Sous and Tany stood watching Faye and her parter stitch up the hole in one of the threading locations. They had made it just in time before the hole could have turned into a portal.
The Alpha turned to look at Tany, her arms crossed, glaring at the witch. Tany shrugged her shoulders, not wanting to look at Sous.
Spus grabbed Tany by the arm and pulled her in, hugging the woman but also whispering into her ear. "What did yall do?"
Tany pushed away from Sous, facing toward thr priestess and priest who were still going from branch to branch with their needles.
The hole pulsed like a living wound, edges fraying threads of light that dissolved into nothingness. Faye's partner pressed his palm flat against the anomaly's perimeter, feeling its vibration travel up his arm.
Sweat trickled down Faye's temple as she wove her needle through air thick with static, each stitch pulling reality tighter. Threads shimmered silver-blue, sealing gaps with slow determination.
Beside her, her partner's breaths came shallow. His fingers trembled against the hole's edge. He shook his head sharply, too unstable, and stepped back; he landed on a branch below him.
"How you doing?" Faye asked to him from above, still working.
"A bit winded is all," he said, catching his breath.
Faye didn't pause. Her needle danced faster now, patterns emerging within her magae has she did so. When she was done with her side, she jumped down to the branch her partner was resting on.
Crunch!
The leaves shook off the branch, falling down. There were several Groken trees throughout the planet. Basically whereever pixies lived, a Groken tree would be there.
"Ill finish up for you," Faye said. She jumped upward, her needles still in her hand. She aimed toward the partial closed portal.
As Faye ascended, the air thickened around her. Her fingers moved with mechanical precision, needle flashing as it caught stray threads of unraveling light.
Each thrust pierced the frayed edges, pulling reality taut with a vibration that radiated in the bones. Below, her partner watched while he gripped the Groken branch.
The silence was absolute except for the rasp of Faye's own breathing. Sweat stung her eyes as she worked the final stitches, the portal's pulsing glow dimming to a scar-like seam.
Once done, she jumped down back to the branch where her partner was and with him over her shoulder, they landed onto the ground. Sous ran up to Faye and looked at the priest.
"Is he okay?" Sous asked her best friend.
"The hole took a lot of his magae. I think its because it was about to transition into a portal." Faye looked up at Tany. "Where's the next tree?"
Tany flipped her hair.
"TANY!"
"Do you not trust us!? We would have closed all these ourselves?" The witch yelled.
Sous shook her head. "You don't even know what she's planning," she said to her ex mate.
"Yeah...well, maybe you would if you had ever finished her diary," Tany retorted back.
On the way to the next Groken tree, Faye communicated with her comrades who were handling the other trees. They teleported to the next location but instead of landing right on top of the tree, they had landed in the brush.
The journey unfolded with each of the woman in their own head, Sous leading with ground-eating strides through forests where sunlight fractured off.
Tany trailed ten paces behind, crushing dew-heavy ferns and big mushrooms often seen in pixie territory.
Her boots sank into moss so deep it swallowed sound, leaving only the distant sigh of wind through Groken leaves.
Sous moved with hunter's silence, her shoulders rigid beneath worn clothes, a tension mirrored in the clench of Faye's jaw as she adjusted her partner's weight.
Faye ran forward once she saw the strains in the wind. Her and her partner began to jump from branch to branch to find the large Groken tree.
Sous leaned on a tree trunk watching, her arms folded and her mind on the words Tany gave her.
Crunch, crunch!
Tany stepped next to Sous, standing close to her.
"You're right," Sous started. "I never finished reading her diary. And I remember...I read it when I got suspended for stabbing," she chucked.
"I don't see anything funny about that," Tany responded with one of her eyebrows hitched.
Sous laughed louder, the priest and priestess still doing what they did back while Sous was glad to see no demons had managed to get through due to the holes not having turned into portals.
"Have you read her diary?"
Tany shook her head. "I tried to find it but was unable to."
"Hmm. It was in the library of Clarence's residence. I-I can try and see if I can go back to him," she turned to face her friend. "Tany, its not good that we don't know what she's up to when she's releasing all of this storage magic."
Tany remained quiet, watching as Faye and the priest landed on the ground before them. "We're making good time. Let's finish up the others and we'll be done."
"And you two will come with me back to Alana, right?" Sous asked.
"I'm not sure. I want to check on Makala. She just had the baby and I don't want to be not at her side for too long," she explained.
The group travelled to the next Groken tree that was in the ocean. Sous led the way through dense coastal brush until the air shifted abruptly: salty, wet, and thick with brine.
Below the cliff edge, waves crashed against jagged rocks, throwing spray high into the air, misting them all. Sous even found herself closing her eyes, enjoying the feeling.
The Groken tree stood defiantly on a tiny island half-submerged in the churning sea, its roots gripping submerged stone. Its bark glistened black under the spray, and a jagged tear pulsed near its crown, flickering with unstable light.
Faye turned to look at her friends and partner. "No more, right, Tania?" Faye asked.
"There a few left," she corrected.
Faye rolled her eyes as her and her partner stepped onto the water. Their magae allowing them to walk on the unstable surface, going to their next tree.