People were delicate creatures, it seemed.

Huddled together underneath a street lined with awnings and travel-stops as wind and rain ripped through the city streets. Flower petals waved and fluttered violently, spreading nature's confetti down the sidewalks and in an array of reds and golds.

One woman was particularly disheartened by them tangling her hair up, spewing a flurry of curses into the dreaded locks.

Faine felt horribly out of place as she skirted the streets of Mithlis, trailing after a flickering shadow.

Karras would disappear from one building only to appear on the next as the shadow of a bird or beneath the stairs of some foundation. He was confident, gliding from place to place as though hundreds of people weren't cowering away from the turbulent weather.

She felt herself frowning as she considered the humanity surrounding them. Faine's chest tightened as people laughed and shoved each other into puddles, those weightless sounds striking a hollow chord in her heart.

She wished, if only through empathy, that she might feel something so carefree.

Her only memories were lined with pain and confusion, let alone creatures these people knew nothing of. Only joy and the acceptance of a protection some likely took for granted.

The farther they walked, the more that conflicted sadness morphed into an anger Faine had never experienced. The sensation of her throat tightening around vengeful words only furthered the trembling of her body.

Faine didn't even notice when Karras manifested into a solid shadow and bounded up the stairs of an old victorian townhome. The fading ocher siding and onyx trim struck her odd until she remembered the certain eccentricities he'd mentioned. Still, between his blatant disregard for solidifying and the haunting hum of magic thrumming from the inside, Faine was thoroughly distracted from her anxiety.

The rage vanished completely as Karras' gentle knocks quickly plummeted into annoyed pounding.

"Stupid witches," he grumbled to himself. Karras paused for a moment, allowing a reasonable amount of time for someone to answer the door. After a few deep breaths, a growl rumbled in the back of his throat and he was pounding again. "Saesin, I know you're in there! I can hear you breathing."

Two things struck Faine oddly.

She couldn't understand how those who passed by didn't blink an eye at him or even look in their vicinity.

Nor did Faine consider it possible for magical applications to apply to the world around them.

Karras only grew more disgruntled and bitter as he hissed curses through gritted teeth and threatened to knock the door down.

Faine thought carefully over the Shadow Wraith terms. His avoidance of silver and iron, not to mention the training they'd done together. If Karras could hear Saesin through the wall, why couldn't she?

She closed her eyes and attempted to wash away the environment around her, tapping into the gifts she found beneath the Compound. Through her fractured concentration and the wisps of her magic, she gathered messy images of a girl in the cellar underground.

Karras' jaded laugh of frustration snapped her out of the vision, giving Faine just enough time to grab his shoulder before he shoved into the door.

To her surprise, her fingers didn't go straight through him.

Karras tensed beneath her touch, freezing in place. Slowly, he looked down at his shoulder and then back at her. His reaction forced Faine to look at her hand, now wreathed in black smoke.

"I-I... Sorry," she stammered. Faine's hand dropped away, returning to normal immediately. "The Witch is in the cellar, she can't hear you."

"Don't apologize," Karras said. He huffed a sigh and loosened up. "There must be a cellar door around here somewhere then."

Slipping past her effortlessly, he dispersed into shadows and flared outward on either side of the house. Before Faine had a chance to choose a direction, he reappeared in front of her mere inches from her face making her stumble back.

Karras chuckled to himself before ghosting past her again and pointing to the left. He carried himself with such lethal efficiency, Faine was left in awe as she imagined what it might look like on the features of a person. She could reconstruct a man of sleek build and lean muscle in the form fitting gear from her dreams. With every step he took, her heart hammered twice as hard as before.

Just like inside her dream.

Melting out of her thoughts and slinking after him, Faine watched as Karras stared down at the cellar doors. She could almost feel the smugness radiating off of him.

"You're not going to knock again, are you?" she asked.

"Who said anything about knocking?"

Before she could process what he said, Karras brought his heel down on the wooden slats, forcing the doors inward on their hinges. Bending over, he lifted off the broken side and tossed it into the grass behind them.

The audacity amazed her.

Without a second thought, Karras descended into the cellar as if he'd stepped through the same corridor a million times, stopping just before the bottom to turn back and offer his hand.

Faine reached out, certain if she accepted her fingers wouldn't coast straight through his shadows. Yet in the wake of her skin, smoke danced like a cold wind skimming over her.

Her throat tensed, lungs deflating as she watched her hand push through his silhouette.

Karras' stiffened, his arm dropping back to his side. "Let's go," he said, clearing his throat and turning away.

She wondered why it only worked when she was reacting earlier. Karras seemed more than capable of interacting with his surroundings. Faine decided it was either muscle memory or his own powers waning at the wrong moment.

Neither was reassuring.

There was a short hallway between the stairs and a dark stone room. A large hearth was built into the far corner with a chair facing the flames. The room swept open to the left, revealing a long line of oak cabinets mounted on the wall with counter space beneath for a variety of vials and vases. Similar to a small apothecary blending into a kitchen, the whole room would've been quaint and cozy to Faine if not for the raging flames in the corner.

A cold sweat slipped down her spine.

The woman they found in the cellar looked nothing short of deranged, only worsening the anxiety gripping Faine's chest. Eccentric didn't do the young Sorceress justice. Her floor-length hair was braided behind her, rich brown and fraying as it dragged around on the floor. Faine noticed the way her wide brown eyes and sandy, soot-smudged skin enhanced her fierce aura. She paced back and forth wildly in front of a vat of liquid.

"I don't have time for this, Sgt. Karras," she snapped without even glancing toward them. "I am in the middle of an experiment that may change the way we view Vervain Tonics in modern weap–"

Saesin turned to stone as she pointed a wooden kitchen spoon at Karras.

She spoke with such speed and efficiency that Faine was stunned by her immediate silence, especially with eyes drawn to her. She could only assume the tension meant Saesin was aware of Faine, of who she was, and potentially what had happened to her.

"Lieutenant, forgive me," Saesin said, awkwardly chucking the spoon behind her. "I was aware of the compound burning, yet I was told there were no survivors. I could only assume that meant the worst..."

Faine blinked, her throat burning with molten emotions. Despite the familiarity, despite the title, she could only stare between the witch and her raging fire.

"You're absolutely pale," Saesin inquired. Her gaze traced where Faine's vision kept falling and she frowned. With a snap of her fingers, the fire winked out. "Better?"

Cool air filled the room and Faine managed to breathe again.

She nodded.

Karras clapped his hands together, snapping Saesin's attention back to him. "Unfortunately, what you've heard isn't entirely wrong," he said. "Faine might've survived physically, but her memory is..."

She hadn't known Karras to be at a loss for words, but as he drifted off Faine's chest swelled with sadness. He was grieving, she realized. Whether or not he ever let on, he was grieving her. 

Saesin's brows lifted before she looked him over. Her mind seemed to click when she noticed his shadowy figure. "What happened to you?"

"It's a long story," Karras grumbled. His mood was steadily turning worse, the agitated grumble returning. "We need your help."

The witch laughed, moving to sit in one of the vacant chairs. "Favor upon you, I have some time," she replied. "Now, start from the beginning."

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