It was quiet here.

Not dead silence. She hated that. Feared it, really. No, there were sounds outside. A soft breeze rustling leaves and creaking branches. Songbirds tweeted and whistled in the distance. At least, Sonnie thought they were songbirds. In the Hedge, who knew for sure? The point was, this faerie wilderness was alive and active. Quiet enough to give her some peace of mind, but not so silent as to agitate her past traumas.

Sunlight filtered into the Hollow through a small window, the light hot and bright, as it typically was in the summer. The Beast lay on the wooden plank floor just to the side of where the beam touched down. Close enough to feel the warmth, but no worries about getting sunburned. Sonnie was here to relax and process, and that's what she did. Or tried to.

Her head was a mess. Life, since finally escaping the 'haunted house' had been awkward, at beast. She and Seraphina and Rhodes had been trapped in that Arcadian outpost for hours on Halloween night. Twisting hallways, terrified screams, a slasher movie killer and a mysterious time-locked Darkling had made for quite the stressful adventure. When the trio had managed to get out, they found their issues were not over yet.

They had entered the house on Halloween... and exited in July. Nine months had passed.

This wasn't the first instance of 'fae time' had screwing up her life. Sonnie had originally been taken by Privateers in the early 90s, and re-emerged 25 years later, to find her old life, and family, had gone on without her.

It was worse(?) this time, however, for the Steepscrambler had two full sets of memories. One of her night in the haunted house... and one of the nine months outside. Somehow, both were real. She could remember fighting the Pursuer to the death, confronting the Fetch-Maker, escaping... but she also remembered going to work at the dojo, enjoying Christmas, taking care of her dog, attending three Coronations. It was like there had been two Sonnies, going through two sets of events at the same time, then merging together at a later point.

Maybe. She didn't understand how any of this worked. Temporal shenanigans were confusing. Thinking about the hows and whys only made her monkey brain hurt. She let out a sigh as she lay there, staring at the ceiling of her treehouse. At least her Hollow provided some comfort, spartan as it was. Emotional comfort, at least. This floor was doing her back no favors. She needed a bed in here. Slowly, the Beast sat up, rubbing her neck.

There wasn't going to be a resolution to this memory thing. She knew that. It wasn't going to go away. All she could do was live with it. How, though?

"As a Spring does best," she said to herself, "by ignoring it and having fun!" Distraction was the name of the game for most Emerald Courtiers. Distraction and denial. It worked... mostly.

How? The question remained. The usual methods didn't help. Exercise and martial arts training failed to keep her mind off of the problem. That she had memories of the dojo that shouldn't be kind of sabotaged those efforts. Her favorite hobby, eating, was also lackluster in this goal. Memories of holiday meals and Coronation feasts remained. Even poor Fugly couldn't help much. Her dog, as much as she loved him, was a part of that other timeline.

There came a sound, from below. A rustle of the Hedge undergrowth, at the bottom of the tree. Sonnie froze, listening hard. Her Hollow was well-hidden, just off of the local trod. She'd always been careful to take different meandering directions to this place, so as not to accidentally forge a path directly to it. Still, the natural camouflage was not fool-proof, and the Hedge was full of dangers.

Oh, there it was, again. Something or someone was down there, moving through the brush, and not stealthily. Whoever it was, they didn't care if they were heard. That was trouble. Quietly, Sonnie climbed to her feet and crept to the door. Slowly, she cracked it open and peered out. Nothing on the small porch but the rope guardrail. Slinking down, she crawled to the balcony's edge. After waiting a few moments, she peeked out and down.

The treehouse was just that, a lop-sided, multi-colored structure built into the top of a tall Hedge tree. The thick green foliage covered it, mostly, so it could not be seen from afar. The Hollow looked like something a child might have built in their backyard, yet despite it's slap-dash appearance, the small house was solidly built. Truth was, Sonnie had only built part of it, the rest had just sort of... grown into being. The Hedge was weird like that.

Down below, something was indeed moving among the bushes and smaller trees. She couldn't make it out from up here. It seemed to be... covered in mist? Some sort of stealth magic, maybe? The cloud wandered around the base of her tree in circles. Why the misty cover if they were making no effort to be quiet, though? The Beast frowned, her brow creasing.

