Cathy bit her lip and pulled her leg from under a pile of rocks that fell from the collapsed gate. It hurt. Tears rolled from her eyes as she tried not to scream. She didn't know how the fight turned out and she didn't want to distract Miss Nesha in case it hadn't ended yet. Gritting her teeth she began crawling towards the center of the city. The road ahead was full of rubble and broken statues. With her leg injured, again, she couldn't stand and every such pile seemed as high as a mountain. She was halfway through, when she heard a loud noise behind, as if another stone structure collapsed, the ground was also shaking, but looking back, she didn't see anything over the remnants of the walls and gate. She wanted to continue, but her sight fell on a statue ahead of her. It moved. Cathy froze. She was being careful to not get too close to the statues, as Miss Nesha warned her, so why? Could the earthquake awaken it? She looked around as more statues slowly came to life.

~ o ~

Lairon had just enough of everything. These patrols, although dangerous due to obelisks being rigged, were mostly boring and he wanted nothing more than to get back to garrison and practice some creative spells and play cards. But no, a few days ago they received a report about a dangerous woman potentially being in Gelkmaros and the order was to capture her. And he just had to run into her. And even though he and Tareis were well coordinated in fight, she was on a completely different level. She could even afford to just injure Tareis instead of killing him outright and only sheer luck saved Lairon from the same fate. And he almost had her, but at the last moment she decided to jump into the chasm. To calm down, he moved and dropped several huge boulders after her, but he doubted it had any effect.

"I told you to kill her," Tareis said.

"Would you explain it to Issalla?" he snapped. "The orders were clear, alive only. We can try again."

"I can't move my fucking arms and a leg, how the fuck do you expect we try again?"

"Clerics will fix you. Wait here, I'll get the other one and then teleport us."

"That other one looked like a fucking crow."

"Good, we won't need to be careful with interrogation," Lairon grinned and walked over the bridge. The report didn't mention anything about any crows accompanying the woman, so his new target probably wasn't important. He reached the ruins, climbed over the collapsed gate and immediately spotted her. She was injured and several statues were converging on her. He cursed under his breath and cast a spell. A wave of aether washed over the group and both, the statues and the girl, stopped moving. The little crow would eventually wake up, but for the statues sleeping was a natural state, so there was a chance they would stay still even after the spell wears off. With another spell he moved the rubble the girl was sleeping on a little further from the statues before coming closer. She looked like an ordinary crow, they all looked the same anyway, and indeed she was sleeping. He caught a movement in a corner of his eye and instinctively created an aetheric shield. Two aetheric arrows disintegrated on it. As he prepared to cast a spell in the direction where they came from, another arrow broke his shield and he felt a hit in his chest. He looked down in disbelief. An arrow, this time made of wood instead of aether, was sticking out from him. He felt a whiff of aether and his vision faded to black.

~ o ~

As soon as Nesha landed, she hid in the shadows and ran away from the bridge. Few moments later several huge boulders showered the chasm bottom. After the ground stopped shaking, she waited motionlessly for about a minute and then she looked around to see if any of her weapons survived the fall. She found only a fragment of her sword's blade. The rest of the sword and the dagger were most likely buried under the rocks. She reached into her cube and pulled out a spare dagger. Including the thin blade in her boot, these were her last weapons and she hoped she wouldn't lose them.

She vaguely remembered there was supposed to be an air-geyser that could carry her back up to the ruined city. After several minutes of walking in the chasm, she found the place, where air from the underground escaped to the surface, but someone had apparently made sure it won't have enough updraft to carry anything up. The hole in the floor was still there and the air stank with sulphur, but instead of half a meter wide as she remembered, it was now several meters and irregular.

Cathy will have to take care of herself now, she thought and continued walking through the chasm. If she remembered it correctly, it should lead her to Azure Gully, a place with high concentration of aether, where she should be able to fly.

~ o ~

Aielyn jumped from the edge of a huge cylinder-shaped gorge and spread her wings just before hitting the ground. Immediately she darted into one of the many tunnels, attracting slightly shocked looks from people around, before they recognised her. She burst into the strategy room, startling the two women inside.

"Where's Runa?" she asked.

"In the city," Veille said and raised her eyes from a pile of papers. Her long blonde hair was as always finely kempt in two ponytails but her brown eyes looked sad and her once rosy cheeks showed signs of strain. Despite that she was able to keep her noble posture of an Elyos general and even the fact that her purple robe was stitched on several places, couldn't lessen the impression she gave. "She should return in a few hours."

