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Rose would have yelled at Fluke again for his insensitive comment, but right now, the voice occupied her focus. Was this a trick? Or some kind of dark magic? Her insides squirmed as she thought back to the healer's corpse, the ring she'd glimpsed on his finger. She hadn't gotten a good look at it, but if it was what she thought it was...

[color=ff4f61]"Jay! Please tell me that's you!"[/color] she called, watching for a face at the window.

She didn't notice Archer's approach until Ruskali's weight eased from her arm. Cringing as the Ze leader laid him down, Rose hoped she hadn't made his injuries worse by helping him stay upright. Part of her - a significant part - wanted to believe that in even the furthest gone of former hosts, a spark of who they were remained, a spark that could grow. Ruskali's incoherent whimpers, however, were a world apart from his usual zeal.

There wasn't much even Archer could do, besides comfort him. Rose watched her leave Ruskali's side and set about treating Listener, who didn't seem too worried - well, except about possible addiction. If this was what it meant to be Ze, Rose thought, they'd need Listener's peppy attitude to lift them up. It beat Fluke's any day.

She stared back up at the window. [color=ff4f61]"Jay, it's me!"[/color] She gave a hoarse laugh. [color=ff4f61]"As you can tell, I went through with it."[/color] If only she'd done so sooner, she berated herself, thinking back to the joke she'd started making several years ago.

...

[i]Through the bustling marketplace, Laverna squinted at two figures heading down a distant street. Masks - one shaped like the head of a wolf, the other like elaborate butterfly wings - obscured their features. [color=ff4f61]"They some kind of carnival act?"[/color] Vern asked, pointing them out.

[color=59de3e]"Nah,"[/color] Jay chuckled, looking up from his coconut square. [color=59de3e]"They'll be the Ze. The Zephyr Extinct. The guys who go round hunting down horrors."[/color] At her look of shock, he added, [color=59de3e]"Oh, no need to worry. There haven't been many of those around lately, thanks to the Ze. Those two are probably just on patrol."[/color]

So much still to learn about the outside world... Reminders like this frustrated and fascinated Vern in equal measures. She kept her eyes fixed on the two. [color=ff4f61]"What's with the masks? Besides looking awesome."[/color]

Jay shrugged. [color=59de3e]"Who knows? Nobody really knows much about them, except they have this tendency to start over. Leave home, take on a new face, a new name, the whole deal. A little extreme, but they've got to have their reasons."[/color]

A grin spread over Vern's face. [color=ff4f61]"You know,"[/color] she joked, [color=ff4f61]"some day I might just run away and join them."[/color][/i]

...

She'd even considered it seriously at times, but it had seemed beyond her capabilities. If that really was Jay in the building, Rose wondered, would he forgive her, or blame her?

As Archer addressed her, she turned. [color=ff4f61]"A friend's in there, it's him, it has to be him!"[/color] she explained. [color=ff4f61]"Even though he's..."[/color] Her glance at Ruskali told Archer the rest. Just then, two hoverbikes zoomed into view, their whirring growing louder as they neared, until it drowned out the song. Two medics landed in a flurry of sand and tended to Ruskali right away, but Rose's relief was short lived.

The singing had given way to silence.

[color=ff4f61]"Jay?"[/color] No response. [color=ff4f61]"Please, answer me, make a joke, even yell at me because I wasn't there, just please say something!"[/color] Stepping forward, she clenched her fists. This was probably a dumb move, especially in her current state. Still, if something sinister was going on, she had a duty to investigate. Both as a Ze, and as a friend.

She wouldn't hesitate again. Flinging open the weathered old door, Steel Rose rushed into the building.