"Well, at least we’re out of the forest."

This was Miaka’s nervous statement as she, Yui, and Chichiri all stood poised at the edge of a steep cliff, bracing themselves against a harsh wind that threatened to blow them over the side and onto the rocks below. "Wh-where do you think we are?" Yui asked, her teeth chattering slightly in the chill wind. "Wasn’t it just spring a moment ago?" she added in an attempt at humor.

"Apparently there are no such things as fixed seasons in this place," Miaka replied as a stray snowflake drifted down to land on her nose. "I feel like I’m in Neverland!"

"Where?" Chichiri asked curiously.

"Peter Pan is a fairy tale in our world," Yui explained, "about a little boy who never grows up and lives in a place called Never-Neverland. He lives in a big tree with his Lost Boys and unwanted children, and there are four separate seasons all around the trunk. He fights pirates and swims with mermaids and…"

"And he can fly!" Miaka cut in eagerly. "I always liked that part best. Remember, Yui, when your mom got you that translated copy of Peter Pan for your seventh birthday, and we read it and then pretended to be in Neverland and jumped on the bed with sheets tied around our necks? That was so much fun!" She giggled at the memory.

"Except that we ended up getting into a fight over who got to be Wendy," Yui replied teasingly, grinning back at her.

"That wasn’t anything a good wrestling match couldn’t fix!" Miaka laughed. "I think your mom thought we were gonna kill each other before we settled it!"

"You mean, before I kicked your butt into submission!" Yui joked, sticking out her tongue at her.

"Ha! You wish!" Miaka protested. "I bet I could still whip you good!"

"Maybe, but you’d have to catch me first!" Yui replied.

"Er…now isn’t really a good time for that, no da," Chichiri cut in hastily, before the two girls forgot where they were and started running along the treacherous cliff. "We have a mission to accomplish, no da."

"Oh, yeah." Miaka looked perturbed at having her fun ruined, but at the glowing smile Yui shyly offered her, she suddenly felt much better. I forgive you, Yui, she thought, returning the smile. I’ve always forgiven you. I just want my best friend back again.

"Well, I guess maybe we’d better keep going," Yui said after a long moment. "We don’t want to stay caught out in the open like this, or we’ll freeze."

"There’s a problem, no da," Chichiri replied. "It looks like the forest ends here, and the path goes down the side of the cliff, no da. It’s very narrow, but I can see the stone maze from here, no da. The problem is reaching it without getting blown off the cliff and breaking our necks in the process, na no da."

"Not a very pleasant option," Yui stated dryly, glancing at Miaka. "Still…the other choice is to go back into the forest, risk getting lost again, and ending up living as hermits for the rest of our lives ‘cause nobody ever finds us…"

Miaka grimaced. "Very funny. I choose the cliff," she sniffed.

"yes, that does seem the best way to go, no da," Chichiri added. "But let me go first, no da. It’ll be safer that way, and maybe I can shield you from the wind, since I’m a little heavier than you, no da."

"I doubt that, what with the way Miaka eats," Yui teased.

"Hey!" Miaka responded with a light punch in the arm and a playful glare. "Now that’s hitting below the belt, Yui!"

Chichiri smiled as he led the two girls down the path, listening to their playful banter. If not a little awkward at times, they seemed to be getting along much better, and he was grateful for that. Yui was opening up like a flower after a long, harsh winter, and Chichiri was more certain than ever that it had been Nakago’s influence that had caused such a darkness to settle into the girl’s heart in the first place. It was hard to watch Miaka’s sadness in regards to her friend, and he understood what she was going through all too well, but at least for these two, there was now a chance for real healing to take place.

So lost in his thoughts was he that he almost didn’t hear Miaka’s sudden, terrified shriek over the screaming voice of the wind. "Chichiri!" came Yui’s frightened scream only a moment later, and he turned back with a gasp to see that the girl was sprawled out on the ground, arms stretched over the side of the cliff. Miaka was nowhere in sight.

"Yui! Miaka!" he gasped, hurrying forward as fast as the staggering wind would allow, but the wind seemed just as determined to keep him away from them, blowing with such ferocity that he was forced to hug the side of the cliff. He threw himself to his knees, shielding his eyes and noting with a mix of relief and terror that Yui had managed to catch Miaka before she’d fallen, and that she was now hanging by Yui’s deathgrip against the side of the cliff.

"Ch-Chichiri! Yui, help! I-I’m slipping!" Miaka pleaded, closing her eyes tight as her feet scrabbled for a hold against the cliff. "I can’t hold on much longer!"