By the city she meant Kamar, the Reian capital and pretty much the only city where Asmodians wouldn't be arrested just for being there. And Runa spent all her free time there, which were those few hours during the week, when she wasn't on some secret mission from Lady Triniel or dealing with problems in the Shelter. A lot of people, if they gained trust, went to the city occasionally, and Runa did really great work in negotiations with the Reians.

"Ah, fine, I'll tell you and then repeat to her," Aielyn sighed. "Are at least Darrand or Ylrian here?"

"Ylrian is on a job outside," Seritha said. She was the complete visual opposite of Veille. Her mismatched clothing had only one purpose, to have as many pockets as possible, and her white hair, starkly contrasting with her dark grey-purple skin, was bound at the back of her head in the style of 'stop getting in my way'. As a former member of the Wisdom Orb legion, she was smart and always had a hint of curiosity around her. "And Darrand is somewhere around. He's been on edge the last few days, waiting for you to bring news from Asmodae."

"Sorry for the delay, there... have been complications," Aielyn looked at the table, the floor, the walls, then the table again. "I'll go fetch Darrand and then give you the report."

She opened the door and almost bumped into a tall, muscular Asmodian clad in heavy armor.

"What took you so long?" he said instead of greeting. "And where's Carmir?"

"He's dead," she replied and stepped aside to let him into the room. "Here's his cube, Seritha, please try to get into it."

"What? You let him die?" Darrand shouted.

Seritha shot a scolding look at him.

"I'll start from the beginning," Aielyn said. "After you teleported us, we split up. I went to Beluslan fortress, Carmir to the Malek mine. I've been watching the fortress for three days. The official info is, they have just a skeleton crew there to guard the Abyss gate and the rift artifact. But that's a lie."

"We knew that already, get to the point," Darrand grunted.

"We suspected that, didn't know," Veille objected.

"Oh, yeah, and because you suspected that, you had to send her, instead of Phair, who, unlike her, knows the land and wouldn't let Carmir die."

"It was Runa's decision to change the plan at the last minute, she wouldn't do that, if she didn't have a serious reason for it. Lyn, please continue," Seritha said.

"The soldiers there do a really good job in pretending they're just guarding the gate and keeping the fortress from falling apart. The reasons why I think they're also guarding something else are, one, the supplies going to the fortress would accommodate a far greater number of people and two, I saw the Eltnen general Malonimus there. He stayed for several hours and then left. I caught a glimpse of his expression and he looked very pleased. After he left, Israphel's head scientist Issalla arrived. I wasn't able to get inside, but I stole some crystals from a supply brax, here," she put three small crystals on the table. "Then I went to meet Carmir in Kurngalfberg, he was already waiting for me there. When I asked him, if he was successful, he..." she took a deep breath to calm herself down. During the flight on the Shugo ship she tried to not think about it, so she hasn't fully processed it yet. "He said that was still to be determined and... and he said he's tired of being Veille's and Runa's puppet and that Israphel has offered him a better life and... and he wanted me to go with him."

She stared at the table, not daring to look at any of the people, who stayed silent. Even Darrand didn't add any angry comments.

"I refused and... and he used his spells and I couldn't do anything and then... that woman came and killed him."

"What woman?" Darrand asked.

"Her name's Nesha, she's Elyos and she's a very skilled assassin. And she had that young Asmodian girl, recently Ascended, with her and said she wanted to come here. So I went with them to Gelkmaros and told them to go north and ran here. The girl can't fly properly, so they won't use windstreams and will be slow."

"Are you sure the name was Nesha?" Veille was surprised.

"Yes."

"An assassin named Nesha used to be in Lightshade, was that her?" Seritha asked. Lightshade was an elite group of five assassins, one from Miragent, one from Hushblade and three Lepharists, who were responsible for deaths of many Asmodian officers during and after the war.

"I don't know, she didn't tell me anything about her. That's why I didn't bring her directly. I don't know if we can trust her."

"If she's that bitch from Lightshade, we can't," Darrand said and his black eyes glowed red. "And I say we should kill her as soon as possible."

"No, we can't!" Veille said. She looked horrified. "Please, please, don't kill her."

Everyone looked at her in surprise. Aielyn frowned, as she tried to process the thought that had appeared at the back of her mind. There's something weird about her...

"Yeah? Why? All Lightshades deserve to die," Darrand spat. Seritha nodded slightly in agreement.

