She pulled her head deeper into her hood, trying to keep the cold from nibbling at her cheeks. The idea of Grimnar being her mother continued to circle her mind like a flock of ravens. She clenched her teeth trying to ignore it. That place hadn't made her. It was her determination, refusal to quit, honed and shaped by her master. That's what had forged her. That's why she was such a powerful tool. She drew her knees into her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

She released a heavy sigh. The man was right. At least in away. Grimnar had been influential. It had trained her, molding her talents didn't do something her master could then shape. She'd learned how to act, how to speak, how to think there. Yet it wasn't her mother, that place lacked everything that a mother was were at least what she supposed one was. She rested her forehead against her knees and close your eyes.

Korsha had never known her mother. She could remember why, but the woman had passed away when she was young. She remembered sitting in her brother's lap as he told her stories about their mother. How she used to dance and sing around the house. In Korsha's mind she saw a woman who was happy and always smiling. She wondered what that was like. Taking a deep breath, she held it and placed all those memories, especially those of her brother, into that breath and then she pushed it out. With the passing of those memories, grief welled up within her, a lonely tear escaping from her eye, trickling down the contours of her face before it found its final resting place on her trembling leg.

Now is not the time.

"Little sister."

She flinched, startled by this sudden intrusion into her privacy. She glanced up and saw a yaejik trudging over to her. She watched as he cautiously approached, limping with a slow and uneven gait. He leaned heavily on a twisted and gnarled walking stick wrapped in cracked strips of leather. Even through the darkness she could see his weathered hands gripping the wood of the cane tightly, knuckles white. Somehow it seemed as though the yaejik and the walking stick were made from the same essence.

Yet despite his hunched and age-drained demeanor, his mask was an explosion of elaborate geometric shapes that were carved into the hard ringed wood. The entire surface was smudged in a red stain, save for small pockmarks were the yellow wood peaked through. A long black cloth fell like a veil across his mouth and swung about his chest. The yaejik's countenance was the embodiment of autumn, drawing existence from the other colors, leaves and vines, feathers and metals, all coalescing into a stark contrast against the pale featureless backdrop of Helshar.

Korsha's brows furrowed as she since something familiar about this man, "Do I know you?"

"You do not know my name, but I know that the spirits commune with you."

Korsha's eyes widened and she let her knees drop away. This was a shashas, one of the tribes spiritual guides. She'd heard about them, and their strange rituals, but she hadn't heard that they could speak with the spirits. Was that what she'd sensed before? How had they hidden themselves from the technomancers? She stood up, not wishing to be at a disadvantage. She concentrated, casting her senses out but was surprised to see that there was no corruption found within them. He was in a mage.

"How do you speak to the spirits?"

The shashas chuckled, "They are my brothers and sisters. My mothers and fathers. They come to me in dreams and while I'm meditating and when I walk with them through the deep places. They speak to me through the wind. Through the rustling of branches and in the whisperers of snowflakes."

Korsha's brow furrowed. Was this guy for real or was he crazy? It part of her marveled at this. She'd never known a binder that wasn't a mage. Yet as she thought about it, she didn't necessarily need her magic to fuel her connection with the spirits. If what this shashas said was true then it was the spirits that were empowering him. How had the Dominion overlooked this? This could be a way for me to serve my master without using Azaelah's corruption. Dammit, if only I had enough time. I'll have to look into this later. Korsha frowned, why hasn't Enaru ever mention this to me?

"Little sister, there is one who desires to commune with you." The shashas said. It was quiet for a moment and then his body shuddered. His back straightened as he now towered over her, "Korsha."

His voice was different, deeper somehow and she recognize that he was speaking to her in a different language, one she intuitively understood. Stranger still, it seemed that her omnivice wasn't picking up on any of this. Her body stiffened as she realized who was speaking to her.

"Enaru?"

"Why have you forsaken me?"

"I haven't! I promise. I am…" She hesitated, what should she tell him? What would he even care about? "Things are crazy right now."

"You're ignoring me. Ignoring my questions."

