Overnight

[darkest_evening]

There are things to do, of course, besides being Aya's cuddle buddy. Prime is usually quite busy, and now is no exception. Just because he's personally out of mana, doesn't mean he's utterly useless. His plane's got mages in it, after all - and many of them owe him favors or are amenable to being paid. And they need mirrors, for communication. After longer than was strictly prudent spent comforting Aya, he bids her goodbye and goes to handle the less glamorous moments of being him. That is, talking to people, asking for favors, paying favors, persuading them to say yes, they'll use some of their precious magic stores to make mirrors.

Ironically enough, the one thing missing when he's finished is the mirrors themselves. Easy enough to fix, with Revelation. But he'll take care of it tomorrow - he's tired, and it's been a long and complicated and emotionally exhausting 'day,' even if he doesn't properly have them anymore. Sleep, and then he'll get back to dealing with it all. The mirrors, first, they're easiest, then continuing to figure out what to do about Aya.

When he wakes, he goes to talk to a demon about that. Knock, knock, calling Inferno, is Revelation in?

Comments

[namesthesky]

"I'm sorry."

[darkest_evening]

"It's not your fault," he insists fervently. "It's - not you."

[namesthesky]

"If it had been anyone else you could have walked away," she murmurs, "you said."

[darkest_evening]

"And probably felt horrible for the rest of my life," sighs Prime. "Justified, but also horrible."

[namesthesky]

"Oh."

[darkest_evening]

"Yes."

[namesthesky]

Snuggle.

[darkest_evening]

Snuggle.

[namesthesky]

"I love you."

[darkest_evening]

"Thanks."

[namesthesky]

She giggles. "You're welcome."

[darkest_evening]

"Do you want me to try scrying for Tayane?"

[namesthesky]

"Sure. Why not."

[darkest_evening]

"Well because it's likely it'll be very boring on your end, unless you have a mirror around?"

[namesthesky]

"I have a mirror." She unsnuggles and fetches it.

[darkest_evening]

"Okay. Then I'll get to scrying."

Scrying occurs. It takes a bit to get the aim right, but after a few false starts - there is Tayane, in the mirror.

[namesthesky]

"Is this now?" Aya asks, squinting at the house depicted.

[darkest_evening]

"Yes? It can't be anything but, mages have zero ability to see the past or future."

[namesthesky]

"But - that's the old lady's house. It barely looks any different. Those flowers are annuals, they'd have had to be replanted, why would they be the exact same flowers she had me plant hundreds of years later with her dead and me gone...? The shutter's still broken - why would the shingles still be there, they're wood, shouldn't they have had to be replaced...?"

[darkest_evening]

"I - have little to no idea? You left Tayane with a method we know nearly nothing about. It might have had strange effects?"

[namesthesky]

"Maybe. Can you find the magic I fell into? I can look up in my notebooks where exactly it was, if that's not specific enough."

[darkest_evening]

"I'll try."

Scry, scry - several false starts, several misaims with catching the wrong magics - and then there's the one Aya fell into.

[namesthesky]

And there by the road is the embroidered bear - and the wreckage of the cart - and there beyond is the sillhouette of her door -

"I don't think any time has passed in Tayane at all. I've been assuming everyone I ever met was dead, but - maybe they aren't."

[darkest_evening]

"That - seems like it's likely? What would you like to do?"

[namesthesky]

"I'm not sure. I wasn't even considering this possibility. I suppose it's a good thing I wasn't in a hurry to resurrect my parents, that would have been confusing."