She felt heavy and light at the same time. Strong but weak. Warm but cold. Faintly she remembered her fight with the men just as they had passed Baelsars Wall… and how she ran and ran and ran. Deeper into the old forest she recognized must be the Black Shroud, as her brother had told her. She knew it was supposed to be her destination after her flight. But not like this. Her muscles were tired, her skin felt dry and before she was able to open her eyes, she saw the energy of nature around her. Shimmers of what must be a flowing river. Dots of leafs. So many. So much aether. And inside this wonderful painting of aetherflows… it moved. It looked like her but it wasn’t like her. The wild thing. It moved. It touched her. It looked at her. And looked. And looked. And looked.

With a sudden startled breath she came awake and immediatly felt that the air in her lungs was very warm, with a taste of embers. She looked around and needed precious seconds to understand where she was. In a big room with wooden walls, a high ceiling. On a mattress on the ground, one long side directly on a wall, several thin blankets around her. It was dark outside as she could see through the window directly opposite from her. The only light came from the fireplace to her right, and the more her Keeper eyes adjusted to the light, the more clearly she saw that she wasn’t in a closed room per se, but more like the groundfloor of a hut. The door she saw next to the window must be the entrance door to the house itself, to her left, more in the shadows, the outlines of a kitchen was visible, next to its doorless entrance strangely was a ladder on the wall, leading up to an accessible platform above it and under the huts roof some yalms higher. She flinched and nearly screamed as her gaze wandered up to that platform and a shadowfigure with two bright menacing eyes sat there, staring directly down at her. In a reflex of seeking shelter she pulled the blankets up to her chest and pressing her back to the wall the mattress lay next to. Crawling to the farthest end of the mattess, not averting her gaze of that…. thing up there, she felt her blood racing through her veins and her heart beating fearfully. By the seven hells, where was she? What had happened? The wood from the fireplace gave a lazy crack as the flames continued their work and for several long seconds she just sat there. Her breathing becaming louder and louder. She felt the wounds from the fight and realized her clothes and hair was still dirty and sticky with dried blood. She didn’t know how long she had been unconscious or how she came here.

“Please…” she heard herself croak, fear boiling up in her heart. What if she was a prisoner now? Maybe she was back in Gyr Abania already and the Garleans had found her.

The shape finally began to move and she could see in the half-darkness that it must be another Miqo’te. In a strange movement pattern it half jumped down the ladder, onto the floor and moved towards her, the eyes clearly that of a Keeper, like her. Frozen in place she clutched to the blankets on front of her body as if they could protect her. The other Miqo’te made no sound as it came nearer, into the light. It’s feet looked strange. By Rhalgr, they even looked like…paws! Clawed paws! It was a tall Miqo’te Man, she saw now and she instantly pressed herself even more to the wall, because his gaze was so cold, so menacing, that she would prefer to die on the spot than to just imagine what that creature was going to do to her. She released an unwanted whimper, pressed her eyes shut and sent a silent prayer to Rhalgr to grand her strength. She even felt shame for behaving so weak and defensless, but unfortunately that was exactly how she felt.

Nothing happened for several long seconds. Then even minutes.

She opened her eyes again and felt that tears had silently gathered between the closed eyelits. She had never felt so weak and small in all her life and suddenly missed her older brother and parents more than ever, it almost felt like another physical pain next to the bruises and cuts. She took a deep breath and just stared back at the other Keeper now sitting with an almost respectful distance again like Miqo’te often do on the floor this time, half illuminated by the fireglow. And he just stared and stared as if he wanted to kill her with just this gaze out of his bright turquoise eyes. He wore a thin jacked over a shirt, his stretched arms crossed between his bent legs. The claws of his strange paws looked so awfully sharp and at least what she could see from his hands looked normal. His hair was a bit darker shade of gray than his skin and wildly lay around his face and neck. His ears were layed back in visible disgust. That he hadn’t done anything yet except staring at her, was either a good or a bad sign. Maybe he was friendly and just didn’t know what to say. Or he was a creepy psychopath who enjoyed seeing fear in his prey.

Slowly she sat up a bit again, cleared her throat. ”Where am I?”

