Sofia awoke with a start when she felt something jab her in the thigh. Roquewei, content that she was awake, moved back to his side of camp to pull his things together. “Time to go.”

Did he just kick me?

Already cranky from a restless night, Sofia became even more annoyed at the elf’s rude behavior. She grumbled to herself as she stuffed her sweater that she had used as a cover back into her pack, which had been her pillow. She grabbed the extra fruit from the night before to save for later, and latched her hat back onto the front of the bag.

A dim and thin light peeked through the forest canopy. The early morning fog made it difficult to see far ahead, and gave the forest an eerie atmosphere.

Roquewei, with what was obviously his animal companion on his shoulder, started into the fog at his usual pace. Sofia rushed to keep up.

How does he know where to go? she wondered. I haven’t seen him look at the map or anything, and it’s not like there are signs…

Suddenly a warm red light bounced off the fog, surrounding the travelers. Roquewei’s necklace was glowing, casting a beam of light through the fog.

Sofia’s eyes widened. She reached into her pocket to pull out the pouch with the earrings and found they were also glowing. They are the same!

“Porgi, can you go investigate?”

The bird nodded and took off into the forest. Sofia quickly repocketed the pouch when Roquewei turned toward her and said, “Don’t get lost.”

As he moved in the direction of the beam, Sofia asked, “Where did your bird go?”

“The Aslavu,” Roquewei replied curtly, “went ahead to check out the gate.”

“S-so,” Sofia tried to catch her breath as she worked to keep up with the elf, “the stone in your necklace glows when there’s a gate nearby?”

Ignoring her question the elf simply said, “Let’s keep moving. We don’t know how long the gate will stay open.”

The fog was slowly dissipating as they moved quickly and quietly, following the path of the light. Porgi returned, landing on Roquewei’s shoulder to inform them the gate was nearby.

“Only a few more paces.” The Aslavu spoke in a voice much deeper than Sofia would have expected for a creature his size. “It is at the edge of the forest.”

“The edge? I’ve never seen one at the edge before,” remarked Roquewei. “How much time do you think it will remain open?”

“Likely for as long as the fog remains,” replied Porgi. 

The underbrush, Sofia noticed, was becoming sparser and the space between the trees wider. She saw a clearing, or a meadow, beyond the next few trees and moved forward to investigate. 

When she realized Roquewei wasn’t near her, Sofia turned to see him facing a pair of trees. The light from his necklace was shining intensely.

Walking back to his side, Sofia peered at the trees but didn’t notice anything special.

“Sooooo, how do we know this is the gate?” she asked.

“Look closer,” Roquewei said, speaking to her for the first time in a tone other than indignation. He pointed to a space between the trees. “See the quivering?”

Sofia looked again. After a few moments, she finally saw it. The air seemed to be vibrating. As she looked harder, she noticed that the entire space between the two trees was now visibly quivering, as Roquewei had put it, like cloth gently blowing in the wind.

A tear in the fabric, Sofia remembered. A sense of awe washed over her as she realized the wonder of this moment. This is… amazing!

“Let’s put you back where you came from, shall we?” Roquewei broke into her thoughts gruffly. Sofia grumbled under her breath something about putting him back where he came from, but the elf pretended not to hear. Shifting his sword from his back to his side and unrolling his sleeves, Roquewei looked back at Sofia and said, “Come on.”

Then, with Porgi on his shoulder, Roquewei took a step forward and disappeared.

“Oook, what?” Sofia ran around to the other side of the trees. The elf was not there. 

He really just disappeared into thin air! 

She moved back in front of the gate. The quivering of the air seemed to intensify the longer she stared at it. Reaching out a hand, she touched the gate and felt a slight tug. Sofia pulled her hand back in surprise. 

“You have to step through,” she heard Roquewei’s voice faintly through the gate, as if he was far away. “Hurry up, before it closes!”

Ok, Sofia. Y-you just have to do it. This is the only way to get home.

Stepping back, Sofia took a deep breath and before allowing herself another thought, ran into the quivering air. She felt her body being pulled forward, and for a brief moment of panic Sofia remembered the whirlpool that had nearly drowned her. 

The next thing she knew, she was rolling on a forest floor. But this forest was different from where she had been. This forest felt… wet.

“Probably should have warned you about the thrust. Oops.” Roquewei was clearly taking pleasure in Sofia’s situation.

Why I oughta… Sofia thought to herself as she wiped mud off of her face. Bird calls high in the trees above her distracted her thoughts, encouraging her to inspect their surroundings.

The air was thick with humidity. There were sounds from all sorts of creatures filling her ears, and spots of sun peeking through the dense canopy revealed a beautiful array of verdant, tropical-looking foliage. 

“Where…are we?” she finally asked.

“Somewhere on Talamh,” said Roquewei. “Looks like one of the rainforests. Now all I have to do is find someone to hand you off to and we’ll never have to see each other again.”

“Now wait a minute!” Sofia jumped to her feet. “You can’t just leave me in a rainforest! This is absolutely not ‘putting me back where I came from.’”

“What matters is you are back on Talamh,” Roquewei replied in an uninterested manner. “I’m sure you’ll be able to make it home eventually.”

Furious, Sofia lunged forward and grabbed Roquewei by the collar. “Oh no, you don’t! We could be anywhere in South America, Africa, or even Asia! None of which are remotely near home for me! You are not about to abandon me in the middle of the jungle with no food, no money, and no way of knowing how the heck I’m going to get out of here!”

For a brief moment as Roquewei looked down in surprise, Sofia realized just how much of a height difference there was between the two of them. He was easily a head and a half taller than her, forcing her to crane her neck back to look him in the face. Undeterred, she held her gaze and her grip until Roquewei grabbed her hands, pulled them off his collar, and pinned her up against a tree.

“I highly recommend you never do that again.”

“Roquewei, you have to come see this!” Porgi’s anxious voice broke through the intense moment. Releasing Sofia, Roquewei trudged off in the direction of the Aslavu.

Sofia shook in anger, frustration, and fear as she rubbed her wrists. What am I going to do? 

Without any other clear options, she decided to also head in the direction from which Porgi had been calling. After a few moments, she discovered what had made the Aslavu sound so distraught.

The rainforest came to an abrupt end. Before Sofia was a vast landscape of destruction. What should have been green and lush was brown and dead. The trees had been hacked and the ground looked burned. The sun, without the cover of the trees and other vegetation, was aggressive and unforgiving. In the wind, Sofia could smell smoke, burning wood, and oil. 

Oh no…