Evening. The front room of the house was quiet and motionless, plagued by a deep, heavy, almost unbearable state of interminable waiting. Azyma's continued, unexplained absence absorbed the atmosphere like a black hole of dread and grief. Keira felt it the worst. She was sitting by herself on the stairs, her face an empty blankness, and her eyes locked to the new communicator gripped in her hands, waiting for the call from her father, the call that would tell her if Azyma had been found alive, or…

Her lip curled with frustration, the only significant movement she had made for the past hour. Why was it taking so long? The search in the forest had been going on all day. They must have found something by now; some clue, some trace, some answer, anything. But no, there had been no word at all since the morning, even though her father had promised to give her an update by the end of the day.

Now she was sitting here at a loss for what else to do, mired down in helplessness again, and it tormented her. The discovery of Azyma's ransacked home a few hours ago had extinguished the fire of action that was kindled by Sig's return this morning, and now all that was left was grim, demoralising misery. She was hungry too, but she ignored the frequent growls of her stomach and the nagging discomforts that always accompanied them, and just stared at the lifeless communicator in her hands.

Tess, who was lying aimlessly on the sofa in the main room, her eyes wandering over the patterns on the ceiling, sat up and looked to the stairs, distracted by the warning gurgling sounds coming from Keira. "Keira, do you want something to eat?" she asked with concern.

Slowly and silently, without breaking her concentration for a second, Keira shook her head.

"You've got to eat something," insisted Tess. "I'm worried about you. You haven't eaten a thing all day."

That was not an exaggeration. Keira was so worked up about the dramatic events of today that she was forgetting to take proper care of herself. She gave no reaction to this remark, however, and Tess sighed. She clearly was not going to move until that communicator buzzed on. But after it did, then what? What would the news they would receive, good or bad, make her do next?

Tess then looked over to Sig who was sitting in the armchair nearest the window, hoping that he would be able to talk some sense into her. However, she found that he too was engrossed with something held in his hands, something that she couldn't quite identify from her position.

"What's that?" Tess asked, curious.

Sig's eye flicked up for a second. Then he gestured for Tess to come nearer. She hopped over onto the arm of his chair and he showed her what he had been looking at.

Tess gasped. "Oh my god. Keira! Come and look at this!"

The genuine change of tone in Tess's voice was enough to make Keira finally look away from the communicator for the first time in a long while. It was the tone of shocked discovery, the promise of a possible lead, and it beckoned her out of her malaise. She got to her feet, and her legs were numb from sitting still for too long, but she shook off the feeling and joined the other two by the window.

"I found this in the bedroom," Sig explained, turning the picture frame towards Keira. "Right by the bed. I think it's her family."

Keira's eyes widened in astonishment and interest. She had to look closer, and sat down on the opposite arm of the chair. This was not a lead, nothing that would point to Azyma's current whereabouts, but it was just as intriguing. She broke her long silence.

"Is that really Azyma?" she asked, looking at the smiling little girl.

"It has to be," said Tess. "Back when she was just a child. Before I ever knew her."

Keira swallowed, wetting her dried throat. It occurred to her that she knew so little about Azyma's past life. She had never really spoken about it. Then she looked closer still at the two other figures in the picture. "And them… are they her parents?"

"I think so," Tess answered, pointing to the woman in the picture. "Just look how similar she looks."

For a moment there was renewed silence in the room as the three of them just gazed back into time with the old picture, wondering if there was some way it could help them, some clue it could offer somehow. But Keira was trying to work something out. A new question that jumped to the front of her mind could not be restrained, and its great weight felt all the more potent given the present circumstances.

"But where are they now?"

Nobody answered. Sig did not move and kept his eye fixed on the picture, and Tess frowned with regret and did not return Keira's questioning stare.

Suddenly the communicator in Keira's hand came to life, making her jump. Finally, this had to be the call she'd been waiting for, and it had come, ironically, just when she'd been paying the least attention to it. But she got up at once to answer it, standing in the middle of the room, and Tess and Sig both looked up to listen intently.

