“Brial?” Amuin called out softly.

“Ah?” Brial replied, pulling up a hank of daono grass. He wanted to get the tough, tall stuff to grow near their home and now was an excellent time to collect some wild plants.

“Did you see that?”

“See what?” Brial asked.

“We need to investigate,” Amuin continued. “Leave the daono here; it will keep.”

Brial set aside the plant with great regret, moving to follow Amuin. Yes, it would keep. It would also be forgotten.

•••

The wind was blowing. Willow knew it was because of the soft brush of air against her cheek and the sweep of her hair in her eyes. It was warm but not hot and smelled of salt water. Was she near the ocean? The redhead opened her eyes, only to find her vision inundated by a vivid blue. It was almost the color of the sky, but just a touch off… slightly greener. Still, very pretty. The ocean? No, water wasn’t that smooth looking--

*Splash*

“Ou..” *Gurgle*

Willow thrashed frantically. One second she’d been looking at the beautiful blue and sea green color and the next she was striking a hard-soft, squishy, wet surface… and quickly sinking into it. She managed to grasp some sort of plant and pulled her head out of the odd, warm water. The next thing she did was spit out the mouthful of mud and muck she’d taken in when she’d tried to yell.

“That is so gross.” She wiped her mouth on the back of her hand, only to find that it, too, was covered in mud. “This is nasty.”

Having determined that no matter what she did she was going to be covered in mud, Willow looked around. From what she could tell, she was in a swamp. Actually, she was quite lucky; there was a grove of twisty, stunted trees nearby. She could’ve landed on them. Or Tara could have…

“Tara?” Willow called out. “Where are you? Tara?” She stepped forward, only to fall down into the muck. It took a minute of struggling to get back upright. Once she had pulled herself into a vertical position, Willow stepped with more care, still calling out for Tara. The tall, grass-like plants blocked her vision; all she could see were trees in the distance and grass. Oh, and water and mud. Slucky, sucky, sticky mud.

“Willow?”

“Tara?” Willow oriented on the soft voice she’d heard. “Where are you?”

“Right here,” Tara said dryly. How was she supposed to know where she was? Everything around her looked like… swamp. “Near the big clump of grass.”

Willow followed that voice until she spotted a distinctive teal corset through the grass. “Tara!” She cried, plowing through the weeds. Tara turned toward her, smiling through the mud caked over half her body. Apparently the blonde had fared a bit better when she’d hit the ground.

Tara caught Willow and worked valiantly to keep them both from falling back into the murky water. It wasn’t easy; the stuff was up to their knees and the ground was very soft. “I’m here,” She murmured, clasping Willow tightly. “We’re ok.”

Willow pulled her head back. “We fell out of the sky and landed in a swamp. I ate mud.”

“We’re alive?” Tara offered. “Why did you eat mud?”

“Never scream underwater,” Willow muttered. “Where are we?”

Tara rolled her eyes. “I have no idea.”

“Do you think Dawn’s around here? We should start looking,” Willow continued. “Maybe head for those trees.”

The trees did seem like a good idea, so Tara followed Willow. They slogged through the swamp, jumping and quaking at each bird and insect that passed them. Willow screeched and leaped into Tara’s arms as a snake-like animal slithered between her ankles. “This is not good,” She told her lover. “Why don’t we just fly over there?”

Normally Tara would’ve been leery of using magick in that way, but she agreed with Willow; the swamp was not a safe place to be. She knew a few things about swamps in her own world, and none of it was good. Mosquitoes, snakes, alligators… “Ok.”

Willow concentrated briefly, attempting to pull energy from the ground below her. To her dismay, nothing happened. “Tara?”

“I can’t,” Tara whispered. “It’s like the earth is…ignoring me.” She tried again, calling to the energy she knew was there. The blonde could feel it, swirling and seething below the surface. But instead of flowing through her, it passed right by, as though she wasn’t there at all.

Willow looked despondent. “This world… it’s enchanted, isn’t it?”

“Wesley did say that a powerful shaman brought his people here. Maybe he did it,” Tara murmured.

“But who would want to cut everyone off from the earth’s energy?” Willow demanded. “That’s mean!”

“I don’t know,” Tara admitted. “Maybe we should start moving.” She kept hearing things moving through the reeds, making her jump and worry.

Willow glanced around. “Yeah, we should. Standing in the middle of a swamp is a bad idea.”

•••

Brial watched from his perch as the two humans moved inefficiently through the tidal swamps. They weren’t close enough for him to hear what they were saying, but he did know that they’d been talking nonstop. The pakra wondered why they were where they were, and how they’d gotten there. This was not a place that many humans visited. To find a pair simply wandering around, more than a week’s journey from the nearest human-inhabited port hold, was truly strange.

“Anything?” He asked as Amuin joined him in the low tree.

“Not really. They’re lost,” Amuin replied. “I don’t understand some of what they’re saying; I think they speak an odd dialect of trade.”

“Why are they here? Did they mention that?” Brial inquired.

“No,” His mate replied. “But they should be here soon.”

Sure enough, the two humans reached the small rapoaha grove a few minutes later. The light-haired one pulled herself up on a branch, followed shortly by the other one. They cowered in the tree, obviously afraid of the insects and animals that teemed around them.

“We should go to them,” Brial said. “They’re not going to survive out here like that.”

“I know,” Amuin replied. “Come on.”

•••

Willow leaned against Tara and looked out over the swamp. In the very distance she could see a thin, glimmering strip that she knew meant open, or more open, water. “How are we going to find Dawn out here?”

