There was a moment of horrendous vertigo as she stepped through the portal, like spinning around and around again. It thankfully lasted only a moment before her feet were planted firmly on the cobbled street. She placed both hands on her knees, bending over them as she took a deep breath out of habit, letting the motion sickness pass. She felt LoVelly’s hand on her shoulder blade as he offered comfort. By the time she righted herself the portal behind them was gone.

The street they’d seen through the portal looked much the same in person, still and dimly lit and quiet. It ran down a softly sloping hill. The street itself was paved smooth in two narrow, mirrored, paths with grooves for a netiline street car to roll past on either one.The buildings looked residential with curtained windows and colorful faces, mostly duplexes and quadruplexes. Further down there looked to be a corner shop occupying a lower unit with bright, colorful signage in the window, lit from the top by unseen lights. Stationed right out in front of it was a rail stop.

Mezalie looked around, taking in the architecture, the plants growing in baskets and beds dotted down the street and hanging from hooks, and the view of the city. She looked up to the skies to see Dhelarly visible here, brightening the skies with it's pale light; it and its glowing rings took up a large chunk of the visible sky making it as bright as it got without Sol. They were somewhere where the light of Sol had yet to reach but the heat had already begun to thaw the chill enough for some [spring] flora to sprout. As she looked down at the city that sprawled down, out and away from them, lights twinkled in windows and out front of shops. She couldn’t smell the ocean on the breeze anymore.

A door closed somewhere behind them and she turned toward the sound, seeing a man leaving one of the buildings. He gave them a quick glance but no more than that as he made his way in the other direction. It sparked Mezalie into motion as she started towards the side of the street out of the center lane, LoVelly hot on her heels. She really didn’t want to stand out as they’d already discussed the possibility of being targets and their luck wasn’t good enough to be testing like that.

The sidewalk led down the hill and toward the quiet city laid before them. It seemed to be rather early and they had the walkway to themselves as LoVelly fell into step beside her.

“How’d you land on that spot precisely?” She asked, looking back over her shoulder at the spot they stumbled onto the street. There didn’t seem to be anything spectacular about it, no markers of any importance. She turned back in time to see LoVelly shrug as he tipped his head back and forth, looking for the words.

“I can feel a lot of…of convergence energy here.” He said it slowly, like he wasn’t sure what the next word would be until it was coming out of his mouth. The word convergence echoed in Mezalie’s mind, a feeling of unease rising up with it as she thought of the woman with piercing eyes and a predatory smile.

“I had a vision, back in the ruins,” she whispered in a rush, “Before I was sick, I saw this woman with red hair and she said something about convergence. She asked if I could feel it?.” LoVelly’s eyes widened as she spoke.

“Me too! I had a vision right before I dropped us in the water on the beach and I saw someone…I knew them but I can’t remember now. They said the same thing, about feeling the convergence.” The excitement could be heard in his voice.

“That's got to be something then.” She reasoned. “Was your person a woman with red hair?”

“No, but I think I’ve had a vision of the woman with the red hair. It’s jumbled up in my brain somewhere but I think I remember her.”

“Okay. Okay. That’s something to start with at least.” Mez turned the information over in her mind. It was hard to know what visions and memories were her own and what were shared things from LoVelly through their strange, open, bond. She had some tests she wanted to run, when they got the chance.

The hill had become steeper as they went down it. The buildings began to rise up taller, with housing blocks stacked higher here, sometimes five or more blocks up. Most of the ground blocks were shops as they neared the heart of the neighborhood. They passed a grocery store where two people were dragging out signs and propping up an awning in front. It had a charming little banner draped across it with a mien curled around the store's name, its long tail draped over the last few letters.

“Where should we start?” LoVelly asked, finishing with a yawn. Mez looked at him as they passed beneath a street lamp and she saw the dark circles forming beneath his eyes, how exhausted he was beginning to look. While it was still unclear if she could actually sleep or not, LoVelly certainly needed to.

