Like nearly every other room in the estate, the room Nillyna currently resided in reflected her immense wealth, from the mahogany desk, chair, and other furnishings, to the magnificent fifteen-foot window half-covered in thick red velvet curtains,which was flanked on either side with massive bookshelves that lined the walls, looming over Nillyna and filled end-to-end with tomes and volumes of varying ages. Next to the desk was a globe of the planet Aquasa some six feet in diameter, magically rotating in midair as its two moons gracefully spun in their orbits close to their mother planet, conveniently made to scale by size but not by distance.
 
 
But there was another globe that had Nillyna’s attention at the moment. At the center of the study was a colossal crystal ball, perfectly round and flawlessly polished, sitting atop a ring of dark metal held up by three sturdy legs as it glistened with the blue sunlight pouring in from the window. These crystal balls were the most efficient and secure means of direct communication on Aquasa, but they were quite expensive, requiring a rare crystal at least a quarter the size of the one that Nillyna had, which could easily communicate across the whole of the world, if desired. For although Nillyna had many studies throughout her home dedicated to particular fields of magical research, this room was dedicated to communication, the volumes filling the shelves holding knowledge on foreign languages, cultures both new and old, trade and commerce, currency exchange rates and so on. Although ironically, during her obsessive period of searching for eternal life, Nillyna’s reclusive lifestyle left this room to see little actual use, aside from ordering supplies and other goods for her research and daily life. With Lily in her life, it had seen far more use, due to the plant girl’s well-being needing to be attended to.
 
 
The room was being utilized for the first time in ages, though this time Nillyna had the well-being of different individuals currently on her mind.
 
 
The Lepidopteran in question sat in a fancy purple armchair with all the grace of a queen sitting on her throne, with her wings taking the form of a simple but stylish gown, her eyes gazing into the depths of the giant crystal before her. Were this orb hollow, Nillyna could easily flutter about within without touching the sides, but right now it was filled with a swirling pearlescent fog, framing the face of an old acquaintance of hers.
 
 
“Have we an arrangement then, Gregu?” she asked the projected image.
 
 
Gregu, as he was shown within the crystal ball, was an average Tetra, resembling a larger-than-average lizard capable of speech. He also had a reputation for having silver tongues, like all members of his kind (although his tongue was actually blue in color). He observed Nillyna casually with his slitted orange eyes, his metaphorically-silver tongue flicking out for a split second between sentences.
 
 
“Normally I don't question, or second guess my clients,” he said, his voice as smooth as silk. “But, for one of your reputation and stature, Miss Nillyna, I'm making an exception just this once. Are you absolutely certain you wish to obtain this… particularly volatile merchandise?”
 
 
By “merchandise”, Gregu of course meant the Seismospheres that Nillyna desired. Getting them to her was technically “doable" in the most generous definition of the word, but their usage was so heavily restricted that he dared not even say their name out loud.
 
 
Nillyna softly took a deep breath — This was it; her last chance to back out. “Yes,” said Nillyna without hesitation.
 
 
“Very well,” said Gregu, “I will make the arrangements. They should be ready by morning, but you will have to come pick them up in person.” He folded his clawed forepaws together and narrowed his eyes. “I hope you are prepared for rough weather both ways on your journey,” he hissed.
 
 
“Understood,” said Nillyna, the image of Gregu dissipating as communication ended, the rounding surface of the crystal ball becoming transparent, leaving nothing but distorted, upside down images of the other side of the room in its depths.
 
 
Nillyna then lifted her talisman cane from her lap in her lower arms and pointed it to one of the bookshelves, summoning a single tome with a dusty blue binding into her upper hands. It was, for lack of a better term, an encyclopedia on smuggling and illicit trades, including the various code phrases and signals used to hide such activity from the authorities. She originally took it to find the best methods pertaining to transporting Seismospheres, but then her eyes fell on a familiar sentence at the bottom of a list of common smuggler lingo:
 
 
“I hope you are prepared for rough/bad weather both ways on your journey/travels”
 
 
Translation: “If any authorities catch you I will deny ever knowing your name.”
 
 
Nillyna’s brow furrowed as she read this line. She knew full well of the risks involved in getting the Seismospheres, but the constant secrecy and paranoia continuously irked her. But it was the only way to get Sonata and Grayscale home.
 
