[Vortex Park] Remind Me to Smile (Hsin)

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

Timestamp: Early Ponutus, Spring Era XIV PF

Oh, it was springtime all right. The girl knew this, had seen it in full evidence all during the long journey from Alleria Prime to Vortex. But there were days on which Valanthia felt cold regardless, and this was one of them.

She was sitting on a bench in Vortex Park, staring at the trees in front of her without really noticing them. Umbrosus was curled in the shadows cast by the tree a few feet to her right. He would be almost invisible to most people who might walk by, and anyone who was a careful enough observer to notice his shadowy shape might be well-advised to think at least twice before disturbing a canine of that size.

Much had happened in the last few months, and much was still to happen. It all gave Valanthia a lot to think about, and given her pronounced natural tendency toward brooding, she had frequently found herself momentarily lost in a reverie. This was one of those times -- Val was completely engrossed in her own thoughts, to the point where she hardly even remembered that she was in the park.

Umbrosus was more alert, of course. He had long since realized that when Valanthia got like this, he had to remain on guard for both of them. This did not particularly bother him -- he was happy enough to pay attention to their surroundings and give the girl time to think.

[Hsin]

With power came responsibility, and from responsibility grew temptation. Vortex, in Hsin's mind, richly deserved the coup de grace. The cold jade of Meimengmei remained a constant reminder of the immense, boundless energy just a heartbeat away. In the aftermath of the killing spell, the Kemite conducted a rigorous study of its effect. It was a simple conclusion: only the Discipline of the Mystic possessed the ability to cause such an immense wave of suicides and murders. Some agent had deigned to destroy Vortex by attacking the citizens, the true core of any city. And yet, for all his skill and devious machinations, the unnamed attacker failed. His target still endured, limping forward like a mortally wounded wild-beast. It's continued existence was an affront to divine justice and mortal realism alike. With only a thought, the Kemite could propel his perspective into the duality of clara. An infinitesimally small moment of focus would produce enough essence to blanket the entire second. Another half a minute, and a blanket of killing mana would once again rouse the populace into a killing frenzy. And again, and again. For cycles and months if necessary, until the last living soul fled the cursed ruins of Vortex. The very though caused a shiver of excitement to dance across the Kemite's mystic. Such was the power of the nightmare; to transcend the mundane and consider the unthinkable.

Hsin strode briskly through the still-dead forests of the Vortex parks. No matter how much he despised Vortex, no matter how passionately he planned its downfall, the dark city still served a very particular purpose in the reckoning of the Ars Sanctorum. The city served perfectly as a blind, a smokescreen behind which the procurement of information and materials. Its merchants dealt in the illegal and the legal without question of propriety or purpose. Indeed, questions inevitably resulted in physical violence at best, and outright assassination at worst. The Kemite had always advocated the triumph of the pragmatic over the desires of the flesh and the whims of the mind. But his business here was done. Within a candlemark, the mystic intended to wrap a skein of psionic energy around his thin frame and slip through the Astral Plane back into the comfortable safety of Nexus Prime. Pupils speckled with the crimson and red of fire slowly swept across the surroundings, searching the grounds for signs of inconvenient interlopers. A weak illusion disguised the pupils and restored the charred flesh surrounding his orbs to a simulacrum of its former health. The mundane search proved nearly immediately successful, drawing the mystic's attention to a petite half-elf sitting on the bench.

In the minds of the populace, Vortex very much stood as a synonym for dark paranoia. Hsin saw no reason to distrust popular wisdom, and therefore wove layers of protective and enhancing spells throughout his mortal shell. His business was conducted between a veritable library of false facades and imaginary personas. The illusions, for reason of his departure, disappeared once inside the seemingly abandoned parkland. Valantia, perhaps, would recognize the form and features of the Imperial Exchequer. His face appeared far less tired and careworn, but still cut the careful balance between soft curves and sharper angles. Long, midnight hair hung loose down to the small of the mystic's back and swayed softly in the spring wind. A black silk kimono obscured his thin body and the shirt of elvish steel mesh protecting his torso. Black leather boots protected his feet from the slowly thawing ground, and black silk gloves ensconcing his hands. The only evident armament was a pair of seemingly plain katana on his left hip.

