The trek from Birat-Aḫis̆ to Es̆kinna had been a hundred times worse than Jenny had expected. No sooner had they left the protective barrier of her home than Barbartu had promptly offered to fly her back to Nerigla's shattered realm. Just her, not the Fey, who she said could fly along after them.

Needless to say, Alberon had swiftly objected, claiming he was unable to fly. She was pretty sure he was lying about that, but her promise to her father to keep the Fey around gave her a good excuse to turn Barbartu's offer down and, frankly, she was glad for it. She didn't think Barbartu wanted to hurt her, but she didn't quite trust the goddess either, and even if Alberon could actually fly, she suspected the goddess could have easily outflown him, absconding with her in the process.

Thus, they'd been forced to walk. Jenny had never been much of an outdoor girl; when they were young, they were simply too poor to go on fancy vacations. They'd gone camping just once that she could remember, a rather forgettable weekend at a campsite so stuffed with the RVs of richer campers that it could hardly be called remote. And the situation hadn't changed much once her father had brought her back to Birat-Aḫis̆. The wilds outside the city's protective barrier were too dangerous for camping, and he'd rarely taken her back to Earth.

So she'd been entirely unprepared for how miserable the experience would be - a misery she suspected was being purposefully exacerbated by Barbartu to pressure her into agreeing to fly. Most days, they walked for close to eighteen hours, stopping only when the night became too dark to continue moving, though the pace the goddess could hardly be called walking. Most nights, she fell asleep without even trying to pitch her tent, only awoken a few minutes later when the corrupted beasts that roamed the shattered land were attracted to the light of their fire.

Unfortunately, both Barbartu and Alberon seemed content to let her fight off the beasts on her own, calling it 'training.'

Yet, all of that might have been manageable if the wilds had only been a little less, well, wild. Occasionally, they'd run across ruins from Lord Nerigla's domain, great manors, small villages, and even a handful of decaying fortresses, but, for the most part, nature had swallowed up all evidence that civilization had ever existed in the broken lands.

There were no paths to follow over the craggy mountains, whose peaks were glitched out of existence by the doom that had befallen Es̆kinna. There were no bridges over the raging rivers that had carved deep canyons in the rugged slopes, nor pathways down the sudden, sheer cliffs where the mountains had simply collapsed in on themselves. A day didn't go by that she wasn't forced to brave one life-threatening situation or another, but as much as she wanted to give up and surrender, sheer stubbornness prevented her from doing so every time she caught the victorious glint in Barbartu's eyes.

She wasn't going to let her win, not when she felt certain that neither the goddess nor Alberon would actually let her fall to her death. So she soldiered on, each day a new exercise in misery, but she'd be lying if she didn't admit she wasn't nearly brought to the edge of tears when, at the end of the third week, she crested a mountain peak and caught her first glimpse of Es̆kinna.

The city itself was all but obliterated. The vast plains that had once teemed with millions of lives had turned into a canyon filled with thousands of crumbling mesas and needle-nosed spires. They would have no choice but to fly across those chasms, she realized, but now that it would be impossible for Barbartu to spirit her away, she suspected Alberon would suddenly 'remember' how to fly.

But as impressive as the broken canyon was, it was overshadowed by the gargantuan palace planted in the bullseye of the shattered plains. Nerigla's power had allowed the palace to withstand the strike that had flattened the rest of the city nearly unharmed, though the act had so exhausted him that he had fallen - or at least, been believed to have fallen - in the ensuing battle. Thus, the palace was a nearly perfect snapshot of what Es̆kinna had once been, and she stared with a mixture of awe and curiosity at the home of her ancestors.

"You should have seen it before the fall." Entranced by the vision in front of her, Jenny hadn't noticed as Barbartu snuck up on her.

"Did you live here too?"

"No, twas my uncle's home, not my own, but I came here many a time. It was a shame I was not here when it fell."

Jenny wrinkled her nose in surprise. "Wouldn't you have died with the others, then?"

"Most likely," Barbartu chuckled dryly, "but it's hard not to wonder if I had been here if I could have fended off the attackers long enough for my uncle to recover his strength from stopping the strike, or if I could at least have successfully whisked away Ninkigal and Nungal to safety. Yes, I probably would have died, but that's not the sort of story guilt whispers in your ears, is it?"

"Based on the stories I've heard, I'd been led to believe you weren't subject to such lesser feelings as guilt," Alberon interjected, with an easy smile that did not reach his eyes.

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"I waste no time grieving over sheep," the goddess's lip curled with distaste, "but for those who are worthy…"

"Ah, my mistake," he dipped his head mockingly. "No tears then for the good people of Es̆kinna?"

"Do not pretend, Fey," she replied coldly, "as if you care for aught but your own kind either. As I recall, your ancestors played their own part in this city's destruction."

"Aye, my ancestors," he stressed the word, "not I."

