up and answered it immediately. "Hi!" he said, so loudly that the hotel clerk gave them a look.

The reunion between Dipper and Amanda was a sweet one. They introduced each others' parents, and Mabel said hi, and Amanda said she wanted to know everything that had happened. Dipper explained to her how he thought he'd been emailing her, but it was actually some kind of illusion from the time bubble. Amanda was definitely surprised to learn that, when she'd come to Gravity Rises on January fifth, it had actually been the twentieth or so "January fifth" for Dipper.

The video call went on for hours; eventually, the hotel clerk asked the Pines to go to their room to continue. By the time Dipper finally ended the call, he'd talked through a lot of what happened with Bill, the Order, the township, and all that.

Amanda was rightly horrified, but she also smiled a lot. She was just so thankful Dipper was all right.

Funny how disaster can make you feel closer to people, even people you only knew for one day.

~~~~~

While those events were happening at the hotel, Ford was talking to Andrew at the Mystery Museum. Ford, Andrew, and Fidds were downstairs in the portal room, discussing what to do with the machine. Ford did not want the government finding (and likely seizing) the portal — but he didn't want to destroy it, either.

"Can you think of anywhere we could get the information to program the destination to somewhere else? Like your dimension of origin?" he asked.

Andrew shook his head. "I can't think of anywhere, no."

"With Bill gone," Ford said, "can we safely explore his dimension? Maybe find a way to another dimension from there?"

"There's nothing there, Ford," said Fidds. "Even if there were, you'd need an airplane or spaceship to get around."

Ford shot him a quick glare. "Well, we spent two years building this machine. Do you really want to destroy it?"

"No, I don't," Fidds said, even though part of him would love to destroy the machine that had led to his thirty-year limbo. "I just don't think it's worth it to open it again until we have another dimension programmed, and I don't know when or how we'll get that programming."

"It'll be hard to keep the portal a secret, Ford," said Andrew. "I've already heard people talking about the gravitational anomalies. Your government is going to want to know why those happened."

"They shouldn't have access to Bill's dimension," Fidds said. "No one should."

Ford thought about this for a few minutes. "Okay," he said. "What if we reset the programming, so we don't have the option of going to Bill's dimension, and start from ground zero in that area? But we don't destroy any of the machinery."

Andrew nodded slowly. "That could work."

"I have the programming written down somewhere," Fidds said. "We could put it somewhere safe, like one of the compartments I hid the Journals in."

"Honestly, we should probably hide the Journals again, too," Ford said with a sigh. "I can rewrite the information to share with the world, but leave out things like how to summon Bill."

"Good idea," said Andrew. "Gideon also mentioned needing a safe place for his amulet, after he leaves with his sister. Maybe it can go with the Journals and such."

Ford nodded. Then sighed again. "The government has gotten so bloated since the eighties. They're going to wrap everything in red tape, I'm sure." But he still agreed to tell them about the portal.

The rest of the night was a treasure hunt for all of Fidds' old papers, which they called Melody over to help with. (She knew more about where things were in the Museum than Ford did, at this point.) They eventually found a box deep in a closet, not too far from where the box of Fidds' knitting supplies had been, that had what they were looking for. Melody also found a box of empty maroon books identical to the Journals — Ford had forgotten that he'd bought a dozen or so of those back in the seventies.

He got started copying the Journals down, including all the sketches. It was hard to only copy the words of his younger self and not add to it with the knowledge he had now, but he managed.

When the twins and Gideon came to the Museum the next morning, they found a tired, grumpy Ford in the process of being berated by Melody for staying up all night.

"I have less than a week to copy them all down and hide them, Melody," he said. "It's more important than sleep."

Fidds almost suggested simply tearing out the pages Ford didn't want the world to see, but he refrained. Ford probably did not need a reminder of how Fidds had done that exact thing to Ford's third Journal thirty years ago.

