So-ree’s first instinct was to bolt. And with no one in her way, she saw very little reason, not to do it. The almost empty bowl cluttered to the ground as she dropped it and dashed towards the door. As she passed the tables, she noticed the heads of the rest of the people turn, not as a reaction to her mad dash but in a delayed reaction to the bowl still circling on the ground. Only the red-furred man followed her, but he didn’t seem inclined to chase after her.

“I wonder what your wish was”, he said as she pulled open the door and left the room, once again braving the cold outside. This time however there was more activity outside. People had started to leave the warm insides and she saw three small groups gather down in the streets. So-ree stopped to take a breather and she already noticed one group, led by another red-clad person, coming up the stairs to her left. She quickly checked her wrapping and saw that it was almost gone. She quickly set to work on reinforcing it again while keeping an eye on the approaching group. What was going on?

“How did he see me?”, she asked into the cold air. Satisfied with the quick bit of work she had done in fixing up the wrapping that kept her hidden, So-ree turned to the right and started going up more stairs. Luckily there were multiple ways up and down and the search parties didn’t seem to notice her from afar. She could still find a hiding spot, she just had to get away from them.

He must have noticed me. My power doesn’t affect myself and I am gathered around you, came a response from Fenner. Most spirits do not bother to keep an eye out for other spirits, we are solitary creatures. How strange that he noticed me so quickly. He should not be able to detect me from farther away as long as I keep my current size.

“Great, I was just getting used to being able to sneak anywhere”, So-ree muttered, more to herself. She had reached an intersection of stairs and started heading down, keeping well clear of the search parties. They seemed to know that someone was around, but didn’t really have an idea where. And as long as she kept her distance from the red fur man, they still shouldn’t be able to notice her. She just had to find a small place to crawl down and curl up until the search died down.

So-ree reached the bottom of the stairs and headed towards an alley. These alleys led deeper into the rock and the one she was headed towards was covered, more of a large fissure than the main section of the enclave. Inside the alley, she passed a few windows and then started checking if any doors were open. The first door she tried indeed opened without any resistance, but when she peeked her head inside, she saw multiple human shapes wrapped in furs on the floor, probably sleeping. She quickly pulled her head out, closing the door as silent as possible and continued. The next four places she checked were occupied as well, but the fifth turned out to be empty. Slipping inside, she took the measure of the room. It was nothing to care for, the place was carved directly from the rock, giving it an uneven shape. Only the floor was covered in wooden planks in at least an attempt to keep the cold out, without much success. It was freezing. She had no idea how they kept this place warm. Back in her old enclave, they had lived underground around a hot spring. The heat kept the tunnels warm, but she had spent enough time hiding away in abandoned mineshafts at the outskirts of the enclave to be familiar with sleeping in the cold.

The only thing that stood in the small dwelling was the door in the back. So-ree carefully cracked it open, but it was only an even rougher carveout at the back with a large bucket on a rock pedestal. Judging by the smell, this was this enclave’s version of an outhouse. But the stink was faded and So-ree decided that she could live with that, closing the door behind herself. After pushing the bucket in one corner and huddling down on the opposite side on the pedestal, she barely noticed it anymore. She pulled her furs closer and made herself small. A little wait until the ruckus outside calmed down would be fine and would give her time to rest. Now that she had eaten, she felt the weariness of her body and having come to a stop, she didn’t even think she had the energy to move again.

Your wrapping won’t keep for too long if anyone comes in here and time will fade it, Fenner reminded her. Do not rest for too long.

“I got you”, she said. “At least we already know who our target is. That must be the immortal of this place, right?”

I cannot imagine how else he could have seen through my power otherwise. That he noticed me is strange already. You will have to approach this with caution and keep your distance until you are ready to engage. I will teach you more about my powers to prepare you, but for now you need to save your energy. Unpack the leg, so I can prepare. You won’t need to carry it any longer after this, it will be drained.

So-ree nodded although she had no idea if the disembodied spirit could even see that and pulled the large package off her back and put it on the ground in front of the pedestal. Unwrapping it took some doing, the cloth had frozen to the flesh during her travels, but with some tugging she managed to pull it back, revealing a human leg. The skin was grey and rigid from the cold, but otherwise it looked normal. She had no idea what Fenner was doing to it, but she didn’t really care to find out. She was just happy to be rid of it.

