[Valanthia L'Evienne]

Timestamp: Kalendryas, winter era XV PF

Valanthia walked even more quietly than usual, if such a thing were possible, down the crystal hallways of Coldlight. She hadn't been here since the aftermath of the Zali'mau, and her feelings were still far too bruised for her to feel like running into any of the other Sanguine. Sisters-in-arms, comrades, they had been once and still were supposed to be, but that closeness wasn't in much evidence right now.

She was headed for the Mirror room. The girl hadn't discussed this particular visit with her bondmate; she was going to make it regardless of what he said anyway. It had been a long time since she had been to the Mirror last, and the events of that visit had played out in her mind hundreds of times. It was time, and past time, to confront Umbrosus the man again. Both Val's loyalty to the Sanguine and her emotional stability were by no means assured at this point, and although she had put this moment off on several occasions, she felt like she was close enough to a crisis point now to warrant facing up to the situation.

When she finally reached and uncovered the mirror, she withdrew a blade from the sheath on her left arm. It was not one of her Sanguine stilettos. In a deliberate gesture of ambivalence, Val selected the dagger that the spirit of Saint Bossa had given to her in the Carmena Ruins. The blade was of crystal, but the crystal was pure white, and the contrast with the materials of Coldlight could hardly be overstated.

The girl took the dagger and made a small incision in her palm, just enough to draw blood. Then she pressed it to the mirror's face and said, her voice a whisper, "Blood calls to blood."