After her bath, Luna did what she could to push the sense of deja vu from her mind. It was easy enough; the feeling was already fleeting. But every once in a while, it’d crawl back from the depths of her mind. Luna had returned to her room and was perched on her bed. Her leather bag sat open on her lap as she dug through its innards. Finally, Luna found what she was looking for, the Alloran holy book. Luna pushed the bag to the side and opened the leather-bound book, revealing nothing but blank pages. 

Luna flipped through the book and sighed, "still nothing?" 

Like all clergy members in the Alloran church, checking the holy book before bed was an entrenched habit for Luna. However, unlike the others who received messages of guidance and affirmation in their books, Luna’s only ever remained blank. She placed the book back in her bag and tossed it onto one of the chairs in the middle of the bedroom. Luna turned out the lights, crawled under the covers, and shut her eyes, waiting for dream spirits to whisk her away. 

But sleep never came. 

Luna rolled around in her bed for a while, but no matter how much she begged for sleep to take her, she couldn’t. The room’s bed was way softer than the ones at the Monastery. Luna could have sworn she sunk even deeper into the mattress every time she rolled. 

Maybe too soft, Luna thought. 

After some time, Luna gave up trying to bargain with the dream spirits and hopped out of bed. Luna walked over to a large set of double glass doors and opened them, stepping onto the balcony. The wind blew around Luna; her long pink hair blew freely in the wind as she watched the stars twinkling in the sky. The three moons, Raerus, Selenevra, and Lythoria, hovered in the clear sky, bathing everything in a bright blue light. Luna flinched lightly as the eerie feeling of deja vu slid back up her back. 

“Maybe I should go for a walk to clear my head,” Luna muttered. 

Luna slowly creaked her door open and snuck out and into the hallway. She was surprised at how easy it was to walk out of the manor without a guard noticing. Once out of the estate, Luna looked around and began tracing her steps back towards the inn the others were staying at. Once Luna finally managed to get back to the inn, Luna stepped inside and noticed the innkeeper smiling brightly, beckoning her to come up to the counter. 

“I’m guessing you’re with the others, young miss?” The innkeeper smiled happily as Luna walked up to the counter. 

Luna was surprised at first to hear a stranger refer to her without using her official title. Luna looked down at herself and quickly realized she wasn’t wearing her typical robe and was, in fact, wandering around in nothing but her pajamas. 

What am I doing!? Luna scolded herself. Did that deja vu mess me up so much that I forgot to get dressed? Luna thanked her lucky stars that Abigail didn’t come on this trip.

Luna did her best to clear her throat and fight the embarrassment as she addressed the innkeeper. 

“Yes, that’s right.” Luna put all her willpower into pretending she wasn’t an idiot in her night clothes standing in the middle of an inn. 

“I’m with the others. Are they sleeping right now?”

The innkeeper laughed thunderingly and pointed to a set of double doors in the corner of the room. “Yeah, they’re sleeping alright, but not in their rooms.”

Confused by what she meant, Luna thanked the innkeeper and walked back toward the set of double doors, opening them up. When she walked in, Luna noticed Rue, Chris, Joshua, and Nishi passed out, drooling on one of the tables surrounded by various plates and mugs. Luna walked up to Joshua and tried to poke him awake, to no avail. 

“Looks like I’m not the only one who’d throw Abigail into a fit.” Luna chuckled to herself. “Seemed like quite the party.”

Figuring she wouldn’t get much conversation from the group of passed-out teammates, Luna decided to head back toward the manor. Once out of the inn, Luna began walking back down the cobblestone road she had traced earlier. That was until movement in the corner of her eye startled her, causing her to jump backward. Luna collected herself and paused momentarily, realizing she had seen movement from behind a dense group of trees. 

Curious, Luna pushed through the trees and into a large clearing obscured by the surrounding foliage and buildings. As Luna moved deeper into the clearing, the wind around her blew her hair and nightgown haphazardly. Luna eventually noticed a large hill, with a figure sitting under the moonlight clutching their chest. As she approached the figure, Luna realized it was Ariel staring absently at the sky. Ariel’s light blue hair glowed like silver while bathed in the moonlight. 

Luna couldn’t help but admit that Ariel had a very alluring and mystical beauty to her. As Luna began moving up the hill toward Ariel, Luna was about to greet her when she noticed a tear drop glistening in the moonlight, dripping down Ariel’s face and falling onto the ground below. Ariel gripped her chest only tighter. 

Luna finally managed her way up the hill as Ariel looked up at Luna and sheepishly wiped her tears. 

“Are you okay?” Luna spoke softly, trying her best to comfort Ariel. “What happened?” Luna furrowed her eyebrows and touched Ariel’s shoulder before continuing.

“Did one of the boys hurt you?” 

Ariel laughed and sniffled, “Those drunken idiots?” Ariel rolled her eyes as she continued,” No way.” 

Concern flashed across Luna’s face as she sat beside Ariel, “So if they didn’t hurt you, did someone else?” 

Ariel shook her head, “No one hurt me, your Holiness. So don’t worry.” Ariel’s face grimaced as her eyes drifted toward the ground, “I was just remembering… Unhappy things.”

Luna sat quietly for a moment and looked up towards the moons. “I’m glad you're not hurt, Ariel. And you can just call me Luna.” Luna’s voice softened as she continued,

“I know we’ve only been traveling together for a few days, but I am your teammate and maybe one day, a friend.” 

Luna smiled. Her pink eyes shined brightly in the pale moonlight. “Whatever’s bothering you, Ariel, you can tell me. I may be unable to help, but I can always listen.” 

Ariel smiled sadly, “Thank you, Luna, you really are a kind girl.” Ariel shifted her body to face Luna and began unbuttoning the top part of her shirt.

Ariel moved the sides of her shirt apart, revealing a sinister scar shaped like a triangular sigil seared into Ariel’s skin.

Luna covered her mouth in shock and gasped. “Ariel, what happened? Where did you get something like that from?!” 

Ariel rubbed the scar on her chest gently, her eyes glistening as they began to water up, “It’s a scar from an old broken curse placed on me.” 

“A curse?” Luna asked. She could feel her heat sink. 

Ariel looked into Luna’s eyes and smiled a heartbroken and melancholy smile, “It was a spell put on me when I was young. Domination magic.” 

Ariel’s eyes didn’t break away for a moment, even as her voice cracked,

“Luna, before I became an adventurer, I grew up a slave.”