Thalia walked alone down the road. She'd made it through the forest after about an hour of walking and had made it to the main road to Mistral not long after that. She walked in silence, staring ahead. She glanced up at the sky. It was getting dark out, but she didn't worry. At her pace, she'd make it home before the wolves came out.
     She knew where she was now. She had to travel along the road for another few minutes or so before she arrived at Mistral's town gate. She honestly couldn't wait to see Toby again. She could only imagine how worried he must be about her. She'd left just to go for a walk, which should have only taken an hour or so, but she had been gone for a full day and a half. Toby might even think she'd been killed.
     She shook her head mentally. Nick, her cousin, would have faith in her. He'd reassure him that everything was fine. Besides, if she recalled correctly, Nick had run into Colonel Hughes once on accident.
      As she walked along the road, her mind began to wander.
     There had been so many people in the base she'd heard about but never gotten to meet. Like that General Proves guy that had helped Kevin with his disguise and was the big science geek or whatever – who was he, anyway? Thalia's eyes narrowed as the thought occurred to her. Why had Kevin needed a disguise in the first place? He'd gone to listen in on commons people, and they were getting anxious, as Kevin had said.
They'd said that people were disappearing... but why? Who was causing it? Thalia hadn't heard any rumors like that around Mistral. Nothing like it at all. But if these people were telling the truth...
     As Thalia's mind began to race with questions, she started to talk to herself. "There's gotta be something else at work here... Something leading the Teuthidans..." She muttered in thought. "But who? Think, Thalia, Think... Who would the squids let lead them?" She hesitated a moment as she began to climb a hill. "Wait... Wait a minute..." Her eyes widened a bit. "The squid I fought said a name... But what was it?" She racked her brain for a name. Her head injury had made everything all fuzzy from the battle.
     But then, as she rose up over the hill and saw what lay beyond, the name came to her. Her eyes grew wide and her face fell.
     Before her was the front gate to the fair city of Mistral – but the city had been destroyed. Houses had become ashes, some were half gone and others mere piles of rubble. Beneath the airship dock high in the sky were wrecked airships, burnt by the fires that consumed the once beautiful city.
     The place itself seemed deserted. Homes were abandoned, and not one sound came from the place. As the shock of seeing her home in ruin slowly faded, the name once again rang in her ears. "Xandra..." She whispered. "She did this." Her eyes grew even wider as a thought struck her. "Toby..." She broke into a sprint through the front gate. "Toby!" She shouted.
     She sprinted through the streets until she came to Earhart Lane and bolted down it, ignoring the sidewalk and running in the middle of the street. But when she got to 33rd, she stopped dead in her tracks, eyes wide. The house was in pieces; it had been totally obliterated. Without hesitating any longer, she stepped into it and looked around. "Toby?" She called loudly. "Nick? Anybody?" There was no response. She searched for over twenty minutes, but no bodies were found.
     She forced herself to stop and calm down. She took a deep breath and considered the possibilities.
The first was that Nick and Toby had been taken captive. The second was that the two had run for it and hidden somewhere. The third was that they had been killed and their bodies either buried or consumed by the fire. She shuddered at the thought and forced it from her mind. She hoped that it couldn't be true, just because it was so terrible.
     She sighed in despair and sat down with her back against a piece of the outer wall of her house. She curled her legs in close to her and buried her head in her arms. She had been gone for a day... Just one god damn day. And in her absence the whole town had gone to shit.
     "What am I gonna do now...?" She asked herself quietly. She had to find Toby and Nick, her mind answered. They had to be alive... Didn't they? And they couldn't have gone far... Could they? She sighed again and closed her eyes. She mustn't cry. Her father had always told her that crying was for little kids. Thalia wasn't little anymore.
     Thalia's expression grew determined. She stood up again and faced the wreckage of her house. She was on her own now. She would have to take care of herself. And she could do it.
     She turned and walked away without looking back. There was nothing left for her in Mistral. The townspeople had either fled or been killed. Nick and Toby were gone, gods let them be safe wherever they were. Her father was at Skyhold, unaware of the destruction of Mistral. Thalia was alone.
