Blackfoot Forest every year is getting shorter

First the girl emerged into the leaf-dappled light, and Maegi felt something akin to sorrow as relief suffused her features; the Melonii's heaven had been her hell. Not long after, another form came, and her happiness to see Mou again turned into utter confusion as not her friend but Kalganov stepped out instead.

A breath. . .then another. . .then another--

Mou did not emerge.

Maegi remained puzzled for a long moment before it morphed into icy trepidation. She lurched forward, sniffing around at the exit, chest heaving. "Mou?" she called, voice echoing down, down, down--

"Mou!"

Down, down, down--

She whirled around, turning a gimlet stare onto Ceara (she'd deal with Kalganov later). "Where is he?" she demanded, bristling. "You were closer to him than I was down there--where is he? Where did he go? When did he leave?" More panicked than furious at this point, Maegi hobbled closer to the girl, chin thrust out pugnaciously. "Where--is--he--?!" she shrieked.