Truce sits in silence in the woman's apartment. He waits for her to finish her thought that causes her no end of struggle.

"I can't describe it. How I know. But I can't explain what I saw. It felt like the world was ending, or beginning..." she trails off, retreating back into silence.

Truce continues to sit stoically and listen, already understanding her plight but unable to speak freely. He knows this to be a delicate matter. There's no need to rush things now.

She wipes away a tear brimming at the corner of her eye, sniffing as the emotion's memory begins to wear away at her composure. Her mousy brown hair falls out of place and she moves to tuck it behind her ear again. She has a young face for her age though betrayed by dark circles under he eyes that stress perhaps or difficulty sleeping.

"It's silly, I know. It's like those people you see on television, getting suckered into cold readings. At least, I thought they were being suckered. Now I'm not sure anymore. I'm not sure about anything."

"It's alright, Miss Huxley," says Truce patiently, his soft reassuring voice keeping her grounded. "I don't think what you experienced is silly at all. But please, continue."

His encouragement seems to be enough and the woman clears her throat of the lump that's building there. "Alyssa is fine. I feel like you know so much about me already, and about what's happening to me now. Since the fire I haven't been able to think about anything else. I had myself discharged, you know. Signed all the waivers. They couldn't help me with the nightmares anyways. I don't think anyone felt safe there after what happened."

"I think maybe I've always had a fascination, or I guess you could say a calling for the supernatural. Sure, the television shows, books and movies. But online communities, like ghost hunters and paranormal discussion boards. I don't know if you've heard of this thing called urban spelunking, but when I was younger we used to find old abandoned buildings, my friends and I. And we'd pretend they were haunted and get out our cameras hoping to catch some evidence to blog about."

She smiles out of a nervous embarrassment, or perhaps from memories of happier times.

"I think I wanted to test myself, see how far I could go before I got too scared. Like if I could just convince myself that there weren't any monsters hiding in the dark that I'd get over it. But...there are...things...in the dark, aren't there. People."

Truce doesn't speak but nothing from his expression denies the fact.

"When I passed through that doorway, I didn't know if I was dead or dreaming. It's like all the light drained from the world and all that was left was this...shadow or something. And then you were there, and I felt like maybe it was fated, that maybe I'd made it through all that mess for a reason, a purpose. And, in a way, I felt reborn."

The woman's eyes show a desperate excitement, a reverence that despite all that she's been through that things would work out and that she had obtained some daring truth that made it all worth it.

"I have a request for you, if you feel up to it, Alyssa," Truce says carefully. He knows that wielding the Truth is both powerful and dangerous, but given what he knows of the Ladder's philosophy he may be able to put Alyssa's new realizations to use. She would be a foundation to build off of in order to establish true power and influence for the Voice of the Dragon.