 
But before Nillyna could read any further, the door to her study suddenly flew open.
 
 
“Nillyna!” Sonata yelled, panting in exertion. “You need to come to the Downpour Chamber, now!”
 
 
Nillyna’s antennae shot up in surprise. “Oh dear, is everything alright? Was Grayscale injured?”
 
 
“NO! It’s uh…” Sonata’s mouth flapped uselessly as words caught in her throat. “It’s some kind of magic thing! A portal thing! I mean, there’s a portal opened up in the Downpour!”
 
 
“A portal?” Nillyna gasped, shutting her book and setting it aside as she started moving towards the door. “But I didn’t sense any sort of magic like that… oh dear, the island’s security might have been compromised!” She hopped up in the air and unfurled her wings, taking flight briefly to close the distance down the hallway.
 
 
“I don’t know about that,” Sonata replied, turning around to chase after her down the hall. “But whatever it is I’m sure you’ll know when you see it!”
 
 
They raced through the halls of the manor, Nillyna demonstrating how swift she was on her wings again, Sonata barely able to trail her, no matter how fast she slithered on her tail. Once outside the Downpour chamber, Nillyna morphed her wings into a silvery skin tight jumpsuit and landed on her feet, Sonata catching up to her before they both entered together.
 
 
“MANGO! Oh my god, I was so worried about you boy! I'm so glad that Sepia and Mono have been taking care of you…”
 
 
Sonata and Nillyna heard Grayscale's voice emanating from the Downpour Chamber door as they entered the lavatory and once they finally entered said room he turned from the mirror that was housed behind the toiletries shelf and looked upon them with a bright, excited smile.
 
 
“Oh good, you’re here!” Gray exclaimed, beaming at Nillyna. “We got quite the magic situation going on here!”
 
 
Nillyna said nothing, only stepped up beside Grayscale to look at the “situation”. The mirror no longer reflected the Downpour Chamber, but a bizarre low-angle view of a room Nillyna was unfamiliar with, along with three individuals she didn’t recognize right away. She immediately thought it could be a scrying spell gone wrong, a type of magic used to candidly spy on places, but from the way the two bat-like creatures, plus the giant snake, were gawking at her like she was a zoo animal, they were fully aware of her presence.
 
 
“And who is this?” Sepia asked, pointing a finger down (or from Nillyna’s viewpoint, forward) at her. “Are you that Nill-na Gray was talking about?”
 
 
“Nillyna, if you please,” she corrected politely, now recognizing one of the individuals reflected in the mirror. “And you must be… Sepia, was it? Yes, Sonata and Grayscale told me about you.”
 
 
“Yeah, that’s right!” Sepia gasped cheerfully, before reaching over and giving Mono’s shoulder a shake for emphasis, much to his annoyance. “This here’s Mono, he’s my bro… and this here is Mango!” She leaned out of view to let the orange-and-yellow python slip in between them and get his snout right up at the mirror’s face, immediately filling the view with a darkened closeup of Mango’s flicking tongue that fogged up the glass, much to Nillyna’s confusion and Grayscale’s mild amusement. Mango always did this sort of thing whenever he tried to take a picture of him.
 
 
The view was made clear once more as Mono suddenly pulled Mango away from the mirror’s surface, giving it a quick swipe to clear the fog. “Easy boy,” Mono grunted, patting Mango on the side before looking back at Nillyna, his dark gray eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Alright, let’s cut to the chase. Who the hell are you and why do you have our friends?”
 
 
“As I said before, my name is Nillyna,” she replied sternly. “Sorceress and scholar of the arcane arts. As for your friends, I assure you they are safe and unharmed, as you can see.”
 
 
“Uh, Nillyna?” Grayscale hissed quietly, “Maybe rephrase that? It kinda sounds like you kidnapped us…”
 
 
Her antennae twitched in annoyance for only a second before Nillyna cleared her throat and resumed her stoic stance. “As for why they are here, the simple answer is I brought them here purely by accident after a mishap involving teleportation magic, which connected a portal between their washroom and my estate. Since then I’ve been working on a way to open another portal back to-”
 
 
“Why didn’t you just call us?” Sepia barked impatiently.
 
 
“Cool it, sis,” Mono grunted, trying to keep the peace.
 
