The sun struck the horizon with a fiery glow, splitting the hillside between light and shadow. Had it truly grown so late? She’d spent so very long studying with Emiya -- if she wasn’t back by sundown, Grandfather would surely be upset. Gathering the papers more tightly against her breast, she continues on her way in spite of her growing fatigue. Her legs felt like lead -- inside of her, they were feeding.. -- but then, just as she feels a spell of dizziness slither through her blood, dark eyes are drawn up to a sound: it’s like the wind.. howling like a wolf. How had she not noticed such a thing before.. ? Beside her.. an enormous building behind a heavy gate stands starkly against the horizon. A mansion, clearly ancient in design, glares back at her with a menacing and foreboding air..
.. ah!! A sharp gust of wind barrels through from behind, snatching the papers from her lax grip and carrying them over the iron spikes. Oh no!! She needed those materials, or else all of the work she’d done with Emiya would be for naught! A great hesitation swells in her breast; she shouldn’t trespass, but.. -- but she needs those materials! Panic soon overwhelms her senses, and she hurries forward to slip her petite frame between the iron bars and sprint over the cement walkway, arms up to catch the papers that had escaped her. Two, three.. she retrieves them quickly, but.. when she steps onto the grass, there’s a significantly powerful darkness that her magical abilities can sense. What is this place.. ? She finds herself glancing up at the howling castle, brows furrowed as it’s ominous windows slowly come alive with candlelight, illuminating the shadows that had fallen with the sun. Is was occupied?! She’d thought for sure that such a place was abandoned!!
The wind sends another loose paper fluttering against her ankles, but as she dives down to grasp it, it’s stolen by the gust about her back and tumbles toward the back of the yard. If she’s quick.. -- she has to be quick! If she was caught trespassing, it would be unforgivable! About the building she goes, but what she finds there is.. stunning; it’s enough to stop her heart in her chest. A beautiful garden.. lush with dewy roses in full bloom, glowing beneath the moonlight that rises o’erhead. The mist of an enormous fountain kisses her skin as she is drawn further into it, the air of the place so serene and hypnotic -- ah.. but then, a sound pulls her gaze toward a statue near the center, where what she’d chased has been caught against the stone effigy. She hurries forward and retrieves it, tucking it neatly back into her schoolbag with the others.. and that should be all of them. Relief settles over her.. but only for a brief instant, for the presence of another cannot go unnoticed by a magus. Wide eyes tremble as she spins on her heel, searching for the person whom she could hear amongst the thrush.
