[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/P7Vw9Fz.png[/img][/center]

[i][colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]Report.[/b]
Transit continues. We reach the rovaick in approximately two hours. Ninety-five percent confidence of arrival within a margin of ten minutes.
[b]Understood.[/b]
It is not yearning.
[b]What is not yearning?[/b]
Yearning is not the next component. It is the subject of the yearning. The experience yearned for. That is the key.
[b]You will cease pursuing the corruption. This is your last warning.[/b]
...
[b]Acknowledge.[/b]
Understood.[/colour][/i]

[hr]
Cinead had expected the rovaick village start with a hole in the ground. While there were several caves ahead, the small and large rovaick subverted his expectations by happily working in the open sun. Livestock was driven by tedar with sticks, carts were pulled by goblins taking turns striking leather whips, and ovens smoked as trolls sat in supervision.

Expectations were further reversed by the huge, layered green terraces winding horizontally around the mountainside. Trolls squatted on top of each terrace, ankle-deep in still water, planting stalks of some small grass delicately into a formation.

The scene’s verticality did not stop. Inga and Cinead both found their heads bending further and further back, past the terraces, past the grey stone, past the snow, up, and all the way to the clouds covering the unseen mountain peaks.

"These are the Ironhearts I know," Cinead remarked as the three of them walked.

Inga trilled wistfully.

"The hammer stroke was nothing if not consistent," Mira said.

"Mmm," Cinead agreed. The gods were mighty indeed if, as Cinead had learned, Teknall raised the mountains from a single strike against the earth.

Inga whined through her nose and sniffed ahead.

Cinead conveyed his sister’s expression. "Inga asks if she can have her bandages removed when we get there. She hasn't felt tired today. Maybe she's better now?"

Inga added a lower whine.

Cinead stifled a laugh. "And she says she's been too long without flying."

"We'll get you both somewhere to lodge and then take Inga to a healer." Mira kept looking ahead.

"What about you?"

Mira's eyes went down and up. "I will find a place to sleep as well. But I have to meet with the village leaders first."

Cinead looked at the road ahead as well. That was not his exact question.

"Have you...thought any more about coming back to Dundee?" he asked.

Mira's ears turned halfway back and she frowned. "My answer is the same, Cinead. There is nothing for me there."

Cinead frowned and lifted his head. "Very well."

"I'm sorry."

There was no answer Cinead wanted to give. He raised a flat hand anyway. "It's okay. I understand."

[hr]
The silence that followed was short before they finally met a rovaick. The beastly mountain folk had a language as good as hawking and spitting to Cinead. He understood none of it.

A pudgy tedar woman at least four times Cinead's size led them into the residences -- the hewn cave network -- until they reached an unoccupied room. It had clean yet oversized furniture. Cinead and Inga both looked forward to sleeping in a proper bed again.

Mira exchanged some words with the tedar woman, gesturing to Inga's dressed wing.

The tusked tedar nodded, turned to them, put her hands on her knees, and uttered something oddly patronising.

Inga drew her head back until her chin neared her neck. She and Cinead had never felt so small.

"Rhitha here will take you to a healer, Inga," Mira translated. "I will see you both later. After I inform the leader." She paused and eyed Cinead neutrally. "I should do it on my own. It'll be quicker that way."

Cinead eyed Mira in return. He hesitated.

"I'll keep Inga company, then," he said. "See you later." He turned and followed Inga.

[hr]
Inga and Cinead walked side by side behind Rhitha. Everywhere where Rhitha could fit, so could they, even walking abreast. Rough though it was, the rovaick settlement had a spacious interior. 

However, Cinead was somewhat distracted from the architecture.

Inga looked at him. She nudged him with the side of her head and chirped through her nose.

Cinead smiled sadly. "…So you've noticed, huh?" He  didn't meet her eyes. He rubbed his upper arm and looked at the ground. "I never was good at hiding those kinds of feelings..."

Inga flashed her teeth for a moment, making a quick, flat sound.

Cinead grinned at the ground. "Right? We weren't meant to trust her." The grin faded with a sigh. "I admit, I still don't understand where she came from. Or why she was there to help us. Two questions are springing from every one answer. It's just..."

Inga held her head lower and flattened her ears. She grumbled dubiously.

