Thanks to Gleam's stories, Samira has a pretty good idea what's needed.

After that, all that's left is waiting for the opportune moment.

One comes, soon enough - a full moon, a nearly cloudless night (decently rare; it rains a lot here, so she's gotten lucky), and enough of a light breeze it isn't sweltering out.

She gives Layla the nod, and slips off to get her pack.

She doesn't want to wake up their parents or Micqui, so she has to do a very small distraction - luckily they're old enough to not be constantly babysat, so she just needs to get Samira a clear path, and letting herself get caught out of bed by the gate guard and escorted back works just fine (and there's a very cleverly constructed pillow Samira under the blankets on the top bunk).

This also means the window Samira can sneak out in is plenty wide.

Out she steals into the wyld night, seeking the path to the moon.

It's a long, difficult path, but... She knows her stories. Knows tricks to tell which silver ribbon is correct, which little glints mean she's going the right way or the dangerous way (or the dangerously correct way; these things go together, fairly often).

The wyld is more menacing without her mama there - not just apparently so, but tendrils dense with thorns snag at her ankles, and the rocks in a stream get up and skitter away when she's halfway across (including the one she's standing on), and the wind carries strange scenes to her.

But the path to the Silver Chair glows in her sight, welcoming her like a beacon home.

And she slips between two trunks of a split tree, drops down a slope, pushes through a bush that had been hiding the path -

And a world of silver filigree greets her. Trees soar up from the glittering soil, their trunks hollow and their bark made of silver lace. A stream runs nearby, laughing, and fireflies wink around the clearing, shedding purple dust with every bright spark, and something unseen runs suddenly through the trees over her, making the branches shake and chime - and then still, as whatever it was passes.

Oh, wow.

She made it.

Now... She's gotta find something to help Layla. And preferably not get caught by anyone in the process.

There's... A trail, maybe? Cutting down the slope. It's closer to deer trails she's familiar with than any sort of road, but it's the clearest path through this forest. Or, some of those trees look sturdy enough to climb, and tall enough to maybe give her a view.

Hm... Better to keep moving, down the trail.

The trail curls around, then the trees to her left curl away, and she can see the brook - silver flares of light dancing and laughing across its surface, the water jumping over rocks and forming ephemeral images of people in elaborate gowns as they spin downhill. The gap in the trees gives her a view,  revealing a city of silver spires and sparkling glass on a large hill not too far off. The trail continues straight along the river, but if she squints, it looks like it forks, and a bridge crosses the river towards the silver city, while the other fork curls to the right, downhill into a dark patch of woods.

Lady Luna sure has a nice place to live, Samira thinks. Very sparkly. Must be why the moon shines so brightly.

Probably the thing she wants is going to be in the city. A little piece of the moon that Layla can hold to sparkle for her, and help her blend in that way.

The bridge sways while she crosses it, even though it looks like it's made of solid stone, and it ends at the base of a staircase that climbs up the hillside. It has no railings, and the steps are worn and sloped, and a thick moss that lights up and releases clouds of glitter when stepped on coats it in patches.

Birds flit among the tree branches on the hill, too, chattering - 'I heard there might be an intruder! Do you see an intruder? Be careful, stay high, be aware.'

Nope, no intruder here. Just a quiet little shadow, creeping up the stairs, avoiding the moss.

She gets to the city outskirts with only agitated birds to show for it, though now she has more paths to take - there's a spiral path around the city, it looks like, on ground level, and paths cutting straight across higher up among the spires. The city is busier than the forest, full of odd shadows and laughing impressions of people, a few more solid beings (ranging from 'human, but off - eyes too large, fingers too long' to 'thoroughly strange') moving here and there. Large clockwork bees move between the buildings, carrying smaller people and items, and there's silver ropes stretched between the tallest spires, and as Samira watches, an enormous wrought silver cat runs along one at a remarkable speed, lamps and people inside it looking out. She can't see very far from down here, though.

She's been on this journey a few hours already; the night is rather long this time of year, but she might need to hurry to get whatever she's looking for and back off the Silver Chair before it docks in the West, and this is a very, very big city.

More people to potentially spot her, but also more people to blend in with. And she does have to move more quickly now.

A piece of jewelry, maybe, or a portable light. She ducks into a nearby building to see if it has anything good.

It seems to be a dance hall! There's a fast paced music winding throughout the building, floors full of whirling dancers - and a coat room full of jackets and bags and coats and robes and shoes.

...Oh, a jacket could work, if she can find one Layla-sized. She starts rifling through them.

Most of these seem much too big for Layla...

And then, a few minutes into her search, there's a tap of high heels and a burst of laughter from right outside the door.

Uh-oh.

She dives behind a rack and hurriedly arranges the coats to hide her better.

The door opens, and those heels click-clack in. Their owner is talking to someone, voice light - "It's been a dreadfully long time since I've been on a hunt. Do you think we could slip into Creation soon?"

Her companion laughs. "Hungry again?"

"Well, maybe I'd be less hungry if the lady would let us nibble on her guests from time to time." She sounds like she's pouting. "And the dreams people have here are so insubstantial. All hedonism, no bite."

There's a rustle near Samira. "True enough," the probable-raksha's companion says. And then: "Mmm, where did I leave my shoes..."

The probable-raksha laughs. "You kicked them off, so who knows? My bet is under one of these racks."

Oh no, oh no, oh no.

Samira curls up, making herself as small and silent as possible, as unnoticeable as a tiny mouse.

She doesn't want to get eaten. She's got to get home, got to show Layla the way to the moon, get scolded by mama but put a smile back on her face when she tells the story, got to tell Micqui all about it, got to maybe impress mom with her adventure- can't do any of that if she gets caught and eaten here-

She won't get caught. She won't. She's skilled and smart and quiet and sneaky and these raksha are never going to find her because she is hiding the absolute best she can-

(If she could see herself, she would see an empty golden circle pop into life on her forehead. But she can't, and neither can anyone else. She can see the shadows around her come into a strange kind of tangibilty, like she could reach out and pull them. So she does, and they flow around her like a cloak. Samira fades into darkness.)

The clothes around her rustle, and a dangerously beautiful raksha woman leans in, a hand's width away from Samira, clearly in sight - picks up a discarded pair of blood red shoes and straightens, turning back to her friend. "Found them. Let's get out of here before that boor comes back..."

The other raksha laughs and...

They leave. Samira is safe, for now.

And then, a whisper behind her: "Why are we hiding?"

Eep!

Samira whirls around.