The air around him seems to grow thicker, tauter. It ripples, and something in it pulls.

Flai stumbles back a step, and blindly grasps with his mind for the connection to his mother.

She's there, in the back of his mind, readying herself to fight with him.

But there is no fight necessary.

The air tears, green light streaming out, and then-

A girl steps out, thin and gaunt, with dead, black eyes.

"What?" Flai breathes.

Those cold, dead eyes look at him-

-and suddenly they're clear, grey, and bright.

She's smiling at Flai, wide and joyous. She looks ethereal in her happiness.

Flai supposes he would be happy to see a living being after stepping out of the Fade physically, but the way she looks at him, like she's been waiting for him...

"Are you okay?" He asks, taking a cautious step forward. She could be a demon.

Her eyes close, and she looks as if she's basking in those words.

There's a hesitant brush on Flai's mind, something cold and black, but tempting all the same.

Flai prepares to fight off a possession, but lets that sliver in.

The sliver is enough for her to project into him-

joyeuphoriahappinesslonging

Longing?

"Are you hurt? Do you need healing?"

How were you in the Fade physically?

Memories flash through Flai's mind, almost respectfully. Like the girl was honouring the barriers he put between them.

lonely in the green place, touches of the others painful and strange, the way magic twisted and rankled around her, years of strangeness and pain and danger and then-

gold and red and shining and beautiful...Flaithri

"You...saw me in the Fade? And decided to walk out?"

A question? A feeling of questioning, and below it fear that she was wrong, that he wasn't-

"No, no, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to- I just, I've never seen you there?"

Images, the 'others', demons. Pulling at her, dragging her back, her hands reaching for him-

Flai lets out a pained breath. "They were trying to keep you. I'm so sorry, that must've been terrible."

A distinct lack of regret. A memory of Flai's peaceful walk through the Fade, and the girl watching him, feeling rightness.

"So you saw me, and followed me back here? Through the Fade?"

He looks behind her, at the swirling green rift. "And how did you do that?"

She turns back to look at it, and simply drags a finger through it. The rift closes, and seals, and is like there was nothing there.

When she turns back around, her eyes are black again. There's an odd blankness over her mind.

"Are you okay?" Flai presses on that connection, putting a little of himself into her mind. 

He tries to shake off the amazement that she can go back and forth through the Fade as if it was as easy as opening a door.

The girl feels the brush of Flai's mind, and sighs, eyes fluttering shut. 

goodrightcompletebelonging

Okay, that was good, at least he can break apart that blankness when it happens. Strange that her magic, or whatever it was, made her mind feel so cold, when his lit him up.