“Let’s start by finding a room.” She decided. LoVelly peered around at the buildings they passed.

“Okay... That sounds nice.” She could swear that he visibly deflated with the words, his eyes drooping even further.

“We’ve got enough for a nente somewhere until we can figure something else out.” Mez assured him. She figured she only needed to budget food for one of them anyway so they had a couple dorva left over. “I’m sure we can find some kind of- Oh!” She interrupted herself and ran ahead of him to the end of the street, stopping at the corner. She looked to the street sign and the cross-street they’d come up on, the name sparking familiarity in her mind. She looked at the skyline and realized she saw a familiar outline there too. When LoVelly caught up to her she turned to him, her eyes wide.

“I think we’re in Temal,” she announced. “This looks familiar because I’ve been here before. It’s been solcen because we never come this far inland but-” she spun around again, the wonder evident on her face. It was the happiest LoVelly had actually seen her.

“This is…was where I wanted to go in the first place…” She trailed off, excitement suddenly dying on her tongue. She stilled where she was, hands coming to rest at her sides limply as she stared up at the sign and then out past it at the gigantic moon rings radiating soft light back down on them. She took a deep breath in and released it on a huff. She didn’t turn to him when he caught up to her, just stared up at the sign post, a somewhat vacant stare. “I was thinking about leaving…” She said softly. “I wanted…I was thinking about getting off the TVE and making my way here.” Her voice shook near the end, emotion creeping into her voice making it thick. “It wasn’t supposed to happen like this though.” She whispered as she dragged her gaze from the sign to LoVelly and back.

“None of this was-It shouldn’t be-” She stumbled and tried to find the words but nothing that came to her mind correctly expressed the way she felt. There weren’t words big enough to carry her grief so she continued to hold it for now.

The desire to scream- scream until everything felt better- was so sweet that LoVelly felt it well up in him as well. LoVelly saw the tears gathering in Mezalie’s eyes as much as he felt them in his own eyes. The shine in her eyes in the moonlight was enough to give her away though. He could feel the pain threatening to spill over at any moment but this wasn’t the place nor the time and they both felt it when Mezalie crammed it back into a corner of her mind before it could break her down. Mez reached up and dragged the back of one hand across her face and took a deep breath. She wasn’t going to fall apart here, not where anyone could see her.

“We should follow this street down.” She said instead as she stepped away from him. She purposely kept her gaze focussed on the street as she walked. Down they went, until the ground leveled out and the road no longer sloped ahead of them.

More than once LoVelly found himself reaching for Mez’s hand with the want to understand, maybe even to soothe. However when he reached out she pulled away, determined to be left to herself.

She saw the way his steps dragged, lagging behind her own. She glanced at him while he was briefly distracted by a banner they passed, saw the way his eyes looked but didn’t see, glazed over. She thought that he looked as tired as she felt and she feared that the weight of her burden might crush him if she wasn’t careful. When he reached out to take her hand and risked opening that onslaught of emotion, she pulled away.

She kept walking, occupying her mind with trying to find familiarity in her surroundings. She looked to the cross street they’d come to and turned the corner to follow it, instinct telling her where to go. She wasn’t wandering aimlessly, exactly, but she also wasn’t quite sure where she was going yet. She was looking for something, somewhere, a vague memory in her past of streets she walked as a child during a Sol festival. She was taking in the landmarks and anything she might recognize to jog her memory. The streets themselves looked different when they weren’t covered in festive decor, colorful streamers and packed full of people.

She saw the twin towers of a grand temple she remembered visiting, once upon a time, rising high into the skyline across the city. Despite the distance she felt her stomach knot itself up in dread. She noted its relative placement and was determined to stay as far away from that side of the city as they could. She noted several building numbers as they passed shop fronts, suddenly wondering if LoVelly could read numbers even if he couldn’t do words- another test she'd like to try, but it could wait for now.