Korsha grimaced. She couldn't lie to the spirit. He just see right through it and it would only make him angrier. She needed him. Without his assistance she'd be of little use within Keshkigal. Already she could taste the bitterness through their connection. Instead she chose to remain quiet and hope that the spirit would just go away. It was pathetic and she knew it.

"You bound that woman."

Korsha released a breath as her head dropped. So he'd figured it out.

"I did is my master instructed."

There was a deep rumbling within the man's chest, a sound she wasn't sure that he should be able to make.

"I warned you about this. I permit you to find spirits who I deem are worthy of punishment, but then you bind others. This is a wicked trickery that borders on blackness!"

Korsha clenched her fists. In Keshkigal he might have been a guide, understanding the complexities and nuances of that world but up here she understood how it worked.

"My master needed to give her purpose. There was a greater role that she could serve."

"Your master uses her. He is a master of puppets."

Korsha slammed her foot down in front of her and leaned forward as she stabbed the air before her with her finger, "Do not speak about my master like that again."

Enaru scoffed, "I forgave you the first time because you were ignorant. This time you understood what you were doing. The stain of that decision is marked upon your spirit. Do not think you can purge it from yourself in death's embrace. This will follow you. Do not commit such wickedness again or we shall walk different paths."

All the anger within Korsha flooded out of her. Somehow the ice of Helshar had entered her veins. The ground beneath her had become a thin sheet of ice and she could hear it cracking. Without Enaru she would become useless in Keshkigal. It would be incredibly dangerous and cost considerable time for her to venture out on her own into the underworld. It would force her to find another spirit to be her companion. If any would even take her. She'd become valueless to her master in this way.

"Enaru," she said, hating the desperation that painted her voice, "you don't understand. I must obey –"

"Enough!" The shashas body shuddered violently and then he fell forward against his staff.

A deep groan escaped his lips and another yaejik appeared beside him. The child, whose mask was large against his spindly frame, wrapped his arm around their shoulders and helped him seat himself into the chair the Korsha had been sitting in earlier. The shashas' body spasmed, arms and legs flailing in random directions. With a practiced grace, the child stepped forward and scooped something from the pouch at their side. their hand disappeared behind the veil is a set about their unseen work.

"Will he be okay?" Korsha asked, guilt squeezing her heart she watched the shashas flail.

She lunged forward, fingers seizing the man's shoulder as he nearly threw himself out of the chair. Korsha heard the child whispering something in a wilted voice. She couldn't understand it and her omnivice didn't bother trying to translate it. There was a rapid rhythm to it. A short phrase repeated over and over. After a time, the child turned to Korsha.

"We'll be fine. This happens most times he communes with the spirits."

Korsha nodded once the man had settled down. Unable to linger, she spun on her heel and left. She wanted to get as far away from him as possible. Anxiety squirmed its way through her gut until it was knotted up inside her. What would happen if her master asked her to bind another person? The first person she'd bound had become incredibly useful according to her master. Yet if she did it again, Enaru would live up to his threat and abandon her. If she lost the spirit it could take months before she could get another and that would be if she was lucky.

Yet deep down inside, she didn't want to get another spirit. Enaru had been hers since the first time she'd stepped into Keshkigal. Contrary to what her teachers had thought, the fact that she she'd connected with Enaru on the first try wasn't due to some innate skill. It had been all the spirits doing. Enaru had sought her out. Like a loyal pet, he'd come rushing to her as though she'd been returning home after an extended absence.

She found a nearby house, one far enough away that she was satisfied she wouldn't be bothered by the shashas again but one close enough that she could keep an eye out for the bamnarstat. She leaned back against the wall crossed her arms. She ignored the ache of her shoulders and wrist as she smashed her arms against her chest in a constricting embrace of herself.

Tendrils of mist poured out of her, smog and black thoughts following. It broke apart, dissipating before her reflecting how she felt inside. She was being pulled in different directions. She didn't know how much more she could take before being torn. There was going to come a day when she had to choose between her master and Enaru's allegiance.

"As if there's a choice."

Those haunting prophetic words slithered through the air, coiling along the ground as they seeped into the cold uncaring earth. They were a messenger to fate that Korsha had already capitulated. The choice had already been made and her fate sealed.