The next day came silently.
Sonder was dressed long before the sun rose. She watched as it finally lifted itself from the horizon into the sky.
Just as she was about to set out, she caught sight of someone crossing her path.
A figure in a crimson robe, one she didn't think she'd seen before, yet felt familiar.
He turned his head toward her for a brief moment before continuing down another corridor and vanishing deeper into the halls of the seat.
It was then that Sonder realized who it was: Vhereli.
He looked entirely changed. His hair was shaved into a sharp, long mohawk that fell over one side of his face, the rest of his head cleanly shaven, just like Thiliel's brother, and Vhereli's father, Thalael. It was freshly dyed a deep red.
The ragged beard was gone, leaving smooth skin.
His posture was proud, prouder than before.
If not for that fleeting glance, she might not have recognized him at all.
He didn't come to her, nor did he call out, but that brief glance was enough. It was the most acknowledgment a Thole would ever give an outsider, unless it was to command them or extract something from them.
But now it was time for Sonder to go.
The guards at the base of the House who had once turned her away now bowed as she approached. Their eyes flicked to the sigil on her robe before they stepped aside.
She had turned two weeks into two days.
"You may enter, House-friend of Nesh," one said.
Sonder ascended the steps of the gnarled house, climbing higher until she reached the entrance and stepped through.
Inside, she had expected something different, something to mark Grimalkin as the wizard she'd been chasing since her arrival in Gloam.
But the interior was plain. Almost disappointingly so.
There were no glowing runes, no restless lights, no relics whispering of old power.
It was ordinary.
Maybe that was reassuring.
A door opened ahead of her.
From it stepped a woman like any other Thole, red-skinned, red-haired, tall, and dressed in a robe so simple it bordered on plain.
"You are Sonder, yes?" she asked, her voice as gravelly as any Thole's.
"I am," Sonder replied. "And you are Grimalkin?"
"I am, though that name is not my true one," the woman said. "I assume you've come a long way to see me, House-friend of Nesh. Tell me, what for?"