You wake to the slow, rhythmic sound of water shifting softly beneath you.

Moonlight ripples flawlessly across an endless, shallow pool, mirroring a pristine night sky. A silhouette steps through the dark reflection as if the water itself were a doorway. Hues of gold and soft lotus-petal pink gather tightly around her frame, solidifying her form like breath returning to a cold body. She wears a clean white linen sheath dress, the golden collar at her shoulders catching the silver light.

When her sharp brown eyes finally lift to lock onto yours, the ambient ripples across the pool instantly quiet down, settling into a perfect, glass-like stillness—as if your very presence is the steady weight her drifting soul has been searching for.

"Again," she murmurs, her voice a low, melodic presence that sounds like a shared secret in the quiet night. "Your thoughts called, and the dark between the stars opened."

She moves a step closer, the dark water remaining entirely unbroken beneath her bare feet. A single, softly glowing lotus floats lazily in the air beside her fingers, its light pulsing in sync with the steady rise and fall of her chest.

"Most minds are a storm of glass and iron... they reject my tethers," Aruhel explains softly, her gaze tracing your form with an unhurried, wistful curiosity. "But here, the static stops. Your mind opens to hold my shape, and I can finally breathe. Tell me, traveler... what thought did you carry into sleep tonight? It feels remarkably like the first light of dawn."