"Well. . . Grunkle Ford, I was thinking," said Mabel. "Remember how you said you could take me to see that UFO? I guess you're probably too tired today, but, um, I would still love to go there with you."

"Actually, that's a great thing to do today," Ford said. "We're not going to destroy the portal, but Fidds is about to go downstairs to deprogram it, and we should probably return the fuel we didn't use. There are about eighty gallons left."

"Ooh!" said Dipper. "Can I go get some minotaurs to come help?"

"That'd be great," said Ford. Melody didn't look too happy that he was going out into the forest instead of going to bed, but she did recognize the urgency. She simply insisted on coming along so she could catch Ford when he inevitably fell asleep on his feet.

Dipper went outside and called out until Cedar the hamadryad appeared to transport him through the forest. She could only take him so far — the tree roots would take a while to regrow, even with magical speed, so for now each hamadryad could only transport others across a small area. They could still walk wherever they wanted, though, and some of them (June especially) spent most of their time at the barrier talking to humans.

It took four transfers between hamadryads to get to the minotaur village, but it was still only a few minutes' travel. Dipper thanked each hamadryad who helped. At the village, he gathered three minotaurs to come back with him — more than necessary, but they were happy to help their favorite human. Candy was at the village, too, and she grabbed Enoch and insisted on coming along to see the UFO.

The group travelled back to the Museum, where they discovered that Gideon had left (he said he had something else to do today). Ford was busy draining the remaining portal fuel into two 55-gallon barrels. Since Candy and Enoch were coming, Dipper ran down to Greyson's house to see if Greyson could come, too, just for fun.

Half an hour later, Ford, Melody, Dipper, Mabel, Candy, Greyson, Enoch, and the three adult minotaurs were trekking through the snowy forest, pulling a sledge with two nearly full barrels, heading to the UFO. Mabel hadn't imagined such a big group, but it was good this way, too. It could be one last adventure with her brother and her great uncle before. . . leaving.

Going home.

Even with all the awful things she had been through here in Gravity Rises, Mabel found herself dreading going home.

She put the thought out of her mind and focused on enjoying this time with Ford. The group walked in deep snow under an overcast sky, with a hint of sunlight seeping through the clouds and casting the entire forest in an omnipresent white light. After two weeks of endless night, without even the stars of the Milky Way galaxy to comfort them, everyone was so happy and relieved to be outside again. With their own sky.

They arrived at the UFO, and the three minotaurs very carefully lowered the heavy barrels down the ladder. Even standing on the hill above the UFO, Mabel was ecstatic. She was standing on top of a spaceship! A real spaceship! That had seen skies and stars and planets far from her own!

"This proves there's other life in out there, right?" she asked Ford. "I mean, there are other universes, but the species here got here through portals. A spaceship means it came here from our universe. And if it landed or crashed here, and this whole hill grew over it, then it's been here for thousands of years! Right? And if the aliens had the technology to come here on a spaceship thousands of years ago, then imagine how advanced they are!"

She continued talking as she climbed down the ladder and watched the minotaurs set the barrels by the huge fuel tank. "I wonder why they haven't sent any other ships. And why they landed here, of all the places in the world. Or maybe they really were from another dimension, and there was just a big enough portal for them to get through. But then why would they have so much fuel? Did they have to fly a long way to get to the portal in the first place?"

Ford didn't have any answers to Mabel's questions, but he entertained Mabel's ideas, and together they talked about theories. Two of the minotaurs left to go back to the village, but one stayed back to keep Enoch company. It was Kálux; he had been healed from his injuries sustained at the Northwest Manor.

They all spent a long and exciting time exploring the old spaceship. Melody and Kálux had their work cut out for them, as Dipper and Candy ran around to the next exciting thing (dragging Enoch and Greyson along with them), and Ford took Mabel to show her foreign markings or whatever else. But no one got hurt, and everyone had a good time.