Wait, those eyes!

"I know she has caused you a lot of grief, but... there's hardly anyone who didn't. Could we at least let her tell us why she's here, before we decide?"

"If you tell us why she has the same eyes as you," Aielyn blurted out. Veille and the two Asmodians looked at her in confusion. "What? She's been staring at me for the last ten days, I remember that look. It's the same."

"Yes, this might be the best time to tell you why I ran away from the Elyos," Veille sighed. "The reason was Israphel's hold over Nesha. She's..."

~ o ~

The servants, her fellow prisoners, woke her up and gave her a bath. They used the finest scented soaps and oils, combed her dark purple hair into lush waves, and then dressed her in what could be described as a very impractical underwear. The pieces were as small as possible and were adorned with glittering scales and fringing. Compared to this, the aether-cuffs on her wrists and around her neck looked and felt too heavy and they didn't match, but no one was allowed to remove those. All that preparation meant someone was there to see her. Someone important, as only important people knew about her and were allowed to enter. It used to be just him, but he grew bored and offered her as a reward to his most loyal underlings.

They led her to the visiting room lit by a few warm-glowing crystals and let her sit at the edge of a large, comfortable bed. She watched all that as if from a distance. Her body cooperated, but her mind stopped caring a long time ago. The other door opened and he entered. He was dressed only in a towel over his hips and carried a thin, drenium circlet adorned with various red stones in his hand. There used to be a time when a look at his muscled and well trained body would impress her. There also used to be another time, when a look at the circlet would cause her to panic. But none of that happened.

"Hello, my dear, long time no see," he said. "Did you miss me?"

As was expected of her, she got up from the bed and knelt in front of him, her head almost touching the floor.

"Yes, my lord," despite her emotional emptiness, her voice sounded seductive. She has learnt that well.

"Good girl," he crouched next to her, gently caressed her cheek and placed the circlet on her head. Immediately the aether stored in the stones affected her body, which reacted with increased heart-beat, breath rate and arousal. There used to be a time when she would find this humiliating. Not anymore. She didn't care.

~ o ~

Cathy opened her eyes. First she saw only distant stars on black sky above her. She didn't recognise any known constellations, but she knew the stars were watching. She got up, shook the sand out of her hair and looked around. In every direction there was only sand and far, far away it touched the sky.

"Cathy!" a voice said from behind her and immediately echoed from everywhere. She turned around.

"Grandma?" she said, surprised by her own voice. Her grandmother stood on a low dune not far from her. Cathy walked, then ran towards her, but the sand was shifting under her feet and the distance between them wasn't closing. The image of the old woman blurred and dissipated, as if it was a mere mirage. "Grandma!"

The sand around her started swirling, faster with every second. She couldn't run anymore. She fell and let the whirl carry her. She saw herself, as if from the outside, falling deeper and deeper into the sand vortex, which was inside a giant almost empty hourglass.

"Grandm..." a hand in a leather glove covered her mouth and muffled her scream. She opened her eyes and saw a rocky cave ceiling above her. No stars, no sand. Just a cave and distant sounds of forest.

"Be quiet," someone whispered next to her and removed the hand from her mouth. She flinched and recoiled from him. She tried to crawl away, but pain in her leg reminded her it won't be easy. Her gaze fell on the new bandages and a splint on her shin. Then she finally dared to look at the guy kneeling next to her. It was clear he was an Asmodian. His pale face was mostly covered by either coal black hair or equally as black scarf, but his eyes... those blue eyes had a faint, familiar red glow in them. She nodded. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" he asked, keeping his voice low.

"I... I'm..." tears flooded her eyes and she started sobbing, as she remembered why she had to leave Morheim. She huddled herself up towards the wall and hugged herself. "They killed them. It's all my fault."

~ o ~

He didn't have a problem with killing the Elyos or Asmodian traitors. He didn't mind waiting for hours on a watch without any action. He could follow tracks several days old without getting lost. But he had no idea what he should do with an injured and crying girl, who didn't pose any threat, except alerting everyone to their position. He searched his pockets and found a clean handkerchief, which he offered to her.

"Hey, uh, girl, this is a bad place for crying, someone might hear you," he whispered. "I'll take you to a safe place, where you can cry all you want, but for now, please be quiet."

She took the handkerchief, stopped sobbing and nodded. He decided to not ask her anything for some time, at least until she calms down enough. From her aether signature he guessed she was only recently Ascended, it had to be less than a month, so she had to be as old as she looked, which definitely wasn't more than fifteen. At that age, even if she was a spy, she wasn't a threat to him.

