Dania woke the following afternoon—or at least, it would have been afternoon in the real world. Terms like "morning" and "afternoon" didn't seem to mean much here in the Night Haven. Her watch said she'd slept for eight hours. She stretched her arms over her head and reveled in the feeling of being well rested. She wasn't even sore.

After a deliciously luxurious shower, Dania dressed and went looking for Jake. His orphan, the Lost Child of Darkness, found her first.

"Oh! Hello," Dania said when she rounded the corner of the hallway that led to their suites. "I… see Jake played you. Did Hush find you last night? I asked him to make sure you were comfortable."

The little girl appeared to be somewhere between five and eight years old, and clutched a teddy bear close to her body. She lifted the same, pupil-less eyes as Machairi to meet Dania's gaze and nodded solemnly.

"Good. Was he helpful?"

Another nod.

"Do…you think you're going to like it here?"

Nod.

"Okay. Good." Dania shifted awkwardly from foot to foot. Obviously, the child wasn't inclined to speak, which was fine, but it did make for decidedly one-sided conversations. "Do you need anything?"

The child nodded again and let go of her teddy bear with one hand to wave Dania forward. Then she turned and started moving—gliding more than walking—back down the hallway, the way she'd come.

"Okay," Dania called after her. "I guess I'll just follow you then."

The girl nodded without looking back. Dania shrugged and kept going.

Their destination turned out to be the dining room they'd found the previous night. The girl pushed through the huge double wooden doors and stopped, pointing at one of the tables in the center of the space. It was covered in a dizzying array of foods, and Jake and Machairi occupied two of the chairs, both leaning in to look at something on Dania's iPad. Jake laughed, and a moment later, Machairi did too, glancing at Jake's face as if he were taking his cues from his deckbearer.

He probably is, Dania realized. Machairi's only a few weeks old. He's learning how to be a kid from Jake, just as Jake's learning combat from him. Fascinating.

The orphan tapped Dania on the elbow, bringing her out of her reverie. Dania glanced down to see the little girl pointing more insistently at Jake.

"You want me to go talk to him?"

Nod.

"About what?"

The girl tilted her head to the side, as if she wasn't sure how to respond to that. Dania realized she hadn't asked a true yes or no question, and so if the girl couldn't speak, she likely couldn't respond. She bit her lip and glanced over at Jake, just in time for him to look up and meet her eyes.

"Dani!" he called out. "She found you! Awesome!"

"You sent her to find me?" Dania asked. Next to her, a look of relief passed over the girl's face, and she nodded as if Dania had addressed the question to her.

"I did," Jake said. "We didn't want to leave the table in case the room cleaned up, but we wanted to make sure you had a chance to eat. Machairi says that the room only serves food at certain times."

"That's right, I remember that last night. Thanks, kid," she said with a grin as she started walking over. Then she turned to look at the little girl with the teddy bear. "And thank you, too!"

The little girl looked at her with big, wide eyes, and then slowly gave her a tiny, solemn smile and a nod. Then she turned and glided away.

Dania watched her go, and then shook her head before turning back to the table and taking a seat next to Jake. "That was one of the odder interactions I've ever had in my life," she said.

"The little one is scared and unsure," Machairi said. "She will gain confidence in time."

"I'm an ER nurse," Dania reminded him as she took the plate Jake offered and began filling it with crispy bacon, toast, and some of the best-looking fruit she'd ever seen. "I'm familiar with traumatized children. She seems a little like that, but also… different."

"She was just hanging around here until I sent her to go find you," Jake said. "I felt bad, because I couldn't figure out what she wanted."

"She is lost. She wants to have a home," Machairi said. "Giving her a task was good. It made her feel useful. Like she could earn a place here."

"She doesn't have to earn anything!" Alarm and denial spiked through Jake's tone. "She already has a place here! That's why I played her! She doesn't have to work for it or anything, that's not what I meant!"

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"No…I think I understand what Machairi's trying to say," Dania said, reaching out to put a gentle hand on Jake's forearm. "Giving her things to do helps her to feel a little bit in control of her life…or existence…or whatever. That's a common reaction with kids who've been through trauma. Do we know her name?"

"She has none. She is not a companion card, or a sentient overland monster like Hush. Perhaps when she is evolved, that will change, but for now, she is merely the Lost Child of Darkness."

"Well, we can't exactly call her that to her face, can we?" Dania asked, exasperated.

"Why not?" Machairi countered.

"It's dehumanizing!"

"She is not human."

Dania snapped her mouth shut, her natural protective anger simmering beneath her skin. She inhaled and let it out slowly. "All right," she said, keeping the sharpness out of her voice. "So, she doesn't need a name, but she does need tasks to feel useful?"

"She does not need them, but she responds well to them. They fit with her overall purpose."

"Which is?"

"To find her home. She is lost."

"Okay,” Dania said. "I think I understand."

"Me too," Jake said. "But she is safe here, and she has a home. Tell her that, Machairi."

"I will if you like," Machairi said. "But you can tell her yourself. She understands everything you say."

"She left."

"Call her back. You're her deckbearer."

