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Twilight Night
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“Plan 1 seems decently safe. I can start off with that, and if it goes south, we can improvise. Plan 3 will probably be necessary no matter what, and is the most likely to succeed in a stable manner. Plan 2 can be our fallback in case things go wrong.” Malorie spoke hesitantly, still unsure about the direction things seemed to be going. How could she be a queen? She was about as royal as a monarch butterfly! “But… marrying Syovaris will be difficult. I’m sure every lady in the court is after him, and with me on the wrong side of the road - ”
“I wouldn’t worry about that. It might actually make him like you more.” Leanna shrugged. “Syovaris himself tends to jaywalk frequently, if we’re sticking with the metaphor.”
“Huh?” Malorie blinked.
“He’s a bit odd, is all. Open-minded and eccentric. Ah, but never mind that.” Leanna shook her head quickly, sensing Malorie’s discomfort with the subject. “I would say that your fiance poses a bigger hurdle.”
“Oh, of course.” Malorie groaned. “What in the world am I going to do about him?”
“Let’s leave that, for now, and focus on the overall plan. I’m glad you’re on board, Mal. Please continue.”
“I don’t know if I’m on board or not.” Malorie coughed uncomfortably. “But if we’re talking hypotheticals… I don’t know. It’s all so uncertain, still. What assets do we have, besides your information?”
“Nothing but what we already own.” Leanna gestured vaguely around, indicating the estate. “We’re well-off, at least, even if we don’t have much royal respect.”
“What about your magic? How long will it take you to recover any of your dark arts? That’s a tool I don’t expect many of our rivals are prepared to counter. Even relatively small feats could be useful if leveraged correctly.”
“I told you already, my magic is weak because…” Leanna trailed off. She furrowed her brow, thinking heavily. “There is a possible way to recover some power. Is there a hunt planned soon?”
“A hunt?” Malorie wrinkled her nose. “Well, yes, of course. Father loves those nasty things. He’s got a regular party of friends and associates who all get together and leave innards all over the forest. It’s a ghastly business. He’s hosting one tonight.”
“Let’s tag along.” Leanna went over to her dresser and started changing into her riding outfit. “I’ve got a pony by this age, haven’t I?”
“What?! I mean, yes to the pony, you’ve only just named her. Polia, I believe it was. But, more to the point, why would you want to hang around for one of father’s haphazard slaughters? They don’t often let the girls shoot, you know.”
“There is a primal rite only practiced in antiquity, used precisely for enhancing the magical potential of children. I hope to perform it tonight.”
“Why, that’s fantastic!”
“It requires the presence of a dying creature, the ingestion of an hallucinogenic mixture, and a mild amount of skin-stitching. There is little ‘fantastic’ about it.” Leanna frowned, a tempered unpleasantness flickering in her eyes. After a moment, she relented, and her face softened. “Well, not at first, anyway. It gets more interesting after the prep. The rite requires two people, so I’d need your help for it. Would you be willing?”
“What does it involve?” Malorie asked slowly, her anxiety quietly forming again. “I don’t know if I’m much good at runes or chanting or anything like that.”
“Don’t worry. I mainly need you to act as a sort of inverted vessel, your body working as an anchor while your qualia is set adrift on the Springtide.” Leanna paused, realizing Malorie had absolutely no idea what any of that meant. “You would, er… that is to say, your sense of self would scatter into pieces for the ritual’s duration. The rite would have no permanent effects on you, however. You might be a bit shaken afterwards, but that’s all. So, what do you say?”
Malorie wasn’t sure what she would say, at least not until she had taken a moment to consider it. Once she’d properly pondered, however, she did respond.
Only... what was her response?
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