Media: Silver-lined Falcon (They are beautiful in their on gruesome way)

Music: End of My Journey, John Dreamer

Cadence woke up to see Kashimi sitting next to her. She tried to speak, but no words came out. Her head hurt like a mother, and she was having difficulty focusing. Kashimi's mask looked like a baboon from her distorted vision.

What the hell happened? She reached for her head and was shocked to feel a thick bandage in its spot.

"Remember what I said about you returning here?" Kashimi said. "You'll have to heal the good, old-fashioned way."

"What happened?" Cadence struggled to recall the recent events, but all that came back was a dizzying blur.

"Concussion," Kashimi said. "My confrere saw you burst into the infirmary, bleeding profusely from your head. It took ten stitches to close up the wound."

"It hurts," Cadence said. The wound was burning as though someone had run a heated stake through her head, and she feared the possibility of an infection.

"I'll administer you with some Devil's Claw potion." Kashimi stood up and went behind the curtain. He returned a minute later with a tall, slim vial in his hands. Kashimi brought the bottle up to eye level, swirled the brown contents inside, unstoppered it and handed the vial to Cadence. "Bottoms up."

Cadence accepted the vial and swallowed it. She gagged. It was the vilest thing she had ever tasted. It left an bitter, evil aftertaste which refused to wash out even after she chugged her third glass of water.

"Tell me," Kashimi sat down on the straight-backed chair next to her bed. "What happened? Did someone attack you?"

"I..." Cadence was still trying to get rid of the bitterness in her mouth, but the pain was starting to fade into a dull throb. "I don't know how to say this."

Ales and Kashimi were the ones who postulated her being a Walker, and they were right. Perhaps Kashimi would be able to explain the shadows, or the strange dreams she was experiencing.

"Can we go some place more private?" Cadence looked around the infirmary. Across the curtain separating Kashimi's workplace, there were a few coughing people on the beds. There must be other Healers lurking around too, but they don't make an appearance often.

"If I weren't a Healer sworn to abstain from humanly pleasures, such words coming from a young lady like you would have implied a whole other meaning."

Fire burned Cadence's cheeks. "You know I don't mean that."

"Humor is something you definitely lack. Sadly, we've never learned the art of restoring humor into humans. As for your head, alas, I highly recommend that you stay where you are, lest you bleed internally and never wake up again."

Kashimi stood up and drew the curtains around Cadence's bed, shielding her completely from outside view. "This might not stop people from eavesdropping, but at least it's the most minimum source of privacy. What can I do for you?"

"You are strictly under the code of silence, right?" Cadence dropped her voice into a whisper. "My brother told me that Healers take an oath to never disclose any personal information about their patients to any third parties, even if the information was extracted by force."

"He is correct," Kashimi said. "But I'd rather not think of how information would be extracted by force. I am not fond of violence. Are you about to tell me something that might put both our lives in danger?"

Cadence decided it was best if she showed Kashimi instead of saying it out loud. She reached into her pocket and took out her bead of obsidian. Placing it on her palm, she made it run up and then, then bouncing on her hand.

"As I had expected," Kashimi said. "I was with you the night your Affinity woke, but rest assured, your secret is safe with me."

"Is it considered normal for someone with my abilities to be haunted by dreams?"

"Pray elaborate."

Cadence told him about the dreams she had been having, dreams about the Great War, the Ancient, the skeletons and the rider who was burned with death along with the children he was supposed to protect.

"His name was Varis," she said. His name was ingrained in her mind. Her mind shouted the name back at her as she said it, as loud and clear as the peals of a Temple bell.

"Varis." Kashimi looked thoughtful. "I know only one Varis, Varis of the House Toghoril. He hailed from a family of Warriors, and perished in the Great War."

"He did not fight in it," Cadence said. "He was fleeing, and he was carrying two children."

"Arielle and Mikah Khavarosk, the children of Capella Yesuntai," Kashimi said. "Theory was Capella Yesuntai entrusted her children to Varis, as she was certain they wouldn't survive the ambush on the Khavarosk Mansion, but they all died in vain."

"Who was Varis to Capella?" Cadence pressed on. "I-I know Capella. She's in my dreams too."

"Varis was supposed to marry Capella Yesuntai, daughter of the High Priestess of the Hall of Shadows. They were betrothed, but House Khavarosk, being a House of War, had the authority to override their betrothal and forced Capella to marry Tithonus Khavarosk, the heir of House Khavarosk as an attempt of reconcilment between the two Houses who had been at war since the day their Houses were founded. He became a wasted man after that, moaning for lost love, getting into brawls and tavern fights and ruining the good name of the Patrols. He soon vanished after the event, and was not heard again until his body was found outside the Hall of Spirits, burned beyond recognition during the Great War."

