Mirror, Mirror

[DragonSong]

"Well." Kiara shrugged. "Good luck to you with it--wouldn't want that to be my life's task. It's not gonna be easy."

She didn't comment on the fact that there was a very good chance they would have to kill his brother; despite the fact that she didn't actually know the man, and from the way Dan talked it wasn't like there was a lot of lost love there, still...it was his brother.

We can do it, Kit whispered in her mind. She glanced sidelong at him. He was watching Dan carefully, with a hint of something like sympathy. If he can't. I mean--he shouldn't have to. It's not fair to ask that of someone, no matter who their family is.

She nodded once. If it comes to that.

[MadEmperor]

"No task worth doing is," he answered as if echoing the sentiment of another.

"Well, aside from breathing and other basic life functions, that is." He smirked lightly in a faint mirror of his smart-ass counterpart.

Life functions his brother might no longer find so easy.
 
"If only it were in my power to change the disproportionate response to magic, even if it harms no one. I have never understood how we determined that magic drained life from the planet when so much of it is a natural part of the world. Why would the Creator build a world that devours itself?" he continued. He had never been able to talk freely about his doubts before he met her.

[DragonSong]

Kiara huffed and shrugged. "Hey, search me. Magic has always been a part of who I am." With a quick glance down at her still vaguely gold-glimmering fingers, she added wryly, "Now more than ever, I guess."

She shrugged again and leaned against Kit's leg. "Look, I dunno if this is the sorta conversation you want to have with someone from a race of creatures literally older than Connlaothians' stories of their god. I'll probably end up offending you," she said, as though what she'd just said wasn't already heresy.

[MadEmperor]

Dan shrugged. He knew full well that the Fae have been around since before humanity itself, so of course they are older than any human religion. "Why would I be offended? I suppose you would think that being from a noble family that guards a saint's relic would make me rather devout, but really, I just pay lip service."

[DragonSong]

Kiara shrugged again. "I dunno. People can be fidgety about stuff like that. Religion and all." Spending her formative years in Adela, raised by a woman who had an ongoing romance with a fae prince, her own "religious education" had been scattered at best.

[MadEmperor]

"You do not need to tell a Connloathian that people can be weird about their religion," Dan chuckled.

"But I guess we should get going before we start burning daylight." He stood up and started kicking dirt into the fire to put it out.

[DragonSong]

Kiara sighed, then stood as well. "Yeah. Guess we should."

Gods she didn't want to say it. She didn't, but...

"Do you think we should..." She screwed her face up in distaste. "We should try to practice this switching thing?"

[MadEmperor]

"I thought we decided that was the other you's call," he responded. "She'll pay the cost if there is one."

[DragonSong]

She sighed and rubbed at her temples. "I know. But...if the other you and the other Kit are our main methods of communicating that... I'm just thinking, maybe we should be a little slower with approaching the estate. Give it another night or so, a chance for them to...catch up, if that makes sense?"

Kit cocked his head. "Do you think it works if we, like, nap?" he asked suddenly. "I mean, if Dan or I got knocked o it right now, would we see them?"

Kiara blinked at him. "I—huh. That is a good question."

[MadEmperor]

"Well, I think the hope is that we can do it without anyone being unconscious. But I think we would, provided the magic forces them to wake up," Dan theorized.

"I don't suppose either of you knows how to test that without me getting punched? It will be a while before I can make myself sleep."

[DragonSong]

Kit looked at Kiara meaningfully. She frowned in confused at him, then suddenly it clicked. "Oh!"

She glanced at Dan. "Ahhhh...how do you feel about faerie magic? Putting people to sleep is pretty standard, I should be able to manage it without too much trouble."

[MadEmperor]

Dan frowned. He had said he didn't believe all magic was evil, but now that he was faced with subjecting himself to it, the lapsed Ansgarian hesitated. Gathering his courage, he answered, "I trust you. Any reservations I have are purely conditioned. So let us proceed."

[DragonSong]

Kiara swallowed. Though she had been the one to suggest it, she was nervous—her magic had always been a relatively modest elemental gift. It was only in the last year or so that it had started giving her trouble, growing too powerful to contain.

She'd certainly never done anything like this. But she remembered hearing it described once in her time at the Autumn Court.

It's fine. This is fine.

"Okay. Just, ah...lay back and close your eyes? I guess?" she muttered as she cautiously approached and knelt beside him. She took in a breath, then reached out to touch two fingers lightly to the center of his brow.

"Sleep," she intoned, reaching carefully for her magic. Her voice seemed doubled, a soft chime echoing beneath the vowels. Heat gathered in both palms, and she sucked in a sharp breath before quickly redirecting it to the hand not touching Dan.

Flames sparked around those fingertips, but the two she kept pressed against his brow only warmed and glowed with a faint gold light.

[MadEmperor]

Dan was as relaxed as he could be, and still wondered if the spell was actually wor—


Grav sat up, momentarily confused. "Well, that was new."

He turned and gently shook Kiara. "Hey Kia, wake up."

[DragonSong]

"Mmm." Kiara frowned and shifted sleepily, but it was simply a distaste for the waking world this time, not a terrifying magical backlash. Since their "switch", neither she not her counterpart had particularly clear dreams, so she was groggy and confused when she finally blinked her eyes open.

"Wasswrong? Wha' happened?" she mumbled as she sat up with a quiet groan.

Curled around them, Kit still slept deeply, without even a twitch of his tail.

[MadEmperor]

"Nothing's wrong," Grav assured. "They just wanted me to say they're up for experimenting with switching. But they get that the risk is yours."

"She used her Fae powers to put him to sleep, thinking it would trigger me to wake up. Annoying, but it is a way to communicate with each other."

"Also... Do you have any paper? I need to draw something before it fades."

[DragonSong]

"Paper?" She blinked then reached blearily for her pack. "Um, I think so? You could use the—" She yawned as she sat up. "The back of the map?"

She passed the pack to him and scrubbed at her eyes, trying to wake herself up properly. "What do you need to draw?" she asked through another yawn, before glancing at Kit.

Still out. Well, she supposed that made sense, if Grav was only awake because Dan was now asleep.

Weird.

[MadEmperor]

"A map of Vannier Manor," he answered as he rummaged through the pack for the map. "Obviously there are going to be differences, but it's way better intel than nothing."

After searching the edges of the fire for an appropriate charred stick with which to draw, he placed the map on a flat rock and began to draw on the back. "Apparently, my brother is sort to build escape tunnels. We find that, we can sneak in. Chances are it won't be in the same place, but Dan doesn't know where it lets out yet anyway."

[DragonSong]

"Sneak in?" She was coming awake much more quickly now, leaning over his shoulder to look at what he was drawing. "I mean...yeah, that's a hell of a better plan than just storming the place. I know a dragon is a big advantage, but it's still just the three of us."

The other stuff he had said finally started to process and she frowned. "Wait—they think we should...try to switch? Me and her?"

[MadEmperor]

Grav nodded. "If you think you can do it without hurting yourself."

"He says as they plan to do other incredibly dangerous things."