[ Storms. What else has she got going on? Jasnah Kholin used to have a royal agenda packed from dawn to dusk and beyond: coalition meetings; sword training; correspondence; personal research. Scribing for herself because she's the first openly literate Alethi monarch. By contrast, her days here feel empty. Anchorless. She doesn't even yet know the questions she should try to answer. So, Sciel's is a good start. And maybe one that can be tackled in conjunction with her transcription duties.
Anyway. That's about where her tactfulness tops out. Because what follows— ]
Are you perhaps hoping it's not a [ what was the word she used? ] fluke?
[ Concerning. Understandable — downright human, perhaps — but concerning. Jasnah sets her phone down just long enough to pull a thin notebook over from the corner of her desk. In it, she jots a few thoughts on what Sciel has revealed between the letters of her response.
Eventually, maybe with a twenty to thirty second delay: ]
I suspect the phenomenon is related to that other occurance you mentioned. You having apparently been here once before.
[ It is possible to return to a point in your time that will not cause a disruption towards your own existence, G'raha had theorized. Surely, it will be the same in death. ]
And so I imagine both circumstances are equally likely.
[ They're not quite friends, given the way that Jasnah seems to hold most everyone and everything at arm's length, but there is a...caring honestly to their interactions all the same. As if the Rosharan woman can't help herself when a situation arises in which she might offer advice to Sciel when she feels it's warranted, in spite of the distance that still stretches between them, between their experiences.
It's why the response does, in fact, give her hope. Because...it's unlikely Jasnah would ever just humor her. ]
that's a good point, actually. hadn't thought about the two as being connected, but it's all down to time, isn't it?
[ Hmm. ]
that's another area where i don't have a lot of information. whether there have been others like me who were here before but don't remember it.
No one that I've knowingly spoken to. However, I'd learned about its possibility from someone else. There is some pre-existing thought around whether coming here splinters our personal timelines to one degree or another. Coming straight here from death might be similar.
[ Contrary to certain other recent threads, Jasnah doesn't actually go around talking about other people all that often. But — yes, rather than quibble the point, she'll keep an ear out for anyone who might have met Sciel previously.
yes, actually. he — or someone from his world — shared a message about other worlds. we got to talking. apparently he knew me when i was here before, too.
[ Hm — convenient. And perhaps a clear indication of how small, interconnected the Diadem's population must be. Jasnah shifts her attention back to her notebook and (flipping back a few pages) adds another note. This time, to a page on G'raha. ]
Did he elaborate on those circumstances?
[ She'd left their conversation with the understanding that he was looking into the existential circumstances of leaving one world and arriving here. ]
he mentioned multiple examples of conflicting timelines. "alternate" timelines, too. he was wondering if that could be what happened: that the other me and i are from completely separate timelines, so it wasn't really "me" at all. he'd spent some time with that sciel though, looking for a child in the diffusion zones.
Yes. He and I discussed those theories. And your questions reminded me. Someone arriving here from the dead (so to speak) might be one of those diverging timelines.
[ Fortune is a tricky quality to manipulate. Could it be intentional? Jasnah frowns. ]
[ Life and death, alternate universes, diverging timelines. The kinds of things that Lune and Gustave might love to pour over and piece together, which Sciel might normally not afford any more than a bit of curiosity by virtue of it being so inherently strange. ...She had downplayed it all already, before Gustave's arrival. Before certain possibilities had arisen, before Jasnah gathered up all the strings and fixed them to a singular point. ]
that makes sense. then they aren't "coming back from the dead," really. just being pulled from a particularly important point in time.
[ Gustave had arrived with evidence of Renoir's attack, which could only mean he'd been transported at a very crucial moment. A very crucial second, even. But...why? Is there any rhyme or reason to it? ]
what if
[ Something occurs to her. Flutters her heart. ]
that power could be controlled? used to send us back, but not to the time we left?
[ Possible, probable. It's the possible that has its hooks in her, though. An insidious word that will bleed her dry with the slow constant of a leaky faucet. ]
[ Sciel has no intention of being anything but forthright with the info. Jasnah may not yet know her well enough to know this: to know that, if she intends to wield their possible findings in some ill-advised way, she'll make it clear before she proceeds.
Even if she then decides to carry on in spite of any advice to the contrary. ]
i will. it's in all our best interest to share these sorts of things, i think.
[ And because she's come to trust the other woman's opinion, even if they occasionally disagree. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Anyway. That's about where her tactfulness tops out. Because what follows— ]
Are you perhaps hoping it's not a [ what was the word she used? ] fluke?
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yes.
more than anything.
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Eventually, maybe with a twenty to thirty second delay: ]
I suspect the phenomenon is related to that other occurance you mentioned. You having apparently been here once before.
[ It is possible to return to a point in your time that will not cause a disruption towards your own existence, G'raha had theorized. Surely, it will be the same in death. ]
And so I imagine both circumstances are equally likely.
[ Not a fluke. ]
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It's why the response does, in fact, give her hope. Because...it's unlikely Jasnah would ever just humor her. ]
that's a good point, actually.
hadn't thought about the two as being connected, but it's all down to time, isn't it?
[ Hmm. ]
that's another area where i don't have a lot of information.
whether there have been others like me who were here before but don't remember it.
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[ Easy confirmation. ]
No one that I've knowingly spoken to. However, I'd learned about its possibility from someone else. There is some pre-existing thought around whether coming here splinters our personal timelines to one degree or another. Coming straight here from death might be similar.
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do you mind if i ask who you heard it from?
i'm also looking for other people, besides kimiko, who knew me then.
curious what else i got up to. in case you ever run into anyone who mentions it.
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As for her question: ]
His name is G'raha. Any familiarity?
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yes, actually.
he — or someone from his world — shared a message about other worlds.
we got to talking. apparently he knew me when i was here before, too.
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Did he elaborate on those circumstances?
[ She'd left their conversation with the understanding that he was looking into the existential circumstances of leaving one world and arriving here. ]
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"alternate" timelines, too.
he was wondering if that could be what happened: that the other me and i are from completely separate timelines, so it wasn't really "me" at all.
he'd spent some time with that sciel though, looking for a child in the diffusion zones.
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[ Fortune is a tricky quality to manipulate. Could it be intentional? Jasnah frowns. ]
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that makes sense.
then they aren't "coming back from the dead," really. just being pulled from a particularly important point in time.
[ Gustave had arrived with evidence of Renoir's attack, which could only mean he'd been transported at a very crucial moment. A very crucial second, even. But...why? Is there any rhyme or reason to it? ]
what if
[ Something occurs to her. Flutters her heart. ]
that power could be controlled?
used to send us back, but not to the time we left?
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But reading it put so plainly. And from Sciel. Her frown deepens. Her first instinct is to dissuade her, but... ]
There is a vast chasm of difference between what's theoretically possible and what's probable.
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[ Possible, probable. It's the possible that has its hooks in her, though. An insidious word that will bleed her dry with the slow constant of a leaky faucet. ]
i'll keep it in mind.
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Anyway. ]
If you learn anything more from some other source, I trust you'll let me know.
[ Come talk to me before you do anything foolish. ]
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Even if she then decides to carry on in spite of any advice to the contrary. ]
i will. it's in all our best interest to share these sorts of things, i think.
[ And because she's come to trust the other woman's opinion, even if they occasionally disagree. ]
we'll talk soon.
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[ On the book and its annotations. And that must be something akin to a farewell for Jasnah, because she doesn't reply again. ]