Geralt z Rivii (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
gynvael) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
abraxaslogs2022-05-24 01:20 pm
gynvael) wrote in abraxaslogs2022-05-24 01:20 pm
[ CLOSED ]
Who: Geralt, Stephen Strange, Thancred.......Yennefer :)
When: End of May (before he leaves the city)
Where: Horizon - Thancred's domain
What: When your ex shows up to your work meeting unannounced
Warnings: Drama, a huge headache, nonsense, multiverse and singularity shenanigans
(( kicking things off below ))
When: End of May (before he leaves the city)
Where: Horizon - Thancred's domain
What: When your ex shows up to your work meeting unannounced
Warnings: Drama, a huge headache, nonsense, multiverse and singularity shenanigans
(( kicking things off below ))
here we go.
Three months is time enough. It's information he wants to have before he leaves the city. He'll be taking Sam. They'll be in each other's company for awhile. If what Stephen tells him will be important, he would prefer to have the details on hand to discuss during their trip.
Near the end of the month, his distinct script appears before Stephen. ][ When he receives an answer in the affirmative, he agrees on a time, place. Goes there. Thancred's domain is most sensible. Open tavern, neutral, inviting. He waits at the counter—or maybe Stephen has already arrived. Surprises him a bit Thancred is fallen behind, but it matters not. Doesn't take everyone at Thorne to fill him in on what they uncovered.
Last time he saw Stephen, the man looked as though he wished for the ground to swallow him whole. ]
Don't worry. I'm a gentler crowd than Sam's. [ He retrieves his drink from wherever it appears. ] You said Ambrose sent you on an excursion?
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[-Stephen says, marking his arrival with a wry twist of his mouth and gently raised brows. Crossing closer to where Geralt stands next to the counter, he doesn't bother waiting for the host of this domain to reach for a glass and summon a bottle of wine, popping off the cork with a hint of magic and pouring a generous amount for himself. Clearly, there's a sense of familiarity inherent in these motions -- if not with the domain itself, then definitely its owner.
This chat has been a long time coming. A lot's happened, and he's glad to unload what information he's gathered onto someone else's plate; someone beyond the confines of Thorne Castle, so that it may diffuse itself into the hands of those who'd make good use of it. Stephen imagines he doesn't need to wait for Thancred or Yennefer to begin to relay the generalities of what was recently expected of the traveling group.]
That's right. I brought my concerns to Ambrose about the Singularity sometime after we last spoke. ["Our" concerns, more like, but he had made sure to frame it as his own, instead.] His reply to the chances of the monolith acting like a doorway for something nasty to creep through? Unlikely, but it's worth keeping an eye on.
[Which is perhaps better than being brushed off at all. Alternately, it was merely an excuse to have a few Summoned run a very extended errand for the High Mage, but he has a feeling their excursion will be beneficial to them all, in the long run.]
Which meant setting up a sort of... system that could more closely track fluctuations in the Singularity's magic to the smallest of degrees. We were tasked with doing just that, planting devices called "thaumametors" all over Thornean territory.
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They didn't monitor the Singularity before?
[ Given Thorne's vested interest in the monolith, that's unusual. Or did they simply not have the means prior to now? That might be so. It's true they'd need something that could monitor it from a distance. Planting anything too close to the Singularity, with tensions this high, might be considered an act of aggression. Or a threat.
Either way, more important than the monitoring is that Ambrose appears to have trusted Stephen with something. Yennefer's made her efforts to cozy up to the Queen. Geralt had been willing to trust her through it for a time, but those days are over. He wants someone who can grant information about more than the goings-on of the court itself. About the Singularity, and what it means. Whatever the Queen desires, she appears to remain distant from the nature of the Singularity, beyond her one failed attempt to transfer its connection into one of the Abraxans. All other matters of the Singularity have apparently gone through the High Mage. And given what's been happening, Geralt has other concerns than the politics of one kingdom. ]
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Though maybe that's not giving the High Mage enough credit. There's something to be said about being willing to entertain the possibility, even if the thaumametors had been in the works well before Stephen threw the idea out there in the first place. At least now they have an in — the information collected about the Singularity is not so much a walled garden any longer.]
Of course. But not like this. This provides a more accurate measurement and a more immediate one. As far as our personal concerns go, anything trying to sneak past will have a harder time doing it unnoticed.
[Stephen leans back a little, fishing out a watch. He offers it to Geralt to examine, even if it is a Horizon-facsimile of the real thing.]
