A/N: The first chapter to A Change of Fates! YAY! And it's a whole day early!

Also, first new OC (aside from Lykos and Fenrir and a small cameo)! I have him as just a plot-setter, but if you want, I'll bring him in for a little more. I'm just going to tell you guys right now, there will be inconsistencies with some accents. I'm going off of some random voice clips. It's probably not the best but you'll see what I mean. At least I'm trying!

Please read, review, and enjoy! :)

Chapter 1 - Amaranthine

Jack woke up with a start, sweating and screaming for a brief moment. There were creatures above him, all vastly different as they stared down at him with unnerving curiosity. Their shapes wobbled and teetered in his vision and he was having a hard time understanding anything. He'd been lying on hot sand, but now his back was against a glossy, smooth surface and it felt gratefully cold. His vision refused to hold its strength long enough to discern anything, and before he knew it, he was out again. The darkness was morbidly comforting when the only waking hours Jack had been exposed to were filled with agony, confusion, and fear. Well, the fear never went away. Even in the depths of unconsciousness, Jack felt the intensity of the fearlings multiplying inside his body. They fed off of his condition whether he was alert or on the verge of death. The pulsing throb that echoed through his skin begged to let him die. The only thoughts that kept him from losing his grip on reality revolved around the red-haired girl that insisted on going skating.

The ice was thick and blank, a canvas ready to be painted on. Skates were strapped to their feet and six blades curved around, marking their own paths on the winter paradise. One pair was haphazard and nonparallel, indecisive but happy. Another pair was linear, jumpy, and had tight spins carving into the surface. The last pair was elegant and swooped in giant circles around the former, keeping them together and safe at its own expense. Jack focused on that pair, as he always had since he befriended the wearer attached to them. As soon as the black expanse took away the pain from the present, he couldn't let go of the green eyes that asked him so much without saying a word. He knew, at the end of this dream, that one pair would always fall through. Every time, Jack expected it to be him drowning all over again, swallowing the frigid water as it washed over him anew. And every time, it was the girl that fell through. The most graceful and the most timid had been the bravest and the most selfless. But as she fell and the vision faded out, Jack couldn't help but sense her elsewhere, even in the uncertainty of his comatose state.

Jack's eyes flickered open as he heard the clink of glass somewhere to his right. Delirious, his arm struck out in a vague direction and he was forced to see more light than he'd remembered having existed. He yelled again, but this time the blackness didn't come back for him. Jack pulled himself into a sitting position, grimacing at the pain in his chest. Thoughts swam around in his head, pining for his attention. His lips parted in an attempt to answer them all, but it was too overwhelming.

"Juss sit back, Laddie," a thick accent burrowed into Jack's ears. His head reeled to the side where the noise came from only to find that there was someone else in this─ where was he?

Jack was about to cry out, but he couldn't find the voice's owner. Despite the lights still shifting, he could make out a nightstand with a glass of water on top. It took awhile to make the connection, but Jack still didn't see anyone there with him. "W-wh-who...?"

"Aye, be askin' yoo the same thing," a weight sat down next to Jack's stomach. The suddenness caused Jack to jerk back and instantly injure something in his chest. What was wrong with his chest? The entirety of his torso felt like it was about to collapse. The details were fuzzy but starting to shift into place. "The boy didn' give us much to go on."

Jack felt his head loll over to where the weight was and found himself staring into a pair of bright green eyes, eerily similar to the skating girl's... The figure also had red hair that hid underneath a green hat, but it was deeper, richer, and fuller. And shorter. There was also a moustache and a beard. This wasn't a girl and it didn't sound like one either. Jack blinked a few times, shunning the powerful urge to fall back to sleep. This man was looking at him sympathetically, but Jack couldn't quite understand why.

"What yoor name be, Lad?" The voice strained as the man pressed on his knees to stand up. It was after a few moments of the man's height still not changing that Jack partially realized who─ what─ he was staring at. The man in front of him was comically short in stature, hardly rising higher than the nightstand beside him.

Jack was still out of it. "What're you... a─ a mouse?" Genius. He couldn't think of anything else that was this small. Not as good as Kangaroo had been. If he was going to be making fun of anyone, it should really be himself. There was some sort of irony in Jack noticing that he was very much not sober, but it wasn't like he could get it through his head at the moment.