"Greetings," spoke the Kemite softly. It was rare to see a resident of Vortex so lost within their own thoughts. The old temptation grew; the urge to extend a minute portion of his power and peel back the flesh to lay bare the mind. His passion of late was the exploration of the mind, frequently without the consent of the observed. How better to observe the mechanisms of thought in their natural form? His voice was soft and friendly, and a small smile creased his thin lips. "The park's more beautiful in the spring; but it's just waiting now for warmth and light."

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

Valanthia had not heard the man arrive. She was dimly aware of his approach because Umbrosus had given her the information, but it wasn't until he spoke that she pulled herself out of her thoughts and regarded him properly.

"Serale," she said. As she did so, she had the nagging feeling that she ought to know the man. He certainly wasn't from Coldlight, and she didn't think she'd met him in Nexus. Someone from the Imperial Court, perhaps? She hadn't met that many people there, relatively speaking, but she'd seen an awful lot. Something poked at the corner of her brain. He was an official, she thought, a fairly high-ranking one. Something to do with finances. It wasn't her field, and so she'd paid only a limited amount of attention, but she was fairly sure it was him.

"A lot of things...wait for warmth and light." The cryptic comment fell from her lips almost before she realized it, and she did not elect to pursue it further. "But...I'm afraid you may have the advantage of me. I think...think I ought to know you. Were you...or are you...by any chance attached to the Imperial Court?" She struggled for his name, but failed. Exchequer, he might have been -- the title, at least, finally surfaced -- but she simply couldn't recall his name. They had probably never been properly introduced.

She was confident enough in her placement of the man, however, to adopt the tone she usually took with government officials. "I'm Official Research Assistant, a lictorship in the Office of Imperial Letters." She was aware that, if she remembered his title properly, the man outranked her by quite a bit, and so she stood and gave a polite curtsey. "My name's Valanthia L'Evienne."

Her use of her name -- a piece of information she normally tried desperately to hide -- startled Umbrosus, enough so that he raised his massive head, looking at the newcomer with his piercing canine eyes. She could feel his agitation, and she tried to explain it to him mentally. Court etiquette demanded it. Assuming she had placed the man correctly, she didn't have a choice. The information was confusing to Umbrosus, who had not been with Valanthia when she had worked and lived in the Palace, but he grasped enough to know that the man was a kind of person who needed names. He lowered his head slightly, but his shadowed gaze didn't leave his bondmate.

[Hsin]

Despite their considerable influence, the Ministers sitting upon the Council of the Crown remained largely enigmatic to the general public. Administrative details consumed the vast majority of waking candlemarks in any given brightening, imprisoning Ministers in an endless parade of meetings and political functions. They dwelt in mansions surrounded by high walls and guards encased with steel and bearing unsheathed weapons. Outside their own ministries, only the legion of faceless functionaries infesting the Imperial Palace could claim a passing familiarity with their appearance. Of course, there was one other possibility. Muscles throughout the Kemite’s body tensed as his thin fingers flexed and arched. Through Mièmèngmèi, the mystic immersed a portion of his inherent construction in the boundless Psionic Plane. A single tendril of mana sculpted quickly into a weak Reveal snaked across the Astral Plane and into the half-Vysstichi’s mind. Hsin exhaled involuntarily as incomprehensible emotion and though flowed through the hastily constructed conduit connecting their minds. For the moment, her secrets were safe. The Imperial Exchequer merely skimmed her mind looking for signs of deception and falsehoods. Lies were, curiously, far more difficult to produce the truth. So she held a lictorship and claimed blood relation to the Regent.

