Rayla raised an eyebrow at Callum when he sat down on the deck of the ferry beside her, tentatively placing a bucket in front of her. He didn't say anything but drummed his fingers on his knees and kept his eyes fixed ahead of him, not daring to look at her.

"What's this?" she asked, at last, picking up the bucket.

"Just in case you get sick," he said.

She grumbled indignantly but kept the bucket in front of her. Rayla didn't want to admit it but she was feeling a bit nauseous. It didn't help that she had to keep her hood up to hide her horns. It was hot under her cloak.

"So we're going to see this Luanne person up the Cursed Caldara before we head into Xadia then?" she asked. She had decided to trust Soren and Callum with the plan, considering how many things she'd forgotten.

Callum nodded, "Yeah, only her name's Lajanne. She's a moonshadow elf too, and a mage, so she might be able to help with your whole...brain...thing."

"I don't need a mage," Rayla said. "This can only be broken by family."

Callum's blood suddenly ran cold. "You mean...like...your parents?"

"Family's more than blood," Rayla said. "But in theory, my parents would be able to, but they're...well, you know." She hadn't known what had happened to her parents, but Callum had told her the gist, making sure to elaborate on how Rayla's parents had saved Zym's egg.

"So...someone who's family is the only one who can break the spell then," Callum said. There was a part of him that wanted to know if he could break the spell, like something out of an old fairytale, but he thought better of it and kept that thought to himself.

Rayla nodded, "I wouldn't have done the spell if I didn't know of someone who could break it, and I know of at least two. Maybe three, but I'm hopin' it won't come to the third."

"Anyone I know?" Callum asked, forcing himself to push down the hope that one of them was him.

"Uh...maybe," Rayla said. "One would be Runaan."

Callum made a slight hissing noise through his teeth. He'd forgotten to tell her about Runaan. He'd tried to keep all of his news as good as possible. In retrospect, that might have not been the best plan.

"He didn't make it back, did he?" Rayla asked, her voice quiet and calm.

"No, I'm sorry, Rayla."

She shrugged, "It's alright. That was always a risk. There's still Ethari, as long as he's not a ghost or anythin'."

"Uhhhhhhh," Callum said, "I've...I've met Ethari and...well...he wasn't a ghost."

Rayla glared at him. "Why are you stammerin'?" When he didn't elaborate she snapped, "Just spit it out!"

"You're a ghost. You're...yeah, I didn't think it was important and — "

"You didn't think it was important?" Rayla bellowed as she shot onto her feet. "How could that not be important?"

"I just didn't want to upset you," Callum said. "Last I heard from Ethari he was trying to get the others to reverse the spell, but he didn't know how it was going to go so...you might be...resurrected? Unghosted? I don't know what the term for that would be. You can still get the spell undone though, right? You said there was a third person. We can still do this!"

Rayla put her hand in her face and heaved a heavy sigh. "If that's what it comes to, but it could take us weeks to find them, and even if we do find them we aren't exactly on speakin' terms."

"It can't hurt to try," Callum offered as he stood up.

Rayla didn't answer but glared at him for almost a minute before storming off. She knew that it was unlikely her third option wouldn't help her. They were family, after all. Her main concern was time. Now she had to rethink her entire strategy.

Rayla was still brooding by the time they got off their ferry. She had refused to ride because she didn't want Callum to touch her. She ended up running ahead to 'scout the area', but in reality, she just needed time to brood. She was getting a bit too far ahead of the group. There was snow up ahead, but Rayla didn't let it bother her.

She only stopped when she heard that she wasn't alone anymore. Rayla stood still and silent, listening to her surroundings. She was going to fold her swords, but she stopped herself when she heard that the other person was just a kid.

Going against her better judgment, Rayla tracked down the other person until she arrived in a clearing. There she found a little girl and a giant wolf, who yipped bounded at her, almost knocking her over and covering the elf's face with slobbery kisses.

Rayla wanted to ask for help but kept her mouth shut tight so that the wolf wouldn't get its tongue in her mouth.

"Ava, stop it!" the girl said as she shoved the wolf away. When she saw who the dog was licking, however, the girl's face lit up and she threw herself onto Rayla, hugging her tightly. "No wonder Ava was so excited! It's so good to see you, Rayla!"

Rayla tentatively patted the girl's back, thinking to herself that she seemed to have more human friends than she would have expected. "Hey...uh….I'm sorry. I kinda have a spell on me so I've forgotten a lot of things."

The girl pulled away. "Oh, I see. That's fine, though. Just because you don't remember me and Ava doesn't mean we aren't still friends. What're you doing up here, anyway? You're not going to see Lujanne, are you? She's been kind of...busy lately."

"Uh...yeah, we are actually," she said. "How do you know Lujanne?"

"The same way you do," the little girl said. "I'm Ellis, by the way. When you say 'we' do you mean Ezran and Callum too?"

"Yeah," Rayla said, becoming slightly unsettled with everything Ellis knew. "Soren too. I'm just scouting ahead. What's going on with Lujanne?"

Ellis' face twisted into a grimace. "Soren's with you? That's weird. I thought you hated him."

Rayla shrugged, "Honestly, I don't know if I hated him, but he seems alright now. What's goin' on with the moon mage?"

Ellis glanced up at Eva, who whined in response. "I don't really know, to be honest. All I know is that it has something to do with a curse, a real curse. I can lead you guys up there, though. Lujanne showed me a path that only takes an hour or two instead of all night."

"We'll have to wait for the others," Rayla said. Despite everything, including how mad she was at Callum, she didn't want to be alone on this journey.

Can I just say how much I love Ava and Ellis? I love them. They're the cuteness. Anyway, leave a review and follow if you wanna know what happens next, and happy holidayysss! I'm planning on posting again before 2020 at least once or twice, but still...happy holidays.