Sonder had been traveling for a long time.
The distance meant very little, and so did the time.
The roads blurred, and she couldn't tell the mountains apart.
Forests grew, died, and grew again.
It wasn't because she wasn't paying attention or due to the immortal sickness but because there is a veil over Sonder's mind.
Her thoughts were barely her own, but what she knew was that she had to go on.
Occasionally a thought came to her that she must have traveled around the world once already.
It was difficult to know.
One day quietly resembled the next. The only time she felt she was fully lucid was when she thought about Vell or the shards.
When she had to get a shard, she was there.
Maybe not fully her, but someone that resembled Sonder enough so that she could get the shards for Vell.
Hopefully for him.
The staff she had in her hands was heavy, and nine shards found their way onto its weathered wood.
She didn't know when she was walking or how long or if she even did at all, but it seemed like she did.
There was a calling, but as it was so constant, it grew familiar. It was a weight upon her that she had gotten used to.
She couldn't remember what it was like without it.
Sireacht drifted lazily around her head before settling once more upon her shoulder.
The featherling had grown.
Not by much.
Sonder considered that encouraging, and when the featherling flew around, she followed it just as lazily. Keeping her head upright was such a task that she just couldn't manage.
Suddenly, she placed a hand on her stomach, not for her sword.
She moved it slightly upward, towards her ribs.
One that was not her own.
One that had been placed there long ago.
A glow came that pierced through the fog in her mind.
A familiar presence called to her.
"You are still walking," said the Yellow Mage.
"I am," she said.
"Have you found what you are looking for?"
"Not yet."
Silence, but just for a moment.
"You don't have much time left."
"I am almost done. I think only one shard remains."
She looked down at the staff. She could see the shape the shards wished to become.
"Are you certain?"
"I am."
The last goddess's tear. They had the power to preserve what otherwise could not have been preserved.
It had been a miracle that Vell had been able to hold out for so long. It has been a dark miracle that they themselves couldn't heal him.
But they bought time.
"Time remains short."
She tightened her grip upon the staff. Every step Sonder took now was measured against borrowed time.
She tightened her grip upon the staff.
"I think..."
She spoke the words aloud but not for or to the Yellow Mage, not even to herself.
"I think I am almost finished."