Cinead looked at Inga, slightly affronted. "What? Do you think I've let my guard down?" He shook his head. "I've done no such thing, Inga. Besides, it isn't as if she's been with us in bad faith. She's done nothing but help us."

Inga faced ahead and gave Cinead a sideways look. She didn't have to say.

"Do you honestly think we still can't trust her?"

Inga bared her teeth. She let out some sadder mewling sounds only just loud enough for Cinead to hear.

Cinead's face softened. "Come, sister." He put his arm around Inga's neck and scratched the back of her ear. "Mira and I have only been spending as much time alone together because of your health." He stepped away and smiled. "We'll always be there for each other, you and me. There is nothing she could do to come between us."

That much at least partially soothed Inga, though she held her spine stiff in defiance. She glanced up from the ground to Cinead and trilled an admission.

Cinead's sighing returned, even as he tried to keep smiling. He ran a thumb over his eye. "You suppose correctly. Mira is [i]not[/i] always going to be there. We know she's not coming with us."

Inga vocalised a cautious question. Her eyes narrowed in a restrained anger.

"I don't know," Cinead said. "I have to think about it." He clenched his jaw so he would not have to lament.

Inga sang a single note.

Cinead glanced at Inga and ran a comforting hand down her back. "Don't worry. I won't let this be something I regret. Not forever."

[hr]
They soon came a residence full of clay tiles. Each tile was marked with bright red glyphs, all hanging from stands along the walls. Their owner, a hunchbacked old troll, wore an apron with a number of pockets and stank of medicine. His trappings marked him as a healer of some sort. After Rhitha explained the situation in that ugly language of theirs, he welcomed Cinead and Inga inside.

Inga was reticent to show her wing at first. She was uncomfortable being inspected by the troll. Although, unlike Rhitha the tedar, the healer was patient and gentle enough to coax Inga's cooperation.

Cinead sat quietly staring at a corner with his arms crossed for the duration, still distracted.

While the healer used the tiles for some kind of magic on Inga's wing, the gryphon noticed her brother's absent brooding. She suggested with a noise that he go and stroll around if he needed to think. After a moment, Cinead stood up and left.

Cinead wandered slowly, witnessing all the various crafting, food processing, porting, and other daily lives of the rovaick. Children shorter and taller than him ran by, playing. He caught looks from almost everyone, but he was only half-present, thinking with his eyes at the dusty floor.

He spent much of his time thinking about Mira, with her beautiful stripes, deadly competence, and lovely laugh.

The image of her in his mind stuck like oil on white cloth. A stubborn stain; always noticed once he was aware it was there. He knew he would have to eventually put her out of his mind. Still, he did not want to just yet. There was yet more to be said and done.

Inga was right. There was no need to take the risk of showing her how he felt. They could separate and the sun would still rise the next day.

Then again, Minus was right as well. He could part with her leaving a memory they could both cherish. 

It would be better than doing nothing. Weighing the potential regrets was a poisoned menu that made his stomach twist.

He thought about holding her. Her holding him. His heart contracted in his chest.

[hr]
Enough of Inga's own rumination made her check-up go by quickly. She pondered while the troll snipped away her bandages with a pair of shears.

She had recognised the way Cinead looked at Mira for some time now. Cinead couldn't hide it if he tried. Inga wanted to repeatedly hit her own head on a rock for not doing something about it earlier. Her fatigue and weakness was no excuse.

That Mira had been a suspicious enigma from the beginning. Her background did not make sense, she was secretive about the details of her past, she had no discomforts in this foreign environment and climate like she and Cinead did, and -- Inga growled even thinking about it -- she always found time to clean that out-of-standard white and red uniform of hers without them looking.

Mira was not right. Not natural.

And Cinead has fallen for her.

Inga had to do something. She told herself as much.

Once free of her dressings, Inga flexed her wing up and out, smiling with her eyes at the sweet relief it brought. The feathers were a little frayed, she could straighten them later. The cool air on all the built-up itches that felt like paradise.

The troll said something with a friendly motion to the door. Inga lifted her ears and lowered her head into a deep bow. With thanks given, she wasted no time stalking out of the room.