”My name is Hsin Zhou. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.” His silk-clad hands clasped in front of his chest before the Kemite inclined his torso in the traditional greeting. The illusionary eyes, however, remained firmly fixated on Valanthia’s light grey eyes. ”I was once the Imperial Exchequer, but I left Milo’s service…two months ago?” And set his feet on an entirely opposing path. A deck of exquisitely illustrated tarot cards appeared in the palm of his right hand. The cards slowly began to flitter from one hand into the other, and then back again. It was an old, familiar habit; a bulwark against a confusing and cruel world.

”Now. I doubt suppose Milo is desperate enough to recruit his relatives as assassins.” Hsin giggled softly which, upon reflection, was probably more unsettling than comforting. ”How is Milo anyways? I haven’t been keeping up to date on the news from Alleria Prime.” His voice seemed to trail off slightly, as if a sudden though interrupted his line of reasoning. Dark eyes seemed again to narrow in suspicion. ”And what are you doing in Vortex? It’s hardly a city of light, and even less enamored to the Imperials.”

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

Hsin's probe would find that the statements Val had made thus far were entirely true. Her name was indeed Valanthia L'Evienne, and she was the holder of the precise lictorship that she had claimed.

Hsin Zhou, the man said his name was, and she seemed to have guessed accurately regarding his former title. She wasn't sure entirely what to make of him; the trick with the cards was somewhat unnerving, as was his laughter. "Milo was well when last I saw him...a little over a month now. Tired, I think, but well." She noticed that the man's countenance changed, however, and she was very careful as she answered.

"My post is in Nexus Prime -- I'm doing some research into training opportunities throughout the Empire, and...that's where I'm stationed presently -- and I'm traveling back there. Vortex is a stop along the way; I do not anticipate being here long." The construction of the sentences was deliberate. It was true, as far as it went -- Val did indeed have a job in Nexus Prime, was in fact traveling there, and the most direct route did in fact run through Vortex. She had other reasons for stopping there, however, that included things she'd prefer not to discuss.

"Would you have me bring Milo a message when next I see him?" the girl asked. "I'll be back in the capitol at the end...at the end of the season." She gave Hsin a questioning look, uncertain as to what his response would be.

[Hsin]

Illusory tarot cards danced from one silk-gloved hand to the other; in all respects mimicking perfectly their material counterparts. Each picture sprung from brightenings of experimentation and research into the mystical. The labels and exquisite portraits, outwardly, resembled the twelve deities and four lesser cards of the Aererielite gypsies. Imbued into each illusion was the smallest iota of another spell entirely representing a marriage of illusion and suggestion. The pictures each contained a gentle suggestion enhancing and encouraging the mental functions of the viewer. It was, in many respects, like the action of salt heightening and enhancing the tastes of an otherwise bland dish. Utuvienaha appeared suddenly in Hsin’s right hands whist the rest of the deck roosted comfortably into the palm of the left hand. The card embodied the final gift of the mother twisted and perverted, sewing uncertainty and nervousness amongst the merely mortal. The card flicked from finger to finger, allowing Valanthia only a brief glimpse before shifting and twisting. ”Research you say? Into training?” wondered Hsin aloud as a smile spread slowly across his features. ”A curious pursuit for a girl of your capabilities. I’d think Milo far more concerned about other matters.”

Essence thundered from the Astral into the Material to provide the requisite material for a succession of gentle spells of scarcely Initiate level. Gentle queries probed Valanthia’s mind below the threshold of human comprehension, searching tirelessly for the newest inclination and the freshest thought. Lesser mystics preferred employing their craft as a battering ram and cow the minds of lesser mortals into submission through a contest of wills. It was wasteful, it was inefficient, and it was supremely disrespectful of the reputation of their Discipline. ”I met only recently with one of Milo’s close confidantes. Mister Sythe, I believe.” The name of the former Minister of Arcana. Whether the girl remembered his brief tenure was another matter entirely. Another half-smile creased his features as the Kemite suddenly returned to the previous query. ”What sort of training do you have in mind? I’ve an interest in Nexus Prime myself.”

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

He hadn't answered her question, which Val found somewhat unusual, but then again, she found nearly everything about Hsin unusual thus far. She was starting to get a bit more nervous sort of regardless of what the man's intentions were.

