They made it to central Broomgap, and Spiral City, within the week. The rest of the packs had evacuated the forest, save the northernmost one, which would still not budge.

The Tree is gone, B’ai. Surely you can’t stay now.

B’ai’s frown hadn’t left his face all night, and he continued to give that look to the witch and her wolves. We follow the Lady’s orders, from now until the end of days. She told us to stay here and guard the Tree. The Tree may be gone but that does not mean it won’t come back.

Thalaea doubted that very much. She’d gone back to the site in the dawn’s light. There was nothing but a very large crater. No root system, no bark, nothing. The Tree was gone for good.

She tried not to let the deep sorrow she felt engulf her while they traveled. At night, on the cusp between wakefulness and sleep, she let the sorrow take her, hoping to dream about the Tree again.

She didn’t. Her dreams were empty of any kind of solace.

Strangely, she bore no malice towards the goddess who had destroyed the tree. It was hardly the Morrigan’s fault she’d fallen on Thalaea’s one chance to get her godhood back.

The same story she’d told B’ai and the northern pack about the Morrigan would not work on her team. The Steelmint wolves and the grays they traveled with knew Thalaea had not always been in wolf form, and many of the Steelmints knew she was not from Min originally. She could not say that the Morrigan was a friend of hers from Min. It didn’t fit. And the other goddess needed a new name — the Morrigan could not be spoken in the air of this planet. It would cause more cracks in the world.

They settled on Kaetaxra — Thalaea had read it in the grimmeries at Enendoa’s place, and knew it meant warrior. The Morrigan was satisfied with that. Warrior wasn’t all she was, but it was a large part of her being. It was not her new True Name in this place, but Thalaea had no idea where they’d find that. They needed something in the meantime and Kaetaxra was the best they had.

The other name isn’t a True Name, anyway, she confessed to Thalaea on their journey east. Just a title.

That was news to Thalaea. She thought most of the other gods went by their True Names.

Kaetaxra shook her head. Nope. Our mutual friend, for example — that’s a title, too. And I know there are plenty of others who go by titles, not Names. You’re more the odd one out. Kaetaxra grinned; then chased a rabbit. She adapted to her wolf form quickly and easily, though when the other wolves were asleep she liked to change back into her preferred forms of woman or raven.

Thalaea told her the other wolves could change into many forms, too; so that wouldn’t be so strange. Still, Kaetaxra preferred to keep it a secret. “You said yourself, I look alien to Minae and Thaenites alike when I’m in woman form. Best if we keep the questions to a minimum. If you couldn’t change at all at first, they’ll accept that I can’t, too.”

The rest of the story, after they’d found a name, was that Thalaea was originally from a land across the sea, and that Kaetaxra was a friend from there. Thalaea had changed to humanoid form before travelling to Min and was stuck in human form until reaching Thaen. Kaetaxra had not changed, and so was stuck in wolf form. They kept the earlier bit of story, about the black wolf having searched for Thalaea since the witch had gone missing.

It would not hold water with Laeanai, she knew, nor with some of the others in Salia’s pack, including Salia herself. And it wouldn’t have held water with Ruk. But the wolves she now guided accepted it. They possibly didn’t believe it, but they trusted Thalaea. If she trusted Kaetaxra, that was enough for them.

On the last night of their journey back, they slept on the edge of the forest. Thalaea was still awake, buzzing with energy. So was Kaetaxra. Thalaea sought her out for some conversation.

They moved far away from the other wolves and both changed into human form, sitting naked in the forest. It seemed Kaetaxra did not suffer cold as Thalaea had at first. Another curious difference. 

“How did you get here?” Thalaea asked, launching right into it. She knew the other wolf-woman-goddess appreciated straightforwardness.

The redhead shrugged and leaned back against a log, her long pale arms wrapped around her knees. “Told you. I have no idea.”

“Did you step through the wrong portal?”

“You mean, like you?” Kaetaxra’s gaze was direct, and Thalaea blushed. “I watched. Our pantheon leaves after Min’s.” She looked away and a brief pause ensued. “No. I went through the exact right portal. The one to…your old place.”

“The…the Two let you?” The Twins were not True Names, either, but she’d seen the ripples caused the first time Kaetaxra had said it. She didn’t want to risk saying that as a Name.

“They didn’t have much choice, did they? Told them I was going there whether they liked it or not. You’d been missing for three Councils, Thalaea.”