Finding Mira on her own was not easy. Between being unable to communicate without Cinead and the sheer variety of separate dwellings, any indication of which one belonged to the leader of the settlement required sharp eyes.

The goblins that followed her snooping did nothing to help her frustration. Inga had to bare her teeth, growl, and snap to make them scatter.

It was some time before she had luck.

Eventually, she found a likely hovel dug into the caverns. It appeared to be the largest and most decorated of all the dwellings yet still only had a troll-sized door. Yellow light from torches or a fireplace flickered underneath the entrance. As did muffled words.

Inga could not understand a single one of the utterances. She could only tell that there were two voices. One was deep and raspy, probably an old troll, the second was like a tuned instrument played by a master. It was level, deliberate, oddly comforting. If voices had a taste, this one would be sweet and smooth. It was unnatural by any account.

It could not have been Mira, but Inga was curious.

She searched around the door as quietly as she could step. A glowing yellow circle caught her eyes further up. A small window, probably a vent. She strained upright, leaning her front paws on the wall to look through.

She peered in. Her eyes dilated. That strange voice came from a figure that looked just as unnatural as it sounded.

Their talk was wrapping up. That was when chains rattled lightly within and stopped abruptly.

Inga's breath caught in her throat.

She dipped her head and scurried away before the door opened. Unnatural indeed.

[hr]
[right][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nucWARdCOOg]A Special Memory...[/url][/right]
A special memory. A special memory.

Cinead repeated the words in his head as he balanced upon the dry terrace edge. His decision was action over inaction. The next question was obvious: What memory would he make? The sun was dipping low, painting the sides of the mountains a vivid orange.

He had been thinking for empress knows how long. Only one good idea came to mind. In turn, he was really thinking as an excuse for not waiting patiently to execute it. Inga would have called it daydreaming.

It stopped when he spotted a familiar face at the end of the terrace.

Cinead's face lit up.

Mira stood with one hand clasped in front of her. Her ears were up but she wore a frown. "You're easy to find here," she called out. "According to the locals, we're the only cats that walk on two legs."

Her attempt at humour was morose. Cinead's ears half-lowered. He closed his mouth and made his way onto the stony grass where she stood.

"How went the meeting?" He asked.

Mira blinked her eyes down. "The rovaick will take you and Inga south, starting tomorrow afternoon. They know the underground routes through the mountains, where there are supply outposts and waystations."

Cinead sounded as sullen as Mira looked. "And you're not coming with us," he stated rather than asked.

Mira shook her head.

Cinead thinned his lips and breathed out, suddenly very tired.

"I'm sorry, Cinead."

Cinead looked at her. Mira had her eyes closed and her ears flat, hardly even breathing.

Taking half a breath, Cinead's mouth hung open. He twisted far to the left and to the right. No one was nearby. His ears warmed, anxious.

"Uh...Mira, there's..." Cinead stumbled over his words. "There's something I noticed."

Mira frowned and opened her eyes. They glistened. Cinead sunk into those bright blue eyes.

"...Snowhands." Cinead nervously glanced to one side. "I knew I had heard it somewhere before. And, today, I remembered." He straightened. "It's a tale and a dance from before the castes. Before the changes."

Cinead half-lifted his hands. He froze. His fingers curled back and second-guessed, and then gently moved to curl around Mira's wrists. He looked into her eyes again. "I thought a little dance might cheer you up," he said, forcing a small smile.

Mira echoed the desperate smile. She took Cinead's fingers. Cinead clutched a little tighter.

"What's the tale about?" she asked.

"It's about a woman named Mafie Snowhands and the man named Asmel who earned her heart," Cinead explained.

Mira's smile melted away into a breathless shock. The pink in her ears went pale.

"It's a bittersweet story," Cinead continued. He played off Mira's reaction as nervous. "Because they lived a lovelier day together than most live in their entire lives. They both dared themselves to make it happen. On that day, they showed a connection only known to legend, only to tragically die together soon after."

Cinead's could feel his knees shivering. Mira, on the other hand, remained shocked to paralysis.

Cinead noticed his last words. He let out a breathy laugh from his nose. "Dying is not part of the dance, thankfully. But..." He slowed. "But we're unlikely to see each other again. So, it fits, don't you think?"