More people were beginning to emerge from their homes for the driev and she allowed LoVelly to close some of the distance between them so that she wouldn’t lose him. A light from behind them and a quiet whirring with a soft, high pitched chime gave warning that a netiline streetcar was making its way down the hill behind them. Ahead a group of people clustered around a stop, waiting to be picked up and start their driev.

LoVelly was in such a daze that he nearly kept walking when she decided to stop and wait with the others. They’d done enough walking lately that a short ride sounded nice. Thankfully Mez caught his attention with a tug on the shoulder before he wandered too far. It sent the tiniest zing between them just at the proximity. He blinked several times trying to clear his head of the exhaustion and the tingling that sometimes came with touch between them.

“We getting on the train?” LoVelly asked around another yawn and stretched his arms above his head. He eyed the crowd around them lazily as everyone pressed in, the street car slowing to a stop before them. There was a moment of stillness as the car sat in its dock before the whirring quieted and the car’s magnetic thrusters disengaged and it lowered into its cradle. The doors on either end of the car opened with barely a hiss and people quickly poured into the car, finding themselves a seat or a place to stand.

They were some of the last to board and found only standing room left. At first LoVelly did his best to create space between them but it quickly became apparent that that wasn’t going to be sustainable as people shuffled in closer around them. Mezalie relented and pressed up to LoVelly, back to back, preparing for whatever strange thing would happen this time.

It was an immediate torrent of thoughts scattered like a flock of startled [weather birds] across her mind. She didn’t try to grab hold of or decipher any of it though, letting it flow through her instead. Her focus was on somehow holding her own feelings safely and securely behind a neat little wall constructed in her mind. The effort of doing both things nearly made her knees buckle but LoVelly was a sturdy weight against her back to hold her up.

She didn’t know if he could tell what she was doing or not, neither one about to ask in the crowded car, but it felt like it was working, she hoped. She could feel LoVelly’s exhaustion bleed into her followed closely by his concern- for what exactly she wasn’t able to pinpoint, too busy with her own emotions for the fine details.

She felt the creature twist and writhe away from LoVelly’s presence, a shrill noise emanating somewhere deep in her psyche. Her head ached with the sound of it and she felt a squirming discomfort in her body and she lurched to the side as the car took a gentle bend. She bumped into the person next to her before she caught herself on a handrail across the ceiling of the car. She apologized, sheepishly blaming motion sickness for the intrusion. The person waved her off, seeming half asleep still and she was thankful for it.

She peeked over the few people between her and the window and saw the neighborhood roll by outside. They passed another street car headed in the opposite direction. It had a mural painted along the length of the car with bright, blooming flora painted in glowing pigments, visible even during the darkest luel. She hadn't paid attention to their own car and wondered if it displayed similar artwork.

A bell chimed once and everyone swayed in sync as the car slowed and came to a stop. Just like before there was a moment of pause as the sensors aligned the car with its cradle and then it gently set down before another chime and the hiss of the doors signaled it was safe to exit. LoVely moved to follow after the crowd that was exiting the car when Mez caught him by the sleeve.

“Nope. Not this one,” she said with a shake of her head when he turned back, a look of confusion on his face. He shuffled back in next to her before about half as many people filled into the car again, leaving some breathing room this time. Mez shuffled so that she could press her back against the side wall, welcoming the coolness of the surface. LoVelly leaned over to peer out the window as the car picked up and once again everyone swayed together as it set off down its tracks.

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The scenery began to change the deeper they went into the city. The ground level of most buildings became shops and businesses with many buildings reaching higher and higher, double the size of the ones they’d seen on the outskirts. They were also denser the further along the car went. At one point the track climbed up and over an open square where they could see a market setting up for the driev, people setting up stalls or hauling goods in. Here Mez caught the sight of several vacancy signs scattered about past the market.

