Seeress
Steam rises as a wrinkled, weathered hand stirs a dark cup of tea. The Seeress looks to have aged a decade in a day and now actually kind of looks her age. Rivulets of silver streak through dark hair as frailty has her body in its cold, iron grip.
All in all, she's doing better than yesterday.
She's unlinked her eyes from each other and sits across from you with her right eye alone meeting yours. A smoke-trail of silver-white power trickles away from her left eye as she locks her Seersight to the south, to Bornholm and Jomsborg and the conflict brewing on the distant horizon.
Blackhand's curiosity gets the best of him. 'I've never known you to show fear like this. What has you so shaken?'
Solrun purses her lips, the Seeress' mask cracking. "I fear..." she trails off as her lone eye darts around the tent in search of words to speak, "I fear for my Kolla's life."
"Not your own?" This time, it's you asking the prodding questions. "And why Kolla's?"
"I was very lucky to live as long as I have, death no longer has its claws in my heart," she sips her tea as she considers your question. Indecision flashes behind her lone eye — she can't tell whether to answer or not.
'She's Ironjaw's, isn't she?'
The teacup clinks against the plate, Solrun's silence speaking volumes.
"You were dead, I went to Bram for comfort. Things happened and Kolla was the result."
"Bram?" You frown, trying out the name as your question goes unanswered. Solrun stares at Blackhand, body tense as she waits for him to blow up.
'You have nothing to fear from me, Solrun. I harbored no delusions that my lovers would remain mine after my death.'
"That's not what you said." Doubt burns in her gaze, undercutting the fear that had taken hold.
'I've had a long time to think about who I was as a person, to come to regret the things I've done and paths I've walked.'
A long moment of drawn out and eerie silence passes as Solrun keeps staring, searching for any sign or hint of a lie.
Finding none, she breathes out the smallest puff of relief. She's not happy, per se, but she's not worried or fearful anymore.
"In that case," her eye flashes with fire, "you're right. Kolla is Bram Ironjaw's daughter, his only child."
You blink, feeling a bit foolish as the puzzle pieces fall into place. You really should have been able to put that one together quicker.
"So, am I related to Kolla?"
"No," Solrun and Blackhand answer simultaneously.
"Alright, then." Solrun slips her mask back on as you consider your next question. Namely, "There's a man called Harald Wolfwind, in the unwilling service of Horra."
She quirks a brow. "What do you wish to know?"
"Is there anything that can be done for him? He doesn't want to be in Horra's service, I don't think, but it seems he has no choice in the matter... and," you add as an afterthought, "his location, if at all possible."
Reluctantly, she draws her Seersight away from the south and turns it to the east. After a moment of uneasy silence, she starts to speak.
"He's alive and is accompanying Horra as he makes his way here. Some manner of magical charge rests in his throat, in the place where the neck meets the spine."
'What are his capabilities? Any hint to his strength and power?'
The flow of magic surges to new heights as the stream of white-silver power reaches a fever-pitch. Her Seersight digs deeper, past the physical and into the spiritual as she gazes into his raw potential. "Flight, he's mastered it."
The Seeress' head snaps to the side as the flow of magic suddenly ceases, grinding to a halt. Her jaw clenches as she presses a palm to her steaming eye.
"Are you okay?!" You make to help her, only for her to stop you with a hand.
"I'm fine," she grunts, "just overusing Seersight."
'You'll lose it if you do that too much.'
"I am well aware," she scowls as she pulls her hand away. Her eye is screwed shut, but the flow of steam has fortunately subsided.
0~0~0
AN: This isn't all of today's update, but I figured I'd give you something to chew on while I have to step away for a bit.