Maybe more importantly, I get to keep a finger on the pulse of the Singularity, too. Metaphorically speaking.
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His gaze flicks back up. He hands the object back. ] And what happens when your monitoring tells you something Thorne shouldn't catch word of?
[ Because that is Geralt's other concern, one they'd spoken of in their last conversation: not that the Singularity might be a gateway for other entities that could bring danger, but that Thorne may uncover something related to its nature worth manipulating for their own tactics.
He trusts Stephen. Inasmuch as the trusts anyone he doesn't know well, but has chosen to rely on, that is. But it's a situation that can quickly grow complicated, too. Especially after what he's begun to uncover here, in the Free Cities...he doesn't know. More and more, things feel unsettled. Like a steadily tipping boat. ]
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It's a fair one, of course; and one that he's tumbled through his mind before, testing every shape of every resolution. The likelihood, the risks. In the end, he gives the same answer that he had settled upon himself.]
Then the information goes to the people I trust first. Spreads beyond the castle walls.
[At the risk of Thornean ire is the implication, but the whole advantage of being privy to this knowledge is that he can spread news worth spreading. What was the point, otherwise?]
Even so, that watch is nothing more than a measuring tool. If something worrying happens, we'd still probably need actual eyes on the Singularity, or whatever happens in the aftermath, to really know what we're dealing with.
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He lets Stephen go ahead to start off the meeting and tasks himself with collecting Yennefer. By this point it isn't difficult to find her; he knows her haunts around the castle and when he lets her know that it's time for the Horizon meeting, they agree to return to his quarters where they won't be disturbed while they slip into a meditative state.
Shortly after reaching that state of mental calmness, his domain comes into being. By now he's spent enough time in the facsimile of the Crystarium that it's a welcome and expected sight. Yennefer will also recognize it from the memory of his that she'd seen — of his departure from Ryne. They're in a slightly different part of the city, but the scenery is distinct enough, with the glass ceiling and lilac trees, that it should be obvious.
They have a set of stairs to ascend to reach the outdoor bar area where Thancred suspects Stephen has settled, and so he glances over to Yennefer with a sideways smile as they climb. ]
I trust this won't be a repeat of Borrel? There was a time or two then when I half-wondered if you might slide under the table.
[ It's a friendly tease. Often the two of them gang up on Stephen with this sort of thing, but he's now comfortable enough with Yennefer to play this game of push and pull. She doesn't need to know how many times he almost blacked out from over-imbibing in his day, though it's entirely possible he mentioned it during their drunken night in Borrel. ]
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thancred finds her just outside of one of the many study rooms she's now taken to holing up in, and when he lets her know its time, she follows him to his room. she still needs the assistance to enter the horizon, but between stephen and thancred, it hasn't been so much of an issue. they settle in his room, and with her hand across his arm, fall into the meditative state together.
she does recognize the setting, his horizon, the place it is they've found themselves. it's different enough that she knows she won't be stepping directly into his memory again, but close enough that she feels a kind of familiarity to it. enough that she's not as aware as she climbs the stairs, her hands holding up the fabric of her skirts. ]
You underestimate my tolerance for half-decent alcohol, Thancred. I do have decades of experience in getting completely shit-faced in strange taverns. But your concern is cute. [ her tease in return is just as light - because while yes, they had found an easy, comfortable place teaming up against stephen, she is just as comfortable as pushing back to thancred as well, her lips turned up into a small, knowing smile as they continue up the stairs. her attention is on thancred as they crest to the top step and settle onto the main floor of the small bar. ] I'd almost say you were hoping I'd pass out so I wouldn't make you own up to your bet. But if we're being honest with ourselves, Stephen here was-
[ the thing is - she had known they had been meeting someone who stephen knew in the cities. she had known, going into all of this, that there could be another person here. and perhaps it says something about just how far her guard has slipped around thancred and stephen that she hadn't been more prepared for this moment. that she hadn't been tense, closed up, wary of whoever else it would be they were meeting at the top of the stairs.
but as yennefer turns her eyes to stephen, mid-tease about his own part in their drunken revelry halfway across the thornean countryside, it's a different figure she finds herself focusing on. a set of shoulders she knows. a head of white hair. the very presence of him. she comes to something of an abrupt stop when she sees him, any of that easy, light, companionable smiles and air gone from her in a single instance. in it's place is a stillness, a defensiveness, because she doesn't actually need to see his face to know who he is.
ciri forgave you. don't break her heart again.
those had been the last words he'd said to her, and even as the months passed she could still hear them echoed in the back of her mind. their entire conversation, both at her domain and the summit, repeated over and over. but it is those words that come to her now, the memory of when he'd handed her back the same trinket that yennefer knew was buried in her horizon this very moment. alongside the jasper - helps right wrongs. she stills just in front of the stairs, even if thancred had continued forward towards the table. towards the two other men.
how is this possible? her chest aches even as her jaw goes tight, her hands balling into fists at her sides. ]
Is this some kind of joke?
