"I told her." Vivian says, sitting down next to me in the Hall of Feasts. Her tail waves frantically, beating against the warm furs mounted into a suitable pile. I take a large bite of the warm food, realizing immediately how much I missed it.

Restraining myself, I ask, "What'd she say?"

"She says yes."

My eyes widen and I nod, gulping down roast pheasant. "I'm happy for you both."

"Thanks." she says, turning to Lotus.
The two of them strike up a conversation, loud and cheerful as the rest in the Hall of Feasts, and Gash stumbles to my side.

"You're finally up!" I say.

"Yeah."

Aislyn sits besides him. "Finally is a good word for it. He sleeps like an Ursus. I thought he might never wake up again."

"Ursus?" I ask.

"Bear Sentients. Terrible bloodwrath. Sleep all winter." she explains.

"Huh." Gash mumbles.

"Yeah, yeah, you only see 'em up north on certain timelines. They're allll just... big bears. Who cares." Aislyn slams her face into her food.

"Are you okay? You're rambling a bit more than usual." I ask her.

"We're going to have to wait even longer to get to work saving the universe. I can't stand knowing that every second we're not doing something, creatures across the worlds get hurt."

"That's not your fault. May I ask... why we can't go?" Gash says.

"Almalia refuses to send her heroes unless she knows that it's safe. There's risk no matter what we do, but we're talking avoiding dimensions where we literally have chance. We still have some problems with finding dimensions that won't kill us on spot, but I think we'll have it all sorted out soon. Almalia is expending large amounts of the Dreamland treasury to the dragons so they'll do sentry duty for us. It's a huge predicament. Dragons are the worst. Greedy, selfish, unhelpful..."

"Kill us on spot?" I exclam. "Are you kidding?"

"No! I'm not! The Obsidian attacks are awful. Few dimensions are safe from them. Ignorance generally seems to be safest, but..." Aislyn narrows her eyes, visibly angry. On a usually kind and loving face, her anger is nigh terrifying.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Gash asks.

"We could go somewhere a little more private, for starters. We're going to have to wait it out for now. Of course, we'd be able to go if anyone else activated their powers, like Lotus." Aislyn says accusingly.

"That's not something any of us can do on command." Vivian points out. Lotus and her are both looking towards us. They've probably been listening in on us this whole time. "I'll try, though."

"So, what did you have in mind, Aislyn?" asks Lotus.

"Somewhere nice and isolated." Aislyn says. "I think I know a place."

***

The rope bridge swings before us menacingly. The little wood slabs are knit closely together by other ropes to try to keep paws from slipping between the cracks. It's a nice measure, though it doesn't make the creaking bridge any less menacing. The loud shrieks of the wooden torture machine are anything but encouraging.

"Are you coming?" asks Vivian, already halfway across. Lotus is all the way on the other side, where an isolated part of the forest beyond the valley waits.

Aislyn soars overhead, paying no attention to the rickety behemoth before me.

"Nat. It's just a rope bridge." Gash tells me. "It's okay."

"I thought we were going to relax today." I yell back, even though he's right next to me. "This is not relaxing."

"Just take a few steps forwards. I'll be right in front of you."

He steps forwards, the bridge screaming in pain beneath him. I slowly place a paw down, then another, and tail between legs, make my way out onto the wooden bridge.

I look down and my stomach drops right into the void immediately. I find my legs shaking against my will.

"Don't look back! Don't look down!" He tells me, and takes a few more steps.

Wait... I remember these words from somewhere. Something familiar hits my nose. Chestnuts, oak trees... rain.

Gash smells like all of these things and so much more. It's the best scent in the world.

I walk forwards slightly more confident, with the memory replaying in my head. Around halfway, I freeze again, and Gash calls from up ahead, "You won't fall, I promise."

I remember now. This was what I heard when I was slipping into Aislyn's Terreskianspeak song trance. I pace forwards again, knowing this moment is important, but for the life of me, I can't tell why.

What am I on the verge of?

Why this moment?

