[ What an immediate flaw in her tactic to keep her contacts listed under cipher'd names. CMSOV texts her only to reveal her name immediately within the first message. Which, Jasnah supposes, any enterprising codebreaker could probably use to crack the shift.
With a long-suffering sigh, Jasnah delays answering Sciel while she goes in, edits the record, and deletes the name entirely. So now Sciel shows up merely as 007-8719. So be it. Later, she'll delete everyone else's names too. Safer still if she simply memorizes the numbers and associates them with the appropriate faces.
have you come across anything about death in the diadem? what happens to those who die here, or if there are records of people who'd died before arriving here alive again?
[ Does Jasnah know Maelle's name? Is she just being extra-cautious not to put it in writing? Has that thread simply not yet concluded, so we can't be certain? ]
We've met. She suggested someone else also arrived alongside her.
[ Must be that someone else, then. And — as Sciel fills in — the prospect of others. Jasnah pauses, staring at the device. What was unbelievable to Sciel had become quickly apparent to her. But a particular conversation between the aisles of a bookstore might have helped cement the possibility in her mind. So! She spares the other woman a terse, callous why are you surprised? Doesn't seem like the time, really.
Growth. Anyway. Sciel had asked whether she'd come across anything— ]
My focus has been on local folklore. But I can...adjust. It'll be more effective if you tell me explicitly what questions you're hoping to answer.
[ It's not strictly true. The efficacy likely won't change by much. But she'd appreciate the constraint and — and, well, she's curious. ]
[ Sciel doesn't specify further. At least, not yet. Jasnah is smart enough to put the more immediate pieces together, given that she'd obviously met the younger expeditioner, and beyond that...
Maybe she doesn't want to stoke the fires of her own hope unnecessarily. So far all it's really done is lick painfully at her scarred insides. ]
if you have the time, i'd appreciate it.
[ Lune had said she planned to look into it too, but it can't hurt to have another sharp mind on the task, if Jasnah's amenable. ]
trying to figure out a few things, but the gist is: is the power that brings us here able to truly revive the dead, or is it instead able to pull people in from certain points in time that might be right /before/ death?
to know more about what we're dealing with, for starters.
[ They're both extraordinary powers, but manipulating time is something more...approachable. Something possible with chroma that Sciel herself, to a small extent, can manage.
Resurrecting the dead, though... ]
i'm also curious how often it's happened. i only know of one case. is it a fluke? or a pattern?
[ Jasnah continues rotating the question(s) in her head. Actually, what if Sciel is asking about the man who can't die? Perhaps she'd been unaware of his condition. He'd certainly been trying to hide it, originally. Was it a secret even from the people who share a planet with him? Hmm.
She sits back in her chair — something hard and wooden, standard issue in the dormitories — and considers the little glowing phone screen. ]
I'd be more surprised if it was a fluke.
[ Unique things are so — well — unique. ]
But that doesn't make it a pattern, either. I take it there's no similar phenomenon where you're from?
[ Possibly a pattern. Still no reason to think one way or the other, not without more research, maybe, and more examples. Gustave is still the only one she's aware of, though it isn't as if she's been leading conversations with "Hi, any shot you definitely died in your world and then came here, right as rain?"
At the question, she...hesitates. Briefly. Thinks of Verso, of course, but...his Paintress-given immortality isn't this. ]
no. those who die or who are gommaged stay dead.
[ With the exception of one family. And she doesn't love lying to Jasnah, but sharing her own secrets with the other woman is one thing: offering his...isn't her place. ]
[ Tap-tap-tap goes her nail against the devices edge. Either the man who can't die is lying to Sciel or Sciel is lying to her. Jasnah can't decide which possibility she'd prefer. She does feel an uncharitable pull towards the former. But it's not as though she needs any more reasons to feel disquieted by Verso. It's not as though she needs any more reasons to feel concerned for Sciel's judgement.
...Ugh. There's nothing noble in what she's about to do. She makes an educated guess. ]
I would rather you were honest with me.
[ And if Sciel doesn't know about her fellow Expeditioner's condition? Well. Jasnah doesn't feel one ounce of reluctance when it comes to spilling some guy's secrets in the face of whatever odd, awkward affection she feels for Sciel. She deserves to know. ]
[ ...Does she know? Does Jasnah's response only make sense if she knows, if...she's either spoken to to Lune about it already (most likely) or that she's not only met Verso, but that he'd-...what, mentioned his immortality? Or...it'd come up because Jasnah had witnessed him suffer a would-be fatal wound and not die. But...Jasnah hadn't mentioned knowing him at the party, so had they met sometime after...?
