{-Sharena-}

They'd walked for a while longer, following the scouting path back to the castle. Anna went to go help Fauna with the Heroes, whereas Sharena had gone to her room.

She felt like she should be exhausted. But she didn't really want to sleep.

There was a single knock on the door. "Can I, uh…can I come in?" What did Natheniel want?

"If you have a problem you might want to go to Commander Anna," she remarked.

"No, no…I want you. It's about what you saw last night—I did promise you an explanation."

With her talk with Anna, she'd forgotten about Natheniel's promise in the dream.

Sharena got up from her bed and opened the door. Natheniel looked relieved that she was actually letting him in. "Just don't take too long."

"I only need a couple minutes of your time," Natheniel replied gratefully. "To put it simply, I didn't think mildly normal people like you could intervene with those types of dreams…and I'm glad it didn't end up hurting you." He walked into her room, far enough that she could shut the door again. Sharena just partially closed it and hoped for the best. "I'd come to the realization that I shouldn't stay here for any longer than I had to—since I told Anna everything you guys needed to know yesterday, I decided that time was up. I took off my feather necklace in an attempt to reach with my nightmare and end both of us for good."

"You're not explaining well," Sharena pointed out.

Natheniel sighed. "I planned to commit a form of suicide; by facing my nightmare, I could stop the cycle…but because I'm a part of them, it would mean killing myself as well. Of course, I wasn't expecting to come across you there. The only reason I didn't go through with the plan was in fear of what it might do to you. Thankfully they know they can't hurt me without hurting themself so all we did was give each other death stares until I woke up."

"Fun," she muttered dully.

"Can I ask you a favor, before I go?" He sounded a bit anxious, and his expression didn't show much different emotions.

She shrugged.

"If…if you should ever come across something that resembles a shadow, with red eyes and an over-theatrical way of speaking…get out of there as soon as possible, okay?" He seemed pretty serious. "That would be my nightmare—Lekra. It wouldn't be the first time they've found a way past the barrier that separates dreams from reality, and especially not the first when I wasn't even in that world anymore. If they saw you…I don't really know what they'd do to you, but I have good reason to believe they won't be there to chat. All of you should just stay safe, I'll do whatever need be from my end to make sure you guys never need to go through what they did." Natheniel turned to leave. "That's all I had to say. Thank you for your time."

"Wait."

He stopped. "Is there…still something you don't understand? Or do you need something..?"

"When was the first time Lekra came? What did they do?" If she was going to be at risk to encountering some weird nightmare thing, she should darn well know what she might be able to expect.

Natheniel nodded, but didn't move to face her. "The first time I can remember was when they paid a 'visit' to Tavin shortly before his mother was killed. From what I know, they didn't do much—he passed out and nearly scared Fauna to death, but no real harm was done." He paused. "Five years after that, Lekra and Tavin met again. Lekra was able to cut Tavin's hand…something that mirrored the wound I'd give to Philyra a couple months later."

"So kinda like some sort of warning?"

"That was my guardians' general conclusion, yes. I don't understand why Lekra does it, though…despite being a part of each other, we've never quite properly talked. Really, I wouldn't put it past them to just be looking out for their own interest. Or maybe…they're just afraid of what I could do." He glanced over at her. "I won't be trying to meet with them again. But I won't be here much longer either way. Soon I'll be out of your way and eventually you probably won't even remember I existed." She doubted that. However much she wanted to, she couldn't foresee these past few months being forgotten easily.

Then he left.

Somehow, though…Sharena didn't really feel alone. It was both unsettling and comforting—like it just meant to be one, but turned out to be part of the other. She thought she felt the brush of something against her, a gesture meaning to be warm but returned with a shiver. And for a brief moment, she could've sworn she heard something close to her whisper, "Little dreamer…" yet the tone and voice was completely incomprehensible. She decided to just put it off as her imagination.

She heard talking not far from her door, the voices easily recognized as Fauna's and Natheniel's. Fauna must have bumped into him while he was leaving.

Fauna said something that sounded like "Why aren't you working?"

There was a moment's pause before Natheniel's response, "Why are you?"

The only answer was silence. A moment later, Fauna slowly opened the door.

"Sorry to intrude." She handed her a letter with very little flair or enthusiasm. "You've got mail."

"Thanks." Sharena took the letter, not really looking it over but having a good guess on who it was from. She put it on her bed so then she'll remember it later. "Need help with anything?"

Fauna shook her head. "I don't, but I'm sure Anna can think up something for you."

(A/N: And do you know what Sharena does with 80% of the information Natheniel gave her? Absolutely nothing. Spoilers, she still befriends the demon-nightmare thing.)