They didn't go far. They entered a side elevator, that jerked up. In a matter of seconds, they arrived right under the spectacular dome. It was completely transparent, and one side of the half-floor was a room. There, a man was sitting on a mass of comfortable, large cushions. The air smelt of pleasant incenses and soft rhythmical music made a nice background. The guard went back to the elevator and left the floor. Banshee looked around her and stopped her eyes on the small man on the cushions, not so sure of what she ought to do.

«Come on child, I'm not going to bite you. Come here and sit down.» he invited her. She took off her boots and left them by the elevator, then she walked unsteadily to the man.

He was old. The wrinkles on his face was something you didn't see so often on a Mage. They all usually learned some magic to at least look younger than they were. He had a long beard, disappearing far under him it seemed, or at least behind his lotus-crossed legs. He wore a cheery yellow caftan, richly decorated with embroideries of various natural themes and colors and his expression was calm and peaceful. She could have sworn that his smile had enlarged when she had taken off her boots.

«A respectful girl. Nice. I always prefer to work with nice people. Some of the ones who get to come to me are selfish bastards.»

Banshee smiled and sat down in front of him. The cushions were extremely comfortable. Or maybe she was so tired everything would feel comfortable.

«I hope I'm not disturbing ye Councilor...»

«Oh, please, call me Reyansh. Every person so thoughtful as to take off the shoes not to disturb the balance of my room deserves as much.»

«All rite then, Reyansh.» she repeated. «It's nice fer ye Diviner to keep yer name...»

«You don't like your battle name, huh? I see. You had to leave your family behind, haven't you? And you feel that your name is a precious tie to them, and you miss that. It's a dire matter, and I'm sorry.»

«Wow! Ye just divined that without flickering?» exclaimed Banshee, a tad too loud. She covered her mouth right after. Reyansh let go of a small, amused laugh.

«Garaham told me a bit about you all when he came here to ask for those questions. He insisted on paying. That boy will let his pride wear him down, I swear.» he smiled. «So, your questions.»

«It's personal.» she muttered.

«Oh, personal, right. Very well, then it's important and we should get into it at once.» Reyansh's smile was as comforting as a father's. Banshee started to relax. «Please, be sure to be as precise as possible pertaining to the question you need to be answered, because once I start Divining, there is no turning back.» he said, turning professional but always with a kind, friendly tone.

Banshee thought for some moments.

«Can you see what my brother Killian and Staccato are both doing right now?» there was no better formulation. If the Divination would have yielded two images, it would have been proof that Staccato was lying. If not, she would have had her answer. And a whole lot of suffering with it.

Reyansh nodded, seemingly pleased.

«Very well. Just, before I start, just humor me for a second: what would you like the answer to be?» he asked, as he extended one hand to take Banshee's.

«I... I absolutely don't know.» she answered, honestly. Reyansh's smile widened.

«Good girl. Now, let's see.»

In front of the man, a crystal ball appeared. If it would have looked tacky and clichéd everywhere else, the quiet seriousness of the man dignified the object with a glaze of professionalism. The ball levitated between them, and he focused, grasping at the most difficult fluxes of them all: the unraveled and often incomplete fluxes of the unknown.

Banshee looked at the crystal ball, and almost felt her heart stop.

There were two images.

But neither were clear.

On one side there were but foliage. The sound of the sea coming from afar. But no person, no image at all. Something completely blurred the center of the image, making it impossible to discern any detail of it at all.

But in the other image, there was a dark, sulking dwarf, clad in his black jacket, sitting with River in what Banshee recognized being their rooms at the Headquarters.

Reyansh interrupted the vision. He wasn't even short-breathed.

«Well, that's pretty strange indeed.» he said, with an amused tone. «Staccato wasn't difficult. I could pass his own scrying protections without a problem. But your brother, Killian is it? He has quite a strong protection around him, something I really couldn't pierce. Do you know if he's a mage?»

«Killian, a mage? Nay, we aren't mage material. Even I should never have been kindled.» she replied, with almost a laugh, trying to hide all of her feelings, dancing between relief and a whole new layer of worry. «But what would this protection mean? He's in some sort of danger?»

«Oh, no. Sometimes some people are... let's say naturally protected from scrying. Something even we well-honed Diviners can't pierce. We simply can't. It's a matter of research, but we still hadn't gotten anywhere, to our dishonor. I know your brother is alive and well, but I can't tell you where. Or how.»