But nonetheless, she gave a polite response. "Milo has many interests, and...and many people working for him. I am not...not a particularly high-ranking lictor...and so I believe the matters of the most import go...go into the hands of those who can better handle them." Val didn't really like saying it that way, but it was true as far as it went. Nothing that had crossed Val's desk since she had been hired had been in any way politically sensitive, and she assumed that those matters were given to other people -- perhaps people who hadn't been given a job out of blatant nepotism. She did wonder, however, when Hsin mentioned her "capabilities." She was, for all that she was related to the Regent, a fairly obscure government official, and she momentarily was curious as to whether Milo was talking about her to other people or not.

She nodded at the mention of Duncan Sythe. She knew his name and his former rank from his time in the Imperial government, which had overlapped hers, but did not have any other information regarding him. If he was, in fact, a confidante of Milo's, that was a fact that her brother had chosen not to share, for she had never heard him talk about the man.

"What sort of training?" Valanthia asked reflexively. A pair of conflicting ideas crossed her mind. "Well...do you mean...officially, or personally? Milo has me compiling a list of schools in the Empire that offer post-schola training in...in things that aren't arcana or arms. History, geography, trade skills, that...that sort of thing. The school in Nexus offers some of those...I took basic theology there several months ago, though...I'm not sure if I'll be pursuing it further."

There was a hesitation in Val's mind as she said this. The reason for her desire not to continue with her theology lessons had to do with the fact that she was now studying things that were a higher priority in her new life. Stiletto training...poisons...and perhaps arcana at some point. As much as she wanted to have time to spend on arcane scholastic pursuits, those other skills were at the moment practical to the point of being imperative.

"Careful." The single word was not audible, nor did it come from Valanthia's own mind. She turned her head slightly -- it was a reflex she had not been bonded long enough to control -- and glanced under the tree to her right. If Hsin were to follow her gaze, he would barely be able to make out the shape of a massive canine, almost perfectly concealed in the shadows, with its head now raised.

"I will be. You're right. I do have have to be thoughtful though -- he knows Milo. And at one point, at least, he was someone quite important. I can't just make stuff up, not this time." The thought, which was Valanthia's own, was quite clearly aimed in the direction from which the previous thought had come. It seemed to satisfy whoever was on the other end of the line, so to speak, because no immediate response came, although there was a vague feeling of uncertainty.

[Hsin]

Wine tastings allowed the well-off merchant or the foppish nobleman to introduce their palates to a wide sampling of exotic vintages. There was, however, a catch. To truly experience the crimson ferment required only the briefest contact between the wine and the tongue. Only the smallest amount slipped past the guest’s lips to provide the entire experience without the accompanying cost. The wine tasting, then, became a social event; a place for like-minded people to gather and engage in social banter without the specter of unnecessary drunkenness. In many respects, the act of wine tasting was an acceptable analogy to Hsin’s experience concerning mind-reading. Each gentle conduit crafted from silk-thin strands of mana provided the briefest glimpse into a portion of Valanthia’s mind. From these disparate snapshots the Kemite assembled a patchwork quilt. The half-Vysticchi was not exactly lying. However, by the same token, she was not being entirely truthful either. Half-glimpsed thoughts spread quickly through the mage’s mind in brief flashes of understanding. Stiletto and poison. Useless clerical tasks. Other in a manner the Kemite failed to understand. They all melded together into an indescribable sensation infinitely more complex and desirable than the finest wine the Empire could offer. In safer locations, the Kemite would take more time to delve into the mind and lay bare its secrets.

