library: tale

Lexy thumbed through the pages of...  what was it now?  Ha, like he didn't know.  The two thousand, seven hundred, forty-ninth book.  He'd gotten pretty sick of this fox around book five, and hadn't put much effort into skimming them after book four hundred twelve.  Between the obvious fool's errand, the intolerably smarmy demeanor of his host, and the suspicious number of books stamped with text like PROPERTY OF STEEL CITY LIBRARY, Lexy was hours past the point of needing to deliver a few lessons in social grace and bibliosophistry upside the head.  But this Callahan fellow had clearly spoken to Caldera since that overnight story-telling session only days ago—relatively speaking—and, for whatever reason, appeared to be holding a message hostage.  That part was unlikely to be a ruse; Caldera would have had no other reason to namedrop in such a way.  So then why deliberately waste Lexy's time?  He had no idea, but with no other leads, there was little else he could do but play along and try to quell his growing frustration.

His usual approach was to sit down with a good book.  How convenient, then, that virtually all of the ones he'd flipped through so far had been some flavor of story.

The most ornately-decorated tome within arm's reach was an ancient children's storybook: the beautifully-illustrated cover had faded considerably, but it was in remarkably good condition otherwise.  Lexy leaned back against the stack of skimmed books behind him, tried to ignore his current predicament for the moment, and flipped it open.

---

Moth And Flame

Once upon a time, in a faraway land not so different from yours, lived a spry Volcarona lass named Calliope.  She made her home betwixt two very different worlds: to one side vast plains populated by wandering tribes of nomadic Pokémon, and to the other side a great peak where resided fierce Pokémon of fire and darkness.  Calliope was one of the very few, perhaps even the only, who felt at home eitherwhere.  So it was that she made an ambassador of herself, fluttering back and forth to arrange trades, deliver messages, and settle disputes.  She was quite good at it and enjoyed meeting so many different Pokémon.

She awoke every day at twilight—for, you see, even a moth born of the Sun prefers the night—and set out first to visit the Pokémon who made their homes on the side of the mountain.

First she met with Aaron, a charming Camerupt merchant who gladly traded precious gems and ores mined from the mountain with the berries and herbs easily grown on the plains.  Every now and then Calliope would come with a request for an unusual item—perhaps a rare ingredient for a special medicine, or equipment for training—and, without fail, Aaron would find it for her in no more than three days.

"Where did you find this?  I've never even seen one before," she once asked him, of a red and yellow headband supposedly capable of saving its wearer from the brink of death.

"Ah, dear girl," he had responded with a coy grin, "my sources are my own.  I would hardly deserve my reputation if I made them public, after all."

She never broached the subject again, but always wondered just who his sources could be.

After returning home to drop off the traded goods, she visited a herald Umbreon called Bianca.  In another time she may have fancied herself a journalist; as it was, she positioned herself as a gossip nexus, ensuring that any occurrence of even the most minute interest reached her curious ears.  The two would often palaver awhile, discussing any happenings of interest to both groups of Pokémon, but also discussing local issues brought to Bianca's attention, for each considered the other a valued confidant.

Finally, Calliope would call on the Murkrow Corin, who oversaw the post for both the plains and the mount.  Paper and literacy were both uncommon, and so mail was as well, but Calliope took great pride in checking daily for any letters addressed to the plains.  It was certainly worth seeing the delighted smile of a Pokémon hearing from a faraway relative, rare though it might have been.

By now the Moon would be high in the sky, and all the daytime Pokémon would be long since asleep, leaving her with ample spare time.  On some days she would have particular errands; on others she would visit those Pokémon she considered friends, and on yet others she would return home for a quiet lunch while she waited for dawn.

The latter half of her day was much the same, though limited to those Pokémon who awoke early enough to see her.  The main trader for the grassy side was Dell, a boundlessly cheery Hoppip who spent her day collecting plants.  Every morning for as long as Calliope had known her, Dell would be ready with a bundle of dried leaves and flowers, a basket of fresh berries, and a smile.

After that her schedule varied some from day to day, as the plains Pokémon tended to spread out and drift about far more than those on the mountain, but she would do her very best to deliver any mail or rare items she had acquired and catch up with the influential early risers.

It was late one morning that she was headed back to her den for some well-earned rest, when a breeze that touched not a blade of grass blew by, carrying a soft plea with it.

Young lass!  Come here, come here, I beg of you.

