- Siena -

            Siena had always known the differencebetween the smile Ansgar showed everyone, and the smile he reserved only forher. Since coming to Crystallos, however, she had only ever seen the smile heshowed to everyone. She hated that smile, and she hated it more for the factthat it proved how much he had changed without her even realizing it.

Siena had not been invitedoutside of her room again, and she had not seen Ansgar since she slammed thedoor in his face. Kato brought her meals most days, and if Ansgar did, heopened the door enough to slide her tray through. A few times they had caughteach other's gaze, but Ansgar always looked away. If Siena had not known him aswell as she did, she would have thought it was shame.

           The absences were almost arelief, at first. No other daemon had come to appease its curiosity of her, andshe had ample time to meditate. Each meditation brought her closer to the worldinside her mind which was Ihi's sanctuary. Still, it was tiresome work. Sienawas frustrated with her slow progress and for not having regained mastery overthis rudimentary Novice work. The fact that she was still unable to perform thesimplest spells with any measure of control irritated her. Her head began topound. After several heartbeats, she realized the pounding in her head was insync with a tap at her door. Siena felt herself jerked back into reality. Thetapping stopped for a few breaths, then resumed, quieter this time.

           "Az, I don't want to speakto you," Siena growled.

           The tapping, which became morelike a scratching that sent shivers up Siena's spine, paused and continuedagain. She thought she heard a voice, but it was muffled. This time Siena triedto ignore it, but it did not go away.

           Siena sighed. Ansgar often didthose sorts of things. Whenever she was upset with him, he would tease heruntil she smiled. Once, he tossed pebbles at her window for two days straightuntil she opened it and Conjured one back at him. He dodged it, of course, buthe put on a show that made her laugh. Each time he did something like this, asif by magic, everything always seemed okay again. It would take more than that,this time. If there was any chance, Ansgar needed to have better answers forher.

           "Come in, already, ifyou're going to," Siena said, exasperated.

           This resulted in an audible gaspfrom the other side of the door; then silence. It was not Ansgar. It was muchlighter pitched than his. Raising an eyebrow, Siena stood up and walked to thedoor. Out of habit, she tried the knob. It was, of course, still locked. Hermovement seemed to give whoever was on the other side some courage, and thedoorknob clicked and turned. It opened, slowly, and Siena saw the unnaturallytall female daemon from before, standing in the now open door.

           The daemon had changed, nolonger scrawny, and markings were already winding their way along one leg andarm. Siena caught herself staring, and the daemon scampered away and around thecorner. Siena watched her retreat, then looked the other way down the hall. Itwas the first time she had access to an open door.

           Out of the corner of her eye shesaw the female daemon staring at her again. Trying to escape now would befutile. The monster would just chase her down, and Siena did not enjoy thatthought at all. Siena slammed the door, and heard the locking mechanism clickinto place. Siena took two steps backwards, still staring at the door, when thescratching returned. She reached for the door, hearing the lock click again,but this time when she opened the door, the daemon was not there. At Siena'sfeet rocked a small orange stone, as if left hastily behind. Siena did nottouch it. Instead, she retreated just a few steps, this time leaving the dooropen. Almost immediately she heard the heavy scuffle of footsteps, and thesound of the stone being handled.

           Siena threw open the door."What do you want?" she demanded, forgetting for a moment that it wasa daemon on the other side of the door. The daemon was crouching, looking upwith dilated pupils, and holding the smooth orange stone in her clawed hands.

           Siena felt a heaviness descendupon her, freezing her in place. She gasped and struggled against it, and thedaemon's pupils contracted to normal slits. As quickly as the pressure fell, itevaporated, and Siena swayed under the sudden release.

           "We are sorry," thedaemon said. "You startled us."

           Siena almost laughed. Shestartled it? The daemon looked at her expectantly, but when Siena said nothing,the daemon spoke again.

           "We came because we werecurious about you. We remember seeing you, so we found you." She spokemuch more fluently than Inanis. The daemon looked down at the stone in herclaws and held it up for Siena to see. "We brought you a gift. We smell adifferent magic on you, but it is not powerful. We thought you must behungry."