The others seem completely unconcerned with such matters, with the exception of Aislyn, who is more stressed than I've ever seen her. She stands in stark contrast to the usual fluffy pushover Aislyn.

It's actually kind of sad. I feel a pang of sympathy for my friend, muttering under her breath as she paces the little retreat of grass and trees.

Gash yells to me as I step off the bridge, "I knew you could do it!"

"I... I suppose I could." I say quietly.

Gash cocks his head. "It's just a bridge. Now get over here and enjoy yourself!" He brushes against me, making my entire body tingle as if I've been hit by lightning. I rush after him, letting adrenaline course through my body as I jump over logs, dashing around trees and rolling across the grass like a stupid pup with no cares in the world.

Chestnuts, oak trees and rain wash over me again, this time far stronger, as I find myself pinning him down to the ground. He melts in my embrace, wide eyes staring up at my victorious smile.

"Nat?" he says.

"What?" I ask him.
"Now that I've got a free day to be with you and relax... this is the best day of my life." Gash tells me.

I lower my head until I'm nose to nose with him and look at his beautiful eyes and warmth explodes through my body. The wind whistles overhead and I hear Lotus and Vivian teasing each other playfully as they wrestle in the leaves. Not far from them, Aislyn patrols the skies on vast white wings. The bright sensation of pure joy I've felt so often when I know I'm doing the right thing or honestly, just at completely random times on this adventure now explodes through my body, filling every vein with something raw and powerful. A bright green aura encases me and a loud whistling fills the air, like birdsong played a thousand times faster. Something strong and ancient takes my paws in its own and I open my mouth to try to give voice to it when I see Gash's face.

He looks terrified caught beneath my now burning paws, and he tries to struggle away only to find himself caught like a fly in a web.

"Natrina? What are you-"
The aura collapses around me and I stumble off of him. "Gash! I'm so sorry!"

"What was that?" he asks.

"I-I have no idea!" I stutter, looking down at my paws which seem to be unchanged. "It's gone! It just... appeared! Then it was gone!"

He backs up. "No, no. I think... I think that was important. Try to do it again."

"Gash, it almost hurt you! Whatever it was, it was dangerous. Let's leave it at that."

Lotus pads up to us. "Natrina, are you alright?"

Vivian, by her side, adds in, "Gash is right. Try it again."

I look at them nervously and close my eyes the way I used to when growing flowers. Reaching within myself, I find that same energy and draw it upwards, filling my body.

The bright colors burst forth again, but this time, they are more sustainable, a patient glow. This time, the aura recedes naturally, though it lingers a little longer, leaving lasting marks on my body. My fur is longer, and flowers grow thick around my Verhamera's Horns, forming a crown of vines and little white flowers on both sides and across my head. My tail, similarly, extends to be much longer and large plants encircle it, braiding it into some exotic pattern.

Lotus's eyes widen. "You look beautiful!"
"She looks kind of like you." Vivian points out. "Absolutely stunning. Quite a floral motif you two have going on."

"You flatterer." Lotus says cheerfully, but Vivian shakes her head.

"I'm serious. If she's Keeper of Love, wouldn't it make sense for her to activate her powers when surrounded by... well, love?"

Suddenly, Aislyn falls out of the sky, rushing up to me with her tail wagging dangerously fast. "Natrina! What happened?"

"Natrina just underwent some weird transformation that makes her tail and Verhamera's Horns ridiculously fancy. We're trying to figure out exactly why it happened." Vivian tells her.

"She's so beautiful. You look like an angel." Gash says, and my heart beats a little faster. I can feel my tail wagging at his praise.
"You're saying that right in front of one." Vivian points out, looking at Aislyn.

"Wait. I think I know what that was." Aislyn says, "You did it!"

"Yes." I say. "I did."
"We kind of established that."

"If that's the extra power we needed to start dimension crossing, do you think we could start travelling?"

"Yes!" Aislyn says. "Yes, yes, yes! Do you all know what this means?" Before anyone can answer, she blurts out, "We get to go! Three is the magic number. Let's make a portal and go save the world!"