It was maybe sad, how quiet, how dark, how cold the room ahead.

It was not tight and cozy; it was claustrophobic in another sense, so vast and poorly lit that its sheer emptiness was what stood out. The stone of the floor was worn quite smooth, scarred here and there by the drag of heavy chains over time. A faint frost slicked it, and from the center, where a dim light would normally shaft down--right now, in near pitch darkness--the great stone throne awaited. The figure atop it, clad in its worn dark cloth, sat hunched and silent. Long hair, thin and white as the frost, hung in a drape around its face, which was shadowed and not visible.

The black chains led out from the throne, in loops and loose lines, before drawing back to the figure's wrists and ankles.

It looked like a sculpture, a statue cast into faint relief in the light of Amun's Wisp, but for the cloud of breath that plumed forth now and again in the cold. The breath was faint, slow. Perhaps the creature on the throne was currently asleep, for it did not stir at their approach.

@Asira @Amun

A shiver ran down her spine, perhaps not only from the cold. Was it... alive? She trained her eyes on its head, its chest, looking for a twitch or drawn breath, some sign that she had not been too late. What reason led the Dreamer to be imprisoned here? And was it good enough reason that she should not free the being? No image came to mind for what the Dreamer could have possibly done to deserve this. But, as Sprig reminded her, she had not experienced much of the caves. He had chosen for them to live where they had to shelter her and her siblings. When she went out on her own, she would learn.

And who had done this? Who had the power to? A cloud of expelled breath awoke her from her thoughts. Yes, it was alive!

"Hello? Are you the Dreamer?" she asked, just to be sure. But also because she wasn't sure how else to start a conversation. A rare awkwardness had fallen upon her. Perhaps it was the way her usually cheery disposition clashed with the heaviness of the room, or how she was now unsure of what was the right thing to do. While she waited for a response, she compelled her magic to lighten the chill of the room.

@Amun