 
“What? She’s got fuckin’ teleportation magic and a big fuckin’ mansion but she doesn’t have a fuckin’ phone?” Sepia snapped, fangs bared. Grayscale and Sonata tensed up at the sight and sound of her shouting- Sepia always had a bit of a sailor’s mouth but she only used the f-word that many times when she was really angry.
 
 
Sonata slid forward and held up her smartphone. “Sepia, we tried to call, but phones don’t work here! They don’t have phones or internet here at all!”
 
 
Sepia took a deep breath, pouting as she tried to cool her jets as Mono leaned in and took over. “And where exactly is “here”? You on a private island or something?”
 
 
“Well, you could say that, although…” Sonata grit her teeth nervously as she tried to find the words. “We’re really… really a lot farther than-”
 
 
“We’re literally on another planet,” Grayscale said bluntly. Immediately all eyes were on him: Sonata looked miffed, Nillyna concerned, and the others on the other side of the mirror were struck dumb with disbelief. “What?” Grayscale said with a shrug. “No sense in being coy about it!”
 
 
Before anything else could be said, before any more questions could be asked, the door to the Downpour Chamber opened once more and Lily came barging in.
 
 
“Nillyna, I saw you flying down the hall with Sonata! Is something wrong?” she said worriedly.
 
 
Seeing Nillyna had been surprising enough, but now they were looking at… some sort of plant girl? Different types of people existed on Terra, even humans with unusual skin colorations and animal parts due to magic or interbreeding with other species, but a sentient humanoid plant creature was definitely only something found in fiction for them until now. Due to the size of the compact mirror, the bat siblings could only stare at the tiny, literal flower girl approaching them, quickly realizing that Lily was now staring back at them with equal curiosity.
 
 
“Oh!” Lily gasped, raising a dainty green-skinned hand to her lips in surprise. “It’s that “see-pee-ah” creature you showed me on your phone!” Lily said with a look of bemusement towards Sonata. “Is this a new “video” of yours, Sonata? Is that other Sepia going to eat her like you did?”
 
 
“Excuse me?” Mono snapped at Lily, his fangs briefly flashing as he reared his head back, showing off the scales along his slender neck like a cobra ready to strike. “We can hear you, you know! Who and what the hell are you?”
 
 
 “Like I said,” began Gray, “We're…”
 
 
“As much as a detailed explanation is warranted here,” Nillyna said, holding her cane in front of Grayscale to interrupt his statement and take center stage. “I believe it is prudent that we get to the bottom of the cause of all this,” she brought her cane back down, standing tall and proud like royalty addressing her subjects. Unfortunately, Mono and Sepia were not fans of higher authorities.
 
 
“Lady, I don't know who you think you are, but you do NOT talk down to my friends like that!” snapped Mono with a scowl.
 
 
“Yeah!” agreed Sepia with an identical expression. “Our friends have been missing for weeks! And now Gray’s talking to us through a hand mirror, saying y’all on another planet?”
 
 
Nillyna scowled, her antennae twitching in irritation. The head of her talisman cane flickered as she was about to cast a spell that would block whatever argument those in the reflection might bring forward when Sonata and Grayscale spoke up.
 
 
“Guys, listen,” said Sonata, waving her hands in a calming gesture at those in the mirror. “I wanna catch up with you as much as you do, but we need to make sure this… mirror-portal thing is safe!”
 
 
“She’s got a point,” Gray stepped in. “This literally popped up out of nowhere, we gotta let Nillyna make sure it's not dangerous.”
 
 
Sepia and Mono's puzzled expression deepened, Mango tilting his head in confusion.
 
 
“Dangerous?” Sepia inquired, “What do you mean dangerous?”
 
 
“We'll explain after she verifies what exactly is going on,” said Sonata, then turned back to Nillyna beside her. “Okay Nillyna, do your thing.”
 
 
Responding only with a nod, Nillyna stepped forward and extended her talisman cane. She touched the red crystal orb to the surface of the mirror, the surface of which rippled like a pond that had had a stone thrown in it. From her perspective, Nillyna was diligently examining every aspect of the mirror to determine what was causing this phenomenon, information flooding into her mind from the point of contact of her talisman cane and the smooth surface of the mirror. After a few minutes she retracted her cane, her expression stoic despite her antennae and neck-fluff briefly poofing out with a sudden shudder before returning to their usual state.
 
