One or two hours had passed since Sheila and her group landed in Eldervale, though time already felt less trustworthy beneath the realm's dark canopy.
They had not moved far enough for Sheila's liking, but they had moved properly, and at the moment, that mattered more. The first stretch after arrival had been messy in all the ways Thion had warned them about. They had checked injuries while several students were still shaking from the teleportation drop. They had struggled to confirm their location using a map that seemed less comforting beneath real branches and strange stars than it had looked in Beacon Hall.