"Aye be a Leprechaun," the man corrected Jack sternly, "and best yoo doon' forget it." The man wagged his finger at the teenage boy. "Now, less try agayn. Yoor name is...?"

White hair fell into his eyes as Jack leaned his head forward, wondering if this was some sort of trick. "Jack. Jack Frost," he drawled out, more for his sake than for the short guy's. There was something unclear about his recent memories and the pieces weren't necessarily filling themselves in.

The Leprechaun visibly stiffened, but he shook it off before Jack could register the movement. "Oo dearie..." he muttered under his breath before continuing a little louder, "th'name's Patrick. But doon't go callin' me Patty. I'll pound yoo in if I e'er hear that one. Doc's fine, but yoo'll have to clear that nickname wi' Cinder, shood she be wakin' up anytime soon."

The name clicked and Jack's conscious state veered into overdrive. The memories of─ well, Jack didn't know how long ago─ came flooding back and hyperventilation began to kick in. The girl with red hair. Cinder. She was there. She─ she had sacrificed her humanly body to save him. But... what was before that? Jack remembered waking up from the memory retrieval─ more memories bombarded his skull in the background but he chose to ignore it momentarily─ and they had searched everywhere. Then Pitch... and he made Jack fight Cinder, crushing her against a pillar and hearing her bones crunch as he actively tried to kill her. He'd been aware the entire time, but his will had been sapped. Even Cinder─ still looking like Verity─ hadn't been able to get through to him. Then she'd tried to... she had her hand on his chest, opening his skin and veins and muscle... and she was pulling something out. Jack's hand subconsciously went to his chest and he nearly heaved. Then she'd left. She left him alone to fester under Pitch's control. But she must have come back at some point, right? Jack remembered thinking about the pond...

That was all he remembered thinking about. Even now, as he was remembering the rest of the events with extreme clarity, his thoughts returned to the pond. A sense of homesickness churned in his gut, making the pain worse. "Wh-where's Cinder?"

The man observed Jack's reaction with old, knowing eyes. "It's better yoo doon't know, Lad."

But Jack was awake now, and he wasn't about to be dismissed. "Tell me where she is! I took her through the portal with me─ her body─ she was─ then I fell and─ and it was so hot! She's gotta be here─" Jack cut himself off, thinking of more questions. "Wh-where─ where is here?" He was finding it harder to breathe, like his lungs had been set on fire.

"Calm doown, Froost, Laddie!" The man set his hands on Jack's shoulders, careful not to jolt the boy beyond what he was capable of handling. "Yoor in safe 'ands. Thoough I doon't know fer how loong. This is the upstairs to the Amaranthine Inn."

Amaranthine was an inn? "In the middle of a desert?" Jack choked out, forgetting about everything else for a moment. Who would want to take lodging up in the middle of the desert? It was so hot that Jack felt his body heating up and about to spark into flames again.

The miniature man laughed genuinely. It was deep and hearty with a twinge of disbelief. "M'boy, yoor in Vegas. Oor, underneath it, Aye shood say," the man scratched his beard as he looked over the poor boy. "Noo matter, we shood get yoo new clothes. Even underground, it be too hot fer a spirit o' the winter, what with yoo wearin' that jumper an' all! Say yoo brooght Cinder 'ere throough a poortal, eh? Aye'm guessin' we be glad yoo did, oor Lucas'd never 'ave found yoo..." The Leprechaun kept talking but Jack was having a hard time keeping up with what he was saying. The accent was thick, but Jack thought he had picked up the word "Vegas" and the name "Lucas" in there. He definitely knew he'd heard Cinder's name, and he clung to it as if she was right there with him. Oh, how he wished he knew where she was!

"Where's Cinder?" Jack repeated. He didn't care if he was cutting off the older man's speech. He'd mentioned talking to her. The events clicked in his brain and he was fully awake.

"Pooshy one, arn't yoo?" Patrick scolded him with his hands on his caricature-like hips. But his expression softened as he looked away and took off his hat to rake a free hand through his curls. "She didn' look too good when she was broought in. Neither o' yoo looked t'be good, if Aye'm any bit of honest. She was taken to a different room that oonly Lucas an' that bloody sheep-eater can access. Been in there a month without mention o' progress, m'fraid. Aye woodn't get yer hopes up on seein' 'er soon. Or atoll."

It's been a month since the incident? Much of Jack's hope was dashed. "She's dead?"