Jake blinked, as if that thought hadn't occurred to him. Then his eyes unfocused for a moment before he looked down at his plate. "She's coming," he said, and shoved a forkful of biscuits and gravy into his mouth.

The big doors opened again, and the little slip of the girl flowed in. Behind her, Hush followed, his grin widening as he met Dania's eyes.

"Come here, Child," Jake said. "Please?"

The girl nodded and approached, clutching her teddy bear.

"Do…do you like it here?" Jake asked. "Do you want to stay?"

Nod.

"So, you…you don't have to work or anything. You can stay here just because. Machairi said that you like having tasks to do, but you don't have to do them. Do you understand? You can choose."

A long pause, and then a nod.

"I just…" Jake looked over to Dania, a plea for help in his eyes.

"You're safe here," Dania put in. "This can be home for you, if you want it."

The Child cut her eyes from Jake to Dania, and then back again. When Jake nodded agreement, the little one's pupil-less eyes went wide and round, and something that looked like hope entered her expression.

"Yes," Jake said. "I really mean it. You don't have to be Lost anymore. The Night Haven is your home for as long as you want."

Darkness enveloped Dania, wrapping around her in an instantaneous and all-consuming embrace. Strangely, though, she felt no panic, no rage. A sense of well-being, of comfort, of being loved and cherished and above all safe filled her being. She inhaled deeply, trying to pull that overwhelming but all-too-fleeting feeling deep into her lungs… but between one heartbeat and the next, it faded away.

The lights returned, glowing slowly brighter until they resumed the soft brilliance they'd had before that moment of…whatever it was.

"Jake?" Dania asked. "You okay?"

"Yeah," he said, as awe slowly spread over his face. "But look at her!"

Dania turned to regard the Lost Child. A brilliant smile bloomed in her expression, and her pupil-less eyes shone with unshed tears. Above her head, her card appeared, but as Dania watched, it evinced a small, but meaningful change:

#

Lost Child of Darkness Elarienne, The Havenkeeper Child

Uncommon Tier-1 Shadow/Psychic [Dream] Minion [Orphan]

0 Power

Special: Will fetch normal objects and such with a decent degree of precision and help. Can carry up to ten pounds.

Special: Orphan Evolution [Unique]: If kept ‘alive’ for six straight months, will turn into a Tier-3 equivalent minion, gaining notable power. If ever ‘killed,’ the timer resets. This new minion can only be used in a Nether Realm, but will not count against minion cards. When this card evolves, it will produce a single card of common or uncommon quality appropriate to the deck of its deckbearer.

“This gives the idea of saving a dream a very literal meaning.”

#

"You…you have a name?" Dania asked.

Elarienne nodded, her smile beatific.

"And, can you speak?"

Elarienne tilted her head to the side, as if considering, and then shook her head in the negative. Her smile remained undimmed, though, as happiness shone through every line in her body.

"I forgot about that special property!" Jake said. "When I welcomed her home, the Night Haven adopted her, for lack of a better term. She'll have her own personality now, like Machairi and Hush."

"And this is what you want, Elarienne?" Dania asked, turning back to the little girl. She nodded so vehemently that her hair fell forward into her face. Tears streamed from her eyes, and she suddenly surged forward, moving faster than an eyeblink to throw her arms around Jake, hugging him as if he were her long-lost big brother.

Jake looked at Dania with wide, startled eyes for just a moment, and then patted the little girl on the back. "I'm happy you're happy, Elarienne," he said. "I…I know a little bit what it's like to feel lost. I felt lost for a while after my parents died. So, if living here gives you joy… then that's exactly what I wanted."

Elarienne leaned back far enough to kiss Jake on the cheek, and then she unwound her arms from his neck and stepped backward. She gave him another brilliant smile, nodded to Dania and Machairi, and turned to glide out of the room.

"Wellll done, Nyx's Chossssen," Hush said. He inclined his head respectfully to Jake and flowed forward until he suddenly inhabited the chair next to Dania.

"That was…unexpected," Dania said. Jake rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and then nodded.

"I should have remembered the Night Haven would do that. Maybe it would have made better sense to choose another creature. Something that could defend the place."

"No…" Dania said slowly. "I…I can't say why, but my gut tells me that Elarienne was the perfect choice for the Haven."

"Ellllarrrriennne willl doooo weellll heeerrrreee," Hush said. "Youuu willl ssseee."

"You met her purpose admirably, my deckbearer," Machairi agreed, approval in his tone. "My mother would be pleased."

"You say shit like that all the time, you know that?" Dania said, turning to regard Jake's companion. Machairi met her eyes with a cheeky grin as she continued, determined to lighten the mood. "But you're only a few weeks old. I don't think you have the faintest idea what Nyx would or would not feel!"

"That is fine, Guardian. You are allowed to be wrong."

Jake burst out laughing, and slapped a hand over his mouth, looking at Dania with apology and mirth in his eyes. Dania rolled her eyes and joined him in laughter, and leaned forward to steal a piece of bacon from his plate.

"Whatever, Creepy. Okay, kids. Let's finish eating and take a look at the cards we got last night. We've got plans to make."