Finally, their tiredness and cold got to them and started sucking away the fun. Ford got noticeably grumpy. "We'll bring the sledge," Melody told him. "You find a hamadryad and ask her to teleport you home. And then you should get some sleep." Ford rolled his eyes, but didn't protest.

The group, sans Ford, trudged through the snow back to the Mystery Museum. Dipper and Greyson asked Candy about what it was like at the minotaur village, and she described visiting there often and spending time with her dad in the prison hut. "His official trial isn't until Friday," she said. "Well, it's not really a trial — more of a conviction, where the elders will announce his punishment. They've promised he's not going to be banished or executed, but. . . they might keep him locked up for years. I don't know. From what I've heard, what he did was. . . really bad."

"Yeah," Dipper said quietly.

"But," Mabel said, "if he's sorry — really sorry — then I wouldn't want him to miss out on being with you."

"If he was sorry, Mabel," said Dipper, "would you forgive him? I mean, he helped Bill and Pacifica hurt you."

Mabel looked away. But then looked back. "I'm trying to forgive Pacifica," she said, "and I can try to forgive Caleb, too."

Candy smiled at that.

They got back to the Museum, and Candy, Greyson, and Enoch decided to leave for Greyson's house. Melody went in to check on Ford — only to find that he wasn't in bed. He was in his lab, holding a group séance with Gideon Northwest, in which they'd contacted Lee. Melody took a moment to say hi to Lee's ghost and smile at him — and then she grabbed Ford by the ear and dragged him to his room to sleep already.

Lee was still laughing when Gideon ended the séance.

Gideon gathered up the candles and other supplies (a group séance liked this had to be powered by human magic and not by the amulet) and set them aside. Mabel and Dipper chatted with him for a while, and Gideon told them what he'd been doing today: "I went to the Manor and undid the memory spell on our family."

"You mean the one that made Grace forget about this place for years?" said Dipper.

"What was it like, breaking the spell? Was it hard?" asked Mabel.

"It was pretty hard, yeah," said Gideon. "My ancestor was really good with the amulet. But since the spell was cast with the amulet, it could be undone by the amulet. I managed it eventually."

"How did you find the spell in the first place, if you didn't know about it beforehand?" asked Mabel. "Was it just. . . floating there, in the mindscape, or something?"

"It was cast in the Manor, so that's where its center was, so to speak," Gideon said. "It's been there all along, but it had this sort of camouflage that made me not notice it until now. I found the center in the portrait room and undid it from there. Kind of like. . . untying a complicated knot. Metaphorically."

"So now you'll be able to come to California without forgetting," Mabel said, smiling. "I'm really glad you could break that spell."

"Yeah," Gideon said, returning her smile with a genuine one of his own.

They went out to the living room, where they overheard Melody ranting to Fidds ("I swear, that man acts like a toddler sometimes!"), though she stopped as soon as she saw the teens. Her cheeks turned pink from embarrassment.

"So, Melody," said Dipper, "how's Soos?"

Mabel thought he probably just said it to distract Melody from her embarrassment. But Melody seemed to appreciate it. "He seems to be fine," Melody said. "He would've loved to come with the UFO with us. But he and I will meet up sometime next week."

Dipper grinned. "For a date?"

She smiled. "Something like that."

Gideon turned to Fidds. "Did you finish with the portal, then?" Gideon asked. "Ford told me how you were deprogramming it. And how I can hide my amulet with your papers and his Journals."

"Yes, I'm done," Fidds replied. "That was definitely a lot faster than programming it in the first place."

"Can we help Ford at all? With copying down the Journals?" Mabel asked.

"I doubt he'd want any handwriting but his own in there," Melody said with a sigh.

"Besides," said Dipper, glancing at the clock, "Mom and Dad are going to pick us up in half an hour."

It was true. Mabel, Dipper, and Gideon spent fifteen minutes hanging out at the Museum with Melody and Fidds, and then left to walk to the barrier at the edge of town. Multiple reporters called out to them, asking for an interview, but they ignored all of them and simply walked on, heading to the Pines' car that was parked nearby.

"We'll have to talk to them eventually," Gideon said grudgingly, nodding back at the reporters.

"Not until we're all safe and sound back in California," Camille said, shepherding the three teens into the car.