"Daddy? Is that you?" she asked urgently.

"Yes, Keira," spoke Samos's calm voice.

"Have you found anything?" Keira immediately asked, and she held her breath to listen.

Her father began with a baleful sigh. "We have searched every known part of Haven Forest, Keira. Everywhere that we can reach. But… I am afraid that we have found no trace of anyone who might still be out here."

Keira's eyes unfocussed, her protesting stomach felt even more empty, and she let out a piece of the breath she was holding in. "Nothing?" she asked in a voice that was frail and soft.

"Not a thing," replied Samos gravely. "I'm sorry, Keira."

There was a pause, during which Sig's head fell, and Tess felt a paralysing hitch in her throat.

"But… how can this be?" Keira asked, confused.

"I have spoken to the plants who bore witness to last night's events," Samos went on, "And they have given me a partial interpretation of what happened. They say that living shadows moved in the dark, and I followed the trail that they described as far as I could, but then it went cold. Azyma is not in the forest. Of that I am sure."

"But what about her house?" Keira asked further, reaching out for a vague, unlikely hope, but she needed clarification. "How did it get so…?"

"The Guard tell me that they have found no clues there yet either," Samos explained regretfully. "Nothing that could provide any clear answer as to what happened there or where Azyma is, or even who did this. But you did the right thing reporting it, Keira, and they will keep looking. I am certain that something will be found."

But Keira found it difficult to feel proud of herself or satisfied. "Isn't there anything else we can do?"

"We are doing all we can," Samos answered. "We have not given up yet. But I am heading home now, Keira, and I will be with you shortly."

Keira finally, unwillingly capitulated. "Alright, see you soon, Daddy," she said distantly, and after she heard the signal end, she switched off the communicator, letting it hang absently at her side.

There was no need to explain. Tess and Sig had heard every word, and now a new sorrow fell upon the house and everybody in it as the news sank in. This was terrible and incomprehensible. How could Azyma just… vanish? Without leaving any trace whatsoever? And who were those dark brutes who must have taken her? Where had they gone, and what had they done to her? And why? Why had this all happened in the first place? None of it made any sense. Not even Tess could dig a possible answer out of their close, shared history together; it was just too hard to concentrate under such great tension.

Sig looked down at the picture and examined it once again, as if trying to pick out any hidden information it might contain. But then Tess noticed that Keira was trembling, her back to them and her fist clenched white, and suddenly she felt afraid. She tapped Sig on the arm, and he looked up and took notice too. With a sudden dread he recognised at once what might be happening; he had seen this kind of thing before in other Wastelanders when they had lost a friend in the desert.

"Keira?" he said softly, leaning forwards in the chair.

Keira did not react. Tess held her breath. She had never seen Keira like this before, and it frightened her, for it really looked as if she was right up against her breaking point, and she expected an outburst of emotion at any moment.

But the complete opposite happened. Keira unclenched her fist, and let out a big sigh, and Tess could have sworn that she shrank a little in doing so. The trembling ceased, and Keira turned half around so they could see her face again. Now she just looked exhausted, albeit significantly more composed.

"Keira? You OK?" Sig checked.

Keira nodded without looking at either of them. "Yeah... yeah I think so."

Sig and Tess both let out their breath. Whether she was telling the truth or not, Sig was actually somewhat impressed by her resilience. Most of the Wastelanders he knew would have freaked out at a moment like this, but Keira had seemingly dispelled her anger all by herself. However, he knew that things were still far from right. They would never be right until Azyma was found.

Tess could sense that Keira might be covering up her true feelings, so she took her chance to intervene and help. Keira had been stressed all day, never allowing herself rest, and Tess had to see to her neglected needs. "Alright, Keira, let's get you some food now. You need to keep yourself healthy, OK? Let me fix you something up."

Keira finally, listlessly accepted.

