Turning away from the overcast skies through the window, I spoke up to break the silence of the carriage. “So, are we really never going to talk about Cassie saying Breeze isn't her real sister?”

Bosco and Undertow, the other two occupants of the carriage, instantly looked at each other. Their eyes were wide open.

“Uh...” Bosco began, not facing me.

“Um...” Undertow echoed, but she did manage to meet my gaze. “Does it matter, truly?”

Are you kidding, Undertow? “Of course it does.”

Bosco finally shifted to look back at me. “Doesn't seem to bother you two any.”

“That's different.” My magic brushed against Undertow's, bringing a smile to her face. “I've never said that Undertow wasn't my sister. Well, maybe once to stop my enemies from targeting her.”

“Well, there you go.” Bosco jumped in. “They're pegasi, and we know they've got some sort of past with Raiders. Even if they didn't, there are a lot of folks around who don't think highly of winged ponies. She could've been just trying to keep Breeze safe, like you did.”

“Oh, come on.” I groaned. “They're the only two pegasi within a hundred miles and, aside from the manes, they look just like each other. You're telling me people couldn't put two and two together?” Something twinged in the back of my brain. “Oh, I guess the Overmare's another pegasus now, huh? Still, the point stands.”

Turbulence filtered back through the magic link. “Why take the chance? I know you would do all you could to keep me safe. You have done as much as you could. The same with our brothers, and they're three times our size. Wouldn't Cassie do the same for Breeze?”

“I guess...” Why am I getting ganged up on?

Emphatically nodding, Bosco was not so hesitant. “She would. No doubt about it.”

“Mhm.” Undertow radiated agreement through her face and horn.

Fighting the sensations without inadvertently upsetting my sister was becoming difficult. “Okay, while fully aware that I am the one who brought this up, why are you two so adamant about this?”

Bosco's reply was simple. “Cassie and I can actually stand each other.”

My frown deepened. Cocky little...

Bolstered by our connection, Undertow was more comprehensive. “We've all fought together for a while now, big sister. Yes, things were rocky at first, but now we're all fighting on the same side.” Her heavy stare rooted me in place. “You can't go through all that without knowing you can trust each other, Snowflake. You've changed through what has happened to us and between us, and so have we all. Just like you and I, Cassie and Breeze aren't the mares they were when we first met. Can you not recognise that by now? Trying to convince yourself that you should keep hating them has to be tiring for you, so can't you lay the matter to rest?”

Green fire burned, and suddenly Cassie stood where Bosco was. “Couldn't hurt, Snow.”

A twinge of contempt ran through me at the sight of the sniper pegasus, and I hastily cut off my connection before Undertow picked up on it. Not cool, Bosco.

Goggles now lowered, Undertow's soulful orange eyes bored into mine. “Please?”

Damn, not fast enough. The scars on my hooves and chest itched as I thought of Cassiopeia Venatici.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

We trudged through the dilapidated buildings of Whinniepeg, heading for the 'irradiated' building we'd visited several times before. Really is a cute trick to fool radiation sensors like that.

Speaking of cute tricks... We'd entered a clearing, with a familiar charred bench. Someone sucked in air through their nostrils behind me as I trotted up to the busted furniture. The discarded packet of Radsafe I'd been drinking was crumpled up at the base of one leg, the few drops left inside discoloured and spoiled by the weeks of weather exposure.

The crunch of gravel under paw told me who now stood behind me. “Been a while since...” She began tentatively.

“Yeah, feels even longer.” Almost a past life. “Never did get around to getting my Pipbuck back from Cassie, did I?”

Wings snorted uneasily. “I never thought to ask. Just gonna say this now: I gave you back the Memory Orb. Whatever happened with your Pipbuck? She did it.”

“Damn straight she did.” We shared a laugh.

Sobriety returned quickly. “Undertow thinks I should forgive and forget with Cassie. Bosco wants it too.”

“...do you want to?”

The bitch shot me three times! “No!” I snapped, surly, before softening. “But... I guess I'd rather not be always angry with a girl who's probably gonna be a big part of all our lives from now on.”

“You are better when you're smiling.” Her tone was matter-of-fact. “I'll see what I can do.”

“You?” I glanced over.

“Yeah, well,” one claw waved back and forth. “I was there too. Like we said, a lot's gone down between then and now. Figure I've got a few more favours to pay you back.”

As if I don't owe you? “I stopped counting after we settled the third favour in Lethbridle, Wings.”

