Once upon a time there lived a small ducking in a nest on a rock ledge high above a serene valley in level I of the game “Lost Ember”. From its vantage point he could look at the sugarloaf-like mountains which were surrounded by narrow valleys, ponds and brooks. There he lived happily with his mother and three other ducklings. He was the only one having black down and he wondered what that meant. Was he really different?

 
 Quite often, some of the hummingbirds living nearby would come along, take a look at the nest of the Muscovy duck family and would buzz away. The little duckling wished it could some day fly like they did.
 One day however, when mother duck was sitting in the nest with her offspring, a green hummingbird hovered around the nest. But it was not alone. Accompanying it was a red ball of light so bright that you wouldn’t dare to look at it. Mother duck screeched horrified and fled from the nest. The young ducklings huddled together in fear. Only the black one would look at the red ball with awe: ‘What could this mean?’ But before he could ask, both the hummingbird and the red orb floated away.
 The ducklings waited minutes, waited one hour, but mother duck did not return. Things did not look good. Actually they looked much worse, because due a bug in the game engine the ducklings started to multiply. The black duckling was startled to see it suddenly had seven siblings sitting in the nest – and a short time later they were 12. Finally a total of 20 black and white ducklings were sitting on the small ledge, all desperately peeping and tweeting. And mother duck had still not returned!

 
 It was then that the green hummingbird and the red orb would zoom past. The black duckling, sitting near the edge of the nest, plucked up courage and peeped:
 “Help!!!”
 Indeed the green hummingbird turned and hovered in mid air, as hummingbirds often do. It looked at the black duckling with some astonishment. But it did not say a word. Instead a voice came out of the red floating orb.
 “Hello little chick. Can I help you?”
 “I... I think so.”, answered the startled duckling. “Can you find our mother?... Please?” he added cautiously.
 “Sorry, little one. I don’t think we are here to look for geese...”
 “Ducks. We’re ducks!”
 “... Whatever. You know, we are on a quest, and I don’t think looking for some missing duck is part of this.”
 “But... but you frightened mom away, just some time ago. Don’t you remember?! And look what’s happened since.” He turned and pointed his beak towards the black-and-white ball of down behind him, from which 19 pairs of eyes watched the conversation with a kind of shy curiosity.
 “Look, I’m sorry about this, we simply have to scout everywhere. We are still looking for some missing mushrooms.”
 “So your quest is to collect mushrooms?” demanded the duckling.
 “Er... not exactly.” the orb replied. “Actually we are on an epic journey, the wolf and me”. It nodded towards the hummingbird.
 The duckling tilted his head and looked at the hummingbird. “I always imagined wolves to look very different, at least from what mom has told us.”
 The hummingbird let out an indignantly sounding chirp while the red orb circled a bit through the air before it answered.
 “You little one. What do you know? You’ve just seen no father than what you can see from your nest. Nice view, indeed, but there are things out there far beyond your imagination. This wolf is a soul wanderer. She just took possession of a hummingbird so we could scout the area here from air. Had you seen what we have seen on our journey, you would know that many a strange thing is possible in a world like ours.”
 “Things like what just happened in this nest? I used to have three white siblings and now there’s...” It started counting but gave up at twelve. “... there’s too many of us here.
 “Indeed, and in order to solve this and some more mysteries, we have to continue our journey. You know, that wolf...”
 “Hummingbird.”
 “Whatever... the wolf I am talking about has a history, a history I don’t understand. All I know so far is that it has been a woman from the Yanren tribe and was called “Kalani” in a former life. And as far as I know up to now I am her soul guide to help her come to rest, before I can finally reach the City of Light myself, which every Yanren is supposed to enter after death. You know, I might look like a floating ember to you, but I am a soul actually. And I believe I have a destination – to help this wolf.”
 The duckling didn’t understand a word. But a thought formed in its head. Maybe this was his one chance of a lifetime.
 “Hey orb... err... soul.” it started eagerly. “Can I accompany you two?”
 “Ha... no, sorry. This is not the journey for a small duckling. I mean, you cannot even fly, can you?”
 For a moment there was silence, but then the little black duckling took a breath, flapped his wings and managed to lift off almost half a meter over the nest. The other ducklings looked at it with awe. However it was only a second until it plummeted back onto the ledge.
 “I did fly!”
 The hummingbird let out what sounded like a laughter and did a mid-air back flip as if to show: 'That’s what I call flying.'
 “I fear this will not suffice, dear.”, said the ember slowly.
 At the same time the duckling took off again, and this time he toppled over the edge of the nest. But alas, his short wings would not carry him and he was falling, stone-like, towards the pond beneath the rock ledge. The hummingbird hurled after it, trying to catch it in mid air... until... something unexpected happened. A magic breeze seemed to support the duckling, and after a split second of finding back its orientation, the little ball seemed to descend an invisible staircase on its little feet, literally walking through the air until arriving safely a the surface of the pond, about fifty meters below the nest.

 
 It is hard to say who of all the animals on the scene was most surprised.
 “I can fly!!!” exclaimed the duckling.
 “That was just gliding,”, it heard the croaking voice of a nearby adult duck. “And I’d say you just caught favourable conditions.”
 The red ember also came down to the water surface.
 “This was amazing. How did you do that? Maybe there’s more powers in you than one would assume...”
 ... as if the duckling was not already excited enough, after all that had happened. He was swimming little circles, flapping its tiny wings and was trying to sort things out in his little mind.
The green hummingbird was, in the meantime, buzzing right in front of the two. When it was sure to have the attention of the duckling, it pointed its beak towards the bank of the pond, where about a dozen of black and white ducks were sitting. Then it dashed in the opposite direction and up the slope beyond the other riverside until it hovered over another group of ducks.
 “My friend is right”, said the red orb. “There are so many ducks down here, I’m sure you will find your mother soon. I suggest you go searching and asking a bit while we hunt down the missing mushrooms.”
 “But you’ll come back. Please!”
 “Okay, I promise to check back to you soon enough.” said the orb, and under the envious eyes of the little duckling they both lifted themselves into the sky and disappeared between the steep sugarloaf shaped mountains surrounding the pond and the nearby river.
 “One day I will follow them.”, the duckling sighted, turned and swam towards the nearest group of ducks.
 “Mommy, daddy are you here?”
 Few took notice of the little duckling, nobody answered.

 A little later that day the small, black duckling sat on the edge of a fallen tree at the bank of the narrow stream. This stream fed the pond below its former nest. It was a peaceful place and on a quick glance you might think the little duck was just taking a sunbath there. Except, that it was quite alone.

 
 The duckling gazed up to the sky, towards its nest and up to the sky again. It waited quite some time and finally it heard the familiar buzzing sound of a hummingbird nearby. And indeed, a green bird came flying towards the pond. It was still accompanied by a red orb, which danced in the air as if it was unsure which way to go.
 “I’m here.”, the duckling chirped. “Over here.”
 And indeed the green hummingbird and the orb approached him slowly – almost reluctantly.
 “You... have not found your mother, have you?”
 “No, unfortunately not. There were so many ducks all over the place, and most of them seemed not to know how they got there in the first place. And yet, none of them was any of my parents.” There was a certain sadness in the voice of the duckling. “But what about you? “Have you found your mushrooms?”
 “Well, almost.” said the orb with audible disappointment. “All but one”. We looked at the highest places, we flew through every mountain hole, through every cave, we dived below the trees, swirled around the mountains, we... we didn’t find the last one, though.”
 “In this case you might want me to show you something.” The duckling flapped its little wings and jumped off the tree and into the water right in front of the tree trunk. It turned and swam into the hollow trunk where it ascended the dark tube. The hummingbird looked at the ember and followed him into the tree. It let out a whistle of amazement when it realized, that there was a group of mushrooms on the far end of the hollow tree. It was just three brown mushrooms on flimsy black stems. Rather unimpressive, and yet, that was exactly what the hummingbird and its floating friend had been looking for. The hummingbird nudged the mushrooms which released their spores into the surrounding.

 
 When both, hummingbird and duckling had left the hollow tree again, the duckling approached the red orb.
 “You see, I can find mushrooms, now and then. I promise to be helpful. Please, can I come with you?” And since the ember did not answer right away, it added: “You made me loose my mother, you can’t let me sit here alone like this...”
 “Got your point, little one. You really want an adventure, don’t you?”
 “Maybe I just want company?”
 “Okay, I think you are a lucky duck! You know what we two found out: There’s a waterfall further on our way, and there’s some magic there preventing the hummingbird to go there. He simply couldn’t get past it.”
 “So you tried to get away without me?”
 “We err... were just checking if the missing mushroom is in the cave we expect to be behind the waterfall.” What a luck you couldn’t see an already red orb blushing... “Anyway. Since we like to have some winged company, you might as well come with me and see if you can cross. If so, I promise I will take you wherever your little wings and feet will take us. I don’t think my current companion does mind.” The green hummingbird let out a small whistle. “So if you promise to help the wolf and me finding the answers we seek I promise to watch out for finding your mother. Does this sound fair to you?”
 “Yes, yes, yes!” the duckling flapped his wing, raising itself out of the water again and again.
 “Save your energy, little one. There’s a long way ahead, I can tell you. Now... since I cant’ travel with both of you and I can’t carry you either, I believe it is unavoidable that the wolf will need to take possession of you.
 “The wolf will... um... eat me?” The duckling choked.
 “No you will be fine, just as the hummingbird is fine. Maybe it’s more like... you eating a wolf.” And seeing the blank expression in the duckling’s face, it added: “I can’t really explain this ‘soul wandering’ thing. You just have to see it happen to understand.” And it approached the hummingbird.
 “Kalani, would you please... ?”

 
 The hummingbird shrugged its wings and focused on the duckling. A blaze of energy and thoughts flashed from its body to that of the duckling, and before it could say another word the wolf had taken possession of his body. The hummingbird took one more doubtful look at the little ball of black feathers and spread its wings to leave.
 “Thank you, my friend”, the orb called after it. And towards the little duckling: “How does it feel to be... a wolf with downy feathers?”
 “I feel... more determined now?” replied the duckling, still a little dizzy.
 “Ha! As if you had not been determined before!”

 The journey started a bit slower than the ember had been used to. Having a small duckling waddling through the grass taller than its head was quite different from zooming through the air at dazzling speeds or running over meadows as a wolf.
 More than once the ember wondered if a full-grown duck would possibly have been a better choice. But then, it thought: ‘I am dead, and Kalani passed away too. We are in the afterlife. Time doesn’t matter.’ And so it watched the duckling making its way along paths and through meadows.

 
 Sometimes the chick would flap his wings to have a look above the grass and check its direction. The amber would tell him where to go towards the waterfall and they would talk about what had brought the amber to this place: How it had met the wolf and how it seemed they both needed each other. The duckling realized that it now shared knowledge it had not known before, knowledge of someone else. When it told the ember about its strange feelings the red orb came close to it and whispered:
 “You are the wolf now, remember? And the wolf once was Kalani, this human, this woman I talked about to you. So... in a way, you keep Kalanis memories in you now”.
 The duckling did not answer. It just felt life had become quite complex from one day to another. And it hoped it would get used to this.

