When the two Red Butterflies atop Little Mia's head vanished and Shade reappeared before the gravestone, he watched the butterflies fly away with some surprise.
She softly reminded him in his ear:
Outlander, the power of your thaumaturgy—Red Butterfly Illusion—has increased.
The blue butterflies had shared some of their power with Shade. They had apparently mistaken him for one of their own just now. Thinking about it, no matter what form Shade transformed into, creatures of that corresponding form seemed to recognize him as one of their own. His shapeshifting appeared to be somewhat different from an ordinary Transformation Spell.
Not long after the butterflies departed, approaching firelight appeared in the depths of the mist. Then Sister Belen and Theresa hurried over, carrying a battered lantern. Only after confirming that this was not another illusion did Shade happily go forward to greet them:
"I'm back. What happened to you two?"
Although their clothes were still fairly neat, something was clearly wrong with both of them.
The bespectacled young lady had her left hand suspended from her neck in a bandage sling, and white strands had appeared amid her once-beautiful golden hair. Sister Belen looked unchanged on the surface, but Shade could clearly sense that the flames within her had fallen silent. They no longer blazed, as though they had been sealed away.
"Shade!"
Theresa, with an Iron Shovel on her back, hugged Shade with one arm before speaking softly:
"You're finally back. We ran into some trouble while you were gone. Let's go back first. We shouldn't talk here."
Sister Belen merely nodded to Shade. As she raised her head, the silver eyepatch reflected the lantern's light. Shade noticed that a tiny piece had broken off its upper edge.
It seemed something truly dangerous had happened:
"Alright, let's head back