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Oh, idk if I mentioned this before, but Halmar has gotten himself a place as a deuteragonist instead of a side character XD It’s going to be dual POV now, because they have opposite views on the theme!

Halmar

“The room just ahead is a room of mirrors, though be careful. The mirrors have a way of revealing your soul. To escape the room, you must face yourself, and conquer your fears,” the man said to Abirami.

“My soul?” Mejt said, distastefully. “Didn’t I sell that a couple of years ago for paints?”

I laughed, quietly. Mejt’s dark sense of humor took some getting used to, which was why she’d said it so quietly only I could hear.

“Let’s hope you got a nice painting out of it.”

Mejt rolled her eyes but smiled.

Abirami disappeared into the room of mirrors, followed by the brown-haired girl Mejt had introduced as Enydd.

I grinned. I was absolutely going to die, but at least this was an interesting way. I strode over to the doorway.

Mejt muttered something uncomplimentary under her breath as she trailed me. She had been tagging after me like a puppy ever since I’d made an appearance here. I didn’t mind. I was glad to see her again too.

The room was filled with more mirrors than I’d ever seen. I paused, then turned, trying to see all my reflections at once. I’d never seen anything like it. All the reflections were bouncing off each other, in a bright melee of color.

I caught my reflection, then stared back at myself. It was one of the first times I’d seen myself clearly. I looked more confident than I felt. I had become so good at faking my persona that it had become me.

The mirrors vanished. I was by the sea again, in a port. It was easier to breathe now I was back on familiar ground.

I turned around, trying to recognize the port. It wasn’t Varseina. The houses were small and white, practically cramped on top of each other, instead of the wide, canaled streets of Varseina, with the towering brown buildings in rigid lines. Something about them was still familiar. What was it? Had I ever been here before?

I slowly started toward the town, inspecting the houses. My gaze caught on the top of the roofs. A wooden sign perched on the top of each ridgepole. Different symbols were carved out of each of them. Horses, flowers, leaves, oxen, anchors.

I stopped dead. I had heard about this. My parents had told us stories about it, about how each symbol meant something to the family the house belonged to. But that had to mean…

I glanced over the roofs, toward the distance. Tall, snowy mountains billowed over the horizon, interspersed by the darkness of forests, the kind that were nowhere to be found in Liqeni.

My head was swimming with the realization that it must be true. I shot another unbelieving look at the docked ships. The figureheads were all too familiar, shaped like dragons and wolves.

For the first time, I was home. I had dreamed of coming home, I’d never thought I would. This was the place my parents had told us about, it was everything I’d wondered and dreamed about. It was the place where I wasn’t a foreigner, it was the place where I belonged, and I was finally here.

I strode through the city, trying to memorize every line of it, exactly what the streets looked like, the chipping plaster on the white houses.

I was not watching where I was going. It was absolutely inevitable that I bumped into someone.

It was an older man, and I instantly apologized. I couldn’t help almost beaming as I finally did so in my mother tongue for the first time I could remember. We’d only ever spoken it at home.

The man stared at me in perplexity and disgust. I froze. Hadn’t he understood me? Had I said something wrong? Was there something I didn’t know?

He shot me a final glare and moved on.

Now I was getting worried. It seemed as if he hadn’t understood me. But wasn’t this home? Wasn’t this where everyone was supposed to understand me, where I would fit in without having to try?

It couldn’t be true. I walked up to the next person, a man only slightly older than I was.

“I’m sorry, I need directions.”

He shot me a confused look, then shook his head and hurried past.

I stood at the streetcorner, lost as ever. It had been too good to be true after all. I shouldn’t have hoped for a life where I didn’t have to strain and act to fit in. It was too much to expect that anyone would understand. Even here, the one place where I thought it wouldn’t be necessary, I was a foreigner, as unfamiliar here as anywhere else.

And there was nothing I could do about it. I leaned against one of the plaster houses, listening to the sound of the hollow sea. There was no use looking any further. I would never find such a place. I didn’t feel at peace with it. I wish I had. I only felt disappointed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I sat up with a start. I was still in the cave system. Everything else had vanished. There was no Shykval. I tried to remember it, the cold smell of the sea and streets, the mountains in the distance. It faded, too quickly. The disappointment didn’t.

I sighed. Some of the others were still asleep, turning as though in a nightmare. Mejt among them, right next to me. I sat against the wall. I would make sure I was there when she woke.

Two of the others were up, facing each other. A new man was pacing up and down, covering his face with his shirt. Was it the poison gas? I knew from experience how bad that was. He didn’t look in my direction, or I would have attempted some empty sympathy.

The two others were more of a problem. It was Abirami, and someone I didn’t recognize. He carried a bare knife.

That was bad. Usually, I wouldn’t attempt this by myself, but there were just two of them and a fight now could be disastrous.

I planted myself between the two of them and gave both disapproving looks, my hand resting on my knife.

Abirami’s weapon looked long-distance, but considering that I was practically shielding the man, I didn’t think he’d use it. I’d already heard of his reluctance to harm anyone who didn’t deserve it.

“Kindly put that away, both of you,” I said, quietly, my voice deceptively pleasant.

If this came down to a fight, I would be at a disadvantage. According to Mejt, Abirami could change into animals and this other man was holding his knife like he could use it. I had only gotten into a handful of fights, and I hadn’t often won. Fighting attracted attention, and that was always a terrible idea.

However, they were both younger than me, and not much bigger. I would be able to hold my own, at least for a while. I wasn’t going to let it come to that.

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LOL, I didn’t expect Hal to start acting like the responsible elder sibling XD