Cadence remembered how broken Capella looked, and her disgust toward Tithonus Khavarosk when he tried to touch her. She had flinched, as though pressed with a knife.

"Why am I dreaming about all this?"

"When did these dreams start to occur?" Kashimi asked.

She thought hard, allowing herself to lapse back into memories. Cadence knew she dreamed sometimes when she slept, but she could barely remember any of it. It was like wisps of mists. One second they were clear, and the next second, they had evaporated. She tried to remember the first time she had a dream connected to the Great War—her Awakening.

"After my Awakening." Cadence drew out the words slowly, letting her memories sink in. "At first I dismissed it as just a nightmare, but they returned more frequently than ever."

"What do you think?" Kashimi said.

"Affinity by blood," Cadence murmured. "Maybe someone, somewhere, I don't know, is trying to communicate with me, and it has something to do with the Khavarosks."

"If you are by any chance Capella's daughter, you wouldn't be lying on this bed today."

"I'm trying, alright?" Cadence half-shouted. "I'm losing my mind and nothing is making sense! I am dreaming about the dead, seeing things that aren't supposed to exist. I'm going crazy, Kashimi, I can feel it."

"Shadows no one can see, apparitions in broad daylight?" Kashimi was still sitting calmly by her side, not the slightest bit irritated by her outburst.

Cadence nodded.

"Walkers are a closely related bunch. Walkers of the same kin are able to spend messages to each other through dreams, for shadows are all interconnected. You only start receiving these nightmares after your Affinities have woken, and the bond between you and whoever sends the dreams is activated. Perhaps, your estranged family is reaching out to you."

If what Kashimi and her assumed was true, her father had been lying to her her entire life. Her mother might as well be a stranger to her, only being there in name, but never as a proper person. She didn't even know her name. The Great War had been a chaotic era where families were estranged, siblings torn from each other, and children sent to fight. Perhaps her father was afraid word of their heritage would reach the ears of the Walker Hunters. She recalled what Ales had said about them—ruthless and heartless creatures who forced people from their families just because he was suspected of being remotely related to a Walker.

"If we were both descendants of the same blood, why is it I'm the only one with such dreams?"

"Your brother is not a person of your abilities, so he is unable to receive any of such messages, even if they're next of kin. Maybe, the person who is sending you the dreams are trying to give you hints, subtle nudges toward your identity and their location. You should look into the Great War, find out everything you can about the Houses involved, and pay attention to your dreams. If the person sending you the dreams truly desire you to find out who they are, they'll give you hints, you just need to break the pattern."

Kashimi then regarded Cadence with the wise but creepy eyes of his raven mask. "You must be careful, Cadence. Every decision you make, every breath you take, might reveal your true nature to Walker Hunters. The outside world wants your kind dead, and they're still roaming as we speak, seeking out anyone who has even a drop of such blood inside them. What you can do now is to make sure you learn how to control your Affinity properly and keep it in check. Tell no other soul, for one small leak will bring an entire army of Walker Hunters onto you."

"Ales is training me," said Cadence. "We have lessons every night."

"Excellent. Ales is a good man, he will train you well."

"Thank you, Kashimi." Cadence said. Her conversation with Kashimi had lifted a burden from her, but put several back into place. There was so much she had to think about. She did not know where to start.

The Healer rose to his feet. "You're very welcome, Cadence. Do not hesitate to see me again if you have any questions. Rest assured, your secret is safe with me."

Cadence turned to the cooler side of the pillow. She didn't know which Orisha to pray to for guidance. The Orishas have their own family feud, they're not the perfect beings to pray to for familial help. She could consider Yemu's Gods and Goddesses, the funny half-animal, half-human deities which outnumbered the Orishas by the thousands. The Eyrians had a deity for everything, even the sexual organs.

Yemu...

Cadence was not worthy to pray to anyone. She did not deserve their help. The blood of everyone who perished in the Orelik Mansion was still on her hands, as well as her own father's. She didn't even know whether Yemu survived the Polong attack. What made her feel worse was how she kept it a secret even from her own brother. Hell, she wasn't even sure he was her brother.

She wanted to scream and hurl out everything that had been choking her for the past few weeks. Cadence wanted to tear out the tapestries from the wall and fling them into the snow, shake the icicles from the trees and shout all her frustrations into the cruel winter.

Screw her heritage, she had more pressing matters at hand. There was the dead to be raised, she would not let herself be bogged down by her own pitiful inability to shake dreams from reality.

She would train, and she would train hard, harder than all the Varya in the Hall of Games. Only when Master Orelik and her father breathed again would she finally find peace.