When she calmed down, she started inspecting the bandage he put around her leg. Both bones were broken and muscles were damaged, but fortunately the main veins remained whole. He was able to put some painkilling ointment and splint on it, but he was no healer.

"Don't," he caught her hand, when she tried to unwrap the bandage. "It's broken, I'll take you to a healer."

She looked at him helplessly, then she looked down and nodded.

"You can call me Lonewolf," he said. "Do you have a name?"

"Cathy," she said.

~ o ~

After about an hour of walking in the shadows, mainly to avoid remnants of the wildlife, she didn't expect any patrols down there, the chasm divided in two paths. One led towards an old huge dam, the other ended with a steep cliff down. The aether felt stronger from both directions and Nesha chose the cliff, the dam didn't look like she could climb it easily. When she reached the edge of the cliff, a view of a narrow gorge with its sides and bottom covered in cracks with turquoise crystals in them. And those crystals were the source of the aether. She spread her wings and waved them a few times to find out if flight was possible. It was. She smiled and continued forward. It was hard to stay in the shadows while flying, so she tried to overcome the distance to the tunnel in the middle of the cliff on the other side of the gully as quickly as possible. The tunnel was narrow and twisted several times, but it was relatively short, even in the middle of it there was enough light for her to not trip over something. After she exited the tunnel, she walked for a short time through a narrow path between two mounds covered by thick but dry trees, before the view opened. She crouched in the shadows and checked over the landscape in front of her. Mostly flat land covered by shallow waters and rotting vegetation, no wonder this place was called Viscum Swamp. Near her were ruins of an abandoned Balaur drana mining device, plants and mosses were already growing over it. On her right side the terrain rose up, forming a steep mountain range. In the worst case, this was where she would climb. But the rocks were slimy and wet and covered in moss, if there was another way, she would prefer to find one. Sure, there was the little voice telling her she should return and look for Cathy, but her rational part concluded that she was most likely already taken by those Elyos guards. After a while, during which she didn't spot any creature except animated tree stumps and slimy cellatus, she slowly walked into the swamp, sticking to the rocky edge.

An aether shot hit the water right in front of her and splashed flotsam into her face. She drew her dagger and immediately hid behind a giant tree stump, fortunately not animated. She wanted to hide in the shadows too, but realised she was already hidden, but that shot revealed and marked her with aether. Another shot grazed the stump and she heard cursing. Crawling around her hiding place she peeked on the other side and after a few moments noticed a camouflaged person in vegetation under a giant root, which in turn saw her and she barely evaded another shot.

"Get out, I don't have all day for you," he shouted. Was that voice playful?

She didn't respond.

"Ah, well, as you wish," he said and threw a grenade in her direction. To her surprise it bounced off the rocky wall and fell right next to her, exploding not on impact, but on the proximity to the aether mark on her. In a split second she jumped away, so the green smoke just lightly brushed her left arm. One good thing happened, the explosion erased the aether mark on her. She rolled on the ground and landed in the swamp water. Next to her, inside a circle of stones, a geyser thrusted water upwards, which after a few moments fell down in the form of rain. She stayed under the surface for a few seconds and stepped through the shadows to appear behind the camouflaged person. Again, he was quicker than she expected and parried her blow with one of his pistols. Before she could pull out her thin blade from her boot, he attacked her.

Since when do pistols have blades on them?

Those blades weren't long, but even a few centimeters could be dangerous when unexpected. He cut her on her upper left arm, which she found out she could barely move. That green smoke must have been more potent than what was common even in Miragent. He kicked her and jumped back to get some space and opened fire with several shots at her. About half of them hit her, but since they were just aether bullets and not physical ones, it only hurt a lot and didn't cause her serious injury. For a moment the gunner stopped shooting and she had enough time to look at him.

"Wait, you're..." she tried to say, but he released the aether he was charging in his pistol and the pressure wave pushed her several steps back. She tripped on a stone and fell to the swamp water. Her whole body ached, but she got back to her feet almost immediately. She looked at the gunner again. Dark brown hair, dark turquoise eyes, warm-bronze skin, dual pistols, form-fitting black leather armor with lots of clasps, in which he has fastened small branches, leaves and grass... yes, it was him. No wonder he beat her up so easily, even in Miragent she was no match for him. He charged his pistols with aether again.

