Singularity Study Sessions

[photophobic]

WHO: Castle Thorne residents!
WHAT: A catch-all study room setting for awakening connections to the Singularity through meditation, and all other things Horizon. When not in use for group meditation sessions, the room is kind of Kylo's... office? where he will be working on his own projects.
WHEN: wibbly-wobbly ongoing, sessions began some time after the prison break and will be open for newcomers in the latest app round to join in too. Kylo's more generalised top-level is a catch-all, feel free to come visit at any time.
WHERE: Castle Thorne
WARNINGS: None at present! If something comes up in your thread, please warn in the subject lines and/or let me know so I can add them here.

(This is something of a mingle log, so feel free to use this space for anything you like. I'll be putting up top-levels for interacting with Kylo specifically, please feel free to do the same if your character would be willing to help others get to the Horizon for the first time or would otherwise have use for a relatively private environment in Castle Thorne!)

Accomplishing anything at all here in Abraxas will require better understanding of the Singularity— and if Kylo and the other Summoned brought in during the first wave of Ambrose's project to touch it by proxy have learned anything, it's that the answers to their questions are much more likely to be found beyond the border of the Horizon than in Thorne's library. There's only so much to discover by studying the effects of the Singularity on this world, or even the countless others it touches. Perhaps it's better to go direct to the source.

For this purpose, Kylo has secured one of the castle's many rooms for use by the Summoned— a space where they can gather and explore their shared connection to the Horizon in relative safety, avoiding the potentially hazardous trek to the physical artifact at the very heart of the world. During sessions, the room is open to anyone who would like to visit the Horizon. Outside of them, the room is reserved for Kylo's personal efforts to study the Singularity. Sometimes, the work goes on behind closed doors. A group of Thornean mages — Kylo's recently formed task force — gather here on occasion, but are notably absent unless specifically requested.

Beyond the common architectural notes of high ceilings, intricate stonework and rich (if somewhat faded) tapestries, the main feature of the room is the collection of sumptuous cushions spread across the floor. Drapes cover the tall windows, while the soft illumination of magical lamplight lends the space a still, restful air. Alongside one wall is a table laden with pitchers of water and tall glasses, bowls of fruit and similar light refreshments, while a pair of long couches have been set up along the other.

Meditation is the key to entering the Horizon, and that's far more easily achieved when everyone's comfortable.

Comments

Activation with Kylo Ren!

[photophobic]

(this thread is for anyone who would like to thread out the process of activating their link to the Singularity with Kylo! While not strictly necessary, it would really help me if you could fill out a little info on your character on Kylo's permissions page. If you'd like to pair up with someone else but still want to use the study group room, please feel free to start your own toplevel. Thanks!)

Something about the quality of light and the plush softness surrounding the starkly solid bulk of Kylo Ren might feel a little unnatural, particularly to anyone who's seen him training with brutally fluid efficiency out in the courtyard— but Kylo himself seems perfectly at ease.

"Would you like to talk about it first?" he asks, apparently unaware that most people begin conversations with greetings— or perhaps he simply doesn't care. Anyone here knows what he's referring to, after all: the source of magic in this world and possibly all others too. With a touch of his hand and a little guided meditation, he can take any of his fellow Summoned to the Horizon, stirring up their own latent connection to the Singularity and its potentially endless possibilities.

His gaze is smooth, unflinchingly steady.

"...Or would you like to see it for yourself."

[harmonian]

Sasarai glides over to the refreshments and delicately plucks a few plump strawberries from a dish. His back is turned to Kylo as he answers.

"I want to see it for myself but I hope you don't mind if we start with talking about you."

Satisfied with his handful of berries he turns around, smiling a smile that never quite reaches his eyes.

"You were there at that platform but I don't think we've officially met yet. I'm Sasarai."

[photophobic]

Interesting. Kylo isn't adverse to the idea of a little get-to-know-you session exactly, but he's never been much for them either. Before arriving in Abraxas he never needed much of an introduction— people tended to get the idea at a purposefully colour-coded glance, if not the fiery end of a laser sword. He assesses Sasarai curiously.

"Kylo Ren."

Which is definitely not going to do it. He glances towards the strawberries in Sasarai's hand, then meets his eyes anew.

"What would you like to know?"

[harmonian]

"Well, you seem like you've been here a while. Longer than me, anyway."

