A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

As Erik delved into training with his uncle and the others, and Emily was with Elora in the living room working on Sigils, Emma found solitude in the bedroom. Seated cross-legged on the floor, she was currently exploring her glyphs and channeling aetherium to expand her magical reserves.

The room was bathed in the soft glow of morning light, which would quickly get lost in the bright white light of Emma's magical energies as they pulsed across the room, creating shadows that seemed to keep rhythm with her heart's calm beat.

Emma, wearing her new dress imbued with enchantments, marveled at the ease with which the aetherium flowed into her.

"It's almost effortless," she whispered, a smile of wonder playing on her lips. "The dress amplifies the absorption, allowing me to focus more on my glyphs. I should thank Elora again later."

She remembered how Erik had explained that her aetherium storage and glyphs holding her affinities and spells were intricately connected and should be advanced with as much balance as possible.

She could feel herself being well on her way to the second rank in her light glyph, the one she had decided to focus on for now. According to Erik and Elora, that was the one that would be most likely to bring her a useful combat skill.

Something she desperately wanted in order to not feel so helpless anymore when a fight started.

Her attention momentarily drifted to Astrid. Erik had asked her to look after his childhood friend, who was currently still in peaceful slumber. To make the process a little safer, Elora had given her a stone with some sigils that showed the inside of Erik's old bedroom.

After all, it was uncertain in what kind of state she would awaken.

She expected to find no changes but widened her eyes when the stone showed an empty room. She quickly realized Astrid must have woken up in between now and the last time she checked.

A little panicky at that revelation, not knowing what state Astrid might be in, she didn't even think about notifying Erik through their link and instead simply rushed out of the room.

Yet, the moment she did, without warning, an unseen force yanked Emma from the ground, her breath catching in her throat. A hand, cold and unyielding, clasped around her neck, suspending her in midair. Emma felt the air rush out of her lungs as an invisible force gripped her, her heart pounding in her ears.

Emma's eyes widened in shock and met her attacker's gaze, who she quickly recognized as Astrid.

It appeared that, after an unknown amount of time as a ghoul, and 36 hours of sleep, Astrid had now finally woken up. And she felt angry.

Astrid said nothing and looked around before dragging Emma into Erik's old bedroom, where she pushed Emma up against the wall by the throat.

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"Who are you?! Where am I?!" Astrid growled in a soft tone, careful not to alert any possible accomplices of this unknown woman.

Although surprised, Emma managed to stay calm in the face of this apparent and sudden danger.

"A- Astrid," the white-haired girl gasped, "L- Let me go! Q- Quickly!"

Astrid narrowed her eyes at what she perceived was a command. "I'll let you go when I damn well please. Answer my questions first! And how do you know my name?!"

"Y- You don't u- understand!" Emma continued to gasp through the hand around her throat, "S- Sigil- P- protecting me!"

Due to her powerful intuition, born from her nature affinity, Emma was sure Astrid had no intention to harm her unless necessary, so instead of her own safety, she worried more about Astrid's.

She remembered the fate of the last vampire who held her this way, and she didn't want that to happen to Erik's childhood friend.

Hearing her words, Astrid frowned. About to call Emma's bluff, she suddenly noticed a white light had begun shining under her hand. Since she was not unfamiliar with the concept of sigils due to her being a part of the dominion for years, she panicked and quickly pulled her hand back.

Had the vampire in Kirkenes been warned about Emma's protection as well, he likely would have done the same.

The moment Astrid's hand withdrew, Emma's feet touched the ground with an unsteady grace. She gasped for air and rubbed her pained throat, the sudden influx of oxygen almost as shocking as the abrupt release.

Meanwhile, Astrid kept one suspicious eye on Emma, while also inspecting her hand for any problems.

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While Emma was still recovering, Astrid looked at her with a confused frown, mixed with some suspicion. "Why did you tell me that? And where did you get a sigil, anyway? Are you one of Sigurd's people?!"

But before Emma could even respond, she already mumbled her own answer, "No, that doesn't make sense. You're clearly a human."

Finally done coughing, Emma righted herself and smiled, "No, I belong to only one man, and he's no Sigurd. As for why I told you," she shrugged a little, "I just didn't want you to get hurt."

Looking at Emma's bright smile, despite the way she had just been assaulted, Astrid felt herself physically calm down.

When she woke up she had been extremely disoriented and since she was usually a woman of action rather than planning, she immediately rushed out of the room and grabbed the first person she saw in an attempt to gather information.

But now, looking at Emma's smile, her beauty, and her elegance in that pretty maid's dress, she felt no danger from her. Her eyes were drawn towards the intricate and exposed tattoo just beneath Emma's navel, but she didn't recognize it as something significant, so she moved on.

Despite her newfound calm, however, she remained suspicious and wary. "That still doesn't… explain…" Her voice trailed off, and she frowned. Slowly, she began to look around. After her abrupt awakening, this was the first time she took the time to inspect her surroundings.

Slowly, Astrid seemed to sink into memories, as her eyes began to widen in shock.

Emma simply watched as Astrid appeared to drift into memories. All aggression was lost as the shock of her current surroundings calmed her down.

She staggered and hesitantly walked towards the desk with the computer and touched it. Nostalgia and sadness seeped into her eyes and voice. "I- Is this… Erik's room?" she asked, more to herself than Emma.

After all, she had no idea why this random girl would even know that name.

She had never been in here, as visitation was difficult back in the day. Still, they had had video conversations and she recognized Erik's background during those times.

Still smiling warmly, cupped her hands in front of her stomach and nodded, "Yeah, you are in Frostvik currently."

"Frostvik…" Astrid whispered in a voice full of emotion. Her gaze seemed to look far into the past, as her eyes became a little wet. In her mind's eye appeared the vision of a timid boy with grey-silver hair.

Her expression switched between depression and fondness. She remembered how Erik always ran after Edda, while she ran after him. Then, her eyes filled with endless fury as she remembered what Edda had done.

And what had happened to Erik.

Bright orange runes began to appear all over her body and the room started to heat up, but she soon seemed to startle herself. She shook her head with a wry expression and the runes dissipated. "Don't burn down a place filled with memories, Astrid, you stupid girl."

Instead, she turned to Emma with narrowed, angry eyes. "Why did you bring me to this place," she growled. "And you still haven't told me who you are! Humans are all supposed to be either dead or captured."

In response, Emma simply continued to smile and pointed to the door, "I could explain, but I think it would be better if it came from him instead."

At the same time, Erik stormed into the room with an excited expression, having lost his wolf form. It appeared he had been warned by Emma through their link.

Seeing the strawberry blond hair, vibrant red eyes, and familiar face of Astrid, he broke out into a wide smile. "It's good to see you up and about again, Astrid." He said warmly.