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After finishing her task, she curled up in her furs again and closed her eyes, settling down to sleep. So-ree was looking forward to learning more about these powers. Aionwe had told her that there was more to it than hiding herself and there had to be considering Aionwe took off Salessa’s leg and managed to make it back to their hiding spot while bleeding out. The immortal of So-ree’s old enclave was terrifying. She was able to summon invisible walls and could levitate, always lording over the people of her settlement from atop her home in the hot spring, the only place that was on the outside. It had been strange to see an immortal just associate with normal people here. Salessa would have never even entered one of their caves, letting her guards do the searching. So-ree had only seen her a few times during one of her addresses standing in the air with the steam of the hot spring rising around her. In terms of presence, this immortal was much less imposing.

Before she could fall down a sinkhole of worries about the dangers ahead, her exhaustion finally won out and, lying in her corner more relaxed than she had been in a while, she fell asleep. She woke up to someone dragging her off the pedestal.

Girl, hide the pendant, now!

Fenner’s voice was the first thing she heard and, still sleep drunk, she reached out with her mind and grabbed at the spirit’s power. They almost pushed it at her and So-ree went to work to wrap it around the small leather bag hanging from her neck. Only once it was hidden, did she focus on her situation. Someone had tied her feet and hands and was using her furs as a makeshift pouch to trap her in and covered her head. She had very little room to wiggle, but she did her best to make herself a nuisance. Whoever was dragging her responded to that with a few kicks to her side and So-ree took the hint. She held herself still and waited until they had brought her wherever they were headed. If they had wanted to kill her, they would have done so already. Instead, she focussed inside, making sure that the pendant was well hidden. She also spun some threads of power around herself, not enough to take effect, but a base to expand on quickly if she needed to. She was glad for the time Aionwe had given her to become familiar with this power. Although she felt wholly unprepared fleeing her old enclave and infiltrating this one, at least she knew how to handle the tools she had been given. Her failure to stay hidden for even one night just made the task ahead of her all the more insurmountable. How could she follow in Aionwe’s footsteps if she couldn’t even get a good night’s sleep? Failing at the task for which her predecessor had praised her for, hurt.

It took uncomfortably long until they arrived at their destination. Once they got outside, another person showed up and they lifted So-ree up and started moving at a quicker pace. She tried to picture the path they took to memorize it, but she felt that she did a bad job. The only thing she was certain about was that they took her down some stairs and that the final destination was a place underground. That wouldn’t mean much in her old enclave, but she had the impression that these people spent more of their time above ground thanks to the cover their home provided from the outside storm.

So-ree was dropped on the ground and someone pulled the furs from her face. She blinked aggressively and tried to turn herself around to catch a glimpse of her captors but she only got a view of their backs through metal bars for her efforts, a single torch on the outside of the cell barely illuminating the corridor. After some contorting and grunting, she shook her furs loose and got a better look at her situation. Twine had been tightly wrapped around her wrists and ankles, keeping them together and the furs around them secured. Maybe she could get her hands loose, the furs provided a gap, but it would take some time.

There is an application of my power that can free you here, Fenner commented in her head. By wrapping it around an object, reversing and then tightening it, you can erase it. It will take some practice, but you will have to get the hang of it anyway. Try it.

So-ree had been about to try and get her teeth on the twine but the spirit’s suggestion seemed like a better idea. She had already set the groundwork with the guiding wrapping around her hands and she quickly gathered and pushed more power towards her hand. Making a wrapping away from her body took more concentration but she had done the same with her pendant. It took her only a moment to get the wrapping in place. But reverse it?

“What do you mean by reversing it?”, she asked.

It is still connected to you. You have to reverse the effect inwards, erasing the rope to itself instead of erasing it for the outside world.

“That… that doesn’t make any sense.”

This is always the hard part with you humans, Fenner said. So-ree could almost hear the sigh in the emotionless voice in her head. I wish Aionwe had taught you this part, she took remarkably well to these twists of mind necessary for your kind. Think about the effect the wrapping has at the moment and try to make it do the opposite.

“Not a particularly helpful explanation, but I guess I’ll try.

“Who are you talking to, my girl?”, a voice interrupted her from behind. Panic flooded through So-ree and she started wiggling around until she could flip on her belly. The torch light didn’t reach far into the cell, but now that she paid attention she could make out the shape of a person chained to the back wall.

Careful, girl. That body belongs to a spirit. There are two immortals in this enclave.