Where the stranger’s feet meet the surface of the water, fog steams into the air. The figure appears feminine and is wrapped, from head to toe, in bandages. Black obsidian slats are strung together into a wrap that encases her entire calf on both legs and a similar accessory is wrapped around her neck. Her earrings are black bars as well and a crown-like headband catches the light on its black surface. She wears a bedraggled cloak with a hood, the edges of the fabric frayed and worn and bunches of pale feathers attached around her shoulders. There’s a gauzy stretch of fabric wrapped around her body and a quiver full of arrows hanging at her side. She holds a white bow in her hand, an arrow already notched. The black stripes on the bow are repeated on the shaft of the arrow, and again on the lengths of her arms. Vanna meets her gaze, wide eyed, and the stranger stares back impassively. Her pupils are pink and her hair is white, like Pavel’s. Where the bandages don’t cover her face, her skin is seabitten white. At her feet, the seaghosts scream and crawl away.

Vanna (thinking): A black-feathered bone arrow. The dark calling card of the pale assassins.

The stranger draws back the arrow to her cheek and lifts the bow, leveling her aim at Cabana Morena.