The attack upon the troop had instilled a deep fear of witches into the young boy's heart, one he was not soon to forget. Dramoro picked up his little brother and comforted him as best he could, saying, "It is okay, Dohai, these witches are our friends. They are going to help us." Still, when the three pale and slender shapes entered the cave, Dohai huddled behind his brother's legs while Helleri stuck her chin out in defiance of the witches.

"Eliode, I have not seen you in so long." Vraurk greeted the tallest witch, who wore a crown of the same periwinkle-blue flowers about her raven hair as the one Vraurk had used to contact her. "Vraurk, you look well." she said, following the king's cumbersome footsteps out into the cleaner snow. "What are you needing of us?" the woman asked. Her voice was so musical and soft, yet clear and powerful at the same time. The troop had trouble hearing the sense of the words for listening to the sound of it. "Surely you know of our bloodfeud between the Southland witches." the bear-king said, lumbering still deeper into the snowdrifts and motioning for his guard not to follow.

"Of course, king. They are our mortal enemies as well, but surely you have heard that that clan is no more, the last of them disappeared into the tundra and were never heard from since, a few days ago." Following closely, the troop listened hard to every word, hoping so strongly to hear of their salvation. "Yes, my dear. It is this group here we have to thank for their annihilation. You see, these are not true humans, but bears made human by the southlanders. A spell woven into arrows which they were pierced with during a battle. Before their transformation, the Guard finished off the last of that kind." With a nod, Eliode held out her hand for Kasatka's, who offered the arm which she had been wounded in. "There is no sign of an injury, except a scar...here. A scar caused by a magical blade." Indeed, there was a small scar near the elbow, in the shape of a bear's head. "A curse has been put upon you, an unbreakable one."

Their hearts fell at the word "unbreakable", and Rolvaag bellowed into the unfeeling night in anguish. "You cannot do anything, anything at all?" Vraurk implored. "I can't return them fully to their former bodies, but I can give them the ability to return to them for short periods of time, like a shapeshifter." She took a pouch draped around her neck and poured out a small pinch of a glimmering powder. "This is a restorative, used to return those transformed or poisoned to their original state. Since we cannot get the witch who cursed you, it will only allow you to take the form of a bear for a moonrise at a time." With a bow to the witch, Forgeron said, "We are willing to accept and are deeply grateful for any help you can provide us with, witch queen."

"I only regret it cannot be more." Carefully giving each troop member only a small pinch of the powder, the queen said, "Take this now, and find a place to sleep. You must be asleep for the powder to work. Meet me tomorrow just beyond that outcropping." Pointing with a pale hand at a jagged point of bare rock in the distance, she continued, "I may yet be able to help you more. Be sure to bring your armor." With that, the witch queen bowed and yelled a high, wild cry to her companions, who flew above them and brought her cloud-pine branch. They took off toward the Aurora as snow began to fall softly.

"Well, come on my Guard. Take your powder and come to sleep. I'll have a fire built and meat brought." The bear-king turned and began to lumber back to camp, leaving the depressed troop to follow after. "That's it?" said Pyree, staring dejectedly at the powder in her hands, unsure that it would solve her problems. "It is all they can do for us. Take the powder, and we will see in the morning." Kasatka tried to soothe their broken spirits, taking a handful of snow and the powder into her mouth. The rest followed suit before heading back to the orange glow of the fire mines, hoping things would look better in the morning.

They all had the same dream, a bear that looked much like themselves looming on a hill of snow in the distance. It watched them with compassionate eyes, and a look of longing, before turning it's back and loping off to the horizon, leaving each calling for it to come back in vain. When the dull gray light of morning filled the cave, they awoke feeling no different except a sense of abandonment sitting heavily in their guts. "How do we know if it has worked?" Rolvaag demanded as they set out for the outcropping, lugging their heavy armor. "Have you even tried anything?" Helleri demanded, wishing wholeheartedly that she had armor to lug along. "Well, no..." Speaking authoritatively, Forgeron said, "The witch can tell us what to do, don't worry."

As they continued into the snow, Pyree was thinking every second of how this would be nothing if she were a bear. How strong she felt then, how powerful and safe! It even seemed that she felt that way now, when suddenly her armor slipped from her hands, though it now felt feather-light. The whole troop stopped and stared open-mouthed at her, for she had turned back into a bear! "What did you do?" asked Dramoro, dropping his armor, stunned. "I-I don't know, I just remembered what it felt like to be a bear!" Surprised at her own strength, Pyree easily lifted her armor on, and chained down her helmet while Dramoro thought fiercely of what it was like to be a bear, the sleekness and strength. He too flowed back into the form of a bear, and uncharacteristically bellowed with joy.