Thalaea felt dizzy. “Three?” she counted back. “I’ve been here for only half a year.”

“It’s been ten for me.”

The witch shook her head. “Woods, this time stuff is complicated. I don’t know how they manage it all.”

Kaetaxra stretched and nodded. “I know. That’s why it’s not in our hands. Our paws. Whatever.” She let out a small laugh.

Thalaea joined her, though, truth be told, she didn’t feel much like laughing. “So the Two let you go to my old place instead?”

Kaetaxra nodded. “Or said they would. Opened a portal for me and all. You were the only one from there, you know.”

Thalaea nodded. She knew all too well.

“I expected some discomfort. I’ve got only a few followers there, after all. I didn’t expect to be lit on fire and pitched towards the ground with no way out.” Kaetaxra shuddered.

Thalaea pondered for a moment. There was so much that didn’t make sense. “Do you have any followers on this planet?”

Kaetaxra looked at the witch sardonically. “I don’t even know where this planet is. So I think that’s a No.”

Then how did she retain so many godly powers? She was far ahead of Thalaea, who, although the goddess of wolves, had become fully mortal when she’d fallen. She’d lost her ability to change, her powers, her longevity. She’d become Minae. A Minae witch, sure, but still, mortal. Kaetaxra had not lost her power to change, and though she had three hearts as most beings on this world did, she still looked as she usually did at Council: tall, blood-red hair, pale skin, ever-changing eyes, and an age that was hard to pinpoint. She was muscular and strong; it had taken her almost no time at all to adjust to her new form, whereas Thalaea had been bedridden for two weeks.

What on Osecou was going on?

She shook her head and got up, pacing, her feet landing on several conifer boughs that had fallen to the forest floor. She didn’t know how Kaetaxra had maintained more of her powers through her Fall. How to figure that out? Where could she even begin to investigate?

There were other things she could focus on. Things that tugged on her suspicions.

“Have any others gone missing since my last Council?” she asked abruptly.

Kaetaxra looked startled for a moment; then frowned in thought. “Now that I think about it…yes. Some of the…well, not smaller ones. But the wilder ones, for sure. The ones on the margins.”

Thalaea gave the other ex-deity a hard look. “And now you.”

Kaetaxra nodded slowly, realization dawning on her face. “And now me.”

There was a brief silence, before Kaetaxra’s eyes widened and she nearly shouted. “Oh, how could I forget? Yes, yes, another one like me — another warrior. He went missing the same time you did.”

Thalaea’s suspicions were suddenly confirmed. She crouched in front of Kaetaxra. “This is the last time we can speak aloud of this, Kae. Before I Fell I was investigating. There were several wilder, or queer, ones missing. Here and there. When I brought it up in Council, I was dismissed. When I landed here, I met another one who Fell, and I know the one I was searching for is here, too. And now the Two said they sent you to my old place, and you end up here, mortal. Something larger is going on, Kae. I think the Two, and maybe some others, are behind it. Getting rid of you would be…a huge boon. You’re respected, and you’re strong. I think they saw a chance to get rid of you and took it. Whatever is going on, we need to get to the bottom of it. If not for ourselves, then for all the others who have Fallen and can’t return.”

Kaetaxra nodded, determination suffusing her features, and the two women rose together. “I’m with you, for good or ill.” They clasped hands in a warrior’s embrace, and Kaetaxra smiled a bit. “I landed in the middle of a fight. Fantastic.” She let out a bark of a laugh. From anyone else the comment and laugh might have been sarcastic but this was the Morrigan. She adored a good fight.

Thalaea smiled and laughed too, and felt a new emotion rising in her: a warrior’s exultation.

She had a new destiny now. A new journey. Wherever it took her, whatever she had to do, she’d do it with the warrior queen by her side.

The whole, wide world opened to her. Despite her mortality, she felt she could do anything. She could save the wolves of this world, she could stop the war between Thaen and Min, she could see Brinna again, she could finish her training as a witch, and she could save the other gods. She could stop whatever the Twins — or whoever else on the Council — were doing. She could do everything and anything, and Kaetaxra, formerly the Morrigan, would do it with her.

They would save Etan and the others. And Thalaea would someday, somehow get her godhood back.

It could all happen.

But first they needed to finish their current mission. They changed and padded back to where the rest of the pack rested, a heady excitement running through their veins.

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