“Mars!” she cried, now appearing to struggle. “It’s Elena’s magic. So we can talk to each other when we’re far away. It is fine. I am safe. Go. Go on.” She seemed to be pushing at something. “Go, Mars. It’s girl time.”

“I do not like this for I do not trust this so I shall not go. If you are so certain this is fine, then speak to my little sister. But if I do not have a good feeling about it, we will leave this place.”

Mars.

Always protective.

“Silence,” I called. “It’s all right. Mars should probably hear this too.”

“Hear what?” he demanded.

“You can hear me?” I asked.

“I can hear you, but I cannot see you,” Mars answered. “And what I wish to hear is what you feel I should.”

“She’s right there,” Silence informed him, pointing at me.

“I can see you looking at glittering air, wife, but I cannot see Farah.”

“How odd,” Silence murmured.

They were being adorable, something I never thought I’d think about Mars, and it made me very happy to witness…for the both of them.

But as happy as it made me, I did not have time for this.

“Please hold,” I said. “I’m going to try Elena.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Mars muttered.

I watched Silence roll her eyes at me.

I ignored that (but did it smiling) and called, “Elena. Elena, we must speak. Are you there?”

When nothing happened, Silence queried, “Should I try too?”

“Perhaps that would help,” I told her.

We both called, and called, and when Mars was heard saying, “Bloody hell,” Elena started to form.

“Farah, Silence?” she asked.

“What the fuck?”

Cassius.

“It’s all right, Cass,” Elena told him.

“Elena, you have Silence and I and, well, Mars. I have something you all need to know. Please hold while we try to raise Ha-Lah,” I said to her.

“Bloody hell, why can I hear Farah coming from nowhere in your eyrie?” Cassius demanded.

“Just calm down, warrior, we have a link,” Elena said to the indistinct figure hovering over her shoulder. “I’ll call to Ha-Lah. I know what I’m doing,” Elena said to me.

“Excellent,” I replied.

She did that while Mars said, “Cassius.”

“Gods, Mars?” Cassius replied.

“I am here, with my wife, staring at glittering air and talking to a nothing, feeling like a bloody fool,” Mars told him.

“As am I,” Cassius replied.

“Would you two be quiet, I can’t concentrate,” Elena snapped.

Silence started giggling.

“By Medusa!” Ha-Lah could be heard.

“What the hell?” Aramus could also be heard.

“Please, do not be alarmed,” Elena stated quickly. “It is my craft. Farah is calling. She has something to tell all of us. And, as you should see, Ha-Lah, Silence, is also here.”

“Wife, why am I hearing Elena’s voice drifting about our cabin?” Aramus asked as Ha-Lah came fully into focus.