When World Collide

Hush little darling, don't say a word,
Mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird,
And if that mockingbird don't sing,
Mama's gonna buy you a diamond ring...

Astra's voice gradually turned to the cry of a small bird, and before she knew it she found that instead of reading she was flying through a dense, dark forest. She felt reassured here, a place much more like home than the dismal Staircase Room, though it was not much like the sweltering jungles of Aqualaria.

But the peace she felt fled when she heard a fire crackling in the distance. Nearby was a small village with one of its buildings blazing red. She swooped in to take a closer look, and saw an inn which looked like the sort she had seen in Allaria, with its bottom floor on fire. She is about to fly in and help those trapped inside when she hears a scream from another nearby building, which looks like a store, and the noise of battle.

She saw three burly soldiers attacking a middle-aged man, a teenage girl and a dog. One of them had fallen to the floor and was clutching his wounded hand. But the dog had been wounded by another soldier, and they were closing in on the girl and the middle-aged man, both of whom had been floored. Astra flew into the store as fast as she could and pecked at one of the soldiers' necks. He screamed and swung his sword ineptly at Astra, but his arm strucks his partner's head and he fell to the ground, unconscious. The girl, who had staggered upward, took the opportunity to punch the soldier in the face, and he joined his comrade.

Astra then unclasped her cloak (Since when was she wearing a cloak? Wasn't she a bird?) and drifted gently to the floor. The girl and the middle-aged man gaped. Astra felt an odd sort of connection to the girl, who had short, straight, dark brown hair and wide brown eyes that betrayed her feelings. Did she recognize her from somewhere? But before she could think any further, two other people barged into the room, a tall, grim-faced man with a thin, black beard and dark, flashing eyes and a young blonde woman not much older than the one she rescued.

1. They ask Astra who she is

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