[center][color=6B4D8A][h2][u] Ysilla Al-Nader [/u][/h2][/color][/center]
[center][img]https://i.ibb.co/8cqsPKG/oie-jpg.png[/img][/center][hr]

Ysilla had laid in the quiet of her room. She had felt tired before but now having the chance to rest, she could not. Sleep required an invitation, but it never could arrive when she wanted it too. For awhile, the Virangish teen lay with her eyes closed only taking moments to peer through slits at the sound of stirring. She swore she heard someone stirring outside and she glanced to the door. Khamsei and Hoopoe sharing the foot of the bed, facing the door acting as sentries. It... was more a ritual than anything else to place them in such a manner. They wouldn't provide any security despite 'watching' the door.

Whoever was outside, Ysilla decided not to investigate opting to return to closing her eyes. Sleep was finally knocking but the dreams were quick to follow.

[center][i][color=a187be]"Hark in the Halls of my Kin who are Lost...[/color][/i][/center]A feminine voice sang softly, no more than a mere whisper. She carried a tune but her voice croaked with strain and the melody sounded sad. There was a longing in melody, a want for something. Ysilla couldn't see her, the picture was dark as if she had her eyes closed. As if she were somewhere else.

[center][i][color=a187be]"Sabbah would sing to the ghosts...[/color][/i][/center] The language was Virganish and as Ysilla heard more, the woman sounded familiar. Whoever the singer was, it was like she had known her for a very long time. There was a strange longing, like she felt she was being pulled towards the singer's voice.

[center][i][color=a187be]"The Ones she had loved, the Ones she had left...[/color][/i][/center] Suddenly there was a sting in her chest, like a needle had pierced her flesh. Ysilla clenched her teeth and thrashed, at least she thought she did but no matter how much her mind played her movement, her body did not stir. Was she strapped down? Encased magically? She needed to open her eyes.

[center][color=a187be][i]"The Ones who had loved her the most...[/i][/color][/center] A sharper pain in her chest flared. This was no longer a pinprick but now she was being sliced open. She wanted to open her mouth and scream but it didn't shift, not even her vocal chords could wail in agony. Could she do anything?

[center][color=a187be][i]Now gone for so very long, I couldn't remember your face...[/i][/color][/center] Concentrate. Concentrate. Ysilla heard those words stir in her mind. She had to find out where she was. Find out what she needed to do to break free. It took everything, fighting the anguish of the various pricks and cuts to her chest tearing her apart, but she managed to move. Her eyelids lifted, light rushing in and she could see.

[center][color=a187be][i]How you could change my life the most...[/i][/color][/center] The woman, singing still as hovered over her chest. Ysilla couldn't see herself, aside from the pale skin of her nose but she could see the woman, focused intently on whatever she was doing to her chest for a moment before she froze. The other woman shifted, the length of her hat coming to block the light and shade Ysilla's gaze. Her hat. Before she could study anything else a soft set of fingers touched her eyelids, gently closing them. Ysilla couldn't see the woman anymore as her song continued for one more line.
[center][color=a187be][i]You would sing our sorrows away..."[/i][/color][/center]
Ysilla awoke with a gasp. She clutched at the fabric covering her chest as she jolted up. Her breathing intense as she glanced around the room. It was just her, back in the Refuge. Nobody was here. Save for Khamsei and Hoopoe who were watching her wake with a fright. Their lifeless eyes seemed to peer focus on her and as she recovered from her reoccurring dream. She always had nightmares but this was the first that actually brought fright. The gaze of those unflinching eyes of her puppets weren't bringing comfort like they did in her room. Her own gaze shifted to her hat that sat in the corner of the room. Why had she seen that in her dream? The girl from last night? She wondered...

Movement outside. People were waking and moving on. She had to as well.

She dressed and stashed Khamsei and Hoopoe in their spots. She had new clothes but her hat and cloak were kept, maintaining that iconic look. Stepping out into the sunlit pavilion, the puppeteer would skulk silently following some of her companions to breakfast.

She didn't eat. Not much, anyway. She had each of the items offered but only a single bite-sized portion of each as if she were sampling them. The cooking was adequate for what it was. This wasn't a place of taste as a segregated colony in a danger strewn desert. They wouldn't be able to bring in spices and more exotic ingredients like the cities of Torragon but the Torragonese cuisine was always Ysilla's favorite outside of some of Virangish specialties. 

Discussions at breakfast were dull proceedings. They talked business and any topics away from that were deflected by this table's conversational dictator. Bored, Ysilla sat still and slowly panned from each of her dining companions, watching what they ate and how they ate. Maybe if they reacted a certain way to whatever was being talked about. While the intention was innocent enough, her still and seemingly unblinking certainly came off with a different energy. 

[color=f26522][i]We don’t need to fill the minds of children with nightmares[/i][/color]

Ysilla perked up. Her nightmare, as cumbersome as it was during sleep, at least offered an insight into what people were like. What did they fear enough to consider it a nightmare? She panned back to warden, patiently waiting to interject with her own question.

[color=6B4D8A]"Warden, indulge me. Perchance do you have any nightmares?"[/color] She asked plainly like it was an everyday question. If he denied or refused, he was lying. Ysilla wouldn't follow that up, knowing that regardless of his reaction, she would know more about what the warden was like.

---
[@YummyYummy]

With breakfast ended. Ysilla wondered off on her own. She walked quietly through the grounds, watching the children and the guards go about their usual days. She got a lot of stares back but few approached her, noting that the children might have been instructed to avoid them. A lie by the warden that they could see the children tomorrow. Ysilla wasn't going to cause an issue on that matter yet. She was distracted with something else.

In her mind, there was an inkling of something she wanted to see but couldn't place it. The presence of this nagging desire was bothering her. Last night when she arrived at the Refuge, it was there, but this morning? It was like the thought vanished. Someone had something she wanted to see? But who and what? Her mind began to hurt and slipping a hand from under her cloak to her temple. She rubbed in a circular movement, eyes closed trying let that nagging feeling fall away. 

When there was some relief, Ysilla used her exposed hand and lifted up her hat to let Hoopoe out. The wooden bird cawed and took off in a low hover circling Ysilla as she paced over to a wall where she could lean against. She'd sit there and watch as Hoopoe would turn and fly off. The bird airing itself out as it surveyed the Refuge now with the light of day to get the full layout. Ysilla could see through Hoopoe's eyes through a bit of complexity with chemical magic. It stirred her own mind to dream of what Hoopoe was actually seeing. The process was difficult to maintain but very, very useful.

The static entity of the Refuge, the buildings and the like, were swiftly taken into account before Ysilla started to focus on the movement. People. It took work to focus on them after building the image of the landscape but she'd be able to watch people from Hoopoe's point of view. There were the children and guards, even her companions moving about. She watched for awhile before witnessing her sister break away towards the stables. She recognized what that meant.

Opening her eyes, she snapped her attention back herself, slightly dizzy from the effort. Hoopoe would descend as Ysilla started heading for the stables. The wooden bird would arrive first, flying through the window and perching herself on the windowsill, announcing the arrival with a loud squawk. It would be seconds after that Ysilla would step inside the stable.

She stood at the doorway for a moment but didn't give her sister a chance to break the silence first. [color=6B4D8A]"You always flee towards animals when anger is at the forefront."[/color] She said plainly in their native tongue. [color=6B4D8A]"Tragically predictable. You ought to consider that."[/color]