Dipak felt the ripple in time. He felt him replay the moment of taking this step and greeting Afi with a casual flip of his fingers. Amser was following the man back through time. Dipak had felt this before. It gave him a sense of unease. He wondered if Amser had ever followed him back. How long would that take?

Dipak's own past was not readily available to him. Just this life was at his fingertips of memory. But if he focused, he could push past the barrier of his death and move into his previous states of being. Mostly this was something he did only to pursue an answer for a potentially devastating problem. There was only one life that he visited for the pleasure of it.

Raven.

His heart ached.

Afi stopped and looked at Dipak without saying anything. Afi had been there when this Life Tree grew into being. He had known Raven and knew that this dark shadow passing over Dipak's face only came when that life tried to call him back. Afi gently touched Dipak's shoulder, summoning him to the present. Dipak flicked his gaze up to meet Afi's eyes and for a moment there was rage blazing hot red there. Then it simmered to the usual pale yellow and Dipak reached up and patted Afi's hand.

"Thank you," Dipak murmured.

Scattering himself into a thousand sparks, he rushed through the wood. Buzzing with white, yellow and orange he painted his anxiety where he traveled. Separating himself from that other life had been hard, it was every time. But he could feel that he was needed here.

Dipak followed a familiar path of white stones which marched through the forest in long lazy curves. This led him to the pool where the Life Seed had been hidden for centuries. He found the place calming. While it did summon him back to the last life it did not submerge him into it. Instead, he was able to think back to that time in the manner that he did with the memories of his current life.

There was something important here. It was something that he had known in another life. Dipping his fingers into the pool, he waited for it to speak to him. Unmeasured time passed and nothing spoke. He sighed, feeling stupid, and withdrew his hands, flicking the water from his fingers.

Enaid had almost died in this place. These waters had once tried to claim her. While the water lived in Enaid, it was not really a part of it. This pool was older then the Wandering Wood. He sensed that it was older then himself. This pool had been cut out by- He didn't know. He growled his frustration. The truth of it seemed important and seemed to be right on the edge of his mind.

In his last life, he had been here. But that was not the knowledge or memory that he needed now. Something older. In a time before the last darkness. Was this pool there then? Yes. He thought it was. Then he recalled drinking from these waters and finding himself changed. The Horse had come to him then and he had become a Shifter. But no. It was older then that...