Naomi walks into the house and walks directly to the stairs but Sarah walks out from the lounge. Naomi pauses, swallows then turns to face Sarah with a smile.

"Hey, I just slipped out. Needed to get some air."

Sarah nods her head, "seems everybody is out getting some air. And I am just home, sitting and waiting, not knowing what's going on."

Naomi sighs with a pleading look at Sarah. "Sarah, please, it's not like that."

Sarah turns and walks into the lounge and Naomi follows after her quickly. "What do you mean everyone is out?" Naomi calls out.

Sarah sits down on the couch and lifts a cup of rich smelling hot chocolate. She blows along the surface with a scold at Naomi. Naomi sits down on the couch next to her. Sarah sips her hot chocolate slowly and remains silent.

"Please..." Naomi pleads again.

Sarah rolls her eyes and snaps "alright! I saw Raurlin leaving about two hours ago. I didn't see Jackson leave but Raurlin told me he sent him out to keep an eye on you. Stellan and Delilah have also departed to the hospital to get some work done before they leave. Raya is upstairs resting."

"Did Raur say why he was leaving?"

"To go for a run. Of the wolf kind."

Naomi frowns. "What do you mean of the wolf kind?"

Sarah glances at Naomi, "I mean as a wolf...Why is that surprising?"

Naomi clenches her teeth and bites out "because I never knew that he was doing that. And he sent Jax out to keep an eye on me? I need a babysitter now?"

Sarah shrugs, "what am I supposed to say to that? I am the one who got left at home with no explanation. I feel like I'm being iced out and I don't understand why."

"You're not being iced out-"

"Please don't do that, Naomi. Treat me like an idiot. I know that you're keeping secrets. I know that Raurlin and Jackson are too and I'm completely in the dark here. At least tell me why."

Naomi sucks in a breath, "I am keeping secrets. I am keeping secrets from everyone, Sarah. I have been for a very long time. But trust me it's for the best."

Sarah exhales and finishes her hot chocolate. She leans forward and sets her mug down on the floor beside the couch. "Fine. I will just be in the dark and I will simply know nothing."

"Sarah..." Naomi can feel her eyes swell with tears. "I just..." Naomi sniffs. "I've been having nightmares. Night terrors."

"I know," Sarah tells her. "I've seen the sleep walking. From before the Feast."

Naomi wipes her eyes. "I don't want Raurlin to worry. Please promise me this will stay between us." Naomi takes hold of Sarah's hand, squeezing onto her tightly. Sarah looks at Naomi with a frown that turns to a look of concern.

"This is serious."

Naomi nods her head. "Yes it is. Promise me."

"Of course, you have my word. This will stay strictly between us."

"It's not just night terrors, Sarah. It's hallucinations. I'm losing time. I'm hearing voices. I end up in places with no memory of how I got there." Naomi lets go of Sarah's hand and she clasps her hands together. "I think I might be hurting people, Sarah."

"What happened?"

"I was just feeling so claustrophobic here I decided to go for a walk. I told Raur I'd call him once I settled somewhere but next thing I'm stuck in a snowstorm. The wind is blowing me in a particular direction. I can hear whispering in the wind and it keeps saying 'harbinger'. I came to at the human hospital...Sarah I had blood on my hands. I don't remember how I got there. I could just smell the stench of death all around me."

"You were at a hospital."

Naomi holds her hand up and shortly after Raurlin and Jackson are walking in the front door, speaking to each other in soft whispers. She looks at Sarah who is straining to hear them.

"We'll talk later," Sarah mutters.

Raurlin walks into the lounge with a smile at Naomi and Naomi forces a smile too. "Guess I got home before you did," Naomi probes playfully.

Raurlin nods his head. "Yes, it seems so. I was just at the hospital with Jax. I wanted to make sure that everything was closed up properly. We left in such a rush earlier."

"Makes sense."

Jackson walks into the lounge shortly after and kisses Sarah's forehead before flopping down next to her. "So," Jackson teases, "what are you two gossiping about?"

"Oh we've decided to agree to the record-keepers request," Sarah states nonchalantly.