He settles himself into a cushion that is more plush than he expects, causing him to sink down to the point of nearly tipping over backwards.

With a small kick he rights himself.

"So let's start with that. What happened between you showing up and that ordeal in the courtyard?"

He pops a strawberry into his mouth and watches Kylo closely, curious not just about his answer but how he answers. Sometimes tone can convey a person's true feelings about their situation. Does Kylo like it here? Is it duty that binds him to Thorne when he could have left? Sasarai doesn't have any plans that he needs that information for, but it's the sort of information he likes to keep in the back of his mind.

[extendedbrutalpipemurder]

[ Elias' lips draw into a thin line. He's eager to know more about the Singularity and the opportunity which the Horizon affords, but-- ]

I'm still rather hung up on this whole 'amnesia' business.

[ Not that he's worried about what he'll reveal while he's there, nor even about anything which might happen. But he's learned that there are two others here from his Archive, and he'd like them to stay in the dark about his arrival as long as possible. ]

I'm sure you understand. No one likes feeling as though they won't be in control of themselves.

[photophobic]

[Kylo's lips tug at a corner. Clearly, he very much does understand.]

It was admittedly easier for the first group of us, rounded up and hurled physically into the Horizon itself without any idea what we might experience there. [was that a joke? It is, unfortunately, near impossible to tell. Judging by the expression on his face, Kylo might well mean exactly what he said. He continues:] Everyone being impaired in exactly the same way.

[But, like it or not, there is an inherent power imbalance now between the established and the uninitiated. Kylo's gaze is cool and steady. Elias has a choice.]

You could always leave your connection dormant, if you'd prefer to remain weak on this side of the Horizon to avoid temporary weakness within it.

[extendedbrutalpipemurder]

"Weak" on this side of the Horizon? Do you mean those side effects people have after they've visited?

[ He will go in, he knows enough of himself to recognise that his desire to see what happens will get him sooner or later. It's just a question of whether it will, in fact, be sooner or later. ]

Office Hours

[photophobic]

(this thread is for meeting with Kylo here outside of the free-for-all meditation sessions! I'll be including opportunities to spy on Kylo's task force as well as options for meeting/working/studying in relative privacy. Feel free to hit me up on starktech or cryloren#2195 discord if you have questions or want to plot, and I'll happily match style if you prefer brackets over prose.)

OFFICE HOURS;

(open to all!)

When not in use as a venue for group meditation sessions, the study room functions as a safe space for experiments with magic, interior shielded with a magical ward designed to keep things in rather than out. Anyone looking for Kylo Ren will be directed here— aside from his morning training sessions in the courtyard, mealtimes, and evenings spent soaking in the castle's luxurious baths, the study room is where he's most likely to be.

With the cushions piled in the corner and the table covered in hefty tomes rather than refreshments, the room regains some of its natural scale. The lamplight glows at a level more comfortable for reading than drifting into unconsciousness, and inside, Kylo (and, quite frequently, his growing entourage) can be found either studying or practicing attempts to bridge and blend Abraxan knowledge with their own personal magics and abilities.

THE LOCKED DOOR;

(for private meetings, but uninvited guests can investigate if they like and I'll have Kylo open the door!)

Anyone with the aptitude walking past will be able to sense that something is happening inside. A magical ward has been cast on the interior, thick and impenetrable, bleeding a strange kind of static buzz into the corridor beyond. There's no sound— nothing more tangible than a slight shift in air pressure, a barely detectable sensation of density that escalates on approach to the heavy wooden door, solidly and supernaturally closed shut.

Behind it, wrapped in privacy, someone is at work.

WILDCARD;

(anything else!)

office hours!

[neverlight]

It doesn't take Brad long to become familiar with the study room Kylo's claimed as his own, to get a sense of what time to come around to ensure that it's set up less for meditation, more for actual work. Something resembling an office feels more comfortable anyway. Just get Brad a laptop, a good wifi connection, a chair to comfortably lean back in, a stress ball or two and it'll practically be like home.

Yeah, outside of maybe the stress ball — and if he's real lucky, the chair — none of that's happening, but it's better than the kumbaya shit.

(The whole group meditation thing is... well, it's something. But if you're going to put yourself in a state that vulnerable — not so much in body, but in spirit — Brad would prefer to be alone. Barring that, it's better to be one-on-one with someone you trust, someone who's not going to fuck you over even though they have every chance to. Someone who warns you beforehand what's coming, and even though you can't appreciate it in the moment, you can after.