Best to just let the other woman explain for herself. In the meantime, Sciel considers her side of things for a while before replying with: ]
there are some people that are the exception to the rule. only a few.
[ "It's private, and it's painful, and it's none of your business." The coldness of that conversation following the mess at Old Lumiere is still fresh enough. If Verso weren't here, she'd probably just launch into the whole thing. Since he is, and she's still reticent to spill anything that could remotely be considered his business, she leaves it at that for now. ]
[ Jasnah proceeds to not explain herself. It's not that she wants to hide her interactions with Verso; rather, any urge to share their existence is equal with an urge to not share. However — rather interesting that Sciel suggests Verso's not the only one back home who is capable of such feats. She has to ask herself: is Sciel likely to obfuscate the truth by pretending a plural that doesn't exist?
Her gut tells her no. ]
The same can be said for Roshar. Such instances generally coincide with an individual possessing a significant amount of [ — Investiture — ] powerful energy at the time of their death. Enough to make a person...stick around.
[ Hm. Yes. That'll do. ]
But I can't claim any direct knowledge of what that might mean for the dead appearing here in the city. But I'll look into it.
[ Jasnah doesn't explain. It's...not a surprise, but it also is, somehow. ]
roshar?
[ Immediately distracted by trying to remember whether or not the word has come up to this point. No...right?
Either way, she doesn't press, particularly if her 'question' (such as the simple repetition of the word is) goes unaddressed. ]
that sounds a little different from what i've seen. at home, the most you can do is sense people who've died [ assuming they haven't been killed by Nevrons ] if you've got an affinity with chroma. in that way, i guess, they can "stick around." but it's really just a feeling.
[ Not anything even close to a true revival...unfortunately. ]
i really appreciate it, jasnah. is there anything i can help you with, to pay you back?
[ Hm. What to respond to? And in what order? Jasnah could provide a miniature lesson on Cognitive Shadows. But she's not certain it would be helpful. ]
Roshar is the planet I'm from. My home world.
[ She knows that planet doesn't really work for everyone; however, it's most accurate to her knowledge of the Cosmere. ]
No repayment required. Except perhaps to share the consequences of whatever we learn. These matters also interest me.
[ That's right. The word returns through the no man's land of what her mind had been through in the interim. ]
i remember now. you were talking about the books you'd look for if you were home.
[ "On Roshar." A cozy bookshop in the middle of a rainy afternoon... The memory is both very far away and just beyond arm's length. ]
of course. i can pass anything along that the others learn, too. lots of questions already around here so it'll be stiff competition, but this does seem like something worth prioritizing.
[ Genuinely! While it's true that she has a selfish, vested interest in the subject, that's only a small part of it. ]
no need. it isn't a secret. you can say it was me asking if that's ever relevant.
[ Not, of course, because she has any particular sway, especially not in the places Jasnah would be looking, but rather in case they've got follow-up questions. So she adds: ]
no need for you to be a go-between on top of everything else you've got going on.
[ 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.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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With a long-suffering sigh, Jasnah delays answering Sciel while she goes in, edits the record, and deletes the name entirely. So now Sciel shows up merely as 007-8719. So be it. Later, she'll delete everyone else's names too. Safer still if she simply memorizes the numbers and associates them with the appropriate faces.
Eventually: ]
Of course.
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[ There's a pause. Then — ]
also: you didn't say how you're doing.
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I'm fine.
Is this about the new individuals who have turned up from your home world?
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[ ...But not entirely. It's also about individuals who might turn up from her home world. ]
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[ Does Jasnah know Maelle's name? Is she just being extra-cautious not to put it in writing? Has that thread simply not yet concluded, so we can't be certain? ]
eventual e33 spoilers, almost certainly
you know her?
[ If so, Sciel isn't going to possibly cause Jasnah any discomfort on her end at the notion that the teenager is dead in another world, so: ]
but no. she's okay.
it's about someone else.
and...the general idea, really. unbelievable as it is.
or was. before.
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[ Must be that someone else, then. And — as Sciel fills in — the prospect of others. Jasnah pauses, staring at the device. What was unbelievable to Sciel had become quickly apparent to her. But a particular conversation between the aisles of a bookstore might have helped cement the possibility in her mind. So! She spares the other woman a terse, callous why are you surprised? Doesn't seem like the time, really.
Growth. Anyway. Sciel had asked whether she'd come across anything— ]
My focus has been on local folklore. But I can...adjust. It'll be more effective if you tell me explicitly what questions you're hoping to answer.