[ she asks, the urge to protect herself filling the space between her ribs. her eyes dart to stephen and then thancred, and then back again as doubt and uncertainty and the distinct feeling that she is the one out of place starting to rise with each passing moment. ]
What the fuck is he doing here?
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He's about to say something else—ask if Thancred is held up—and then he hears Thancred. A familiar voice by now. Alone, it would've drawn no attention from him. But there's another. It takes him a second, if only because it's so unexpected. Her scent is unmistakable. He doesn't need to turn around nor hear her icy demand to know exactly who it is.
His gaze snaps up to Stephen. As though the man holds any answers for—
What the fuck.
No. Of course. Why is he surprised? Who the fuck else would it be? Yennefer might be without her magic, but she's plenty skilled at lying to fool most of Thorne and maintain her position. Of course she would've been granted the assignment alongside Stephen.
Perhaps Stephen is the only one who gets to see the flicker of expression on his face: startled, uncertain, before it settles again into a careful blank as he finally turns around. A sharpness narrows his eyes. Last time he walked away from her, he'd not intended to see her again. I will not wait for you to find your future, he'd told her, and he meant it. He should've known that wouldn't be the end of it. He should've known they'd cross paths once more.
Funny. It's easier to tell himself he's only disappointed, that it's a simple matter of broken promises, when the vast continent yawns between them. That he is not angry with her anymore. That he's let it go because there's no purpose to holding onto bitterness and resentment. It serves no one. He knows Jaskier keeps contact with her, that Jaskier will tell him if anything has gone amiss. But now she is here. In front of him. A stormy hurricane wrapped around her as though he's the one who betrayed her trust. As though she's any right to be angry with him. It stirs something inside him, flaring hot for a split second.
His eyes are fixed on her. He's quiet, flat, when he says her name. ] Yennefer.
[ Yennefer, not Yen. The distance is punctuated across each syllable. ]
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Now, Stephen believes he'll still need that drink, but likely for different reasons altogether. Geralt's expression is a spike of startled unease before he pushes back up that bulwark of cool unaffectedness, and Stephen's eyes flick directly over to Thancred and Yennefer to assess just what he's missed, just what's happening. Yennefer's body language says plenty. She, too, has tossed up a few barriers, mostly bolstered by pointed agitation, and Stephen feels the bristling of that sharp accusation collide right into him: Is this some kind of joke?
All right. Obviously, there were variables in this meeting he didn't account for. Namely, that Geralt and Yennefer must know each other, and not exactly in a way that lent itself to a casual round of drinks in a mutual friend's domain. Stephen straightens in his seat, forcing his arm to put down the glass he's been holding halfway up to his lips this whole while, and shifts to better face the two.]
He's here because we had already been talking shop about the Singularity and what Thorne wants to do with it, and I promised a follow-up meeting with him months ago. We're a little overdue.
[Even as he speaks, he's still assessing. At some point, his look glides over to Thancred as though he might wrench some understanding out of the other man, but finds himself continuing all the same.]
I didn't know you two- [Would be like putting kerosene and an open flame in the same room together? No, no point in jumping to conclusions. He can't hope to know what's set Yennefer off, or what's turned Geralt into a block of ice, but some of this ill-timed miscommunication is on him.] -knew each other.
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None of that is to do with the task at hand, however. Thancred's already preparing some manner of riposte to Yennefer's words, even as she continues to speak, but then they reach the top of the stairs and her words die in her throat, her steps halt. Thancred frowns, gaze quickly shifting from her to Stephen and — though his back is turned to them initially — Geralt.
While Stephen had not named who his contact was, Thancred also hadn't thought much of it. He trusts Stephen enough by now that he had not lingered on the details, and now he realizes that was a mistake. If it weren't for Yennefer's reaction, he would have had no problem with this. Geralt has proven himself to be quite reliable thus far. Yet it's glaringly obvious that he and Yennefer are not on good terms.