"Wait!" she shouted. "I'm not..." before she could finish her sentence, the geyser under her erupted and threw her into the water a few meters from it. "Ylrian, wait!" she screamed, when she got her head above the surface. "I'm not your enemy!"

"Are you sure?" he smirked. His guns were still aiming at her, but he stopped charging.

"You're Ylrian, right? One of Lord Vaizel's agents... before you defected at least."

"I prefer the term Wings. And I know I'm famous," he said. "Tell me something I don't know."

"My name's Nesha and I'm here to join you."

"Join me? What exactly do you have in mind? I certainly know some very pleasant ways of joining."

"You're with the Asmodian rebels, right? With Veille and some other Elyos, who defected."

"Hm, Nesha, I think I heard that name before. Lightshade?" he asked. She didn't respond. "Does it mean you want to defect too?"

"I... yes," she said.

"That didn't sound very convincing."

"I don't know where else to go. It's... horrible back there."

"Ah, but it's not paradise with us either," he said. "Alright, I'll take you to the Shelter. You're lucky I already did what I needed to. So before we go, give me your weapons."

Still under the threat of being shot with a really big charge of aether she threw her dagger on the patch of dry ground, in front of his feet. Then she reached into the water and added her thin dagger from her boot.

"All of them," Ylrian said.

"That's all," she objected. "The travel here was rough."

"Very well, now your cube, please."

"I'm not opening it for you," she grunted and threw her cube to the weapons.

"And last, your clothes."

"No."

He raised his eyebrows.

"I'm not stripping here," she said. "You got my weapons and cube, that should be enough."

"Ah, so you have some spirit, good," he smiled. "Now get over there, out of the water."

She obeyed and walked to the other side of the patch he was standing on.

"Hands in front of you, yes, like that. Don't move," he safely released the charged aether from one of his guns and stored it in a holster. He slowly walked towards her, his other gun still aiming. With one quick movement he pulled a pair of aether-cuffs connected with a chain out of his pocket and snapped it around her wrist.

"No," she said and a wave of nausea washed over her. As she lost access to aether, the pain all over her body has multiplied.

"You didn't expect I'd lead a member of Lightshade there just like that, right?" he said when he cuffed both her hands. "Sit here and drink this," he pulled a bottle out of his cube and handed it to her.

"What's that?"

"Water with some cactus in it. Good for the body on low aether levels," he said.

"Oh, thanks," she drank several gulps and returned the bottle.

She watched him, as he picked up her weapons, briefly examined them and stored them in his cube. Her own cube got clipped on his belt, it was never good to store a cube inside another, the spatial enchantments could either break or melt together. He removed the remnants of his camouflage from his armor, looked around and frowned.

"Get up, we're leaving," he said.

He led her to the northern side of the swamp, where they climbed some rocks and fallen trees to get to a higher platform, right in front of a cave. The entrance was partially covered by creeper plants and huge colourful mushrooms, but she could see a slightly pink glow from the inside. She made a step forward, but Ylrian's hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"We're not gonna disturb the spirits, this is our way," he pointed at the outer wall of the cave. There were signs it was occasionally a path. A very steep path.

"How am I supposed to climb that with this?" she held her hands up to show the chain between her aether-cuffs.

"I thought Miragent accepted only the best," he smirked. "Don't worry, if you fall, I'll catch you and carry you."

She shook her head and began climbing. With her hands bound, her body aching and no aether to rely on, the ascent was difficult, but not too long and in several minutes she rolled over the edge and sat on a rock. The landscape that followed were basically mountains with some not much demanding trees, bushes and grass. Several paths ran from this clearing towards the mountains. In a few minutes Ylrian climbed up too.

"So, Wings are good for flying, but climbing not so much?" she said.

"Haha, I was waiting for you to get here, you know, in case you fell," he laughed.

"Yeah, sure."

"And I must admit, I had some nice views from there, I wanted to enjoy it for as long as I could."

Nesha rolled her eyes and got up.

"That way, ladies first," he gestured towards one of the paths.

"For the view?" she asked, slightly more bitter than she intended.

"That and I don't want that chain around my neck," he stopped smiling. "Don't forget you're still a captive and I'm doing you a favor. I'll joke around all the way to the Shelter, if you give me enough incentives, but I know you're dangerous. And I'll keep that in mind. So if you want me to get you there, instead of shooting you right now, which I must admit would be a very sad thing to do, start walking."

