My soles of my feet slip as I struggle up onto the roof for the second night.  Tonight it’s cooler, an ice kissed breeze from the far-away Azure Province mountains play with the ends of my loose hair. Thick, livid clouds crawl lazily across the sky, casting shadows amidst the pale moonlight that traces the roof.  I quite prefer this weather. The cold numbs my cheeks, daring to glide under my cardigan that I keep wrapped tightly around my limbs.  

It was around midday when I arrived at our meeting spot. Just in case, I have a knife strapped to myself under my top shirt, although I imagine once Vaia gets a hold of me, it will be confiscated. I wonder if Marek is here, despite our agreement that no one else would be joining us. The smell of Vaia's floral perfume guides me into the tavern - the neutral ground. Sure enough, the room is void of anyone at all, aside from Vaia, who sits at a table in the centre of the room, drinking what looks like beer. I would have never imagined Vaia opting for that drink, although by the looks of her,

As night has fallen, Marek has left me with guards outside my door, not telling me much about what he intends to do from now. At this point, I'm incessantly pacing through the room, checking to find the window is locked - it's not as if it would be worth it to escape now anyway, not with the guards swarming the grounds. I need information to go back with anyway, otherwise this black eye isn't going to be worth it. But how am I going to get information when I'm stuck in here?" 

Tonight, my door isn't locked, and no one is guarding it. Which means sinful ideas have crept mercilessly into my mind, all of which seem to lead back to me leaving here. Vaia told me that tomorrow morning I will be allowed to leave, which is an opportunity I plan on taking without much protest. But I have a bad feeling about the sudden lack of guards outside of my room. Either Vaia truly doesn't see me as a threat, or she does plan on actually letting me go tomorrow. It's going to mean she will come at me with all the more force when she finds out I betrayed her trust.

Even with Tai by my side at almost every waking moment of my day, I still can’t escape the lingering thoughts that haunt me. Today I sit out in the garden on a little wooden bench, staring out across the formal lawn, bordered by the forest. As sheltered as this place is, I still get a flutter of nervousness at the idea that Vaia and her rebels could storm in here at any moment. Since leaving their stronghold a week ago, I haven’t spent a moment each day not thinking about them. I’ve been thinking about Vaia and her plan to have me drink from the Forbidden River. I would surely die, or worse, become some horrifying Tani. And I’ve been thinking about Marek as well, about whether he was truthful when he told me he still cares abo