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Ezmerelda gives you a side glance. "So is it really her?" she asks, amused.
"Tell me, please, how we're going to get home," you say.
"What?" Ezmerelda asks, clearly confused at your dour mood. She must have assumed you'd be elated to meet your sister again. You had thought the same thing.
"We need help. I found her, now we need to return - she's not herself at the moment, so we are going to need direction."
"What has you so urgent to move from one thing to the next?" Ezmerelda asks. "I don't like Barovia either, but you just reunited with the person you've been looking for your whole life. Can you not enjoy this celebration?"
"N-no," you say. "Listen, my sister is acting... unlike her normal self." Your voice wavers as you say it. You know the truth, you're just in denial.
"Well I'm sorry, but I don't think there is a way out of Barovia."
"Well what is that supposed to mean?" you say, frustrated. "What do you think I came here for? Not to stay and sightsee."
"The hand of fate can be cruel," Ezmerelda says. "The Mists trap all in Barovia. This is common knowledge among Barovians and the Vistani. You, of all people, should be aware of this; you came here on purpose, did you not?"
You'd been taught about the mists ever since shortly after you arrived. Multiple people told you that the fog is impenetrable. But you didn't think it mattered. Your mission was in Barovia - it's where your sister was, so it was where you needed to be. And now you have her. But your sister isn't herself right now, and that puts the burden on you.
"Do you really mean to say there's no way out? you ask after a moment, already knowing the answer in your heart, but retaining some hope. "You are a Vistana, you can enter and leave Barovia at will. Can you not bring us?"
"There is nothing I can do for you," she says, a hint of compassion yet finality in her tone. "Your fate is here, in the mists."
It's drizzling ever so lightly, just enough to make the grass damp, and the sky is a dull gray. You feel frustration rising in your chest. You had almost tuned it out, but Castle Ravenloft looms in the distance, its oppressive shape casting one massive shadow over the valley.
You feel like you're being watched, all the way from atop that great pillar of stone that Castle Ravenloft rests on.
(cont.)
