[ The cold of the water isn't the first thing that strikes Gaia as problematic. Even if it were, she'd never admit it. She is aligned with Darkness, after all; does not the cover of darkness come hand in hand with the chill of the evening? (Were he here, she supposes Urianger would argue with her, tell her that her darkness and the night's darkness are two entirely different concepts, and that the umbral element is an entirely separate part of the elemental system of which ice is a part. But his being here would require him being underwater, which—) No, the icy cold of the water is not the Oracle of Darkness's immediate problem.

The problem is that actually, Gaia has no idea if she actually knows how to swim.

It's a problem that's quickly taken from her, along with the cold that's sinking into her bones, by the arrival of the red-haired woman and the ice turtles that appear in the wake of her departure. Just like that, she's warm again, and on the shore, her hammer at her feet, staring in utter displeasure at the surrounding scenery. It's with that unimpressed expression that she seeks the attention of whomever is closest to her, her arms folding over her chest once she has it. ]

Tell me the name of this place.

[ It's asked(?) in her usual demanding, haughty tone, uncaring of whether the person whose attention she's sought is as drenched through as she is. She's forgetful, but she is positive that she would not cease to remember a place in its entirety, and that means that she's no longer home. That's her new problem, and she has decided that this person will be the one to help her solve it. ]

[ There's a special kind of anxiety in being told that one's home world - that all the other worlds - are frozen in time. Helping to fix things is apparently just part of what she does now, at least since meeting Ryne and her friends, but... Gaia is not particularly fond of the idea that apart from this, all of the worlds that exist and all of their peoples are left behind, frozen in time, like the city far below the surface of the ocean surrounding Eulmore.

If all the worlds are frozen in time, and all the people are a part of their own world, then... what of the others? What of Urianger and Thancred and all of the othes back on the Source? What of the rift-traveling Warrior of Darkness?

What of Ryne?

It's this last thought, most dreaded and pervasive of all, that has the usually-contact-averse young woman picking up the smart phone she was given and sending a message out to the network service: ]

I am seeking a young woman of approximately fifteen summers. Red hair, pink ribbon, white dress.
She answers to the name 'Ryne'.
Kindly inform me immediately if you are aware of her presence here.

[ She's trying to be polite. Really, she is. ]

[ The first stop was hard enough. Gaia's hands, clenched white-knuckled on her hammer, are still trembling more than she'd like. The being in front of her in the cave had not really been Artemis, in much the same way it had not really been, in some way, herself, bereft of the memories she's made in this life. Her determination to face that fear head-on had seen it transformed into a spirit of light, a creature that helped her to complete her first quest before starting on the second. Hard enough, but it's done now.

However, its effects on her psyche are far from invisible. How can someone like her, with all the bloodstained selfishness of her past self, ever be pure of heart? In the name of bringing back those they lost, she and Artemis took the lives of so many others. Lives that her past self believed were worthless... lives such as the one she's living now, lives full of so many little joys, so many reasons to want to cling to. Not worthless. But also not pure. Her brush with her illusory past self and her protector reminded her of that much.

And so here she is. There are others around her, stepping off the bridge and over the water, seeming to magically form bridges through willpower alone, but Gaia stands in silence in front of the plaque, arms trembling with the effort of holding her hammer despite everything she's just been through, a pained look on her face. ]

( Nothing quite catches your fancy? Feel free to hit her with something random, or poke me at denouements if you want something specific! )