«It's ok. Just to know that he's alive and well means the world to me.» she said, her eyes glimmering with hidden tears, struggling to get out. Reyansh couldn't help but smile moved, and shook his head as if he wanted to close the subject with no further fuss.

«You still have one question my dear.» he urged her, gently but firmly. Banshee tried to think fast.

«Who is Staccato?» she asked. Reyansh looked pleasantly taken aback.

«Nice question. Why no one ever bothers to ask something like that? The simplest questions are always the best ones. Now, give me your hand again and sit tight. This time it would be a tad more difficult.» Banshee put his hand in the man's, again and looked at him dive again into the mysteries of Know magic.

He didn't joke when he said this would have been more difficult. She saw his eyelids bat quite furiously. His hand was squeezing hers. She waited, in silence, without even moving. A dark, blurred image started forming in the ball.

He let go of a small yelp, and the crystal ball, with a terribly annoying sound of nails on a chalkboard, cracked. A long, branched fissure appeared, almost as long as the whole circumference. The image inside disappeared immediately. Reyansh opened his eyes wide, struggling to breathe.

Banshee jumped on her feet, ready to throw the little man on her shoulder and run for help, but he raised a hand, gesturing to her to stay calm, and taking deep breaths with a hand on his chest. Eventually, the man calmed down, but he had lost the inner peace he had shown until seconds before.

«This is... interesting.» he panted.

«Are you all right?» she asked, really worried

«Remember I told you that your brother had strong protection around him? Well, Staccato does too, even if slightly different. Your brother has it on his own person, so I couldn't even try to pierce it. Staccato has it on his jacket.» he explained, passing a hand through his soft hair. «So, I tried to bypass it and reach for his persona. And the power simply cast me away. This... shouldn't happen with protections on objects. I daresay, this has given me much to think about.» he was still looking at the ball, thoughtful. «I'm sorry, you didn't get your answer, and I'm not in the conditions to offer you another shot at a question, as you can see.» he ultimately said.

«Oh, it's not a problem at all. I'm so sorry for what happened to yer...» "What happened to yer ball" hid too many jokes. «So, I'll leave... if I don't have to pay for it?» she asked, already with a soft expression of panic.

Even in this particularly dramatic situation, Reyansh let go of a small guffaw.

«Don't worry, it's insured.»

«Thanks. So, I'll leave ye to yer day. God knows if I need to get out o' mine.» she stood up, bowed slightly, and went back for her shoes.

Reyansh made the broken crystal ball disappear and observed her. As she was finishing to tie up her boots, he talked again.

«If you had the power of Know, the power to see whatever it is in the Present, to relieve the Past, and to scout the deep mystery of the future, how would you use it?»

Banshee didn't even think.

«I would scry me family, every day. See how they are. I surely have like a thousand nieces and nephews by now, I'd like to see them. I'm sure me brothers have chosen the worst names o' them all fer their lads.» just the thought was enough to fill her with a quiet dose of sorrow and longing.

Reyansh said nothing.

As if he knew exactly this was his cue in, the elevator opened, and the Korean man was already there. Banshee waved at Reyansh, but he was already back to his previous, silent, focused condition. The woman shrugged and entered the elevator.

Reyansh Balakrishna smiled wearily, unseen, as the elevator went back down. Just like he was seeing something, behind his closed eyes, pleasant but worrying at the same time.

«So.» he whispered to himself. «Everything is going to get very interesting.»

****************
Hi everyone!
The book's thinning: just 8 Chapters to the end. BUT, since the festivities are coming, and we wish to spread happiness across the whole land (modesty mode: on) we'll try to give you ONE EXTRA CHAPTER A WEEK so we should get to the end of the year with Strane Aeons completely published - letting you enjoy it completely during the holidays. How about that?

Ok, partially's because we're getting to the writer's personal favorite part and there are some patience issues at play here.

We also uploaded the cast book so go and have a peek at the new entries!

https://www.wattpad.com/story/203259502-strange-aeons-special-cast-and-crew

As always, thanks for all the love, the reasing and the comments. They are really helping us pinpointing points we could do better and that's fantastic. Thank you all for the positive criticism and the ideas.
But, most of all, thank you for getting to love our characters.

See you... really soon!
Love,
Daniel

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