Her claw curled into a fist. “I don't have an exact number either, but I'm okay adding one to it regardless.” She smirked. “You know us Schwarzwald-adopting pony-griffons: We always gotta pay our debts.”

“You are a remarkably stubborn lot, every one of you.” Smiling, I aimed a kick at the bench. There was no anger in the strike, rather it just felt like the thing to do.

KRGK! The bench split where I'd kicked, collapsing inwards.

The two of us just blinked for a few moments.

“...nice kick?”

“...whoops.”

“Guys, c'mon.” Bosco and Undertow clattered up to us. “I wanna get down there.”

Without waiting for an answer, he bit down on Wings' tail and started dragging. She yelped and tugged back, until he stilled her with a look.

Undertow followed suit, but more gently. She simply picked me up in her magic, as she had done in the meeting at Sprinkles Supplies, and followed the colt. “Please stay on task, big sister. We are here to help Bosco.”

Griffon in tow, Bosco made straight for the fog-inhabited structure. Booting straight through the double doors, his lack of hesitation startled those inside. Golden miasma seeped through the walls and floor, gathering into a thick fog cloud.

Bosco strode right up to it, unblinking. “We'll be down shortly. Tell the others we're on our way.”

To the extent that a formless mass of gold gas could look perturbed, it did. Swelling in front of him and looming.

To his credit, Bosco didn't move, opting to simply keep staring. It was only when I caught a glimpse reflected light that I realised he was sweating down the back of his neck.

The cloud remained puffed for a second or two longer, then dissipated into the walls.

My hooves clicked on the floor as Undertow lowered me down, goggles still on Bosco.

Wings whistled low. “Boss. Colt.”

He gulped heavily. “Let's go before they figure it out.”

On the way down, through hallways no longer blocked by 'debris', Bosco's sweating intensified. So much so that, walking with him as Wings and I took up the rear, Undertow had to stop and cool him down with her water magic more than once. “Please try to stay calm, Bosco. We won't let anything happen to you. We are only here for answers, not to fight.”

“Do they know that?” He grumbled, but pressed on.

Navigating down through the bowels of the building, the corridors and rooms seemed in far worse condition than I remembered. The Silver Fog fight must've been a rager. The two warring factions had ripped through walls, shattered furniture, collapsed stairways and ceilings, and generally thrown a whole heap of filth and grime around.

A thought made me giggle a little bit. What if the Gold Fog are the neat ones, and have always been hiding the dirt when we were here? Then the Silver come in and total the place.

Bosco's glare did nothing to lessen my amusement at the idea.

Wings moved into the centre of our foursome, and spoke up just enough for us to hear. “They're following us. Gold flashes in the cracks and missing panels. Watch what you say.”

Bosco snorted. “Paranoid much? We didn't come here by accident. We know they live here. We're actually here to see them. You'd think they'd save themselves the trouble.”

Undertow looked directly at an open junction box until a faint glittering appeared. “I don't think they know any other way.”

“Sucks to be them.” Snorting more forcefully, the colt quickened his pace. “Let's keep moving. I don't think we're that far now.”

He turned out to be correct. Only two more twisting corridors, and the final flight of stairs, were between us and the wide open chamber where we'd encountered the master of this place, the giant golden Alicorn.

The same one that we now saw before us again. Well, almost. Our arrival seemed to have thrown the Gold Fog for a loop, as the Alicorn stood stock still, glaring imperiously down at us. Its wings, horn, and other extremities were jagged, roiling, unfinished. A steady stream of gold filtered in from all sides, molten ore to fill out the mold.

Caught you without your makeup on, did we?

Clearing its throat, a rumbling echo swarming the chamber, it spoke. “We did not summon you, nor are you welcome here. Why have you come back?”

Okay, that's still scary. The four of us crowded together, with Bosco in the centre.

The colt craned his neck upwards. “A lot has happened, and I think you might know something about this.”

Finally finished forming, the giant pony flexed its wings. The backdraft almost bowled us over. “What has happened, and why would we know?” Another beat of its feathers lifted the manes back off our faces. “Furthermore, why would we tell you anything?”

Giving us a 'make some room' motion, Bosco took a deep breath. “Because your Silver buddies seem to think I'm important.” Green fire flashed, and Cassie stood where Bosco had been a moment ago. “Do you?”

The Alicorn quirked one tarantubaa-sized eyebrow. “Indeed.” A satisfied smile split the colossal face. “We were wrong before. You are indeed welcome here, child. It is good to see you again, after so long.”

Cassie flashed back to Bosco. “You know who I am?”

