RTC continues to run after the alts for a while, speeding up, but soon enough realises that she's got no idea where they are. Or, indeed, where she is. Did she come from this way or that way? Does she want to try following them again or does she want to head back?
She stops and listens for hoofbeats.

Crake snaps back into his normal sense with a twitch. He reorients himself, and looks over at Raziel.
"I've got some good news and some bad news. The stone tissue is made os silicates, and calcites. You might be able to transmute it back to normal now that you know what it is made of. That was the good news. The bad news is really more of a restatement. Everything past your wrist has become petrified. It starts at your wrist bones which are made os silica."

He looks at her to see how the news goes over. Crake tears off some of his shirt, and ties it over Raziel's cut.

RTC hears hoofbeats, somewhere far off in the distance. It would probably be easier to find the others than continue following them.

***

The riders pick up pace. Unexpectedly, they split, AltTamsin veering to the left, and Yasmin veering to the right.

Estonja continues on AltTasmin's trail, still at an easy lope. She has no weapons drawn or bows strung.

RTC, having no idea where the others are, follows the hoofbeats, running at what is for her a reasonably slow pace. She stops occasionally to reorient herself to the hoofbeats.

Raziel's eye twitches and she starts shaking

"I cant use powerful magic without the use of my other hand... How can it be fixed?! tell me!"

Raziel feels a sudden pain in her arm that accidently travels to her orbs and she stands up un a rushed panic. Theres a small breeze of black smoke nearby and it stops, starting to swirl in one place slowly getting darker and darker

"Im...Im not doing that..."

Crake stares at his shirt quite intently. Upon seeing that he now only ha one sleeve because the other has been used for so many bandages he says,"Better even this out."

*RIIIIIP*

Now, with no sleeves on his shirt, Crake looks around at the others and offers ," I just thought it looked kinda funny," as an explanation.

Estonja is, by now, far too far away to have seen this. None the less, for some reason, she rolls her eyes and shakes her head.

Tamsin doesn't follow AltTamsin or AltYasmin. She and Eva seem to know where they're headed.

"That is not my intent," Eva says within herself to the voice in her head. "I intend to beat them."

Oh, for the love of... Crake hears faintly, but it is little more than a sigh in the wind.

***

It soon becomes clear to Tamsin and Eva that AltTamsin has purposely veered back into the forest as a red herring, while Yasmin has now given up the weaving pattern, racing along the shortest path to the village, intending to warn them of their pursuit.

AltTamsin weaves recklessly through the forest. Whatever happens, she must not get caught; she must buy enough time for Yasmin.

Crake's focus snaps back to the situation at hand. He thinks,
Hey who are you? Some sort of omnipresent... or whats that word for all knowing... thing? I mean you knew where Raziel was. Do you know how to fix her hand?

Estonja breaks off her persuit of AltTamsin and dead reckons back to where the two broke off. If she's right, the other will have made straight for the town, probably as fast as she could. A very easy trail to follow.

This is fun! Thinks Estonja.

AltTamsin pulls AltEva to a halt. Damn - so they're after the village! Turning completely around, she follows Estonja, measuring her by eye.

A seasoned rider...if she's representative of what we encountered back there...This isn't good! she thinks, breaking away from Estonja's trail.

AltEva feels AltTamsin crouch low on her, hand gripping the reins tightly. Understanding, she goes into an all-out sprint, leaping between the trees and through the undergrowth towards the village.

Estonja leads Traveller through some rocks, then behind a shrub. They wait for a few moments for AltTamsin to ride by. As they pass, Estonja calls out.

"Excuse me. We have a hurt traveller. Do you know where we might get some aid?"

AltTamsin and AltEva freeze. A traveller? We cannot deny the aid of another traveller. But...the threat in the forest...it isn't safe. But what if they *are* the threat in the forest?

AltTamsin thinks fast. Yasmin must have reached the village by now, and she will have raised the alarm. If they are truly in need of aid, I can lead them there, for we will be on the defense. I will let the Elders pass judgment - this is not a decision I can make.

AltEva shakes her head, worried, but AltTamsin has reached a resolve.

"Who is it that needs aid? What is their wound?" she calls out, guardedly.