Raurlin sits up with a look at Naomi and Naomi can't help her amused smile. "Yes we just decided to get it done and over with. I hope you've had some time to look over the proposal?" Naomi adds innocently.

"Yes I have had time to look over the proposal, I am curious about how they think they will get it right." Raurlin folds his arms across his chest. "Well then we will have to send word to the record-keepers that their request has been accepted."

"A call? An email?" Sarah glances at Naomi who too is battling back a smile.

Raurlin's eyes flicker between Naomi and Sarah and under his watchful yet unamused gaze Naomi feels light, her mind is free. All that is happening is only what is around her. Sarah is poking at Raurlin as she does. Jackson is tickled by her antics, in a way only he can be. It's in the way he looks at her, as if she is the only thing in the room, as if she is glistening as a light in the darkness of their persistent reality.

And Raurlin. All he is now is right here. And he is looking at her with his different eyes, the ones that are unique to only him. Him being the only one of what he is. Those unique eyes are looking at her, his eyebrows tugged together in a slight frown. The muscle in his jaw clenches and Naomi smiles again.

"What is traditional?" Naomi asks with a dramatic exhale and rolling her eyes.

"Oh, I'm glad you're finding this amusing," Raurlin mutters. "Traditionally we would send a letter, formal acceptance. We would receive them into our home with a meal, a feast actually. And then they would stay, shoving their way into every room and every space."

"Raur..." Jackson eases, "Our Queen is asking about our tradition."

Raurlin's eyes fall shut and he inhales deeply. As his eyes open he smiles a slow smile. "Yes that is right. Forgive me, Naomi. Horatio will deliver an invitation for dinner tonight?"

Naomi glances at Sarah and Sarah half shrugs half nods.

"Yes, tonight will be fine. I can cook. Sarah and I actually. Perhaps you and Jax would like to make the invitation? And see it off with Horatio?"

Naomi doesn't wait for a response, standing up and holding a hand out to Sarah. Sarah accepts her hand with a squeeze and she stands up too following Naomi. Naomi guides them in silence to the kitchen then releases Sarah's hand. Naomi drops against the counter with an exhale and a grin at Sarah. Sarah props herself up onto the counter.

"That was all very dramatic," Sarah states as Naomi fills the kettle with water. Naomi smiles, nodding her head. "Yes, it was. So we're accepting the proposal then?"

Sarah rubs her eyes sighing "yes. I panicked. It just came out."

"Do you know what I was thinking about today?"

Sarah shakes her head.

"I was thinking about our apartment. Do you remember that evening we made that huge pot of spaghetti and meatballs?"

Sarah chuckles, "yes of course I do. We just sat with the pot in the lounge and tried to finish it all. We drank that fancy bottle of wine my mother got at her year end work function."

"I never wanted to even see spaghetti for months after that. Gosh back then the only things that felt so severe were our upcoming tests and paying the bills on time. I just...it feels like years ago. And now every single thing feels like the most important thing. It feels as if something is constantly coming up. All we've been doing is stopping wars and committing murders. When did we become so okay with it? We killed the witch, killed Soraya."

Sarah accepts the cup of tea that Naomi is handing her. Sarah blows along the surface, inhaling on the sweet honey scent coming off the top of the steam. "And you died too. And I was briefly possessed. And we did what we had to do. I don't know when it all became so acceptable. I often think back on that evening I followed you in the rain. It lingers in my mind more than everything that followed after. I was terrified." Sarah chuckles again. "I had read through my grandmother's book, page by page, back to front and front to back. I knew what it meant. It felt like memories I had locked away suddenly came to light. I wanted to share it with you, all of it. And then I saw the dream."

"I should have been honest from the beginning," Naomi admits. "I had been dreaming of Jax for a while before that. I just assumed they were dreams. You know I've always struggled with nightmares. But they just seemed to be a continuation one after the other. He was explaining so much to me about aeturnum's and about Raurlin too. That evening I was scared, more scared than I have ever been in my life. I thought he was going to die. I wanted nothing more than to save him but it's funny because I never had any intention of staying." Naomi pauses with a fond smile. "Then morning came and I woke up in his arms. I realised then that there was nowhere else for me to be."