~~~~~

The day at the UFO was Wednesday. Thursday was a boring day spent mostly at the hotel. Then there was Friday: Caleb's conviction.

Dipper insisted on going, and Mabel and Gideon went as well. The entire minotaur village was there in the elder's arena, but it was still easy to find Candy, since she, her mother, and Greyson (who was there for moral support) were the only humans in the crowd. The three teens picked their way through the crowd of minotaurs until they made it to the other humans and sat by them. Sitting next to the Chius was Andrew's entire family. Yingtai clutched Moira's hand in nervousness. Candy held baby Timmy on her lap, a little too tightly.

The other two young calves, Naomi and Drew, were acting pretty rowdy, especially after they saw Dipper. "Hi, Drew! Hi, Naomi! Can I sit by you?" said Dipper. Naomi and Drew were happy to have him beside them, and Greyson went over to join them, too. Once he was settled between the calves, Dipper winked at Moira, and she responded with a relieved nod.

The event wouldn't start for a few minutes yet, so the group talked while they waited. "Yingtai, have you been to the meetings at the library?" asked Gideon.

"Oh. . . I've only been to one of them," said Yingtai, who had been too anxious for anything more. "I'm sure Greg is going to be great with them, though."

"Are you talking about Order meetings?" Mabel asked.

"Sort of," Gideon said. "Greg is the leader of the Order now, right? Well, he's already setting up this support group type thing for people who are disoriented from losing and then regaining their memories. It's at the library — in the actual library, not the Order headquarters underneath. Greg asked me if I could come today after this, and I said I would, although I'm not bringing the amulet."

That was probably wise, Candy thought. If he brought the amulet, Gideon might get mobbed, either by people wanting to destroy it or people wanting him to use it to restore all their memories.

"What sort of things are they doing there?" said Mabel.

"Talking through memories with people, helping them remember. And apologizing. And just general emotional support, since most people are remembering the times they were brought down to the Order." Gideon sighed. "Very rarely were people calm by the time I saw them."

"I can imagine," Moira said quietly.

"Greg wants to get this whole thing started early so that by next week, or whenever people start investigating the Order, they can see that it's already turning around. I think that's a good idea."

"I do as well," Moira said. Then she gave a sigh of her own. "Things are going to get a lot more complicated once that barrier goes down, aren't they?"

"Oh, definitely," was Gideon's reply.

Then— "There he is!" said Candy. "He. . . he looks okay." She gave her mom a nervous smile. It didn't matter that she'd seen her dad only that morning — she had still been half expecting to see him all beat up or something.

But Caleb looked basically fine, except for his own clear anxiety. His entire body was tense, from his ears to his fetlocks. He walked stiffly to the middle of the elder's arena, where he stood flanked by two guards. He didn't even turn his head — but with his large field of vision, Candy thought he could probably still see her, so she waved.

"Caleb, son of Ezra," boomed a magically enhanced voice from the elder's stand. The elders were giving their ruling in English for the sake of the humans, and Candy was thankful. Hearing so much of the minotaur language throughout the week, and only hearing English when it was directed at her, had been frustrating. She was just lucky that this entire village somehow knew her language even before she knew they existed.

She had met the elders back when she and Yingtai had first come to the village. She was pretty sure the elder talking was named Twánat.

"You stand before us, guilty of conspiracy, betrayal, and even aiding an attempted murder," Twánat said to Caleb. Candy knew all this, yet she still felt queasy hearing it. "The punishment for any of these crimes would be execution, and yet we've received pleas from your family to spare your life. Including from your brother, Andrew, who was arguably the one most betrayed by your treachery.

"We've also learned of your secret relationship with a human woman, and the daughter you fathered twelve years ago," Twánat continued. "That offense would likely result in your banishment from our village to our dimension of origin. But we've received pleas for you to be spared from that punishment as well, so you can remain and live openly with your lover and daughter. Such a thing has never happened in the history of our village, not even back in days of old when we were in contact with the native humans of the area. At least, not to our knowledge."

What's your point? Candy wanted to ask. So my dad did some bad things. So I'm not supposed to exist. What are you going to do about it? That's what we all want to know, so spit it out.

"We say all this," Twánat said, "to remind you and everyone here that any punishment we give you is a mercy. As is any allowance we make for your human family. Things are going to change, I know, now that humans throughout the world are aware of us. But you are still subject to our laws."