It nodded. “Your name may take some time, but we do know who you were before, and why you have been alone for so long.”

“And why you made no effort to find or help me?” Bosco countered, staring unblinkingly at a pony a thousand times his size. “You're like the Silver Fog, right? You're Changelings too?”

The smile on the Alicorn's face dulled. “Sending you away was... not our choice. It was a failed endeavour, one that continues to cost our race dearly.”

“Was it Chrysalis?” I enquired.

“QUEEN CHRYSALIS!” Roaring, the gold collective slammed their hooves down, toppling all four of us. “SHE IS OUR QUEEN, AND YOU WILL REFER TO HER AS SUCH!”

“Not... my queen!” With gritted teeth, Bosco stood back up. “I am Bosco, an earth pony. What I was born as won't change who I am.”

Anger giving way to disappointment, the Alicorn looked on Bosco as a parent would an unruly child. “Why would you wish to remain a mere pony? It is because of the ponies, and the equally foolish zebra, that we are in this situation.” Disappointment became a thousand-yard stare. “Without their mistakes, our glorious and radiant Queen would not be tied to their mountain tomb.”

“Wait, what?!” Pushing past Bosco, I waved the Alicorn back to the room. “What'd you just say about Chrysalis?”

“She is Queen...” It began, exasperated, before relenting. “Under the mountain. She shields herself, the focal point, and the pink pony princess, in the coffin you so perversely call a Stable.”

My tongue decided to stop working, sending all its energy to my fizzing brain. Stable 61! Chrysalis and Cadence are IN THE STABLE! We'd know if they were. There's no way they could hide that, is there? A hundred thoughts assaulted me all at once, but two in particular stood out.

The first was accompanied by an image of a stoic pegasus. The Overmare! Did she know? Did she cover it up? I can't let her control this. Wait, she's out now... DOES THAT MEAN ROC KNOWS? THAT JACKHOLE WILL RUIN EVERYTHING!

The second thought finally managed to muscle the first out of the way. Unless... what if neither of them know? What if nobody does? They could be sat on top of a ticking time bomb! If they blizzard fails, it could lead the Windigoes right into the Stable! They'd all die!

The assault of imagination left me feeling dizzy. While I reeled, Bosco stepped up again. “You didn't answer my question. In all the time I was out there by myself, why did you never contact me?”

To my utter surprise, a look of hesitation came across the Alicorn's face. “It was... not our place to approach you. Our Queen would not have wanted—”

“LIES!”

The four of us, and however many Changelings made up the Alicorn, turned back towards the staircase, where a boiling mass of Silver bled through the opening into the chamber. Undertow, Wings, Bosco, and I were forced back to the bottom of the stairs as the Silver Changelings coalesced into a second Alicorn, equal to the first in all but colour.

The air pressure ramped up immediately as a second pair of skycarriage-wide wings began beating for emphasis. “You do not deserve to speak for our beautiful and magnificent Queen!” After snarling at the Gold Alicorn, the Silver giant turned softening eyes on us. “Are you alright, Bosco? You should not have come here. These fools do not have your best interests at heart.”

“And you do?” Gold scoffed behind a wing. “We speak for all Changelings, not just those who have turned their back on our resplendent Queen Chrysalis.”

Silver grimaced, but did not retort. Instead, it stayed focused on Bosco. “Are you alright? Did they do anything to you?”

“Not this time.” Bosco's hoof stayed ready by his knife holster. “We were discussing why I was thrown out into the Wasteland alone, with no sort of heads up as to who or what I was.”

“For six years!” Undertow piped up. My sister hadn't moved far from Bosco the entire time, clearly not happy to be in the presence of Changeling gehstalt-Alicorns again.

“Let Bosco and Undertow talk,” the last member of our group murmured into my ear, “I'll watch Goldie, you watch Silvia. We move if they do, got it?”

I replied out of the tiniest corner of my mouth. “Sounds good.”

'Silvia' nodded sadly. “It tore us apart to do that to you, our brothers and sisters, but we had to. Without our efforts—”

“...we would all be in a stronger position.” 'Goldie' whipped her horn forward, into the Silver mane, which parted around the horn before reforming. “All you have done is jeopardise every duty that we were charged with!”

That one, the Silver Changelings could not let go. Rearing around, they clashed horns with the Gold beast. “We were charged with preserving and strengthening the Changeling race, you pretentious pretenders, and we have done so.” They forced Goldie back. “Unlike you, who has let our race weaken and decay! You did nothing to help, only sat around and waited for salvation, all under the banner of 'tradition'. Traditions you failed to recognise were dangerously obsolete without our transcendent Queen!”

