Obligatory Chapter Heading:

Chapter 27:

"...and then, clear your mind. What do you see?" Her voice was soothing, relaxing.

I took a moment, letting my mind conjure whatever it wanted, trying not to force anything. "I see... little orbs of light. They're powder blue."

"What are they doing?"

"Floating aimlessly."

"Are they?"

I almost opened my eyes to look at her, but just barely managed not to. Then, I sat with the scene and really paid attention. No. They were lazily following a pattern, starting up anew along the same path whenever they finished. Always in sync. I relayed that to her.

"Good. That's good. Now, focus, and picture them pulling together into a ball."

I tried. I tried forcing them into one, conformed ball, but they wouldn't do it. Instead, they formed the triple moon. Waxing, full, waning.

"I- They're forming moons, I can't-"

"That's okay. If that's the form they want, that's the form they should take." Hands settled on my forearms, fingers flexing gently against my skin. "Feel your body. Feel your energy. Feel the energy coming from the moons. Ask for the moons to lend you their energies. Guide yours and theirs to mix, to intertwine."

We sat in silence for what felt like an eternity, until I let out a little gasp, lost in my own mind. I'd finally felt my energy-it was a roaring, consuming thing, barely held back by... something. The energy from the moons, in stark contrast, was soft and soothing, comforting. I asked, the mental question whisper quiet, afraid of breaking whatever this was. Tendrils reached out, stopping halfway between us, waiting for me to meet them. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get my own energy to follow suit.

"I can't- There's something in the way."

"It's you." The words were tinged with sadness, fingers digging in a little. "Let yourself let go. You're not going to hurt anyone, nothing bad is going to happen. We're safe. You're safe."

I was holding myself back...? Was it from my time in Thedas, having to hide that I was a mage? Or was it something from one of my past lives, that I couldn't remember yet? Or maybe... it could just be that I didn't want to let it all out.

Perhaps all of the above.

Perhaps you're scared-

Of what you can do-

Of what might happen, if you release it.

A quieter whisper, like a breath being released. Let it go.

Release it.

Free it.

You can do it.

I took a deep breath, my mind slowly forming the scene of... myself? in chains. I was floating a few inches off the ground, chains running from my shoulders down to the opposite hip, one going around my waist, a heart-shaped lock in the center of the myriad of metal. My arms pinned to my sides. My ankles held together by another rope of chain wrapped several times over, a smaller lock on the front of it. My eyes were closed, and it looked like... I was in some kind of stasis.

Reaching out, my fingers brushed against the other me's cheek. Her eyes flashed open and, instead of my ice blue coloring, hers were golden. Something told me I should be afraid, but I was more curious than anything.

"How long have you been here, like this?" I asked, concerned.

A corner of her mouth quirked up, the smirk twisting her features. "Long enough. I've been here, through everything. Ever since we left Altera. Sorry, Lagendia." It came out derisive.

She was suffering, had been suffering, for so long.

I cupped her face between my hands, pulling her down until her feet touched the floor, pressed my forehead against hers. "Just tell me how to free you, and I will."

"You're not afraid I'll lash out?" Genuine curiosity, her eyes searching mine.

"No. I'm not afraid of you, at all. You're hurting, and I want to help. That's all."

Something clattered to the ground, and I glanced down, my eyes widening at the sight of a key with the end of the handle in the shape of a heart.

Acceptance.

Trust.

Love.

I bent, picked it up. Turned it in the lock. It, and the chains, fell away, fading from existence. The chains around her ankles remained, though, and I had no key now. I frowned.

"What do I need to do for this?" I tugged on them lightly, wondering at the give. They were tightly done.

There was silence. Then-

"You have to set me free."

"I'm trying. I don't know how." I looked up at her, my brows pulling down. At a loss.

She bent her knees, a balancing act as she crouched the best she could, mirroring what I'd done moments before. Hands cupped my face, eyes trained on mine. A soft smile on her lips.

"You're still holding back." A quiet chuckle. "You're afraid-"

"I'm not afraid of you." I asserted, cutting her off.

Her expression shifted to endless patience. Or maybe that was just what I imagined. I mean, well, all of this was only happening in my head, wasn't it?

"You're afraid of the power I hold. Of the power we hold." A flex of her fingers, the tips digging into my skin a little, before relaxing back into a loose hold. "You're afraid it'll consume you. I know, because I'm afraid, too. It's why I've stayed locked away as long as I have. But it's okay. We'll be okay. Our friends will be okay. As afraid as I am, I know everything will be okay. But only if we allow it to join us, to consume us."