"Yes, you can!" Yui grunted, straining to pull her up. "You’d better, or I’ll have to come down there after you and beat the death out of you! I wouldn’t let you give up when you almost died saving Hotohori and Tamahome from your reflection, and I didn’t let you give up when you tried to come home again and couldn’t right away!" Miaka slipped from her grasp a little more, and she tightened her hold until her hands began to scream in protest. "Idiot! D’ya think I’m really gonna let you give up on me now?" she hollered. "You can think again! I still have to apologize to you and tell you how sorry I am!" She let out a choked sob. "I won’t let you go if it means we can be friends again, Miaka!"

Miaka stared up at her through tear-filled eyes, and then a determined expression crossed her face as she managed to catch a precarious foothold in the cliff and hoist herself upward a little. Not far, but far enough so that she could reach a hand to the side and help Yui pull her further up. "Almost there," she grunted, straining with the effort of battling the wind. It was exhausting, to say the least. But just when she thought her strength would give out, a strong hand closed around her arm, and Chichiri hauled back with all his might. Yui did the same, and together they managed to haul Miaka back onto the path.

They lay together gasping and laughing at the same time, as the wind suddenly died from the ferocity of a demon to the ferocity of a kitten. "I know that was more than a coincidence," Yui gasped, wiping her eyes. "That was some kind of a test."

"And I think you both passed with flying colors, no da," Chichiri replied, regarding them warmly. "Now I think we should continue down the cliff, no da. It shouldn’t be quite so dangerous now that the wind has died, no da." He began to lead again, allowing the girls to linger behind him, knowing they had much to talk about.

"I can’t believe this!" Tasuki grumbled as he tromped through the forest, tripping over exposed roots and stray branches as he sought to keep a certain emerald-colored bird in his sight, which was rather difficult considering it nearly blended in with the leaves. But it well explained why he was stumbling over and crashing through every root and bush he came across with all the grace of a sick horse, just ‘cause he didn’t see them coming. It was a good thing his companions had been turned into birds, or no doubt they’d be rolling on the ground in laughter by then.

Of course, it didn’t help matters at all that Tasuki was forced to carry Tama-neko in his arms. The cat seemed to have taken an avid interest in the three newest members of the avian family, who didn’t appear to have enough sense to know to avoid the cat now that they could be considered a delicacy to the feline. He was busily eyeing them and licking his chops with obvious intent (when he wasn’t attempting to tear the flesh from a certain Seishi’s body, that is), and the fact that one of those birds was his owner didn’t appear to bother the hungry cat in the least. Meanwhile, visions of vengeful spirits bearing Tama-neko’s tooth-marks were dancing delightedly through Tasuki’s head, and he cursed loud and fluently as the cat once again sank his claws into an arm, letting the bandit know that he did not appreciate being kept from his meal.

"Keep that up and I’ll toss ya into the next river I come across! With any luck, it’ll turn ya into a tadpole!" Tasuki growled, raising the hissing cat to eye-level and glaring threateningly at it. In response, Tama took another swipe at Tasuki’s face with his claws, and the Seishi yelped and quickly lowered his arm.

It was clear who was the master of this group…

Just as Tasuki was gonna give up and toss the cat to the birds—literally—and count on them to have enough brains to escape, a sudden, loud crash coming from just ahead of him made him freeze in his tracks. "Er…what was that?" he muttered uneasily, amber eyes shifting from side to side uneasily. Tama-neko shrugged and meowed. "Feh. Lot of help you are," the Seishi muttered, stepping cautiously ahead.

He nearly had a heart attack when a large, furry…something suddenly exploded out of the bushes in front of him with a wild yell. "Chilly down!" the thing screeched, hopping like a crazed, fire-colored rabbit all over the place while Tasuki proceeded to yell bloody murder and climb the nearest tree.

"What the @#%$ is that thing?" the Seishi howled, fruitlessly waving a large stick at the creature when it leaped up onto the branch after him, perching there with disgusting ease and cocking its head to the side. Tama-neko and the birds had conveniently disappeared. The cowards.

"Why you yellin’, brother?!" the creature asked. "Ain’t you never seen a Fiery b’fore?!"

"No!" Tasuki yelled back. "Get away from me!"

The Fiery gave him a toothy grin and casually swiped a long finger against its thigh…which immediately burst into flames. "Need a light?" it sniggered, holding the flaming finger close to Tasuki’s face.

"Aack!" the Seishi croaked in response, proceeding to fall out of the tree in his haste to get away from the freak of nature. "Tama-neko! Help!"