Here was as good as anywhere she suspected and she didn’t want to risk going much further into the city lest it take the nearer to the temple. There really was no way of telling how far things went and LoVelly was right, they needed a solid plan first.

The track descended back to ground level and when it came to a stop Mez tugged on LoVelly’s sleeve to let him know they were actually disembarking this time. He followed behind her as she led them through the crowd that exited with them. When she turned back to check on him though she saw that he’d gotten separated and was looking around with something akin to panic on his face. She weaved through the crowd back to him and quickly took his hand to pull him along instead. They both felt the zap run through them like the tingling of a dead limb waking.

“Thank the gods. I swear I blinked and you were gone,” he breathed. He looked a little bit more alert now, the fear having jumpstarted his heart.

“We’re almost there. I promise.” She assured him as they pulled away from the crowd and down the way she’d seen the signs. They finally found themselves in front of a rather tall, thin, building. The front face had a set of short steps up to the front door. On the edges of the steps were numerous containers of small sprouting plants and flowers. The fragrant smell of herbs wafted up to them as they followed the narrow path through the planters and up the steps. The sign in the front window said ‘rooms available’ and she hoped against hope that they had decent hot water.

She turned the handle and a bell chimed pleasantly overhead as she pulled the door open to let themselves in. The lobby was plain in color but only in that. While the backdrop was plain white walls and old, tan carpet, just like outside on the steps there were planters of every size and shape on any surface on which they could rest. Bookcases were home to creeping vines and heavy, drooping flowers instead of any books. What Mez assumed to be the front counter was only distinguishable by the clear break in foliage where the top of a dark head of hair could just barely be seen behind the counter. As the door closed behind LoVelly and gave another quick jingle the head popped up and an elderly man rose up to greet them from his place behind the counter.

“Welcome in!” He raised one hand to wave them over. “Gonvenen Drieva.” Mezalie recognized the accent and the dialect as Lelistik and was thankful she’d just been in Syskel where that was spoken in the ports. LoVelly, however, surprised her by not missing a beat.

“Doren rom drieva skensca.” He replied to the old man who smiled at him, nodding.

“A fine drievett it is.” The man responded in Yoshkish, a little chuckle in his voice. LoVelly’s accent wasn’t bad but it was obvious that it wasn’t his native tongue.

“You have an amazing garden. It smells really great in here.” LoVelly took a deep inhale and it did smell quite nice. It smelled like fresh herbs and a little bit of dampness from the humidity but it made the old, bland building smell bright and clean.

“Well thank you. I start all the seeds myself and all the food we offer is seasoned fresh from the right here. I find that food grown yourself just tastes better. But you didn’t come in here to talk about my garden.” The old man laughed as he pulled a book from below the counter and laid it out in the blank space on the counter. “Will you be needing one room or two?” He laid a pen out on the page as well. Mez was the one that approached and took up the pen, scribbling in the requested information in the guest log.

“Just one is fine.” She put on a pleasant smile as she slid the book back across the counter to the man.

“Arri drah-dorva eb nente.” He told her and she was relieved, 3 dorva per nente was rather affordable, especially on their budget.

“Hin hin. Tari bi ov.” She thanked the man and dug into her pocket for the coins and handed over enough for two nente. If they stayed longer than that she could come down and pay again but Mezalie had a feeling they’d need to keep moving. The man took the coins and handed her a ring with two keys on it and explained that one was for the room and one was for the door around back where the stairs were that led to the upper floors. He told them they served breakfast and dinner in the common room through a door at the back that neither of them had even realized was there until the man pointed it out. Laundry was available on the bottom floor around the back.

They both thanked the man again and followed his directions out the door and around the back of the building. Mez used the key to let them up into the stairwell and they climbed up to the third floor and finally arrived at their door. She wasted no time in unlocking the door and throwing it open to shuffle inside.

