The flow of sand came to a halt.
Under Amber's control, the Shadow Dust floating in midair transformed into a frozen stage. Towering pillars, blurred distant scenery, and three figures standing at the center of the stage were suspended before Gawain. He leaned closer, staring intently at the two figures standing before Modir at the center of the "stage." Within the indistinct illusion of drifting sand, he could vaguely make out that they were two women, with faint elven features.
Clearly, no further details could be discerned—in such a small-scale illusion, images formed from shifting dust could never be very clear. Besides, Amber had extracted these images from the deepest layers of memories that time had already worn away, memories of unknown origin. The fact that she could recreate such a complete scene was already a miracle.
"This is a scene I extracted from the deepest 'records' in this Shadow Dust..." Amber's voice came from beside him, thoughtful. "This dust replaced half of Modir's body. Its records very likely contain some of Modir's lost memories, and this scene was clearly the most deeply etched of them all... Two women, and elves at that. Does that make you think of anything?"
Gawain did not answer Amber's question immediately. He continued studying the two blurred faces carefully. After a long while, he finally said in an almost certain tone, "They were the Elf Twins—the Feilna Sisters, Feilna and Raina."
Amber looked surprised. "You're that sure?"
"I can only think of them. Besides, I've seen records on the Elf Twins from both Veronica and Beltira, and I can vaguely identify the similarities shown in this dust illusion." Gawain nodded lightly. "Unless you can think of another possibility."
"...Then I trust your judgment." Amber nodded without much hesitation, then frowned slightly. "So the last