It was strange how something could be two things at once. The castle’s dark was at once suffocating in its closeness and freeing in the way it hid her. She did not need to hide herself behind an expression of neutrality or politeness, yet the constricting isolation rendered the reprieve moot.

Two didn’t know what expression she wore but she felt every shred of dread and tiredness it held. She traced a finger along the rough stone wall and set forward. No destination stood in her mind.

Just somewhere away.

She walked, her steps muffled by the spirit’s presence and her vision useless. It was easy to imagine herself drifting in a starless night. If only the silence didn’t give her thoughts so much room to roar.

She admired Daisy, they were a flood, going and doing as they pleased. They’d swept Two up long ago.

The great houses ruled the Empire, each backed by a clan of thousands and each ruling a province of millions. Butch was a jumped-up thug, yet treated the bones of ordinary people like twigs. Things only escalated from there. Amongst the clans stood cultivators of higher class.

They’d make an example of her.

Daisy had a plan. she was the clear path to take.

But Two didn’t want to be swept away. Not when she was so close.

She meandered past the open door of a storage room. Light leaked through the boarded-up remains of a window. Illuminating crates and bags of supplies. Two scrounged through the sacs procuring several possibly stolen fruits.

Then she left, now with a destination in mind.

She descended a flight of stairs, into the bowels of the Castle and beneath the earth.

Light bloomed at the stair’s bottom. Two men clad in heavy cloaks sat on chairs and huddled around a brazier. A heavy wooden door sat to their side. They didn’t notice her, their attention consumed by a game using scuffed cards.

Two considered the pair with annoyance. The interaction would be a chore.

But it was better than the alternative. Two shuddered to think what would happen if gangs less savory members had room to act on their ideas. The captive was a cultivator, she was also injured and likely restrained.

She’d bear with the guards.

Two lifted her hood and put a look of barely contained contempt on her face. She only needed to exaggerate a little. She stepped into the light.

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Her clothes rustled in time with her steps. A chill wake followed her. She was halfway to them by the time they saw her and she was well within arms reach when they recognized her.

They jolted, abandoning the cards to drift to the floor or be caught by the fire. One reached into his cloak, no doubt for a knife. While the other raised their hands in a placating manner.

“Hey Two! Wonder to see you here.” He whispered in a shouting tone careful not to stir the spirit. His enthusiasm failed to mask his palpable unease. Two flicked her tongue, sampling the air.

He almost flinched.

“Prie,” she said to the man with the faulty smile, “Dee.” She glanced at the other, who was most definitely considering how to stab her.

The pair were familiar to her as she was to them. Daisy had plucked them off the street a year after Two’s impromptu adoption. More importantly, they were among the few people Daisy extended any trust.

The pale-skinned pair were notably taller than her. The voluminous mass of yellow curls that covered their head and spilt from the collars of the shirts added to the impression of size. A pair of feline ears sat atop their heads, but the dark tufts at the end of the carefully swaying tails indicated they descended from lions. Rather than a cat that decided to take on human form, as the creatures were rummered to do.

“Are you going to open the door or are the pair of you going to continue standing around like idiots.” The pair bristled but only Dee’s expression twisted. His brother simply smiled wider.

“I’d love to I just need to know why you’re here.”

Two retrieved the bag and showed them its open mouth while giving him a look that expressed her views on his intelligence.

If her was bothered he didn’t show it. “A bit early for feeding time, but I’m sure the boss appreciates the imitative. I’ll get the door open in a blink.” He said brightly.

Prie hurried to the task, eager to see her gone. Dee continued glaring at her never taking his hand from the hidden knife.

Two respond to neither the threat nor the unease that stank the air. Both were things she’d grown used to. Everyone who spent time around her reacted similarly. It had been described to her as a pervasive unease at her presence.

Only cultivators could resist the effect.

People could always tell something was wrong with her, and when they couldn’t find a reason they tended to make one.

Two glared back at Dee. So Two made sure to give them one.

The door creaked open and she slipped through. Tension bled from the room with her passing.

“Shit, one of the cards fell into the fire.” Prie hissed, his suave abandoned.

“You damned idiot.”

The brothers’ banter faded behind her as she walked down the short hallway to the cells.

A single lamp hung from the ceiling. It did little to light the room, but its light glinted off a pair of eyes in one of the cells.

“Good evening Deadra.” She said in a soft tone. “I’ve brought you some food.” She took out and jostled the bag, the woman likely couldn’t see it but it helped set the tone.

“Where!” she shouted but a sudden burst of cold silenced her. The chill snapped at her finger cold enough to hurt and Two wasn’t even the one who shouted. Thankfully it passed quickly.

She carefully walked to the cell. “Deadra, are you okay?”

‘No.” The girl croaked quietly.

Two sighed in relief.

Terry warned new arrivals and coupled with Butch’s ample stupidity it should have provided all the caution she needed.

Two lowered her estimation of the noble.

“The castle can be a bit testy Deadra. Come here you’ll feel better after you eat.” Two sat by the cell’s bars. Soon the noble stepped into Two’s vision. Fearful and hunched they glanced about like they expected the dark to reach out and grab her.

They spotted Two and quickly huddled against the bats. Two offered them the bag.

“This place is haunted.” They said at the appropriate volume. They ignored the bag to continue glancing about.

“This place is inhabited, there’s a difference.”

Finally, their attention snapped to her. “How would you know.”

Two bounced the bag. “Eat and I’ll explain.”

After a moment’s hesitation they groped for the bag and clutched it to their chest. They did not however start eating, but stared at Two with wide panicked eyes

Nonetheless, Two began her explanation.

“Haunted implied someone died here, and while I’m sure that’s happened the spirit you introduced yourself to was never a person. It’s just the castle.”

Two couldn’t see their face, but she could read the silence and the emotion spilling from her well enough to follow her thoughts. “I’m in the slums aren’t I.” The confusion settled her panic some.

It wasn’t a great accompaniment. The only other place with castles was the noble district. She was sure some had dungeons but doubted they could equal the sheer umpff of the slum architecture.

“There aren’t” many other places to hide nobles.” Two smiled knowing it would travel in her voice.

They finally settled and opened the bag of food. “What, what now.”-

Two’s smile grew a touch wider.

“Well Deadra, that depends on you.”