Goldie rallied and pushed back, pressing Silvia and ourselves to the wall. “That has been your argument for six years, and it is no more true now than it was when you first embarked upon your fool's errand. All you have done is accelerate our demise!”

I whacked my hoof against the wall as loud as I could. “REMEMBER WE'RE HERE TOO, YOU CLUMSY PRICKS! Gonna squish Bosco after you spent so much time getting this all out in the open?!”

Instead of getting into another shoving match, 'Silvia' dissolved into an entire wing of angry Changelings. The thrum of their gossamer wings filled my ears instantly. They remained in concert as they all called out. “Your traditions are guaranteed death! Dying more slowly is no worthy goal. Our gamble gives we Changelings a chance for survival, and possibly a new, sustainable way to live! We have heard your bleating before too!”

The racket in the air became almost a physical force as 'Goldie' reverted to her chitinous individual elements too. “If we abandon all that we are and believe in, we risk losing our connection to the Queen! What if your machinations deprive her of the source of her power? We have seen for ourselves that the threat endures! Lethbridle will be just the first if we cannot feed Queen Chrysalis' soul and spirit!”

What the hell are these guys talking about? Through some miracle, I managed to draw the attention of the others, to get some non-verbal answers.

My 'the fuck?' gesture was met by my sister's head shake, Bosco giving a furious shrug, and a 'they're nuts' temple claw-twirl from Wings.

The charcoal colt wasn't interested in sitting on the sidelines as the two groups rehashed years-old arguments. Grabbing me around the ear, he pressed his lips nearly into the canal. “Snow, get their attention!”

“How?” We were barely audible over the ongoing shouting match above us. There were so many Changelings in the room that I couldn't see the ceiling anymore.

“Make a blizzard, like you did in Lethbridle. They were watching then, and they'll see it now.”

“I can't do it on a whim, Bosco. I could barely walk after that time!”

He dismissed my criticism, blank-faced. “You're not trying to cover an entire city. Don't even need to fill the room, just get their attention. Kick out some mist, I've seen you do that before!”

“Alright, fine.” A 'please' or 'thank you' might be nice. The glacier-blue glow washed over the others, before the air around me turned hazy. As condensation settled on my nose, I directed the spell upwards.

In a tight spiral, cold air blew upwards, between the two groups of Changelings. I fed the spell until the white turned opaque, then let it spread out in a frigid sphere.

The sudden drop off in noise, punctuated by sharp surprise from some of the insectile ungulates, let me know I had their attention.

“It's a Windigo!”

Nope. Got rid of one, though.

“Everyling for themselves!”

'Everyling'. That's kinda cute.

“No, it's her!”

Yep.

“She's a Windigo!”

Rude.

“She’s a witch!”

Ruder.

“She’s a Witchigo!”

Oh, come on!

A trio of Changelings from the Gold Fog faction dropped from the pack, to slam in front of us. They glared at Bosco and I. “Why are you attacking us?”

“We're not,” Bosco griped, “we're just getting your attention. I have enough to think about without you bunch of idiots wasting my time.”

The three Changelings were matched by the same number from the Silver Fog side. “We're trying to help you, Bosco. Remain calm and let us.”

The charcoal colt was having none of us, jerking back and forth between the two delegations. “You all have put me through hell for weeks now, and think I'll just sit back and listen to whatever you say? You wanna talk to me about this crap? You six stay, the rest leave. Then we can get down to it. I am not friends with any of you, don't act as if I like this.”

While the Gold group glared, the Silver side nodded. “That's fair. We do owe you.” At a glance from the leader, the other parts of Silvia waiting in the air shifted to fog, and disappeared up the stairway.

“Well, we don't!” The other side countered. None of Goldie's parts made any move to leave.

“Then we shall leave, and talk with the Silver Changelings alone.” Undertow's sharp rebuke was punctuated with a glare. “For all their mistakes, THEY did not pluck us from our friends.”

She held the gaze of the Gold leader without flinching. After a half-dozen heartbeats, the Changeling looked away, sulking. “We sensed something, and acted to investigate.”

“By grabbing us, and leaving our friends high and dry in the middle of a firefight.” If they expected sympathy, they would be disappointed. “I don't care what you thought you sensed. You could have killed us all. You almost did kill our friend.” You're just lucky Naiara pulled through. If she hadn't, I'd have brought this entire building down on top of you.

