Will looks toward the chiming bells, and shivers a little.

"It's time," he tells Kirjava, who leaps up onto his lap and presses her front paws into his shirt, kneading it slightly.

"Do you think they're here?" she asks, sounding worried, and he nods, a little fiercely, and cautiously reaches out to where he knows--he knows--Lyra is sitting in her own world.

"Of course they're here. They just can't hear us."

Kirjava winds around and pads lightly to where the two halves of the bench meet.

"Hello, Pan," she says, so cheerfully Will's heart aches.

"Hello, Lyra," he says, a little more softly.

"We're here."