For all his posturing, it's what Brad would do, too. So when he'd come out the other side with full understanding of what Kylo was talking about, with full recognition that as he'd reverted to someone so guarded he didn't even know what he was guarding — like he was a kid again, trying to learn to close himself off completely without the deeper understanding behind it, just a desperate instinct that it had to be done — Kylo hadn't tried to pry, or manipulate, or take advantage in any way... He wouldn't call that first experience good, but it could've been a whole lot worse. And it wasn't. That counted for a lot.

But that's neither here nor there. Not anymore.)

He gives the door a courtesy knock before opening it and entering the room, announcing his arrival but not exactly waiting around to be let in. Brad's been around often enough anyway that Kylo would know to expect him any reasonable amount of time after a courtyard sparring session, with enough time to wash off and at least eat a little something before stopping by. Hey, you're a guy who comes from a world without any kind of magic whatsoever and not only do you find yourself with a seemingly endless library but someone who's well-versed in a totally different kind and you kinda like the guy and, well, of course you're gonna spend a significant part of your day trying to soak up as much as you can. What else would he be doing?

Brad shuts the door behind him, leaning back against the wall beside it and folding his arms over his chest, completely at ease. "Hey," he says, offering Kylo a grin, friendly and just a little sharp all at once, corners of his eyes crinkling just enough that it's sincere. "Heard you got some new friends."

The task force; the four mages that are suddenly around an awful lot ever since their interrogations in the dungeon. Yeah, he's being a bit of a shit — just some light teasing, considering how thoroughly unfriendly Kylo's default demeanour is — but there's also a genuine curiosity to the quip. This is a relatively new development, after all, and between coming from a magic-less world and being part of the second wave, there's still a bit of catchup for Brad to do.

But also, you know. Good for you, buddy.

[photophobic]

Very few people would dare accuse him of it, but Kylo is fond of Brad. Had he been born in a galaxy far far away, Kylo rather suspects Brad would have made an excellent addition to the supreme council of the First Order, and not just because of how infuriating his presence would be to everyone there he isn't fond of (though that is admittedly an amusing thought). Hux, for example, would be utterly livid watching the way Brad saunters into the room as if Kylo Ren isn't a mass-murdering warlord capable of ripping him apart with a thought, or even a dangerous rival to be endlessly plotted and schemed against— but a colleague.

Yes. Possibly even a friend. His lips quirk in brief recognition as Brad wields that particular word as his fencing foil of choice.

"It seems Ambrose has finally decided to try treating Thorne's guests as partners rather than tools he doesn't know how to use," Kylo explains, which is more than he would do for Hux. Explanations are for those who can be trusted with the gift of his effort in providing them. People capable of following the content. People worth Kylo's time.

"I've been given command of a small taskforce. You can meet them later, if you would like— they'll be assisting me in my work. Which I assume you would like to hear all about, unless you're here to show me something new you've mastered."

Brad's a quick study after all, for a man from a world devoid of magic and seemingly dead to the Force— and Kylo would hardly begrudge him a moment of pride for even a relatively minor achievement.

[neverlight]

Sowing chaos and generally being a thorn — heh — in people's sides while gently nudging along those he actually does like, does want to see succeed, is generally Brad's bread and butter. How fortuitous for him, then, that he'd found Kylo in the courtyard one morning before things in the castle got chaotic; that they both knew how to wield a sword; that it led to where they are now. He'd be loathe to admit it, but life tends to be easier when you've got people you care about around you. Less miserable.

Far be it from him to use the word friend sincerely, but shit like that is better left unspoken. If you know, you know. It doesn't need to be said out loud.

Brad raises his eyebrows at Kylo's explanation, absorbing the new information. It is quite a change of pace from that information session where he'd first seen Kylo (and the bard along with him); a session where not everyone had exactly been pleased about their circumstances. Brad had found it entertaining at the time. He'd also been sure to share with Jolene in their little one-on-one that not everyone they'd welcomed had been happy about how things were being run, so it probably wasn't surprising that a good number of them fled, too. If he had to guess, he'd assume that would have played its own small part in elevating the roles of those who stayed. The main thing would be the mass escape, of course, but these things add up.

