[ all of this feels like a ghoulish dream. this circle of the woods that she has never seen before despite how well she knows the area, this impossible castle, too enormous to be meaningless, and now.. this. the master of the castle, a strange shadow of a man, cloaked and unnatural, the shape of him, even in the dimness, like nothing she has ever seen before, and the dank draft carries on it the scent of oil and steel.

alisaie feels her throat close up. but she cannot falter, not when her brother's life is at stake. ]

I trespass here because you have imprisoned my brother!

[ she says, a righteous fire kindling in her heart. ]

Surely this is far too cruel a punishment for him! He was cold, and lost, and in need of aid, that is hardly a crime!