 After what seemed like a small eternity they reached a part of the landscape where the mountains closed in around the path, which had become a gully. A few minutes later they entered a narrow gorge, through which a small stream was flowing. A bit relieved the duckling jumped into the water and splashed a bit.
 “You’ve been missing the water, haven’t you?” commented the ember.
 “Indeed”.
 “Have a look, over there is the waterfall I’ve been telling about.” The orb drifted a bit towards the far end of the gorge where the water poured out of an opening between the rocks and directly onto the puddle path. Behind its veil an opening could be seen. “That’s the one through which the hummingbird could not pass.”
 “I wonder if I can?”
 And off he swam to the waterfall. But when he got closer he heard a strange sound and, to his surprise, red sparkling human figures appeared in the river, dragging and carrying some goods with them. The duckling stopped short for surprise and wasn’t able to move. Never had he seen such magic before.
 “Don’t worry,” he heard the reassuring voice of the ember behind himself. “These are just memories, Kalanis memories. It’s one of the things we are after... among others. They will teach us, and they will lead us, I hope.”
 And as suddenly as they had appeared the red figures disappeared.

 
 Now it were only a few meters until they reached the waterfall. The black duckling went right under it and seemed to enjoy the shower while the red orb stayed outside and watched. Now it was only a few more steps...
 “I’m in a cave.” the orb heard the ducklings dull voice through the noise of the waterfall.
The orb also made its way through the water spray, which seemed not to impair the glowing orb in any way.
 “Amazing, I was really worried only a wolf could go in here.”
 “Maybe that’s because I am a waterbird?” the duckling thought loud. “It’s waterfall, after all.”
 “If life always was that logical” replied the ember and as it looked back through the sun-lit waterfall, it found this place to be good resting spot.
 “We will have a break here before we go on. What do you think?”
 “To be honest...” answered the duckling. “I’ve never walked that much in my whole life before. I’m tired.”
 “I bet you are! You might not be the fastest runner yet, but your perseverance is certainly surprising.”
 Just when the duckling was crouching down near the edge of the water it felt a queer, tingling sensation, and a moment later a black wolf towered left of him like a statue. It stretched all four legs and looked down to the little duckling next to it which seemed to be rather uneasy about its presence.
 “I just thought you might want to spend the night with your own thoughts, so I switched back into my real body. If you don’t mind my presence I will rest here as well.” The wolf’s voice was dark, and yet calm.
 “No... I mean... yes you might, um, might stay here.” stuttered the duckling. “I... I just hope you don’t intend to have dinner with me.”
 “Now that you have mentioned it... I think I could eat a horse.” and when he saw the duckling cowering by fear, the wolf quickly added. “Just joking. I’ll care about that later. I don’t intend to eat a partner which tries to help me. Wouldn’t be fair eating your friends, would it? Speaking of friendship, maybe it’s time to introduce. What’s your name, little one?”
 “Don’t know.” answered the duckling. “Don’t think I have got one yet. Do I need one?”
 Well, as a wolf I’ve never had a name either. It’s a lonely life I had, pretty much nobody to talk with. But in my former life I remember having been called “Kalani”. You might call me “Kalani” – or just “wolf” as this soul is usually calls me.” She nodded towards the red orb that was circling over the path not too far from them. “If you don’t have a name yet I shall just call you ‘little one’ until we find a name to fit you.”

 
 The wolf stretched again and laid down onto the grass, gazing at the waterfall in front of the two which marked the cave’s entry. Slowly the sun disappeared behind the mountains outside. The duckling relaxed notably.
 “May I ask you something, wolf?” he peeped.
 “Sure, anything. Just don’t expect me to know the answer for everything.”
 “OK. Why have you two been looking for mushrooms? Mom said you can eat some for medicine but...”
 The wolf laughed.
 “Ha ha, we are fine. I for once, at least, and the ember has different things to bother nowadays. That mushroom search... well, it’s... kind of a game. First of all it makes sure we find all the hints we need to find to disentangle our story and find out why we haven’t got to the City of Light yet, and also I have the feeling they aren’t just there by coincidence, waiting for someone to disperse their spores. They might have a greater purpose, although I must admit I don’t know which one... not yet. Sorry if this answer might not satisfy you.”
 “It’s okay, Kalani.”
 “Now I believe we both should take a nap. Our glowing companion is in a state where concepts of time, endurance and food don’t matter, but unlike him I am still a wolf... and I need to refresh my powers for the adventures to come.”
 And she laid down her head on her paws and soon enough you might hear her silent breath as she was sleeping. The duckling nibbled on a few herbs, regretted the absence of a well-padded nest and crouched into a small grassy depression nearby. It fell asleep soon after.

 The next morning the duckling woke up because he felt someone was slightly nudging his back. Still a bit drowsy he tried to remember what had happened the day before. Images of its jump from the nest passed its mind, from a glowing orb and... a wolf. A wolf whose big black nose was just next to him, nudging him slightly, as he now realized. He stumbled on his feet, fell sidewards and tried to get up again.
 “Sorry, didn’t want to scare you.” The wolf said calmly. “I just though we might get up now... Are you okay?”
 “I... think so.” answered the duckling, after it stood again on his little feet and had fully realized where he was. “Let me just take a bath and we are ready to go.”
 The ember answered his question: “That’s okay. I have plenty of time, you know.”
 A few minutes later the duckling went up to the ember and the wolf.
 “I’m ready for some adventures.”
 “Good,” replied the wolf, “but first I have to possess you again. I hope you don’t mind.”
 “Well, it’s not that I mind much but... are you doing this ‘possession thing’ all the time? Do you like being someone else?”
 The wolf smiled.
 “I expected this question, sooner or later. Well, the point is not that I ‘want’ to possess a duckling, a hummingbird or a wombat. Thinking about it, I’d rather have a wombat for lunch! The point is that I can only do what a wolf can do, and my powers are limited. I might be a good runner, and my howl can make men take shelter, but I am certainly bad in flying, for instance. But that’s only half of the truth. The other half is that without me using your body, you’d not be able to continue this journey. You’d wander back or stay here until... as long as this game lasts, I presume. I know this sound weird, but... remember that hummingbird, yesterday? As soon as I left its body it would just fly off without even turning back. I’ve seen this multiple times before. I’m a lone wolf, in this way.”
 “Excuse me?” The red orb interrupted, slightly indignant. “Right now you just have more company than most of your wolf life before, I should think.”
 “Oh please forgive me, soul. I didn’t mean to offend – I do honour your companionship. I was just referring to the animals. This duckling is the very first to actually care about what I do.”
 “Maybe because it’s the first one to which you properly introduced yourself?”
 “Maybe...” the wolf replied in thoughts. And turning to the duckling again: “Anyway, little one. I should just switch body so we can move on now”.
 “Okay.” And after the flash from the wolf the duckling again felt these unfamiliar thoughts and memories flooding through his mind, and felt the quest they all had.

 The red orb was now again guiding the duckling out of the short cave into another canyon. A winding path to the right led upwards through it, while high cliffs on both sides prevented any other route.
 “I’ve done a little scouting while you were asleep. I think you will like where we are heading.”
 “Is there a lake? Or a tasty meadow?” The duckling demanded? But the orb would not give away any more details.
 As fast as his little feet would carry it, the duckling followed the path, just taking a small detour here and there to look for some possible mushrooms. It thought that since the wolf had chosen his body, it might now well be responsible for this search. And who knows, maybe it would find mother duck, by a chance?
 They passed a tree with rose colored leaves unlike any of the trees the duckling had so far seen. And soon after they reached the end of the gorge. The view widened but the small duckling would barely notice until, suddenly, the grass ended and it noticed it was standing on a rocky outlook. To the right the path was winding downward, and far behind it, there were several grassy mountains in the distance, most of them with what looked like some castle ruins on top of them. The slopes of these hills were shaped with man-made terraces. A landscape quite unlike the sugarloaf mountains the duckling had previously seen.

 
 “What a view.” it gasped. “This world is... huge! And it looks interesting.”
 “I thought you might like the view as much as I do. And I expect we’ll find some answers here. Do you see the red fires over there?” The orb moved forward as if it could not await flying there. “These places keep memories of the past,... like the people you saw at the cave entrance, yesterday.”
 “Do they also have memories about what happened to my mother?” the duckling wondered aloud.
 “Honestly, I don’t know. But there’s only one way to find it out – lets visit them!”
 Saying this the red orb floated towards the right, where the path descended into the valley. The duckling followed after. It was a wide, but steep and rocky mountain path, partly plastered with old, grey stairs and stones which looked as if they had been laid out centuries ago and not been attended to lately. The duckling tried to fly a little, but its gliding skills were not yet significantly better than the day before. More than once it would just roll down after an unsuccessful landing.
 To the left and right of the mountain path, the landscape had been shaped to terraces. The duckling would patiently make a detour onto each of them, checking and finding some groups of mushrooms here and there. It would nudge them until they dispersed their spores, just as it had seen the hummingbird doing it.

 
 Some minutes later they reached one more sharp bend to the left, but this bend had one of these “fires” on it which the ember had mentioned. But when the duckling got closer it noted that there was nothing burning at all, just sparks and swirling smoke appearing out of thin air. The duckling canted his head and observed the “fire”:
 “How does this work?”
 “It’s magic, I presume. Being a glowing ember myself I feel some familiarity. Still, I fear I can’t ‘explain’ it to you. But I can tell you how to activate it.”
 “Activate it? What do you mean?” The duckling turned around to the ember.
 “I mean, activate the memory. You’ll see. All you have to do is to call the memory. The wolf used to give out a howl. But I guess that wouldn’t fit you well, even though you are the wolf now.”
 The duckling instinctively knew what to do. It stretched his little body, held the head high and let out a long chirp.
 And indeed, this conjured up the memories of a young girl from the “Yanren” tribe, receiving her name medal and her first own dagger from her father. Seeing it remembered the ember that in its former life it had been proud of its Tur’pui dagger. And this young girl indeed looked proud. The ember told the duckling that they were witnessing a ‘Wall’qa’ ceremony where that young girl received her name, her identity. The ember read the medal:
 “’Kalani’ – Wolf, that’s you as a child!”
 And indeed the duck faintly remembered a scene that seemed to come for a different life, neither that of of his own childhood nor that of the wolf. It took some time to settle in, but finally the duckling turned to the ember:
 “It is strange, I do remember this scene. But my parents never took me here? How can this be?”
 “This is because you have the wolf inside. They’re Kalani’s memories, not yours. You’ll eventually get used to this schizophrenia. Still, I think it is better if the wolf leaves you alone from time to time.”
“Maybe better, yes.” agreed the duckling.

 They continued their journey along the mountain path, which now run slightly downward along the side of the mountain. The path was narrow and the scarp to its right was steep. Way down and a hundred meters away they could see one of the many castle ruins. Not being afraid of heights was certainly a big luck for the duckling. Otherwise it would hardly have dared to cross a tree trunk which formed a natural bridge over a place where a rock fall had created a gap in the path. The duckling hopped onto the trunk, and stretching out its little wings, balanced over it with ease.
 “Well done, little one”, commented the orb.
 Just a short distance further along the way the duckling could hear familiar sounds. A white duck passed its head and landed a few meters ahead. The ducklings heart leaped with joy and it waddled to this duck as fast as his legs could take him.
 The adult duck was taking a sip of water on a small stream which crossed the mountain path. When the duckling approached it, it became apparent that to its left there was a small pond, hidden between some large boulders. Some more ducks were swimming on it.
 Before approaching the white duck the chick turned for a second and noted with some relieve that the red orb would stay a bit behind. It seemed to have learned its lesson from what had happened a day before at the nest...
 “Hi. You have a nice place here.” the black ducking cautiously peeped. The white duck turned to it and so did another one on the lake. A mother duck on the far side of the pond was slightly irritated and started counting her own chicks, but found none missing. There were four of them here as well – three black ducklings and a white one stayed close to their mother.
 The nearby white duck responded first:
 “Oh, welcome here. Now, that’s an unexpected visit. If I didn’t know better I’d think you just fell out of the sky.”
 “Actually... that’s exactly what happened. But that was a different day and a different place”.
The white duck paused and observed the black fluff ball on its two small feet and noted its small wings. “But you didn’t fly here, did you?”
 “No, I can’t fly that good yet. But I’m working on it, you know.
 “Working on it... I see. Since I am not aware of any other nests here I assume you must have walked quite a bit. But I don’t see your parents.”
 “That’s exactly the reason I am here. Or at least a part of it. My mother vanished yesterday and I haven’t found her again since.”
 “I see. Well, I don’t know exactly how your mother looks, so I cannot tell whether I met it or not on my flight this morning. I certainly met a few other ducks. There’s another small pond below the waterfall, you know, but the ducks down there didn’t have offspring lately, so I don’t think they are your parents. You wouldn’t have made it up here from there, not with your little wings anyway. But maybe we ask that mother over there.” The duck pointed its beak towards the white one with its ducklings in the back. “She is of good heart and might have some idea.”
 And so they swam over to the duck mother and her chicks. The four little ones kept cautiously behind their mother as they saw the two approaching.