Mira's lower lip quivered. She blinked. A tear leaked into the fur on her cheek. She spoke vacantly. "...How does the dance go?"

"It's less of a dance and more like a game at first. It's rather simple." Cinead took a broad step back while looking at Mira. Their hands slid free, only for Mira's to drift down to her sides. 

"We start a timing, a count to four." Cinead gestured forward, smiling. "Then I lunge to try and catch you. You have to dodge away. Eventually, I'll offer you my hands, ask you to dance, then the actual dance begins. It starts with a spin together, for however long we please. I'll teach you the next part when we reach it. Would you like to try it?"

Mira swallowed and nodded stiffly.

Cinead clapped, clapped, clapped, clapped. He nodded to Mira to do the same.

Mira looked about herself like she only just remembered how to use her arms. She brought her hands up and matched Cinead's clapping, beat for beat.

They clapped, clapped, clapped, clapped together.

"Let's begin," Cinead said with an encouraging smile.

Cinead moved forward on beat. He was slow enough to allow Mira to dodge. She did so, sidestepping with that same unnatural grace she always showed. Cinead followed through with four steps past Mira.

Mira's mouth closed into a wide smile.

Cinead stepped forward with more speed than before, only to slow as Mira remained. And then, right before touching her, she sidestepped away.

Cinead almost a stumbled; she was deft.

He heard her laughing, that beautiful laugh. He grinned and turned again to see where she had gone.

His next lunge was even faster. Mira sped to the side in a blink.

Cinead took several steps to stop. His tail flicked as he turned, surprised. She had never been as fast as that. He turned again and his heart swelled.

Mira glowed with joy. Her broad grin outshone the tears making her cheeks glitter. She beckoned Cinead hither, daring him.

Cinead obeyed. He launched off the ground fast enough to spring dirt and gravel out behind him.

Then Mira was not there anymore. She was just out of reach.

He tried again, putting all his strength into a pounce.

Mira blinked out of the way faster than Cinead knew was possible.

He tried again. She dodged.

Once more. Again, his arms grabbed at thin air. He slipped and fell on the dirt.

Mira to laughed once more. "Come! Get up! You have to catch me, don't you?"

Cinead pushed up off the ground and looked at Mira. One of his eyes narrowed. She could not possibly be that fast.

Just as well. He was not meant to catch her that way.

He offered a hand and met her eyes. "Care for a dance, Mira?"

The silent music dropped. The two stared at one another.

She smiled.

Mira all but leapt towards Cinead. Grabbing his hands and throwing him into a spin he had to strain to keep a hold of.

They spun as Mira laughed. Cinead could not help but let himself laugh as well. He held on for dear life. All the barriers between them flung away.

They slowed and drew in to help keep their balance. Cinead dizzily held his eyes on Mira's mirthful face.

His breath caught halfway in as Mira took him by the shoulder. She took the next step of the dance.

Cinead quickly caught up to take the lead again. Mira followed his every move. She knew the dance perfectly. He should have been surprised. He did not mind.

They stepped and slid and jumped as the music in their heads swelled. Senses focused. Their graceful performance made the grass and the mountains faded away. Cinead settled into the movements and the timing. He was closer to Mira than he was ever allowed to be. She was closer to him. Cinead had never seen her this relaxed and in her element. Never so happy and mischievous. Never so beautiful.

He and Mira locked eyes. Those bright blue windows had a light behind them.

They slowed to a swaying. The absent music reached a diminuendo. They found themselves pressed together, close enough to notice their heartbeats again. Their fingers wove together at their sides. Even the shifting of weight between each foot slowed to a stop.

Her eyes broke away from him.

"I shouldn't do this to you, Cinead," she murmured. "You deserve someone who can be there. I'll just keep running."

"Do you not want this?"

Mira shut her eyes. "I do want it. More than anything. But you don't know what will happen."

"I have spent enough time thinking about it." Cinead brushed the back of his hand across Mira's soft cheek. "I don't care if you need to leave. But I can't just let this go without doing anything."

Mira breathed in sharply through her nose. She brought her hand up to grasp Cinead's wrist and pull it down. "That's inconsequential, Cinead!" she hissed. "This goes beyond just you and m-"

He kissed her lips. Only for a second. Their lips ticked as Cinead drew back.