 
“So what's the verdict, Nillyna?” asked Sonata.
 
 
Nillyna turned back to look at Sonata, her expression softening somewhat. “From what I am able to gleam, this hand-mirror was contaminated with lingering dregs of magic when my first attempt at a portal exploded.”
 
 
“I knew it!” declared Gray, snapping a finger.
 
 
Nillyna glanced at him with a doubtful look. “Did you, now?”
 
 
Gray frowned, his shoulders slumping. “I mean, I figured that might have something to do with it… but now we know for sure!”
 
 
“But why did it connect to my compact?” Sonata asked, watching the last of the ripples fade from the portal. “Wasn't the magic designed to link up with the mirror in our bathroom?”
 
 
“If you remember, the unique properties of your… “smart mirror” made it incompatible with my spell, so it must have shifted to the nearest compatible mirror, namely your compact.” Nillyna explained. “Either that, or it tried to adhere to both mirrors at once and the magic overloaded…”
 
 
“Hey! What does it matter how it happened?” Grayscale suddenly declared excitedly, running up to the mirror, putting his hands on it and examining it from top to bottom. “This thing is basically connected to Terra now! Can we use it to get home?”
 
 
Sonata's eyes lit up with equal measures of excitement at Gray's revelation of what should be the obvious. But just as quickly as her spirits lifted they fell as Nillyna shook her head.
 
 
“Um, Gray,” she said with a passive tone. “You do remember what it's connected to, right?” She held her hands up before bringing them together, steepling them into a circle the size of a typical makeup mirror. “You couldn’t possibly fit through-”
 
 
“Yeah, I know that,” Grayscale exclaimed, turning back from the mirror to cross his arms in annoyance. “I’m not saying we squeeze through it as-is! I mean, can’t you use it to make another portal or something? Or make it bigger on the other side?”
 
 
If Nillyna’s eyes were capable of rolling, they would certainly have done that now. “No, I can’t just “make another portal”, or “make it bigger”... at the very least, not with the spell as it is now. Simply put, this isn’t the same sort of portal we were trying to make before. We can see and speak through it, but we can’t send anything through it, other than our voices.”
 
 
“I thought you said your portal spell went into the mirror though!” Sonata asked, “Shouldn’t it work the same?”
 
 
“In better circumstances, yes, but the magic destabilized when it mixed with the technology in the first mirror.” Nillyna stepped closer to the portal and began making small, delicate gestures with two of her hands, which the snerrets recognized from their magic lessons as Nillyna “reading” the invisible arcane framework of the mirror. “Rather than simply moving the portal to another mirror, it was reduced to a simpler form of the spell, going from a transportation portal to a… far-seeing one.”
 
 
Grayscale’s expression visibly deflated, and Sonata followed suit. She looked back up at Sepia and Mono, who were silently looking at the three of them with looks of bewilderment and disbelief. Sonata cleared her throat to get their attention. “Um, I’m sure you two have a lot of questions about… well, all of this…”
 
 
“No no, I’ve been listening,” Sepia muttered, nodding slowly. “And I think I get most of what you’re talking about… at least as far as magic stuff goes.”
 
 
“Yeah, this is a lot more wizard-y shit than we’re used to,” Mono replied, looking between his sister and his friends through the mirror as he rubbed his left temple. “But that aside, what exactly happened? How did you two get here in the first place?”
 
 
Nillyna stepped back behind Sonata and Grayscale, allowing them to step forward to speak more directly to their long-lost friends. They then proceeded to relay the story of how they had been unceremoniously transported from their shower at home to the lake on Nillyna’s estate, their time spent staying here, and the various magical mishaps and discoveries they encountered (with a few superfluous details omitted for the sake of brevity). Nillyna and Lily stood silently behind them the whole time, occasionally stepping in to fill in blanks in their stories, or to clarify statements and answer questions regarding herself and Aquasa.
 
 
All the while Sepia and Mono sat patiently, listening and nodding along with Gray and Sonata’s stories. It was long into the night by the time they eventually got to the present day of their tales.
 
 
“...and once she’s done building it and charging it up, we’ll be able to make a real portal and come back home!” Gray exclaimed excitedly, hopping up and down for a bit as he concluded their story.
 