 
 “Greetings. Can I help you?” asked their mother towards the arrivals.
 “I hope so. You see, I just run across this small duckling here and as far as he has told me he’s lost his mother.”
 “Oh dear, that’s a pity!” The mother turned towards the black ducking. “Why don’t you just tell me what happened and I will see what I can do.”
 And so our duckling told about the strange incidents that had happened the day before and how he came her on foot. He deliberately decided to leave out the ‘wolf’ part anticipating that he might loose his appreciated company rather quickly if he told them that there was a wolf inside that could come out any second. Mother duck nodded and urged the duckling to describe as closely as possible how his mother looked. The duckling told her everything he knew – that she was black with a white mane, had light green eyes, a soothing voice and all the other details which came to his mind.
 “I don’t think I have met your mother then, sorry. I have never been in that area where the hills are pointy as you describe, but I will keep my eyes open once I go looking for food again. I just have wait for my partner to arrive. You see, I have offspring myself, and I want to know them safe here. Thinking of it: You might want to stay here while we go out and search. I don’t think my children would mind the company and there is enough to feed one more hungry mouth. Just think it over.”
 And the duckling thought it over for quite some time. Sure enough the wolf would be able to travel on without him – surely even faster. Most likely he would be in safe hands here. And yet – it felt wrong in some way. He felt there was a world to discover, felt the need to find answers, for the wolf, the ember, himself. Did he really want to spend the next days waiting in a pond instead? He turned to the mother duck.
 “That’s awfully nice of you. I appreciate your company. But you see, I... somehow... feel dedicated to my... to our mission and I’d rather continue the search myself somewhere else.”
 “I understand. It’s up to you. I should just tell you that this path is coming to an end just a few wing flaps from here. I can’t possibly imagine how you intend to cross the gap at this point if you can’t soar as we adults do. And no, we can’t carry you over. Sorry.”
 “Oh. I guess I should take a look at what you mean.”
 “Sure, I’ll be around here if you need me.”

 The black duckling left the small pond and entered the mountain path again. And indeed. Just a few dozens of meters further, below a giant rock arch, the path ended in a deep ravine.
 “Excuse me, what happened here?” it asked another duck which was standing nearby.
 “Oh this... you see, it happened a few years ago already. There were heavy rains in spring time and one day a good part of this mountain came tumbling down. The ducks over there” – it pointed its wing towards the rock pond – “had a good deal of luck they didn’t get crushed by stones or covered with mud. But actually we’ve never seen any human trying to cross over ever since. Isn’t it strange? There used to be humans here many many years ago, I have been told. But then after the great fire nobody used this path any more. They must have moved away or died. I don’t know.
 “The great fire?”
 “Yes, that’s what I’ve been told. You know, that happened before I was born. So I don’t know much about it.”
 “OK, thanks. Do you know how I might get to the other side?”
 “If you can soar then it is a piece of cake. But I doubt a duckling in your age can soar well enough.”
 The duckling once more judged the distance and height of the terrace on the opposite side and once more came to the conclusion that even his special powers would not be enough to get him safely to the other side. Maybe the duck mother at the pond was right after all. But he decided to search the surrounding area for any possible solution first. He would not give up that quickly. He was a wolf, after all. Or... sort of.

 On his way back up the mountain path, just as he had passed the small pond again, he noted something strange.
 “Ember” he peeped quietly.
 “Yes, little one.” The red orb soared close to the duckling.
 “What does this mean?”
 The ember followed his eyes and began shivering, slightly laughing. There were a bunch of larger rocks next to the edge of the mountain path, and two of them were clearly floating. The duckling would have been able to put his head beneath them had he dared to do so.

 “Well, I believe these rocks may just be another glitch in the game. Something that is not the way it is supposed to be.”
 “Maybe it’s simply a miracle?”
 “A miracle of the gods...? Maybe. Yes, in my former life I remember we worshipped several gods. I believe they once created this world. My parents told me that nothing in this world is there by pure coincidence. That’s not saying I can tell you why these rocks are floating like this.”
 “I know!” shouted the duckling
 “You know why they’re floating?!” The ember couldn’t suppress its astonishment.
 “No... um... well, maybe. I just had an idea how we can continue our journey. And the two floating rocks helped with it... in some way.”
 “Don’t keep me waiting then. What did you come up with?”
 “When I looked at the landscape between these rocks I saw this castle down there. You see it?”
 “Yes, i do.”
 “Well, this castle is not too far away from where we are standing and it is waaaay down. I might be able to fly there instead, and you can see there’s another hill near it, and a path up it, so I think we might get on from there. What do you think?”
 “Hmm... as far as I can see, the mountain path we were taking initially would lead to this castle anyway, so indeed, it looks like a shortcut to me. But I wonder...”
 “Wonder what?”
 “Yesterday, when you jumped off from the nest, you were falling first and then seemed to be walking through the air. If you can do this again, you should be able to get there. Otherwise – it’s a long way down. And I’d rather have you – and the wolf – alive, you know.”
 “Oh, I believe I can do this again.”
 “Can you prove it? I mean, without just jumping right away.” he orb it quickly added.
 The duckling scanned the hillside and answered: “I will show you.” And off he went, up the mountain path again, back over the log and past the point where they had seen the memory of Kalani receiving her amulet. This took quite some time. The red ember slowly followed shortly after. This time the duckling choose one of the higher terraces and, after a few dozen meters, stopped.
“I’m going to jump from here just down to the path again. If I just fall flat I know it won’t work, but if I am lucky I will catch my fall before I hit the ground.”
 In this moment the duckling sensed the strange feeling again which he had had the evening before, and indeed, the black wolf was suddenly standing right next to it.
 “I don’t want to stop your high flying ambitions, little one. Not at all. But still, should you break your neck, I’d rather not be in your body. Please don’t take it personal.”
 The duckling sighted, turned towards the scarp, concentrated, held its breath... and jumped. Just like the last time, it almost fell like a stone, despite flapping its little wings eagerly. But just before the two observers thought it would hit the terrace below, it again seemed to land on an invisible staircase and safely proceeded its way onto the mountain path, one terrace further down.
 The wolf run back to the place of the ‘wall’qa’ ceremony and further along the trail until it reached the duckling. The ember just used the shortcut through the air.
 “Okay, little one” the wolf exclaimed, still a bit exhausted: “I think I can trust your ‘air walking’ skills or whatever you like to call them. I am ready. And again he switched into the duckling’s body.”
 The little duck moved a bit along the path until it had found a spot which seemed best suited for the large jump to come – close enough to the castle and yet high above it.
 “Ready, steady, go!” he exclaimed, and off he was.

 
 Indeed the ‘flight’ worked as anticipated and the duckling slowly walked down right to the frontyard of a quadratic castle tower. This tower was sitting in the middle of a large open space on a rock plateau, surrounded by the deep, deep valley he had just crossed.
 “I made it. I made it again!” it peeped, full of joy.
 “That was good, indeed”, he heard the voice of the ember. “And you actually put yourself into a favourable location. There’s another memory, just a few meters away.”
 Indeed the duckling realized there was another red fume close by. And it noted it was not alone. A handful of wombats were shuffling around, digging here and there. The duckling approached the closest one.
 “Hi, I am a duckling. I am on a journey.”
 “I am a wombat.” came the answer. “And I am not on a journey.”
 The duckling slanted his head. Then it started again:
 “I am looking for my mother. Do you think you might have seen it?”
 “Is your mother a wombat?”
 “Er... no. It’s a duck, of course. A black duck with light green eyes.”
 “Then I haven’t seen it. There’ only wombats down here.”
 “And... do you know where I might go on to find it?”
 “Upwards” the wombat answered. “From here all paths lead upwards. Simple.”
 “I see. You know, I just came wal... er... flying from up there myself. I am still working on my flying skills, though. A friend of mine said everyone has some special skill. What is your special skill?”
 The wombat thought a moment before it answered.
 “Eating, I guess.” and after a short pause. “Eating and rolling. I love rolling. When we want some fun, my wombat friends and me go up a hill and roll all the way down here. I guess that’s why we all sooner or later end up down here.”
 The ember interrupted the conversation.
 “Pardon me, we are actually on a journey and have a lot of things to find out. We should turn our attention to the memory over there. Maybe it has some answers.”
 The wombat sighed.
 “You can do this without me, can you? I’ve seen this memory too often already, Any time a newcomer arrives here and chooses to bark at the fire, it starts all over. Got fed up with it. If you now excuse me. I’ve got some food to find.”
 And having said that the wombat turned and disappeared within the high grass.
 Duckling and ember walked over to the entrance of the grey stone tower ruin, at whose front door opening the memory “fire” was burning. Again the duckling peeped loud and the memory was activated. The ember explained they were witnessing a scene where some armed men were carrying away goods from the people in the tower who looked in real despair over the tribute they had to pay. Their storage shelves within the building were almost empty now.

 
 Seeing this scene made the duckling sad and it spoke out its thought:
 “I guess I can see why the wombat doesn’t like watching this again.”
 “Yeah,” the ember answered. “Maybe it would have a better attitude if it lived in a happier place. Maybe we should move on as well.”

 Through the back door of the ruin and over several flights of stairs they made their way up to the top of the hill. There they found not only some mushroom there but also two ducks. When the duckling raised its usual question concerning its mother they told him they had not heard of any duck mother here missing her hatchling. But the adult ducks gave him a tip: They had seen a larger crowd of ducks near another castle, quite a distance away. Maybe he should ask his question there.
 Ember and duckling went on exploring the surrounding terrain. From every hill they ‘flew’ down to the foot of the neighbouring one. Every time the duckling would find a way up to the hilltop. Almost certainly it would find some mushrooms between the ruins up there. And every time it exclaimed to the ember:
 “Look, I found you some mushroom!”
 And the ember would not tell the duckling it had spotted the mushroom for quite some time already from its vantage point in air. Why not leave the duckling his fun...

 So they made their way around until they had climbed yet another hill, one that was even larger than the ones before and seemed to hold more ruins on top. The path upwards started in a meadow with a wide flight of stone steps but soon ended in a mere washed-out path. The duckling was quite exhausted when they reached a grass-covered plateau near the top. After it had caught some breath again, it looked around. On the left hand side there was a high rock wall. In front of them a ruin wall blocked the path. Same on the right hand side.
 “I will check if I can find some way around this.” the ember said. “While I do so you might as well ask theses strange creatures up there. Maybe they can help.” The ember’s light fell onto the face and back of a rose coloured creature the duckling had never seen before in his life. It was crawling on the ground, had a relatively flat body, a conical shout, large claws on short arms and, most prominently, a kind of folded bone shield on its back.
 While the ember zoomed away, the duckling carefully approached the creature.