His grin softens as he waves a hand dismissively. "Nothing new that's notable," he says, downplaying his studies — less out of modesty and more out of, well. Even though magic is standard practice for this world, it's still dorky bullshit where he comes from, and keeping a disinterested exterior is a habit that's hard to break. It's a little surprising, then, that Brad doesn't seem to mind that Kylo's seen through him on that front, is well aware that making the progress that he has is a point of pride. He should be too old for it. He's not, apparently.

"Definitely not as notable as a new task force. Congrats, you've earned it," Brad continues. Though the words are casual, almost flippant, he means them. Kylo's taken a lot upon himself here in the short time Brad has known him, and ambition deserves to be rewarded. Especially if the person with said ambition is actually competent. Such a rarity. "You know I'd love to meet them. And you know I want to hear all about what you're up to."

One world with magic is a wonder in and of itself; multiple worlds with multiple forms of it is something else entirely. And sure, Brad's enjoying what he can learn of Abraxan magic, trending towards darkness and shadows and the like because of nerdy interests he can suddenly make a reality. But there's more out there, and it would be foolish not to learn as much of it as possible.

the locked door

[nightwash]

There's nothing new about this except the location. Ronan has been doing this for ages now in the Horizon — and even longer in dreams — and while certain people would say there's no difference between the world of dreams and the world of the waking, the freedom is still so novel to him. This is what he fought for back home. This. The ability to take reality and change it, whenever and wherever he wanted.

This isn't the Horizon and it isn't a dream, yet he's got his talons hooked on Kylo's shoulder. Grace doesn't come to him quite as easily in the "real" world, but he hasn't drawn blood yet, even as he flexes his grip experimentally. No, he would say he's done a magnificent job. This is extraordinary sorcery. He makes a perfectly convincing raven.

Being very pleased with himself, Ronan extends his good mood to Kylo by gently preening his curls. This beak isn't very good for making human-shaped words, but he makes a clicking sound that conveys his affection anyway as he nibbles. Isn't this nice? Now he's conveniently sized to be a constant companion and Kylo looks like a proper warlock with his familiar.

[photophobic]

The strange thing is that Kylo doesn't immediately sense the difference.

Ronan's essence, his very being remains unchanged— and distracted as Kylo is with his own reading, the curl of talons could just as easily be Ronan's hands claiming Kylo's shoulder for the sheer pleasure of knowing he can, that Kylo even enjoys it when Ronan leans in close to join him in what he's doing.

Or to distract him from it. The shape of Ronan's satisfaction is definitely curved in that direction, and Kylo is about to reward him with the murmured scolding he's almost certainly seeking when he feels Ronan's beak glide through his hair, fussing with it indulgently.

Kylo laughs. It's a brief rumble of a laugh, rich and warm and secret in its moment of unguarded surprise. His hand is already reaching up, motion familiar from having met Ronan in this form before— though not here on this side of the Horizon where such things are far less easily achieved.

"Hello, little one," he murmurs, fingers fond as they stroke over the smooth, glossy feathers of his head, then curl to pet the luxurious ruff at his throat before finally straightening out to offer him the whole of his hand as a perch to step up onto. "Come here— let me look at you..."

[nightwash]

Ronan echoes Kylo's laughter with a considerably less human sound, however equal in its pleasure. Although he's found all sorts of ways to surprise and delight Kylo, these expressions of joy (or something like it) are rare enough that Ronan treasures them. They are the sun making a brief and brilliant appearance on a grey winter day, and Ronan basks in the moment like it might never come again.

As bidden, he hops onto Kylo's hand, fluttering his wings a bit awkwardly until he's sure of his steadiness. Then he struts — only a few steps, really — so that Kylo can get a good look at his work. All that sets him apart from any other raven are his stormy blue eyes, and just as in the Horizon, it's a choice rather than an error. Kylo's already paid him a compliment with that fond greeting, but Ronan regards him closely as he awaits more feedback. (Maybe another smile.)

the locked door.

[vixening]

Today is not the first time at which Yennefer has sensed the ward at this particular door. She's come to know how others avoid this hallway, when it comes to be. How even the most well-meaning of courtiers will take completely opposing routes through the castle just to avoid that feeling of wrong that emanates from the closed door. Yennefer has stepped through the corridor a time or two - first on accident, second and third by choice. She wants to know what is causing it, how someone is causing it, and what it's supposed to mean.