A brief quiet followed, before the Gold leader silently waved away all of its still-airborne compatriots.

Surprisingly, the Silver side came to their defence. “Our business is not with you, pony, but with our wayward son here.” The Changeling, whose gender I could not identify, if it even had one, rounded on Bosco. “We have agreed to your terms, Bosco. Will you accommodate us in return?”

“What do you want?”

Both trios nodded at each other before responding. “Can you speak to us as a Changeling?”

Stunned silence was the response. Bosco stood stock-still, jaw slack. Undertow tried to wrap her hooves around him, but he didn't seem to feel it.

Eventually, in a haunted, choking voice, he spoke seven words. “I don't know what I look like.”

“We know,” the Silver leader looked on, not unkindly, “we wiped that from your mind too.”

“'too'?” I started. “What else did you hide from him?”

“Everything. Species. Appearance. Name. Every last detail was sealed away, so that others would accept the pony before them. So that they would accept Bosco.”

Undertow hugged Bosco tighter as he mewled quietly.

Wings looked between the colt and the Silver leader. “So then why'd you give him a name like Bosco?”

Glassy eyes blinked. “What do you mean?”

Wings ticked off names on her claws. “Snowflake. Undertow. Aqua Breeze. Willow Wisp. Any of those sounding like a 'Bosco' to you?”

“...we don't spend much time with ponies.” Even through chitin, Silver blushed.

“Hah!” The Gold trio piled on. “Your whole approach was flawed from the start. All you've done with this is deplete our already dwindling numbers. You should have retrieved all of the children years ago.”

Silver leader bared its fangs. “Bosco survived, the others will too!”

“Stop talking like Bosco's not here!” Undertow's rebuke cracked like a whip.

She still held the colt close, but he appeared to be rousing from his stupor. His head came up again, and he spoke with a steady tone. “Who was he?”

Breaking its staring match with Gold, Silver collected itself before calmly addressing Bosco. “Who was who?”

“The pony whose face I'm wearing.”

The response was an uncaring shrug. “We don't know. All we ever knew of him was his body. We copied it in every detail, except for the bullet hole in his head.”

As Bosco rubbed at a phantom wound on his forehead, Silver extended a carapaced hoof. “We can help you find your true face. We shut you away, but we can bring you out again.”

Fear shifted to anger, and the hoof was knocked away. Bosco shrugged Undertow off. “WHY DID YOU DO THIS? You keep talking but you never answer that question! Why me? Why this?” Bosco's own hoof came up, jabbing at Gold. “This one says you're running out of Changelings and Chrysalis is suffering for it. You say you're looking for a new way. WHICH IS IT?”

“We were trying to not die.”

“EVERYONE IS!”

“No,” Gold interrupted, “not individually. They mean that we're trying to not go extinct.”

Stopped in our proverbial tracks, we waited in silence for them to continue.

Chittering, the second Gold member spoke next. “Our illustrious Queen Chrysalis is necessary for the survival of our race.”

“Ponies think like that too.” I moved to stand across from Gold-2. “We miss our Princesses, but we've made it 200 years without them.”

Silver-2 formed a triangle with Gold-2 and I. “If you can call how your ponies act 'making it'. But we are not speaking in metaphor.”

Gold-2 nodded. “Without our melodious royalty, the Changeling race has halved in size seven times in the past two centuries Where before there were dozens, now there is only one.”

Mirroring me, Wings had moved to counter the -3s. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Silver-3 rubbed their stomach. “What do you believe is the greatest act of love that can be performed?”

“Uh...” Wings scratched her cheek. “Protecting the ones you love?”

“Trusting them?” Undertow supplied.

“Not lying to them?” Was Bosco's caustic try.

I'd been watching Silver-3's hoof. “...a baby? Is that what you mean?”

Gold-3 chirped. “Indeed. There is no greater outpouring of love than that of a parent to a child.”

Not sure I agree, but...

The Changeling continued. “For a happy and healthy child, great quantities of love are required.” The corners of its mouth turned down, and its brow furrowed. “But what would happen when the child, so hungry for love, takes more than the parents can give?”

We all blinked. Bosco found his voice first. “I don't understand.”

Silver leader pointed between itself and Gold leader. “You may know this already, but we Changelings crave love because we are ourselves beings of hate. We must maintain the balance. Ponies must too, but they are closer to the centre of the spectrum, and do not suffer so from too much or too little of either love or hate.”

Chrysalis' words from the Memory Orb came back to me.