As the night deepened, the tense mood did not improve. The unsolved mystery of Azyma's whereabouts still stalked and suppressed everyone in the house like a sickness. Samos was home now, but he maintained an open radio link with the city guards in case any more updates came in. Though the night made continued searching difficult, a constant guard presence remained in the forest, and Azyma's house was also kept under close watch. Soldiers patrolled the streets, and every few minutes, a group would march past, or a voice would momentarily flash through the radio. Keira looked up every time this happened, hoping that the voice would announce good news, or the soldiers would enter with an update, or maybe even with Azyma herself, returned safe and sound. But always they continued on their way, or the radio would speak only unrelated, inconsequential words.

In the front room, things stayed quiet. Tess was half-dozing in the chair, lost in thought and staring at the ceiling once again, trying to identify a theory that might explain all this. Occasionally she rolled her head to look over at where Azyma's picture now lay on the coffee table, but it gave her no inspiration. Sig trudged up and down the room with his hands behind his back. He wanted to be out there with the soldiers, actively aiding in the search, but his heart told him that his place was here with Keira and Tess, who needed him more. He could not repeat the mistake of leaving them again. Keira stayed in the kitchen eating, having regained some of her appetite and following Tess's insistence that she get her strength and energy back, but she ate slowly and without enjoyment. Samos always remained close by, sometimes drifting into his plant room to converse with the plants, and then coming back out again to check his communicator.

Time passed. Nobody slept. Nobody could. But then just after midnight, Samos felt a strange, pre-emptive sense coming from the earth that prickled the back of his neck. It was a warning that something was about to happen.

Then suddenly, the communicator clicked into life and a new voice was heard, a female voice that they all thought they recognised, panting and desperate.

"Hello...? Please...! I need help!"

Samos went to pick it up, but Keira's hand had already seized it off the kitchen table. "Azyma!" she shouted, heart in her throat. "Azyma, is that you?"

At once, Tess came bounding into the room and Sig came sprinting, and they all gathered around the table to listen with full, fixed attention. The trembling voice answered frantically and almost in a whisper, broken by convulsive sobs to the point where it was difficult to understand what it was saying.

"Please... I don't know where I am... but…"

The voice trailed away into terrified whimpering that was hard to listen to, tortured and twisted with palpable terror, and gasping with deep, choked breaths, like she was running out of air. The sounds turned Keira's heart to ice. Tess held her hands to her mouth, her eyes wide and shimmering with emotion, and Sig and Samos shared an awful, uncertain look.

"What?" Keira asked the device, her own voice wavering and her face almost touching the speaker. "Where are you? Azyma? Azyma!"

The weeping continued and the voice slurred something incomprehensible, gave one final shuddering gasp, then stopped, leaving only a background layer of quiet, fuzzy noise.

"Azyma, are you still there? Azyma!" Keira shouted into the device, but then the communicator fell silent with an ominous click. The signal was lost.

Keira stared at it with an open mouth, waiting for something else to happen, but the voice never spoke again. Not knowing what to do, she looked up at everyone around her with the deepest uncertainty in her damp eyes, wordlessly begging for help and guidance. But everyone else was just as speechless as she was.

"What the hell just happened?" whispered Sig in a rare display of faltered shock. "Was that her?"

Tess lowered her hands and balled them at the base of her neck, a tear glistening from her eye. Even she had never heard Azyma's voice so twisted by suffering. "It… it sounded like her. But… I don't know…"

Nobody else spoke. Keira looked to her father, the only one left who could possibly offer an explanation. He always knew exactly what to say when things looked bad. But not this time. Though she implored him with her eyes, his face was powerless and apologetic, then he lowered his head and looked away, trying to decipher what this meant.

Keira let the communicator fall onto the table top, and sank back down onto her chair so slowly that it felt like she was hardly moving. All energy disappeared from her body, leaving her face blank, her limbs flaccid and lifeless, and her mind in a cage. The whole world felt like it had slowed down to an imperceptible crawl, and she was stuck right at the bottom. What was this? What was happening to Azyma? Where was she? Had they all just listened to her final moments?

If she could have moved her arms, they would be tearing her hair out in despair. Even her own imagination was turning against her, conjuring unbearable images of Azyma alone and lost in a dark, dangerous place, held against her will by the evil shadows that had abducted her.

