Redbear chuckled, warm and friendly, and although Will's shadow threatened Springy, the bear rounded on the likeness of his friend's behalf, even as it melted back into something else.

"Now, now," he said, "He's not one for all that." The bear smiled at Will, and it was more charming than Storyend's lopsided attempts, teeth straight and the glow of his eyes warm.

"I doubt the information will be anything more than garbled regurgitations of our minds," Storyend said, "But I'm getting a better idea of the shape of it."

Redbear shook his head, winking, "You're always thinking too much, Story. Don't you want to know? It's about two bucks who were curious about all the secrets in the world, but they never kept secrets from each other. They were very, very happy. Forever and ever."

Storyend flinched a little.

His hoofs sunk suddenly, the ground sloshing underneath him, a thick and noxious and greedy tar, and he went under with a yelp.

"Oh, a story that could have come true if one of the bucks could have committed wholly to what was needed to succeed," Will said snarkily, but the jibe died on his lips as Storyend began to sink into the tar.

"Not. HIM." he barked urgently.

Though his shadow had been separated from him, Will pulled himself together in one sleek movement and leapt forward to wrap Storyend in his shadowy tendrils, pulling him free of the sucking tar with a startled sound. The tendrils were powerful but incredibly gentle when it came to Storyend, and he pulled him close as he veered them both away from the peril.

Just before his muzzle could disappear into the sticky, unwelcome pit, Will's tentacles were around him, his sharp bark of alarm in his ears. Everything here could change in an instant. If Storyend had to compare it, it was like being in a whirlpool, only instead of going down you were spun round and round and round.

The tar had been on the path.

Storyend coughed, and cleared his nostrils, and leaned heavily on Will, and all at once they were in the fresh air of a dark, lonely mountainside with the obelisk humming beside them and the tar and everything else dissolved like ash on the wind.

Will's tendrils remained as they materialised on the mountainside, a strangely warm and living part of him. Reluctant to let go, he looked around them.

"You made it." he said, surprised. "You made it." with more relief.

He relinquished his hold on Storyend one tendril at a time. "Was it the revelation you expected it to be?"

It was Summer, and even on the mountain at night the temperature was comfortable. The relief in Will's voice was raw, and Storyend didn't push him away.

"Useful, yes," Storyend decided, and rubbed his nose, even though nothing was there.

He looked at Will in the moonlight with new consideration. "Your tentacles," he said, "They must come from you. Like everything in there," and more gently, "They're like Been's. But I think...mostly I think they're like the roots of a flower," Storyend's thoughts were scattered at the best of times. "I'll have to think about all of it."