By the time Near Miss had finished warming up the space heater, Spleens had already unfolded the map and, along with Long Shot, was asking it questions. They had already seen the entire Gallifrey Gorge route, a narrow and treacherous valley ridge, but the Wren's Anomaly route was giving the map trouble.

"Map," Spleens said gently, "Please show us the center of Wren's Anomaly." At this, the map shimmered briefly before becoming entirely blank. "Map," Spleens tried again, "Please show us Wren's Anomaly and the area around it." This time, the map showed the road leading to and from the anomaly, but the area around and including the anomaly itself remained blank.

"Map-" Spleens started again before being cut off by Long Shot.

"Listen here map!" Long Shot almost shouted, "I need you to show me what's there at the anomaly, so show me before I use you as toilet paper!"

At this the entire map shimmered before producing an image of a sad puppy. Long Shot had opened her mouth and was about to scream at the map more before she was silenced by Near Miss's hoof as Spleens started explaining, "I think it's trying to tell us that it can't show us the anomaly. We already know that magic doesn't work there, maybe that means that magic trying to see the anomaly doesn't work either." At this Long Shot flopped down onto her rump, looking not unlike a guilty puppy.

"Whatever it is," Near Miss started, "must be very powerful if it not only can drain the magic from the surrounding area, but also steal magic trying to see it from afar." The moment she had finished speaking, the map shimmered again, now forming several enthusiastically animated arrows pointing at Near Miss.

"It would seem," Spleens remarked, "that the map agrees with you."

"That's all well and good, but that doesn't tell us what's actually there," Long Shot said, exasperated. "For all we know it's just an active volcano in the middle. What guarantee do we have that it's even passable?"

"None," Spleens said flatly, "Just like how we have no guarantee we won't fall off the thin parts of the trail above Gallifrey Gorge."

At this, Long Shot actually took pause and, calming down, admitted, "I guess you're right. Besides, we don't really have to decide until tomorrow morning."

"That's a good point," Near Miss added, "it'll probably be good for us all to sleep on it."

Author's Note

Alright, it's voting time. Tell me in the comments which way you want the girls to go, Gallifrey Gorge or Wrens Anomaly.