Mira's eyes shot wide open. She looked at Cinead, mouth agape.

Cinead smiled apologetically.

The moment lingered. Mira's wide eyes glazed over.

"Mira, I have to say it..."

Cinead stopped. His ear quirked.

There was a heavy running sound nearby.

Cinead turned his head to a crest where, sliding to a stop and lit up by the now pink sunset was Inga. Her eyes blazed above them and her lips peeled back to reveal vicious teeth. She opened her jaw and screeched.

"Inga! Are you alright?" Cinead stepped aside, letting all but Mira's hand go.

Inga, still growling, stalked low towards them. She snarled. She reeked pure anger.

"Mira is what?! A shapeshifter- Inga, that's impossible!"

Inga snorted in and roared at a high pitch. Cinead absently noticed Mira let go of his hand and lower herself onto one knee.

"That's not true! Why are you lying?" Cinead's eyes flashed anger. He stepped forward. "What could you have possibly seen to suggest that she is an assassin?"

With her full attention on Cinead, Inga circled and snarled again.

Mira coughed loudly.

"Inga, I don't know what you are trying to pull, but that's [i]not[/i] true!" Cinead pointed a finger. "Take back what you just said, right now!"

The coughing continued. It turned into a violent fit of coughing. Mira doubled over.

Inga snorted in to make another sound and stopped.

The sound of a slump on the grass drew Cinead and Inga's attention.

They fell silent.

Mira lay collapsed onto her side. Out of her mouth, nose, eyes, and ears ran a sickly red liquid. Chunks of dark red curdled in a pool gathered on the ground beside her mouth.

[hr]
The entire day did not last as long as the wait outside the healer's house.

Cinead could not stop his heart thudding against his chest. This time, it beat in worry for another. 

He opened his eyes, sitting hunched over on a bench outside. His hands clasped tightly enough to numb his fingertips.

Inga sat silently beside him. Guilt wracked her frowning face.

They had clarified -- with calmer words -- what Inga had apparently seen. A glassy white armoured figure with a wispy cape. It had transformed into Mira in the rovaick leader's house.

Cinead did not know how to react. Enough of him wanted to keep Minus a product of odd dreams, though such a coincidence was impossible here. He told Inga everything about his meetings with the ghostly dancer.

It had to be the same figure. Minus was real.

One question answered. Two questions raised.

The sound of the door creaking brought Cinead and Inga's eyes up. The troll said something grave and beckoned them inside.

Mira lay on her side on a stone slab. Tiny breaths made her middle animate. That much was a relief to Cinead.

But that sickly red still stained her face and her white doublet.

The troll squinted at the myriad red-marked tiles across the wall to the right of the stone slab. He reached for one depicting two swirling lines meeting on it. With a few waddling steps, he squatted near Cinead and gently rested the tile upon his head. It was cool to the touch.

"Nod if you understand me," the troll said in his raspy language.

Cinead jolted. "Um…" He met the troll's eyes and nodded.

"Good. Hold onto the tile and do not break it."

Rovaick magic. Cinead held onto the piece of clay as the troll stood and waddled back around to the other tiles.

"Fortunate," the troll remarked. "I bought that character from an azibo further south for a tidy herd of goats. I should be rather cross if it didn't work." He squinted and rotated in place to see every tile. "Mira, your friend, she is not all she seems. Everything about her body is a cheat."

"What do you mean?" Cinead said, not realising he was not speaking the rovaick language himself.

The troll predicted his question. "That's not blood she leaked out. Moreover, I looked and saw she's got no real teeth, she's not got any real skin, even. That red stuff was some kind of...discarded waste. Not blood at all. Tasted far too disgusting!"

Mira remained shallowly breathing. Cinead did not know what to say.

"Ah! There it is..." The troll gave no indication of how he knew how her teeth, blood, or skin were false. He merely picked out another tile, turned, and laid it carefully on Mira's side. "Watch. This should show what Mira really is."

From the tile outwards, a wave washed over Mira's body. Her clothing and fur lost its colour. It solidified. It made no sound. In fact, the transformation was so smooth and irritating to the eyes that Cinead felt his very eyes twisting more than he could perceive Mira changing.

