Sabine returned the hug just as tightly. She nodded to each of Meesei's points. While Meesei's own worry rubbed off on her, the words did centre her. With more determination, Sabine looked intensely back at Meesei and spoke. "I will."

Meanwhile, once Fendros was certain that they were safe on the other end of the portal, he came up behind Ahnasha and put a hand on her shoulder and turned her gently to face him. He had his helmet off, clutched under the crook of his other arm. He smiled. "Show me you can pull this off and I'll have a damned hard time trying to one-up you," he said with some levity, before pulling her into a short kiss. When they pulled away, he ran a thumb over Ahnasha's cheek. "I love you, Ahna. Do what you do best."

Sabine soon strode up in front of the automatons with the staff in one hand and her bonded ring on her finger raised where she could see it. "Let's test the signals," she said. With that, Sabine repeated the various signals they had worked out, announcing them before the pattern of vibrations came through on Ahnasha's ring. Ahnasha would get signals from Sabine to warn her of hazards, to tell her to retreat immediately, to assure that she was safe, to acknowledge a message received, and intermittently while she counted the time left on the enchantment. Ahnasha had similar signals for Sabine if she needed help, when she had planted the book, and other such messages.

"Four minutes and seventeen seconds," Sabine reminded. She gave Ahnasha a look. "Tell me when you are ready and I will keep count."