To say the least.
Thancred takes note of each piece of body language that he can, from Yennefer's clenched-tight fists to Geralt's long, icy stare. The telling lack of emotion in his voice, as he speaks her name.
Stephen cuts in then, explaining the situation with as much coolness and control as he can. When Stephen sends him a look, all he can do is give the smallest shake of his head — a silent indication that he's just as clueless about this situation.
(He remembers his first meeting with Yennefer. How she'd sat, sullen, at one of the tables at the summit's tavern, her eyes continuing to watch the door. How after he joined her for a drink, she'd insisted she wasn't waiting on anyone.) ]
Nor did I. [ His focus remains primarily on Yennefer now, judging to see if her anger might get the best of her here. He remains at her side, not moving any closer to the occupied table unless she does. ] Is this going to be a problem?
[ Or can whatever manner of complicated history that exists between them be set aside for the space of a conversation? ]
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it was foolish of her to think that the truth - and it that foolishness that has her here, now, her body tense as geralt turns to her. as she sees a flicker of something she knows well cross his eyes. anger, but also pain. yennefer, he calls her, and it takes everything in her not to wince. how? how, of all people? at all times?
( destiny some thought of her supplies. or perhaps the wish, even now. )
despite the sharpness in her chest, yennefer holds geralt’s eyes, and for half a moment everything else fades away. there had been a time not that long ago that she’d been used to this feeling, the draw she could never quite escape, him, in a room, and it was the only place she could look. for that half moment, that feeling is there, like it is only them, and that once again she is on trial. like she is standing before the brotherhood, the entire continent’s worth of royals, an axe in her hand.
stephen speaks then, and it is just familiar enough to her that she does turn her eyes towards it. stephen, who she had run into early on. whose conversations and discussions and understanding had made her feel comfortable. familiar, in his enthusiasm for his studies. for the way he got so easily lost in his books. over their quest, that familiarity had only grown. and now she could see the way he tenses, the way even in his tone she can tell he is trying to figure out what is happening here. she supposes that is fair - in all that they had shared, in all that she had said to thancred and stephen that not a single soul in thorne knew - geralt had not been a part of it. ]
He is your contact in the Cities? [ yennefer’s eyes flash back to geralt, anger flashing through her again at the idea that she had been talking about him. about this contact, about this person stephen knew, how the three of them had planned to go about this. and the whole time, the whole time…
she must look exchanged between thancred and stephen, because that is when thancred does speak up from her side, where he hasn’t yet moved, and something about that actually does settle the anger that had been threatening to rise up. yennefer exhales, some of that tension leaving with it, as her eyes glance to her side. to thancred. she’s aware that stephen had left an open ended question, had tried to subtly open up a space for one of them to explain how it is they know each other. but she’s alright to pretty blatantly ignore that and cut straight to thancred’s question instead. is this going to be a problem? she catches his eyes, as if she’s trying to figure out what he’s going to do with all this. ]
Not unless it is for him. [ yennefer doesn’t bother even looking to geralt when she says that, instead turning her attention to the bar and heading off immediately towards it. if this is going to happen, and at the moment she will not be the one to stop it from doing so, she is going to be drinking. ]
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His eyes land on Thancred before returning to Yennefer. He wants to say, Who the fuck did you think? Who in the Free Cities would have as vested an interest in what the Singularity means, where other monoliths scattered across the realms might be concerned? Her surprise only reminds him how much she simply does not know. How much she hasn't been there, so caught up in the loss of her magic and holding onto her power in Thorne as she's been. She knows him from a time when he'd have wanted nothing to do with any of this. Not Thorne, not some grand cosmic power that might swallow the earth whole, not the war. She does not know him from a time when Ciri grew to be the most important thing to him. The gap spans ever wider.
(How long has it been, since the three of them were together? Shortly after the Dimming. Months. Ciri laughing with a glass of wine in her hand, inside Yennefer's warmly lit tent. The last time he really let himself feel something close to true contentment. If anything is a joke, it's this. It's that some part of him wishes for what they had for the briefest moment, even knowing what he does.)