Tara frowned. “I’m not sure we can.”

“What do you mean?” Willow snapped. “The only reason we’re here is because of her!”

“I’ve been thinking,” Tara said slowly. “Remember how far apart we were when we got here?” Willow nodded. “And we were together when we crossed over. Dawn’s been here for more than a week. She might be on the other side of this world.”

“She might have landed in the ocean,” Willow whispered. “Or so high in the sky that she died…Or underground…”

“She might well be fine,” Tara reassured her. “But maybe we should…”

“Figure out where we are first?” Willow finished.

“Dawn’s resilient,” Tara reminded the witch. “More than you give her credit for.”

Willow jerked a bit, then nodded. “I know. She’s just so young…”

“Not that much younger than you,” Tara stated. “What if we never find her?”

“Then we work on getting back,” Willow replied.

“What if we can’t?” Tara pressed. “Wesley said that the shaman made it so that nothing crossed. Ever, unless there was a crystal. And I don’t think…”

“There’s a crystal to get us back? Why would there be, when all the shaman wanted was to get his people off our world,” Willow said harshly. “So you think we’re stuck here?”

Tara sighed. “Even if you found herbs here to make a spell, ones you recognized, where will we get the energy?” She asked. “We can’t draw it from any of the elements; they’re blocked.”

“So what do we do, just die here?” Willow retorted.

“No, we try to survive. It’s not an easy-looking place,” Tara murmured.

Willow was about to say something in response to that statement when a voice interrupted her. “Hello.”

Tara and Willow both jumped, almost falling out of their tree. A brief glance down told them that something was looking back up at them. Something vaguely humanoid, but definitely *not* human. “Uh, hi?” Willow stammered.

Brial peered up at the frightened humans. “Why are you up in that tree?”

“Why not?” Willow tried. “It’s a nice tree.”

Brial grinned. Amuin stepped around the tree trunk, coming into view. His presence did nothing to reassure the witches. “We saw you fall out of the sky. How did you do that? You’re not dalhari.”

“Dalhari?” Tara murmured. “We, ah…got sent over here by a spell.”

“Oh,” Brial hummed. The elders would want to hear about this. Someone was casting spells… “So you aren’t actually supposed to be in the swamp?”

“Not exactly,” Willow replied. “We just appeared there. It’s mucky.”

“Ah,” Amuin said. “We’re not going to hurt you, you know,” He continued, seeing just how frightened and wary the two humans were.

“You aren’t?” Willow asked. “How do we know you aren’t lying?”

“The pakra of Uvwolquinolmna aren’t at war with any human tribes,” Brial answered. “We are in good standing with our family and have no reason to want to harm you.”

“Ok,” Willow said, not understanding one bit. Of course, they *were* in another dimension. Apparently it wasn’t just humans here, despite what that shaman had wanted. Then again, it wasn’t like they were overrun with choices. These creatures could probably overpower them, especially since they couldn’t use any magick. But they sounded nice enough and even spoke English. She did wonder what they were, though.

Tara gave Willow a slight shove. She was growing numb from where Willow had her pinned to the tree, and she thought the two people on the ground were friendly looking and non threatening. Once Willow was out of the way, she gingerly stepped down. “I’m Tara,” She said, not sure if she should extend her hand.

The two creatures bowed slightly. “I am Amuin,” The darker of the two said.

“And I am Brial,” The lighter one added. She bowed, studying them as closely as she could without being rude.

Willow jumped down out of the tree and joined Tara. “I’m Willow.” The two creatures bowed to her as well. “Are you pakra?”

Brial glanced at Amuin. “Yes, we are.” He realized then that if they were from another world, they might have never encountered pakra before.

“We’re human,” Willow replied.

“We noticed,” Amuin said. “You should come back to our hold with us; the swamp is no place for humans.”

Tara silently agreed with him. A glance told her that Willow too saw the wisdom in going with the pakra. “Ok, we’ll follow you,” Willow said softly. The two pakra nodded and turned to lead the girls through the swamp.

Tara watched in amazement as the men slid through rushes and mud with no difficulty. Pakra seemed perfectly suited to the moist environment of the swamp; their exquisitely mottled, smooth and shiny skin deflected mud, grass and sticky briars with ease. Even their spiky hair seemed to handle the clingy plants well. After several minutes of study, Tara realized that the pakra had webbed hands; she figured that meant they had webbed feet as well. Suddenly she wished *she* had webbed feet; walking through the swamp would certainly be easier.

Thinking of her feet made Tara realize that somewhere along the way she’d lost both her shoes and her socks. Mud oozed through her toes and caked on her legs, making her skin itch. She hoped rather desperately that the hold wasn’t this muddy.

“So the hold is called Uvwolquinolmna?” Willow asked as she stumbled through the swamp behind Amuin and Brial.

“No,” Amuin replied over his shoulder. “The hold is Avare. Uvwolquinolmna is this region.”

“Oh,” Willow murmured. At least she wouldn’t have to say that long name all the time. “Is it in the swamp?”

“It is located at the edge of the grasses, on the water,” Brial explained.

“I see,” Willow muttered. More mud. Lots and lots of mud and bugs and water. She slapped her arm as something bit her, causing a big welt to form. Tara reached over, smearing mud on the bite. Willow made to complain, but realized that the stuff actually made the bite feel better. “Thanks,” She said, smiling weakly. She wasn’t a whiner and she didn’t complain about bug bites, damn it.