A shaky breath, and my hands on her chains fell to my sides. The metal had disappeared, disintegrating as the thought formed in my mind.

To burn, to be consumed, wasn't necessarily a bad thing. It all depended on how you handled it.

Our foreheads pressed against the other again, our eyes closing. I took in a deep breath, deeper than I thought possible. When I opened my eyes, she was gone.

A moment later, the fire started. It was a tiny little thing, at first, barely bigger than a spark. Until it wasn't. Until it raced up from my feet to the crown of my head.

Consuming me.

My mouth opened in a silent scream, the pain overshadowing everything.

"Let me in. Let me in! LET ME IN!" The words ended on a wail, the agony in her voice, in my voice, echoing around the empty space surrounding me.

She was burning up, just as surely as I was. What was I doing wrong? What was I supposed to do?

I slowly pulled my arms in, moving my hands to my heart, bowed my head. Pictured the moons, their energy tendrils reaching out and wrapping around me. Twining between my fingers, covering my heart. Covering the whole of my body.

The burning eased, stopping altogether when the energy encased me.

A soft, sighed "thank you" sounded close to my ear. It sent a shiver through me.

I opened my eyes, taking in the scene before me- The moons had moved closer, the light they were giving off pulsating, the tendrils thin and long. One on each arm, each leg, winding their way up from my wrists and ankles to my torso. Snaking toward my heart, where a tiny flame flickered, coming out from between my fingers.

Cupping it, I held it up to my face, watching it dance.

"You're not so scary, after all." I cooed, stroking it with a finger.

It flared up, shooting high into the air above me, making me flinch back.

"Okay." I said shakily. "You can be scary, when you want to be."

It died down, becoming a docile little thing again.

Experimentally, I fed it a little of my energy, willing it to change, shift into any other element.

And it started snowing.

I laughed. Loud and long. Until my sides hurt, and then some more. I laughed until my breaths were coming out as choked gasps.

Something touched my arm, and I was pulled out of my head. Elizabeth was staring at me with a worried expression.

"Are you okay?"

"I've... never been better." My lips slowly pulled up into a grin, and I was sure I looked more than a little maniacal.

"Did you... learn what you needed to?" Apprehension dripped from her, weaving in and out of her aura.

"I did." And it started to snow.

The snow shifted to flower petals, cherry blossom. Those became little floating flames, falling harmlessly to the ground around us. Which changed into orbs of water, shedding teardrops, but everything stayed dry.

Feder had been watching us the whole time, keeping silent vigil. Finally, he felt the need to speak. "How does it feel?"

"It feels... like nothing I've ever experienced before. Enlightening. Like I'm floating. Freedom. I feel like I could do anything I set my mind to." I switched my beaming smile to him. "I found a piece of me I hadn't realized existed, buried so far down, I'd forgotten it was there. She's okay now. She's no longer suffering."

The woman frowned, her brows pulling down, knitting in concern and confusion. "She...?"

"Me." I chuckled. "I had sealed away my own power, after I'd left Lagendia." Altera, as it used to be called, my other self reminding me of that. "She'd been waiting this whole time."

"You sealed yourself because you were afraid of your power?"

You sealed because you had to.

Because you were traveling-

To worlds without magic-

And you were afraid of the ramifications.

"How did you know that?" I mentally asked.

She's still here.

Inside you.

She told us.

Well, that was... A little comforting, actually. To know she wasn't gone, wasn't burned up, consumed. Destroyed. I wondered if I'd get to see her again.

"I locked her, it, away, because when I left, I went to a world without magic, and I didn't know how it would affect things. If I would accidentally do something that would get me or anyone else in trouble. And then..." The words started flowing, without me having to think about them. Like someone was speaking through me. Perhaps me, the other me? "I became fearful of it, because I'd locked it away so long. After a while, the knowledge of it was buried so deep, there was no chance of finding it again." A pause, my eyes going to Elizabeth. "Until you. Thank you. Really. I mean it. Thank you so, so much."

"Of course. I'm glad I could help!" She clapped her hands giddily, happy for me.

"I should get back, but next time I see you, I should know who you are. So, you won't have to worry about that." Of course, because this was her first time meeting me, and vice versa. Any other meeting, after this one, and we'd know each other. "Feder." I dipped my head.

He returned it with a nod of his own, a soft smile on his face.

I blinked, and I was sitting in my room at the inn.