It was a small room, as expected. There was one bed, a simple desk and an empty wardrobe with one door propped open. Above the desk was a rather large window with a nook that looked like it might be a comfy spot to sit with a cushion or two. An old faded rug covered most of the bare tiled floor beneath it.

LoVelly made straight for the bed and fell face first into it with an ‘oomph’, his legs still sticking off the end, boots on. He didn’t move for several tes, just turned his head to the side to breathe and laid there, eyes closed. Mezalie walked over to the desk and unlaced her boots, shucking them off and reveling in the feeling of being able to sit down and relax for even a moment.

Exhaustion hit her all at once like a street car. One moment she was leaning back in the chair just enjoying stretching her aching feet out and the next moment she was blinking her eyes open, straightening up before she toppled out of the chair. She was surprised because she’d been fairly convinced she couldn’t sleep anymore. Every time since The Incident, as she was calling it in her head, she’d either passed out unwillingly or there was the farmhouse catastrophe. But now she felt her limbs weighing her down and her body yearning for rest.

LoVelly still hadn’t moved from where he’d fallen and as she dragged her body from the desk across the tiny room she heard the tiniest snore. As she dropped herself heavily onto the side of the bed she reached over to shake him.

“LoVelly…take off your shoes.” She mumbled at him. He groaned long and whiney but when she shook him again he rolled over onto his back and sighed.

“Fine, fine.” He mumbled back at her. His eyes were barely open as he sat up and scooted down to clumsily untie the laces and kick his boots off at the foot of the bed. While he was fumbling with that Mez had managed to fight her way under the covers laid out. When LoVelly made his way back up and pulled the covers back to get in neither one of them thought twice about scooting in close and tucking themselves together, even though there was room this time. The closeness was good like this, the buzz soft and comforting between them instead of an intense electric sparking. She wished they had better control over it but that thought was quickly lost as her mind descended into softness.

She wasn’t quite asleep, too aware of her surroundings, of LoVelly’s breath against her collarbone, of her hair sticking to her face. She wasn’t quite awake either with cloudy dreamlike thoughts intruding into her reality. Wisps of thoughts drifting through the room around her. She thought she probably could move her body, if she wanted to, but she also couldn’t imagine a reason to do that when she was so comfortable and warm.

There was a knock on the door and she didn't remember getting up but her hand turned the knob and there stood Vell. Mezalie was so happy she felt the tears well up instantly in her eyes. She reached out to pull the other woman into a hug and for a moment she felt alright. When she inhaled to take a deep breath she smelled smoke and it nearly choked her. She quickly pulled back to find her friend alighted in dark, consuming flames like they were on the beach and she shrieked, pushing away.

The dark fire flared and Vell was gone, engulfed and from the pyre burst the woman from her vision. Her eyes were so bright they nearly seemed to glow. Her gaze was so intense that Mezalie forgot to run, or to move at all, mesmerized by the desperation that those eyes held.

For what?

What was it about this woman that was so unsettling?

Just as she thought she was about to have a coherent thought she woke with a jerk and a gasp. She was still in bed in their tiny rented room with LoVelly curled up next to her, again with the tiniest snore. Thankfully she hadn’t woken him and he simply rolled over when she carefully detangled herself and crawled to the edge of the bed and sat, her feet flat on the floor, hands at her sides and she stared out the window. She wasn’t looking at anything in particular, just staring.

What was she going to do now? What could she do? There wasn’t anyone she could turn to. She didn’t know who to trust.

She remembered telling LoVelly not to worry about those things, that they had time to figure it out. That felt like a gigantic lie now.

She felt a tickle across the back of her mind that filled her with dread as the thing crawled out of whatever dark hiding spot it lived in in her mind.

Eat.

The command came. She sat, resolute, at the edge of the bed.

No. She refused, balling her fists up where they rested at her sides. No.

Eat.

It came again, forceful and angry. She felt her resolve slip in the face of fear but she remained firm.