 
 “Hi. Sorry to ask, but what are you?”
 “Oh hi. I’m a fairy armadillo. And you look like on of the children of the ducks that cross the sky here from time to time. But I have never seen one of their offspring here at this place...”
 “Nice to meet you. Indeed I am a duckling. And I would not be here either had I not lost my mother.”
 “And you hope to find it up here?”
 “I don’t know. But I have been told there is a large group of ducks at a castle over there.” and he pointed his beak in the direction of the stone wall blocking the path. “Do you have a good idea how to get there?”
 “Oh I’ve been on the other side lots of times. It’s easy if you can dig. Luckily enough I am a good digger thanks to these claws. I guess you can’t dig?”
The duckling looked at its little wings. “I don’t think I can do this.” He thought a while. “Maybe you could be so kind and dig me a tunnel and I follow after?”
 “I wouldn’t mind digging another tunnel, but I am afraid you can’t follow after. You see, when I dig I push the earth behind me, so if I extend the tunnel in front of me I basically close it after me. Also, my tunnels are rather small. It would take a wombat or something of their size to dig you a tunnel you can use... But there’s a gap in the wall. Are you strong enough to fly over it?”
 The duckling went over to a partly collapsed section of the stone wall and tried to fly over it. But its small wings would not lift it high enough. Exhausted it sat on the ground.
 This was the moment when the ember returned:
 “Any progress here?”
 “Unfortunately not.” peeped the duckling. “Neither can I go over the wall nor under it.”
 “Then perhaps we can go around it. I think I saw a route to an abandoned building from which we might be able to proceed.”
 “Oh thanks. That’s great.”
 And it waved goodbye to the armadillo: “See you on the other side!”
 The ember led the duckling to the right side of the plateau where there was not yet a wall.
 “You will not be able to just glide around the wall and land on the other side as an adult duck would do. But you see, there is another terrace below. It leads to a ruin which in turn is close to the path we should follow. What do you think?”
 “Lets go!” Quickly the duckling jumped down to the green terrace and started walking along the hillside. After a few meters it turned around a corner and saw the abandoned building the ember had described. With a joyful quack it raced towards a door opening in the side of the building facing it – and whimpered with pain before it even entered the building.
 “Ouch!”
 “What’s the matter?” the ember requested.
 “Oh my head... I... hit something. There must be something I cannot see. But whatever it is, it almost broke my little beak!”
 “Oh no, must be one of these invisible walls. I had encountered a few of them already before we met. I guess one of them prevented the hummingbird to go past the waterfall. Didn’t expect one to be here, though. You know, as a body-less soul these walls don’t bother me. I cannot see them, cannot feel them, so I don’t know where they are. Maybe you can find a loophole somewhere?”
 “Maybe...”
 The duckling got up on his feet again and slowly, cautiously, walked towards the door opening again. Yes, there was indeed an invisible wall. First it tried jumping over it but had no success. It walked to the left with its right wing in contact to the wall. When it reached the rock on the hillside it turned and walked in the opposite direction, this time with his left wing searching for a gap in the wall. But alas... soon enough it stood at the end of the terrace, in front of the deep deep valley that separated him from the opposite mountain where it could spot some ducks. It judged the distance, but given the fact that the opposite landing area was not much lower than where he was it quickly became clear that it would take a full-grown bird to cross that gap. There was a natural bridge nearby, but again no way to get up to it. The duckling sighed and turned towards the ember:
 “This looks like a dead end to me, unless you have a good idea.”
 In this moment the tickling feeling streamed through his body and, indeed, the wolf was standing right beside him.
 “This is a pity, really. But maybe there is another way?” From their lookout it scanned the surrounding scenery. “I see there’s another hill over there, right of the one with the ducks. There is a natural rock arch over to it. It also has ruins on top. Maybe if we can get up there you might be able to fly down from there. Ember, maybe you can scout a bit over there while we take a rest here?”
 “Sure I can.” replied the ember and with a slight buzzing sound it went off towards the distance. After a few minutes it was back.
 “Duckling, wolf!”
 “Yes”
 “I honestly don’t think there’s any point of the duckling walking over. There’s indeed a path leading to that hill but I couldn’t find a path up onto it. And from the lower terrace you don’t have a snowflake’s chance in hell to jump to the neighbouring hill. It’s basically the same situation as here. Don’t waste your time.”
 The duckling sighed again: “Another dead end. How am I supposed to go on if this landscape isn’t letting me.”
 “Maybe you are not supposed to go on?” suggested the ember. “I mean I was not supposed to scare away your mother either... Maybe you should just return to the nest and check whether she has returned in the meantime?”
 “But...”
 The duckling was close to tears. That’s when the wolf interrupted with a strong voice:
 “Sorry ember, you know as well as I do that the duckling cannot return as there is no way back to the duck family on the mountain path. It might seem easy for you but he cannot just jump back upwards. Besides we are a team now and I am not willing to give up yet.” He turned towards the duckling.

 
 “While the ember was checking out that other hill I came up with an idea how we possibly might be able to help you, little one. But first I need your help.”
 “You... you need my help?”
 “Oh yes, because we have to get off this terrace and back onto this meadow down there to get anywhere. And unlike you I cannot fly at all. If you could just fly us down and go over to that staircase...”
 The wolf pointed her muzzle towards the wide flight of stairs they had previously taken. Then it took possession of the duckling again, which jumped down from the rock ledge and was quickly standing on the large meadow where they had already been before they had started their ascend towards the mountain with the way-blocking wall. Soon after the duckling reached the staircase and the wolf appeared again.

 “Now, little duckling, I need you to trust us. I am pretty sure we can’t get you any further from here right now, so I think it is time we depart for a while. The ember and me will follow the path and see where it leads. Maybe from what we see we can spot an opportunity to get back to you and fetch you from here. I really can’t promise we will find a way but if my understanding of this world is as good as I think it is there might be chance.”
 “What chance?”
 “Sorry, won’t tell you for now. We’ll cross this bridge when we come to it. Figuratively, I mean.”
 “So what am I supposed to do?”
 “Your task is simple. You wait here until either the time is ripe or until I know my idea won’t work. Either way I will send you a duck or another bird over here to get you informed. Just do me a favour: Stick around here so we don’t need to go looking after you. Maybe you just hop on this wall so you are easy to spot.”
 The duckling tried to jump onto the low stone wall that confined the flight of stairs on the one side, but it couldn’t lift its little body just high enough. The ember sighed. But the duckling had an idea. Some meters up the stone wall was a bit lower, so he just went there, jumped up and came toddling down back to the wolf on top of the wall.
 “If I can get up here I believe you can get me over the valley as well.”
 “We’ll do our best, little one. See you in a few hours. Maybe you get some rest until then.” and the wolf turned and began ascending the stairs to the castle, accompanied by the ember.
 “See you” the duckling called after them.

 
 In the body of an armadillo the wolf made its way below the blocking wall. It passed the house that once had been its home, temporarily took possession of a wombat and rolled it down over a natural bridge towards the opposite side of the valley where it reached the ducks which the duckling had spotted from the rock ledge a short while ago. And out of habit it asked every duck if it – by any chance – missed some ducklings. But none of them did.
  The wolf and the ember proceeded heir way towards a large, multi-storey castle which still looked pretty impressive from far away, although as the ones they had visited before, it was abandoned and its buildings partly collapsed. But most parts of the outside walls still stood tall and towering at both sides of the path which the wolf was now taking. This path led over what seemingly used to be farming terrace at the lower end of the castle. While activating some memories of its former life on the way, the wolf’s eyes repeatedly gazed into the distance, up to its former home across the valley and towards where it knew the duckling would be waiting and hoping.
 Slowly a plan began to form in its head. It turned and headed back to the lower terrace and out of the castle’s yard towards a flock of ducks which was sitting near a high waterfall.
 “I could need some help of one of you. Ideally one who’s not not afraid of heights.”
 The ducks quacked in agitated way and one black one answered: “If there’s anyone here who’s possibly afraid of heights, then this will be you. We’re ducks, after all.”
 “Okay, you qualify.” said the wolf, and without further ado it possessed the duck. In its body the wolf glided across the castle yard another time and ascended to the second terrace where he noted that he needed the help of yet another armadillo to make her way further up. He thus left the body of the duck, and as soon as he had done so he growled at the duck:
 “You better stay here. Your task hasn’t really begun yet.”
 “What... if I don’t?”
 “Then one small black duckling who has lost his mother might be very very sorry. Got it?”
 The duck didn’t quiet get what the wolf meant, but until it had sorted out its thoughts, the wolf had already make an armadillo take down the wall in front of them and quickly switched back to the duck’s body. This way she took the duck up to the next terrace.
 This one again looked like a dead end, but the duck found a possibility to glide over to the neighbouring terrace from where a large flight of stairs led up to the top of the castle. A small watchtower to the right seemed exactly what the wolf had been looking for. It steered the duck up the tower, again scanned the area of Kalani’s former house from this vantage point and took off for a long flight across the valley. The duck soared towards the natural stone arch which the wolf had been rolling down as wombat maybe an hour before. With pleasure Kalani noted that the landscape looked different now, somehow... exhibiting less details.

 The natural arch was only a stone's throw away from the place the duck was heading then – the meadow where the wolf had left the duckling behind.

 
 And indeed the duckling was still there, cowering on the bare green ground and slightly shivering. The adult duck landed right next to him.
 “Good to see you again, little one” it said.
 The fledgling looked up in surprise.
 “What... who... who are you? Did the wolf send you?” Then it noted the red orb circling nearby. “The wolf sent you, didn’t she?”
 “Well, actually it’s me, the wolf. I just needed this duck to get back to you.” And saying this, he left the body of the duck who was eager to return to its flock and get as far as possible from this crazy black wolf. As the adult duck flew away, the wolf turned to the duckling:
 ”How ‘re you doing? Looks like you are scared, aren’t you?”
 “Thank god it’s you, wolf. I am scared. You see, some time after you two left, the world fell apart here! The stone wall I’ve been sitting on was gone out of a sudden, the flowers and the grass are gone, and I nearly fell into a strange gap in the ground. I nearly fell... I don’t even know where. Is this the end of the world, wolf?”
 “Calm down, little one.” said the wolf softly. “Funny, in a way it is the end of the world we are now, but not in a temporal but in a spatial way. But the good news is, I am now convinced I can bring you to the place where I’ve been and things will be alright there.“
 “Thank you.” said the duckling, still a little nervous.
 “I’ll take you over and the soul will guide you. We have to walk up the path to the armadillo once more.”
 As the duckling ascended what had remained of the former staircase the red orb mentioned: “We can be lucky to have a sincere and clever friend like Kalani. Her knowledge and your passion... how could we possibly fail on our missions?”
 “After the last half an hour I’d say there’s quite a lot that could go wrong. You know, I still discover new aspects of this world and some of them – like what just happened here... well... they really worry me. It feels like there’s someone playing a game with us.”
 “I know what you mean.” replied the orb “Same here. But if we are lucky... and careful, we might take some of these oddities to our advantage. And who knows this better than you, who found out he can walk in the air.
 The two had now reached the plateau near the mountain top, and the duckling let out a gasp of astonishment. The wall which had previously blocked his way was gone. Well, basically most things were gone as it had been the case further down – most parts of the vegetation, the stones, the walls. Only the armadillo were still happily digging in the ground – their food roots had obviously not vanished yet. The duckling greeted them and moved on to a building ruin with another red memory plume. In this moment the wolf separated itself.
 “Go ahead, activate it. I watched this memory when I came along earlier and I feel like I should tell you a few words by myself about it.”