 
“And uh… that’s about all of it,” Sonata added, “All the stuff that mattered anyway.”
 
 
Sepia and Mono, meanwhile, said nothing. Mango was curled up behind them sleeping, while Mono leaned back and let out a long, slow exhale, slowly shaking his head. Sepia only glanced at him with a worried frown.
 
 
Sonata quickly became worried too. “You… you guys do believe us, don’t you?”
 
 
“Yeah, yeah, I believe you…” muttered Mono.
 
 
“I do too!” Sepia said, nodding suddenly.
 
 
“It’s just…” Mono sighed, leaning forward again. “...a LOT to take in.”
 
 
Grayscale shrugged, awkwardly scratching the back of his head. “Yeah, I uh, I don’t blame you. It took us a long time to really get used to it here… But believe me, we’ve been working on getting back home ever since!”
 
 
Mono and Sepia exchanged worried glances. “And this machine you’re working on, it’s the only thing that’ll work?” Sepia asked. “The way you described it, it sounds… risky.”
 
 
Nillyna lowered her head in resignation. “I understand your concern. I’ve never built anything quite this complex or as powerful before, but rest assured, we are not going to be taking any needless risks in building the capacitor.” She gestured around the edge of the portal with her cane as she continued, “The gem that acted as the core for the original mirror was corrupted and altered by the lightning strike, destabilizing its spell matrix, and in its current state it cannot be stabilized or modified. And what's more, the portal has to be opened in the same exact location as before, and without a reflective surface, it's going to take a great deal more power than originally.”
 
 
“Is there anything we can do to… help speed things up?” Mono asked. “We’re no magic users, but if there’s anything we can do on our side that’ll help-”
 
 
“Hey, wait a minute!” said Gray, suddenly hit with an epiphany, turning to Nillyna. “You said we needed a reflective surface in our shower back home for it to work, right? Why don’t we just have Sep and Mono turn the shower back on in our apartment? Or maybe bring a mirror in there from somewhere else?”
 
 
It was a solid strategy and one that made sense, even Nillyna seemed to think it might work. However, Gray’s enthusiasm for his sudden inspiration quickly faded when he glanced back at the portal, seeing Mono and Sepia once again exchanging downtrodden glances.
 
 
“Guys, what's wrong?” asked Grayscale, both he and Sonata looking concerned.
 
 
Mono and Sepia grimaced. “Well, that’s the thing… we can’t exactly get back into your bathroom.”
 
 
Sonata and Grayscale didn't like the sound of that at all. “What are you talking about?” inquired Sonata. “You two still have the spare key, don’t you?”
 
 
“We do,” Mono replied. “That’s actually how we got Mango here, along with your computers and consoles and stuff. But unfortunately there’s-”
 
 
“There’s no bathroom for us to get back in.” Sepia finished.
 
 
Grayscale grimaced, along with Sonata. “I’m afraid to ask, but what exactly do you mean?”
 
 
“Well…you're probably aware that, after you guys disappeared, your shower was left running, and old Fitzgerald had to turn it off,” said Sepia nervously, Sonata and Grayscale both nodding in understanding. “Well…before he could…the water leaked through the floor, and ended up spilling into your downstairs neighbor’s bathroom.”
 
 
“Uh…which downstairs neighbor?” Sonata asked, already flinching in anticipation of the answer.
 
 
Sepia and Mono’s eyelids lowered as they answered in unison: “Orson.”
 
 
The snerrets both let out an exasperated groan, Sonata slapping her forehead with a palm. “Aaaargh! Of COURSE it would be Orson!”
 
 
“Whatever is the matter?” Nillyna asked. “Who is this Orson?”
 
 
“Simply put, he’s a mouse… and an idiot.” Gray hissed as he shook his head in frustration before looking back up at the bat-snake siblings. “Let me guess… he tried to “fix it” himself?”
 
 
“Exactly,” Mono growled, matching Gray’s disdain. “We don’t know what he did or how, but it involved him using a spell of some kind-”
 
 
“And a lot of power tools,” Sepia added.
 
 
“-and he ended up causing the whole bathroom to collapse down into his own and flood most of his apartment!”
 