Calliope turned this way and that, but the source of the voice was nowhere to be found.  "I must be hearing things," she thought, before fluttering once more towards home.

Oh, young lass, won't you come here?

She spun around, certain she had heard something, off towards a deserted part of the slope in the distance.  "Is someone there?" she asked, cautiously drifting a few feet closer.

Yes, yes!  Come this way, quickly, quickly!

Over the edge of the plains and off towards the apparent source of the voice she flew.  The sun still hung low in the sky behind her, and the mountain cast a long shadow westwards.  In that direction lay an ancient jungle inhabited by fearsome beasts, and though it was quite some distance away, its reputation alone meant that most Pokémon preferred to live on the far side of the mountain.  That part of the slope closest to the jungle had been deserted for as long as anyone could remember—and the locals had charmingly christened it the "jilted flank".

The voice, Calliope soon realized, was luring her towards the flank.

Come here, come here, you're so close now.

Everything here was cast in ominous shadows, but Calliope felt right at home in the dark.  Much of the terrain was treacherous scree: swamps of loose, jagged rocks that may or may not have withstood the weight of a Pokémon. This, too, did not bother the Volcarona, who swooped right over the unstable ground without a second thought.

Come in, come in, young lass, I'm right here!

Before her lay the mouth of a gloomy cavern, extending as far into the mountain as she could see, which was only a few feet at best.  The overhang jutting out above the entrance prevented what little ambient light there was from reaching very far.

More curious than cautious, she made her way into the cave.  Her natural solar glow cast a soft orange light over the walls, though still only illuminating a short distance ahead and behind her.  The entrance had been fairly small, and as she continued onwards, the tunnel grew narrower still, rocky walls scraping against the tips of her wings.  She was starting to considering turning around when she heard the voice one more time:

Young lass, young lass, you are so close now!  Oh, please do come in.

As if on cue, the walls fell away just as the voice stopped talking, and Calliope found herself in a large open cavern.  Thin streams of lava around the edges lit the area just well enough for her nocturnal eyes to see: the area was, or perhaps had once been, ornately decorated with intricately-carved pillars that had not well endured the passage of time.  A ring of the columns, many of them broken and worn, surrounded a large, round, worn marble flooring. In the center sat a beautiful pedestal, the only thing in the room not damaged, and atop it, a small golden pot with stubby legs and a perforated lid.

Calliope circled once around the gleaming trinket, examining it closely. "What...  is this?"

She paused to see if the voice would call out once more, as it had every other time she had hesitated.  But no; minutes passed, and there was only the wide empty silence of the cavern.  With nothing else to be done, Calliope reached for the lid and gently pried it off.

Huge clouds of billowing white smoke poured out of the pot in a pillar that rose straight upwards, lit as brightly as daytime.  Calliope leapt backwards, dropping the lid on the ground with a loud clatter, and stared agape at the cloudy tower emerging from the tiny container.  It congealed gradually into the hint of a form high in the air—then abruptly dissipated into a fine mist as a creature leapt straight up from the swirling puff and landed quite precisely on the "altar", empty pot at its feet.

"Ah!" cried the apparition, stretching this way and that, yielding the odd pop from within a cramped joint.  "Young lass, you have set me free, and I am in your debt!"

Before her, tall and proud, stood a Pokémon unlike anything she had ever seen. Its body shape was reminiscent of an Arcanine, and ths orange coat matched as well, but its tail was long and curved like a Persian's (if you ignored the dark brown color and knobbly texture).  Wisps of clouds danced around its feet, and the reddish markings on its ankles, shoulders, and back matched the three horns atop its head, behind which lay...  truncated antlers?  Calliope had no idea what to make of most of this creature's anatomy.

"Who are you?" she asked.  "I've never seen a Pokémon like you before."

The strange beast cleared its throat.  "I am Phlegethon, if you must know. But much more important than that is your reward!  For your aid, I shall grant any three of your heart's desires!"

Calliope mulled this over for a moment.  Lifting a lid didn't sound like it should deserve a reward, let alone three "desires", whatever that meant. "It's a kind offer, but I don't think I need any...  desires.  I should be getting home, in fact.  It's very late for me."  She motioned to leave, trying her best not to seem rude.

The Phlegethon was starting to look flustered.  "Come now, lass, there must be at least one thing in the world you yearn for.  Power?  Riches?  Love, perhaps?"  At this last suggestion, its eyes betrayed a twinkle of madness, and a cold shiver ran up Calliope's spine.

