Dread Mage

Sonder was naked. The Irath mages had stripped her of everything.

She was very confused at first, but after a few hours, she had gained full apathy for the situation.

The Irathy didn’t touch her, not even once, and it would remain that way if they didn’t have to.

And a few times she had caught sight that one of them had the beginning of a frown, and as the Irathy never showed much emotion, that must have meant that they were disgusted looking at her.

They didn’t see her as a person. Sonder imagined what the situation was like in their minds.

The smarter races all wore clothing, as far as she knew, but the dumber ones—she didn’t have a better word for them—like dogs or cats didn’t wear any clothing, and she didn't think that was so strange.

Was she like a dog to them? To her, it felt like they treated her worse than anyone else.

They noted down everything Sonder did and gave her things to... She didn’t actually know—maybe play with them to study the way she interacted with things?

They handed her a cube, or rather, let one float to her. They seemed to be constantly using magic; it was in their nature, but there were no enchanements, castings, or anything the like.

They seemed to be able to use telekinesis with ease and only make a few movements with their hands to guide the things they took control over.

She didn't know how limited their ability was, but everything in Irath seemed to be under their command.

Sonder took the cube that was floating in front of her.

It was small and looked like the one Hiraeth once had; Sonder still hasn't been able to return it to him, but it was just a bit bigger than his.

She roatated it and moved it from hand to hand, feeling its weight, all the while hearing the scribbles of quills on the part.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" She asked, looking from mage to mage.

There was no answer. Then she played with it a bit longer.

The cube could be turned in different directions, and then it would light up in different colors; blue, red, green—none of them meant anything to Sonder.

Maybe she had to find out a sequence of colors? Or create a specific one.

It didn't help that no one wanted to explain to her what she needed to do or talk to her at all.

"How long do I have to do this?" She asked, her voice tired.

A few hours of nonsense experiments must have been enough for a day.

They didn't answer.

She looked to the surrounding mages and asked, "Can you answer me?" She asked again, and then she asked a third time, "Hello?"

"Keep quiet, or we will lash you," one mage said, not even a hint of emotion on his face or voice.

Sonder sighed. She just had to endure until she had a free moment, if one was given to her or if Vell found a way to snoop around on his own.

She hoped that somewhere in Irath, most likely in this building, the Palace of the Irath, there would be clues to the whereabouts of her family.