Yisila - the spirit tool - was genuinely pleased to have me back, or at least as pleased as a spirit tool could be. Looking back, I think I felt her the moment I re-entered the domain. At the time, I’d mistaken it for a wave of warm nostalgia. In truth, it must have been her greeting me. The sensation grew sharper the moment I stepped into the castle’s courtyard, and only then did I recognize her presence and respond properly - with a pulse of joyful energy.

  Traveling as a shadow had its perks: I slipped straight into the basement, bypassing everyone else on the way. In hindsight, it might have been a little impolite, but I was in a hurry. I needed to know what had happened to Tina.

  Unfortunately, the session with Yisila didn’t yield the clarity I’d hoped for. The main issue was communication: hers was extremely limited. She had definitely sensed something, but her ability to express it… well, it left a lot to be desired.

  She’d tried singing to me at first, which only left me more confused. Then came a series of fleeting images and emotions, all filtered through her unique way of perceiving the world and tangled in allegories that made everything a guessing game.

  I saw mice - or maybe rats - sneaking into a beehive. Then one of them ran off, munching on a bee. Were the rats supposed to be the Krawags? What did the bee represent? Was Tina dead? Or just captured? The bee didn’t die, at least not in the short vision she showed me.

  Ugh. I’d have to talk to Drackar and see what he made of it.

  Maybe I had expected too much from the spirit tool. It was different from using her directly to observe the present, this time I was asking her to show me what had happened, and that made things murkier. Some things were easier to interpret, though. For instance, she made it clear that a portal had been brute-forced open, and she hadn’t been able to stop it - right in the middle of the lake, not far from the castle!

  She showed me the portal forming above the lake’s surface and let me feel her pain and anger. Wait -pain and anger? Could she actually feel those emotions?

  Her grasp of geography was decent, she rendered the area well enough, but in low resolution, like a blurry map. She wasn’t great at depicting movement either; anything in motion looked like a streak of color dragged across a canvas.

  So… was the portal opened when the Krawags came in, or when they left? That part was still unclear.

  If it had been during their arrival, it meant there was a known portal inside my domain, and that the Krawags had planned their entry through it. But if it happened during their exit...

  That wouldn’t bode well for Tina.

  Not that it would stop me. Even if they’d taken her all the way to the Golden Palace, I’d get her back.

  To my surprise, Yisila actually wanted several things.

  First, she showed me the churches scattered across my domain. Or more precisely, she showed me the energy flows connected to them - streams of subtle power that mostly dissipated uselessly into the air or continued to leak beyond the domain’s borders. Then, she presented a different pattern: a revised flow that kept the energy contained and redirected it toward the castle.

  At least, I think they were energy flows. Hopefully not just some migratory bird pattern I misread. Surely she wasn’t planning to gather all the birds in the domain at the castle?

  Was she suggesting I redirect the energy from the churches?

  I thought back to the meeting with the priests. The archbishop had spoken about recalibrating - well, sanctifying - the churches. Was this her version of the same thing?

  Curious, I gave her a nod of approval.

  Immediately, she showed me a set of minerals that would need to be placed in specific spots within the churches. Okay, doable - I’d look into it when I had time.

  But then she showed me more minerals. And semi-precious stones. And even more. Was she trying to build a collection to rival Sid’s? Spirits help me, maybe she was.

  Still… if it made her happy and didn’t bankrupt me, why not?

  My dizziness was finally starting to fade, and with it, my thoughts began to clear. If I’d understood Yisila correctly, then Tina was probably already gone—taken through that portal she showed me. Considering I couldn’t sense any trace of her, or any anomalies left in the domain, that seemed likely. If the dwarves were still here, surely Yisila would have picked up something… or would she?

  In any case, I needed to see what I could learn from the dead dwarf.

  So, I closed my session with the spirit tool and made my way out of the deep catacombs.

  The startled orc guards at the entrance saluted me quickly and informed me that Drackar hadn’t arrived yet.

  What now?

  With the spirit tool’s help, I’d caught a glimpse of them on the road to the castle. They’d be here soon.

  As I stood in the yard, grumbling to myself over whether I should run to meet Drackar and his orcs or just wait for them to reach the castle, something caught my eye: a mailbox.

  A mailbox, like the ones used by the guilds, now standing in my castle’s yard!

  Curious, I walked over to inspect it.

  “Since when has this mailbox been here?” I asked the nearest orc guard.

  He shrugged.

  “Since at least a quarter*, milady. Master Mike was here when they installed it,” he reported.

  (*A Kargath quarter = 8 days.)

  Oh. So it had probably been installed before I even left for Fiona’s castle, or around that time.

  I reached out and touched it, checking for messages. And sure enough, there was one - from Ju.

  Huh. So the mailbox actually worked. I wondered what the costs were… and how they'd even managed to set it up. I'd have to ask Mike who was behind it, so I could reward them properly.

  I opened Ju’s message and started reading.

  Normally, hearing from her would have made me happy. But somehow, this time, it had the opposite effect.

  She wrote about having more trouble with the elves - of course - and that she might need to accompany them further, spending even more time with her kin.

  What I’d read was enough to tell me she’d be staying longer.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  A wave of distress and sadness washed over me - so strong that I had to stop after just a few lines.

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

  I could leave it at that. There were more urgent matters to attend to… but it was just one page. Shouldn’t I at least read it all?

  Was she leaving me?

  She was free now, no longer bound by those dreadful magical constraints, and I knew that sooner or later she might want to enjoy that freedom to travel, to move on. But I had hoped she would tell me first… maybe come in person. Give me a hug. Say goodbye.