It is not much later that she comes to find out whose room it is, and who is - more likely than not - on the other side.

That is the primary reason she finds herself coming to a stop outside said door, today. Feeling that odd buzzing in the air, the thickness that seems to solidify around her as she grows closer. Despite the feeling, knowing exactly its intent and attempts to push her away, Yennefer closes the distance between her and the wood, reaching a hand out to set a palm flat to it. She supposes she could knock, could make her presence known to its occupant, but something tells her she needn't do much of anything. Instead, she closes her eyes, allowing the pressure of the magic push against her, studying the pressure and the feeling it presents.

Another impressive feat, she thinks with a near-smile, as she attempts to guide the density around her like a rock disrupting the flow of water in a stream.

[photophobic]

If she had attempted to breach the ward on a day when Kylo's task force had remained inside, she might have encountered far fiercer opposition— but this is an enchantment without its master at hand to keep it securely in place, and Yennefer is a powerful and persistent challenger.

It's also an enchantment primarily designed to contain and resist pressure applied from within, for reasons that aren't immediately apparent. As the static field splits and flows around the smooth press of Yennefer's palm, the great wooden door releases its hold on the latch and yawns inward on its hinges, revealing the room beyond. Lamplight glows in a dim, restful amber, just enough to illuminate the improbable solidity of Kylo Ren sat on a luxuriously plush couch, the generous height of Ronan Lynch taking up the length of it as he lies sprawled in comfortable repose, head resting on Kylo's thigh.

"Close it behind you," Kylo suggests without turning to face her, though his fingers pause in place from their idle drift over Ronan's scalp— an indication of his attention now directed elsewhere. "If you're coming in."

If he's surprised to see her, he's doing a masterful job of hiding it.

[vixening]

Part of Yennefer had been expecting that opposition, having seen enough of Kylo's task force come in and out of this room, and that part is almost disappointed to find that the magic of the thing adjusts to move around her, rather than push through. It's a small part, something that Yennefer is used to ignoring - the need to push, to explode, to use everything she has to fight back.

As it stands, the door creaks inward and Yennefer allows herself a few moments to stand perched in the doorway, examining what she can see before her. The room itself isn't anything extraordinary, beyond the thick magic that hangs in the air, but her violet eyes scan it all the same - books, papers, a desk, a couch. Ronan Lynch, asleep, spread across it with his head perched in Kylo's lap.

She feels a smile tug at the corner of her lips at his acknowledgement of her, and easily steps inside the space, waving her hand and allowing her chaos to reach out and close the door behind her. It's not entirely necessary, the simple flourishes in a room so layered in more complex rituals, but ever since leaving the dungeon Yennefer hasn't quite found it in herself to hold back.

Her eyes, after she is content enough with her scan of the room, fall back to Kylo. To his attention on Ronan. And to Ronan, fast asleep. Ronan, sleeping. Because while she's heard of it, of what is possible when someone like Ronan Lynch allows himself to dream, this is the first time she's getting to see it first hand.

"Is now a good time? Or should I come back later?" She knows the answer but asks the question all the same - if she hadn't been at least in some way welcomed into this room, there is very little chance she would have made it in here. Or, at the very least, it wouldn't have been as easy. That is when, simply because she can, Yennefer steps further into the room. Sends her eyes back around to the details of the space, rather than staring solidly at Kylo - the source of this enchantment - and Ronan, something else entirely. Her curiosity almost cripples her; almost, but not quite. Not yet.

She glances over her shoulder, having found something else to catch her interest for the prior few moments, to see if Kylo has decided to shift his gaze at all. Waits, for a moment, before asking, "He's dreaming, isn't he?"

office hours (ish)

[impressionism]

Hennessy has, for the moment, given up on meditation. She's bad at it, as literally anyone who's met her could have predicted, given that she quite purposefully has developed numerous strategies for ever allowing her mind to simply exist in quietude. They're so well-developed that turning them off is a fight, and it's one she's grown tired in having on this particular day.

Instead she's turned to the only thing that has ever come close to allowing her a sort of meditative state: her art. She's made a number of small sketches in a book she's brought here for that purpose, mostly of her fellow students who've since come and gone, but a few of a particularly pleasing arrangement of fruit, and one, nearly-completed, of her roommate and sometimes teacher. She's lounging on one of the sofas, putting the finishing touches on the aforementioned sketch, when she realizes she's the only student left.