“You of all ponies, Crystal Princess, should know how destructive unchecked love can be.”

“What does this have to do with children?”

Gold leader pressed its hooves together. “Changelings spend years learning to moderate their intake of love, to make it last. Like ponies, we know that we can survive going hungry for short periods. This is not the case for babies. They do not yet understand how to be calm when in need. Instead, they panic.”

Silver-2 also joined its hooves. “You are a new existence, and your body and soul have relied on two sources, your parents, for everything in your very short life. If you feel that you need something, you will look to those parents for it.”

Now it was Gold-3's turn. “Changeling babies need such love to survive their journey into this world, and the only source they know is the parents. Unfortunately, the parents themselves have so little love to spare, and no way to tell their little one to stop.”

Wings clapped a claw over her mouth. “You're not saying...”

All three parted their hooves. “The parents give all their love to their child. The greatest outpouring of love... and doing so kills them. The child is too needy, and there is barely enough love for two, let alone three.”

Silver-3 raised its wings. “Two parents die,” then dropped one. “one child lives. Each new generation is half that of the last.”

Bosco was now clinging as tightly to Undertow as she was to him. “Every time? The parents always die?”

Silver leader knocked a hoof against its forehead and pointed at him. “Without help, yes. That is why our generous Queen is vital to our survival. She is strong, stronger than both parents combined. She can offset the newborn's drain on the parents, by giving of herself. Three can nourish the child, where two cannot.”

Wings, Undertow and I all looked to Bosco. The colt was quaking, lost in all these new revelations. His body didn't know how to react. His cheeks were drawn in, but his jaw puffed out. His shoulders tensed as his elbows shook. Thrashing tail contrasted drooping ears.

No answers, just more questions. You don't deserve this.

I keep thinking that about you, Bosco. Every time we learn something more.

All six Changelings looked in the same direction. I was absolutely sure they were looking towards the Stable. “Chrysalis is not just a splendid Queen, she is honoured mother to our entire race. Without her, we will become fewer with each new generation, until we are no more.”

Blinking mistiness from their peculiar eyes, the three Silvers returned to the conversation. “To that end, rather than wait for this slow death, we sent our children out into the Wasteland. They were to find love, and a place for themselves. Possibly, in time, for us as well.”

I shivered as a sudden breeze blew in from the stairs.

The three Golds snorted. “And wiped away everything that made them Changelings in the process. You gave them false, hollow lives, and it was all for nothing. Bosco here is the only one to find his way back, and he is scared half to death. That is after spending so long without his family. This madness does not engender love any more than having Raiders nearby engenders trade. What would our magnificent Queen think of your failure?”

Something light and wet settled on the tip of my horn. I wiped it off with my hoof, feeling it melt as I did.

The Silvers didn't seem to notice. “What would she think of your inaction? You did nothing but sit back and claim tradition as an excuse for stagnation! As our numbers shrink, you found no more success in finding love to keep our watchful Queen strong than we did!”

I flicked my ears as more of the cold settled there. Is that... snow?

“Your gamble might have doomed us all!”

Blowing the frost off my lips, I bustled in close with Undertow and Bosco. Wings joined us soon after. All four of us were shaking off ever-increasing amounts of ice, which did not help Bosco at all. Already suffering, his shivering only increased as the temperature dropped.

Sending a pulse through her horn to get Undertow's attention, I motioned towards the stairs. “I think that's enough for today. Let's get him out of here.” My voice was a whisper, to avoid tipping off the Changelings, even if we were all but forgotten in their arguing.

“Sounds like a plan.” Wings' claws tapped her holstered revolvers. “I'll watch the rear, in case they decide not to let us go.”

“You first, Snow,” Undertow hadn't released the colt, instead gently guiding him with her body, “do what you can to keep the cold away from him.”

“Guys, no.” Croaking painfully, Bosco tried to wipe his eyes clear. “I still have questions.”

“There's gonna be time for questions, Bosco.” I put as much warmth into my words as I could. “Don't try to do it all at once.”

I remember every time I told that to Al, when he wanted to learn something new. He never wanted to wait either. Just like him, you can't learn what it is to be a Changeling in a day. It's gonna take time.

Bosco continued to resist distractedly, even as Undertow manoeuvred him towards the exit. “Still don't know who I was... or whose body this is...”

“There will be time.” Undertow's patience didn't waver. She just stuck close, and never raised her voice.

With the Gold and Silver trios still bickering at each other, we were able to start up the stairs without any trouble.

That was when the screaming started.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~