Patrick threw his hands up in defeat. "Thas the thing, Laddie! Lucas is bein' all cryptic aboot her condition. Troost me, we've all been waitin' with baited breath. But no moor horror stories. Yoo shood be restin'. Take yer jumper off, yoo won' be wakin' up in as bad a sweat."

There were more questions than answers and Jack was beginning to protest when the man plucked a four-leaf clover from a pouch on his belt and tucked it behind Jack's ear. Jack immediately grabbed at his ear, but nothing was there. Some sort of magic trick? Before he could ask, the man motioned him to take off the sweatshirt. Jack's eyes were bugging out. He never took off his sweatshirt. But if it meant he could wake up not feeling like he was going to die, or at least feel a little less so, perhaps it was worth it. It was especially worth it if it meant he could see Cinder again. Jack reluctantly ducked his head into the sweatshirt's thick cotton material and wormed his arms underneath so that he could lift the article off his skin. Once it was off, Jack exhaled in relief as some cold reentered his body. Patrick made a move to take the sweatshirt from him, but Jack tucked it into the other side of the bed in a sign of defiance. Just because he was being taken care of didn't mean that he was going to listen to every command they gave. The man seemed to understand that and nodded. He was on his way out the door when Jack's voice piped up. "What was the thing with the clover?"

The man smiled at the winter spirit warmly. "A wee bit o' luck, Lad. Yoo'll need it."

It wasn't until Jack woke up again that he realized something about the Leprechaun's explanations. He'd said that Lucas had found Cinder and him and brought them here. Cinder's memories of Las Vegas and Lykos─ but Cinder had called him by another name─ infiltrated his dreams and forced him to comprehend the extent of his situation.

Jack was in Las Vegas and Cinder was being taken care of by a guy who had used her selfishly.

And he had to get back to the Guardians. The extent of his epiphanies caused Jack to overheat and he collapsed again.

Without windows, Jack couldn't tell if it was day or night, much less what day it was. He'd been waking up and passing out several times without ever knowing when he was. His door remained closed because Jack never had the strength to get out of the bed he was in. He also hadn't seen the short redheaded man again, which was a relief in itself. Jack couldn't have deciphered that accent even if he was completely himself. Afraid that he would still be too weak to stand, Jack was content to stare at the ceiling. At some point he'd noticed that he was shirtless, but it didn't bother him. If anything, it made the heat slightly more bearable. Jack had torn off the covers in his sleep for this reason as well. How anyone could live in places like these befuddled Jack. The cold would always be infinitely better than this bone-melting inferno. Jack lifted his head to glance over his wounds but saw that his bruises and cuts were healed completely. There was very little trace of anything that would prove his story. It was unfortunate in that aspect but at least he didn't feel too much pain anymore.

The only real pain he could feel was that he knew Cinder was close to him. He wondered if she was still considered alive, if she had come back around, and if she knew that Jack was here. Was she looking for him? Would the strange Leprechaun point out Jack's room? Had he been asleep when she'd tried to visit him? The questions began to nag at his heart more so than his consciousness, and that's when he knew that he wasn't going to fall back into a fitful sleep again. His body no longer screamed at him as he tried to stand up, but his head still caused the room to wobble. Swinging his feet over the side of the bed, his bare feet touched a thin carpet over a wooden floor. Jack was scared for a moment that the floor might be scalding hot, too, but he cast the thought aside as he took a tentative step. Then another, and another, until he was finally more stable on his feet. The feeling of walking felt immensely pleasurable as he proceeded to stretch upward, crackling bones he hadn't known to be sore until that moment. Oh, this life was cruel. He walked around a bit more and was ecstatic when he realized he could walk around and jump without crashing to the floor. He was about to walk up to the door when a knock jarred his advancement.

"H-hello?" Jack suddenly grew cautious. He instantly reached for his staff, twirling his body around the room when he recognized the fact that he did not have it. He was internally freaking out, looking everywhere─ even in the impossible places─ for his beloved staff. Without it, how was he to protect himself?

The door opened and the same short man walked in. "Aye see yoor up and aboot. Feelin' better, are yoo?"

Jack's defenses lowered considerably. "Y-yeah. I am," Jack answered as the man started to walk into the room like he owned the place. It ticked Jack off for some reason; this room had become his temporary home and he didn't like intruders. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name last time. You are?"