 
 And while the images of the memory formed in front of the fascinated duckling, the wolf told him that this had been his home back then when he was the adult Kalani, this Yanren women. She and her girlfriend Wayla had inhabited this home. But now this girlfriend was lying ill on a bench.
 “Wayla was often sick”, remembered the wolf. “Of course, with so little to eat, and the hard work we had to do on the fields at the same time. Most of what we harvested was taken from us as tribute. I didn’t see another way out except changing things – one way or the other. I wanted to stand up for a fairer, a better life. Wayla didn’t like the idea of a revolt. I wonder what had happened had I listened to her advice back then... would her plan of “teaching the authorities” have any chance? Would we just both have died of hunger or diseases? I don’t know, but back then I thought there was no alternative.”
 “I see what you mean.” commented the duckling sadly.
 “And this is just the beginning of it. I remember more and more. But let’s not live in the past now. We’ve got one more little challenge to meet in the present. Come on, little one I believe we are close.”
 The red orb chimed in: “I know a way. I just saw how to get you over to the other side. Just follow me.”
 The wolf once more took possession of the duckling which followed the orb down to another terrace on the hill which looked rather bare except for a handful of wombats and as many red tomatoes lying around.
 “Didn’t this red floating thingy just cross here some time ago?” one of the wombats wondered. Another one answered:
 “After what happened here since it first passed I believe it is a sign for the end of the world.”
 “At least the tomatoes are still there.”
 The red orb floated a bit closer: “Hey, I am not a bad omen at all. Quite contrary, I am actually trying to help a wolf and his little friend here.”
 “Oh, sorry for my ignorance.” the wombat replied. “You need one of us again, like... some minutes ago? I actually liked rolling down that natural arch. You should have seen the staggered face of the duck down at the end when I came tumbling down...”
 “Glad you liked it, but we will take another route this time. Come one, duckling.” and the orb hovered over a spot where previously a set of stones had prevented any trespassing. But now they were gone too and the duckling was able to access a long terrace which nestled to the mountain side as did the terraces above and below it. From this now bare terrace the duckling had a clear view onto the big multi-storey castle at the opposite slope.

 
 “Do I need to go there?” it asked the orb.
 “Yes, this is where the wolf and I had been while you were waiting. I believe we should continue our voyage over there. You... well... just need to fly over... the way you always do. As you can see there are multiple terraces over there, and you can walk up to the castle from any of them.”
 The duckling took one more look down the valley and noted that he was quiet high up on the mountain and likely should make it to the other side.
 “Yes, I believe I can do this.” And off he flew.
 The ember followed closely after, watching how the duckling once more walked through the air only to land right in the middle of the lower castle yard.
 “I did it.” he chirped proudly and danced with joy.
 “We did it.” noted the ember. “After all, it was the wolf’s idea how to get you here.”
 “Yes, we did it.”

 The ember guided the duckling along the castle walls to the ramp that lead towards the higher terrace, explaining the memories they were seeing along the way. They were memories of tough times for the villagers who suffered from famines and plagues – but most of all from the despotism of their ruler. Duckling and ember witnessed how the dissatisfaction turned into anger and anger turned into rage. And to the surprise of the duckling it was exactly Kalani who took the leadership of this furious mob.

 
 Passing the pink fairy armadillos at the collapsed wall, ember and duckling entered the tunnel up to the next terrace, both of them looking for things to find and discover. Soon they stood in midst of what looked like a set of fields. The fields on which some of the villagers had worked... only to lose most of their corn to the guards later. But today their bounding walls were almost the only remnants of that time.
 The duckling stopped short: As large as the terrace looked on first sight, it seemed to be another dead end. But at its far end it spotted a few wombats and guessed they would probably know a way out. And sure they did.
 “There’s no dead end for a wombat unless it is dead.” explained one of the wombats. “If you can dig you can go almost anywhere. I love digging. Just follow this tunnel behind me and it will get you up to the other side.” It nodded towards a hole the duckling had previously overlooked. “But tell me... I’ve not seen a small duck on this terrace for ages. What brings you here? Do you want to test the water pools?
 “Water pools? This sounds great. I’ve been in the sun all day and walked a lot. I would love to cool down in the water. But since you asked: I’m on a journey with this red fellow floating over me. It’s a soul. Oh... and last, but not least I am looking for my parents. You haven’t heard of a black duck missing a duckling, by chance?”
 “No, but I wish you luck. You might have to travel further though, I have not lately seen any duck up here... wait, apart from a black one today, which circled over the valley for a while and disappeared in a canyon behind you.” He nodded vaguely in the direction from which the duckling had just come.
 “Thanks anyway. Maybe if you meet a black duck mother asking for me, you may tell here I am okay. Maybe she’ll spot me around here.”
 “Sure. And if you meet my family inside you can tell them I will be with them soon, just looking to get a few berries for them.”
 “Okay”

 
 The duckling waddled towards the hole behind the wombat and when it approached the entrance, the red orb said:
 “Well, you excuse me. I prefer to take the short way on the outside. I’m not too fond of narrow tunnels – need space to float, you know. And I’d probably scare away all the wombats anyway. I’ll be waiting for you at the other exit.”
 “Yes, see you.” answered the duckling and entered the tunnel.
After a short while it reached some underground rooms and in one of them the wombat family. It sent his regards to them and in turn received guidance for the way outside. And indeed, further down the dark hallway some rays of light indicated a flight of stairs which led the duckling back to the outside. He squinted – after being in the dark for a while the daylight was really bright. Luckily the ember was already waiting there.

 Searching for hidden mushrooms, they made their way further up the castle. The duckling was delighted to find some rainwater collection pools here and there and couldn’t resist taking a bath.
 “I’ve been waiting for this all day!” it exclaimed as he splashed. “I wish my family could join. I’m sure we would have much fun.”
 And as he said this he realized that the wolf separated from him again.
 “Well, little one... maybe at least I can give you company down here. I think I could need some refreshment too.” And with the snout he splashed a little water towards the duckling which squealed with joy and returned a little shower to the wolf.
 The ember patiently watched the two from above and got lost in thoughts:
 `Did I have a family back then?` it wondered...
 After some time the duckling and the wolf got out of the water, dried their bodies and inspected the red fume next to the pool which indicated yet another memory. It was the memory of a confrontation, the uproar of the villagers becoming obvious. Atevo, leader of the king’s guards would bring a quick end to this first revolt – and a deadly one. His battle-proved men fought back the rebels and burnt down their houses. Among them they saw Kalanis house on fire.
 The little duckling watched with terror and hardly got his voice back afterwards. Even the wolf whined at the look.
 “And your girlfriend?” inquired the ember, guessing it must still have been in Kalani’s house. The wolf turned away, the head hanging.
 “She died, didn’t she?” The ember concluded sadly. “Oh, I’m so sorry, wolf. You basically lost your family too, that day.”
 Downhearted the wolf answered.
 “You might say so. I lost my girlfriend and, in a way, I lost my father too that day. My father Atevo was the leader of the guards who commanded the retaliation measures.”
 “But... this doesn’t make sense.” sputtered the duckling. “How could he command to destroy your family’s house? A father destroying the life of his daughter? Why?!”
 The ember spoke out its thoughts: “Maybe he had no choice either? His daughter was leading an uproar and it was his job to prevent just this. I mean, he could hardly tell his men to punish all the villagers but to spare his daughter. He would have lost his reputation had he done so.”
 “Sorry, but I think he had a choice. Already before this incident.” The voice of the wolf was firm again. “With some sense he could have seen that exploiting the villagers would also mean destroying his own daughter’s future. But he had become blind, blinded by his own success in career under the king. He and his guards never were hungry, I am pretty sure. But they knew how we lived. They saw it every time they demanded their tribute from the villagers. They knew people were dying of hunger and plagues. But... you know, he had never showed up at my home for years. As if he was afraid of seeing the truth up close.”

 
 “Did you have your own family back then, Kalani?” asked the duckling to the wolf.
 “No, sadly I never had one. And this uproar was the reason never would have one... actually when we played in the pool just a few minutes ago... this was the first time I felt like having a family since that day I lost my girlfriend.”
 “Oh... “
 “I am sure you will understand better as we continue our journey.”

 The wolf switched back to the ducklings body who went about ascending the large staircase up to the top of the castle. As usual it picked up everything they could find, including some mush­rooms. But somehow, finding mushrooms wasn’t that much fun right now. The duckling was still pretty troubled by what he had just experienced.
 Finally they stood at the highest plateau, overlooking the castle.
 “Where to go now?” wondered the duckling aloud.
 The ember circled in the air and finally came down to the duckling.
 “From what I can see we should go... down there. Do you see this watchtower over there, next to the canyon on the right. I believe this is the canyon the wombat talked about. Remember he said duck flew this way today? Since I don’t see any sensible alternative I’d say we should head over to it.”
 There was a fallen stone obelisk on the plateau. Once it had been standing towering over the castle, but time and a few armadillo living up here had weakened its foundations. Now, in its fallen state, it formed a ramp down from the castle to the meadow-covered slope below. The duckling searched for a spot where it could hop on the stone structure. It looked down to the canyon on the left hand side, but then decided to go right, ascending to the base of the lying stone obelisk.
 “Look, ember, from here I can see very far in all directions!”
 “Indeed. I can still see where we entered this place this morning. It might not be a large distance if you can fly like me but it certainly was quite a march for you.”
 Again the wolf separated and placed itself next to the two.

 
 Then she turned to the duckling:
 “Yes, little one. And I am really proud of you. A few hours ago I wasn’t sure we would make it up here together, but now... here we are. And hopefully a bit wiser as well. You know, little one, I believe it is time you get a proper name. Time for your ‘Wall’qa’ ceremony, so to say. I might not have an amulet for you – and you certainly fly better without one anyway. But I have come up with a name for you. Are your ready?”
 “Sure I am.”
 “I would like to call you ‘Inayo‘ from now on. It means ‘The persevering one’. I believe your perseverance is one of your key qualities, the one that makes you unique. I don’t think there are lots of other ducklings of your age which have travelled with such passion and which would still be willing to look for mushrooms at the end of that day. What do you think.”
 “Inayo... I like it. Thank you.”
 And the duckling put its little wings around the right foot of the wolf, who was quite touched by this gesture.
 “With a ‘Wall’qa’, we are really a family now.” commented the ember. “I hope that your perseverance will bring you and us closer to our true goals. Maybe you’ll find your mother, after all. Maybe it will help us to find answers, such as why we two are not yet in the City of Light but linger here on earth... A word of warning, though. Perseverance has its dark side, too – it’s called stubbornness. That’s when someone pursues his aims against all common sense, ignoring the signs, warnings and facts which tell he is wrong. I wish you that you’ll always stay on the bright side, that you can read the signs and keep the courage to adapt your goals whenever necessary.”
 “Oh... okay.” replied the duckling. And the wolf added:
 “Wise words. I wish my father Atevo had this gift back then... But lets not destroy this beautiful moment with grim thoughts.”
 “I’m just saying...”

 A few minutes later the wolf had possessed the duckling again and it made its way down the fallen stone obelisk towards the meadow below, flapping now and then as if to strengthen its wing muscles. They reached a grass-covered slope next to a steep mountain, and the duckling descended the slope, running through hollow threes and through blowballs, just like playful child would do.
 Soon enough, however, he stood in front of an abyss. Cautiously the duckling peered over the edge. The valley looked several hundreds of meters deep, with steep walls. I a swirling cloud of dust they could see a black watch tower further down on a terrace on the other side.
 There was a swarm of hummingbirds nearby witnessing this, and one of them, a red coloured one, came flying over to the duckling.
 “Good afternoon, little duck. Can I help you?”
 “Good afternoon. I am not sure yet... I believe I have to go through that canyon down there, so I need to get to that tower on the other side.”

