Aionia arrived home slower than she hoped. She originally thought she wouldn't need to gather too much water and could just have it be done and over with quickly, but as it turned out, that wasn't the case. Her mother was waiting for her by the door, looking worried and impatient. "Where have you been? Why did it take you so long? I thought you went missing! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" The questions flooded out like water from a broken dam. Aionia just let out a bunch of air, her cheeks puffing up then deflating. "Look. I've got the water you requested. Are we done?"

"Fine! Fine. We're done. Hand it over, please." She gave her mother the bucket carefully. Her mother blinked. She blinked again. "Why is this here?" She asked. "What do you mean?" Aionia asked. Her mother showed her the contents of the bucket. Aionia's face contorted into an expression of utter confusion. There was a yellow flower with a thick stem that looked awfully familiar floating right in the middle of the bucket amidst all the water.

"That... that wasn't there when I got the water.." Aionia pleaded, baffled. "Yeah?" Her mother questioned, "And how'd it get in here, then? It just jumped in?" "No!" Aionia huffed. "I don't know how it got there, but it doesn't matter, okay? Just take it out! The water's fine, it's just a flower."

Her mother snatched the flower out of the bucket and threw it in Aionia's direction. Aionia ducked, and crossed her arms. Her mother hurried away with the bucket. Aionia followed her inside reluctantly. Inside she saw her sister laying down, her skin pale and eyes closed. She was speechless. "What happened to her?" Aionia asked.

"Go to your room," her mother replied, shooing her away. Aionia obeyed, looking back at her sister reluctantly. She had been trying to hide her still frozen hand from her mother, holding it behind her back inconspicuously. Now that she was alone, she could examine it a bit more closely.

It was noticeably thawing out, the once glassy look to it collapsing and being replaced with a watery feel, as if her hand was literally made of ice. It was numb, but she was starting to regain control of the muscles. It felt as if there were drops of water coming down it, though no such things were visible. Aionia touched it with her other hand. It was just as cold as before, despite it melting.

That interaction with the cloaked person still wigged her out. Whoever -or whatever- she touched, it definitely wasn't fully human. The thought scared her. What could it have been? Before she could worry herself anymore, she slapped the thoughts out of her mind. Thinking about it further would only worry her more.

Before she could decide what to do next, she suddenly felt the chill that she had felt earlier at the well, but a lot more subdued. She knew that it wasn't natural, considering it was midsummer. Aionia took a few steps out of her room to peak around the corner. The cold feeling got stronger. She almost gasped aloud when she saw the cloaked person again, this time they were in her house. Their cloak looked untouched, like it hadn't been on fire half an hour ago.

They didn't interact with anyone, nor did anyone interact with them. They just stood there. Her mother didn't seem notice or care about the random stranger who had suddenly appeared in her house, walking past them and back like they didn't even exist. Why, she was almost walking through them! Aionia squinted. She watched as her mother ran back to where her sister lay, still deathly pale. When she looked closely, she could see the person in the cloak.. flash like like a flickering light? Were her eyes playing tricks on her? She blinked a few times. They were still there.

Aionia shook her head. She was going to confront them, once and for all. All she had to do was not touch them this time. She waited until she was sure that her mother had left the room before she exited her room completely. She walked up the person. "Hey." She said simply. They lurched back, probably expecting her to touch them again. "I'm not gonna touch you. Don't worry." She reassured them. They didn't make any attempt to get closer to her again.

"Mind explaining what happened back there?" She asked, getting to the point. They gave no response, and instead opted to try to worm around her, like they were trying to get to something that she was blocking. Aionia looked behind her for a split second to see her sister right behind her, still laying down on that cot of sorts. When she turned back around, she could see only the hem of their cloak whooshing around her. Aionia spun back around, and there they were, leaning over her sister.

"Hey!" She huffed. "What do you think you're doing to her?" Aionia forgot all about the freezing and the burning to the touch in a fit of a want to protect and responsibility for her sister. Who did this stranger think they were, strolling into their house and then going right over to her obviously sickly and unconscious sister? Aionia grabbed their hood, ignoring the fire she was setting and the cold numbness entering her hand.

She tried to pull them away, but ended up accidentally pulling off their hood. She was surprised to see that the person had long stark white hair. "Who-?" She asked, letting go of the hood slowly. They spun to face Aionia, and it took all her willpower to not scream.

Along with their hair, their skin was literally white, with no traces of warmth to it at all. Their lips and cheeks were tinted blue, and they seemed to have dark circles, contrasting their pale skin. But what was most unsettling, and what was the most noticeable, was their eyes.

Their eyes were unlike she had ever seen, and she had seen people with all sorts of different eye colours and looks. What would normally be considered the whites of their eyes were pitch black and looked like they were made of liquid, like they could spill out their sockets at any moment easily. Their irises were slightly darker than their skin, but not by very much. They looked as if they were glowing when you looked at them with the black beside them, and as far as Aionia knew, they could as well be. Their pupils were black, which seemed to be the only normal thing about their eyes. Their eyelashes were white at the roots but became darker the farther they went out, like they reverse bleached their eyelashes.

When Aionia stopped looking at the details, their facial features were actually quite pretty, despite the odd coloration. Long eyelashes, a button nose, and plump lips made them look even younger than Aionia, which confused Aionia on who they were even more.

Despite their childish features, there was a strange coldness and wisdom to them, like they had been fifteen for five hundred years. It made Aionia feel uncomfortable in a way, like she had seen something she wasn't meant to see.

Their face definitely looked female, that was something Aionia could tell clearly. The strange looking woman also wore long, black earrings that looked like they were made of some sort of crystal. She had also on a black necklace that hugged her collarbone and looked to be made of the same material as the earrings.

The woman's face contorted into a sneer, and she unhooked her cloak, letting it sink off her shoulders before grabbing it in one hand and throwing it at Aionia. It was still on fire, and the lit side was heading right towards Aionia's eyes. She didn't have time to scream, much less react. All she could do was close her eyes to try to not go blind as a result of the attack.

A second after the cloak should've made impact, Aionia didn't feel anything. She didn't feel the weight of the heavy fabric on her body, she didn't feel the shock of the hit, and she most definitely didn't feel any burning sensation on any part of her body. In fact, the numbness in her other hand only increased to the point that it was dead weight. She cautiously opened an eye and looked around. She found the cloak behind her, no longer on fire and lightened to a cream colour. In front of her, she could still see the woman leaning over her sister.

Aionia stepped forward once more, and watched as the woman started to fade away. She was getting more and more transparent by the millisecond, and Aionia knew she didn't have much time before she was completely gone. She reached out one final time to grab their wrist, knowing this was probably her last chance to get to them. She had too many questions now, and that woman wasn't going anywhere without answering them. She could feel her grip on her wrist loosening as her hand began to freeze and lose control in her fingers.

Aionia didn't care anymore about the repercussions she had learned about touching this woman, she had to know who they were and what was going on, blind determination filling her and causing her to regain some of autonomy in her hand. She tightened her grip on them one last time and watched as her own hand began to fade as well. She looked up at them to find them looking back at her, their expression of contempt gone in exchange for a look of just pure confusion.

Aionia looked at her straight in her strange eyes, and pulled her towards her, only a bare fragment of her body now visible.