That’s…what?

Oh, dear friend, what have they done to you? Conversations in dreams? Snatched away? That’s not how it happened at all. Though perhaps this does fill in a few other blanks. You were and are a Biomancer. You studied at the most prestigious academies of your craft. You flew too close to the sun. The fullness of your wanderings brought you to Beri, along with Mosaic, along with Vasilly, and him, and then at some point your old colleagues must have found you there and spirited you away. Don’t you remember? He remembers. He remembers the time you explained your dream, walking down the broken roads of a ruined town. The cracked, blackened streets stretched on forever. The homes were packed in, sometimes one on top of the other. And they were looking for. And they were going to. And they had to. And then.

It’s quiet. Everywhere is quiet. His own heart makes no sound. The Ancient Craftsman is looking at him. He’s frowning. Oh dear. He’s supposed to speak, isn’t he? Dolce coughs, begs pardon, and mechanically refills the glass of schnapps, pouring with both hands like he was taught. It gives him a few moments to review the last few seconds. Piece together the thoughts. Stuff one in a box. Promise to come back to it later. Wait patiently for its last echoes to die away.

[i]Why can’t I remember where those ruins were?[/i]

“Vesper…yes, Vesper, of course. Yes. The last I had heard, Mosaic was keeping good care of her, and she was holding up as well as she could.” More. Not enough. He left her? He was…trying to help her, surely? And then got taken away before he could finish? “I would be happy to help, in any way I could. I know they’ll both be delighted to see her well again. Ah, however…” Bigger problems. He promises to come back later. “I’m afraid this ship is currently en route to see her. Along with everyone else who lived on Beri, who are now currently fleeing in an ancient Imperial cruiser. Quite a lot’s happened, you see…”

They do not have the luxury of time. But they do have the luxury of snacks, and a pretense for conversation. In short order, he recounts his curious and doomed foray into civil service, the greed and downfall of the Crystal Knight, and the bureaucratic prison he currently finds himself in, all while faithfully attending to the guest at his kitchen.