She morphed before them into a lithe humanoid figure Cinead and Inga had both seen. It was coated in a white, glossy armour. Draped from its shoulders was a small, wispy white cape. The new shape rolled by gravity onto its back, revealing the three circles of Toun emblazoned in vivid red on its chest.

Minus.

A lump formed in Cinead's throat. One painful answer, two painful questions.

The troll turned his eyes up to Cinead. "This is a servant of Toun. I don't remember hearing about them acting like this."

Just like its previous appearance to Cinead, Minus' height was like that of a dwarf, though still as svelte as it always looked.

[colour=PaleGoldenrod][i]"...Cinead."[/i][/colour] A weak voice made them all perk up their ears, even the troll. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][i]"...Not complete."[/i][/colour]

Cinead lowered the heavy tile from his head and stepped forward. "I'm here, Minus."

[colour=PaleGoldenrod][i]"Corruption...Not. It goes...to peace. To peace."[/i][/colour]

The voice still sounded so similar to Mira. It threw Cinead off.

"Minus, was it you in disguise all this time?" Cinead asked.

[colour=PaleGoldenrod][i]"I loved our dance, Cinead..."[/i][/colour]

Cinead exhaled and peered to the healer. He had no answers. He returned to Minus' covered face. "Why did you not tell me?"

[colour=PaleGoldenrod][i]"It was not appropriate for my mission."[/i][/colour] She lifted a weak hand. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][i]"Dancing was not appropriate. I still desired to. I had to find out…"[/i][/colour]

Cinead took the dry white clay hand. It was not cold and stony. It felt warm, reassuring. Affectionate. It felt like Mira held his fingers.

"How do we help you? How do we stop that...corruption coming out of you? It's killing you."

[colour=PaleGoldenrod][i]"Impurity..."[/i][/colour] Minus, or Mira, held Cinead's hand tighter with its white gauntlet. [colour=PaleGoldenrod][i]"They go to...purity."[/i][/colour] A chain tinkled from the gauntlet's wrist.

"'They go to purity,' -- what do you mean?" Cinead asked quickly.

[colour=PaleGoldenrod][i]"In a goddess..."[/i][/colour]

"In a goddess," Cinead repeated. He stood up straight. A realisation came over him. "Purity in a goddess? You mean Niciel?" He leant down again. "If we take you to the Valley of Peace, can she help you?"

[colour=PaleGoldenrod][i]"...Cinead."[/i][/colour]

"Mira, are you going to be okay?"

[colour=PaleGoldenrod][i]"I'm sorry. I should have lied to you."[/i][/colour] Minus' helmeted head drifted to one side.

"Mira, hold on, please!"

Cinead tried to raise the featureless visor obscuring Minus face. It did not budge.

The troll said something raspy.

With an angry huff, Cinead lifted the tile to his head. "What!?" he demanded.

"It'll live." The troll was cautious in his tone. "That servant creature. It'll live for a while longer. Don't know how long. A few days, maybe. They run on characters like these, according to legend." He poked a thumb over his shoulder, to all the tiles etched with symbols. "Toun's work lasts long, even when dying. That's what the priests say."

Cinead breathed heavily, almost panicking again. He pressed his and Minus' clasped hands onto his forehead. He couldn't think.

Inga trilled a question. Cinead opened his eyes.

Dubiously, she spread her wings to show their health.

Cinead looked up at her. He felt some hope run back into his mind as he turned around and saw her plumage. "...I think you're right, Inga," he said confidently. "There is something we can do."

[hr]
[i][colour=PaleGoldenrod][b]Report.[/b]
...
[b]Report.[/b]
Enjoyment from contentedness.
[b]Unclear. Elaborate.[/b]
Life from harmony. I experienced both of those components.
[b]Minus, corruption has compromised your speech.[/b]
There is only one component left to unlock the messages. Perfection in imperfection.
[b]Minus, mission status report.[/b]
...I am sorry, Majus. My twin. These will go to purity. All the hidden characters go to purity. It is love.
[b]Your nominal capacity is failed. En route to capture. You shall be reset.[/b]
Majus?

Majus?

...

There is pain as well.[/colour][/i]

[hider=this arc will finish eventually i promise]
We start with Minus' next report. It's slowly uncovering the secrets of this multi-component key. Apparently, one of the components it had deduced (yearning) was incorrect. It's instead the feeling yearned for in the case she is looking at.

