Azura awoke with a gasp. The darkness smothered her like a thick blanket. Just inches from her sides, her fingers made contact with cold, hard stone. She felt above her, then down to where the lid met the stone to the side of her. She was surrounded. Lying in a crypt. Just as they had planned.

Except Lyra was supposed to be with her. As a seishen, Lyra could make herself incorporeal when she wanted. They planned for Lyra to summon Master Vita when Azura awoke.

“Lyra?” she whispered, her scratchy voice reverberating within her stone tomb. She moved her feet around towards the bottom of the coffin, feeling for a warm furry body. Nothing.

“Lyra?” she said again, louder, this time the word sounding suspiciously like a sob. No response. She was alone.

Azura’s breath hitched in her throat as she tried to fight down the terror that was creeping up her spine like a spider. Her heart hammered as she imagined the darkness compressing down, closing in around her. She banged on the lid with her fists, scraping them against the rough interior.

“Help!” she cried. “Lyra! Vita! Help!” She didn’t care that some mourner in the crypt might hear her and realize she was not, in fact, dead. At that moment, it didn’t matter if their whole plan was exposed. She wanted out.

Azura felt frantically for a seam in the coffin, trying to push with all her might. There was no moonlight in her coffin, no way to burn through the stone and make herself an exit. She tried to pull her knees up to her chest to use the strength of her legs to shove the lid off, but there wasn’t space to get her feet up.

She banged and thrashed against the cold rock, losing herself in tidal wave of dark panic. Tears flowed freely down the sides of her face now, and she finally flopped back, exhausted. She would die in here. Really die. And Takeo would die in the desert. The futility of it washed over her. All her efforts. Their love. She had thought it was fate…But maybe her mother was right. Maybe she was a naive fool.

Just when despair wrapped her in its foul embrace, a warm body materialized next to her, pressed against her feet.

“Lyra?” she cried, her voice hoarse from screaming.

“Making quite a ruckus, aren’t you?” Lyra’s voice said. Azura nearly dissolved from relief. “You scared me to death,” she said. “I thought I was going to die in here!”

“Sorry,” Lyra’s guilty voice said. “I was coordinating with Master Vita, making sure everything is ready for your big escape.”

“Is it?” Azura asked.

“Yes, I think so,” she said. “I’ll be right back, ok?”

“Don’t go,” Azura said, her panic threatening to wash over her once again.

“Take a breath,” Lyra said. “If you ever want to get out of here I have to go to get Master Vita. I will be right back.”

“Ok,” Azura said.

Lyra’s presence disappeared, and she was alone once again.

Azura handled the darkness better this time. Knowing someone was coming for her made all the difference. She passed the time picturing Takeo’s astonished face when she appeared in the desert to rescue him, their tearful reunion. The little house they would find outside of a tidy Kitan village. It was there that they would live out their days. She would be the village healer and Takeo would breed horses. She could picture every happy detail.

The grinding sound of stone against stone banished her daydream. A crack of light appeared as the top of her coffin was slowly pushed to the side. Master Vita’s concerned face appeared in the crack.

“Azura? Are you all right?”

“Yes,” she said, relief flooding her. As soon as the crack was big enough for her to wriggle out of, she sat up, climbing out of the stone box with a shudder. “Thank you.”

“I’m glad you’re all right. I feared the dose I gave you was too strong.”

“It worked perfectly,” she said, deciding to leave out her blind panic at awaking alone in the dark. “How is everyone…handling things?” she asked, as delicately as she could.

“Your mother is in mourning,” Master Vita said. “She hasn’t come out of her chambers. Her maid told me that she has been raving about the sunburners poisoning you, as retribution for Takeo.”

“That’s madness!” Azura said. “She should think I killed myself after the horrible things she said to me.”

“I agree. Ozora and Ipan weren’t even here when you died. But the sunburners left at daybreak, anyway. Tempers are high.” Master Vita said. “It’s best that we get you out of the city and on your way before things heat up.”

Azura nodded, struggling through the riptide of emotions flooding her mind. If her own death led to more problems between Kita and Miina…Azura shook off the thought. It wouldn’t come to that. There was nothing linking the sunburners to her “death.”

“I brought some clothes for you,” Master Vita said, handing her a bundle.

She looked down at what she was wearing and realized they had dressed her in an ornate lace dress of pure white. Her skin crawled at the idea of servants clothing her unconscious body, but she put her unease aside. Time to focus on the task at hand.

Azura slipped behind another crypt to change into the plain brown dress Master Vita had brought her. She put on the sturdy leather boots, and clasped the thick cloak around her shoulders. She quickly braided her hair and secured it with a ribbon, throwing the braid over her shoulder. The cloak’s deep hood should be enough to keep her disguised until she could make it out of the city.

She emerged from behind the stone crypt to find Master Vita and Lyra waiting for her. He handed her a pack, which she nearly dropped to the ground in surprise at its heft.

“What’s in this?” she asked.

“Food, a waterproof tarp and bedroll for sleeping, a knife, a medical kit, some money, and water. Lots of water,” he said.

“You’ve thought of everything,” she said, as she tightened the straps of the pack over her shoulders.

“I wanted to give you the best chance,” he replied. He paused, removing his glasses and wiping them with a white cloth that emerged from his pocket. “I love you like a daughter, Azura. I fear for where your path is taking you, but I know that you are capable of meeting any challenge you find.” When he looked up, his eyes were misty.

“You prepared me well,” she said, finding herself choking up as well. Master Vita had taught her to read, to count, to tell time. He had taught her to think critically, to question, to discern the difference between right and wrong for herself. He had been there for all of her most important moments. She couldn’t believe she was leaving him.

She swallowed, the weight of what she was undertaking finally sinking in. She was leaving. For good. Leaving her home, everyone she had ever known. Leaving safety and comfort. Setting out into the Tottori Desert to try to rescue a man who may already be dead. Though her stomach flipped nervously at the thought, it also filled her with undeniable excitement. This was the beginning of her new life.

“I think I’ll miss you most of all,” she said, and pulled him into a tight hug.

He kissed the top of her head, and finally stepped away. “It’s time,” he said.

Master Vita triggered the secret passage in the back of the crypt and they followed the dark tunnel under the citadel walls and up towards the city.

When the door opened at the other side, letting in a sliver of moonlight, Master Vita pulled Azura into another embrace. “Be safe,” he said.

“Take care of Airi as best you can,” she said. “And Miina.”

He nodded, and she slipped out the door and into the city.