Breathing hard, she threw herself down on her bed and buried her face in her pillow until her heart finally stopped beating so fast. It would have been so easy to just fall asleep, there and then. Instead, she had to force herself to sit up and rub the tiredness from her eyes. She removed the purloined sending stone from her pocket. For a moment it lay in her open palms, gleaming in the dull light. There was a sick feeling in her stomach as she thought about what she was doing. She almost wished she could just throw the stone in the bottom of a drawer and forget about it.

Instead she carefully laid the stone down on her bedside table, next to her own. Touching one hand to each, she focussed on her sending stone, and the weave that Shani had left there. She felt the thread uncoiling, like a rising note at the beginning of a symphony. Shani's weaves always felt like music. As she focused, she could feel the weave sliding into her father's stone, wrapping around the subtle locks that prevented her from seeing what lay inside. There was a feeling of tension, and then release. The contents of the stone opened up before her, choices flashing into her thoughts. She directed her attention to the recent calls. The past few days had been a flurry of activity. She skimmed through the most recent, mostly outgoing calls to names she did not recognise. Delving deeper, she came to a single sending, received a few days past, at just after six thirty in the evening.

Strangely, the sender was unnamed. She pulled up the memory of the sending from within the stone. Immediately, two ghosts joined her in the room. The first was her father, no surprise. The second was someone she didn't know. A woman. Arsha was immediately struck by her beauty. Her age was hard to guess, but she had a slim, perfectly shaped face framed by long black hair that fell straight down her shoulders, and large, gentle eyes.

“Maya?” her father gasped.

“Hello Rishi. I'm sorry, I know it's been a long time.”

“No, of course. I understand. Maya, isn't it dangerous for you to be calling me like this?”

“It is. But this is important.”

“Maya, please... You shouldn't be putting yourself in any danger for my sake.”

Maya covered her mouth, as she made a sound like something between a laugh and a sob.

“Fates, Rishi, do you have any idea how much I've missed seeing your face?”

“I've missed you too, Maya. You're keeping well?”

“The Chamber keeps me safe and sound, as always. They even let me take walks in the gardens these days. I have a bodyguard now. I'm one of the elect.”

“That's good,” her father said, his tone suggesting that he was having to bite back something else he might have said.

“Rishi, my sweet, you don't have to pretend to be happy for me. I know it kills you, seeing me trapped here.”

“It's like chewing on glass, every time I think of you being stuck in that place. But it's good, that they let you take walks. You always loved the gardens.”

“You're thinking of the estate, aren't you? Fates, how did you put up with me? Always chasing at your heels.”

“You were never a bother, Maya.”

She lowered her eyes a little, smiling demurely. Her father seemed to gather himself in the momentary silence.

“Maya, why did you risk this? Calling me?”

“A dream I had.”

“A dream? You mean...”

“Yes. A vision.”

“Maya, you can't. You know what it means, sharing a vision without...”

“Rishi, please don't. I know what it means, but I have to. You'll understand.”

“I can't let you do this, Maya. Not for me.”

“Yes, you can. You have to. I can't explain it, Rishi, but I feel it. I was meant to share this vision with you. I think... I think it was only meant for you...”

“You haven't told them, have you? Fates, Maya, faking dream records...”

“I told you, I can't explain it. I just know.”

She saw her father press one hand to his forehead. He seemed to be trying to steady his breathing. Finally he looked up at her again.

“OK. If you've risked this much to tell me...”

“Thank you,” she said.

Her father just nodded, swallowing.

“In the dream... There was a city. A city beyond the veil. A clock tower with four faces, old and much loved. A great wheel in the sky, by the edge of a river. Towers of glass. A bridge with two gatehouses. A palace.”

“London,” her father said, in obvious surprise.

“London? Really? I didn't know.”

“It has to be London. It's one of the great cities in the Hearth.”

Maya nodded, calmly.

“There's a girl, Rishi. Young. She's running away from something. She's scared and in pain. I saw a boy with her, but I couldn't see his face. He seemed to be made of shadows and smoke. Fates Rishi, he frightened me. Just looking at him made me feel sick. They were running through the streets, and there was an animal, some kind of animal hunting them. They were surrounded by broken glass and clouds of falling leaves, like autumn. She's connected to you, Rishi. I don't know how, but I could feel you hanging over her. Like a ghost. Like, you've been haunting her, or she's been haunting you.”

Her father looked ashen as Maya related this.

“But there's more,” the woman continued, as if just speaking the words was painful. “I saw this girl, standing in an open space in the middle of the city... And Arsha was standing with her.”

Arsha felt a coldness in her gut, a feeling like someone's hand clenching around her stomach. In the memory of the sending, her father's eyes widened.

“You're sure? You're sure it was her?”

Maya nodded, with a sadness in her eyes. It almost seemed like an apology.

“They were standing together, Arsha and this girl. Their hands were bound together with red string, wound all around them, spilling over the ground. The girl, her other hand was covered in a gauntlet of iron, rusted and old. The boy was with them, watching them. I could see his shadow, surrounding them both. And Arsha... I don't know Rishi. She seemed like she was trying to make a choice. The kind of choice that changes everything about you. I remember she had wings, Rishi. Wings of iron, rusted, like the gauntlet the girl wore. I'm sorry, I don't suppose any of this makes any sense to you?”

“A little,” he said, his voice hollow.

“Good. Because there's one more thing. There's been... Talk. Rumours, around the Chamber. You know how it is. We're not supposed to discuss dreams, but when something big happens... You can feel it in the air. A Seed, Rishi. A Seed is going to open.”

“Maya, are you... Are you sure?”

The woman shrugged.

“Is anything sure? From what I've heard, just about every one of the elect has had the same dream.”

“Except you?”

“It was the last part of the dream. The girl... She looked at me. Right at me, with eyes full of so much anger and sadness. And then she held out her hand, the hand covered by the iron gauntlet. It was there, in her palm. The Seed. Oh Fates, Rishi, I could feel it. I could feel its power.”

“Maya, I...”

Her father seemed unsure of what to say.

“Thank you. For telling me,” he managed, at last.

“What are you going to do?”

“I don't know. I have to...” he floundered. Arsha saw that his hands were shaking. He seemed to be resting his weight against a wall. “Your father and I, we have a lot of debts to pay, Maya. I think... I think this might be the worst of them.”

For a moment, Maya was silent. She seemed to be studying his face, with an expression of sad longing.

“Rachael,” the woman said, softly. “Her name is Rachael. She whispered it to me, just as the dream ended. Do what you can for her, Rishi. Do what's right. I know you will.”

“Thank you,” her father said. It was almost a whisper. Then the sending ended.

Arsha sat on her bed, the stone cupped in her hands, staring into the distance as she wondered what to make of it all.