Soon, each member was bounding about in joy, back in their former shapes. They easily donned their armor and continued effortlessly to the outcropping. Reaching long before they could have in their human forms, they rejoiced. "I see you found out how to shift, very good." Eliode descended from a branch in the pine trees that circled the side of the mountain. "Let me see if you can resume your human forms." "Why would we want to?" Rolvaag asked, tossing his head. "Because, if you wait until your time is up, the return shift is painful and draining...and you may not successfully change with you what you may be wearing at the time. If you are going from bear to human and are wearing your armor, this could prove disastrous." Nineveh glowered at the woman, she and her sister loathe to return to a form that held absolutely nothing for them.

Gazing somberly at the witch, they all knew what she was speaking about. Having the extremely heavy armor suddenly land on unprepared human shoulders could easily break their necks. "Okay, how do you?" Helleri asked, flopping down onto the needle cover under the trees. "The same way you became bears, remember what it was like being a human." "The weakness, the cold..." Dramoro thought angrily, but it worked. He changed back to a human, his armor successfully transmuted along with. It didn't take long for the rest to follow, Dohai having some trouble because he hated his human form so, and despised returning to it.

"Excellent. Here is what else I have for you, Guard of Svalbard." The witch turned to the bare rock wall and waved her hands in an intricate pattern, and there materialized a glowing blue portal. "This is an exit to any different world your destiny lies in. Stepping through it will send you anywhere, anytime." Watching the portal softly spin, Forgeron asked, "Why are you sending us away?" "We all know that your destiny cannot lie in this world any longer. You are not truly humans, nor are you truly bears. If it happens your destiny does lie in this world, the portal will not accept you. You do not have to go through, but your life here will be miserable and bleak." She did not paint a pleasant picture for staying in their world, but they did not want to be separated. The whole troop had been together their whole lives practically, they were allies, friends...a family. "What...what if we all go to separate worlds?" Kasatka asked, gripping her mate's arm more tightly. "Some of your destinies may lie in the same world, such as yourself and Forgeron. You are one, mates...souls bound by love. The portal rarely splits mates apart."

"What about siblings?" Dramoro asked, placing a hand upon Dohai's shoulder. "I won't go if there is the slightest chance I'll be separated from Dohai." "Nor will I, if Helleri and I are parted." said Rolvaag, stepping beside his sister. The younger siblings beamed up at the older. "Hey, someone's gotta take care of you, right?" he said, ruffling Helleri's white hair. Kasatka smiled at her two children, as Dramoro squeezed Dohai's shoulder. "I'd be lonely, kid." he said gruffly. "If your destinies lie together, you will go to the same place."

Moving in front of the portal, Modomnoc said, "I'll go. I've always known this was not my true walk in life." Turning to his friends, his family, and most of all, to Pyree, he said, "May we all find each other again, when we are able. And may our futures be bright." before jumping into the blue light and disappearing. "Modomnoc..." she whispered in a choked voice. "I'll go too." Solange, who had been quiet since that morning, approached the portal. "I agree, we should all meet here again, when we find a way. I will return." With that, she also jumped through and melted away. Rolvaag was quick to follow, with Helleri at his side. "Ready, kid?" he said, his voice shaking imperceptibly. "Yes." Helleri turned to her parents along with Rolvaag. "Goodbye, and good fortune." she said, tears in her eyes. The pair stepped through, each thinking of the other.

Soren practically leapt through, so eager he was to leave a world that had only brought him rejection and misery. With barely a grunt to the rest, he bounded into the blue portal and dissappeared.

Dramoro and Dohai were next, Dohai being carried by his brother. "I will find you." Dramoro whispered as they stepped through. "If we get separated, I'll find you, no matter how long it takes." Then they were gone. Pyree stepped up to the portal next, and trembling with fear and hope stepped through without a backwards glance. She was afraid that if she looked back and saw her friends and her world, she would never make it through.

Nineveh and Rue went in together, each in deep fear that they would be separated. Before leaving, they turned to Kasatka. Nineveh began, "We wish to thank you, Kasatka."

"You showed us compassion when no one else would,"

"showed us love when we knew none."

"For this, we thank you, our only true mother." finished Rue. The girls hugged Kasatka and turned toward the swirling mass of blue, taking a breath before diving in.

The witch queen watched Forgeron and Kasatka as they held onto one another, both fearing the separation that may lay beyond that portal. "Well, my love...our children did it, can we?" he asked in a slightly shaky voice. "Yes, I think we can." To Eliode, she said, "Thank you, Queen of the Northern Witches. You have offered us something when we thought there was nothing to be had. Should we meet again, I will owe you a great debt." Kasatka and Forgeron bowed before stepping arm-in-arm through the portal, to their destiny.

Waving her hand to seal the portal, the witch queen murmured, "Good fortune to ye all, I hope you find what completes you in another world."