"Vagnis! Vagnis!" Syvli scurried through the forest and near the spaceship site, her head down as she ran off with a sprint. By the time she got there her head was filled with sweat, panting heavily before she spotted the scout by the furnace.

"Hm? What happened?!" Vagnis snapped seeing the urgency in the little girl’s eyes. Her head was low panting with her hands on her knees as she tried to regain her breath.

He placed a metallic part aside to cool in a pan, waiting for her to get her words out.

"There’s a weird bird guy here!!!" She shouted, her head getting swatted lightly from behind by a pair of feathers. Behind her stood a Poulian with the face of an owl, his feathers silver and a dark grey.

"That’s Mr. Orion to you, miss." he hooted, his green gaze shifted towards Vagnis who took his gloves off.

"I was sent by a Miss Astra Folkov? I’ve come to research the legitimacy of her being a celestial,"

"What...?" Vagnis muttered. Orion laughed, lightly tapping his head at the realization.

"Right, forgive me, Your leader has been captured for trespassing, to prove their innocence I’ve been sent here to search technological advancements, was that clear?" He explained. Vagnis nodded hesitantly, still a bit put off by the sudden appearance.

"Yeah...right this way,"

"Wait a moment!" The owl announced, pulling a note out of his pouch with an exaggerated ahem.

"She also sent a note, and to ensure you don’t pull a fast one I shall read it to you."

"Oh that’s fine..." Vagnis nodded. Sylvi runs to his side and hides behind her back with furrowed brows and teary eyes at the light smack from earlier with a slight whimper.

"Me, Belk, Godrick have been captured by the Poulians, if everything is going well he should be reading this note to you now. From what we are told there’s a war going on between the Poulians and Erpeopians. I want you to try and get in contact with Veira’s group as soon as possible and come back to us! From astra, Ps. Also bring snacks from Belk."

"There!" He closed the message just as theatrically as he opened it.

"Belk and Astra are captured?" Syvli muttered, her tail swishing anxiously behind her. Vagnis patted her head with a soft smile.

"It’s gonna be alright," he said softly, his gaze turning to Orion who stood there waiting for their little convo to conclude.

"If that’ll be all I’d like to be shown the way," He announced.

"Yea sure, follow me."

***

"Why are we still here...?" Belk groaned, leaning against the wall with his arms on his knees. Astra sighed, running the back of her neck with a slight scowl.

"It’s going to take a day for them to make the trip back here...till then we just have to sit tight," She explained softly, though she wasn’t too thrilled about the idea herself... "We’ll be out of here right after they verify..."

"I just don’t get it though! Why couldn’t you use your portal powers or something? It’d save us so much time." Belk turned to her, the girl’s head now in her hands. Godrick glanced over too, seemingly interested in the answer himself.

"I can’t..." she mumbled though the words were too hard to make out.

"Huh?" both Belk and Godrick leaned closer, not catching what she was saying.

"I said I can’t!" She snapped, shooting up from her feet and standing in front of them. "And you both are way too close..."

"What do you mean you can’t?!" Belk shot up as well, his eyes widened in panic. "Are you alright—"

"Yes! I’m fine! It’s just..." Her voice trailed off as she thought of the words, brow furrowing over her eyes. "With Celi out of commission, I can’t do anything..."

"I’m useless..."

"Don’t give me that crap!" Belk snapped, stepping closer. Astra flinched at his words, stepping away slightly as the scientist raged. "You’re not useless at all!"

"That’s nice of you but—"

"No! You’ve hardly used your powers at all, the flashlights, the battery, the whole reason we even had an advantage in the forest— that was all because of you!" Belk announced, Godrick only nodding to his words.

"It’s true, you can’t use your powers now, so what?!" He swung his arm as he spoke, almost as if swatting away the whole idea. "Your knowledge of stars, of tech and science, that’s what makes you strong!"

"Besides, even if that isn’t enough, you’ve got me! Two geniuses are more than enough to figure this stuff out right?" he smirked, reaching his hand out for a small fist bump.

Astra looked down at it, her gaze unsure before nodding to herself. "Yeah, you’re right..."

Their fists collided. "We’ll exchange our keys and unlock every door that gets in our way, right?"

Astra lets out a wavering smile, one she tries to hide but fails miserably, "yeah..."

"It’s true, you’re an admirable tactician, Astra," Godrick nodded, not bothering to get up from where he sat. "Whether that’s due to you being a celestial or not, it’s yours."

"I...appreciate that," She muttered, kind of taken aback by his compliment.

"On a different note though...do you plan to help these people?"

Astra nodded. "I do."

"You are aware that—" Godrick narrowed his gaze, but his words were cut short.

"It will involve us in their war, I’m aware," She said, "I’ve sent Vagnis to deliver the news to her, we’ll be getting her response in a few days at most, we’ll learn her situation and we’ll go as planned."

"I do hope you know, if she decides to not take the risk, then I won’t be assisting you, I spill blood for her and her alone." the warrior gruffed, crossing his arms and relaxing against the wall with closed eyes.

"Seriously!? I thought we were actually starting to get along!" Belk snapped, cut off by a gentle hand that rests on his shoulder causing him to simmer down. Astra nodded to Godrick’s terms.

"Yeah I know...we’ll send you back if that turns out to be the case..."