I blink back the haze of sleep to feel all my bones aching. The white, clay-like material all around us is a stark contrast from the blue clouds of my underwhelming mindscape, but upon seeing the bars of the cage I'm in, I find myself longing for the former. "Altair?" I ask, turning to my left, but there are no long copper limbs or deep, sad eyes to reassure me there. My heart seizes up in my chest before going into overdrive, fear shaking my whole body. Is he dead? Am I dead? I could have circumvented all of this by staying at home but noooo, I had to go after Okari and make a deal with a voice who regularly tells me to beat the living daylights out of everyone I come across...

"Over here," peeps a familiar voice. "You smell like a corpse." Altair is across our little compound, which seems to be set on a long, candle-lit hall in a rank basement.

"Bandits always smell like their victims. The reek of all the Sentients they've broken is all they carry with them." Next to Altair, in the cell to the left, is a white Canis with ribbon-bound ears. Her glow is so strong that the light she emanates seeps through the bars and makes the walls look bare as bone.

Altair notices the way my eyes are pulled to her. Shyly, he says, "Guess we're in good company."

"I wouldn't call the two of you good company by any stretch of the imagination," argues the Canis, "but the company I most like to keep is no company."

"Consider accompanying our company. We've crossed paths before, haven't we?" I suggest. "That makes it destiny."

"What?" she says, and then, slyly, "I see. Three times..."

"It's a powerful number." Altair agrees. "Have you two 'considered' we should be more concerned about the end of said destiny? We are about to be dehorned by a cult--"

"If we were destined to meet up, I suppose you'll have to tell us your name and your deal." I smoothtalk around him.The end of the world is a few hours behind her, trailing behind that halo of light. When it comes to her, everything else is later.

"My 'deal'?" she asks. Her voice is like the lyta, which is absent from her neck. She looks bare without it, even sad. The wood complemented her eyes so well.

"Yes." Altair says, gravely. "I guess we're asking about your 'deal' now."

"My name is Illuet," she begins. "No affiliation. This cult, Heaven's Jaw, they don't like me much." With a reflective pause and a half-laugh, a mutterance beneath her breath that would have been lost if her eyes didn't fall as she says it, she continues, "Err, that might be an understatement. They've run into me three times, which I suppose makes that destiny too, or it might mean their spies are omnipresent and I'm a great glimmering beacon for all kinds of trouble."

"Why do you glow?" I ask.

"Too much magic. Ever since I was young, I was... naturally gifted at a variety of things. Music, for one, but others as well. Whatever I deigned to pick up came to me, as if drawn to my touch, and like moths at a flame, those passions burned. As did others." she chokes. "So much for being aloof. Two seconds in and I'm baring my heart to you."

"Rambling is a symptom of incredible stress," Altair agrees. "We are all going to die soon."

"Yee of little faith," I quip.

"Hawk, we don't have our bags." Altair gripes.

(Yes. I know. My back has never been so cold.) Pushing that minor concern away from the front of my mind, where it has already begun to buzz in my ears, I think instead of my dream, which no one has to know about yet. "Little faith," I whisper. Something is at the side of my head that wasn't before. It all depends on how much I'm willing to kill myself for freedom. Illuet has stopped talking. "Please. Continue."

Illuet nods. "Now, I walk. Wherever I stop, I get a lot of Sentients hoping for me to heal them through my music. I do what I can, but after our first meeting, Heaven's Jaw realized they could have me sing away their impurities. I would not sing, so they stole my lyta and tomorrow I burn." She sighs. "Admittedly, there were a lot of things I would have liked to do. As I did none of those things, so I suppose I can't complain. As a second digression, I must tell you that I do not want to die."

The halls are empty, save for us, but further down is distant noise. Distant movement. Something far from us is stirring. From the opposite direction of the noise come harsh, fast pawsteps, and the hall falls silent.

Gabriel enters, his face broadened into a sneer. "Well, what a reunion. Even if your cur family has momentarily escaped my grasp," Every bell on him rings with dissonance. "I'm so pleased to have orchestrated this."

"Pleased?" I ask, ignoring the way his eye catches her.

"Oh, naturally. The three of you will be executed at sunrise tomorrow," Gabriel promises, "and I will derive tremendous pleasure from it."

"Don't pleasure yourself too much," Altair says.

"Let him pleasure himself, Altair. It will be the first time either of us have received anything positive from our brief time together." I say. Licking my lips, I add, "I'll please you well as soon as I'm out and around your neck."

"Try your worst, Forhaga. Your companions are in magic-proofed bars."

"Doesn't look terribly magic-proof to me," Altair says, looking to Illuet. These shanty protections are being ripped apart by her light as we speak. Given enough time, she might degrade them naturally by force of will.

"Oh, they'll ring like mad if she or the Fauna try anything. We'll be on you like a pack of Moonwalkers upon the desert hare." he says, which is a stereotypical, vaguely offensive comment, but I nod along. "Now, I must attend to a holy rite--say your hymns. There are some that will find you kinder luck in the next lifetime."

His pawsteps cease late town the hall.

I turn, my own destruction in mind. "Illuet. Are there keys?"