 
 The hummingbird could hardly hide its surprise.
 “I don’t think that’s possible, unless you can fly... and even then... But would you mind telling me why you want to enter this canyon in the first place?”
 “The soul... yes, this red orb over my head... the soul and me, we are on a journey. And it looks like the only way to continue is through this canyon. Besides I am looking for my mother which I lost yesterday. There were wombats at the castle behind me who mentioned that a black duck flew down this way. It might have been my mother.”
 “Yeah, that’s right. Some of us noticed it too. It was around noon. There was this duck which seemed unfamiliar with this place. We saw it circling in the area and then it went into the canyon. Haven’t seen it any more since, though. Actually the canyon is pretty dangerous, if you ask me. Most of the time there are strong winds down there and even skilled flyers like us have difficulty not to get drifted away into the canyon.”
 “Do you know where the canyon leads?”
 “Well, I haven’t been there myself, and given that few who have entered it ever came back here I do not plan to cross it myself. But... another hummingbird made its way back in one of the rare times when the wind subsided. She told me the landscape is quite suitable – found some lakes, lots of flowers and insects, so... shouldn’t be too bad for you either considering here account.”
 “That’s good news.”
 “Maybe yes, but this alone doesn’t get you there. If you were a hummingbird I’d say...”
 The ember interrupted.
 “This duckling, as little as it might seem, has already crossed two valleys with ease. Don’t underestimate it.”
 “Wait, this orb can speak?” The hummingbird backed away a meter in surprise.
 “As Inayo just told you, I am a soul. And yes, luckily I can communicate. Otherwise I’d probably still stuck in the place I found myself in a few days ago. Anyway, no need to be afraid. I’ve been around hummingbirds for quite some time already.”
 The hummingbird whirred a bit closer while the duckling proceeded:
 “Yes, we are a team. The ember can soar very well, and I’m... slowly improving, I believe. But I can walk on the air, so I might still make it over there.”
 The hummingbird looked at the duckling in disbelief. “Walking on air. Really? What are you telling me next? That you are an enchanted wolf?!”
 Inayo opened his beak but closed it again, not sure what to say.
 “Believe us, I saw it too.” the ember came to a rescue, and turning to the duckling it added:
 “Well, there’s no choice if you want to continue this journey with us. But if you don’t want to jump I wouldn’t be offended either.” And in a lowered voice it added: “And I don’t think your ‘enchanted wolf’ wouldn't blame you for it either.”
 “You are the strangest voyagers I’ve met so far.” commented the hummingbird. But Inayo responded:
 “Maybe, but I for my part have just decided that we will continue as a team. The valley may look cataclysmic from here, but I trust the hummingbird has told us the truth. And I think I can get there. But just to be sure I’ll get a better starting point.”
 And with these words he waddled off to the left and walked up a boulder right at the edge of the abyss. By now he had the attention of the whole group of hummingbirds, who buzzed in a nervous way. Some of them discussed whether they should try to intervene, but it was already too late. The duckling had hopped off the boulder and was once more falling several meters before it caught himself and started walking down towards the black tower which was standing on the corner of a terrace, left of what seemed to be the entrance to the canyon. Hummingbird and ember followed after.

 
 The closer the tower came the more the wind picked up speed, and before the duckling even had a chance to set a foot onto the unfamiliar terrain near the tower, it was dragged away by the storm, right into the canyon. While the hummingbird resisted, the ember quickly followed after but had difficulty catching up. There were leaves and sticks and dust swirling around in the air and it was near impossible to make out a little black duckling among them.
 It became a roller-coaster ride the duckling would long remember. He was hurled through the canyon in a breathtaking speed. Images of changing landscapes passed its eyes – narrow caves, wider grassy sections, flowers on the valley floor and then a tunnel of trees with some branches right in the direction he was being dragged. He closed his eyes, awaiting a collision rather sooner than later.

 
 A few seconds later he hit the ground.

 Minutes passed until the duckling regained consciousness and opened his eyes again. Sunlight greeted him, and the sound of nearby birds. Slowly he got himself upright and looked around. He was sitting on a peaceful meadow among the mountains. Behind him he could see a hole in the wall and could feel the wind coming out of it. Obviously this was the way he had entered this area.
 The wolf was lying just a few meters away. Cautiously the duckling approached her.
 “Glad you are alive, Inayo” he heard a familiar voice. The ember hovered around him.
 “Looks like this, yes. How about you?”
 “Oh, I’m fine, of course.” The ember giggled. “That’s the one good thing of being dead already. You can’t die. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for you two, and I worry a bit about Kalani. The wolf hasn’t moved since it separated from you the moment you came flying out of this channel. And this was minutes ago. I hope she’s not hurt. I’m not good at medical aid, I fear.”
The duckling walked over to the wolf’s body and was relieved to notice it was breathing. “She’s alive.”
 “That’s good to hear. Maybe... maybe I should get some help? You can stay with the wolf and have some rest in the mean time.”
 The duckling agreed and the ember flew off. It didn’t have to look very far. Just a few dozen meters away there was a pond, and a few ducks were resting on the waterside. The ember hurried over to them and, keeping its distance, greeted the ducks. An agitated quacking was the result.
 “Excuse me, please don’t be scared. I just need your help. There is a w... err... companion of mine who might be hurt after a flight through the stormy canyon.”
 “Hopefully not a broken wing again.” mourned one the drakes. “We already had two this season. Both caused by this horrible storms in the canyon.”
 “I can... um... rule this out.” the ember replied cautiously. “Definitely not a broken wing.”
 “I’ not a rescue duck but I’ll come and see what I can do. Where is your friend?”
 “Close to the exit of the canyon. I will lead you.” The ember was still wondering how to explain exactly what his friend was, but the duck took off quickly, so it followed. And sure enough a few second later the drake screeched:
 “Ack, there’s a wolf down there! It’s a trap!” and without even landing if flew a half circle and was about to return to the pond. In this moment the little duckling raised the attention of the drake by jumping up and down. “Over here, over here!”
 The drake flew another circle until it noticed the wolf wasn’t moving. Then it landed on the opposite side of Inayo. With its wing it gave the duckling a sign to come closer. When the duckling had come close by it whispered in Inayo’s ear.
 “OK, just follow me and be very quiet.”
 “Huh? What...”
 “I’ll rescue you. This wolf is not having you for dinner, I promise.”
 Now the penny had dropped for the duckling.
 “No, no, it’s not me who needs help, it’s the wolf over there.”
 The adult duck stopped short: “What?!”
 “She’s my friend. I will explain this later. She’s not going to eat me for lunch.”
 “Maybe because you would be just a snack anyway. But I’m sure it wouldn’t refuse a duck like me... Uh, better not think about it. Are you absolutely sure you can trust this wolf?”
 “Absolutely.” And saying this, the duckling walked over to the wolf and snuggled to its muzzle.

 
 Slowly the drake came closer, carefully watching for any life signs of the wolf.
 “So what am I supposed to do here?”
 “Can you please make her get up?”
 The ember chimed in: “Well, she had a rough landing and is unconscious since. That’s all I can say.”
 “Personally I prefer wolfs like that.” the drake muttered silently. But then, seeing the little duckling looking in such a pleading way, it screwed up all its courage, walked behind the wolf’s head, tickled its face with its one wing and let out a “Quack quack”, loud enough to be heard all over the nearby pond. Then it searched for cover, ready to take off should the need arise.
 Indeed the wolf shivered, opened its eyes and... sneezed. The duckling backed away as well, but quickly came forward again.
 “Kalani... it’s good to see you alive. Are you okay?”
The wolf looked around and checked out its four legs, one by one, Then it rested its head on its paws again.
 “I’ve got quite a headache... and some scratches and bruises obviously. But I think I should be okay soon.”
 “You.. er... don’t need my services any more?” asked a voice from behind a bush. The wolf stopped short, but the duckling answered.
 “No I don’t think so. Thank you very much. I think I will drop by later.”
 “I see. You are welcome, and if you intend to visit me, then feel free. Maybe even with your friend, but please not for dinner!”
 The duckling laughed while the drake took off to return to his pond.
 “Who was that?” asked the wolf, still a bit dizzy.
 “Another drake which helped to wake you up. As return you might spare him and his flock.”

 An hour later the wolf’s headache had gradually subsided and it was ready to move on. In the mean time the duckling had looked for tasty grass and herbs nearby. The ember had scouted the area and had approved it – from a duck’s perspective at least. Then finally the wolf got up and said to the duckling:
 “I suggest we stay here in this area overnight. The sun is already low and I don’t feel like more adventures today. I’ll switch to your body for now so I don’t bother the waterfowl here with my presence. But do me a favour and find us a cozy place for the night where I can be myself, will you?”
 “Sure, Kalani.”
 And so the duckling went off towards the pond to visit his peers. Meanwhile the soul took off towards a waterfall above the ponds to meditate there – it realized it would not be needed any more that day.

 
 It was actually an area with several ponds and water cascades in between. There were a handful of ducks in the lowest pond, among them the one black drake he had met earlier. Obviously the news about the strange arrivals had already spread among the ducks, and they came close to see that duckling which was said to travel with a full-grown wolf. The black drake welcomed and also introduced his family, a white duck with two white and one black duckling, about the age of Inayo himself.

 
 After introducing, Inayo was questioned about where he came from and how he got such strange company, and the duckling willingly reported large parts of his story, putting emphasis on how the ember and the wolf had helped him in tough situations. And of course he didn’t forget to ask the ducks whether they had seen his mother.
 “You might be lucky, little duckling.“ said the white duck with the offspring. “Now that you mention it, at noon a black drake passed this area and landed here to asked for a duckling. I’ll eat my hat if this wasn’t your father.
 “Mom, you don’t have a hat.” one of her offspring noted.
 The duckling’s heart leapt with joy hearing this. So at least his parents had not forgotten about him. But why wasn’t it his mother searching for him. This the white duck could not answer.
 “Where did he go from here?” Inayo asked.
 “Up the water cascades there is a path which leads to the duck meadow. I told him to go looking there because there’s usually a lot of ducks to be found over there. I didn’t know you’d arrive here just a few hours later.”
 “I’d love to go there right away and check he’s still there.”
 “Tomorrow is another day. You might join us until then. I can show you where you can dabble for the most delicious food.”
 “Oh, that is very kind.” replied the duckling. And so he spent some time with the other ducklings and their mom, feeding themselves until darkness fell over the valley with the pond.”
 “Do you want to sleep with us” the white duck asked Inayo.
 He thought for a moment.
 “That’s a nice offer, but I actually promised to stay with my friends.”
  “Sure, you should keep your promise then. Have a good night.
Inayo also wished a good night to the duck family and stepped out of the pond. There was a dry area, not very far from the pond, sheltered by some boulders, which he thought the wolf might like as well as he did. As he laid himself down, the strange feeling once more indicated that the wolf left his body. Indeed, there she was, looking around.
 “This place will do. Thank you and have a good night, Inayo.”
 “Good night, Kalani, good night, ember.”

 It was a lovely, fresh morning at the mountain pond when the little duckling took out his head from below his wing and blinked into the morning sun.
 “Today is the day.” he said. “I’m sure I’ll meet my parents again.”
 The wolf next to him yawned. “I hope so, Inayo. Good morning, by the way.”
 “I’ll just take a bath, get some food and then...” He stopped short and looked at the wolf. “I never saw you eating anything. You must be hungry as a hunter.”
 A smile spread across the wolf’s face. “You know, I didn’t want to bother you with this, but since you ask now: I’ve been eating at night, catching a mice or two. Don’t worry, your duck friends are okay.”
 “Oh Kalani, how... considerate.”