"N-no, thank you.  The only thing I want is for all the other Pokémon who live here to be happy, and I work hard at that every day.  I must be off, now; good night."  She turned and hurried back the way she'd come, without waiting to hear the beast's response lest she catch its gaze again.  Back through the tunnel, out the dark side of the slope, all the way around the mountain, and finally to her den she flew, not once stopping or looking back.  She went straight to bed, but the thought of the voice luring her back kept her awake for hours.

In his palace, Phlegethon smiled brightly at nothing.

"I can work with that."

❇  ❇  ❇

Calliope awoke with a start, dimly aware of having had a dream but with no memory of it.  Despite the trouble she'd had falling asleep, she felt surprisingly refreshed now; the unusual experience of the previous day was all but forgotten, and her thoughts lay purely with her work for the day.

She tidied her den, gathered up her goods, and set out for another normal day--

"Oh, no!"

Overslept!  She'd never overslept before, not even once!  But directly above her, high in the sky, a full moon shone down brightly, almost mockingly.  She gaped at it for a few moments, hoping it would flicker away and take its rightful place at the horizon, but it remained quite fixed.

She fluttered along as fast as she could manage to Aaron's little merchant tent, dodging and weaving around Pokémon moving so much more slowly that they seemed frozen in her path.  She arrived, flustered and panting, and immediately barked out at the back of Aaron's head: "Sorry!  Sorry!  I'm so sorry!  I'm running late today, I hope it's no trouble!"

The charismatic merchant lolled one eye leisurely back towards her, stared for a moment, and stifled a giggle.  "Ah...!  Hiii, Cally."  He shuffled around slowly to face the lass, carefully moving one foot at a time, and very nearly toppling over when one foot collided with another.  "What can I do for you...?"  His eyes were half-lidded, staring off at a point somewhere behind Calliope.

She set her bundle of plains goods down on the counter, wings still flitting restlessly behind her.  "Here you go!  Did you manage to find that honey Edgar was after?"  Edgar was an Ambipom jack-of-all-trades on the plains; lately he'd been into cooking, and he wanted to try his hands at making sweet desserts.  It was moderately urgent that he get the honey soon -- partly so Calliope could taste his confections, partly so Edgar wouldn't get bored and switch to yet another new talent before Calliope could taste his confections.

Aaron furrowed his brow.  "Honey...  yes, honey, yes, I have honey. Somewhere.  Came earlier, from these Combees I know in the jun--"  He paused mid-word, mouth still open, and tilted his head to the side as though trying to listen to something far off.  "Oh, oh, that's a secret, huh.  Some secret." He giggled again.

Calliope was barely listening; she kept glancing at that moon, far too high, and grew more agitated by the second.  She heard as much as "somewhere", and that was enough.  "Okay, alright, I'll come back later to pick everything up! I've gotta go, sorry bye!"  And off she went to her next appointment, leaving behind a pile of goods with a Camerupt staring blankly at them.

She skipped Bianca entirely, for now.  She felt awful about it, but she was already running late, and the usual back-and-forth gossip would keep her there for ages.  Putting Bianca last would actually make her almost on time to see Corin...!  With this in mind, she felt much less rushed; she slowed to the equivalent of a light jog and caught her breath.

Various Pokémon still bumbled across her path, and she deftly avoided them once again, now with some measure of annoyance; why so many in her way?  She weaved to and fro with ease all the way to Corin's home, the husk of a once fine oak that had met a fiery fate quite some time ago.

"Corin!  Corin, are you still here?"  Corin took his position very seriously, and never looked kindly on an interruption to his schedule.  If he'd already gone out to make his rounds, that would be that.

A sleepy squawk came from a high branch.  Calliope followed the sound and saw the telltale feathery puft of a...  sleeping bird.

"Corin?!"  She'd never seen him...  well, for that matter, she'd never seen him sleep at all, let alone in the middle of the night.  The fluffy shape shifted momentarily, then settled down again.

She flapped her grand wings and lifted herself up to the branch, face-to-buried-face with the postbird.  "Corin!"

In the middle of the mass of feathers, a single dark eye creaked open.  It regarded her briefly, then drifted shut again just as lazily.

Cold panic eased its way up her throat.  Something very strange was going on.

She turned around and started to lower herself back to the ground, but froze in mid-air, staring at what she'd failed to notice earlier.

