Something had changed for Elsa since she'd lost her apprentice. She threw herself into her work harder and with a strange lack of care for her own life. It was as if she'd begun to not care about her own self after Cliff, and it pained Elaine to see it. More and more, Elsa seemed to be withdrawing from Elaine, creeping back into her own shell.

Elaine sat in their alley hideout, alone. She curled in the corner, her knees to her chest, trying not to think about her sister's odd condition. It was heartbreak, she knew it was. Although Elsa had always protested that she only considered Cliff to be her apprentice, it seemed that the news of his betrayal was the final straw for her. She seemed so ... broken. The flame that seemed to keep the thief going was sputtering out.

Crunching gravel caught Elaine's attention. Her head shot up, and she saw an old woman approaching, her face concealed in a cowl. Elaine scrambled to her feet, her hand falling on the knife at her side. She kept her voice neutral. "May I help you, old mother?"

The old woman didn't answer. Instead, she just continued to walk closer. No matter how much Elaine wanted to back up, she stayed where she was. "Old mother?" she pressed.

"Elaine Silvereye. Daughter of the disgraced knight." Finally, the old woman spoke. Her voice cracked like the gravel she walked over. The humped back seemed to indicate great age, although her features were still disguised from Elaine.

The girl struggled to keep calm. "I don't know what you mean," she said.

"Twin of the greatest thief in Vordelle. Why do you fear me?" The crone cackled. "I'm just a harmless old woman. Shouldn't a thief and daughter of two knights have a little more of a spine?"

Hot anger seemed to flow through Elaine, and she drew her knife. "State your business," she said, not yet aiming the knife at her. But if more insults were to flow, it might turn.

The old woman nodded, giving Elaine a brief view of her face. It was an ocean of wrinkles; each one seemed to flow into the next. "There's the fire I wanted," she said. "You've shown some spine after all. Do you know what I am?"

A crazy old woman? Elaine was tempted to say. However, she managed to hold herself back and simply shook her head. The old woman gave another gravelly cackle. "I'm a seer, Silvereye. I see the future. And I've seen yours ... and your sister's."

Elaine froze, the knife slipping through her numb fingers. "What ... what have you seen?" she managed to say around the lump in her throat.

"Elsa is a great prize, Elaine. And someday, she will be the target of more than just the king's incompetent men," the old woman said. "How she fares when that time comes is up to you."

"I don't understand," Elaine said.

"Elsa prizes you more than anything in the world," the old woman said. "Her only remaining family member, and now, the only person she can bestow her love on. But she's been scarred by an undeniable betrayal, and she needs something to remind her of what truly matters. Otherwise—she will not survive the coming storm."

Elaine stared at the old woman. "You want me to do something, don't you?" she said finally, after several moments of silence.

"Smart girl," the old woman said approvingly. "Give Elsa something more to live for. Namely, you. Make her realize how much she prizes you and how much she really cares."

It took Elaine only a moment to answer. However much Elsa cared for her, she returned it all. Elsa was the only person she had left in the world. Cliff had never meant as much to Elaine as he had to Elsa. "How do I do that?"

The old woman inclined her head. "A good choice, girl. I need your permission to let me warp you somewhere. You can be assured that Elsa will be informed of your location in one way or another, and she will be shown the 'danger' you're in. You'll always be perfectly safe, but she doesn't have to know that."

It was a matter of life and death for Elsa; it took Elaine only a moment to make her decision. "I'll do it," she said. "I give you my permission to warp me."

The old woman cackled, and it crawled up Elaine's spine. What was different ...? "Foolish girl!" the old woman snarled, and Elaine screamed shrilly as shadows wrapped around her, choking her, suffocating ...

Then the shadows dispersed and she was gone.