Then suddenly the communicator buzzed into life again, and this yanked Keira out of her dead state. She immediately reached out for the device again and tightened her grip on it. "Azyma!" she shouted.

But this time a different voice came bulleting out of it, one that was hard and fast. "Calling all troops! Calling all troops! This is Commander Vis! We're under attack in the northern gardens!"

Keira held the device and stared at it in confusion, but then Samos reached for it, coaxed it out of her hands, and responded. "Vis? This is Samos. What's going on?"

Vis shouted back over the sounds of gunfire on the radio. "Samos, someone just opened fire on us as we were patrolling through the northern gardens. We need backup!"

"All nearby units, you heard him! Get over there now!" ordered Samos, and his voice was heard through the headsets of soldiers throughout the city, who reacted to the call at once. "Vis, do you need medical support?"

"Negative. None of us were hit —"

"There he goes!" yelled a different voice behind Vis's.

There were more shouts and gunfire. "Suspect is fleeing toward the Main Town ruins!" Vis then reported. "We're giving chase! Units, head him off! He is armed and dangerous, I repeat, armed and dangerous!"

The radio airwaves came alive, and as Samos continued trying to direct soldiers and gather information, Tess and Keira looked at each other with wide, shocked eyes. What was happening? Both jumped to the same conclusion simultaneously. This couldn't be a coincidence; it had to be connected to Azyma's disappearance and the call they'd just received from her.

"That could be... him," said Tess with a gasp. "The one who took Azyma!"

Behind her, Sig pounded his fist into the palm of his other hand. "We've got him now!" he said menacingly through gritted teeth. "Let's nail this bastard!"

He charged back into the front room, swept up his Peace Maker, and then went barrelling outside onto the streets to join the chase. Samos looked up only briefly and did not stop him, still speaking on the radio.

But Keira felt something rising up inside of her, bubbling and churning beneath her skin, a huge tidal wave of emotion, spreading to her every limb and swamping her mind. It overpowered her, filling her with a righteous energy that was about to explode. The world was speeding up again, faster and faster, out of control, and she needed to move with it or she would be left behind!

With no warning, she shoved herself away from the table, and her chair clattered to the floor as she leapt across the room after Sig.

This time Samos cut himself off and shouted furiously at his daughter. "Keira! No!" He slammed his walking stick on the table, and Tess flinched in shock as it struck just inches away from her. "What do you think you're doing? You are not going out there!"

Keira halted at the threshold of the living room, one hand on the wall, and turned around to look back at her father, revealing a face that was a blotchy hurricane of emotion. Her eyes were moist and red with brimming despair, but her brows were lowered and her mouth was drawn into a tight-lipped pout. It was an expression fuelled by pain, desperation and ruthless defiance, and it was enough to even make Tess feel frightened and intimidated of her. But Samos stared right back at Keira like a hard stone, holding her with his serious, commanding eyes. The ottsel looked back and forth between father and daughter, powerless and unable to intervene. The tension that zapped between them could almost be tasted.

Then Keira's face became even more terrifying as it broke. Her nostrils flared as she exhaled sharply through her nose, and then she stormed fiercely out of the house in Sig's tracks.

"KEIRA!" Samos bellowed. But the front door flapped and Keira was gone, disappeared into the night.

Samos hurled his stick onto the floor in anger where it rattled loudly. A crashing silence followed and smothered the room, a silence with a backdrop of crackling voices from the communicator as Freedom Guards rushed through the streets. Samos smouldered in his place, exasperated by his daughter's continued, stubborn, foolish insistence on putting herself in harm's way. What was she thinking?

But then he looked at the petrified Tess who still stood frozen to her spot on the table. Something in her fragile expression made him take a hold on himself, made him remember the trauma that both she and Keira had been put through. Then he let out the rest of his anger with a controlled sigh.

"Go after her and make sure she doesn't get into any more trouble," he said tiredly.

Tess was still frightened but quickly steeled herself, a dutiful Underground agent once more, and nodded with assurance. Then she galloped out of the room without another word.