[b]Redana![/b]

"Somewhere dark," Beautiful mutters, emotion in her voice. "Somewhere warm. Don't search for her in cold places, all you need to do is stand in the light until she's ready to come back..."

And then you, Redana, are in a magical world.

Cherry blossom flowers fall over a battlefield of green hills. Ten thousand roses bloom. Lights shine down from a dozen different angles, falling down upon a gorgeous mahogany table. At its head, with gentle wafts of tea contrasted against her wet cascading hair. By her left side stands a swordswoman of legend, a dozen handmaidens and a dozen camera crews. By her right sits a cloud with a frown. Your mind must be playing tricks on you; seeing her here somehow calls to mind the memory of Sahar at its most beautiful. Perhaps you have gone mad again? Perhaps you are seeing visions? How could her presence send you back in time like this?

[b]Alexa![/b]

The Order of Hermes has the same idea as you. A lot of their tasks are make-work, complicated tests of breaking and recovering in different contexts. Already they are starting to filter out low status workers - apprentices, incompetents, and hopefully impersonators. Those marked suspect by the course of the endless rituals are removed further and further from the center of power -

And then one of them jumps the gap.

It's a perfect move, sleek and feral. Only one Order Magi sees it and she has her head kicked through a bulkhead by the oncoming figure. The sound is muffled by a perfectly timed roar from the engine. In a couple of seconds the body is tucked inside the ventilation tube, and the yellow robe ripples slightly and changes shape. And then she's moving again, back inside the perimeter, with the attempt to section off infiltrators having instead just reduced the cover her true target possesses.

This is a hunt, but it is not for you - yet. You have the edge.