"I have no idea," she says, grinning.

"Oh, why in the world am I worrying about that? It's a beautiful day out. Do you need any healing, Kaede?"

She giggles. "I don't know about healing but I've been awake for, oh, almost two days straight now, and I ran into a monster and found a hitherto undiscovered species of beetle and I'm just so exhausted."

"Oh dear. Not terribly much I can do for exhaustion, sorry. I can give you what acts like really good coffee to tide you over until tonight - that escort, she said we should visit the SA office."

"That sounds like a good idea, yeah.—both things, I mean."

Terrana makes an elaborate gesture, and with a wave, the promise of 'like really good coffee' is fulfilled. "I can't really fly. Do you know the bus schedule...? Or how to get a taxi? ...And have cash?"

"I've become intimately familiar with the bus schedules around here, yes," she giggles, leading the way.

Off they go. Terrana seems to be marveling at completely mundane sensory experiences, like the sound of a bird, or the tapping of her boots on the sidewalk.

Terrana is adorable.

And she remembers how buses and crosswalks and things like that work, which is convenient.

One of the other commuters, a scruffy old man, recognizes her. "Miss Hastings! I haven't seen you in years! How've you been getting on?"

"I'm... A lot better recently! You're Stu, right?"

"Yes ma'am. My knees are still holding up since whatever you did to 'em, I'm glad to say."

"That's great!"

"Who's your friend?"

"This is Kaede."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," she tells Stu.

"Likewise. You two enjoy the day. Youth!"

She beams.

Terrana makes small talk about Stu's family - they're all still happy, and the conversation goes to pleasant aimless gossip while the bus rolls along the highway.

Awwwww! It's so nice she's happy. Kaede is slightly smug and mostly overjoyed about this.

And soon enough they're in front of that nondescript office again.

Terrana takes deep breaths, looking at the place.

Kaede looks at her. "Ready?"

"I don't know why I'm nervous. I shouldn't be."

"You can be nervous if you want. You deserve to be, after all this time."

"Yeah." Deep breaths. "You gonna follow me in?"

"I am. Unless you prefer me not to."

"Let's go. It's just talking to them."

In they go.

"Hello, how can I help... Terrana?! And Kaede? Oh lord, you actually helped her."

The receptionist abandons her desk, sits them down, and asks for the full story.

She can give her half of the full story.

"Oh, how terrible. That sounds like a Slender Stalker - I definitely need to inform the park service. Do you think you can give me exact times, point out the locations you encountered it on a map?"

"Times, no, locations, kinda—either it messed with my sense of location or with space itself, but I was often not where I'd thought I'd been."