[PQ] Into the Woods Without Delay

YOU SAID THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT THE MOON IT ROSE TOO SOON AND WE'RE DOING WHAT WE SHOULD And just like that, they are free. Except it isn't that easy- nothing ever is. The line in the ground is a barrier in itself, and as Amalia crosses it she feels a curling of her skin, a residual electric discharge, or perhaps just her own gear at work. But once she is across, ah... The leopard begins to run. Slowly, at first, her steps rigid and unsure, as though at any moment this foreign ground may rise up and swallow her whole. Then faster, faster, faster, until her feet are a blur and the trees are a painting and her companions are forgotten because she is free, free, free of the small world and petty squabbles and insignificance of the Hollowed Grounds. Out there there are mountains, oceans, whales, Vi- And then, as if by some cruel trick, they are back. Amalia pulls up short, her claws raking furrows in the soft ground as she fights against momentum to avoid hurling back over that cursed line. With a snarl she snaps, spins, recoils. Jigano's instructions are hardly warranted: before he has a chance to finish the thought the girl-turned-leopard is retracing her steps, springing through the underbrush in pursuit of her own scent. She will find where she went wrong. She will make it through these woods. She has come too close to freedom to be caged and captured again. a m a l i a You said it's life that moves too much We're losing touch But I'm not losing you