"There? There where?"
The light answered for him. It surged from the tree, wrapped around us, and yanked.
I have been through portals before. But this was different. The transit took approximately two seconds and felt like being squeezed through a tube of warm light. I landed on stone, on myfeet. Which was a first. Kevin crashed into me half a second later because Kevin has never stuck a landing in his life, and today was not the day he would start.
"Okay, what the hell just happened? Where are we? And why does it smell like a spa in here?"
The chamber was glowing. And then I saw her. Elle.
She was standing across the chamber crying, and she was the most beautiful thing I'd seen since Mora smiled at me for the first time.
"ELLE!" I launched across the chamber, all six feet of insectoid enthusiasm, and crashed into her with a hug that lifted her off the ground. "You're alive! You're whole! You're wearing something gorgeous! Did you do something different with your hair? It looks amazing. Everything looks amazing. I'm going to cry. I'm crying. Kevin, are you seeing this?"
Kevin buzzed confirmation. He was also crying, in the particular way that bees cry, which involves producing a small amount of luminescent fluid from their antennae glands and looking profoundly moved. But he was crying for a completely different reason. Peeble was there and had him in their arms, peppering them in what I could only assume was beetle kisses.
Elle hugged me back, laughing and sobbing at the same time. "Bryx. Oh my gods, Bryx."
"Don't 'oh my gods' me, you vanished into the cosmic ether and left us making grilled cheese in Arkansas for months! Do you know what that's been like? Leo doesn't have cable. I had to watch something called 'local news.' It's horrifying, Elle. The world is terrible and the weather forecasts are lies."
"I missed you so much."
"Of course you did. I'm delightful." I set her down and held her at arm's length, compound eyes cataloging every detail. She looked good. Really good. "You look happy," I said, and the observation surprised me.
"I am happy." She wiped her eyes. "I found him, Bryx. I found everyone. There's so much to tell you."
Mora reached Elle next, and the hug between them was longer.
Leo grabbed Elle the moment Mora released her, lifting her off the ground in a hug, spinning her around before setting her back on the ground. "Don't you ever do that again," he said into her hair. "I'm serious, Elle. Never again."
"I'll try."
"Not try. Promise."
"I promise."
Sarah hugged her next, gentle and steady, and said something too quiet for me to hear that made Elle's eyes fill again.
Raskel did not hug anyone. He stood at the edge of the group, tapped his stick on the root floor, and said, "Good. You're alive. Now tell me about this city before I die of curiosity, which at my age could happen literally at any moment."
The briefing happens fast because apparently we are short on time.
The young woman who pulled us through the Rootline is named Thalia. She governs the city. She is also, apparently, Elle and Kaelren's daughter from another timeline, which is the kindof information that should come with a warning label and a stiff drink.
I handle this news the way I handle all news that breaks my brain: with grace, charm, and a joke that nobody appreciates.
"So you're telling me that the brooding prince and the sass queen made a baby, and that baby grew up to be a military commander who runs a living city and can pull people across dimensions with her bare hands? That's the most on-brand thing I've ever heard. Kevin, are you getting this? Our leadership reproduced, and the result is terrifying."
Kevin buzzes agreement. He's already explored half the chamber and has taken a particular liking to the bioluminescent moss, which he's been licking.
"Kevin, stop licking the walls."
Thalia gives me the same flat look her father gives me. The resemblance is uncanny and deeply unsettling. "The Cathedral manifests within hours. I need everyone in position."
Leo and Sarah are assigned to the civilian shelters in the inner ring. Leo doesn't love it. I can see the protest forming on his face, the fighter instinct that says he should be outside, helping, doing something. Sarah puts her hand on his arm and says, "There are children in those shelters, Leo." That settles it. Leo has never said no to protecting children.
I watch them follow a Verdance guide into the inner corridors, Leo turning back once to find Elle. She gives him a nod that means I'll see you on the other side. He nods back.
Thalia assigns me to the outer perimeter with the ward line defense teams, and the walk from the Heartwood to the second ring gives me my first real glimpse of the Verdance.