Jenny frowned, sensing that the conversation was about to ramp up into yet another of the pair's frequent arguments, and cut them off. "How are we going to reach the city?"

"I'm afraid have to leave your 'bodyguard' behind-" Barbartu began.

"Mentor, actually," Alberon interrupted her, "and, fortunately, that won't be necessary. As I was meditating last night, I recalled an old spell that would allow me to fly."

"How convenient," the goddess replied dryly, to which the Fey just nodded smugly.

"Indeed."

Jenny rolled her eyes, but keen on preventing an argument, pressed on. "Can we go now? I'd rather not spend another night in the wilds," she added, with an entirely authentic shiver. Good gods, I could use a full night of sleep.

"I see no reason not, now that the Fey has overcome his…disability," Barbartu sneered.

The following transformation was rather horrifying, as the goddess's mantle of humanity was discarded for her true form. Reluctantly, Jenny allowed herself to be picked up by her talons and, with Alberon trailing behind, the three took off.

She quickly realized she'd underestimated the size of the shattered plans as, despite the quick pace that Barbartu set, it was nearly three hours before they finally touched down on the palace steps - three very long, uncomfortable hours in the grasp of the goddess's claws.

"Good gods, let's not do that again," she grumbled as Barbartu dropped her onto the palace landing, gingerly rubbing her shoulder.

"Was the service not to your pleasure?" the goddess replied mockingly. "I'm sure next time, I can allow you to cross the plains on your own."

"No, no," Jenny laughed nervously, "Next to that, this was a positive delight. But maybe we could get a saddle for the return trip?" She regretted the words the moment they left her mouth.

"A saddle?" Barbartu asked frostily. "Have you mistaken me for an ass?"

"Uhh," she replied eloquently, before Alberon came to her rescue.

"If you are done teasing the girl, can we find some place to stay before nightfall? I don't fancy sleeping a few feet away from a ten-thousand-foot drop," the man added, though he looked entirely comfortable as he leaned over the edge of the chasm.

Barbartu's apparent outrage melted away as quickly as it had come, and she nodded her head briskly. "I didn't spend much time exploring the place on my return, but if memory serves, there was an old tavern that overlooked the forum we can use."

"Then lead on."

The palace turned out to be more of a city of its own than a simple mansion, Jenny quickly realized as she followed the goddess through a labyrinthine mess of tunnels, streets, and hallways so complex she doubted she could have navigated on her own. Yet, despite the aeons that had passed since Es̆kinna's fall, Barbartu never waivered, never hesitated, as she led them through a solid mile of the walled palace before reaching the forum she had spoken of.

The massive courtyard had once been roofed in with a glass pavilion, but the panes had long since given up the battle against gravity, granting a clear view of the sky as night fell. What little light remained in the heavens came from the Jade Queen, whose green light wreathed the ruined forum with an almost ethereal glow. In most circumstances, Jenny would have found it strikingly beautiful, but the empty stalls, the vacant homes, the unnatural silence that resulted from the absence of all life, turned that beauty into an eerie horror.

She kept her eyes glued to the ground as she followed Barbartu, barely daring to look up into they entered the abandoned tavern she had described.

They fall into a familiar rhythm at that point. Alberon started the food while Jenny unpacked their goods, while the goddess did what she usually die - she propped her feet up and took a nap. By the time she'd carried all their luggage to the rooms on the second floor, a pot of stew was already boiling above the fire and, silly though it was, Jenny found that its hearty, familiar smell did much to banish the creeping horror that had haunted her.

"You alright?" The Fey greeted her, pausing to look her way as he scraped ingredients off his chopping board into the pot. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I'm fine," she replied, slightly dishonestly. "This place is just a little creepy."

"Is it?" He cocked his head curiously. "I can't say I've noticed anything odd, but, then again, I have no real connection to this realm. This is the city of your ancestors, though, so perhaps...do you feel you're being watched? Can you sense where the feeling is emanating from?"

"I-" she paused uncertainly, not having expected him to take her feelings seriously. "I'm probably just psyching myself out," she replied slowly.

"It's possible, but you haven't struck me as paranoid on our trip thus far," Alberon frowned. "If you sense anything specific, don't be afraid to tell me. Or her," he added, nodding to the apparently sleeping Barbartu. "She may act like an ass, but I don't think she wants to see you harmed. Okay?"

She nodded in agreement, and the man's jovial nature took back over. "Good. In the meantime, why don't we practice your magic while we wait for the stew to cook?"The two worked on her spells until the tantalizing odor of the stew was enough to rouse Barbartu and, then, once they'd eaten, they turned in for the night. But Jenny found herself struggling to get to sleep. She knew the palace was abandoned, or at least so they'd been told, and yet she could not shake the feeling that there was something deep inside it looking back at her, a presence with a weight far too great to be any mere monster. Is it Lord Nerigla? Thus, it was nearly dawn before sleep finally overtook her.

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