     She walked through the street after she had salvaged some of her things from her room and headed back towards the front gate. But as she was within about twenty feet of it, she heard a small sound. She turned to it in slight alarm, but relaxed when she saw a boy leaning against the wall of the city, his back to her, his head down. Her eyes narrowed. What the hell was he doing? She couldn't see much of him but a shock of black hair and a purple cloak with the hood down. "Who are you?" She asked rather bluntly.
     He jumped and glanced back at her agitatedly. "Oi! Can't you see I'm trying to take a piss?" He asked, an accent thick in his voice. He looked away again and shook his head as though he were disappointed. "People these days..." He muttered.
     Thalia's eyes widened and she immediately turned away. After a few awkward moments of silence, the boy spoke again. "Why are you still here? You have something to say to me?" He asked.
     Thalia turned around again to see him facing her. He had dark purple eyes with a semicircle-like tattoo under his left eye, and messy, curly jet black hair. He wore a long black coat with jeans and lightly armored black boots. He stared at Thalia expectantly, waiting for her answer.
     "Who are you?" She asked again, trying to push the memory of her last attempt to ask from her mind.
     "I could be asking you the same thing." He said. He hesitated, as if waiting for Thalia to speak, before continuing. "Name's Stillman. Jack Stillman."
     "Can I call you Jackie?" Thalia asked immediately.
     Jack raised an eyebrow. "No." He replied abruptly. "Now, who are you?"
     "Thalia Kal, my family lives... Used to live in this city. Have you seen anybody since the attack?" Thalia asked.
     "Yeah, loads." Jack replied, a hint of sarcasm in his tone. "I remember this one guy had a face... and some hair... and a body..."
     "You mind being a bit more specific?" Thalia asked, undeterred. "Did you happen to see two people? One of them was young, about six. The other's my age. Both are male, and both have a tendency to wear the color green."
     "Ah, a husband and a son, no doubt?" Jack asked slyly.
     Thalia raised an eyebrow. "More like a cousin and a little brother." She said. "Have you seen them?"
     "I dunno. Maybe. I see a lot of people." He smirked at her.
     Thalia glared at him. "I'm not in the mood for games. My home village was just destroyed and my family could be dead. Now tell me; have you seen them?"
     "Alright, alright calm down..." Jack hesitated in thought. "I think I know who you're talking about... Was one of them called Nick?"
      Thalia's face lit up with hope. "Yes!" She exclaimed.
     Jack shrugged. "Haven't seen him."
     Thalia let a low growl escape her throat.
     Jack snorted in amusement and rolled his eyes. "Yes, I ran into him when the city was still under attack. We shared a quick chat and I showed him the nearest way out of the city. He didn't seem to know the streets of Mistral very well." It was true. Nick didn't know Mistral very well at all. He had only been visiting in the time of the attack.
     "Did they make it out alright?" She asked.
     Jack shrugged. "Last I saw him, he was bookin' it for the exit whilst giving a little kid a piggy-back ride. He's got bad timing, he has. But I can't say whether or not he got out."
     Thalia sighed. "Thank you." She said. She started to walk forward again to leave the city.
     Jack watched her, one eyebrow raised, looking almost amused. "Ah... Where are you going...?" He asked.
     "To go look for them." Thalia replied as she kept walking.
     Jack chuckled. "I wouldn't go out there if I were you." He said.
     "Why not?" Thalia asked, pausing in the center of the gateway."
     "Because there are-" Jack stopped abruptly as a bark split the air. Her eyes widened and her head snapped back. "Wolves."
     Thalia gasped and mentally kicked herself. How could she have been so stupid as to forget that the sun was setting when she arrived?! She turned to face the direction the bark had come from as another bark could be heard not far away. There had to over half a dozen wolves. She gasped and felt her sheath for her sword. And closed her eyes in dread.
     She had once again forgotten to grab a sword from the armory. As another bark was heard she returned to reality and took a step back, preparing to run back into the city.
      But as she did, she ran into someone. She stumbled back, but as she regained her balance, Jack grabbed her wrist. "Hold your breath." He said.
     "Why would I-?!" Before Thalia could finish, she and Jack both disappeared from the streets of Mistral in a flash of purple – teleporting out of sight, as though they had never been there at all.