Mat’s recovery took an hour and a half, with Spring’s channels assisting him slowly but surely.She sat with her back against a tree, allowing Mat to use her as a pillow.He staggered to his feet, his eyes turning golden as he used his Eyes of the Tiger to survey the area.George and Sam were talking quietly to one another about something; Mat didn’t try to listen in. It was none of his business.Spring got up alongside him, helping him keep his bance for the first few moments.“I’m good.” Mat said a few minutes ter.“Are you sure?” Spring asked.Mat nodded and she let go of him, though she stayed next to him in case he needed support.Mat felt a tingling in his Core, and it wasn’t from the Toh. Something was reaching out to him, trying to contact him.Without realising it, Mat accepted the source of the power, reaching back to it. It almost felt like he could touch it; all he had to do was reach a little further.Mat’s vision blurred and he lost his bance.Suddenly, he found himself in a dark cave, lying on top of a furry mass.

  Spring couldn’t take her eyes off of the spot where Mat had just vanished.George and Sam ran over, shock evident on their faces.“Where on Thelysium did he go?” George asked.“I don’t know.” Spring said. “One second, he was here. The next he was gone.”“Alright,” George said calmly, “let’s all take a minute to clear our heads. If we want to find him, we need to think clearly.”Spring sat down in a Cycling position, closing her eyes to focus on her Toh.“What are we going to do?” Sam asked quietly so as not to distract Spring.George was rubbing his hands across his face.“I don’t know.” He said. “Could you check for any signs of where he has gone please?”Sam agreed and walked over to the spot where Mat had been standing and also began cycling his Toh, though in a different pattern.George would have done it himself, but he trusted Sam to do it far more.He was a professional at this kind of thing.Now that there was silence, George could think in silence.They had to find Mat. When Sam figured out where he was George would go there immediately. Mat may need help.Sam opened his eyes a few minutes ter.“There’s a marginal amount of residual Toh, but nothing to indicate where he went. A bit like amateur spatial travel.”“So we’re just as in the dark.” George muttered. “Gods, what are we going to do?”Spring’s eyes snapped open suddenly and she rocketed to her feet.“I can feel him.” Spring said. “I can lead us.”“How?” George asked.“I just can.”“Why do you think it is Mat?” George asked.“I just know okay. Do you believe I don’t know what my boyfriend feels like.”“No, no. But I want to be certain this really is him. It could be a trap. It could because you’re worried about him, and your mind is making something up to give you hope.”Spring gave him an angry look.“I know it is him.”“Alright.” George said, backing down. His white wings grew out of his back, and he took both Spring and Sam in his arms. “Tell me where to go.”

