The dark-haired swordswoman stood at the tail of the side street, right where it connected into the main. In front of her was the younger girl she'd known since she was nine. Waiting for an answer to a question that - until that point - the Yecine hadn't realized needed to be asked.
At least, it *mostly* looked like her. The expression had that *less* familiar ambience - 'serenity' that was yet seemingly missing something 'indispensable'. The lack of vitality in her voice and eyes had stopped being a strong *immediate* kind of worry for Qatrand, but it was still something that puzzled her.
Beyond all that was the energy she could feel… almost holding her in place. It was a lot more vast than her own and it made her not want to move. Qat was aware that higher rank essence users could suppress some of the control of those lower than them. She figured this was something like that.
