((Very mild??? current LS spoilers))

“What is it you’re even taking, Rikvi?” Tove crouched next to her cousin, head cocked. Surely there was some reason the Necromancer was sitting on the floor in a remote corner of the Forge? She could often be seen staring off into space, but this was…a strange sort of staring into space.

“Jessica compounded a few alchemical blends for me. I have discovered that I can shut off my foresight if I wish to. While I have learned to filter its periodic flare ups, right now everything is so much in flux that I cannot…that I cannot,” Rikvi said faintly. “It is not merely localized visions that I am receiving. And the ghosts, Tove. The ghosts…” She shook her head.  “But now the silence in my head is letting me think too much.”

Tove nodded slowly. “So you’re turning it off. Well, I understand.” She dropped a hand onto Rikvi’s shoulder and squeezed, trying not to scream internally any more than she already was.

Tove regarded Rikvi as…well. She was the oldest of her generation of the family–she had a good decade on Tove, age wise. The Necromancer was both frighteningly powerful and intelligent, even if she was also more than passingly strange. To have her thrown off balance made Tove feel off balance, in turn.

More so, that is. There was already a lot of mental dancing along a cliff’s edge going on.

“Sounds like you need a distraction, Rikvi. There’s plenty of Priory work to be done, isn’t there?”

Rikvi swung her unsettling gaze towards Tove. “Dwarven artifacts are not my field of study, cousin.”

“Can’t you help catalog them or something?”

Rikvi’s affronted expression didn’t change.

“Study what’s going on with the ghosts?” 

“Perhaps,” Rikvi grumbled, but she didn’t make any move towards getting up. “Although having deadened my ability to speak to them…”

Tove scratched the back of her head, then gave Rikvi another pat. “Why don’t you talk to Drake? I’m sure your husband will find ways to occupy your time.” 

Rikvi actually rolled her eyes, and Tove laughed softly as she stood up. “They pressed your apprentice into cataloging, you know. If you don’t want to join her, why not rescue her?”

“Ceridwen’s specialty is not dwarven artifacts either!” Rikvi muttered, and actually got to her feet.

That left Tove adrift. 

“I think I need to turn some things off too,” she muttered, and then went in search of her brother and his probable ale supply.

Author Ambrosine
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