Below her and stretching out as far as her night vision could see, dozens of local Pokémon were stumbling around as if in a daze, bumping into one another, tripping over themselves and each other, and frequently stopping to giggle about it.

She twisted in mid-air and made a beeline for Bianca's.  If anyone would know what was going on...

Bianca was a few minutes' flight away, but this time the trip felt like it took hours.  Calliope burst into the small cave already yelling her name, and very nearly tripped over the other girl.

Before her, sprawled on the ground, an Umbreon was intensely focused on a small pile of berries unlike any Calliope had seen before.  She had a digit poised atop one of them and was rocking it slowly back and forth.

"...Bianca?"

The wobbling berry stopped, but it was a few moments before Bianca turned her head to look at her friend.  Another few moments, and a smile blossomed along the sides of her muzzle.  "Call...  Canopy...  Catego...  Calliope!"  The smile widened into a grin, the girl clearly proud of herself.  "It's been... what, days?  Day?  Only one day."

Calliope quivered, her eyes fixed on the berries.  "Bianca...  what happened to everyone?  To you?  What are those?"

Bianca turned back to her stash and lowered her spare paw to a berry with all the speed and finesse of a glacier.  It took her a few tries to snag one by the stem between two pads and hold it up for display.  "These...  they're uh...  they're berries."  She glanced off into the distance, considering this statement for a moment, then looked back and nodded.  "Some kinda berries. Someone found them, yesterday, like lunchtime.  Lunch.  I remember lunch it was delicious."  She licked her lips, very slowly, eyes drifting out of focus.

The berry was an unnatural aquamarine color, with several small yellow pips jutting out of it.  Calliope scowled at it and knocked it out of Bianca's grasp, across the room onto the floor.  "Look at yourself!  What are you doing?  You've got to stop eating those, stop everyone from eating them!"

Bianca cried out as though she'd been smacked in the face and dove for her precious fruit.  "My berry!!"  She snatched it up and whirled to glare at her visitor as best she could with her half-lidded eyes.  "Get your own!  I only have enough to make me happy."  And with that, she popped it into her mouth and chewed noisily, her eyes rolling slowly back into her head in a twisted visage of ecstasy.

Happy.

Happy?

"Ohh..."

Calliope flew as fast as her poor wings, already a little worn out, would carry her.  She was almost on the opposite side of the mountain now, and it took her a good half hour to circle it, even at top speed and with her wings burning in protest.  She was afraid it wouldn't be there, afraid she couldn't find it again, but the entrance was right where it had been last night, and the narrow tunnel led right back to the ancient ruins she'd fled so hasily.

Perched like a sphinx on the altar sat a large orange cat.  His golden container was nestled against his chest, one paw was curled over the edge of the platform with a light grip, and the other moved lazily back and forth between his tongue and the back of his ear.  The ear he hadn't been grooming twitched as soon as she entered the room.

"PHLEGETHON!"

He glanced towards her and only then greeted her with a warm, surprised smile. "Ah, lass, you have returned so soon!  Are you enjoying your wish?"

She was upon him now, inches from his face, radiating a volcanic fury that he showed no sign of even noticing.  "I didn't MAKE a WISH!  What did you DO?!"

He looked back at her with shocked, worried eyes; his ears drooped, his wet paw came to rest on the cool marble.  "Why, I did only what you asked?  You want all the other Pokémon here to be happy, yes?  Have I not given you what you desire?"

Calliope could hardly believe what she was hearing.  "I didn't--  you-- argh!" she sputtered.  "Look, fine, I have two requests left, yes?  Then I want you to take it back!"

The foreign Pokémon sighed and tilted his head down, staring at the space between his paws.  "With my humblest apologies, lass, my powers are not without limit.  I cannot turn back the passage of time; only make new changes, as you desire."

Were moths have teeth, she would have grit hers so hard they'd have cracked. "Then just get rid of the berries, please!"

"Oh!"  Phlegethon hopped quite suddenly to his feet and flicked his tail about behind him.  "That's quite easy, lass!  Go, return home, and see it already done!"

Calliope nodded awkwardly, already wafting herself back the way she'd came. "Thank you, thank you!"  She spun and headed for home, ignoring the pain in her tired wings.

Phlegethon sat and waited until the soft warm glow had vanished down the tunnel, licked his paw, and rubbed it behind his ear.

❇  ❇  ❇

Volcarona are quick and agile, but not built for marathons, and this one wasn't sure she'd make it all the way back to Bianca's cave.