Geralt prefers not to explain himself. He doesn't now. Stephen fills in the circumstances of his presence. It's sufficient. He shifts his attention away from Yennefer. Where she's going for the liquor, Geralt has seemingly abandoned his, leaving it aside where his fingers rest on the counter. ]
Stephen tells me the High Mage asked him to monitor the Singularity. [ It's an answer without an answer. No. It's not a problem. This is more bullshit than he wanted out of an exchange of information, but what else is new? At the end of the day, his business is with Stephen. Who the man wants to involve in his search for answers is not a matter Geralt will interfere with. ] My concern is not only what the Singularity is capable of, but what the territories believe it can be used to accomplish.
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It's hard not to feel… awkward. Like he's a third wheel even if he had a role in arranging this meeting. But Stephen knows that is not inherently fair, given how everyone in this room probably feels some measure of being caught off-guard, and guilt—that damnable feeling—needles right into his chest and settles there, telling him that this is really, truly, a spectacular failure of communication.
Right. Well. He's not going to beleaguer the issue longer than needed. He doesn't have the mental fortitude to sort through just what torrid histories exist between the two, nor would it be particularly appreciated. With Yennefer especially, he does not want to make her feel any more uncomfortable than possible—too little, too late, probably—and Stephen latches onto the momentum of Geralt's straight-to-business conversational tactic.
Not without a long pull of his wine, first, though.]
...We did talk about that briefly on the road. [He doesn't want to speak for everyone, of course, so his assessment is more a lead-in for the others to chime in.] The general consensus? We don't exactly trust the Queen.
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Never once had Yennefer voiced his name, on their long trip. That alone speaks volumes.
Thancred moves toward the table where Stephen and Geralt sit, even as Yennefer secures herself some alcohol. There's a pause before he sits, as he's not certain if it will be seen as some sort of betrayal, but they are here on business. For professional reasons. And while he may have felt a particular kinship with Geralt after their last conversation, to say nothing of his fondness for Yennefer, this isn't about that.
Geralt and Stephen do what they can to salvage the conversation, and Thancred nods as he sits and joins in, resting one arm on the tabletop with as much casualness as he can muster. ]
To say the least. But as Stephen pointed out, chances are that they would have done this with or without our help. At least now we can remain in the know.
[ Stephen's been granted certain privileges after the successful completion of the quest, privileges which will make keeping an eye on Thorne's activities more feasible. Thancred leaves it vague, not wanting to unintentionally share more than Stephen wishes.
He focuses on Geralt then, to add what he doesn't think is much of a secret. ] We also gained the opportunity to see a great deal more of Thorne as a whole, including its other major cities. I intend to make subsequent visits as well.
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Mentions of the Queen brings a different spike to the air. His eyes snap to Yennefer, before he can stop himself. They remain there, fixed on her, as he says, ] No. We don't.
[ Do we. What did she tell them of the Queen? Did she tell them anything? He no longer knows—or maybe no longer quite trusts—what it is she has in mind. What exactly she's still trying to do in Thorne. Beyond, he presumes, trying to find a way to gain her magic back. Perhaps that's on him, for avoiding the entire fucking matter since the Summit. What else is he to do? Talk to her? As if she would tell him anything, or even meet him. Not after how they last parted.
He looks away, pressing on like nothing's changed. Thorne keeps a tight leash on its people. That they were granted leave is worth noting. More significantly: ] Not as far as Nott, though.
[ It's a question and it isn't. Nott sits in an unusual position. He doesn't think Thorne would send its people there, on official assignment from the Castle—something clearly kept them away, while a few of the Summoned were living there—but he isn't sure. In theory, it's still a part of the kingdom. Still under Thorne's rule. He suspects, if there's a place in Thorne to keep an eye on, it may be Nott. ]
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still, she busies herself with the various bottles, with opening and closing different cabinet doors and inspecting different liquids. truth be told, she couldn’t care less what it was that thancred stocked this place with (and for a brief moment she thinks of jaskier, of the tavern in oxenfurt, of the horrendous swill he’d served them both). as she uncorks one of the bottles and smells whatever it is inside, her eyes flick over to stephen. notices the way he even looks awkward, taking a long pull from his glass of wine.
