For a time, Esperanza was certain she’d lost sight of both Katya and Xavier. Which had to be impossible, right? Because they couldn’t be more than a dozen paces apart. But she struggled to make out Xavier’s figure in the darkening fog, and that same mist seemed to swallow up Katya’s silhouette. Should she stand still, anfd wait for Xavier to follow her into town? Or try and catch up to Katya, before her mysterious doppelganger could escape her sight?<br/><br/>Either way, the decision was made for her, when Xavier caught up, waving a scroll before him and demanding she read it aloud. Strong hand cuffed her arms, his fingers digging almost painfully into her flesh. Her immediate reaction was to jerk away from Xavier’s grasp, but his iron grip held her fast. Whatever he’d read had rattled him worse than finding the days’ old corpse. Shaking, she unrolled the scroll and read it out loud.<br/><br/>Her eyes swept toward Katya, her visage nearly a mirror in the haze of fog “Did you know about this? Who sent for you to come to Barovia?” But Katya wasn’t given much of a chance to respond before Xavier cut in again.<br/><br/><i>"We need to find shelter before nightfall."</i>He had a point. Whatever questions she had or explanations Katya could offer, all of it could wait until they were somewhere safe and dry.<br/><br/>Esperanza nodded in agreement, and glanced out into the fog. “There must be something here. All we can do to keep moving. Then we can figure out what’s going on here.”