<strong>Mai</strong><br/><br/>Kuroshita Mai—vizier to the circle and twin sister to their lost zenith Kage—stood on the docks next to the emerald haired healer.  Mai’s chocolate colored curls were laboriously brushed into wide ringlets that fell to the small of her back.  Her eyes—changed to a vibrant cerulean by the Maiden of Serenity’s touch—were the only sign that her elegant poise and dignified calm were a paper thin facade.<br/><br/>Kage was her lover, her sister, the mirror of her heart and partner of her hand.  On the stage they were called The Shadows Dance.  Though it was Kage’s name that meant shadow, she was as much the shadow of her radiant twin as the other way around.<br/><br/>A quarter century…  Kage had missed so much.  Her niece’s second birthday, coming of age, and mastering the live wire style of marital arts.  The shower of starflowers nine years ago, epic battles, endless adventures, moments of indescribable beauty and heart wrenching fear.<br/><br/>Whenever the loom of fate detected a chance to bring Kage to the surface, Mai would work tirelessly for weeks to tweak fate so that Cathek could find her, or so that the crystal that encased her would wash to a high enough point in the oily depths that Mai could dive for her twin personally.<br/><br/>Normally, when they traveled together as a circle, Mai did much to see to their comforts.  Today she’d been focused on other things though some of her servants worked to take up the slack.  Two burly mortal porters followed her and the healer to the docks and laid out a plush lounge they’d not seen before.  Mai touched the lounge softly.<em>I made this for us together, Kage.  It is the first magitech artifact I ever made.</em>The buxom girl stroked the lounge and it reshaped into a comfortable hospital bed.<em>We’ll lay  you here while you’re healed, and then we’ll turn it into a couch and relax here in each other’s arms and tell each other stories of all the things we’ve missed.</em><br/><br/>Ripples in the ocean of oil suggested something large approaching.  Trying to maintain her serenity, Mai started forwards to look.  Her heart raced in her throat.<br/><br/>At the revelation of her sister’s unconscious form freed from the crystal, all but mortally wounded, Mai couldn't hold back her sobs as she rushed to kneel before her other half, just barely leaving the dragon blooded room to work.  The moment the healing was done, she carried her twin to the lounge and lay her gently down.  She drew a white silk and velvet robe from the sleeve of her robe and wrapped it around her sister.  Then she perched on the bed and rested the other girl’s head on her lap, stroking her hair and waiting for her to come around.