But there was someone, something nearby. The Master Mystic was not privy to the conversation between Valanthia and Umbrosus. Hsin had, however, noted the decidedly odd sensation of a third mind linked to Valanthia followed immediately by her sidelong glance. The tarot cards disappeared into the folds of his black kimono. His left hand dangled at his side, his right moving slowly to rest against his stomach. Both were far closer to the pair of katana; a move of caution but not overt threat. ”You’re an Imperial Lictor, Madam L’Evienne,” spoke Hsin slowly. His voice still seemed soft and quiet amongst the expanse of the park, but carried now an undercurrent of steel. The mystic was no longer an Imperial Minister, but he could still project a demeanor befitting his former position. Or his new rank so diametrically opposed to Milo. ”Have some confidence when you speak. You’ll find Nexus rather pleasant this time of year while you pursue your official duties. Their guilds handle a great deal of training in trades and such.” As he spoke, the Kemite invoked a portion of mana to divine into a stock Awareness spell. It was a small matter to reshape the spell to discern the concentration of psionic essence amongst the Material Plane in a bid to search out Valanthia’s compatriot.

And there he was. Hsin caught sight of a figure lurking amidst the shadows near Valanthia, its figure strangely obscured without the aid of arcana. The very briefest taste of its mind produced a confusion, conflicting sensation; a strange melding of the animal and the human. ”But it’s rude for two to converse while three are present. Who’s your friend lurking in the shadows?” Psionic essence rushed again into the Kemite’s physical form, precariously balanced on the cusp of shaping. A soft smile slowly spread across his seemingly gentle face as he spoke to the wolf-like figure. ”Come and join us, friend.”

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

Valanthia could easily detect the shift in the man's mood. Plenty of people had urged Val to show more confidence -- there were many settings in which her normal mode of over-deferential hesitance didn't go over very well -- and she simply added Hsin to that list. But there seemed to be something else in his voice, something that was rather akin to menace. Her muscles automatically tensed.

And then he...called out Umbrosus. It was so unexpected, so impossible, that for a moment she neither did nor thought anything. And then, in the next instant, Val's mind exploded with frantic activity; she was scared now, very scared. Plenty of people commented on the fact that she was carting around a massive canine, but no one outside of Coldlight treated Umbrosus as though he was anything other than an outsized animal. How could he know? He was not Rhiasic -- she would have been able to tell, would have felt the compulsion to kill thick on her skin. Likewise, he was not Sanguine, as he had no Virkyn.

Valanthia didn't make any obvious signal, but the canine came with lightning swiftness to stand precisely at her side. His head was easily up to her shoulder, and though Valanthia was by no means a tall woman, it was still some indication of his great size. Concern and confusion, though without precise words, tumbled into her mind from his, and she replaced what he gave her with worry of her own. None of this was obvious simply by looking at them, however; all that could be seen was a half-vysstichi girl with an expression of ice, and a vulpine animal with glittering blue eyes, standing perfectly still.

"Who are you, Hsin Zhou?" she asked, her voice very quiet and very, very cold. "And what do you want from me...from us?" One hand was on the Virkyn's side; the other went reflexively into her pocket. There was a ring inside, and her hand clasped around it. If she were to put it on, it would take her instantly back to Coldlight, back to a place that wasn't exactly home, but that was a sort of refuge nonetheless.

The girl's gray eyes were fixed precisely on Hsin, and she did not drop her gaze. Umbrosus too had all of his attention concentrated on their interlocutor. The tension in the girl's body was palpable, and her companion didn't look much more relaxed. The creature's lips parted briefly, revealing a row of glittering fangs underneath, though he did not move at all.

[Hsin]

”Much better Valanthia.” Outwardly Hsin seemed utterly unperturbed by the sudden appearance of the enormous wolf-like creature. Another boon granted by his Discipline; the illusion veiling his charred eyes also allowed the Kemite conceal his surprise. Arcana allowed humans to wield the power of the gods, to lay waste cities and break open minds. It required time to form powerful spells from the mystical ether. Before entering Vortex, the Kemite mystic had bolstered his considerable skill with the addition of Attunement. The spell allowed him to shape weaves far faster than the unsupported mind. However, in light of the sheer speed of the wolf, even his bolster shaping speed would be sorely tested. The bared teeth left little to imagination regarding its abilities. ”You only paused once in your response. A considerable improvement.” Her mind raged with a maelstrom of emotion; a chaotic swirl which disrupted the Kemite’s carefully laid web of spells. It would be a simple matter to erect a more resilient scaffold, but he had other matters to attend to at the moment. His right hand moved slowly closer to his katana to fiddle with a red tassel attached to the upper weapon.