"Guess you're about to kick me out, so we'll call this one done."

She tears the page from her book with the appearance of carelessness and holds it out to him, perhaps in apology for being such a relentless nuisance.

[photophobic]

Kylo accepts Hennessey's gift with a surprisingly delicate touch, for a man with such large hands— and particularly for one who doesn't appear to fully open his eyes until he has the sketch in hand to look at.

It's a masterful likeness, in all honesty, but it isn't simply the technical skill that catches Kylo's attention. Having been born with a sense beyond sight, even holovid images are only ever hollow shadow copies of their originals to him— but this? There's a surprising depth to Hennessey's work in a direction Kylo didn't quite expect. This isn't a picture of what he looks like, but of what he looks like to her.

His eyes slide from the picture up to her face, studying it now.

"Am I?" he counters, glancing back to the sketch in his hand— a Kylo Ren captured in a moment of stillness. The man Hennessey's pencil has described here looks, Kylo thinks, like a teacher.

"You could stay. If you wanted to try reaching it again."

[impressionism]

Hennessy's already turned to gather up the rest of her things by the time he makes his offer. She doesn't respond immediately, weighing the offer against what it might cost her in some nebulous future in which she's forced to take sides in a magic war. She doesn't like having to kill people that she's grown fond of. It seems tacky.

On the other hand, she might actually throw herself into the nearest sea if Ronan keeps showing off all his new tricks and she hasn't even learned how to reliably control her Horizon access.

"Sure, why not. I love being smashed in the face repeatedly by my own failure."

office hours.

[usilivat]

Mal has questions.

And left to his own devices, he has nothing to do but attempt to draw out answers, one way or another.

The trouble tends to be this: who can be trusted to give him honest information?

When he arrives at Kylo Ren's office, Mal hasn't entirely decided whether or not this man is a reliable source. But he has a reputation within the castle, has some kind of magic, and despite Mal's apprehension over the latter, it feels like a possibility. And the door is, quite literally, open.

So Mal appears in the doorway, sparing a moment to take in the surroundings. Thinks grisha, an assessment that passes as Mal questions, "Are you busy?"

[photophobic]

Kylo looks up, his eyes dark and curious.

Malyen Oretsev. But, notably, a Malyen Oretsev that doesn't look at him the way he probably should, considering the circumstances of their last encounter. Considering too how Kylo reporting his attack on Kirigan in the burrows of the Frostwurm ended up sending both him and Alina to solitary confinement.

Intriguing.

"Not so busy I can't be interrupted," he offers, putting down his pen and turning bodily to study his visitor square-on.

"Come in. Tell me what you're looking for."

Private meeting;

[photophobic]

(Closed to Jolene!)

The vast majority of the time, Kylo is perfectly comfortable passing messages through the usual channels: brief notes to be carried to Jolene's desk, simple word of mouth. This time, however, having received some disturbing information about clandestine experiments on prisoners and the involvement of senior figures of the court, it seems prudent to arrange a more secure meeting under the protection of a magical ward.

The door is protected with a temporary charm that will only allow Jolene herself access. Inside, only Kylo waits to receive his visitor, the members of his task force having been dismissed once the ward is securely in place. Despite his usual (and possibly unintentional) aura of vaguely irritable menace, Kylo seems much more comfortable here than he had been in the dungeon— and on sensing the door open, he turns with a smooth, unhurried motion and gestures for Jolene to join him inside.

It seems they have a lot to discuss.

[abraxasnpcs]

Jolene enters the room with no fanfare, and no outward reaction to Kylo's looming presence hanging heavy about the room. She looks tired, though not excessively so. The faint circles under her eyes have been haphazardly hidden with a combination of magic and cosmetics. She doesn't bother waiting for him to invite her to take a seat — she sits in one of the two chairs with her hands folded in her lap, fixing her gaze on him.

"Hello, Kylo."

[photophobic]

"Jolene."

Kylo hardly needs extrasensory abilities today. Greeting delivered, he takes a seat across from her in a smooth sweep of heavy black fabric, his eyes settling on hers with unerring precision.

"You've been busy," he notes. "As have I. I take it you weren't able to find anyone who could tell you what happened to Relena?"