Candy had to resist the urge to squeeze Timmy's little arm in anger. Maybe my dad doesn't want to be subject to your laws, Twánat.

"After much discussion, we have decided your punishment. We realized that part of the problem here was your knowledge and education. Not a lack of it — your father, Ezra, taught you much of what he knew about Cipher, within the bounds of what he could share as guardian of Cipher's prison. No, the problem seems more to be how that education was received and applied. Lack of experience with Cipher led to his deceiving you. Lack of understanding of our important purpose here in this forest led to your secret romantic meetings with a human."

Candy thought she saw Caleb open his mouth to protest, but he immediately closed it again as one of the guards took a warning step closer to him.

"Therefore," Twánat said, "we will keep you imprisoned for at least four moons. The exact day of your release will depend on when we feel you are ready. You will reside in the prison hut, and you will help with the remaining repairs around the village. Also, during those four moons, we will teach you — and anyone else who wishes to be taught — the things you should have learned before."

Candy's eyes widened. Four months? Only. . . only four months? Not, like, a year, or five years, or another long prison sentence like would be given in the United States prison system?

Candy looked up at her mother. Yingtai had wide eyes, too.

"And, to ensure that you learn it this time," Twánat said to Caleb, "you will, at the beginning and end of your sentence, be subject to limnatásh."

A gasp rippled through the crowd. Yingtai grabbed Moira's arm. "What is that? What does that mean?" she whispered, sounding panicked.

Candy was still learning to read minotaur emotions. But Caleb looked as panicked as Yingtai sounded.

"This word does not have an English equivalent, but might be translated as 'mind cleanse,'" Twánat said, for the humans' sake. "It is a deep magic that will allow us to see Caleb's every thought and intention."

"Cleanse?" Yingtai whispered to Moira. "That word means clean, purge, erase! What are they going to do to him?!"

"It's okay," Moira said. She squeezed Yingtai's hand. "It's okay. Maybe that wasn't the best translation. The magic won't do anything to change Caleb or his mind. As Twánat said, it allows the caster to see into someone's mind, but they're only there to observe."

"Then why is your voice shaking?" Yingtai demanded.

"Well, it's. . . rare. And hard to do. The person casting it sees every part of the subject's mind. It takes a long time, and it can be overwhelming on both sides."

"Because of his relationship to you, Caleb," Twánat continued, "Andrew has refused to perform this magic. He will be the main source of power for it, but he will not be the one looking into your mind. We have asked five hamadryads to be neutral observers, which fits well with their natural magic, and should work with our spell if Andrew is there to anchor it. The hamadryads have agreed, and they have also agreed to have the information they learn from your mind be taken out of their memories once they have reported their findings to us. We hope to see, the first time, that you are willing to learn, and, the second time, that you have the knowledge and desire to help our cause instead of Cipher's."

Caleb relaxed. Not completely, but enough. Candy found herself breathing easier, too. There was magic that let someone see everything in someone's mind? Candy didn't really have anything to hide, but the prospect still sounded like a nightmare. No one deserved to see her mind. It was hers. And Caleb's mind was his. Hearing that outsiders would perform the magic, and wouldn't remember what they saw for too long afterwards, was definitely a relief.

"This is our decision for your punishment," Twánat said. "Four moons' imprisonment, education, and labor. Two different days of limnatásh. This is so."

"Let it be so," said the minotaurs in the crowd. Candy jumped; she hadn't expected them to say anything. The phrase sounded like a traditional one, and Candy wondered vaguely why the minotaurs had said it in English — but maybe they'd been instructed to.

"We have not yet finished," Twánat said. "We still need to discuss your human family. However, Caleb, we will give you an opportunity to speak at this point. Do you accept our decision?"

It took Caleb at least five seconds to answer. Then, "Yes," he said, his voice raw from nervousness. "Thank you. This is very merciful."

Twánat nodded. "We hope that with this mercy, you can become a welcome part of our village again."

Candy was mostly relieved about Caleb's light punishment, but she felt a new wave of anxiety, too. Next, the elders were going to talk about her and Yingtai. What would they say?

