Ernest walked cautiously. Ever since the adventure with the rabbit, she was wary, keeping watch out for anything even slightly out of the ordinary. So far, she had seen nothing, but that didn't comfort her. It was waiting, she knew. Waiting for her to let her guard down. Then it would have her in an instant. So she remained vigilant, keeping her eyes and ears open.

A lake beckoned in the distance, and she sped up her stride slightly, hoping to camp by a lake that night. She was tired of having to ration her water. But as she approached it, it was clear that it was showing the same swirling world of blue and purple that the last one had. She didn't like it. However, she knew from experience that she could walk on it. She'd done it before, and the only way to get to somewhere she could get water fast enough was to walk across it.

She frowned and straightened her bag. As she did, the strange bracelet that she had found earlier that morning slid slightly onto her arm. She was too preoccupied to notice. But the moment she took a step onto the lake, she felt herself sinking through. She clawed for the surface, but it seemed to be gone, and she was falling through air, with no trace of the place she had just left.

With a thump, she landed on the hard earth. She was on her feet in a second, survival instinct kicking in. There appeared to be nothing immediately threatening, but where she was was anyone's guess. She was standing on a purple island, with water to one edge that she could see. The air was pleasantly warm, and trees grew in the distance. Ernest glanced around, still worried.

"Is anyone here?" she asked softly. "Where am I?"

"Based on what legends say and personal account from Rosenites in Arri… the most likely correct answer to that would be Prapasite de Renastere," came the response from behind Ernest where another young woman sat on a rock covered in multicolored lichen. Her long straight dark hair tumbled down her back. She wore a skirt that was a rich red-brown, more so red than brown, with goldenrod folds in it that were clearly meant to become visible when twirled, a white linen top that hugged about her slender shoulders, and a half-corset of the same rich red-brown as the skirt. Bangles were on her wrist as was a very familiar fine blue metal chain. Her eyes were dark, intelligent chocolate brown and she gave Ernest a disarming smile. 

"I hope that fall didn't surprise you as bad as it did me," she said pleasantly. "My name's Rizka. And welcome to the world of soul rebirth," she said as she got off the rock and moved toward Ernest with the intent to offer a hand to her feet. "I'm going to guess that you didn't exactly know where you were headed when you touched whatever reflective surface you did," she said wryly. "Me neither." 

Ernest spun around to see the woman who had appeared behind her. She was almost certain there had been no one there a minute ago. Apparently, she had fallen through a… reflective surface of some sort? Ernest didn't know what all could transport someone here, but she was guessing the lake wasn't the only way to this place. This place… apparently the "world of soul rebirth."

She grinned back at the girl, not fully comfortable, but wanting to appear friendly. "I'm Ernest. And, yeah, that fall was pretty weird. I fell through a lake. Do you know what happened? Last week, the lakes were solid. I mean, you could walk on them."

She glanced around. "Any chance you know how to get out of here?" she asked. "You seem to kind of know what you're doing."

"Not really," Rizka admitted as she offered Ernest a hand up off the ground. "I just know a lot of Lore," she explained. "All I really know is that me, my brother and our friend Holly got knocked into a mirror, and I landed here. I have no idea where they are. I figured it was best to stay put for a minute or two to see if anyone came my way," she explained. "But I did think about it pretty hard. I think the reason we were able to fall through is because of these," she said as she indicated to the thin fine Lacriamium chain around her wrist. 

"All three of us found one this morning before we fell through the mirror. Before that, hard surfaces were just that," Rizka told Ernest as she tossed her long dark hair over one shoulder. 

"The Goddess of Earth must have something that needs to be done here, otherwise this world would have remained obscured," she mused out loud. "And it probably requires a lot of people to do it. I doubt that my friends and I as well as you would be the only ones to come here. People were killing themselves to be able to follow those haunting songs or that blasted white rabbit to get here I think."

"Thanks." Ernest grabbed Rizka's hand and allowed the girl to help her up. 

"I don't think-" she paused, realizing that she was, in fact, wearing the strange bluish chain she had found earlier. "That's odd. I didn't think I had put that on." She shrugged. "I have a feeling that stranger things are going to happen here before long. I kind of seem to attract weird events."

"You mean Angela?" she asked. "I didn't know she had control over, like, souls and stuff." Although, she recalled Foxglove mentioning something about the Soul-Stream. "I know she was Goddess of Death a long time ago, but I thought that was Dalanesca's job now." She visibly cringed at the mention of the white rabbit. "Don't talk about the rabbit," she said. "If I see that thing in here, I swear I'm going to kill it. I hate that thing."

"Oh, so you know Angela too?" Rizka asked in surprise. It made her grin. "Yeah, her. You are right. She was once the one who controlled life and death. But the Soul Stream I am betting was here before she even ascended. I think she just made it what it is now. She doesn't control death, no, but the rebirth of souls is part of the renewing of life," Rizka explained. "That's why she made that weird announcement to anyone who was near a mirror or lake, I guess. She was trying to put people on alert as to what was going on. I hadn't even thought of that until now," she said. 

Rizka raised her eyebrow in concern at Ernest clear distaste for the rabbit. "I didn't have dealings with it personally, but I did hear about it. But I won't bring it up again if it bothers you so," she replied, wanting to be courteous to her new if maybe temporary companion. She really didn't feel like trying to navigate this place by herself. 

"So, from what I can tell, there is pretty much one general direction you can go from here. You can either get in these boats," she said pointing to the boats that followed the current of the river that clearly defied the laws of physics and flowed in the open expanse of the air, connected by the myriads of waterfalls that fell from the floating islands above them, "or if observation is to be believed, you can I think, jump off of those giant mushrooms with the arrows. I think I saw one of those grinning cats showing off a moment ago on it," she said. "As much fun as the mushrooms look, I think I would rather go by boat. I think it would give us a much better look at this place all together," she said posing her opinion. "Your thoughts?"

"Yeah, I know her." Ernest wondered how many people Angela must know. She raised an eyebrow. "She made an announcement? I didn't hear that. Not that I'm, you know, in the loop or anything. Half the time, people will ask me about some news and I won't have even heard of it." She sighed. "I'm terrible conversation."

"Sorry," she said. "I just had… quite the day when I saw it last." That was putting it mildly, she thought. She felt sorry for snapping at Rizka like that. She hadn't told anyone about the rabbit.

"I definitely agree with you about the boats," Ernest said. "I wouldn't trust the mushrooms. I've learned that if something looks too good to be true, it probably is. And getting across this entire area would just be too easy." Also, she did want to look around more. She doubted many people had ever been here. "You're right, it would give us a better look. Maybe I could write about it one day." She frowned. That had slipped. She did want to write a book someday, but she didn't usually go around telling people about it. Glancing around, she added, "We'll need to be careful, though. I get the feeling that whatever's keeping those boats up in the air won't extend to us."