The Professor smiled again, and this time it was both proud and sorrowful.
"Alright, Sarissa. Let's start with what remains."
He gestured, and the air in front of her shimmered. A translucent image emerged, two overlapping shapes, flickering with color and meaning. One was shaped like a chess piece crowned with a thorned halo. The other was a jester's mask cracked down the middle.
"These are your fragments." He said. "Alice and the Hatter, each representing core traits. Order through madness, and madness through clarity. Two sides of Wonderland's most peculiar and inherent paradox."
Sarissa reached toward them instinctively, but stopped herself just short of touching.
"They're inside you now." The Professor said gently. "But fragmented. You have to recontextualize them into your narrative, give them a home inside your Story, or they'll pull you apart."
"And how do I do that?" She frowned ever so slightly.