           "Hungry?" Sienarepeated. She stared at the stone, and the female daemon smiled encouragingly.Siena reached out to touch the stone. She did so gently, recalling howwhite-hot Inanis' skin had been. When her fingertip brushed the orange stone, shefelt a shock run through her. In that moment, Ihi's presence reached her morestrongly than ever. Siena gasped and drew back.

           "See?" the daemonexclaimed. "It helps! You smell so weak. We did not know if you neededsomething brighter than this one."

           Siena's guard went upimmediately. "What do you want? Why are you here?" she demanded,dropping her hand to her side.

           Two other voices rose behind thedaemon. "What you want, what you want?" one said in a mocking tone.

           "What greeting isthat?" said the other.

           The daemon looked over hershoulder. "Nanus? Gigas?"

           "Lady Lacerta! You leftwithout us," reprimanded the taller of the two newcomers. It shoved itsway past Lacerta and into Siena's cell. Its eyes glowed solid yellow and seemedto be glaring at Siena. "Apologize to Lady Lacerta!" it said, itsvoice harmonizing with the sound of clicking from its strange mantis-likemandibles protruding from its face. While it stood mostly upright, it wastwisted and not fully humanoid as Lacerta was.

           "Apologize,apologize!" The short, round sanscoeur that accompanied it stompedforward. Its shell-like body was red, as were its eyes, no pupil disrupting theglow of pale red that fixed on Siena.

           Neither was as developed asInanis or Lacerta. They did not have the markings along their body that Ansgarsaid acted as a seal, and their speech, while understandable, was broken.

           "She does not likeus," Lacerta sighed.

           "Nah, nah, LadyLacerta," encouraged the reddish sanscoeur, laying a hand on the daemon'sshoulder.

           The scene was so absurd, andthough she tried to keep herself calm, Siena laughed. She nearly laughedherself to tears before the two sanscoeur jumped up in agitation. But Siena wasunable to stop. It was as if all the repressed fear and anxiety had finallybubbled to the surface and she could no longer control it. She kept laughing,becoming more hysterical with each passing moment.

           "Eh! Lady Lacerta is upsetand you laugh!" accused the taller of the two.

           Siena forced herself to calmdown, remembering she barely had the most rudimentary magic at her disposal.She was adapting to Crystallos' oppressive environment, but still not enoughfor her Gift to be of any efficient use against Lacerta alone, let alone thethree of them. Siena covered her mouth, pulling herself together with a deepbreath.

           "I'm sorry," she said."But this is all so strange to me."

           Lacerta stared at Siena, and shegrew uncomfortable again under the daemon's scrutiny. Then Lacerta's face brokeinto a smile that seemed so perfectly real and natural for her.

           "Lacerta rememberedyou," she repeated. "We remembered you because you were likeus."

           "I am like you?" Sienaasked.

           Lacerta gestured with one clawedhand towards Siena. Though she spoke well, she did not seem capable ofunderstanding how to express what she meant.

           "You are the same as theMasters, but different. Just like we are the same as Inanis, but different. Andyou are like us, but different."

Does she mean we're both women? Siena wondered. She glanced at thetwo shuffling sanscoeur.

           "I'm female," Sienaexplained slowly.

           "What is this?"Lacerta asked, delighted.

Great Elam, Siena groaned inwardly, how much more absurd can this become?

But as she looked into thegenuine, pleading expression of the daemon's face, she began to wonder if therewas a way to turn the creature's curiosity to her own advantage. Going againsther better judgement, Siena stepped to the side, allowing Lacerta and the redsanscoeur to enter. The yellow one was already inside.

           "I'm Mage Second SienaCharis," Siena offered, though she was not sure what sort of etiquette, ifany, was required here. "You called yourself Lacerta?"

           Lacerta smiled and stood up,taking Siena's invitation. She was so much taller than Siena realized, and shealmost had to stoop. Siena looked up at her, and Lacerta presented the smallorange stone again.

