I chased it, traveling around a cliff, until I saw the people. Six mercenaries, one cape, and a boy wearing a white and red costume and white mask. A massive bird was keeping him company.

He waved as I approached.

My boots skidded on ice and grit as I landed.

“Thank you for coming,” Chicken Little said, deferential, and almost meek.

“How is she?”

“She’s… not responding much,” Chicken Little said. He touched his mask, like he was trying to see right through the eyeholes. “She wants me to get her tech. It didn’t sound like you heard everything Imp said.”

“Most of the middle stuff, not the start or very end,” I said. “Where did you come through the portal?”

He pointed up at the crack in reality above.

“You came down?”

He nodded. “Over there, actually. It was kind of crazy, but I wanted to help Lookout. Then was chasing some connections Imp told me to look after.”

I thought about Chicken Little’s place in the Undersiders, and felt a bit of trepidation. “And?”

“I couldn’t find Imp,” he said. “Tattletale and Imp are worried that if Imp gets killed or badly injured, everyone will forget her, and won’t be able to help her. If we could find where her power comes from, maybe we could set up a reminder or something?”

Okay.

That was a hell of a lot better than my other suspicion.

“And?”

“And that’s it,” he said, quiet. “It’d be nice to make Tattletale’s headaches go away. That was my idea. I told Imp and she told me to go for it if I could.”

“Nothing else? No one else?”

“No,” he said.

I was pretty sure he was sincere. Whoever he hung around, I didn’t get the impression he was a liar.

“It’s why we came this way, which slowed us down. And then we got distracted, which slowed us down more. I’m glad my crow found you,” he said.

I nodded.

Looking for answers, even to the little things, wasn’t a bad thing. It was why I didn’t begrudge Sveta searching. Even the fact that she was looking into her past gave us clues, like the level of detail we could dig for.

“What areas did you see or pass through?” I asked him.

“I… don’t really know,” he said. “It didn’t make a lot of sense. Was I supposed to be looking for some sign or something?”

“This place has a logic. We’re looking for things that might be important.”

“Oh,” he said. “I found something, I guess.”

He pointed.

“Can I pick you up?” I asked. “Fly you over?”

He nodded. “Don’t fly too high.”

I grabbed him around the ribs. Then I flew.

We flew for a minute before he moved, pointing.

I set him down.