Damned if you do

Take two on reality

She needs to avoid the moonlight, she can't risk getting moon sickness, not now, the sand is freezing, like cold pink water over her bare feet, she ducks into an entrance, wanting to avoid being seen.  A Priest walks past talking quietly with a Cròwm, one of the ones from the dark stand earlier, they seem to be having a heated discussion, their shapes, incredibly tall and squat arguing loudly in the dark.

As soon as they round the bend she's off again, trailing her hand on the stone side of the silver building, following the gold strip barely seeable in the cracks. A trail Roget had told her about, something he had previously used to direct others to freedom.

She sees what she's looking for, a small door wrapped in gold, startling against this palace of silver.   She makes her way to it , banging both fists against the door only to quickly discover its not only locked but vacant, not a soul resides inside.

Sweating though it's cold, her fingers slipping along the seam of the door to the pegs that hold it in place, leverage pegs, she recognize these from her old home, kneeling, she sticks her fingers under it and pulls. 
With a thick 'clunk' the door moves, stumbling to softly set it down she manages to get her cloak caught under the heavy golden edge.  she stares at it for a moment, her mouth hanging open, unbelieving that she'd just doomed herself, footsteps sound in the distance, with a fuss she rips a chuck of it out from under the door and disappear into the dark of the doorway, pulling what she can of the door with her.

"A moment of your time? Time Piece"
A voice so familiar but so oddly strange says behind the door.
She peeks out the top, standing on tip toe to see the familiar shape of Roget, his tall bulked length and coal colored hair, the moons making the metallic silver spatter illuminate on the right side of his face.
She pushes the door aside, she's never spoken with him outside of the cage, he's much taller than he had looked, but the compelling evidence of compassion in his eyes made her trust him completely.
This was the boy who had been keeping her alive, feeding her, shoving clothing through those horrible cold bars, giving her medicine when she was ill with the moonsickness after a street vender stole her curtain, her only form of avoiding the three moons, helping her neighbors escape, some fled freely, others were caught and punished for running.

Now they were face to face for the first time, and he was a silver spattered God to her.  He peels the door from her hands and places it gently onto the pins that she'd just taken it off of, standing straight he nods and ushers her deeper into the house.
He switches something and lights brighten, a large metalic vault door stands so close that she could have touched it with her nose.

He turns a heavy looking wheel left then right, a pattern of sorts, ticking as it goes around, the suction sound of air releasing was like a tiny avalanche of whooshing wind, he pushes and the vault door slides into the wall with a final 'click'.
The room behind the door was made with large purple stones, with a low hung ceiling and lights in every crevise, no where to hide.
Colours of purples and blues, pinks and orange scatter the room, a shelf holding bowls of fruit and vegetables sits on one wall, while the other has darker doorways leading who knows where.

"Welcome to a sanctuary, feel free to clean up, change or eat anything, it's all for you and your people the Ânasteel" Roget gestures to the opening, "I'm so sorry for all the pain my people have caused you and your people, nothing will ever be able to justify the wrongs you've encountered, I understand as I am a sympathizer, I've been marked for my enduring will to right what's wrong" he gestures to his silver spattered face and neck, when she doesn't move he steps inside the room himself and starts to collect scrapes of colourful cloth, turning he puts it all in her arms and ushers her into another conjoining room

This room is circular, a man made waterfall rains down sparkling water onto the warm red stone floor, indents for sitting and shelving line almost every wall of this room, a wash room?     Bottles apon bottles sit in the walls, some marked with different colours, words and symbols she doesn't recognize, years since she had last been able to pick up a book.

She take my time with her layers of clothes, each piece felt like a sumafly coming out of a cocoon, each layer bursting with excitement, leaving them in another indent, maybe she'll burn them before she leaves.  The water is warm at touch with cold intervals, the water so pure and well... warm, it runs first brown then red, pink and finally, clear, playing in it with her toes while sitting on a indent a knock sounds with Roget's voice.
"I know it's been awhile since you've had this much water, but you do need to eat Elisra" the tone was kind, concerned, she hears a grunt then a ball of towels comes into the room.

She wraps herself in the warm cloth and pick through the items he had handed to her, bright shirts and skirts, some too big or just the right size.
She finally emerges in a red tunic that covers all the basics and a long lavender and red skirt with bronze patterns woven into the waist, that flows like air and glitter like fire when she walks, the skirts bronze pieces symbolize a free Ânasteel woman, one who's been bought, tried, proven her gifts are used up and let go.
She twists left and right, feeling like a fraud, she had put pants underneath that skirt and a deep purple cloak, still not comfortable in less than four items of cloth, then watching the fabric, folded and unfolded around her figure.

"You look better, no more dirt stach" Roget chuckles, shaking his head at his own joke, the silver metal along the side of his face shines in the light, she frowns, not understanding the funny in the joke and sticks her tongue out at him, then settle in a seat near him, he pushes one of the bowls on front of her, "eat" he insists.

She shakes her head, fingering her new clothing, "I want to ask you something that's personal, but you don't have to tell me" she says quickly, the words sticking to her tongue.  He nods and waits, "what happened to you Roget..your face and hands, why did they burn you? and why did they not give you any symbols?".
He sighs and sits back, one of his hands coming up to cover his eyes, for a moment she thinks he's mad, then he breaths "yes, it was a punishment a long time ago, I stood up for a girl I loved, then broke her out of her prison, she was an Ânasteel like you, I heard she died horribly fighting to be free, and I was punished for betraying my race, no symbols go to race traitors you see, it's wrong what they do to your kind" he looks at the bowl again, "eat".
she turns, thinking over his answer, just then she notices the colors, this is food she's never seen before, orange, green and purple strike out in contrast to the solid silver colour of the bowl.
She grabs a purple thing and bites into it, the red juice drips down her chin into her new shirts, she wipes with the back on her hand then wipes it on Roget's sleeve.

He chuckles then frowns at her when a loud crack sounds from the vault door, a shudder goes through the stone room, dust and dirt shake from the ceiling onto our heads, another loud 'crack!' comes from the door, light starts to peek through and Roget is up in a flash.
He grabs a bag from under the stone bench and starts shoving food and clothes in it, she sees a blade of silver and gold go into the bag too, she slowly stands and inches behind him, not sure where to go, panic bubbles in her chest, her heartbeat like a drum in her ears.

Roget's speaking to her, his mouth moving but no sound reaching her ears, his hands on her arms feel like lead, she stares at him, her friend trying so hard to protect her, willing to risk his life.

The gold vault door finally cracks down the center, Roget swivels on his heel to put himself directly in front of her, the door swings inwards, and four tall strangers cloaked in dark glide into the room.
Elisra tries to scream and run, everything is echoing in her head, small and almost soundless.
Two sets of hands grip her arms, grey eyes that she somehow knows interfer with her vision, a vapor emits from its hand.
The world goes dark.