Her eyes opened slowly and took just as long to adjust to the sun-soaked room. Instinctively, she covered her eyes and groaned in response, gaining the attention of the bespectacled man who sat in the room.

"Good afternoon, Missus…?" His accent reminded her of home.

Amara's eyes rolled over to observe him but she chose not to respond, mostly out of discomfort.

'Who's this guy?', Amara thought, sizing him up, 'And where am I? This doesn't look like HQ.'

"Pleased to make your acquaintance," he didn't miss a beat, "my name is Ignis Scientitia." She tried to sit up, but Ignis was quicker; he helped her, making sure not to touch her wound. "Try to avoid moving too much on your own, otherwise you'll open up that nasty wound of yours again."

'When did I even… get hurt?', she wondered, 'Did a test run go wrong?'

Amara simply watched as he returned to his seat; she'd kept a cool expression until she realized her usual clothing was gone.

"Where's my uniform?"

Ignis adjusted his glasses, "She speaks and with such an interesting accent, as well. Your armor was thrown away; it was marred and defective."

"What? I… alright, but who undressed me… and put me in this?" She gestured to the matching light blue shirt and short set she had on.

"The owner of the bed you're resting in," Ignis replied. "Her name is Cindy."

Amara relaxed and sat back, "Cindy."

'Maybe this is a dream,' she thought.

"Who do you think we are?" Ignis seemed to take offense at her implication. "Savages?"

"You could be."

Ignis smirked, "What are your judgments, thus far?"

"You've told me almost nothing." Amara said. "Some girl named Cindy gave me her clothes and your name is Ignis."

"As far as I know, you're still just a stranger."

Amara sighed, causing a stitch in her side, "Ouch… my name is Amara."

'This isn't a dream after all… where is this place?', Her mind was alight with nervous energy and the oddness of her situation didn't help to quiet it.

"No family name?"

"I don't have any family."

"Ah, I see." Ignis nodded. "Well, I'm just pleased I got your first name. Seems we should get to the meat of the matter. Are you up for a few more questions, Amara?"

"Sure." She traced her broken arm lightly, feeling where the break in her arm occurred. "And uh… thanks for the help, I guess."

Ignis nodded, "Of course, but no thanks is necessary. Well, where are you from?"

'Even if I wasn't in Gralea my ID should tell him all of this',' she thought, 'wait… my clothes are gone anyway. What the hell?!'

"Tenebrae."

Ignis nodded, "Home of the Oracle."

"And all Oracle's before her."

'I wonder how she's doing… her tour of the main cities must be wearing her down,' she thought.

"Where were you headed?"

Amara shrugged, "Probably back home."

"Tenebrae?"

"No."

"Who or what attacked you?"

Amara's brows knit together, "Shouldn't you know that? You're the one that found me. Besides, I didn't… I didn't know I was attacked."

"You don't remember lying in a sand dune?" Ignis tested. A newly formed hypothesis bloomed in his head and he couldn't wait to see it through.

"Sand dune…?"

'This isn't Gralea… is anyone looking for me? Did they even notice?', she wondered.

"Where do you think you are?"

Amara frowned, "I don't want to answer anymore. Just tell me where I am."

"The Kingdom of Lucis," Ignis offered her a sympathetic look, "and I can tell this isn't the place you meant to be."

x

'Where are you?', Ravus thought, looking around her home.

It was a modestly furnished and quaint abode. Ravus hadn't expected the style as their leisurely budget allowed them to afford nicer furniture among other non-necessities. In his superficial search of her home, he'd hope to have found a scrap of information on her location, but the only thing he'd seen was that her place was impeccably clean.

On his way to her bedroom, he stumbled over wooden toys and instinctively kicked them away. Although he dismissed the play things at first, a quick glance inspired him to investigate. Taking a deeper look, he saw engraved markings on the handle of the swords.

"Why did she keep these?" He muttered.

Crudely etched in words on either sword read: "The Prince's Bane" and "Hani's." He chuckled to himself at the memory of Amara questioning him on his sword's name.

"Prince's Bane…? A bane isn't something one usually wants to have or carry around."

"Well… it sounds cool."

"Sure, Ravus."

"Something that'll help?"

Ravus shook his head slowly, snapped out of his reminiscing, "Nothing. I take it you haven't received any word from her."

"None," Aranea sighed. "We should check her call logs, check ins… check outs. A Vice Commander doesn't just disappear."

Ravus nodded, "Communication Command should help with the call logs… HRC for the rest."

"You're not scared of going to HRC for that?"

"Not at all. If this were an insurgence, I'd be the first to go; an open spot for Amara, no? Besides, the military and Empire as a whole gain nothing from disappearing a Vice Commander." He bit his lip, "Especially mine at that."

Aranea raised her eyebrows, "When you say it that way, it does come off quite personal. Who would have it out for you?"

"I'm not sure," Ravus admitted, "but I'll go to HRC for administrative leanings. Can I trust you to go to Com. Command?"

"I guess," Aranea rolled her eyes at his reaction. "Yes, you can. I'll see you later, High Commander."

Ravus nodded and watched as she left. When he heard the door close, he looked back at the objects in his hand; his mind swirled with memories. Although he was ignorant to the circumstances of her disappearance, an inherently sinister cloud rested above the situation and none of it sat well with the High Commander.

'Please be safe, Hani,' he thought, carrying the toy swords out of the room, 'I'll find you soon.'