thancred moves to join them at the table, joins in on the conversation, and it says a great deal about yennefer’s complete control over herself and her reactions that at the mention of the queen she doesn’t pull forth some cross remark, that she doesn’t roll her eyes. she is there to see the way geralt’s eyes immediately snap to her, and she holds them for a moment, then a moment longer. no, we don’t. her jaw is tight as he stares at her, an unspoken challenge in her own eyes because she knows what he is thinking, knows he doesn’t trust her, no matter what she would try to say. ( but stephen and thancred do, she reminds herself. ) ]
We did make it to Nott. Hayle and Borrel as well. [ yennefer chimes in, whether or not geralt had been speaking to her. she decides on a bottle and grabs a glass to drink from as well, moving back around the bar to the table. her gaze flicks first to thancred (who had actually spent some time in nott, more than stephen and yennefer for sure) and then to stephen, before she approaches the table, moving into the space between the two and setting everything on the table, opens the bottle, and pours herself a glass, and downs it in one go before refilling her second, all without looking at geralt. ]
The devices had specific locations where we were to get them set up, some closer to the cities than others, and Ambrose was kind enough to secure us portals through each city.
[ part of yennefer had thought the devices would keep an eye on the cities themselves, and that they would serve a kind of double purpose, but for that to make sense the devices would have needed to be much closer to nott in particular. ]
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Stephen sets his glass down. For now, he doesn't pursue the matter. With everyone settled, and conversation properly taking the route it was intended, he isn't going to upend that; and so he waves a scarred hand at his glass, which fills itself up with the encouragement of magic. Nothing wrong with topping off early.]
And most of those locations were pretty remote. [He appears to have latched onto a thread of questioning still unspoken -- whether or not the thaumametors could be used as some kind of surveillance device, a conversation they touched upon sometime during their travels.] Not much around but grass, trees, and a few creatures that wanted to see what the fuss was about.
[Dryly. He still has the scars from a vine-covered wolf bite. Just as he remembers the stench of a recently-slain... sea creature, its cut flesh spilling out pearlescent baubles.]
That said, I don't think we should ignore the fact that we've basically installed a very specific kind of surveillance system for the kingdom. You can think of it like a spiderweb; one little fluctuation of magic on the other side of Thorne, and the spider sitting at the center is aware of it. [The spider, in this case, is the castle itself, of course.] Knows that something's happening. I don't think it has to be restricted specifically to the Singularity.
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When Stephen's recounting touches on their encounters with the various wildlife in Thorne, Thancred does then reach out for his drink to take a long sip. All's well that ends well, of course, and those fights had hardly been the most harrowing he's endured in his life, but they're still not pleasant memories.
Stephen continues on, his analogy to a spider's web serving well to paint a picture of what their quest has done. ]
I suppose you're right. [ Thancred sets his glass down, then does a slow scan of the table and its participants as he speaks. ] Granted, Thorne is a place where magick is commonplace, so I suspect that it would only be large outpourings of energy that would truly catch anyone's eye. The rest would be more like background noise. Or, I suppose, it might depend on the brand of magick? Do we believe this surveillance system might be able to pinpoint if people from Solvunn or the Free Cities have crossed the border into Thorne's territory?
[ Hopefully it's not that sophisticated, though it is something to keep in mind. ]
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Both Stephen and Thancred raise a point. It is a good point. It holds some precedence. ] Thorne's already marked some of us. The ones they originally imprisoned. Perhaps even all of their guests. There doesn't appear to be a way to remove it. And they have mages of their own planted in the Badlands.
[ Ask him how he found out. Or, really, don't, because he isn't interested in getting into the topic of his capture while Yennefer is here. (She knows he doesn't trust her. He knows she doesn't like that he doesn't trust her. But what would she expect after what she did?)
Thorne's presence in the desert is the least troubling aspect, in any case. Only seems natural, that they'd spy on their enemies. No. What bothers him is that Marlo seems to have known something, even long before he stepped into her office and told her what happened. More and more, especially as of late, he's beginning to believe she may have been aware the moment he'd been taken. If the Free Cities are surveilling their people, it stands to reason Thorne would do the same. The Castle keeps a tight leash on their own. ]
It's unlikely they can pinpoint every single soul from Solvunn or the Free Cities. But... [ His brows draw downward in thought. ] If the devices are meant to measure magic related to the Singularity, as the Summoned, we possess a permanent connection to it.