 A few minutes later they were back together.
 “I’m ready. In no time, we will be at the duck meadow.” The duckling was flapping its wings, eager to go.”
 “Did the ducks also tell you how to get there?” asked the ember?
 “Yes, the white duck told me yesterday. It’s just up the water cascades and then we have to follow a path from the humans over a stream and...”
 “Pardon, that’s not what I mean, I mean how you are supposed to get there. Well... um... go ahead and you will see what I mean.”
 As usual the wolf possessed the duckling which marched back to the pond and crossed it until it found itself below the first water cascade. The duckling flapped its wings to raise up to to the next terrace, but the water would always push him back down into the pond. He was just not strong enough yet.
 “See what I mean?” the ember commented. “But I have not been idle all the time, so the good news is I have found a detour for this cascade.”
 “Is there... bad news also?” wondered the duckling.
 “Unfortunately yes. This is not the last cascade. But lets cross this bridge when we come to it. For now, this way please.”
 And the ember led the duckling to a boulder to the left of the terrace. There was just enough space between the boulder and the mountain wall behind it to walk through. It was an upward slope, so the duckling could easily get up to the higher terrain where another pond of water was. To the left hand side another set of water cascades filled the pool and on the right hand side the water spilled down to the lower pond where he had just been. A large log lay in the center of the pool. Over it, a cloud of hummingbirds was buzzing. Two more ducks inhabited this pool. These were adult ducks, which could fly up here with ease.
 The duckling approached the little waterfalls pouring down into this pond. They were about the same size as the lower cascades. Again he tried to lift his little body. But alas, he could just not jump high enough. So he tried climbing onto a stone close to one of the cascades. Maybe if he jumped from there? But the stone was too slippery and all he managed in a few tries was to fall down into the water in a rather ungraceful way.
 “Is there another detour, ember?” it asked exhausted?
 “I don’t think so, little one. Unless you can climb over the rocks on the right.”
 The duckling swam to the other riverbank and tried to hop on some of the rocks, but they were to steep and he would just drop down. So he returned to the pond, got onto the log in the water and sat down, thinking. After a while he addressed one of the hummingbirds:
 “Hi there. I need your help. You are good flyers, and you can see all from up there. Do you have an idea how I could get up the water cascades?”
 One of the hummingbirds came down and hovered close to the duckling.
 “I am not sure I can help you, and the only other animals which I know to live up there are a few wombats. I might ask them but I doubt they can do much to help you.”
 “Well, if you could still ask them that would be nice.”
And the hummingbird buzzed away towards the upper part of the stream, only to return a few minutes later, a wombat running behind him, grunting and panting a bit. Soon this wombat stood on a stone at the top of the water cascades, looking down towards the little duckling, still sitting on its log. When Inayo saw him, he left is position and swam close to ask the wombat for help.
 After hearing the pledge of the duckling, the wombat answered.
 “Hmm... I don’t have a good idea either.”
 “I just thought maybe you could come down here. Then I could jump on your back and get up?”
 “Forget it! First, I doubt you would be able to get onto my back at all if it is wet, second I am not very tall either when staying in water and third – and this worries me most of all. If I go down to you to help you, then tell me: How am I supposed to get up back here again?”
 This made sense to the duckling.
 “You’re right. Thanks anyway for getting you feet wet for me.”
 “You’re welcome, little duck. I hope you find a solution anyway.”
 And both the wombat and the hummingbird returned to their own kind.
It was then that the wolf appeared. It stood there in the water and slowly turned to the duckling next to him.
 “Inayo, this wombat made me come up with another idea. I am far larger than he is and I am already down here. So I will get you up there. It’s worth a try.”
Kalani walked up to the water cascade, bowed her head low and told the duckling to get onto his muzzle. As soon as the duckling was balancing on top of it she raised her head high, the duckling took one leap... and landed on a stone right next to the place where the water fell down. It turned around.
 “You’re great, Kalani. How can I ever thank you for your ideas.”
 “Well, now you get me up there.” came the answer.
 “Wait, what?” Inayo was irritated. How was he supposed to do this?

 
 “Ha ha, just joking. I can easily switch to your body from down here, so we can continue further together.”
 “Oh... good.”
 And the wolf did exactly what he had just said.
 It was only when Inayo turned around to move on, that he realized they were still not on top yet. There was one more water cascade in front of them. The ember read his thoughts and came down:
 “Don’t worry, there’s an easy way around this one, just on the bank to your right.”

 
 Finally the company was able to continue their voyage up the stream. They met the wombat at the riverbank who was quite surprised to see the duckling passing by. The duckling told how it had worked out in the end, and how he had a ‘wolf inside’, and when he had finished the wombat noted:
 “You must take good care of the wolf inside you. It seems to me to be really valuable!... By the way, do you want to meet my family? We could eat some mushroom together.”
 The duckling initially wanted to decline this offer in order to move on faster, but then remembered that the wolf and the ember were rather keen on collecting mushrooms. So he agreed. The three passed a stone arch and right behind it the wombat disappeared through an opening next to a boulder that was easy to miss if you didn’t know it exists. The narrow path led them onto a meadow with some trees, deeply nested within the high walls of the mountains around. At the opposite end there was a typical wombat tunnel, not large enough for a wolf but certainly large enough for a wombat and a duckling to enter.
 “I’ll just wait outside again.” the ember excused itself as Inayo entered the tunnel.
Just as the wombat had said they found his family – mother wombat and her child – in the first chamber.

 
 Of course the two were surprised about the unexpected guest introduced to them by their father. But in the end, as mother wombat phrased it “it never hurts to learn about things beyond the own cave.” And after they all had moved to their pantry chamber the duckling willingly told his story again and received quite a few “Ahs” and “Ohs” from the three wombats. Of course he didn’t forget to disperse a few fungal spores just as the wolf had taught him to do.
 After the snack the wombat family wished him good luck on their search for answers as they guided him back to the cave entrance.

 Soon after the duckling and the ember were back on the stone path which lead to a more open landscape. On a fording over another brook there was a memory which, being activated, brought back images of the times when the brook had been polluted and stinking. They saw Kalani and her followers looking with disgust at the water. 
 “I’m so happy the water is now clean again.” said the duckling. “Clean water means clean food for me... do you think this is because the Yanren people have vanished?” he asked.
 “I don’t know.”
 The wolf appeared beside them.

 
 “You should know, ember.” Kalani said. “You really ought to know. We Yanren people were able to build great castles as we’ve seen. We had fields, had ceramics, we could even produce valuable jewellery. We had a great civilization as we like to call such achievements. But we had our weaknesses. Taking the world and its resources for granted is one of them. Only when the rivers were polluted from farming, mining, laundry and from our waste – only then did we note that we actually depended on them. Or at least the villagers who did not have access to the clean cisterns up on the castle.”
 “But you should have known better” wondered the duckling. “Didn’t your people live in this landscape for a long time already?”
 “Knowing a thing is only part of the solution, being able to live in accordance to this wisdom is the other. And now we’re back to my problem. With the ruler taking away most of the food, the villagers where poor, hungry and many of them ill. Do you really think any of them would care about a little duckling’s concern about water quality?! No, they’d rather have eaten any duck they could trap. In good times where there is peace and an abundance of food you can expect people to consider their neighbours, be it man, be it animals or plants or even the rivers. But not so in times of despair. I don’t think this will ever change.”
 “But you did care about others, I saw it at one of your memories. You shared your bread with the hungry.”
 The wolf sighed.
 “I wish I could say I cared for all the living things. But... it wasn’t true. Even I was focused on getting the people fed at that time, and... getting my girlfriend to recover. I didn’t care much about brooks and ducks. Definitely not until I got here and wasn’t able to drink the water. I hope you understand.”
 “I think I do.”

 Duckling and ember followed the path which now ran close to the brook for some time as it passed between some steep mountains. Soon they reached an open landscape and the duckling’s heart leapt with joy: About two dozens of Muscovy ducks were grazing and walking on the meadow.

 
 This must be the place the ducks at the water cascades had mentioned the day before. He strode directly into the flock while the ember kept its distance overhead in order not to cause too much of a panic among the ducks.
 Inayo went zig-zag between the ducks, but it was hard to keep track of which one he had already looked at because they moved frequently, and the high grass made it difficult for the small duckling to not loose orientation at all. Soon enough he was out of breath but still had not found his parents yet. Standing amidst the quacking ducks he heard a croaking voice.
 “You little duckling… what are you looking for?”
 It was an old white duck who had spoken. She slowly walked towards him. And since Inayo didn’t answer right away, she continued:
 “You are new, aren’t you? I’ve … never seen you here before.”
 “Er… yes, I am new, so to say. And I’m looking for my father. He ought to be here…”
 “I see… Oh, by the way, I am Shera. I am the oldest duck on this meadow, but I still think I know everybody here. Except you. So, who am I talking with?”
 “I’m Inayo. But actually I just have this name since yesterday.”
 “Ah, well, that’s not a problem at all. Inayo, yes? What a beautiful name your parents gave you.”
 “It wasn’t my parents, actually. It was a … wolf who chose this name for me.”
 “A wolf. Really? Now, you’ve got to tell me this story. I’ve never heard of such thing before all my long life. Would you mind us walking over to the brook. It’s so loud here, with all the others around.”

 
 “Actually… I don’t want to be impolite but maybe I search for my father first. I’ve been told he might be here.”
 “Ah, yes, I almost forgot. Well, is he a black drake, by coincidence?”
 “Yes, yes, you know him?”
 The old duck smiled.
 “Looks like you have gotten to the right place, after all. You know, just as you arrived now, another black drake arrived yesterday. I welcomed him as I do with all newcomers, and he told me he was a father looking for one of its ducklings. Now, if this wasn’t your father you can call me a flying wombat.”
 “So, where is he?”
 “He went on, down to the lake, to check he could maybe find you there. And since he hasn’t returned yet I assume he’s still there. We can just fly down and check. You can already fly, cannot you?”
 “Not quite, actually … but I can do some cool tricks anyway.”
 Shera shook her head in disbelief.
 “I see. In the old days when I was a fledgling I first learnt how to fly and then I learnt the tricks, but maybe this is different today... Anyway, lets walk then.”

 And she lead Inayo onto a path down the meadow. Along red plants and purple flowers they walked. To their left stood a solitary tree with a distinct shape on a terrain outcrop. Its flat, drawn-out crown reminded Inayo on the shape of a green hummingbird, just without wings.