  A low growl reverberated through the cave, coming from the bear creature. Mat sat completely still, hoping not to attract any attention to himself.It tried to shake Mat off, and his hands filed in the dark, searching for a hand hold. Getting crushed between a bear and a wall wasn’t how he intended to go out.His fingers grasped onto a warm, metallic object. The dagger.Mat held onto it with all of his strength unwilling to let go.The monster roared, reaching back with its arm to crush Mat.His Eyes of the Tiger fred up within him, and Mat unched himself to the side, using the dagger to leverage the jump.The monster’s cw smashed into its back instead of Mat, and it growled with anger and pain.Mat felt pity for the creature, but it had tried to kill them. It had hurt Spring. If it wasn’t killed, it would hurt others as well. Mat knew he had to kill it.Ripping the dagger out of its back he jumped off of the beast, nding on the cold stone ground of the cave. His blue coat was ripped from his st fight with the bear a few hours ago. He wasn’t going to let that happen again.Rolling under the bear’s jaw, which was about to snap his head off, he got beneath the bear and to its stomach and chest.The bear’s weak point.Plunging his dagger into the wound he had already created he tore the bear’s lower chest wide open.Guts covered his face and vomit rose in his throat again.He didn’t puke this time. He refused to puke.The bear’s arms reached down to grab him and get him away but Mat jumped over the first one, then dropped to the floor to dodge the other one.One of the bear’s legs stepped on him, and before he could dodge one on the arms smmed into him. The dagger cttered away, unreachable.The bear picked Mat up, bringing him close to the bear’s head.Its sharp teeth glistened with saliva. Warm breath blew against Mat’s face. It smelled like rot and blood.Mat gagged a little.There was no way out of this one. Mat was going to die unless his friends found him quickly.The bear opened its mouth and snapped toward Mat’s head, about to bite it off.May didn’t want to look death in the face, so forced his eyes tightly closed. I’ll never see her again. I won’t ever hold Spring in my arms again. I… want to bake cookies with her.Suddenly, he felt the cold ground touching him through the ripped clothes he was wearing.Opening his eyes he saw that he was no longer in the bear’s grasp. He was sitting right next to the dagger. Deciding not to think on it right now, he picked it up and ran back towards the bear.The bear wasn’t moving, likely in shock from Mat’s disappearance. Mat used this opportunity to freeze time, striking the bear’s weak spit as many times as he could before he had to unfreeze time. They all struck at once, spttering blood and guts everywhere.A whisp of Toh slipped out of the bear, quickly followed by more and more.The bear still wasn’t dead, letting out a howl of pain and anger.Mat slipped through the bear’s arms as it tried to grab him again, climbing on top of the bear. Reaching the bear’s exposed brain, he froze time again, though only for a couple of seconds as he was already tired.He struck the bear’s brain four times, then let go of the frozen moment. The jelly like brain didn’t explode, clearly well defended by something, but some of the pink substance began trickling away from the main source.Mat did puke again. It was so disgusting and horrible. But he had to survive.Mat knew it wasn’t going to st much longer, so he stabbed it in the back, once more to weaken it further then jumped off of its back and ran. Its arm lunged for him one st time but he stopped it with the dagger, letting the bear’s hand go through it.The bear let out one st noise: a low whimper of pain. The arm went limp, allowing Mat to rip the dagger back out. The bear was dead.

  “Here.” Spring said. “He’s in the cave.”George dropped both of his friends so they could get to Mat quicker, nding a couple of seconds ter. Sam and Spring were already running toward the cave entrance, getting closer and closer to Mat.Unexpectedly, Mat appeared walked out of the cave just as Sam and Spring were closing in.Blood and guts covered his face and robes, and his chest was bleeding.“Mat!” Spring cried, rushing over to hold him.His swayed on his feet but didn’t fall over.His eyes were hard and cold and his hair was slick with blood.Panting, he looked over all of his friends, wrapping his arms around Spring.“It’s dead.” Mat said. George was surprised at how hard his voice was. If tears hadn’t been sliding down his face, George would be worried that Mat was no longer there anymore.But he was crying, even if he wasn’t sobbing.George and Sam shared a concerned look but said nothing.Mat buried his head in Spring’s hair, and that was how the team stood for a while.Eventually, Mat brought his head back up, looking much more like normal.“Are you good?” George asked.Mat nodded, and he pushed it no further.

  They arrived back home a couple of hours ter. George had stayed behind to speak to some soldier about the bear creature. It wasn’t known to live around here and was worried about the implications of it being here.Sam was in a room that Eritandellion had provide for him for research, looking up anything he could about low Rank spatial teleportation.“I was thinking,” Mat said, “do you have cookies on Thelysium?”“Not that I’ve heard of.” Spring said. “Why, what are they?”“Baked food.” Mat said. “If you wanted to, we could maybe bake together.”“I’d love that.” Spring said.