The man looked at him in surprise. "Yoo remember that far back, Laddie? I'm shoocked. That was o'er two moonths ago! It's April, mind yoo. The moonth, noot my name. That be Patrick, son. Patrick the Leprechaun." The Leprechaun reached out a stubby, weathered hand toward Jack and he took it hesitantly. This man was the Leprechaun? He remembered Tooth telling him some time ago that it was possible he was to be Guardian. Looking over the man now, Jack wasn't sure if Patrick could've won if there was ever anything to win. But there's always more that meets the eye, if he'd learned anything in the past... wait. It's been over two months since this man was last in the room? Not to mention that it was apparently April? When did he get here? Jack was opening his mouth to ask, but Patrick had continued speaking too quickly in an accent that Jack had a hard time understanding. "Aye guess it's understandable, foorgettin' names and such. Yoo were in such a fuss we 'ad noo choice but to give yoo summa my fair stock. Must notta 'ad spirits in yoor life, Laddie, 'cause yoo were out. Aye toold 'im we were givin' yoo too much, but the fool ne'er listens to 'is ole man. Didn' think yoo'd be out fer soo loong, but Aye'd guess that's what it took fer yoor body to cope with the spirits."

Jack's expression only grew more confused. After a second of combining various facts and words together from this man's ramblings, he was able to form a coherent response. "Who gave me what?"

The man blinked, not comprehending the question. "Ah, yes. Aye'm soorry; gettin' ahead o' meself. Lucas─"

"You mean Lykos, right?"

Patrick was once again dumbfounded. "Aye... 'e'd be the oone who brought yoo 'ere. 'xcept we call 'im Lucas. Seems 'e's always preferred that one. Anyhoo, yoo'd wooken up after yoo'd gotten 'ere an' began tearin' up the place. Took several o' us to take yoo down. Then Lucas decided yoo needed soome calming doown and used my alcohol on yoo. We call 'em spirits 'cause it be moore accurate. Spirits for spirits, am I right, Laddie? Ah, and," the Leprechaun twiddled his thumbs worryingly, "Aye'd be careful aboot the others 'roound 'ere. They doon' take too kindly to Guardians. Neither doo Aye, but it seems yoo've a yarn to spin fer Lucas. He's been waitin'. Come down, come doown," Patrick ushered the boy out the door, "Aye'll be lookin' after yoo 'til 'e shoows up. Aye'd ne'er been able to keep track o' 'im."

Jack was still thinking about the fact that he'd apparently wreaked havoc on poor─ people? Spirits?─ while entirely unaware. Jack would never harm anyone on purpose, but if he'd been having a nightmare or if the fearlings were taking their toll... he didn't want to think about it. He debated on grabbing his sweatshirt─ it was the only thing he had that would cover his torso. But the man paced himself ahead of the winter spirit and motioned for him to follow. Jack, figuring that he couldn't know anything better than this man, obeyed him. He wished with all his heart that he could have been holding his staff. Now, with no shirt as he'd just realized, he felt naked. His sweatshirt, his staff... if it weren't for his stark white hair, Jack wasn't sure if he'd even recognize himself if he looked in a mirror. The hallway he'd been brought into was much like the room he'd just been in. It was narrow and a little dark except for a dim light that swung freely from the ceiling. The place didn't seem dilapidated, but it certainly wasn't pristine. At the end of the hallway, the space opened up to a staircase in which the walls slowly opened outward toward the bottom.

The entire scene looked more like an illusion that messed with his eyes. Jack rubbed them and nearly tripped down the stairs. But when he looked up, he noticed that he was, in fact, in an old rustic tavern. The bar with leather stools lined the left side of the room in an L-shape, curving further to the left of the stairs with a door going somewhere else. Possibly the kitchen or backroom; Jack didn't fully understand places like these. He'd never been in one, but he'd seen them in old movies he'd watched through some kids' windows. Nevertheless, the real thing was far more... intimate for Jack. This was merely so because it seemed to be built much like the houses that Old Burgess had been made of, so long ago. Yet it was intimate because Jack remembered Verity's father often traveling down to the local brewery, or even Verity herself when she had been running errands for him instead. The memories of Cinder's past life bore down on Jack and he shook his head to get it clear. It almost looked like they were in an old barn, wooden beams and pillars lacing the place with a rural sense. The tables were scattered around the open floor and booths lined the sides. On the opposite side of the room there was a small stage with a decrepit piano collecting dust in the back corner.

