Dawn reached across the night sky, warm grey fingers breaking up the blackness of the night. Artemis could only stare in awe as darkness gave way to the sun. When had she last seen it? It couldn't have been more than a day. And yet nostalgia warmed her from the inside, a relieved sort of yearning at feeling its glow again.

And then it was gone.

The man recaptured her attention. His expression must've mirrored her own. Gone was the sly, curious man in the tree. In his place was someone thirsting for hope like a desertdweller for water.

[i]"Was that sunlight?"[/i]

She didn't have time to reply as a gust of wind tore through the waste. Artemis flinched and brought an arm up to block her face, forcing her to balance her weight on only one arm. This turned out to be a mistake – the gryphon apparently thought that in spite of being at least [i]twice her size[/i], Artemis would be a good protector from the bluster and proceeded to press against her, knocking her back down to the ground under its weight. When the wind finally dissipated and the ash started to settle, Artemis was still coughing under the gryphon. She really couldn't catch a break on this stupid island.

Artemis struggled to push herself up, trying to move from under the gryphon's weight. When she finally managed to sit up, she rubbed the soot out of her eyes to see the man had collected himself and was walking away down a hill. She watched him disappear into the night. Artemis turned to share a look with the gryphon. Then she forced herself to her feet, grabbing the staff and the mask.

[color=darkturquoise]"Come on,"[/color] she said, and started hurrying after the man.

The effect of the sunlight – or [i]whatever[/i] it'd been – was beginning to wear off, and Artemis was coming back to herself. The chance that it'd actually been the sun was growing slimmer the more she thought about it. It'd appeared and disappeared too quickly (but hell if it hadn't felt so [i]real[/i]). There hadn't been any type of sound or boom to accompany it, so it likely wasn't any sort of explosion. But what had that wind been? Some sort of reaction to it? The force of… whatever it was, reverberating throughout the island? Either way, Artemis had the itching feeling she wanted to head [i]away[/i] from it. 

She followed after the man down the hill, squinting against the building wind storm. Eventually she found herself in a cave. Artemis opened her mouth to say something, a stream of words running through her mind. A quip about how it was rude to leave a conversation, or a question of what that'd really been and who he was, or what the [i]hell[/i] a blood-rat was. But instead –

[color=darkturquoise]"You've seen the sun before."[/color] She was still a bit breathless from the soot and the chase. Her voice lacked its usual slickness. She hadn't intended to say that. [color=darkturquoise]"When?"[/color]