No. She told it again. She would not let it slaughter for the sake of its unending hunger. If I can’t eat then neither will you.

She felt the roiling anger, hissing and bubbling within her. She felt it threaten to spill over and a sickening greasy feeling came over her. She bolted to her feet wrapping her arms around herself trying in some way to contain it, to stop the creature from emerging. LoVelly rolled toward her, sleepily blinking his eyes at her. He'd barely been asleep for a few dib and she felt terrible to have woken him.

“Mez…?” He squinted up at her, back-lit by street lamps through the window.

“It's fine,” she said quickly. “I'm just going to the bathroom. I'll be back.” She didn't leave him time to question her as she headed for the door and flipped the lock. She thought she heard him mumble something else but she was already in the hall and closing the door.

The bathroom was at the end of the hall, shared by occupants on the floor but thankfully the door sat ajar and the room vacant. The overhead lamps were vintage and charming but still modern enough to be fenoperable. She fed her fen down to her hands and placed her fingertips to the switch pad to start them and waited-

And waited.

But the lights remained dark.

Puzzled, she removed her hand and tried the other and still, nothing happened. She jabbed at the pad several times just for good measure before giving up. She resigned herself and flipped the manual switch for the lights and the hum of the generator battery hummed to life. She would have preferred the silence but either the switch was broken or she was.

She had fen. It wasn’t the same anymore but if anything it was more powerful than she’d ever been. She barely remembered anything from the adrenaline fueled states she’d been in but she had no doubt that she’d unleashed torrents of hot, burning fen flames in those temples. She remembered hearing the crackle and pop of tevedev dust as it activated under the heat and pressure.

The lights gradually brightened and she closed the door behind her, flipping the lock. Her breathing was still too fast, too shallow and she took deep gasping breaths, trying to calm the fear. She crossed to the sink and ran the water cold, using her hands to splash the water on her face over and over. She stopped, one hand resting on the tap handle and one on the rim of the bowl and forced herself to look in the mirror.

She couldn't actually remember the last time she'd seen her own face. It was at least a lifetime ago and she wasn’t sure she recognized the woman looking back at her. Her skin looked dry and pale, her eyes were bloodshot around the edges and her lips were chapped and cracking. The woman in the mirror had seen more than she could have ever imagined just several driev ago.

She was almost disappointed, in a way. It felt like for everything she'd endured there should be some kind of big physical change she could see. Something that made everything feel real, like they'd happened to her and not somebody else. Instead there was just a vaguely miserable looking face, that she barely recognized, who looked a bit worse for wear staring back at her.

She turned the water off and stepped back from the sink, looking away from the mirror. There was a tub in the room with a standing shower and considering the last driev she’d had she decided the shower sounded great. It might help her relax, she hoped, as she turned the handle for hot water. She needed to comb through her hair at some point, the curls were tangled and limp where they hung down to her shoulders. She tried to run her fingers through the ends to work out some of the tangles there while the water heated.

She kicked her dirty clothes into a pile in the corner, determined to wash them later. She thought she could probably ask the man who ran the place if he had anything they could wear while they washed theirs. Better yet would be to find something better fitted but they were limited on funds at the moment. There was a cabinet in the corner of the room and inside she found several well worn but soft, fluffy blue towels. She took one and set it out next to the foot of the tub.

When she stepped into the tub and felt the hot water run over her back and then her head as she moved under the spray she audibly sighed. She let the water run over her, closing her eyes and letting the heat soothe the aches and wash away the grime she felt like a layer on her skin. Like so many Solahrans before her she thrived best in the heat, something that compelled them into traveling the world in chase of their star to begin with. She knew she could stand there until the water ran cold if she let herself but she reached up for the soap in the little basket hanging from the shower head and began scrubbing.