But littered among these tables were people, and all of them were looking at him. Some faces were wary and others were stern, but most were neutral. Nonetheless, Jack felt a shiver prickle down his spine. That hadn't happened in awhile and it was probably easily visible due to his lack of clothing. At least he had his pants. The faces around him seemed familiar. Who were these guys... and girls? He couldn't recognize any of them despite the familiarity. And yet, they could all see him. Were they indeed all spirits? There was a powerful feeling welling up inside him that told him these people did not have happy stories either. Jack averted his eyes as he followed the Leprechaun over to the farthest corner of the bar. It was a little darker than most spots, but for some reason that didn't bother Jack. If anything, he could see a little better here. That should have worried him, but there were other matters on his mind. Jack felt vaguely self-conscious as he sat upon the leather stool and leaned back─ his bare back instantly chilled the material and small frost patterns fluttered through it. He'd never really been shirtless for that long, even when he was human. It was all of the traditional values that tugged at the back of his mind, but he had to remind himself he wasn't in Burgess anymore.

"So, you said this place was an... inn of sorts?" Jack half-whispered, concerned that people may be listening.

"Aye," Patrick hopped up onto the bar─ he still wasn't eye level with Jack─ and walked over to some taps, "Amaranthine Inn and Tavern for Spirits and Immortals. But we all knoow it as Amaranthine. Means 'unfading' an' 'everlasting,' or havin' a purplish-red color, if that be yoor fancy."

Jack narrowed his eyes and nodded slowly. An inn for immortals? As far as he knew, the other Guardians had never mentioned coming here before. Perhaps they hadn't; this place didn't seem to be their type. Patrick had also said that Guardians weren't welcome here. Why would Cinder have tried to send him here? It was underneath New Vegas, where she had lived before, and that was understandable to an extent. But to send him where Lykos also was? Did she think he could help Jack in some way? It seemed unlikely that Cinder would have ever wanted that. The emotions that had washed over him when he'd seen what Lykos had done to her were enough to make frost line the edge of the bar where he realized his hands had been gripping until his knuckles were white. "And Cinder knew this place?"

The man was busy pouring some liquor out for a customer who had come up to the counter. The new person was wearing some sort of blue and red jester outfit and had dark blue eyes. His appearance told Jack he was somewhere in his thirties, but it was hard to tell. The man glanced Jack once over and with a twitch of his lip, took his drink without wavering his gaze and left. Jack felt the hair on his neck prickle but he chose to ignore it and look back to Patrick, who was handing him a glass of clear liquid. Jack raised an eyebrow dubiously.

"It be water, Lad. Doon' be foolish, like Laughton o'er there. April Fools is 'is domain. He juss lookin' fer a way to trick yoo. But Aye'd reckoon yoo'd understand. We've 'eard plenty 'aboot the winter trickster yoo be claimin'. He's noot excited aboot the competition, heh," the Leprechaun scoffed lightheartedly. "As fer Cinder, 'coourse she knew this place. Lucas broought her 'ere when he'd met 'er. Lucas is a dear boy t'me, Laddie. When 'e toold me aboot a lass oo coould use fyre an' burned whole cities, Aye'll admit Aye'd been moore hesitant. As Aye'm sure yoo were when yoo met 'er. Special Lass, she is."

Jack wanted to agree, but he knew he had mistaken Cinder at first. How could he have not realized it sooner? She had literally set his arm on fire and he had refused to think she was anything more than human. In all fairness, she had just been human all along, but it didn't matter. Jack hadn't truly known Cinder. If he had, he doubted this situation would have ever come to happen.

"I only knew her for a week or so," Jack admitted bitterly. It was true. He'd met her, he'd fought with her, and then she'd left. That was pretty much the gist of their encounters, aside from brief moments of fluttering butterflies in his stomach. He didn't dwell on those, however, and stuck to his current situation. Because, more importantly, this Amaranthine place hadn't been in Cinder's memories confused Jack greatly. He'd seen the extent of the four years of Vegas, and there had been nothing more than an alcohol-trashed apartment and dark nightclubs. There was never an old western bar under the ground. Not once. But he couldn't just ask Patrick about this without getting into details about why he'd been in Cinder's memories. The entire story was a mess, really, and it was a difficult thing to think through at the moment. He took a sip of the water in front of him and his mind was instantly a little clearer.

