You can’t take the sky from me
Lani awoke in a lush dell within a clearing of a forest. The sun shining brightly down on her warming her slightly chilled and numb body. Slowly she flexed her fingers as if testing they still worked, then her toes. Groaning, she let out a croaked “Dobby” as soft pop alerted his arrival. “Are you all okay? Any side effects to the dimension hop?”
Dobby began fussing over her and gave her a mild muscle relaxing potion. “We elfs kept safe within the trunk, Missy Lani.” He reported still fluttering around her in clear agitation.
Lani gave a relieved sigh. “Good. Can you guys put up the protective spells while I begin some stretches to get my body functioning again.”
Dobby nodded enthusiastically, snapped his fingers and two other house elfs joined him putting up perimeter wards.
With slow deliberate movements she began stretching as she let her mind wander. Through dreams Akatosh and Julianos taught her about this world but it was all book knowledge. She was aware that she only knew enough to blend in and nothing more. Furthermore, book knowledge and being able to apply such knowledge to daily life was very different. She also knew none of the magic of this world. She would be able to still cast magic from her old world and this, but had yet to learn any Tamriel spells yet. This meant she would have to be very careful what spells she used around populated areas or it would raise questions.
Lani’s train of thought was put on hold as she began to sweat with the effort of getting her body to move normally. Her body felt like it had been hit with a lorry and she didn’t appreciate it. Silently she cursed the side effects of dimensional travel before letting her mind go back to her planning.
She planned to “camp out” here for a few days while she recovered. She would be staying in her trunk for now so it was hardly what she’d considered camping. While she actually didn’t mind what normal people would call camping she was looking forward to her long stay in what she considered her home without having to worry about discovery. She had always had to be careful that her relatives didn’t find out about her trunk and later her dorm mates. She’d never got to just enjoy the luxury of her home without some anxiety. Now though, with the wards up she could get comfortable.
Winky placed a canvas up over the trunk Trixy set out. While it had charms and enchantments to protect it from weather, getting in and out if it was raining would be rather annoying.
With her body at least semi functioning she took a moment to just admire her surroundings. The elm, ash, and oak trees stretched higher than any she’d ever seen. Their trunks thick with moss covered the north facing part of the trees. Through the canopy, the light streamed down into the grassy glade illuminating a small pond at the forest's edge. Birds sang as they danced between the branches. The cool crisp air blew loose strands of her hair like a gentle caress. She marveled at how easy it was to simply breathe. She had always thought the highlands of Scotland had that clean air fill until now. And the magic. Gods, the magic was so thick she could feel it at her fingertips, a whisper in her ears. Was this what it used to be like in her world? She had heard whispers of magic dying but never realized how magically depleted her home world was.
She took a shaking, relieved breath and gave a soft watery chuckle. She was free. Free in the beautiful world where her inner magic thrummed with life. Free to be who she wanted. Free to make her own decisions. Free to travel and explore. Free to live. She knew Akatosh had a destiny for her. But she could choose the path she walked to complete it.
She tilted her head back looking at the sky through the trees. A grin stretched across her face as she quoted one of her favorite authors, “The greatest adventure is what lies ahead. Today and tomorrow are yet to be said. The chances, the changes are all yours to make. The mold of your life is in your hands to break.” She turned to her house elves that were beaming at her with such devotion it made her heart ache. This, this was her family and she didn’t give a damn what people back home would think of such oddities. “We will have plenty of time to explore later. Let's retire to the living room for some tea. Then we will go over the plans.” She nodded decisively as she headed to the trunk.
August 20th, Scotland
The order of the phoenix members were frantically looking through the schools library for anything on dimensional travel or summoning from another dimension with little to no luck. Sirius and Remus were searching the Black ancestral home while Tonks, Kingsly, Hermione and the Weasleys searched Hogwarts. Ron sat mulishly muttering about cowardly traitors and how it was unfair he couldn’t access her vaults. Tonks and Kingsly shooting poorly disguised disgusted looks at him on occasion while looking through stacks of books.
Hermione finally snapped as she slammed her book down and glared at Ron with tearful eyes. “Will you shut up? The one person that can defeat you-know-who is missing and all you can say is you want money.” She wiped away her angry tears.
Tonks snorted, “Here I thought she may have had at least one friend.” she said derisively towards Hermione whose cheeks turned red in embarrassment.
“Well it's true. Dumbledore said so. It was really irresponsible for her to just leave. She should have talked to us if she was having issues.” she sniffed defiantly, eyes still watering with betrayal.
“You mean so you could report it to the order and then not write her back.” Tonks said scathingly. “And Dumbledore isn’t always right. I’m not looking for a way to get her back so she can fight. I’m looking because I’m worried about her. Which is what her friends should be doing it for.” Tonks slammed her book down and walked out. Her and Kingsely were in the courtroom for the memory viewing and she was repulsed with the wizarding world. Damn it why couldn’t Lani have taken her with her.
Hermione burst into tears again. She knew she had been an awful friend, and to her first and truest friend too. She wasn’t actually angry with Lani as much as she was with herself but she was never good at admitting when she was wrong.
August 20th, London
Sirius and Remus were frantically writing down notes from various books in an attempt to come up with a ritual. But unlike the rest of the order who was trying to get Lani back, they were trying to go wherever she went. They had no intentions of telling the others that though. Except maybe Tonks, Bill and Charley. All three had expressed that they were more angry they didn’t get to go with Lani than the fact that Lani had left. In an effort to make sure the order didn’t find anything they had actually recruited Kreature to go to Hogwarts and hide any book that might help. Kreature was all too happy to annoy the people that intruded on his mistress's home. Kreature was also happy to help bring any books that would help the pair. It wasn’t until they heard him mumbling about how “bad master can’t be master in another realm” that they understood why he was so ready to help. Still they decided to cross reference any books Kreature brought and check for tampering. Just to be on the safe side.