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Jessie cursed quietly to himself, trudging back in the direction of the Temple. A dark cloud seemed to be carrying itself with him.

As the hours went by with no response, the tone of his thoughts had changed from one of worry to dark foreboding. After the first half an hour, he'd backtracked to search the areas he'd already done more thoroughly, realising sadly that she probably wouldn't come out to him despite his calling. She was injured. She must be terrified... cold, and alone. Then, with every minute of non-response; with every searched crag empty... the unspeakable thought began to hold sway. Cold slowly crept through him from the inside out.

He didn't search the whole island. Eventually, it became too painful. He walked back towards civilisation, heart turned to steel, quietly begging some god who didn't care that they not take his Coline from him. The images of the cold, dead loved ones he'd held as their lives slipped away flashed in front of him. Each memory seemed to rip a part of him away, and soon they were replaced by a premonition of a memory soon to be made: beautiful Coline, smooth cheeks drained of colour; eyes glazed and lifeless. An astounding feeling of loss and ennui clutched at him. He knew with grim certainty that when the body was found... well. He would not go on. He would hold her, and kiss her, and choose then and there, to halt his heart. It was a strange feeling, and one he'd never felt before. Even surrounded by death he had always held the will to go on.

But this wouldn't be a defeat. In fact, it would be a spit in the face of the cruel world. They would not steal his most precious treasure. They could not. Not without repercussions. His death would be their punishment.

This must have been how Tsabyl had felt.

The image of his best friend's body flashed again in his mind, and the Captain felt hot water tickle behind his eye. Tsabyl's death had been a punishment. It had punished him just fine.

His vision had begun to blur at some point. The next thing Jessie knew, he was almost tripping over the steps up to the Temple. The need to pay attention to where he was walking yanked him back from the icy plunge into his life of decades past. There was a strange hum of activity through the front door. Good. He'd need to raise the alert, and gather a party to search for the body...

Entering unnoticed, he decided that the first thing to do was approach Panda. He never got very far past the entrance, though. An older acolyte noticed him as he slid into the main hall, and approached him.

"Excuse me..." she said, unflinching as he turned his haunted gaze on her "I think you should know, sir, that the High Priestess has been awakened."

"Oh," he answered, apparently unconcerned.

"And she's gone out," the acolyte continued "With the Professor, and another girl - I think she was one of your combat students? - and a weird man none of us know."

"Gone out?" Jessie inquired, his interest caught "Why...? And where?"

"I don't know where, sir..." she apologised, clasping her hands together "But I was here when the girl came in, shouting for help. Apparently there's a boy been injured in a cave. I don't know... she looked injured, too. I don't know why the others like to go wandering around the Island. It's too dangerous...! I might have healed her leg, but she was in a hurry and-"

"Hold on," he said quietly, holding up his hand for silence "An injured leg, you say?"

"Yes, sir."

Was it too much to hope...?

Jessie's voice was even and calm, though inside his heart had begun to beat again. "Very well. I believe I shall wait here for their return, then. We have... some business to discuss"

He nodded to the girl, who seemed a little put out by his closure of the conversation, but nonetheless allowed him to slip back into the shadows of the curtains without another word.