[For Anael] Are you there?

It had been a week, and after they still hadn't been snatched back to the inn, Corbie allowed herself to finally start to believe that yes, this was her life now. In this strange city, in this stark apartment. Not that she and Mildmay hadn't been learning the city--he was out doing that right now--but she hadn't really believed at first that this was more than another Otherworld. It was a defense mechanism, so she wouldn't be crushed at inevitably being dragged back into that pink hell.

But then if it was all a lie, then that would mean that she was never going to see Jackson again for the rest of her life.

It wasn't the biggest loss, objectively. She knew that. Didn't mean much.

It also wasn't her fault that she and Mildmay were stuck in this place. She knew that. But she hadn't fucking helped, either, and it didn't mean very much.

So, as she often did when she needed to find her center, Corbie prayed. She sat in the center of her bed and let the beads of her coraline--Vax, she hadn't even said goodbye--run through her fingers and said the five stations to the Lady. But for whatever reason, she could not convince herself that anybody could hear her. Not here.

What now? The God she didn't know? She couldn't bring herself to do that. It was too many steps too far. Her mind wandered, looking for something to latch onto. She could probably have meditated, it was what Felix would have told her to do, but that only reminded her of Felix and that was another thing she just didn't want to face.

She thought of the friends she'd left behind. Thought of Coby. Thought of his angel. And...

Anael? I don't know if you're there. You don't know who I am, and I'm sorry, only my friend Coby told me about you and I don't know if my Lady can hear me and there's nobody else and I'm scared and I thought maybe... this is stupid.