 
“I thought he had his witching license revoked after last time!” Gray exclaimed, with “last time” referring to the time Orson tried to re-inflate a motorcycle tire with magic; it ended up creating a pair of miniature tornadoes that flipped over several parked cars and knocked down a power line, among other damages, earning Orson several hefty fines and his license to practice magic in public spaces taken away. Witching licenses were extremely hard to get and very easy to lose, so the fact that someone as careless as Orson had one for any amount of time was baffling to anyone who knew him.
 
 
“I guess he figured it counted as doing magic privately, but the fact he ended up wrecking your apartment as well as his own is the reason he’s now in jail,” Mono explained. “So now, both apartments are under re-construction and off-limits.”
 
 
“Though we did manage to convince Ol’ Fitz to let us in your flat to grab your stuff… and of course Mango here!” Sepia beamed, patting Mango on the head happily. “But yeah, your bathroom’s a wreck now… so from what I understand, the whole portal thing you were talking about earlier is a no-go?”
 
 
Nillyna nodded, hiding her mild confusion from the lack of context in their explanation, though she got the gist of it for the most part and knew she could ask her guests to fill in any blanks later. “You are correct… even if the original portal surfaces are repaired, the spell’s attunement won’t register properly, so it seems the Arcane Capacitor is still the only way to go.”
 
 
“Orsonnn…” Sonata growled, paws balling tightly into fists. “Ooooh, that mouse is lucky he’s in prison and I’m on another planet, or I would have already coiled him up and squeezed all the stupid out of his fat head!”
 
 
“ALL of the stupid?” Gray quipped with a smirk. “You’d be at it all week with that dumbass.”
 
 
That made Sonata let out an amused snort, letting her hands relax before crossing her arms in resignation, smirking back at Gray in wordless thanks for calming her down. “Heh… no kidding.”
 
 
“Other than that, the only other problem we've been dealing with was your disappearance,” Mono added. “we filed a missing persons report, and we posted a pmmm mmmph… hmm…” Mono's mouth was still moving, but his voice had suddenly became muffled and inaudible. Nillyna and the others looked on with concern as the portal started sparking and losing color like an old TV set. From the looks on Sepia and Mono's faces they were experiencing the same thing.
 
 
“Shit, the portal's dying on us!” Gray cried out loud. “Nillyna, do something!”
 
 
“I can’t,” she cried, clutching her cane tightly. “the portal's too unstable!”
 
 
“Let me try!” Sonata said, raising a glowing blue paw before two of Nillyna's hands shot out to grab her wrists.
 
 
“Don't be reckless!” she snapped, pushing a third hand to Sonata's chest to hold her back. “The spellwork's breaking down! If you try to mess with it, you could kill someone!”
 
 
“But our friends-”
 
 
“-will be fine!” Nillyna yelled, shoving the distraught snerret back. “But there's nothing we can do right now…” she turned to look back at the portal, which was already translucent and monochrome, Sepia and Mono's faces becoming distorted, more so as it seemed that Mono was shaking the compact in distress.
 
 
Gray tried to run over to touch the portal, but was stopped when a pair of green hands wrapped around him- it was Lily, holding him back with surprising strength for a creature of her size and build.
 
 
“I'm sorry…” Lily whispered to Gray as he went limp in her arms, before his free hand shot out and desperately waved goodbye to his vanishing friends back home. Sonata did the same, tears welling in both their eyes as the last sparks of magic fizzled away into multicolored smoke, leaving the mirror behind it blank once more.
 
 
Nillyna and Lily let go of Sonata and Grayscale, both of whom stumbled forward staring at the mirror in disbelief. No-one spoke for a while, not even when both snerrets quickly embraced one another tightly, with Nillyna and Lily approaching them both to join in the pained hug. Sonata's long pink tail wrapped around all four of them, with Gray burying his face into the crook of her neck as tears rolled down his face, joined by Sonata's as they dropped down onto his mane of orange fur.
 
 
—
 
 
Back on Terra, the bat-snake siblings held each other close in a similar fashion, staring down at the compact on the floor that Mono dropped in shock- as the portal faded, a flash of light burst from the mirror, startling him and causing it to shatter across the floor. Mango curled up around the two hybrids, holding them tightly in a similar fashion to Sonata back on Aquasa.
 
 
By sheer staggering coincidence, across countless light-years of space, both Sepia and Sonata had simultaneously whispered, “at least we know they're safe now…”