  Mat had gotten the ingredients ready, and they were both standing in the kitchen, prepared to bake. Chocote sat on the side ready to be used in a few moments.Mat put the wooden bowl between them and delicately pced butter and sugar into the bowl. Handing Spring a spoon, he expined to her that she had to stir them together.“Doesn’t sound too hard.” Spring said, taking the spoon. The bowl made a scratching noise as the spoon slid against it. Mat was leaning in, looking at her technique.Spring smiled mischievously as she flicked a blob on the mixture onto Mat’s nose.He looked baffled for a minute before looking at Spring, who was hiding a smile.“Is everything okay my love?” She asked innocently. “Did you poke your nose into the food?”“Did you just – Did you do that on purpose?” Mat asked.“Do what my love?”Mat looked at her deceptively innocent face and smiled. Freezing time, he picked up the packet of flour and poured a little cloud over Spring’s head.When time unfroze the flour covered Spring’s beautiful blonde hair and still innocent face.“Did you just freeze time to pour flour on me?” Spring asked, unable to believe it.“Would I ever?” Mat asked.Spring let out a melodic giggle, making Mat’s heart flutter.Once she was done with her bit, Mat put the egg in and picked up a knife to cut some chocote off to add it to the food.After mixing it all together, they put it on a tray, cutting out circles.“Spring, what are you doing? Those are the worst circles I have ever seen.” Mat joked.“Oh really. This coming from the boy with a blob still on his nose.”Mat blushed a little.When they were done, Mat put it in the oven, to bake.Mat looked at Spring awkwardly.“What now?” Spring asked.“We wait.” Mat responded nervously. “I was thinking – maybe it’s a stupid idea and you can tell me so – but I was hoping that we could… dance?”Spring’s ears turned crimson.“I don’t know how to dance.” Spring said.“Me neither.” Spring giggled.“Then why did you ask?”I – I don’t know. I just thought -”Spring took his hands and pced them around her waist, then put hers around Mat’s neck.Rather than a ballroom dance, they swayed in a circle slowly.“Sorry.” Mat said as he stepped on her toes.“Don’t worry my love.” Spring said. “You’re doing great.”The warm smell of cookies reached Mat’s nose, reminding him of home. He was home, he realised. Spring was home.“When I was in the cave,” Mat said, still feeling a stinging pain from where his wounds had been, “I thought I was going to die. My st thought was about the cookies.”Spring gave him a baffled look.“Your st thought before dying was about food?” She asked pyfully. Mat smiled softly, the descending sun shining through the window behind him.“I wanted to teach you how to bake them. I thought I would never get the chance to.”Spring lost her footing, but Mat kept her up until she regained her footing.“That’s so sweet… and a little dark but still sweet.”The circle they were moving in was imperfect and messy; Mat could see it with his Eyes of the Tiger. But he didn’t try to fix it. Nothing was perfect. But being with Spring was the closest thing to it.Mat let his head rest against hers, looking into her warm eyes with love.Spring nuzzled her nose against his, closing her eyes with a soft smile. She had some of the cookie mixture on her nose but didn’t make any move to fix it.“I love you.” Mat whispered, his hands shaking. “I know you do.” She whispered back. “You tell me a lot. And I love you more.”Mat let himself fall into the moment, ignoring the times she stepped on his toes. They had both taken their shoes off, so it wasn’t painful. It was warm.Mat felt a twang of fear as his Eyes of the Tiger saw George walking toward the room. As he opened the door, he saw the two of them dancing in the silent kitchen. It must have looked so awkward.Mat met his eyes, silently begging him not to ruin the moment. Spring hadn’t heard George enter so was blissfully unaware.He didn’t want her to stop because of George saying something embarrassing.George George looked at Mat, then to the girl nestling her face on his, a soft smile on her face, then back to Mat.George and Mat stared at one another for a second before George mouthed “nope” and walked out of the room, his boots quietly moving away from the room.Mat silently thanked him.“Do you hear something my love?” Spring asked.“It’s just the wind Spring. It’s just the wind.”Spring opened her eyes, looking at him softly. Her lips gently brushed against his, but they didn’t kiss this time. The oven dinged and turned off, alerting them to the fact that their cookies were done, but they danced on. Mat kissed her tenderly on the nose as they swayed in their messy circle. Their dance continued, uninterrupted by anyone or anything in the world, and Mat felt peace settle within him.Yes, he was home.