As she spoke, his ears twitched back even more and a visible tension crept into his broad shoulders and tail. But he didn’t answer.

“Oh…you… you can’t speak?” she guessed in a small, still fearful voice.

His scowl deepend as if she had insulted him. Two crossed scars on his left cheek distorted a bit.

“I can.” finally came from him and this time it were her ears that layed back more because his voice was so raspy. As if he had a cold… or hadn’t spoken for a long time.

“You are not safe here.” the pawed man added, still looking at her as if she was a dirty insect on his expensive carpet. Well, she truly did feel dirty. And so sleepy. Had she lost much blood maybe?

“H-ow…. did I come here? I only remember that I ran and ran for what could be hours. Until I saw a house. I am sorry if I…” she wasn’t able to finish her sentence because the tears welled up again, making her throat tight. She should have convinced her brother to just stay with him in Gyr Abania. To fight the empire. She was a grown up woman and wanted to stay so badly, but he would not be swayed. Stupid stubborn Somna’a. She pressed one hand in front of her mouth to suffocate her sobs. Her remaining own stubborness and dignity forbade her to turn into a pitiful, crying pile with ears infront of a stranger. Said stranger still looked as if he wanted to set her on fire, too, next to the fireplace. And as if he felt very uncomfortable. She feared he would just grab her and throw her out into the night if she would make too much noise. But then he wouldn’t have put her into a “bed” with blankets in the first place, would he?

“The bathroom his down the hallway. The fire should stay on all night.” the growly voice said and the other Keeper stood up in an elegant movement, walking to the door.

“W-Wait!” she said and reluctantly he paused by the door, looking back to her. His tail had leopardlike dark spots, she observed, his ears still signaled his unease.

“Thank you.” she finally managed. He just turned around again and left the house into the night. Just like that. Good talk, she thought frustrated.

She allowed herself to cry now and pulled the blankets up to her neck, her hurting legs up to her chest and listened to the soothing sound of the fire while she tried to figure out what to do now. She wasn’t a prisoner. She could just leave. But now that she was more awake, she sensed that she must be deep in the Black Shroud, a place where she had never been before. When she was unconcious her aethersight had told her that this place was powerful. Not that it would make anything easier for her, but she wasn’t even close to a normal village. She just knew that. Besides she was hurt from the fight with the men who were supposed to be her protectors to safely bring her beyond Garlean Territory but seemingly that had been a lie. She didn’t exactly know how she had escaped, propably she was just lucky. She felt a fever coming up. She felt dirty and tired. A strange behaving Miqo’te, who seemingly lived outside here all alone, had found her. She would have laughed at the crazyness of it all if she had the energy. But after long minutes and a good cry she forced herself to at least stand up and wash herself. With her Keeper eyes she had no problems finding the dark hallway that let to four more rooms to the back of the hut. One door had an old, big lock on it. Two others seemed to be used as storage for old things, but she didn’t want to pry, although she wondered, where the other Keeper might have his resting place. She found the bathroom and it looked as old as the rest of the house and as she imagined it. It was somehow clean but far away from inviting looking. At the basin she found clean towels and even bandages and medicine. As if these things were placed there on purpose. She looked back into the hallway, as if she felt the other Miqo’te still watching her, but it was stupid of course. Could he be so nice to share his medical supplies with her? She didn’t like the need to trust him, telling her she wasn’t safe here but at the same time not leaving her out in the woods to rot… She began to undress and tend to her wounds all by herself. She had done a bit of that before. She and her brother had had many bruises from their adventures together. Doing it in a small bathroom in a wooden hut in the middle of a dark forest was something different of course. And without a mirror besides. If there used to be a mirror above the sink, there was no trace of it to be seen.

She managed to clean the cuts but wasn’t sure some weren’t already infected. But she had no time - or energy - to think much on that now. If she was honest with herself, she didn’t care much about anything right now. She didn’t have any family left that would miss her. Somna’a would never know what had happened to her if she died here now. He would think that she had made it. That she lived happily in Gridania or wherever.

As she crawled back onto that mattress again and under the pile of blankets, stayned with some of her own dirt and blood, she thought of his smile, his bright green eyes and their last embrace just some days ago.