{Off in some nearby forest away from the others} He sat at the base of one of the largest trees in the wood. Blanket pulled tightly about his narrow shoulders he looked up into its naked branches, annoyance clear in his expression. Scattered about his feet were huge feathers, cut by the sprouts of dark grass, all sporting dark but varied patterns. The usual accompanying fog joined him now, it slunk about his ankles and barely disturbed anything in its path. However now he failed to see anything three feet in front of him, which would be a problem with what he came here for. And so he stood, placed his hand on the tree bark, and called up into its branches, "Sessil and Zambesia?" "Hm? Do you hear that? A-" said Zambesia... Or maybe Sessil. "-voice-" filled in the other. "-yes a voice! Who must it be?" "Or [i] what[/i] must it be?" "Oh yes! We should ask it-" "-or them- what they want-" "Or [i]who[/i] they want." "Indeed," and now this voice grew louder as it turned its focus down on him, "voice. Are you a what?" "Or are you a who?" "Voice is it a what that you want? "Or a who that you seek?" The boy at the base of the largest tree in the wood rolled his eyes almost to the back of his head. "I am a who and I want to know about other... Who's." The branches quaked, "Ooh! Ooh! The who seeks other who's!" Shrieked one of the birds. "Strayed from your who clan, I see." Observed the other. "Who clam? How strange." "Perhaps a who sham." "Yeah yeah-" cut in the boy before this situation could get anymore out of hand, "Sam I am and all that- I came for a reason now hear me out!" He huffed up at them, his face growing red with agitation. He hated dealing with these birds- they were crazy and couldn't keep a conversation for long. But he tucked his agitation away for the moment, he needed to in order to get the information he came here for. "Not too long ago the sky was-" "Breached!" They interjected with a harsh squawk, "we know. And children fell from it, that we know, too." The boys eyes widened and he clawed at the bark as he stood on his tippy-toes, "So you saw where they fell!" "We saw where they flew!" Cawed one of the birds, outraged it seemed. "Mighty useless their feathers were." Warbled the other. "Point! Point in the direction that they fell!" He cried, desperate to get away from their raving. The branches shook again as the birds fidgeted. He could not exactly see them because of the fog but he could make out their silhouettes. They bobbed and fluffed out their feathers as they whispered to one another for a moment. Then one of them, he could not tell since their voices were so similar, hawked down at him, "Head east!" "I left my compass back home." He stated sarcastically. "East is over there- or under there." Informed the first bird. "Under where?" Asked the other. "No not underwear!" Hissed the first. "Perhaps then underwest-" began the second "Under east or under west or under [I] where[/I]- JUST TELL ME YOU CRAZY HAGS." He screamed, sick of pointless talk that only went in circles. The birds fell silent again. The boy tugged at the blanket about his shoulders and huffed angrily for some time. "No darling it isn't underwear- no need to shout." "And how he babbles so!" "Yes! Ranting and raving like mad!" "Surely if only he'd stop his warbling he could listen to our directions." "To where those children fell in the grove!" "Yes the weeping hemlock grove! So impatient-" "And stubborn!" "Apologize you insolent child!" But they sat alone- for the boy with the blanket tied about his shoulders had broken in to a run off toward the hemlock grove. ---- When Savrina Casablanca had come to she did not know where she was. Her head wrung with that same sensation of sitting up after having been hanging upside down for some time. And so she was slow to open her eyes or even move. Her other senses were slow to come to her, too - but she could hear pretty well. She heard the wind, which sounded more like a painful groan than wind, claw its way through the grass and trees around her. Was she in some park? There were no parks in her part of the city. Through her sluggish thoughts she believed for a moment that they had all gone out on a drive and perhaps had stopped in some park or something. She wanted to believe this but it felt wrong. And as she wondered, as feeling began to cut its way through her body, she heard something, somewhere far off. The groaning wind carried with it a weeping voice. [I]you are my sunshine my only sunshine you make me h a p p y when skies are gray [/I] It sighed, coming in seemingly from all directions. Savs fingers twitched and pain shot through them, up her arm. Her mother used to sing her that same song when she was a kid.. [I]Oh you don't know dear how much I love thee So please don't take my sunshine away [/I] The pain was setting in steady now. Everything hurt- she'd fallen on her right side and her shoulder and head stung like crazy. The voice was nearer now and it belonged to a woman, that much she knew. She had to get up- everything hurt and she'd have rather stayed there but something was wrong- something felt so wrong. With a great effort she shifted on to her back- her right shoulder seared in protest. [I] the other night dear While you were sleeping I thought I held you in my arms [/I] The woman was so close now and, if it weren't for her heaving sobs, Sav would've felt comforted. She'd loved this song when she was younger. But this woman was singing it all wrong- she wasn't singing a song of dreams. Sav opened her eyes and looked around- the world swam for a bit before shifting in to focus. A nasty fog was creeping around her and made it hard to see much- but she confirmed that she was in some forest. The trees were bare and their branches were gnarled- but she saw not much else. With a painful gasp she sat up and squinted about. She saw her friends where they lay and for a moment she was so relieved. But the woman was not done. [I]But when I w o k e u p I was mistaken Because you'd Hung Your head And d i e d[/I] Something dashed passed some trees near her and disappeared into the fog. Sav found herself struggling to breathe. That's not how the song went- no no not at all. Where was she? What kind of sick joke was this? She was sure someone had played some joke on them- and suddenly she remembered Myles. Her memories flooded back in and clarified the whole situation for her. She scrambled to her hands and knees, "Myles? M-Mitch?" She staggered to her feet and limped to a nearby tree to support herself, her knee felt asleep. Her eyes desperately scanned her friends, "Homer- wake up! Abie?" She hugged the tree and winced, she pulled away and saw that the bark was charred. A forest fire must have passed through here recently. Sav nervously looked around- where were they? The woman had not sung in a while- but were they safe?