”Us?” An eyebrow rose slowly as the Kemite considered the girl and her unusually sized companion. There was obviously something unusual about the pair; a strange link forged from magic or from arcana. It was a discrepancy, a curiosity that compelled the mage’s to study further an otherwise uninteresting official. ”You answered your own question. I am Hsin Zhou who formerly held the title and position of the Imperial Exchequer. But I had other interests before my appointment, and I’ve returned to my pursuits since.” He chuckled softly, a sound nearly as comforting as the soft breathing of Umbrososus in the half-Vysstichi’s ear. ”I’m curious. About you, about the creature at your beck and call. But that’s not the case is it? He’s not just a pet, he’s something more. So closely linked to thoughts of poison and blades in the night.”

Hsin tore his eyes away from the white Virkyn and studied Valanthia’s face carefully. Fear seemed painted across her features, and fear inevitably motivated two responses: fight or flight. Neither option appealed to the Kemite. ”Who is your friend? How did you meet him? Does you speak to him, or does he merely think I’m threatening?” His questions came and went quickly in a voice twinged with the slightest hint of curiosity. ”But I don’t expect you to answer that question so lightly. I propose a trade of sorts. Tell me about your friend and your purpose, and I’ll share something of equal value regarding my own interests.”

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

"It is," Val said, her voice so utterly frigid that it hardly sounded like it was being produced by someone alive, "as singularly impolite for a mystic to invade a girl's mind as it is for an ikonomancer to remove all of her clothes. Perhaps more so, because one's dignity can be recovered, but not so one's privacy." There really wasn't any other explanation for what the man knew, Val had decided.

"It is difficult to bargain with someone who so thoroughly controls the situation," the girl went on, and all of the former hesitation seemed to have been burned out of her. "And for you to give me something of equal value, Hsin Zhou, it would have to be very valuable indeed. If I were to give you the answers you seek -- the real answers, the complete ones, not simply the ones I construct for public consumption -- you would have the ability to ruin me, and perhaps even to harm those few people I love. What could you offer me in return for that sort of power?" A cold, unfriendly smile flickered over her lips for the barest of instants before vanishing. "Or would you simply destroy a lonely girl who has not harmed you in order to feel the pleasure of crushing someone weaker than yourself?"

There was a flash of anger in the girl's gray eyes; her half-vysstichi temper was coming out. Inside, Val was a roiling mixture of rage and fear. She would have cut her losses and run, but she was too frightened of what he might already know to simply abandon the situation. If she didn't attempt to control the situation now, and the Sanguine suffered for it later, Val would never be able to forgive herself.

She didn't say anything else, though, figuring that was enough for Hsin to respond to at one time. Umbrosus was tensed, and the fur on his hackles was raised. He was obviously agitated enough that one might have thought he would attack at any moment, except for the fact that it was equally clear that he would do no such thing until Valanthia declared it necessary. A non-mystic would simply have thought that Val had one of the best-trained animals in the Empire; Hsin, however, knew there was more to it than that. Something more...

[Hsin]

”You will have to try harder to anger me.” The gentle and patient tone seemed suddenly absent from Hsin’s quiet voice; evaporating like so many lies exposed to sunlight. His tone still seemed unhurried and unbothered, but for an entirely different reason. Each word was pronounced in polite, perfect Medonian utterly devoid of interest or emotion. Thin lips tightened into a wan smile as he regarded the irate Vysticchi as illusory eyes bored deep into Valanthia’s own orbs. The gaze was one filled with remote interest very much like a collector of butterflies examining a particularly interesting specimen before consigning it to the killing jar. ”As long as you still possess life, you have both dignity and privacy. Do you think daggers and poisons are weapons of defense, Valanthia?” The slightest hint of a shrug shifted the black silk of his kimono. ”Don’t presume to speak of my motives and intentions either. It would cause me considerable pain and regret to see you come to harm. Unlike some of your brother’s generals, I have a heart sensitive to human suffering.” A heart that seemed largely absent from the ongoing proceedings. Or enchained in the black embrace of a nightmare.

