“There,” she says with a smile, “That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Instant and painless; few methods of transportation are preferable to teleportation.

Autumn has begun to capture the granite coast, but the air around them is still warm. The sun is bright overhead, illuminating the waters that have only just begun to change from summer green to winter grey. The feathered gull chicks of early spring are wheeling overhead with their parents now, their sharp cries audible even over the crash of the sea against the rocky coast. Behind them, the cliffs rise tall and majestic, topped with yellowing grasses in a broad meadow that fades to darkness.

Beqanna has not revealed all of her secrets yet, and that is more clear to the residents of Nerine than to most any others.

“Welcome to Nerine,” she says to her two companions, gesturing to the land around them with her dark muzzle. “What do you think?”