  Not… like this.

  I glanced toward the gate.

  Still no sign of Drackar and the others.

  Fine. I’d give Ju’s message another try.

  Surely I was capable of reading one page from Ju... wasn’t I?

  I headed back into the castle, looking for a room with a view of the yard.

  My sudden appearance sent the servants into a frenzy. They scrambled nervously, unsure of what to do, and my stormy mood only seemed to intensify their panic.

  Fortunately, there were several sitting rooms on the ground floor meant for leisure or receiving guests. I picked one that suited me, slumped into a cushioned armchair, and sipped the juice someone quickly brought me.

  Then I took out the delicate magic construct, let it unfurl in the air before me, and finally began to read what Ju had written... properly, this time.

  Included in her message was a small story about one of the elves: an eccentric collector of plants and seeds, and how a little catastrophe had unfolded when he tripped and scattered his entire seed collection. They’d spent hours sorting them back.

  It was a funny little tale. Lighthearted. And yet… it made me feel worse.

  I was angry she wasn’t here. And somehow, through her words, I could tell that she missed me too. So why not come? Why not even for a short visit?

  Not even thirty seconds had passed before I closed the construct again, unable to read any further.

  I drew a deep breath.

  Was I really so petty - so envious, mean, and jealous - that I couldn’t even read a full message from her? Was my spirit that small?

  It would take two, maybe three minutes to finish it. I owed her that much.

  I reopened the message and tried again.

  But the moment I resumed reading, the sadness hit me harder than before: sharp and aching, almost physical. It hurt.

  What is this?

  The deeper I read, the worse it became. Sadness turned into pain. The pain became sharper and overwhelming. My breath quickened and my chest tightened.

  Something was wrong.

  I flipped back to the beginning, trying to reset. The pain receded slightly… but as I read again, it spiked again becoming intolerable, as if the words themselves were lined with thorns. I had to stop and take several slow, steadying breaths just to keep from trembling.

  That’s when I understood: this was no ordinary message.

  It had been crafted to evoke this response in me. Somehow, Ju had embedded her emotions into it and coded it so, to resonate in me, so deeply and intensely that they were triggering a reaction stronger than anything I’d felt from her before.

  I didn’t understand how she’d done it… but the result was clear. Maybe I'd need to let somebody else to read the message to let me hear what they feel.

  The message couldn’t be faked. The mana signature was bound to the message at the moment it was released, unmistakable and unique. This was her.

  So… what was she trying to tell me? And why in this form?

  Let me analyze it slowly, piece by piece, I told myself.

  Was there something hidden between the lines? Some message written in invisible ink? Hidden in the color of the letters? A shift in font? Was there a spell laced through the text?

  I started re-reading from the beginning, more carefully now, searching for something beneath the surface. But as I scrutinized every word and every line, I lost it. The emotion, the pain... it was gone. The message felt dull again, just a bland recounting of funny little incidents.

  I read to the end. There was nothing spectacular, just Ju explaining that she couldn’t come, that she’d be spending more time with the elves, that she planned to visit old friends she hadn’t seen in decades.

  It was all so… rational, polite and distant.

  What had I felt before?

  I skimmed the message again, this time not reading the words, just letting them wash over me like a wave. That’s when it hit me: again, suddenly and brutally.

  The pain. The sadness. That deep, raw hurt.

  I dropped to my knees, tears stinging my eyes.

  Because now, finally… I was starting to understand.

  That’s how they found me: on my knees, crying.

  “Lores?” Lynx’s voice cut through the haze, gentle but full of worry. It broke the spell I was under.

  I raised my eyes and saw him, Drackar, and Alice standing there. It felt like I’d been yanked out of one reality and dropped into another. I gasped for air, suddenly realizing I’d barely been breathing.

  “Are you okay?” Lynx asked again, stepping closer.

  “No. Fucking not. I’m not okay!” I snapped, my voice raw. I looked up into his eyes. “I think Ju’s been captured.”

  That silenced them. Their expressions shifted as they exchanged glances. I held up the message crystal, still trembling in my hand.

  “It’s in this message. It’s encoded, not in words, but in feeling. Her pain, her fear, the dread - it’s all there, buried in the message. And a figure - K’hordock - it’s starting to emerge.”

  Lynx’s face tightened. “Are you sure?”

  I nodded. “Yes.”

  “What do you plan to do? What should we do?” he asked, his voice low.

  At that moment, Wortar stepped into the room. “Lady Lores, we brought the dead dwarf, as you requested,” he announced.

  I took a deep, steadying breath. My thoughts were still with Ju, but I needed to clear my mind to decide.

  “Where is he?” I asked.

  “In the dakta, Lady Lores.”

  I hesitated only a moment before standing, gathering my resolve.

  “Alright. Let’s see what we can find out,” I said, and turned to lead the way. The four followed in silence.

  The old orc Muherjo greeted us as we approached.

  “Lady Lores! Captain!” he called, then shook his head and muttered under his breath, “These orcs have stored another corpse in my Dakta again…”

  “That’s exactly why we’re here, Muherjo,” I replied. “Will you lead the way?”

  “Of course, my lady, of course. Please follow me—and mind your step, there’s a big hole back there the earth mage still hasn’t fixed…”

  As we stepped into the dimly lit Dakta, the familiar scent of aged wood and faint iron hung in the air.

  “There it is,” he said, gesturing. “Do you need anything else, my lady?”

  “No, that’s all. Thank you, Muherjo.”