As the day follows into the restless night, Aelia is still on an endless search, for not one thing, but many. Runes take precedent, but her eyes are on the swivel for the tunnels the Dream Visitor led them through, and away from the Highlands — away from home. Before the plague, she'd never really left the surrounding territories; away from the golden grasses was no place for her. She learned that with a short trip to the north with Gus.

'Gus.' Something to search for, something to avoid. The Daystar, full of confusion, pressed onward over the nearing edges of the Reaching Plateaus. It'd taken her eons (or what felt like it) to weave in between the endless sun-tanned rocks. If she had the time, she'd want to climb those ancient flat-tops and see if she could see home from there, but for now, the night beckons the solarflare.

She is guided by the brightest stars in the night, and that solemn crescent moon, its watchful eye over her, when her twin is away. The stars, too, creep over her shoulder, seeming ever closer every time she looked back up — she wonders if Amaya is out there, reading her bones, manipulating the skies to look upon her triplet. If so, Aelia offers a small prayer to the sky, Amaya, if you're listening, Amaris and I are okay. She told the sky, hoping that if Amaya could not hear her, the Five would carry her message. And we'll be home soon. She and Amaris would return, but for now, their mission was here.

Finally, there is an end to the flatlands — though she has to blink a few times to make sure it's true and not just the heat getting to her. Of course, this is not as bad as it was within the Canyon, but what dryness lacked, humidity took up in spades. She does not cower from the giant sequoias, only offering a small bow of her head, careful not to gaze too high up at their branches — she needed her focus down on the ground, and not up in the sky. The Daystar wound around the trees, aware of the scent of others, but it was not heavy enough to ward her away, not when the moonlight peered through the primordial trees, watching, waiting, to see what the light of day could achieve in the dead of night.

Setemhotep