The sudden change of his tone took her off guard. But it made sense, he wouldn't have gotten to the position of one of the lord Vaizel's agents, also called Four Wings, if he'd been stupid. No, this wasn't surprising. More puzzling and shocking was the fact he, as well as Veille, left his Lord. They were the elite of elites, the most trusted by their Lords. Such betrayal was unimaginable. Something was horribly wrong and Nesha couldn't figure out what. She started walking the path he pointed to.

~ o ~

The ointment under the bandages was slowly drying up and losing its effect and the pain in her leg grew more and more intense. Cathy felt ashamed. Again, she broke her leg and again, someone had to carry her. The bones were broken so badly she couldn't heal them by herself. She didn't even know where to start. Maybe it was good she didn't tell Mister Lonewolf she could heal. He seemed calm and nice, but would he stay like that if he knew she should cure it and walk by herself? She was afraid to ask him if he saw Miss Nesha. What if they fought and he killed her? Or what if she left? Was Cathy alone again? She saw her grandma in that dream, did it mean she was still with her? But grandma died, she had seen it.

Mister Lonewolf put her on the ground again and went ahead scouting. He made frequent stops, he said he needed to make sure nothing dangerous was waiting for them. But Cathy suspected the breaks had another reason, she was simply too heavy. When they left the cave, they traveled through a lush forest with a really pretty lake, then Mister Lonewolf found a steep trail through the mountains, and now she was sitting under a huge rock at the edge of a desert. It looked similar to the desert in Morheim, but the air and sand were much hotter here. And the sun, it seemed so close from here, even if it was setting almost at the horizon.

"We're almost there," Mister Lonewolf said, when he returned. "Just an hour or so. Wrap this over your head and mouth, you don't want to breathe the sand," he gave her a piece of light cloth. He took off his black scarf and replaced it with another one with the colour of the surrounding sand. He wrapped it around his head and shoulders. Cathy failed to perceive how he did it, so she wrapped hers as a shawl her grandma used to wear and used one of the free ends to cover her mouth. Then she climbed on his back and he stepped into the desert again.

It was a long walk. The sand wasn't a good surface for walking and Mister Lonewolf had to choose his steps very carefully, but even then he almost fell several times. But he never complained, as far as Cathy could hear. But she knew she was a burden to him, if he didn't have to carry her, he would already be there.

The sun has set even lower and comfortably familiar shadows spread over the land. They reached huge stones jutting from the sand in about two hours and Mister Lonewolf chose a narrow path between them to slowly descend.

"Who goes there," an unfamiliar voice called from above them. "Identify yourselves!"

"It's me, Phair," her companion said and pulled down his headscarf. Cathy did the same. "And I have an injured girl with me, she needs a healer. Let me pass, Esumi."

Phair, that's a pretty name, she thought.

"Took you a while, get in."

They emerged in the middle of a wall of a cylinder-shaped ravine and for the second time during this day Cathy was amazed by the sight. Even though the ruins they stood in were just barely lit by several torches and magical crystals, they were magnificent. The remnants of pillars and statues were so precisely crafted and the entrances to the caverns were not just some natural caves, but properly paved and structured. And huge. Everything looked like it was made for people several times taller than those inhabiting it now. And then there was the second thing, that almost took her breath away. The Asmodians were walking upright, carrying weapons and some of them even wore armor! Occasionally they chatted with each other and no one yelled at them for that. Those few Elyos she saw behaved... nice?

"Oh, Cathy, you made it!" Miss Aielyn joined them, when they reached the bottom ground. "When Ylrian brought only Nesha here, I began to worry, maybe I should have led you myself..."

Miss Nesha is here? Cathy wanted to ask about her, but she couldn't find energy to do so. Until now, she didn't realise how tired she became, mostly from the pain in her leg.

"Lyn, she's injured, can't you see?" Mister Lonewolf walked past her.

"You don't have to be so stiff, Puppy, I'm just glad to see her," Miss Aielyn said. "I'll visit you later, Cathy, when you get better."

Cathy nodded and Miss Aielyn walked to another hallway than they did. The first door on the side, this one was regular-sized, led to an infirmary. Spacious room lit by warm-light crystals contained about a dozen simple beds. Three of them were occupied by sleeping patients. Next to one of them, on a wooden stool, sat a woman with bright green hair ending at her shoulders.

"Anteia, got you a patient," Mister Lonewolf said, when they entered.

The woman looked at them, even her eyes were the same bright green. And she was an Elyos. Cathy stiffened. Mister Lonewolf put her on the nearest empty bed.