"Aye," Patrick agreed, "she was oonly gone tha' loong. Aye'm moore interested in 'ow she came back so near to death's door, and why a Guardian was with 'er."

Jack bit his lip and looked away, pretending to take in the sights. It was a far more complicated story than he wanted to get into right now. And if they wanted information, he wanted a guarantee that Cinder was safe. Oddly enough, that was only going to come from the one man Jack wished he'd never have to meet.

And if she wasn't─ it didn't matter. Jack didn't owe these people any explanations. He had to get back to the Guardians and find a way to defeat Pitch once and for all. He had just hoped that she'd be there through it all with him...

Instead of minutes or even hours, it was months before Lykos showed his cowardly face. Around July, to be precise. Jack Frost was beyond angry, beyond pissed off, that this man had the guts to do what he pleased while Jack was waiting to know if Cinder was even alive. Did this man have no feelings at all?

Jack had gotten used to living inside the bar, seeing as he refused to leave without Cinder and didn't know how he would get back to the North Pole without his staff, and he'd kept the room in which he'd woken up. To ease his boredom, Patrick had made him do cleaning and other tedious jobs, but it didn't work. Not for someone like Jack Frost. Instead, he'd used his time to wisely invest in a prank war between himself and the immortal named Laughton, or April Fools. After April had ended, the man had come back more often than not aside from one or two major pranks in the world that he felt needed an extra boost. A few silly gags back and forth and Laughton had begun to open up. He'd mentioned how he was fairly upset that Jack took away many of his jobs, most especially during the winter. But, as Laughton had said after dropping a bucket of water onto Jack Frost (which instantly froze on him and made it very hard to walk around), that was normal Guardian behavior. Jack, in turn, tried to make him take the words back angrily at first, but then jokingly as he made the Fool slip on some ice on his way out the door. It was the only way one could talk with the man, and Jack had found it. Many were surprised, and partially glad, that someone could keep Laughton occupied as long as Jack did. That didn't mean that they liked the new addition that Patrick had adopted, but they were given credit for not killing him on sight.

The boy still desired, every day, to see North and Tooth and Bunny and Sandy again. He wasn't sure what they were doing about his disappearance, but none of them could be taking it well. Jack even doubted that Bunny was all hoppity and joyful about Jack being gone. He wondered if they knew anything about Cinder, either. Jack hadn't seen Bunny or Tooth since before he'd gone into the memory retrieval and he missed them immensely. If he could only fly─ and not die in the tragic heat that was this forsaken desert─ then he would be with them in a heartbeat.

But if Cinder was alive, Jack had to know. He would whisk her away with him and they could solve the rest of this gigantic problem together. Besides, Sophie must miss her. And Jamie must miss him, Jack realized in a bout of depression. Those children reminded Jack so much of his little sister. Then those memories morphed into Cinder's, and the cycle revisited itself. It was on one of these cycles as he was finishing cleaning up the bar that steps were heard traveling down the stairs. Jack plopped the wet rag back into the yellow bucket and looked over to where Patrick was shining some clean glasses for the next day. Who would be coming from upstairs? As far as Jack had known, he and the Leprechaun were the only ones living up there. But apparently, he was wrong. Jack turned on his heels a little further and somewhere in the back of his consciousness he knew that the bucket had fallen over and that Patrick was yelling at him and that there was nothing he could do about it because in front of him─ right in front of him─ was simultaneously who he hated to see and who he was beyond exceedingly gladly amazingly ecstatic to see.

Lykos...

And Cinder.

Song for Inspiration:

Dream by Imagine Dragons (From the mood of the song to the lyrics, I think this fits Jack's circumstances near perfectly. I might be using this song a chapter too early, but it certainly helped me move things along.)

A/N: Off to a great start with an infuriating cliffhanger! I must say, I rather enjoy being evil. Oh, but what's to happen will probably have all you guys wanting to strangle my neck. Hmm... maybe I should tone it down?

Nah! :)

Fun Fact: Amaranthine is from the late 1600s, but it's also the name of a city in the video game Dragon Age: Origins and a planet in Mass Effect, and the name of the 2005 Enya album. The place in this story doesn't really have anything to do with these, but I remembered the word from all of these things, so I thought I'd use it, too. Was it a good choice?

Have a great day/night! :)