Before anything else was done, Sonder looked at the Yellow Mage.
"Thank you," she said. "For what you've done for me, for Vell, and for repairing the mask. I do not know what I would have done without you. I can never repay your kindness."
"I did it because I owe the Dread Mage," he said.
"What did he do that you owe him so much?" Sonder asked.
"It is not for me to say. It is between him and me. Perhaps, when he wakes, he will tell you."
The Yellow Mage folded his hands behind his back.
"But somewhere along the way, it stopped being about debts. I simply continued because someone had to. You asked me earnestly for help, and I gave it. Whether you succeed or fail, it seems my services will soon no longer be required.
"But it is late. We will do nothing tonight."
His voice carried the same calm certainty it always had.
"Tomorrow you will need a rested body and a clear head.
"Go and get as much sleep as you can."
Sonder did as he said.
She went to her room and sat on the edge of her narrow bed.
Sireacht drifted from her shoulder.
The featherling circled her once before settling into her lap.
She let out a tiny questioning chirp.
Sonder smiled faintly.
Her hand moved almost automatically.
She stroked the tiny creature with one finger.
Sireacht leaned into the touch, making another soft sound before curling into an impossibly small ball.
Sonder should have felt comfort.
Instead, she felt only exhaustion.
Not the sort that sleep could mend.
A weariness that settled somewhere deep inside her.
No night's rest could remove it.
The Yellow Mage had been right.
She could only do her best to rest.
It had been a long time since she had truly slept.
She lay back upon the bed and did her best to quiet her mind.
The moment dawn came, the Yellow Mage woke her.
For one brief, precious instant, she did not remember where she was.
Then it all returned.
The Yellow Mage inclined his head toward Vell's room.
"Come."
They entered together.
Sonder looked at Vell.
He lay where he always had.
His chest rose and fell with shallow breaths.
Every breath was proof that he still lived.
Every breath was also proof that something was terribly wrong.
Sonder stopped beside the bed.
For a long while, she simply looked at him.
He looked terrible.
He was far older than when she had left.
His once-white hair was now almost entirely dark.
Not the healthy black of youth, but something stranger.
Something Sonder did not understand.
She brushed the hair aside with careful fingers.
There was no response.
The Yellow Mage watched her for a moment before setting the cloth-covered mask upon a nearby table.
He rested one hand upon it.
"Are you ready?"
Every step of her journey had led her here.
There was no turning back.
"Yes," she said.
The Yellow Mage removed the cloth.
The air grew heavy.
The room seemed smaller.
Sonder felt the familiar call immediately.
The Yellow Mage stepped aside.
"It belongs to no one," he said. "Least of all us. Always remember that."
Sonder nodded.
She reached toward it.
Her hands paused for only an instant before lifting the mask from the table.
It was heavier than she had expected.
Power coiled within it like an endless ocean forced into the shape of a single face.
"When you put it on, do not think about its power.
"Think only about him."
He indicated Vell.
"Everything the mask offers that strengthens life, strengthens the body, strengthens the soul, you force into him.
"And everything else..."
He looked directly into her eyes.
"...you keep."
Sonder understood.
"The darkness.
"All of it.
"If even a little reaches him, I do not know what it would do."
Neither did she.