Kal responded in a puzzled tone. "Spirit? I'm not quite sure what you mean."

"Your friend addresses me directly," Ariadne clarified, her echoing tones whispering in Kal's mental ears. "So you are not the only one who can see with sightless eyes, hm."

Suddenly, Kal could hear Ariadne's voice outside her head, for once -- or could she? Despite Ariadne's words sounding unusually clear and sharp, neither Floral nor Nope showed any sign of perceiving it.

"You heard her the first time, did you not?" Ariadne asked, more curtly than Kal would have liked for a time where she was trying to make new friends. "Her answer and mine are one and the same. I am Ariadne, and I am no spirit, parlor magician. It was I who faced the Minotaur, who learned to weave from Klothos and Atropos, who traded secrets with Hekate and Nyx, who swore to..."

Ariadne's voice trailed off, as Kal willed her away, for the time being. For another occasion she might have put up with it, but she wasn't about to ruin her good relations on account of Ariadne's touchy pride.

"She is not always like that," Kal explained, apologetically. "Helios was just communing with my authority. She, er... looks forward to working with all of you."