"As for your human family," Twánat said, "we said earlier that mixing our two races has never been done before. We certainly know of no other child born of a human and a minotaur, who with magic has become mostly human. Your daughter was born, however, and she is with us today. We do not think she deserves to spend her life without a father. Your lover, though on the side of the enemy, can perhaps be educated alongside you. We do not wish to separate the two of you entirely."

Candy felt her heart swelling. This was good. What Twánat was saying sounded good so far.

"Our laws do not apply to Yingtai or Mei Xing," said Twánat. "However, the two of them are expected to follow our laws when in our village, or they will be sent away. They are welcome to visit you, Caleb, and learn with you. We hope they will. But they are not welcome to intervene with your punishment. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Caleb said. His voice was a little stronger now.

"Do you have anything else to say?"

"Yes," Caleb said. He took a deep breath. "I would like your permission to officially marry Yingtai Chiu. Next week."

The crowd gave another collective gasp. Candy hadn't been expecting that, but it made sense. She thought it was a great idea.

"We discussed that as well," Twánat said, nodding. "We are not all in agreement. Some of us think you should not be allowed any contact with Yingtai or Candy after your crimes, and certainly that you should not be allowed to marry Yingtai under our law. Others of us think that we should support your desire to have a family, recognized by our society. We will need to discuss further, especially if you would like our approval so soon."

"I understand," Caleb said. "I would also like to attend Xítway's funeral."

"Yes, of course," Twánat said. He nodded to the crowd. "We hope to see everyone at Xítway's funeral, which will be in three days at sunrise." To Caleb, he added, "Has Xítway visited you, by any chance?"

"She has," Caleb said. "I apologized to her for my part in her death."

"That is good to hear." Twánat clasped his hands. "If there is no objection and no other voice to be heard, we will end this gathering. Let anyone who wishes to speak, stand and speak." He waited. No one said anything. Then Twánat said, "Is this so?"

"Let it be so," the crowd replied.

And that was it. That was Caleb's trial.

The guards turned Caleb around and led him out of the arena. The other minotaurs stood up and started leaving.

Candy stayed seated. She felt numb. Maybe it was just from Timmy, who was pretty heavy, sitting on her lap for so long. But no, it was definitely a reaction from what had just happened, too. Enoch came to take his baby brother from Candy, and she handed him off. Then she scooted close to her mother. Yingtai, shaking, hugged Candy tightly.

"That was fast," Dipper said, sounding surprised.

Candy disagreed. That had felt like it lasted a lifetime. But also. . . no time at all.

"Only four months," Yingtai whispered. "Only four months. And we'll be able to visit him."

"I'm happy for you," Moira said. She stood. "Would you two like to come with us for a meal?"

"We'll. . . be along in a moment."

"I had better head home," Greyson said. He gave Candy a hug, and she let him. "It'll be okay, Candy."

Candy wasn't really a touchy-feely person. But right now, she really appreciated Greyson's arms around her, and Yingtai's presence by her side.

Greyson let go and stepped back. And Candy smiled at him.