She had to identity the trespasser and deal with them. She waited for them to circle to the far side of tree, then quickly climbed down the trunk. Her Hollow had no ladder or stairs. The only way up or down was this, and there was a severe lack of handholds. For a Steepscrambler like herself, however, it was easy. Most others would struggle. Once of the forest floor, Sonnie crossed her arms over her chest and casually leaned against the tree and waited.

After a few more moments, here came the intruder, right on schedule. The cloud-covered creature paused upon encountering the Beast.

"Take a wrong turn at Albuquerque?" Sonnie asked, keeping her tone light, despite her wariness. Her Hedgespun staff was at her side, ready to be drawn. The misty thing didn't attack. It didn't speak. No, it just... waited. The Claviger raised an eyebrow, both curious and annoyed. Her private getaway had been invaded and she didn't like it. "Drop the smoke, and show yourself. This is your only warning."

Ominously, the unidentified being... did nothing at first. Then it edged forward. Sonnie came away from her leaning and drew her collapsible staff. A flick of her wrist caused it to extend to it's normal length. "Nope. Stay back."

The intruder did as told, strangely enough. Sonnie cocked her head to one side. Something was off here, something... then she noticed it. The mist didn't touch the ground, and neither did whoever was in it. It was... hovering. Just about a couple feet off the earth. The more she studied it, the more she realized it was too small to have someone hiding inside of it.

The cloud wasn't hiding anything. The creature was the cloud.

Something clicked in her head. A bit of knowledge resurfacing.

Sonnie Wu had, to some degree, patterned herself after the mythological figure of Sun Wukong. The Monkey King of Chinese legend. Her martial arts, her staff, even her name. It had always been a small way to amuse herself with her condition as a simian Beast. A way to make the most of her insane faerie existence. And the Wyrd had often responded favorably. Sonnie had learned kung fu at an alarming pace, for instance. She was as good in just a few years as masters who had been studying the art for decades. She assumed the Wyrd had some influence there, as she understood the force of time and luck and all things fae liked a good story. And Journey to the West was a classic.

There was something else Sun Wukong had, in those old fables. A flying cloud. Interpretations differed. The Monkey King's Cloud Somersault was sometimes portrayed as his ability to leap tens of thousands of miles in a single bound. Others showed him riding on a flying cloud, even bringing passengers.

Was this...

"Are you here... for me?" she asked, hesitantly.

The small fluff of water vapor made an excited little jump.

"I'll take that as a yes." Sonnie leaned on her staff and scratched her head with her free hand. Had the Wyrd just sent this thing to her? Why? It would help complete the 'story.' Or progress it, anyway. Who knew what the Wyrd wanted. Maybe this was just coincidence. The cloud waited patiently.

After a moment, the Spring Courtier shrugged and threw caution to the wind. "Fuck it. Come here!" She waved the thing forward.

It made no sounds other then a soft rush of air as it moved, and it had no facial features, but Sonnie got the distinct feeling it was happy to be accepted. It floated over to her, and the Beast knelt down to touch it. It was soft and warm... and kind of damp. It was made of water vapor, after all. Surprisingly solid, too. Could she...

"Can I..." she felt almost silly asking, "Can I... ride you?"

The cloud jumped again, though the jump was little more then it rising to four feet off the ground for an instant, rather than two. The Steepscrambler took her time, testing the yield before climbing on board. The cloud thing was patient, but when she was finally sitting on top, it took off!

"WHOA!" Sonnie had to hold on to the cloud (which in theory should be impossible, but her hands found purchase in the mist) as it sped in another circle around the tree. After a couple more loops, it slowed to a stop. Sonnie found herself smiling. "That was so cool! Oh! Can we go up? Into the sky?"

The cloud dropped about a foot, and Sonnie got a sense of shame from it. "Oh, I see. You can't fly?" The ball of vapor felt sad, yet hopeful. "Not yet?" she asked. The cloud rose back up to it's normal two foot altitude with a bounce. "Oh, so someday, huh?" Another bounce. Sonnie laughed. "Maybe you got some growing up to do? Okay, someday it is, then."

After thinking a moment, the Monkey patted the cloud. "I... guess you can stay. Even clouds need a home, right?" The fae creature seemed to like that idea, as it somehow managed to jiggle happily. Sonnie hopped off and turned to look at her newfound companion. "Okay, then, welcome home... umm... you need a name..." She thought a moment. Why not go with a classic? "How about Nimbus?"

Sonnie's new faerie mount seemed to like that, and she wasn't thinking about her divergent timelines for a while.