She still didn’t think she’d ever feel clean again but it was better than nothing, she thought, as she got to work lathering the soap into her hair. The floral smell hit her with a wave of nostalgia. The soap had chunks of greft comb and niesium flowers embedded in it and it soothed her senses like a balm. She’d always loved making soaps with Vell and the others when they would harvest and dry the seasonal flowers and other collected items from their travels. Most of their soaps were floral or sharp and tangy but some of them had things like soothing greft comb jelly or scrubby porfen meal in them when it was available.

She rinsed the soap from her skin, watching the suds gather and burble as they were swept down the drain. Once the water was off she wrapped herself in the minor comfort that was a soft towel after a hot shower. She was patting herself down when she thought she heard a light tapping. She paused, listening and at first she heard nothing, just the hum of the lights and then just as she began to try toweling off her hair, there it was again. This time when she paused she heard the faint ‘mep’ from outside the door and the soft bapping of a tiny paw trying to reach beneath the door.

She unlocked the door and opened it to find a little black and white spotted mien who immediately let themselves right in. Mez, a bit puzzled, closed the door after them so as not to let all of the heat escape so soon. She watched with curiosity as the little creature marched up to the side of the tub, paused to look back at her and let out what sounded like the brattiest noise she thought a mien was capable of before hopping up and into the tub. All she could see was its thick, fluffy black tail bopping up over the rim.

Mez continued about her business and enjoyed the steamy room and the heat. There was a little basket on the counter that she'd ignored earlier in favor of her meltdown. She was overjoyed to find a couple of small combs and elastics there. She picked a wide toothed comb, washing it in the sink, and set to work on detangling her mop. She didn't know how long she sat combing, listening to the mien lapping at the water in the bottom of the tub and the hum of the lights. By the time she was finally done the furry little creature had climbed out of the tub and sat patiently at the door, staring at her with its big, dark eyes and a pathetic sounding, “mep.”

“Just a tes, you demanding little monster,” she said, looking it in its big eyes. She ran her fingers experimentally through her hair again and this time they made it through with minimal tangling and she called it good. She pulled her clothes back on, somewhat self conscious with the mien staring her down from the door. It felt silly but she swore she could feel its eyes boring holes in her as she moved about the room.

Finally she turned to open the door, releasing the very sassy furball who trotted ahead of her with a huff. The steam that was left in the room rolled out behind her as well. She nearly forgot to flip the light switch and had to double back to get it.

When she arrived back at their room she found it was still unlocked and LoVelly was sound asleep in the bed, curled onto his side and snoring softly and she couldn’t help but liken him to her little visitor. She was both relieved that she hadn’t woken him when she returned and concerned that he could sleep so soundly with the door unlocked but, LoVelly was strange.

She knew she wouldn’t be sleeping, or whatever it was she did now, anytime soon. She could feel a prickling in her veins, an itch like a crawling sensation, beginning and she knew she needed to get out of the room. She was an anxious mess still and she desperately wanted to calm herself down, maybe a drink? Maybe not, could she even drink? She didn’t know what counted as food and would be violently rejected later and what didn’t. If she understood what the thing said she didn’t need food. She didn’t need to breathe, she was doing it out of habit. There were so many things swimming in her mind that she wasn’t sure what to do with or how to organize.

For now, she slipped her stolen boots back on and promised herself she wouldn’t go far. Maybe she’d just go down and ask about borrowing some clothes to launder theirs. Maybe she’d run into her little mien friend again and poke around the inn and the shops around it. Either way she’d let LoVelly sleep for now, he deserved it.

She crossed over to the little desk and pulled out a drawer and then another one, looking for a pen and paper and luckily she found some on her third and final try. She jotted down a quick note explaining that she’d be nearby in case he woke while she was gone. She left it on the desk and headed out the door again, turning the lock on the inside handle this time before she closed it.

She felt the creeping darkness across the back of her mind again, not pushing- just lingering like it wanted her to know it was there. She felt what was scarily becoming a normal amount of dread rise up in her throat before she squashed it back down.

She could control this.

She just had to try a little harder.