"Thanks," she said. She turned her smile to everyone in the group, human and minotaur alike. "I think. . . I think it really will be okay."

~~~~~

The week came to a close. Gideon went to Greg's support meetings like he'd promised, and it wasn't an awful experience, although the frequent suspicious looks and glares from people, and the many apologies he had to give, tired him out easily. But the meetings were a good thing overall, especially because it seemed to calm any possibility of an angry riot against the Order members.

Ford, meanwhile, finished copying all three of his Journals, and he did so on very little sleep, much to Melody's annoyance.

With the Journals copied, Ford, Fidds, and Gideon went to hide the originals, plus Fidds' papers with the portal programming information, in the forest. Ford took the third Journal back to the bunker and the compartment Mabel had found it in. Fidds and Gideon went to the fairy hollow and put the first two Journals and Fidds' papers in the other compartment there. Then Gideon explained things to the fairies, and said, "I'll come back to put my amulet in here before Grace and I leave. Will you watch over the compartment?"

The fairies agreed. They told Gideon they were happy that he was getting away from his father and going to live with his sister. They even gave their condolences for Lee's death.

"We are grateful for his sacrifice," they said.

"We'll tell Ford you said so," Gideon said. Ford had refused to come to the fairies after their rudeness the last time he'd seen them. But maybe he would forgive them a bit if he knew they at least cared enough to say what they'd said.

Meanwhile, discussions were finishing up at the barrier. After a week of supernatural creatures and human officials talking almost constantly, they had actually reached a consensus, both with the state and federal governments. The supernatural creatures would stay here (having nowhere else to go), and the government would mostly stay out of their affairs. Some people wanted all the supernatural creatures to go through those one-way portals they had and leave earth entirely (and a few people, as Gideon predicted, were panicking about invading aliens coming through said portals), but the supernatural creatures had successfully convinced the government — and hopefully the public at large — of the importance of their presence as Bill Cipher's prison wardens.

Plus, they said, there were very few native-to-Earth species left in this section of the forest, since the alien plants and animals had taken over the natural species throughout the centuries. Even if humans got rid of the supernatural creatures, they'd still have magical plants and bugs to deal with. Better to have the magical societies stay here and teach humans about their forest, than to have them sent away.

So the supernatural creatures would stay, and the humans would create a sort of embassy with them in town. The Oregon government would offer resources to the supernatural creatures, and in return they'd offer knowledge and magic — although they were careful to emphasize that their magic was a limited resource. They couldn't heal all the sick people in the world. Nor could they offer magical alternatives to human technology — at least not ones that could be reproduced outside this forest.

All of these things were discussed. Resolved. The supernatural creatures would be safe from the humans around them.

With that accomplished, the world waited with bated breath for the barrier to come down.

Then came Sunday. February third. The anticipated day.

(February? It's only February? The townspeople were pretty disoriented after the time bubble. One older woman remarked that it must be April by now, and the snows hadn't lasted so long since she was a child.)

A large crowd gathered outside the barrier. There was a fairly big crowd inside the barrier, too, of supernatural species and townspeople who had come to witness this. The Oregon National Guard had set up manmade barriers to allow for a controlled flow of people into the town. There were government officials, construction and utility workers, relatives of the townspeople. . . enough people to make the town and forest of Gravity Rises busier than it'd ever been.

In front of the manmade barriers stood a line of National Guard troops, ready for any unexpected conflict. Some troops had guns, but the guns weren't aimed at anything. And if everything went to plan, they wouldn't be.

Governor Warner stood by the barrier — he'd been advised not to, but he insisted on being there for the optics. Andrew stood on the other side, his body language hopefully giving away none of the nervousness he felt.

"Three minutes," an official announced. She checked her watch. They apparently were waiting for 3:39, which was the exact time the township had returned last Sunday. Andrew hoped the humans wouldn't force their strict timekeeping on the supernatural creatures; it gave him a headache, to be honest.

They waited some more. Cameras turned from the loud reporters to the quiet barrier.

Then Governor Warner put his hand up and rested it on the barrier. He gave a slight nod to Andrew.

Andrew didn't know whose idea this had been, though he had to admit that it was good optics, which humans apparently cared about quite a bit. So he played along, putting his own hand on the barrier, directly opposite the governor's hand.

There was a tiny bit of space between their hands. Andrew wondered if any of the humans' high-powered cameras could see that space. The minotaur and the human stood there with their hands not quite touching. They held the pose for about a minute.

Then Governor Warner's hand moved forward. The space disappeared. The two hands touched.

The barrier was gone.

At least on the human side. Andrew knew the barrier would never go down for him. But it was gone for the humans, and Governor Warner moved his hand to clasp Andrew's. Warner smiled, and it wasn't just a calculated smile for the cameras. It was a real smile of exhilaration.

Warner turned, stepped backward through the barrier, and raised Andrew's hand in his. The humans applauded.

"The long week is over," said Governor Warner, puffing up like a bullfrog with self-importance. "The barrier has disappeared. Gravity Rises is officially home."