 
 Shera, guessing his thoughts, explained:
 “We call it the ‘Bird tree’. It has been a landmark for as long as I live here, and maybe this is the reason why so many ducks have settled here lately. This, and the beautiful landscape it is now.”
 “But it wasn’t always this beautiful, wasn’t it? I’ve learnt the water was polluted in the past.”
 “You’re right. Ugh… don’t remind me of these times. Hardly was able to find anything editable back then. And look … now we even have fish in here again.”
 Indeed as they approached the lakeside, they could see red and blue fish jumping out of the water. They set out to cross the lake which laid nestled and wavy, like a snake, on the bottom of the valley with willows and flowers on the shallow parts of its banks.
 “This is also a nice place” commented Inayo.
 “Indeed it is, and I am proud to call it my home. I was born just over there, not far from the small waterfall feeding this lake.” And she pointed her right wing to a place below the mountains on the right.”
 They swam around a bend and reached a more open body of water, an area where the lake was a bit wider. Shera stopped short:
 “Where … is he? He ought to be…”
 “You mean, my father? Maybe he’s just a bit further.”
 “There is no ’further’. This lake ends here. And you cannot just walk on. Nor can you fly over the large boulders over there.”
 They swam closer to the end of the lake.
 “You see, Inayo. For reasons I don’t understand there is something like a barrier there. You cannot see it, but you will notice when you are there. Not sure how to explain…”
 “I know what you mean. An invisible wall.”
 “You know?”
 “I ran into one of them yesterday and couldn’t find a way through. And … yes, there was another one which a hummingbird could not cross, but I could.”
 “Really?” replied Shera. “You see, in this case here the fishes can cross, but ducks cannot, unless …”
 “Unless what…?”
 “Well, when I was a duckling about the size of you, I was quite nosy, and even though my parents had warned me well not to go there, of course I was curious to find out where some of the fish would go. I could see they would just pass below that large boulder over there. You can see the light shining through the opening below it. I thought, if the fishes can go there, why cannot I? And you know what? I actually could go there. I just needed to dive a little and hold my breath and then I could follow the fish.”
 “So what’s on the other side?”
 “A waterfall, a really high one. I could see the river disappear in the distance, but since I couldn’t fly at the time I never dared to go close to the edge. I almost forgot about this fact later, and I am not sure I would still be able to get through the passage – now, as an old duck.”
 “But you think my father might have passed here?”
 “It’s unlikely but possible. Maybe, since he didn’t find you on this lake either, he might have looked for a way out and maybe, in his desperation, he actually found a way to pass like I did back then? But again, I might be wide off the mark …”
 “We should better check, then.”
 “I’m too old for this adventure. And I believe it is too dangerous for you too. As I told you, there’s a big waterfall. If you can’t fly you must not go close to the edge. The currents are tricky there. I wouldn't go if I were you.”
 “I will just quickly check my dad isn’t on the other side.”
 “Well, I’m not your your mom, so I can hardly say no. But please do me a favor and be careful, will you. In the mean time I might just check the banks for your father.”
 “Okay.”
 The duckling swam close to the invisible wall, flapped its wings, slumped back into the water and … indeed he could go past the barrier, being underwater. After a few meters he could return to the surface. His father was not to be seen here either. Otherwise it was like the old duck had described it: The stream flowed into a waterfall. Past this waterfall the duckling could see a fast-flowing mountain river, vanishing in the distance between some mountains. There, in the distance, he thought he spotted another lake. Inayo was so fascinated by this view he didn’t realize how the current brought him closer and closer to the edge, until it was too late. He tried to turn around, but already found himself tumbling down.

 
 In a quick reaction he caught himself and started walking in the air as he had done before. This way he managed to get through and behind the waterfall. Not knowing what to do else he just kept walking left and walking right against the steep wall, as if he traversed invisible serpentines. To his surprise he noted that, slowly and steadily, he could move upwards behind the waterfall. ‘Just keep going’ he thought by himself and summoned up his last reserves. In an all-out-effort, he managed to get onto the upper terrace. There, ad the edge of the riger where the current was slow, he managed to get away from the waterfall.
 Now he only had one goal – to get away far from this place. Once more he dived below the boulder, and then he was back on the surface of the lake. Shera was not to be seen, so he steered towards the right where there was a shallow lakeside. He needed some rest now. As soon as he was on dry land he sat down.
 In this moment the tingling sensation told him the wolf did separate from him. Indeed Kalani laid herself next to him onto the shore, looked over he lake and then turned to Inayo with a stern voice.

 
 “This was close, wasn’t it?”
 Inayo just nodded. He was still a bit short of breath.
 “Remember what the ember told you yesterday, when we were up on the castle? The difference between perseverance and stubbornness? That old duck warned you, yet you just wanted to go there anyway. Wanted it so badly you just ignored her warning. You risked your life... and mine as well.”
 “I’m sorry, Kalani. I just wanted… I really thought if I would be careful enough…”
 “And… have you been careful enough?”
 “No.” The duckling’s voice was very quiet now.
 “I guess you have learnt your lesson the hard way, so I am sure you will be more considerate next time... Hey, don’t look so downcast, Inayo. We all did our mistakes eventually. I am no exception, as I have realized since. Maybe had I listened to Wayla’s advice we both would still be alive today...” She sighted and looked towards Inayo agin.
 “But mistakes are there to be learned from... By the way, that was another nice trick of you, walking up vertical walls. I wish I could do this.”
 “Have you ever tried?”
 “Ha, no, of course not. I’m a wolf, not an ibex, after all.”
 Once more the wolf looked out over the lake:
 “I wonder where that old duck went. When you had a rest, I believe it is best we return...”
 In this moment a nearby cry of dismay made both, wolf and duckling, jolt.

 “Ack, a wolf! Caution, a wolf at the lake!”
 It was Shera, who had just appeared from between two boulders on the shore. She was immediately taking wing, and with her was another black duck, also starting to fly away.
 “Father!” Inayo shouted as loud as his small voice allowed him, “Father! It’s me! … I’m fine.”
 The two ducks flew circles but did not dare to land until the wolf had retreated several meters along the shore and laid herself down. Then from the other side they slowly approached Inayo, who hastened to meet them. Father duck hugged his little duckling while still having a watchful eye onto the wolf.
 “Is this … the wolf who gave you your name?” wondered Shera.
 “Yes, it is. She is my friend and her name is Kalani.”
 “You have chosen a wolf as a friend?!” father duck asked irritated “It seems as soon as I lost you out of sight, the strangest things have happened.”
 “They have, father, indeed they have. May I introduce you to each other?”
 “I … am not sure.” father duck replied.
 “Actually … now that I think about it I wouldn’t mind.” Shera chimed in. “I might have some new insights in my old age.”
 “Yeah, but if the wolf eats you, the only new insight you will gain is how it looks from the ‘inside’.” Father duck obviously didn’t trust the situation at all.
 “Dad, I promise she is not going to hurt you. She didn’t eat a duck since I met her and she had her opportunities. In the contrary, she was very helpful.”
 “Well, if you say so …”

 And the duckling waddled over to Kalani who was still resting her head on her paws, absorbed in thought. When the duckling approached her, she spoke:
 “Inayo, you have found your father, haven’t you. I can see my presence makes them uneasy and I can't blame them. I wonder if we should part now. I would continue my voyage with the soul, and you three will do whatever you think is best for you. So …”
 “No please, not … not now.” Inayo was quick to answer. “I think they will like you, eventually. You are such a kind wolf!”
 “Thank you for your kind words. They really mean much to me. Well… if you think this way, then I will keep you company.”
 Having said this, Kalani stood up and walked over to the two adult ducks, Inayo coming along on her side. They would introduce each other, and soon after the four would be chatting vividly on the lakeside.

 
 Of course, either side had lots of questions and was keen what the others had experienced in the mean time. And of course, Inayo would first ask his father what had happened to his mother, why she had not returned to the nest the day everything began … and if he knew what had happened to all the other ducklings up there.
 His father took a deep breath
 “Look, er … Inayo. Was that right?”
 “Yes dad. Inayo, that’s my name now.”
 “OK, Inayo. I can understand that you were worried since your mom did not return to the nest. But believe me, we both have been equally worried about you – about all of our ducklings – too. Your mother just had really bad luck. She told me that when this red, bright thing appeared at the nest, she just panicked. She also said to tell you she's very very sorry about this."
 “So she’s alive!”. The duckling was pretty excited now.
 “Yes Inayo, but just listen. She reproached herself more than one time for this. But the punishment followed swiftly, or so it seemed, because when she flew away she was so in panic that the flew through a tree and hurt her left wing on the branches. She basically dropped to the ground.”
 “Was the wing broken?”
 “No but it was sprained and she had quite some pain. Eventually she tried to get back to the nest on foot, slowly. But of course, in her current state she was impossible to get up any more. She just tried calling up to her chicken. This is how I found here when I returned to the nest.
 And then, something strange happened. One of your siblings slumped into the water close to us, and then another one. And many more, ones I’d never seen before. I just thought it’s raining little ducklings. Of course we wondered how they dared do to the jump like that. I mean, you weren’t fledglings yet.”
 Inayo laughed. “I guess I know where they got the idea from…”
 “Me too. I asked them, of course. They told me you were the first to jump and they saw you survived it. However they couldn’t tell me what happened to you after that. So, now we had a whole bunch of little ducklings around us in the pond and a completely new situation. We decided one of us should stay with the kids and one should go searching for you. With your mom’s wing hurt it was clear that I would be the one to go searching. Believe me, I checked the whole landscape that day and the morning of the next, asked every duck, every wombat... everyone. But then finally there was a hummingbird who told me you were likely gone past the waterfall in the steep valley in the north. So yesterday I tried to trace your route in that direction. There was a nice white duck lady on a pond who told me you had dropped in earlier, only to continue your route over a canyon. But then I somehow didn’t find any more traces of your presence, and unfortunately at the far end of the valley I got into a strange storm which just dragged me through a cave. I’ve never experienced anything like this in my life.
 I met some more ducks at a pond and finally got to the ducks up on what they call the bird tree. And this helpful lady here” – he pointed his wing to Shera – "she welcomed me, showed me this place and promised to inform me should you arrive. I actually wanted to fly further but she told me she could rule out you had gotten past the big waterfall. So I just scouted the area and found some hidden place between the rocks. Oh I was so delighted when Shera found me and told me you had finally come. By the way, thanks again for all this, Shera.”
 “Oh, you’re welcome. I might be old but as they say: You’re never too old to help.”
 “So, father, the other ducklings and mother … they are well?”
 “I hope so, but of course I haven’t seen them since I left to search for you yesterday.”
 “Oh … okay.”
 “But now, Inayo, you might want to tell your story. I’m keen to listen how you managed to get a wolf as a friend. And what brought you here. And where you got that name from.”
 And Inayo and the wolf together told him and Shera the story of their voyage.
 The ember looked at them from a distance. It wasn’t in a hurry at all…

 
 The next day the wolf and the ember felt it was time to part. Before doing so the two went out to look for mushrooms in the area, and with Shera on their side they had the perfect guide. She also told them that there were mushrooms deep below the water surface, and the wolf showed her how she could switch into a fish in order to collect the mushroom, which quite amused Shera.
 “I really thought I had grown wise over the years, knowing everything here. But within the last two days you have shown me that there’s a world beyond imagination out there. Ducklings walking through the air, walls disappearing, wolves taking the shape of fishes. Kalani, if I was just a bit younger I would beg you to be allowed to join your journey. Just out of curiosity.”
 The wolf laughed. “I was already getting used to being a duckling… But to be honest I enjoy it to be a wolf or a fish for a change. Maybe some day I’ll catch a condor and take wing again.”
 And soon after the wolf and the ember did indeed leave the lake, the wolf having taken the body of a fish. The three ducks wished them farewell and pleaded the wolf to visit them one day and report about the adventures that would surely follow after.

 Inayo and his father would stay at the lake for the next days with Inayo exercising his wings, whose feathers would grow longer every day. Once in a while he would jump down from the small waterfall above the lake and check how far his wings would already carry him or he would just try to fly up onto the boulders along the shore. And sure enough, his skills improved every day now.
 One week after Kalani and the soul had departed, there was set of new arrivals at the bird tree. Inayo was highly delighted to see that his mother had come, with a healed wing and with all its siblings. Obviously he wasn’t the only fledgling who had learnt how to fly since. There was a big hurrah amongst the siblings, but of course, mother duck was especially happy to see all of her children healthy and together once more.