Early that morning, Lidia set out by herself towards the sunrise. As much as she would have liked to have had the others with her, they couldn't leave today. With any luck, they wouldn't be far behind.

In the meantime, she had to report in.

At the very least, it was a chance to think, to sort out how she might make the best use of the possible conflict ahead.

As she headed for the Meirtyn Gate with a small pack on her back and staff in hand, everything was tinted slightly pink. There was no sign of frost on the tree's budding branches, and as the sun rose, it promised to bring a warm spring day.

She'd heard that winters here were briefer, but the day's mildness still came as a surprise — back home at Candlekeep, the snow would just now have finished melting. She took it as a promising sign that today would be a fine day for a short walk to the keep.

The watches were changing, and the world was awakening around her, lights flaring up in some of the windows that loomed above her, but otherwise, all was quiet except for the sound of birdsong.

Still, Lidia thought she heard a rustle of fabric behind her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, and her left hand went for Azuredge.

A thin, high laugh echoed in her ear. "You seem awfully fond of that weapon — I'd prefer if we keep this discussion civilized. I have a fine bit of business for your ears if you're willing to hear it."

Lidia stopped in place, turning her head to and fro, trying to find the source of the voice. But she didn't have to look for long.

A woman appeared from the shadows between the house and the great tree by the Meirtyn Gate, almost as though she were melting into Lidia's field of vision. This woman's skin was fair, slightly tinted rose along with everything else in the dawn, and her brown eyes had a wide, soft look to them, but her features were hard. One got the sense that anyone who looked into her face would dash themselves upon her like a ship on jagged, outcropping rocks.

Still, something about those eyes was compelling, inviting, making everything that fell from her mouth seem eminently reasonable.

But Lidia could sense a will in that gaze, exerting itself to hold her mind. Its grasp around her slipped, again and again, frustrated by a barrier of divine power.

Lidia shut her eyes and cast a thought toward the woman. In the next moment, her arms quaked, and Lidia tightened her right hand around her staff, her every nerve preparing to strike. This woman, this predator, would realize that Lidia wasn't the victim she thought, and then —

But instead, the woman laughed. "Perhaps you will slow down for me now, my dear."

She had failed and was not aware that she had failed, Lidia thought.

Lidia put on her best glaze-eyed, blank face. "What is it I can do for you, ma'am?" she asked, keeping her voice flat.

"There's a good girl. From what I understand, you've been busy. I will not make you break your obligations now, but the first night you return past this gate, go to meet my mistress near the grave of Wulver Xornnag. She will only speak an offer to you then. Come alone and tell no one."

Lidia tilted her head dumbly without assenting. She wasn't comfortable out-and-out lying, even if this woman meant nothing but harm to her. "Who shall I say sent me, ma'am?"

The woman laughed again. There was an edge to her voice, as though she were telling a joke only to herself. "My name is Valen, but that hardly matters. My mistress will expect you."

Valen leaned in. Though she was dressed neatly and cleanly, she had no human warmth coming from her skin, and she smelled faintly of a corpse.

"Aye, though your will is unbound, holysword, we expect you there and will watch for your return to this city. Fail on any of these points," she hissed, "and you will live to regret it."

With that, Valen melted back into the waning shadows.

Lidia started walking again, a little more briskly this time, as though she were back on the run and could quench the fire lit in her nerves by moving forward.

As she made her way east, she considered what to make of this. Whatever offer Valen's mistress would speak probably involved something unspeakable on Lidia's part, and that it would be a trap. And if that were the case, the most straightforward way to confront whatever evil they had in mind was to walk into this trap open-eyed.

They thought they had snagged a sparrow, and maybe that was true. The real trick would be to arrange matters so that they would instead catch a lion.

What that would look like, Lidia didn't yet know. She'd have to survive the next tenday, first.