"Oh, Aion, what happened to you?" the woman asked, when she weaved aether around her leg. She had a pleasant, calming voice that put Cathy at ease. The aether surrounding her was filled with a very quitet, but soothing melody.

"Most likely got caught under falling rocks, I found her in Marayas," Mister Lonewolf said.

"That looks really bad. Could you get Engor? He should be resting in his room. I'll do what I can, but..." Miss Anteia shook her head.

"Hm," Mister Lonewolf nodded and left.

"Don't worry, Engor's a really good cleric," the woman smiled at her encouragingly. "I'm Anteia, what's your name?"

"Cathy," she replied. She felt so tired and the bed looked so soft...

~ o ~

They put her into a small cell with only one bed and a bucket with a lid. There were no windows and the only light was provided by a small crystal in a holder above the door, glowing with warm, but insufficient light. Nesha liked shadows, she even enjoyed walking in them, but with the aether-cuffs on her wrists she couldn't feel them. She didn't even have her emergency pieces of wire she kept in her clothing for these purposes, they have searched her thoroughly. Was it even a good idea to come here? The Asmodians hated her. Their faces showed fear, anger, disgust... Even the cheerful Aielyn acted reserved, when she arrived. Did someone tell her something?

The wooden door opened and an Asmodian man in old armor carried a simple wooden stool inside. Behind him a woman walked in with a tray in her hand. She wore black leathers, several times higher quality than the guard, who left the cell, as soon as she nodded at him. The woman put the tray on the bed, then she sat on the stool.

"I'm Runa, Lady Triniel's Wing," she said. "And you're Nesha, former member of Miragent legion and Lightshade assassination squad. Is that correct?"

Nesha didn't respond. She barely glanced at the bowl with porridge and jug of water, but she tried to keep her attention on the woman in front of her. She sat there, with one leg across the other, her clawed hands politely resting in her lap, her entire posture was intended to look relaxed. But the expression on her face was hard. Pale grey skin was framed by black... no, not black, very dark blue hair cut right under the sharp chin, and those icy blue eyes...

"It's not poisoned," the Asmodian broke the silence.

"What do you want from me?" Nesha asked.

"Wrong person. What do you want here?"

"I wanted to join you, but seeing you all hate me here, I don't know anymore."

"Did you seriously expect they'll welcome a member of Israphel's elite assassin unit with open arms?"

"I wasn't there for long."

"No one was. It was created just before the attack on Marayas. Mastarius was your first target. Tell me, which one of you killed him?"

"Why do you want to know that?"

"Just curious," the woman smiled coldly. Yeah, sure, curious...

"I did. And he didn't even resist much and in the end he begged for his life. I used to think the Wings are someone special, but you're just people, like everyone else."

"Don't you find it strange? You were the only one in that group, who wasn't a Lepharist."

"You're wrong," Nesha said. "Cerullon was from Hushblade."

"Are you sure?" Runa asked.

Nesha stared at her silently. Is she implying I'm a spy? As if anyone would be this stupid to send a person from Lightshade to infiltrate the Asmodians.

"After the Lightshade was dismissed, you were still part of Miragent. Why did you leave?"

"I didn't," Nesha gritted her teeth. "General Lavirintos questioned some orders, so when he disappeared, they kicked out everyone who supported him."

"That's why you decided to defect?"

"No."

"Then tell me."

"How is that your business?"

"It will help me to decide whether we should keep you, or kill you," Runa replied with a stone cold expression.

"You know what Morheim is these days, right? They sent me there and the locals were treating me like a shit," she spat.

"I can't possibly imagine what like a shit looks like in the case of an Elyos from Miragent."

"Look, Runa, I tried to convince the commander to be less cruel to the Asmodians. And do you think it had any effect? Yeah, they spread false rumors about me being a half-breed to force me to obey them. So I left. I'm not a half-breed."

"Aielyn reported you had an Asmodian girl with you. Why?"

"She Ascended the day before I left and they killed her entire family. They planned to sell her somewhere. I didn't want to leave her there," Nesha really didn't like the direction the questions were heading.

"But you arrived alone. What happened to her?"

"An Elyos patrol found us. She ran and I fought them. They pushed me into a chasm with no way back up. They probably got her after that."

"She actually arrived a short while ago. She's injured and exhausted, but alive."

"Uh. That's good," it was indeed a relief for Nesha. She went to such lengths to get Cathy here, it would be a big failure if the Elyos got her back just before their destination.