Lucky for her, she didn't have to.  The very first Pokémon she stumbled across, some twenty minutes later, told her all she needed to know.

"WHERE ARE THEY?!" an Absol screamed hysterically in the face of the Pawniard she was holding by the neck.  It would have been difficult to pick a winner; the Pawniard was choking, granted, but the Absol had several large crimson-stained regions of fur around the deep cuts on her thighs and side, as well as numerous smaller scratches.  If the caused her any pain, she wasn't showing it.

Calliope stopped and stared, for she'd recognized them immediately.  She hadn't spoken to the pair much, but she'd seen them around every now and then; they were a sweet couple, both as gentle as could be.  If memory served, Bianca had mentioned something about adopting an egg that should be hatching soon.

"I don't HAVE any berries because you STOLE MINE!"  The Pawniard snarled and swiped wildly with a blade, only just missing her partner's jugular.

It wasn't too hard for Calliope to figure out what had happened; she was far too terrified to see what had become of any of the Pokémon dear to her, and may not have had enough time besides.  Wings screaming, she turned around once more and flitted off back towards the ruins.

❇  ❇  ❇

Phlegethon now had his tail between his paws and was licking lazily against the grain of the fur.

"Why?"

He looked up with a start at the Volcarona he'd already known was there. "Lass!  What happened?  You look distraught!"

Indeed, Calliope was nearly in tears.  "Why did you do that to them?"

The djinn forced a look of confusion onto his face.  "Why, what do you mean? I did only what you asked; the berries should all be gone, every single one."

She was nearly at her breaking point.  What was she supposed to do?  It was all her fault, and now everyone she'd ever cared about was either delusional or violent or both.  She had only one chance to put it right, and no one could help her.

"I just..."

Phlegethon licked his lips in anticipation.

Calliope broke down sobbing.  "I just want things back the way they were before!"

Ohhhhh, yesss.  It had been so long since he'd had one this good.  He could taste her words on his lips, and it sent a dreamy shiver down his spine.  It didn't matter much any more, so he let his eyes roll back for a moment and exhaled a gratifying purrr.

As he did, the room rumbled around them.

Phlegethon hopped down from his perch and strode casually towards the exit. "It's been a pleasure, little girl, but I suggest you make a hasty exit if you value your life!"  He laughed jovially at his own joke and scampered off into the darkness of the tunnel.

Tiny pebbles showered upon the ground, disturbed from their ancient perches by the vibrations, but the shaking grew rapidly more violent until larger chunks of fragile rock broke away from some of the pillars and came crashing to the ground.  Calliope had been briefly paralyzed by a mix of shock and bewilderment, but the noise snapped her right out of it, and she sped for the exit.  She hesitated just before the mouth of the tunnel and glanced back at the altar where the gleaming golden pot still rested, momentarily considering snatching it, but one of the particularly crumbly pillars started to teeter over and she decided against it.

Instead she buzzed back down the tunnel as fast as her exhausted wings could carry her, scraping their tips repeatedly against the rocky walls for the first time since she'd first discovered the little cave.  She emerged into the eerie glow of the moonlight and rose up, up, away from the quivering mountain and higher into the sky.

She turned, looked, and felt her stomach churn.

Smoke billowed from the very top of the mountain, and a familiar ominous glow reflected off of it.  Calliope could only watch, helpless, already knowing it was coming, as the first molten shower shot into the air.

This had not happened for longer than anyone could remember hearing about. The mountain—nay, the volcano—was erupting.

There were but two options.  She could rush back to the other side and try to help the maddened Pokémon, twenty minutes too late to do much of anything.  Or she could track down the one Pokémon who could truly fix this.

The pot would have been helpful, perhaps, but as she glanced down to see the state of the ruins' entrance, she saw only a solid rock wall.  Nothing had collapsed or caved in; there was simply no evidence that anything of interest had ever been there.

Somehow, this didn't come as too much of a surprise.

She looked on at the death warrant she had signed, turned, and fled towards the jungle in the distance.

There he was, the tiny dashing figure, already nearly to the jungle's edge. He was fast, but he had underestimated her night vision and let her catch a glimpse of him.  She dove after him with renewed energy, into the dead empty silence of the space between the two vastly different biomes, with the rumble of the eruption receding rapidly behind her.