[ It's not strictly true. The efficacy likely won't change by much. But she'd appreciate the constraint and — and, well, she's curious. ]
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Maybe she doesn't want to stoke the fires of her own hope unnecessarily. So far all it's really done is lick painfully at her scarred insides. ]
if you have the time, i'd appreciate it.
[ Lune had said she planned to look into it too, but it can't hurt to have another sharp mind on the task, if Jasnah's amenable. ]
trying to figure out a few things, but the gist is: is the power that brings us here able to truly revive the dead, or is it instead able to pull people in from certain points in time that might be right /before/ death?
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What would make the distinction between the two meaningful?
[ She has her guesses. She wants to know why the difference matters to Sciel. ]
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[ They're both extraordinary powers, but manipulating time is something more...approachable. Something possible with chroma that Sciel herself, to a small extent, can manage.
Resurrecting the dead, though... ]
i'm also curious how often it's happened.
i only know of one case. is it a fluke? or a pattern?
[ There it is again, like a weed. Hope. ]
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She sits back in her chair — something hard and wooden, standard issue in the dormitories — and considers the little glowing phone screen. ]
I'd be more surprised if it was a fluke.
[ Unique things are so — well — unique. ]
But that doesn't make it a pattern, either. I take it there's no similar phenomenon where you're from?
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At the question, she...hesitates. Briefly. Thinks of Verso, of course, but...his Paintress-given immortality isn't this. ]
no. those who die or who are gommaged stay dead.
[ With the exception of one family. And she doesn't love lying to Jasnah, but sharing her own secrets with the other woman is one thing: offering his...isn't her place. ]
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...Ugh. There's nothing noble in what she's about to do. She makes an educated guess. ]
I would rather you were honest with me.
[ And if Sciel doesn't know about her fellow Expeditioner's condition? Well. Jasnah doesn't feel one ounce of reluctance when it comes to spilling some guy's secrets in the face of whatever odd, awkward affection she feels for Sciel. She deserves to know. ]
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Best to just let the other woman explain for herself. In the meantime, Sciel considers her side of things for a while before replying with: ]
there are some people that are the exception to the rule.
only a few.
[ "It's private, and it's painful, and it's none of your business." The coldness of that conversation following the mess at Old Lumiere is still fresh enough. If Verso weren't here, she'd probably just launch into the whole thing. Since he is, and she's still reticent to spill anything that could remotely be considered his business, she leaves it at that for now. ]
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Her gut tells her no. ]
The same can be said for Roshar. Such instances generally coincide with an individual possessing a significant amount of [ — Investiture — ] powerful energy at the time of their death. Enough to make a person...stick around.
[ Hm. Yes. That'll do. ]
But I can't claim any direct knowledge of what that might mean for the dead appearing here in the city. But I'll look into it.
[ It's a worthwhile research project. ]
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roshar?
[ Immediately distracted by trying to remember whether or not the word has come up to this point. No...right?
Either way, she doesn't press, particularly if her 'question' (such as the simple repetition of the word is) goes unaddressed. ]
that sounds a little different from what i've seen.
at home, the most you can do is sense people who've died [ assuming they haven't been killed by Nevrons ] if you've got an affinity with chroma.
in that way, i guess, they can "stick around." but it's really just a feeling.
[ Not anything even close to a true revival...unfortunately. ]
i really appreciate it, jasnah.
is there anything i can help you with, to pay you back?
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Roshar is the planet I'm from. My home world.
[ She knows that planet doesn't really work for everyone; however, it's most accurate to her knowledge of the Cosmere. ]
No repayment required. Except perhaps to share the consequences of whatever we learn. These matters also interest me.
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i remember now. you were talking about the books you'd look for if you were home.
[ "On Roshar." A cozy bookshop in the middle of a rainy afternoon... The memory is both very far away and just beyond arm's length. ]
of course.
i can pass anything along that the others learn, too.
lots of questions already around here so it'll be stiff competition, but this does seem like something worth prioritizing.
[ Genuinely! While it's true that she has a selfish, vested interest in the subject, that's only a small part of it. ]
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[ Lune, naturally. But who else? Just the others from back home? Or are there other scholars here in Diadem that Sciel has on speed dial... ]
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well. just lune.
[ c: ]
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How quiet should I keep this line of inquiry?
[ That is — how carefully should she approach other scholars who might have more foundational knowledge than she currently does? ]
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you can say it was me asking if that's ever relevant.
[ Not, of course, because she has any particular sway, especially not in the places Jasnah would be looking, but rather in case they've got follow-up questions. So she adds: ]
no need for you to be a go-between on top of everything else you've got going on.
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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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