"Naturally."

"Where?" I ask.

"Far end of the hall."

I nod, retreating back into my cell, far from her light as possible. Even so, I am sure her and Altair see at least some trace of the purple, inky energy that comes over me, so slight as to be a trick of the light, and notice as I move to the front of my cage, concealing the movement of key underneath my pad by slight of paw. I must confess the energy itself is more exhilarating than the deed, my sudden grasp on an item far away, and the tug--I feel limitlessly powerful, even as the ringing starts. Cas has conned me good. I am an addict. I want all the magic in the world through my veins, I need all the power denied me, I am already imagining slamming anyone who has ever uttered the word Forhaga in my presence into the ground against and again until their skull loses form. With a similar rush, I feel Cas overtake me, glancing about through my eyes, and tenderly he rolls the key further beneath my paw, lifting it up.

"How..." Altair asks, his voice as if heard through water.

"A con never reveals his secrets." Cassiver says through my mouth, receding into my skull. I can feel him there, hungry as I am, but for now, he's taken all he can get.

I flick my own ears, suddenly aware (and terrified) that for seconds I hardly existed, and Altair lowers his head."We're partners. That was magic. How."

"I'll explain later, when we're not fleeing for our lives." I say, head still ringing in tune to the bells overhead, and slinging the keys through his bars. He sticks half his head out of the bars, his dexterity supplemented by his Fauna neck, and grips the newly-grabbed key in such a way that it just slides into the lock, and with a definite click he has freed himself.

He comes to my cell first, concern in his green eyes, and says with a headshake, "You'll be depriving him of so much pleasure, Hawk."

"What a shame." I say, snatching the key from his open mouth. I unlock Illuet's cell. "You were free in the building for a while, weren't you?"

"I sung twice," she says. "Nearly auspicious."

"Aren't we all," I say. "Where's our junk?"

"Not far from here. We have a chance, since this is relatively undefended, but the walls contain the ashes of previous members..."

"They what," I ask, mortified until I remember... my own family. You can hear the walls whispering. It's not like they're doing much, but something is still there... waiting...

"There've been missionary casualties already. You devote yourself for eternity... apparently." she says, eyes on her own paws. "Soon they'll learn to weaponize heartlines, and then soon you'll no longer be yourself at all. You will be a vessel to be ripped open and extorted for any magical cause you belay the slightest interest in, or whoever grabs you first. Anyways. Up through here, prisoner bags are hidden close to the rites room for confiscation alongside us, and then the whole place is enchanted so that you can only leave through a single room. The front door is out of the question, but I can portal us out if we cross the roof beams and exit out the sole window."

"A window," Altair says. "Rafter beams. Will we even..."

"Most assuredly," Illuet says. "I can distort space to make it a little easier on you. Fair?"

Altair nods, his legs still shaking. I can feel his pain, the sharp scent of weakness thick in my nose. I want to look away, as I usually do when he grazes, but he stays determined, looking straight ahead and begin climbing the stairs. He's strong. He's a con, after all. We bounce back, or we'd never have decided to get up to begin with.

Outside the door, probably called by the ringing, is a small guard armed with a fancy, blade-ended stick, almost laughable, but it's less funny when I realize who it is beneath the ribbons. A Moonwalker turns about, trembling in gauzy uniform, dark sediments pooling at the underbelly and running from the mouth, pooling around white teeth. Familiar, wide-eyed, afraid, and much too young.

"Okari, put down the stick." I warn. "It's okay. We'll get you home..."

"N-no. I joined up." Okari says, drawing the stick close to my face. His speech is half obscured by oil and spit and stick, but something about his words is so resonant it demands clarity. It's as if he's speaking directly into my skull. He points the stick against my nose. "I pass for Moonwalker, even with the Dog Days, s-so... they said they'd fix me. They can fix you too."

"Gabriel will kill you if he finds out--"

"Gabriel knows, and he says I'm doing a good job, and that I-I-I'm mainly Moonwalker anyways."

"You're part of our family," Altair argues. "Come home."

Okari raises the stick. "They'll be on you in heartbeats. I don't want to watch you die, so you better... do what they say. Maybe they'll change their mind."

"Okari..."

"I'll h-hurt you if you go any further. Don't make me." The stick is at my throat, far to the left so that it would pierce little but skin but could almost hit Altair if he drove it right through. It trembles, indecisive.

He hits the floor with a flash of light and Illuet stands besides us. Okari's eyes haze over, mouth open and oil pooling on the floor. She throws us some bags from the closet. "Sibling?"

"What did you do?" Altair says.

"Pick him up," Illuet responds, curtly.

Altair bends down to shove Okari's body up onto the bags.

Illuet and I nod, but we already have a bad feeling about this.

"He's just knocked out, right?" asks Altair, weakly.

"O-of course! It won't even last too long," Illuet says. Illuet takes a lyta from the stash and raises it with her Canis energy, fitting it tight around the neck. She gives us a sharp nod. "Come on. We just have to make it out the attic and across the rafters, now. Don't laugh-- things are about to become interesting."

"I won't." I say. "It's not as if it can be that entertaining."