How long did it take to reach the jungle's edge?  It might have been hours, or mere minutes.  The pan

---

The page was torn, and one or two subsequent pages were missing entirely. Lexy flipped through the rest of the book, but there was no sign of loose paper.  A quick glance at the stacks of books around him confirmed that the missing pages hadn't merely fallen out, either.

He glanced at the start of the next full page and scowled.  The entire description of how Calliope found Phlegethon's new hiding spot was missing. What a rip-off.

---

more wishes, yes?" she demanded, growing more agitated by the second at her antagonist's disinterest.

Phlegethon scratched absent-mindedly behind his head and glanced up at the ornate ceiling as he considered this.  Finally he acknowledged that "Sure, sure, girlie, I suppose you do.  But you'd better be veeeery specific this time.  And if you want all three, you'd ought make them all right now.  By the time you visit home and come back, I promise you, I'll be long gone.  And the same trick won't work on me twice."  He gave her a syrupy smile that made her stomach churn.

"Fine, then.  But first, tell me, you said you can't turn back time?  Was that true, or were you just weaseling out of a wish?"

The corners of his mouth dropped instantly, and he looked right into her eyes with the first and only serious expression she'd ever seen from him.  "Listen well.  I have not once lied to you, and I do not intend to do so.  The game is to deceive.  There'd be no honor in outright fabrication."

HONOR!  How dare—

Calliope held her tongue.

"Fine.  Then for my first wish:"

He leaned forwards, barely able to contain his joy.  Oh, the things he would do with her words.

"I wish I would say exactly what I mean."  She considered briefly.  "Um, always.  Out loud.  In the same language.  And no other dumb tricks, either!"

He barked out a laugh and clapped his forepaws together, slowly.  "Ha!  Bravo, bravo, little girl, you've beaten me at my own game.  Very well, it is done, and with no trickery indeed.  No one has ever made that wish before; they rarely figure out the game before the third wish, and then of course it's far too late."  His smile grew and grew.  "Of course, now you only have two wishes left, and you cannot wish for two things at once.  Can you accomplish everything you dream with only two requests?"

Calliope coughed a couple times, words not quite coming out right at first. "I...  I believe I can.  My second wish is that you, to the fullest extent of your abilities, do whatever is necessary and sufficient to restore the health, sanity, and livelihood of all other Pokémon affected by my prior wishes to that which it would have been had we not met."

His smile remained frozen in place.  "Of course, of course!  Alas, with that volcano of yours ruining the ecosystem, the only way for all your friends to remain healthy is for them to break into wandering tribes.  And most of their possessions must be left behind.  But I'm sure they'll be fine.  Maybe you can even catch up with some of the stragglers if you hurry back."  He was ready to dance with glee.  "Two down, and only your very last one left.  What will you do now?  Try one last time to fix your mess?  Undo what you've done to your voice?"

Calliope sighed a long, deep sigh.  Those were both appealing options, to be sure, but something far more important needed doing.  As long as everyone she'd affected was safe, that was good enough.

She closed her eyes.  Making a last wish like this, knowing it was the last, was even harder than she expected.

"I wish...  for the immediate and unconditional end of your life."

That wiped the smile right off Phlegethon's face.  "You can't do that, kid. Play fair."

"I can and do.  That you didn't cite some prohibitive rule indicates that one does not exist; my wish is wholly legitimate and I insist it be granted promptly."

He snarled at her with burning, glowing eyes, and gripped the marble floor with such ferocity that it crumbled easily beneath his paws.  "In this world or the next, I will pay you back for this."

And he slumped over, eyes cold and lifeless.

Calliope didn't look back.

She had nowhere to go, now.  She could hardly stand to face any of her friends after what she'd put them through, and with the way she now spoke, she couldn't believe they'd be able to treat her the same.  She floated up above the canopy and gazed off towards her lifelong home, marked in the night sky by a subsiding orange glow.

She scanned the horizon.  Far away and in the opposite direction entirely, she could see the faintest hints of pointed treetops.  Perhaps she'd build a new life there.

---

The very last page was reserved entirely for a beautiful and vibrant portrait of a Volcarona.  Lexy held the book open here for a long while, looking back and forth between the last few lines of dialogue and the proud illustration.

He cocked an ear and listened carefully.  Callahan was definitely not in the room, but was just the kind of jerk to notice if an entire book went missing.

Lexy extracted this last page as neatly as he could, taking immense care to tear it right along the binding; folded it over twice, making sure to align the corners; and tucked the paper securely in his fluffy mane.  After the absurdly long tale he'd told, it seemed only fair.