It's odd how seeing and telling are different. I could be told a million times that the world I had been in and the one I'm currently in are the same, but nothing brought it to life quite like seeing the results of my own actions in front of me.

Granted it had subtly changed - the pool of water wasn't something I recalled doing - but at the same time it was still there. And, it seems, had created the water-filled tunnel I'd suffered journeyed through. Guess I was my own worst enemy.

The monolith brought up as many questions as answers, though, since it was now incased in a tomb of rock, seemly unchanged after all the time that had supposedly passed. I looked around it a bit, trying to figure out what was going on.

"I protected it," said a voice that reverberated though the room, and I whirled around just in time to see the moon lady appear of some light in the center of the monolith. She'd scared me half out of my skin. "I needed some way to reach you in your present, when the Will of the World would be too weak for me to do so on my own. So I concentrated what power I had into this. It has a touch of the divine to it, which helped keep the Motes intact."

"Great idea," I said, "I was wondering how I was going to sort out all the questions I had, since someone seems to have had it out for history books."

"Wasn't mine," the Lady replied. "I had help." She raised a hand, and the lush carpet of greenery covering the walls lit up in undulating waves.

"The moss helped you? How?" I asked.

She maintained her mysterious vibe. "It has its ways."

"Ah, right," I said, her actions reminding me of something. "I never learned what your name was."

"I'm called Celistar by some," she replied. "It's uncommon for most to know me, but at one time I was more active in the world. That was a long time ago, though, even relative to when we last spoke."

"I see. Are you restricted to here?"

"I had thought so, but now that you have arrived, I can see there may be another way. If we use it though, it'll be both easier and yet harder for me to speak to you."

"Most sensible and reasonable thing I've heard all day" I said, unable to contain the sass.

She laughed, the pleasant wind chime noise again being quite the delight to hear. "You'll find out, soon enough. Come over here, and we can begin. I am unable to leave the circle."

I did as I was told, as other than decking me with a stationary moth, which was mostly my fault, Celistar the Moon Lady held no ill intentions that I could discern.

When I reached the inside of the circle, Celistar held my hands. "Alright, close your eyes."

I did that, and as I did, I smelled the distinct smell of flowers, along with an explosion of Nature aligned motes, wrap around me, like arms.

I felt an odd sensation. My eyes snapped open, but she was nowhere to be seen. In her place, several luminescent moths circled, just in front of my vision.

I set my finger on my lips. She didn't just do what I think she did, did she?

For a while, I stayed in place, but then I realized that nothing more was forthcoming from either Celistar or the monument. It'd aged significantly since she'd left, with the wood becoming withered and desiccated and the rock crumbling away in chunks. Only the moss seemed to be staying intact.

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I left before anything worse happened, I seemed to have had enough negative effects on my surroundings to last a lifetime today, and wasn't about to find out that the power that had been used to maintain the monolith's 'youth' was also the same thing holding up the roof.

The 'series of chambers', along with sounding like a knockoff book title, was also annoyingly repetitive. Luckily, the next one was also the last, as I found myself high on a cliff once I reached the far side of a completely empty hollow.

Below me I could see what looked like very fresh impact marks. The rock blocking the exit had very recently sloughed off, something I couldn't imagine was a coincidence. Luckily nothing to suggest I'd accidentally murdered someone with falling rock though.

Turning to look up, I realized I was pretty close to the lip of the cliff. It took a few tries, but I was able to jump up enough to hook my fingers the rock and pull myself up. I'd thought it a few times before, but no way did I have enough upper body strength to do what I just did. Before, anyway. It had to be related to the newly formed Mote energy in my core. Some crazy magic bullshit that was. But all the same, I'd just seen what was a very tangible-looking person vanish into thin air. Well, moth air, anyway.

Once up on top of the cliff, I could see that I hadn't really travelled that far. The city was still well in view. It was farther than I'd realized, but still nothing that'd prevent me from gettin home easily. So home I went.

Gran was looking out the window when I got back. Since what happened to Alessa and I, she was worried. Not that I could blame her.

I was also late, something she was sure to tell me all about once I walked in the door. I defused her with a bit of quick thinking.

"I got a promotion today!" I said, brightly, "I had to stay after to finish paperwork."

"That's all well and good dear," Gran said, with a huge dose of 'I don't believe' you in her voice, "But that doesn't explain why a cat looks like it retrieved you from an old sewer."

Ah shit, I'd totally forgotten about my swim and crawling through all the dirt. "I'll go clean up," I said, defeated.

"You'd better," she said, patting my head. "Then we can celebrate your promotion. Assuming it wasn't to chief mining officer."

"Yes, ma'am." I trundled off to wash up.

When I came back, Gran was standing in the kitchen, whipping up something that smelled amazing, and nostalgic. It was some kind of rice stew, something I remembered fondly from my childhood, but hadn't had in years. I wandered up to her side, and was met with a brusque shooing, where she admonished: "Get back to the table, go sit yourself down."

"Yes, ma'am," I said, feeling the déjà vu. I took my seat, and a few moments later Alessa swept in, as ethereal as always. The girl was wasted on what we had here, I thought. She could give the Moon Fairy a run for her money in the looks department. And she wasn't even cheating with moon magic!

"A little birdie told me that you got a promotion!" Alessa said, wrapping her arms round me from behind in a big hug. We'd always been close, but she'd gotten even warmer after I rescued her. I could well understand that a scare like that would make you appreciate the safety of a family, but I worried about what she wasn't showing - I knew from experience that's where the real trauma lay.

"Thanks, 'Lessa." I gave her some gratitude using the same name I had since I was a toddler, back when saying an 'A' in front of the 'L' had been tricky. "You won't have to keep looking for work."

My mother peaked around the corner. "Really?" she said, her timid voice sounding relieved. She didn't exactly make it a secret that she valued Alessa over me. My older sister said it was that mom just found me more competent, but you can't hide those thoughts from your kids. Not well anyway. They're always going to know.

For my part, I didn't really care. I just wished she wasn't so backhanded about it.

"Yup!" I said. I fished for the papers, before realizing I didn't have the documents, having left them back at the office out of forgetfulness. Probably for the best since they'd be a soggy, useless mess at this point, and probably singed around the edges to boot. I wasn't sure why I thought I'd have somehow stuffed a sizable ream of paper into my pocket anyway. Looking a bit sheepish, I explained the song and dance where I'd thought they'd made a typo.

"You make what?" Alessa asked, whereupon I confirmed the number. "Wow, Char, didn't realize you had it in you to sleep with the boss," she teased, something I took in good nature since I knew she was only joking.

Mom's eyes practically popped out of her head, though, and Alessa gave her a rather angry glare. "Oh come on, Mom. It's a joke. You've heard of them, right? Haha funny, and not real. We all know Char earned this." Mom glanced at me as though she couldn't fathom anything I'd do could be worth the compensation on offer.

Gran put herself between Mom and me, her back facing her own daughter. "I'm sure you'll do great, hon. Let's get some soup, shall we?" She said, sending any thoughts about my erstwhile birth giver out of my head.

Hot damn, soup time!

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