{-Sharena-}

Alfonse explained everything Líf had told him while Fauna dressed his cut. They'd decided from that point that their best shot would be to find the heart—and figure out a way to use it against Hel without ending up like Líf and Thrasir. After that, they rested for a little while longer before moving again.

Anna, Alfonse, Veronica, and Fauna were all trying to figure out how to make their plan work. Sharena decided there was no way she'd contribute anything useful to the conversation so she didn't say anything at all. Eir hadn't spoken since Alfonse said what happened. Even Lekra seemed to have nothing to say, though she knew that there was yet another thing worrying them.

"Might I… ask a question?" Eir glanced at Sharena hesitantly. "About your nightmare friend?"

Sharena nodded.

"Did she give them to you personally? I assumed they were not benevolent beings, yet yours does not seem to harm you and could even be a useful member to the team."

"She..?" Then it hit her. "The Lady of Nightmares? Oh, definitely not. I know I've met her at some point but I don't remember what she looks like anymore. Lekra kind of just… showed up? They faded in and out at first but other than that they've been around since that dream."

"That dream?"

"I dreamt that Lekra was talking to two people. One of them had told them to find me, so they did." She figured it wasn't important to mention that she was also sure she'd met those people before and dreamed of them since.

"They've never given you nightmares?"

"I've actually had a lot less nightmares after meeting them."

"I thought… do they not take the lives of others in order to sustain themself?"

Sharena looked at Lekra, and they sighed. "Remember what I told you. She's right about most of my kin. It's only by my unique mission from the Lady of Nightmares and careful moderation that keeps me from becoming them."

She then looked back at Eir. "How do you know so much about them?"

"The Lady of Nightmares came to Hel," Eir began slowly. "A girl had just died that the Lady of Nightmares wanted. So the two of them made a deal. She would use these creatures of shadows to kill however many mortal adults Hel wanted. Soon the first ever mortal to die was allowed to walk away with the Lady of Nightmares."

…

She probably shouldn't have been surprised and confused. All of the evidence had always been right there the whole time. But she saw it from the eyes of a kid, someone who didn't know what it really meant. It didn't matter how obvious it was because she couldn't even see it for what it was at face value.
"Still haven't gotten over it?"

"You're part of the problem so please shut up," Sharena moaned. She was still quiet, even if the rest of them were involved in their own conversation on the other side of the camp.

"It's almost concerning how you remember enough to question it," Lekra remarked. "Though I suppose it would've happened sooner or later anyway, since I came back."

"Do you know why she would kill someone..?"

Lekra clearly didn't want to answer the question, but definitely knew better than to try to avoid it. "I… suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you. Children have much more powerful dreams than most adults do. The Dream-King always believed that it was better to lose one in order to save the many, choosing what he decided was best for every mortal. The Lady of Nightmares… if I had to guess, there's only a handful of adults she believes are worth protecting. She doesn't see the value of their lives so she's more than willing to use the creatures she was gifted to save someone she thought was valuable."

"That's it? They're just worthless to her?"

"For someone who's seen war I would've expected you to understand the sentiment," they sighed. "Soon enough you might be able to ask her all these things yourself. Until then, there's no use dwelling on them."

"I thought you said earlier that only kids could see her."

Lekra sighed. "Under normal circumstances, yes. But it seems the little dreamer is on the verge of rediscovering her second home."

((A/N: Eir is talking about the same kid Thrasir was talking about, in case anyone was wondering. It also shows how she understands the importance of names that Lekra mentioned earlier, since we learned from Thrasir that Hel called Freyja by name.

For all those reading this as it comes out, happy New Year everyone!))