           "We brought this seed foryou," she insisted. She opened her claws wide so Siena could take thestone. "We are Lacerta. We are she who shreds and tears!" Lacertabeamed as she spoke, but Siena went cold. If the daemon noticed her apprehension,she ignored it. Siena gingerly took the softly glowing stone, feeling its surgeof magic flow into her. She dropped it in a pocket inside her robe.

           Lacerta turned to the red andyellow sanscoeur. "These are Nanus and Gigas," she said, indicatingfirst the short red sanscoeur, then the yellow. "They are our-"

           "Guardians! Servants!Helpers! Friends!" the two cried in succession.

           Lacerta grinned, revealing hersharp teeth. "They are our vitii." She reached a clawed hand andpatted Nanus' head, as if stroking a pet. "They are pieces of us that weno longer needed to become Lacerta."

           Siena was still quiet and hermind raced, only coming back to the present when she felt the sharp point ofLacerta's claw under her chin. The daemon's touch was icy-hot as Inanis hadbeen but she was gentle.

           "Siena?" she asked.

           Siena's eyes focused on Lacertaand smiled. "Pleased to meet you all, then," she offered. Sheretreated to the small cot on the adjacent wall. Lacerta sat on the floor,while her two vitii toddled about, inspecting the sparse room.

           "So small," Gigascomplained.

           "Cramped," Nanusadded. Lacerta shushed them, then turned to Siena.

           "We have so many questions.We wish to know more than our memories give."

           Before Siena could ask onequestion of her own, Lacerta launched hers in never-ending stream. Siena had noidea how to answer some of them. Many of the daemon's curiosities centeredaround the difference between her kind and the Élu, but it was difficult forSiena to explain even simple concepts, because Lacerta herself had troubleexplaining the daemonis. Finally, Siena took the lead.

           "Why do you refer toyourself as 'we' and 'us,' Lacerta?" she asked.

           Lacerta's ears twitched."We do not understand."

           "Well," Siena beganpatiently, "I am a single person. I don't call myself 'we.'"

           The daemon seemed to considerthis for a moment. "Because we are not one being. Lacerta is made up ofmemories, who happen to be in one form at this moment. We are everything wehave been before, and we are Lacerta now." Lacerta smiled at Nanus andGigas. "Even our vitii are part of our being. Extensions of our own will,as we are an extension of the Grand Master's will."

           Thoughts formed inside Siena'smind as she began to realize that it was not completely unlike the Élu's animi.They were intangible spirits connected to the Élu's will, and often, as thedaemonis did, referred to themselves in the same manner. Was there a connectionhere? Surely not. The Élu were as different from the daemonis as the Déchu.

And yet, she mused, theanimi are still so mysterious even to us.

Siena opened her mouth tosay more, but a wave of wild, heavy magic surged into the room. Lacertastiffened and her pupils dilated to thin slivers of white. Nanus and Gigas grewcompletely still. Even Lacerta's childlike expression turned blank and hard asshe stood up and faced the door. It swung open, revealing Kato. His scarred,ebony face was, as always, a mask without emotion.

           "Lacerta, I have a task foryou," he said.

           Wordlessly, Lacerta glanced atSiena, who was at last beginning to recover from the suddenness of Kato'spresence. There was something off about him, but Siena could not figure outwhat it was. She only knew, somehow, that he was more dangerous than she hadever imagined. Still without speaking, Lacerta left the room with quietdignity. Nanus and Gigas scrambled after her. Kato glared at Siena.

           "I don't know what game youthink you're playing with her, Charis, but it would be wise to remember whereyou are and the situation you are in here."

           Kato slammed the door behindhim, before Siena could offer any retort. Left alone again, she lowered herselfto her cot and covered her face with her hands. What was that supposed to mean?Of course, she understood her situation! She rubbed her eyes, then rememberedthe orange stone in her pocket. Lacerta had called it a seed. Siena reached forit, and just as before she felt a surge of power from it.

Siena, called a faint, gravelly voice.

'Ihi!' exclaimed Siena in her mind. Tears welled in hereyes. 'Ihi, I can hear you again.'

Ihi's voice wassleepy. Siena, we feel lost. We feelcold. We are not safe.

           'We have each other again, Ihi.We'll be alright.'