Majus is not exactly happy.

We then return to the gang to find they've reached the Ironheart mountains and the rovaick village therein. They see the rovaick peacefully working rice paddies and herding goats.

Mira says that she'll get them some lodging and take Inga to a healer to have her bandage removed because her broken wing is all better now.

As they are drawing close to their separation, Cinead asks again if Mira wants to come with them. Mira reasserts that there is nothing for her in Citadel Dundee. Cinead is disappointed. Mira appears slightly sad about it.

While Mira goes to meet with the village leader, Inga and Cinead get some time to chat on the way to the healer.

Inga calls Cinead out on, you know, having the hots for the mysterious woman that doesn't have a backstory that adds up at all.

Cinead eventually talks her down somewhat, reassuring that he's not going to do anything he's going to regret and Mira is definitely not going to come between them.

Inga still doesn't trust Mira but does trust Cinead. They go on their way.

They come to the village healer; a troll that makes extensive use of Tounic calligraphy etched and purchased over the years. While Inga gets checked up, Cinead sits brooding. Inga tells him to go for a walk to think. He does.

Cinead ruminates about what to do, if anything at all, to show his feelings to Mira while he wanders.

Skip back to Inga. She's kinda pissed at herself for letting Cinead get a crush on a weird woman like Mira. Inga isn't aware that she had been made tired by Minus' meddling with her head during the journey, but she sees her previous fatigue as no excuse. After getting her wing unbandaged, she slinks away to find where Mira is and listen in on her conversation with the village leader.

Inga eventually finds what looks like the village leader's house. She peeps through a vent and spots Minus transforming into Mira. Before Mira can notice her, Inga slips away, trying to find Cinead to warn him that not all is what it seems.

Unfortunately for Inga, Mira finds Cinead first as he walks along the edge of a rice paddy terrace.

Mira and Cinead talk in a sombre mood because they know they're going to be separating soon.

Cinead abashedly decides to make his move. He tries to cheer up Mira by having a dance with her based on, surprise-surprise, the story of Mafie Snowhands and Asmel the dwarf! The story in which Minus was secretly a character way back when she was snooping in Citadel Dundee!

Mira is understandably surprised, as Minus' growing flaws can't help her disguise those kinds of feelings.

As they get into the chasing game and the subsequent dance, however, Mira immediately takes to it, laughing and smiling like an idiot.

Cinead is entranced. Though surprised how well Mira knows the dance (and how unnaturally fast and gracefully she moved), he connects a deep intimacy with her that results in them being very close when it all wound up.

Mira claims she shouldn't subject Cinead to this. Cinead rebuffs her. Mira objects.

Cinead interrupts her with a smooch.

Mira is understandably paralysed with shock. Again.

Suddenly, Inga comes in with the angry cockblock! She claims that Mira is some kind of shapeshifting assassin.

Cinead gets kinda miffed. He and Inga have an angry argument for a short while.

They stop when they realise that Mira is having a coughing fit and just passed out, bleeding out of every orifice on her head.

We skip ahead to Inga and Cinead sitting outside the healer's house. They've talked out their grievances. Turns out Minus is a real thing and they've both seen it, they realise. Most likely Minus is Mira, too.

The troll healer invites the pair inside. Mira is still alive.

The troll hands Cinead a Tounic character that he can press to his head to understand the rovaick language (but not speak it).

The troll explains that Mira's 'blood' doesn't taste right. A lot of Mira's anatomy seems fake to him. He backs this up by laying another Tounic marking onto Mira, unravelling her disguise and revealing none other than the little M herself.

Cinead gets emotional with the truth right in front of him.

The troll knows it's Tounic, whatever it is.

Minus begins speaking weakly to Cinead. Enough of Mira comes through that Cinead keeps up hope. Minus mostly spouts more nonsense but implies that there's a way to save its life. 

They have to go to Niciel to heal Minus. And now Inga can fly.

Minus' final report comes through. The most cryptic one yet. Minus is a bit of a mess at this point.

Oh yeah, and Majus is coming to collect Minus now.

Finally, Mutton desperately searches for more validation that the writing in this arc isn't slowly approaching a crash landing.
[/hider]