Finally able to see again I begin my ascent up the mountain trail, Fifi nestled into my back as we climb.

There is an anxiousness in us both as we curl around the first corner, and then the next.  Growing with each as the air thins around us.  Determination had brought me this far and I wasn't about to let a few butterflies stop me.

The trials of the last few -years has it been?- were enough to ward caution of this place.  One learned the hard way.  But with my vision restored, and my mind clear as ever, I knew just what I wanted.  

I wanted Tephra back.  

I wanted to return Fifi home.  

I wanted to stop knowing my families past cuz only the future mattered now. 

As I take the final step from the trail and onto the flat on the top three recognizable faces appear.  My eyes widen "Assailant!  You all are a sight for sore eyes!  And I mean that quite literally..." A scuffed laugh rises in my throat, thinking to my last few months of blindness.

The fish cat leaps from its place along my back and mews with a swish of its finned tail, its glowing purple eyes looking up to the ones I spoke to.  "This is Fifi," I say, having affectionately named the creature since leaving the dense forests in which it was found.

My view shifts to find empty space that others would soon fill, I hoped...