”You already know I’m a mystic,” continued Hsin as his fingers continued to play with the tassel on the hilt of his katana. ”Which is considerably valuable information to the proper parties. I had a peer amongst the Council of the Crown who killed many tens of thousands to cover his own incompetence. Do you think it’s something I share lightly?” He paused for a moment to give Valanthia some time to consider the implication. ”Nonetheless, I’ve made no threats concerning your safety.” The pool of mana slowly took shape as the Kemite spoke, shaped by his will and the application of three of the five techniques. It teetered on the edge of manifestation, an unseen counterbalance to the growling figure of the white Virkyin. ”In truth, I’m more intrigued than anything.” There was an old saying regarding cats and curiosity. It was tempting to ponder its application to their distant canine relatives.

”Of course,” said the Kemite after a moment of reflection. ”There’s other things I have to offer. I believe you’ll find me significantly less direct than my colleagues.” A small smile turned the very corners of Hsin’s lips upwards. ”I can teach you, if you’d like, in exchange for your answers. Masters are terribly fussy about their students after the debacles of the last two years. You may be able to fool some, but eventually you’ll find another mystic with even less qualms than I. And far less scruples. Mysticism’s an useful tool if you enjoy the dagger, but learning useful applications is terribly difficult these days.”

[Valanthia L'Evienne]

As suddenly as it had come, Valanthia's anger drained away. It was almost possible to see it leave, replaced with a certain air of world-weariness that seemed strangely out of place on such a young girl. When she looked at Hsin again, there was a hollowness in her eyes.

"You make very convincing points," she said. Her voice was almost a whisper now. "And what you offer is certainly of value to me. Value enough, perhaps, for me to give you what you request." He was right, after all. It was not perhaps in a mystic's best interests for people to know what he was. Plus, in her recent travels, Valanthia had run up repeatedly against forces she could not control, foes she could not defeat. It was critically important for Valanthia to be able to rectify this, and mysticism was a very tempting way of doing so, but she needed a teacher -- a teacher she could trust, at least insofar as "trust" meant that he would not reveal the girl's secrets.

"If you will teach me, I will tell you what you want to know. I have a limited amount of choice, to be sure, but I will reiterate that I'm counting on your not using my secrets to ruin me. Because you could surely do so." There was an attitude of deathly seriousness about the girl as she said this. A strange look that might almost have been concern came over the face of her companion, but she stroked his back twice, and he seemed to be mollified. The animal no longer looked ready to attack. "As proof of my good faith, I'll tell you now," she added. The girl glanced around, but there was no one else visible in the park. "But I'll have to warn you in advance...it seems too fantastic to be real. But I'm not making it up."

She dropped her gaze from Hsin and closed her eyes, and she seemed to be concentrating very hard. Her voice returned to its previous inflections. "Umbrosus is a...Virkyn. He is a...a reincarnated soul, if you want to think about it that way. I met him in the Primus Countryside, where I was taken by a group of people who knew that...that I'm one too. A reincarnated soul, that is. He and I are...bonded. He is my bondmate. I can see with his eyes, feel with his paws, smell with his nose. If you hurt him, I will feel the pain. He is quite articulate -- I can talk to him just...well, just by thinking about it, and he can talk to me the same way. He can talk to anyone else too, if...if he's in the mood, which he...isn't often. And neither he nor I know precisely what to think of you."

It was a gamble, a very real gamble, but Val felt it was a necessary one. When she had finished speaking, she opened her eyes and looked at Hsin again. If he had more questions at this point, she would try to answer them. She was standing even closer to Umbrosus now, almost leaning against his side, as if she were trying to draw strength from his body.