"Help what? Ain’t nobody need ta help you!" the Fiery exclaimed, leaping down from its perch. "Chilly down, man!"

"What the @#%$ is that supposed ta mean?!" Tasuki bellowed.

In response, the Fiery reached up, grasped the fur on its head, and pulled. To Tasuki’s horror, the head immediately became unattached from its body, swinging by the bony hand. "Get loose an’ chilly down!" the head exclaimed, grinning.

"GYAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!"

The next thing the Fiery saw was the trail of dust left behind as Tasuki tore off through the forest. It grinned and plopped its head back onto its body. "Sweet!" it exclaimed, bounding after its new playmate, whom it was certain was a long-lost cousin, if the fire-colored hair and the fangs were anything to go by.

Tama-neko, who had watched the entire episode from his hiding spot in the tree, heaved a mighty sigh and shook his head. However did he manage to get himself stuck in these situations? With a low growl to the four birds—who were twittering with excitement over the show—the cat began to follow the trail of broken shrubbery left behind in Tasuki’s hasty departure.

In the meantime, Sir Didymus’s "steed" had turned out to be a very large, very hairy dog of a variety that neither Hotohori, Nuriko, or Tomo had ever seen before, but which appeared to be quite friendly to humans. Didymus told them that Ambrosius was a Sheep Dog, raised especially for him by Underground breeders, but that Ambrosius’ breed had originally come from the Above world, which one could only assume meant Stormlight’s home. He proudly led the three men across the bridge, feeling much more confident about crossing the rickety thing than they did, exclaiming his joy of going on another quest to the world and regaling them with stories of past quests he’d been on, including the one that had involved this Sarah person Stormlight had mentioned before.

Nuriko, for his part, was simply tickled to death at the sight of a dressed-up fox riding a dog like a horse, and Hotohori and Tomo were hard-pressed to keep their companion from bursting into uproarious laughter whenever he glanced their way, not wanting to offend the strange little knight. Luckily, Didymus was too busy playing up his part of hero in the tale to notice that Nuriko was turning almost as purple as his hair in attempts to hold back his hilarity.

After several long minutes of listening to the fox talk, however, Tomo began to grow impatient. "How long will it take to leave this cursed bog?" he asked gruffly, interrupting the knight in the middle of describing a glorious battle involving himself and several hundred goblins (that he had apparently beaten single-handedly).

Didymus blinked, slightly offended. "We’ll soon be through," he replied. "Assuming, of course, that we don’t meet up with the Bog Toad."

Hotohori shot the fox an incredulous glance. "The what?"

Before Didymus could answer, Ambrosius suddenly stopped dead in his tracks and refused to move an inch further, whining piteously. Before them, right in the middle of the path, sat one of the strangest creatures that the Seishi had yet seen. The back half of its body appeared to be that of a large toad, wrinkled and wart-covered with large, powerful amphibian legs, dripping with slime from the bog waters. But its front half was that of a boar, all bristling hair and beady eyes and tusks the size of large daggers, and probably just as sharp. Its front legs were also equipped with sharp, cloven hooves. It was almost as big as Ambrosius, and it eyed them suspiciously as it gave a warning sound that resembled a cross between a croak and a squeal.

"What is it?" Hotohori asked, staring at the creature in horrified fascination.

"The Bog Toad," Didymus replied weakly, brandishing his stick. "It does not take kindly to intruders. Prepare to defend yourselves."

"With what?" Nuriko questioned. "We don’t have any weapons!"

"You don’t?" Didymus sounded incredulous at that. "What kind of fools partake of a dangerous quest while not carrying weapons?!" he scolded.

"It isn’t our fault! Jareth took ‘em from us!" Nuriko growled. "So what do we do now?"

Didymus calmly put his weapon away and turned to regard them seriously. "In regards to this new information, my next suggestion is that we flee," he replied. The Bog Toad squealed again, and scraped its hoof against the ground as its back legs bunched beneath it. "Very quickly," he added hurriedly as Ambrosius whined.

The Bog Toad released a third cry, and its eyes turned red as it suddenly leaped into the air, shooting straight as an arrow toward the three of them, teeth bared. It was growling, too, they couldn’t help but notice, and it did not look happy. "RUN!" Didymus squealed, even though Ambrosius was already racing back down the path, yelping at the top of his lungs. As for the Seishi, they took one look at the creature heading toward them and abandoned all dignity to the wind, deciding to follow Didymus’s much more sensible course of action.

They, too, fled for their lives.