Ariadne maintains her webwork of magical silken barricades by flicking her needle through the air, in elaborate stitches and figure-eights. She keeps an eye on Lucia, and listens to her reflections and her response to Helios.

"Engoní," says Ariadne the Elder internally, with a gentleness that Kal has never heard before. "Let me speak with her, hm? There is something I would like to say." Kal's mind slips into the back of her consciousness, still aware of her surroundings, and Ariadne takes over in full. The red thread flows over and coats Kal's body completely, almost like a liquid, and a red replica of her golden mask appears on her face.

Ariadne drifts over to Lucia, hovering above the ground by way of red threads buoying her like wires on a stage actor. As she approaches Lucia's unmoored spirit, she meets her gaze.

"A very, very long time ago, I was in a situation not entirely different from yours. I was trapped in a maze, you see. The largest one that had ever been built. 'The labyrinth,' maybe you have heard of it, hm? Awful thing. A million winding passageways, leading to a million dead ends. All while something lurking in the shadows hunted your every step. The story goes that the Minotaur found everyone and gobbled them up quick, but such was not the truth for many of the people condemned to that miserable hell. Some people spent weeks, months, years trapped in the maze, every waking moment a nightmare as they hid from a demon they could not see."

Ariadne looks down at the body of Manchineel, still lying on the ground. "You are lost in a labyrinth of your own, I fear. Also stalked by something that dances at the edges of your eyes. It takes such courage to continue on in that wretched place, to keep peering down corridors with the hope that escape is near, to keep hiding when a part of you wants to be caught so the nightmare can finally come to an end. My tenure in the maze was brief compared to many. And I was equipped better than most." A pattern of red thread skitters through the air by Ariadne's face, as if aware of being mentioned. "But my greatest resource was not my magic, it was the people that were thrown in beside me."

"There is a strange power in being surrounded by friends, in times of suffering. I cannot explain it, yet I know that it is the reason I survived the horrors of the labyrinth. My magic was no small comfort, but what kept my mind intact was knowing that when I reached a dead end, I would turn and see not just yawning darkness staring back, but the faces of my companions, anguished but hopeful that we would survive. You have been alone up until now, but no longer. We can be your allies, Lucia. We can be the faces staring back at you from the dark, so you know you are not alone in this maze of dream and doubt."

"The end of your labyrinth draws near -- this I know to be true! You mustn't despair, when the exit lies just before you. Let me be your red thread, to paidí mou. Let me guide you back to the warmth of day."

Ariadne extends a hand towards Lucia's wraithlike spiritual form.

"Sing in me, O Muse! And through me, tell the story of this woman, Lucia Urquhart."

Spoiler: OOC
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Persuasion check to soothe Lucia: (1d20)[3]