Runa stared at her, motionlessly, with an expression, which told her nothing. The gaze was truly uncomfortable. But Nesha stared back. She tried to remember and process every piece of information about this woman. Why haven't I heard about her? We know a lot about the other Wings, why not this one? She noticed a thin silver chain sticking from under Runa's collar. It looked so out of place, everything else on her was black, although it was difficult to tell the dark colours apart in such weak light.

"You spent quite some time with Aielyn. Why didn't you try to win her over?" Runa asked her suddenly. "Wouldn't it be better, if she had something positive about you to report?"

"She's annoying and talks too much. No point in entertaining her."

"Is it because she's... what you would call a half-breed?"

"No, she's just annoying. Why are you asking that?"

"Just curious. Alright, that's all from me," the Asmodian woman got up from the stool and walked to the door.

"Did I pass your test?" Nesha asked.

"No. But fortunately for you, there's someone else who wants to talk with you."

She left the cell and Nesha was alone again. Rumbling in her stomach reminded her of the tray on her bed. She took the bowl and tried one spoon of the porridge. It was very simple food, almost tasteless, but not having any taste at all made it difficult to add poisons in it. She didn't even expect that, though, they hated her, sure, but that meant they'd rather execute her publicly to boost the morale in this settlement. No, the fact, they gave her the food in the first place, meant they were considering letting her stay alive. When she was halfway through the porridge, the door opened again.

"Hello, Nesha," Veille walked in and sat on the stool. She looked as elegant as Nesha remembered her from the Inggison Outpost, except now she had dark rings under her eyes and a slightly anxious expression. "I think I don't have to introduce myself, right? I'm here to answer some of your questions."

"I haven't really asked any," Nesha said and put the bowl on the tray. "But if you're offering; why did you leave Inggison? As far as I heard, lord Kaisinel does a good job with keeping that place from falling into chaos." And I wouldn't be here, if they allowed me to transfer there instead of Morheim.

"That's a very difficult question. Someone I loved has died the most horrible death I can imagine. I have realised it was my fault, because I never had enough courage to do what I should. I have failed him and... and I have failed..."

"That's it? You have betrayed your Lord because of a man?"

"I would appreciate it if you let me finish it. In fact, I'm not allowed to leave this room until I do. So, could you listen?"

"Fine."

"Thank you. I'd better start from the beginning," she took a deep breath. "I'm really sorry, Nesha, for what I did. I'm not asking for forgiveness, I know it's unforgivable. I'm just asking you to listen. About ninety years ago I had a child, a daughter. I lived in the Inggison Outpost already and during my pregnancy I faced few assassination attempts, the enemies thought it would be easier to get rid of me. So I gave birth in a remote house in Verteron, lady Yustiel herself was assisting me to ensure my child's safety. But someone, an Elyos, broke in and tried to kidnap her. We got rid of him, but... we didn't know who he worked for, they could try again. Lady Yustiel helped me to fake my girl's death and then took her to an orphanage, where she could grow up without being threatened. I didn't know which one, I didn't want to know in order to not give them any hint she could be alive. I couldn't do anything for her, except occasionally sending money to all orphanages in Elysea. All that time... I have missed her so much."

"Why are you telling me all this? That has nothing to do with my question," Nesha snapped.

"Because that girl is you, Nesha."

"What?!" Nesha forgot to breathe for a moment. In the past she thought a lot about why she ended up in that orphanage. She always thought something bad had happened to her parents, but never it occurred to her that she could just be abandoned. With her mother living in comfort somewhere... She got up from the bed and paced across the cell. Say something! Say something! "Who... who is my father?"

A panicked expression settled on Veille's face.

"Nesha... it would be better if you sit down."

"TELL ME!"

"It was Mastarius."

What?! No, no, no! That's not true... Nesha's legs couldn't support her and her knees bent. She dropped to the ground. That can't be true! "You're lying!"

"No, Nesha, I'm telling you the truth."

"Why? Why now? Why didn't you bother to tell me before it was too late?! I was at the Inggison Outpost before going to Marayas! I saw you there! And I know you saw me!"

"I'm sorry. I was afraid. I... I didn't know what to say..."

"ANYTHING!"

"I..."

"Leave. Just leave me alone."

"As you wish, Nesha," Veille stood up and walked to the door. "I'm really sorry."

Again alone in her cell, Nesha sat on the floor, not even trying to move to her bed.

So I am a half-breed, after all. And I have killed my father.