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which, she does suppose, is the reason for all of this. and why they all take off down a similar path of questioning that the three of them had touched on during their travels themselves - the purpose, what they were comfortable with doing for thorne, the implications of their decisions. yennefer settles in the space between thancred and stephen, her eyes either on the two of them or her glass, shifting only to geralt when he mentions them being marked, her eyes shooting over to him at the mention of the queen’s mages in the badlands. the badlands - she puts the pieces together quickly, her body going tense with the implication of what geralt isn’t saying. she doesn’t expect him to bring it up, doesn’t expect that part of their history to be important enough to the topic at hand that geralt would feel the need, but the message is clear enough to her.
but it does bring up a question, one she doesn’t pose until geralt says his piece. ]
They could also be concerned with the new interest from the other factions into the Singularity. [ yennefer’s attention turns to stephen, then, if only because of the familiarity of it for her - the hours they have spent discussing the specifics of magic, of chaos, and the singularity. how it had been the two of them standing at the singularity itself. ] Like the casks from the Dimming - this is the first time the other factions have had any interest in the ritual, and with the power those items brought them, who's to say they're not conducting their own experiments. And if Solvunn or the Cities wanted to use those sources of chaos to interact with the Singularity itself, there's a chance they could destabilize it. The devices could be used to keep track of any shifts that Thorne wasn't a part of.
[ a surveillance system might actually not be the worst thing for them to have set up, though it does make yennefer’s skin crawl. she can’t help but think of ronan, of what he could do and what he did do to the summoned all across the continent. but in thorne, he was considered safe, considered loyal.
she shrugs, her taking another sip from her glass. ]
It could also give them a way to to track those Summoned by the other factions.
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All-in-all, there are a multitude of ways Thorne could use what we've set up to track the magical goings-on in the kingdom, or any activity that could be encroaching in or around its borders. We can't exactly press an "undo" button and disassemble the system now, so I think it's safe to say we have a responsibility between us to keep each other informed.
[He gestures at Geralt, but roams his eyes towards Thancred and Yennefer.]
I told him about the watch, about how I have the ability to track any fluctuations that spike -- or otherwise appear suspicious. The three of us have earned a little more... [He pauses. Trust isn't quite the right word.] ...sway in the castle now, so it's a foregone conclusion that we need to take advantage of it when we can.
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There is another brief but notable glance between Geralt and Yennefer. Interesting, and worth filing away to consider further at a later time.
When it comes to what Thorne can or cannot track with the system they've set up, these were all considerations they'd made at the start of their journey. They've shared them with Geralt now, to have a resident of one of the other factions to keep this in mind and to exchange notes with as needed. ]
In that case, I assume we're all in agreement that we share any of these fluctuations with Geralt as they come up? [ His gaze shifts to Yennefer then, wanting to be sure that she's comfortable with that idea in spite of any personal feelings she might have toward Geralt. ] It would be useful to have someone to corroborate what we see — if there is a spike of energy when a new batch is summoned to the Cities, for instance.
[ He pauses for a moment, gaze shifting up to watch purple leaves fall from one of the nearby trees as he weighs something in his mind. ]
And with that in mind, we should establish a contact in Solvunn as well. There's someone I can vouch for there. [ With that, his head lowers and he eyes Geralt across the table. Geralt knows and trusts Himeka. With luck, he'll agree. ]
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His eyes are fixed on Stephen, not Yennefer or Thancred. ] I should expect so.
[ Thancred may be posing a question to her, but Geralt is not interested in her permission or comfort. She became a part of this by proxy—if she wants to remove herself from it because of him, so be it. But he's the one who brought this to Stephen and he'll remain a part of it. His reasons for wanting to monitor the Singularity were related in large part to Ciri. Stephen is the one who agreed to help him find out more. That doesn't change unless Stephen has suddenly developed other intentions.
In which case, they will need to talk.
After a second, he nods. He knows who Thancred has in mind. ]
As I said, the Singularity's nature is only one factor. The truth of what it can do will not matter if someone finds cause to believe its potential is worth paying in blood for... [ He is not looking at Yennefer here, does not specifically intend the comment for her, but perhaps he understands, too, that she may read it as such. It doesn't stop him from saying it. ] Their ambitions.
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geralt, uninterested in yennefer's opinion here, keeps going. which is just about what she expects from him - if he was here, if he'd started this line of questioning with stephen from the beginning, he'd hardly be swayed now. yennefer is alright with that here, too, or at least believes herself to be. up until geralt continues, up until paying in blood for their ambitions is said. her eyes are back on geralt, then, though the tension is less defensive and more...she's not sure. stubborn? guilty? determined? whether or not he meant her specifically, she takes it as such. ]
Each of the factions have proven they're willing to spill blood for it. [ the words aren't argumentative, exactly, but a statement of fact. ] The Summoned's blood, but blood all the same.