Illuet's eyes narrow. The context of this motion is more than obvious.

She busts the door open, spice and song flooding my eardrums, and the bar extends before us, all the way to the far window, a mosaic of washed out stained glass. Illuet tenses and the bar widens, the air around it vibrating as space itself bends. Light sucks back into her body as she expends energy, and she jerks her head forwards. We dash out on silent con's paws (and hooves), Altair loping behind with every painful step, Okari on his back.

"We offer up to Verhamera, so that she may rain down blessings upon us, her most loyal subjects..." Gabriel mutters. Below, he is surrounded by candles with wicks so long that they more resemble massive plumes of fire. All the light makes his ornate clothing glitter frantically, but it also illuminates a faint black table, whose surface is covered in oils that have been set ablaze. Okari's body sways dangerously on Altair's back.

"Rain down," chorus Gabriel's followers, standing in a clumped circle around him.

Not only is this bad art (most institutions of religion are practically works of art in and of themselves, complete with elaborate song and magic), it's improvisation levels of bad. Novice improvisation. I almost hang back of fascination.

"Let their blindness be healed in death, so that they can see the true guidance of Verhamera, right above their heads..."

Okari trembles on Altair's back. His eyes shoot open, Illuet's expression goes mutinous, and with a small cry of "What?" from our little brother, every Sentient in the hall looks up.

"You're escaping?" barks Gabriel, turning around and knocking over a candle (unscented. What is this, a charity? O cruel world). One of his followers dives to put out the ensuing flame, practically leaping below his foot.

"We're escaping?" Okari asks.

Altair hustles along, I bend over the edge. "No, just out on a stroll."

Illuet's eyes widen, straining as her space-bending magic is besought by several Canis attempting to pull it apart at once by telekinesis. "Hawk, hurry it up! You're going to get us all killed--"

Seeing the two of them almost out, I feign surprise and admit, striding at the very edge, "Felis is out of the bag. Sorry to deprive you of such pleasure, Gabriel. I'll let you know that you're free to purchase our other services as other outlets for 'pleasure' at a 'wow, I have no idea how to keep my prisoners silent' discount. Not that you'll be silent when receiving--"

"Stop that." Altair projects, his gaudy tone ringing out over the assembled, furious Sentients. "You'll only tempt him. Clearly he couldn't afford us, seeing as you could only pay out one guard."

"I tried really hard!" Okari interjects over the din.

"I will have all of your heads." Gabriel promises.

"Whatever you're into." I say, and as Illuet looks ready to take my head, I dash out the other side. Space springs back into its regular shape behind my lagging paw and I hear the angry roar of Sentients behind us, many of whom are now filing out the front to attack us. Feeling the telekinetic grip of a Canis around my back leg, I yell, "Portal?" and Illuet swings one open.

"Okari! Apprehend them," says Gabriel.

Okari springs from Altair's back, trying frantically to push the much larger Fauna off with his paws.

"Okari," Altair says, unmoved, "Your parents are worried to death about you."

With another desperate push, Okari yells, "My parents are mice in a plugged hole! You're the ones who don't understand. The world is going to get harsher and harsher the longer the Dog Days go on. What you need to do is pick a side," he says. He steps back to meet several of his... fellow... Heaven's Jaw members, all of whom have eyes blazing with angry, holy light. "Help me out, guys."

"Okari..." Altair calls.

"I can't hold this open much longer!" Illuet yells.

I do the only brave thing. "Let him make his own choices. At least we can tell our parents where to find him," I say to Altair, and jump through the darkness.

The night unfolds around us, forest looming overhead, and Illuet, still glistening with light, leers down at me. Just as the portal is closing, a burned Altair skids onto the grass beside us.

"What were you thinking?" Illuet asks us both.

The answer lies in the question. It was how we were thinking. Like cons. Altair needed to get across and I needed to buy us time. Never mind that Altair suddenly decided to swing around and go back for our good pal Okari, traitor to our kind. Breathless, I manage, "Rule three... never leave... behind. Protecting Altair."

She sighs. "Well, as long as you were having a one liner fight with Gabriel, you got some good ones in."

I gape. "Did you just admit that?"

She shakes her head, such that her whole body seems to move with her long ears and sweeping tail. "I admit nothing. Could you two hustle next time? I almost left you behind."

"No, you weren't." Altair says, getting to his legs. He almost stumbles down again, catches himself and presses back as if lifting the dome of the sky, and at last, with heavy breath, admits, "Oh, that hurts. I'm s-sorry..." He's not thinking about his legs at all. The night would hide his tears if not for the overwhelming light of Illuet's fur and the sigils around her, the ancient graph of unknowable power hanging in the air. "I-- Hawk, we shouldn't have come out again. He could be in trouble now."

"He made his choice," I say.

Altair shakes his head. "We should have tried to negotiate more. He was scared. He panicked. We at least need to go home-- where we should have stayed. It can't be that far east from here."

"East?" Illuet looks up at the sky overhead. "I've teleported us outside a safe city. It's a short walk. Why don't we... settle for the night?"

We all have other things on our mind, but right now, nothing sounds better than sleep.