• The first thing that Tally was aware of was the rough feeling of crude cloth covering her, the second her, for some reason she couldn't remember, surprising lack of thirst, and the third was the odd sensation of peace that wrapped around her like a cloak. Groggily, she opened her eyes, glancing around in confusion.

    She was surrounded by a circle of 7 faces, each one with an expressions that ranged from curiosity, to pity, to disdain, and one with out right hate. She frowned, struggling through the haze of fog that was her mind, trying to find any memories that would tell her why she was here.

    suddenly somebody snorted, "Really Kara, you shouldn't," a tall, blond guy was saying, next to him a short girl with shocking purple hair turned bright pink.

    "But you can't honestly expect," she trailed off, then tried a different tactic. "I mean, she can't even get past a simple blocking-"

    The man cut her off, "Ah, but she's been out there for who knows how long, and besides not everybody is blessed with our special-"

    "I can sense," a nondescript looking girl cut in, her only noticeable feature her eyes, a blue so pale it resembled ice. "It's dormant, but it feels quite powerful."

    "I think we should just dump her back out and leave her to die." Tally frowned, where they talking about her? She shuddered at that thought. "I mean, she has no experience,"

    "That we know of," a girl cut in.

    The man continued as though she'd never spoke. "And we'll have to train her, and you know how hard they are to train. Besides, when we finally do get her trained, most likely sombody'll end up-"

    "I think we should keep her," a voice cut in. Tally instantly liked this voice, it was light and crisp with only a hint of the lower timbre usually found in me, and the face was even better; his features were sharp and defined, but he had a youthful air of inquisitive playfulness, entirely in contrast with his serious, stormy gray eyes. "I mean, we could always try her out, and if she doesn't work we can just drop her off next time we make port."

    Tally struggled with the fog much harder now, knowing that they were indeed talking about her. They were talking in riddles and she wanted to know the answers, besides, she hated being talked about as though she were a piece of livestock; to dumb to know what they were saying. Slowly, a picture of a glass of water floated across her mind, perspiration dripping down it's clear glass sides. She inhaled sharply, tripling her efforts. A smiling woman's face, a group of people waving goodbye slowly shrinking in the distance, a cloud the shape of an eye, a crash of thunder, a giant wave of water, spinning, falling, images flew through her mind with increasing intensity as the fog began to thin.

    "Our guest is waking up," a cold voice cut through the babble that had surrounded her, and Tally felt her heart break into a sprint. A small girl stepped forward, short spiked hair as black as midnight, and eyes to match, and, as Tally stared, she could see images shifting in those murky depths. The girl stepped closer and brushed Tally's eyes closed with a pale hand, and leaned in, cold breath sliding over her skin. "Dream," she whispered, and brushed lips colder than death over Tally's forehead.

    The last thing Tally was aware of, was the frantic tattoo of her heart, before she sank into oblivion.