A/N: I personally think Laure's psychology is sound. Girls who are overly precocious aren't likely to be attractive to or attracted by boys their own age, so it's not uncommon for them to be more comfortable with older men.

Chapter 28

Laure knelt awkwardly beside the Imperial, trying to listen. There was a scrape of feet somewhere above, and a short exchange of words in deep voices. Soon afterward there was a snarl.

"Merodach won," said the man.

"Are you sure?" asked Laure.

"I've heard that noise before," said the Imperial. "Besides, as long as Sodrinye's still alive I'd back him against an army. You know what a debt bond is, to a kynaz?"

"No," said Laure.

"I probably don't either," he said. "Not even me. But it's more than love and maybe more than honor, and it's not the same as either one. When we came here he hated her enough to kill her and he'd still have walked through - " He laughed shortly. "Well. Fire doesn't seem right, they do that anyway."

Confirming his first statement, the tramp of heavy boots heralded the big Dremora's descent down the stairs. Laure watched, feeling a small ball of fear in the pit of her stomach. She was no longer sure of Brother Varen, not at all sure of the Dremora, and now the two Blades were dead.

"Now what happens?" she asked levelly.

"Menien Goneld," said the Dremora. He looked around the dark courtyard, the starlight gleaming in his fiery eyes. They lit on Laure with no apparent expression.

"Still here," said the Imperial, and stood up. Laure stood up as well, trying to see around the man's body.

"Menien Goneld?" she said, fear momentarily forgotten in favor of intense curiosity. "Is that your name?"

"That's right," said the man.

"Are you sure you should allow the aedra priest behind you?" said the Dremora, but he seemed only casually interested. He turned away toward the shadow beside the stairway, where the Sleeper presumably lay.

"She won't hurt me," said Goneld. "I'm the closest thing to human in this place. Isn't that right, girl?"

"There was a Legionnaire who was lost at the Kvatch gate," said Laure slowly. "The one who told the Hero of Kvatch how to find the sigil stone. I thought... I thought his name was Menien Goneld."

"Oh, yes," said the Imperial, now moving warily toward the stairwell. "Is Thrissi still alive? I always thought she'd make it one way or another." Laure perforce followed, glancing only briefly at Tychicus Varen. He was still staring out into the night through the doorway.

"As far as I know, she is. She helped protect the Emperor Martin right up until the end, though I've no idea where she went afterwards. But everyone believes you're dead," said Laure. "You've been awarded all sorts of medals. Posthumously, that is."

"That seems about right," said Menien Goneld. "If they found out I was alive they'd have an awful lot of questions to ask that I don't want to answer, I can tell you that."

"What?" said Laure.

"Think it through," said Goneld. He stopped beside the stairwell, edging into the shadow so that he would not be visible from a distance. Laure looked past him at the big caitiff who was now on one knee beside the darker Dremora. She lay crumpled as if dead, but she apparently must be alive; he hoisted her onto one shoulder and stood up easily.

Laure did think it through. Tychicus Varen believes he's only half sane. I thought so myself. And he's been a prisoner in Hell and survived it. How many will believe he didn't make some sort of deal for himself? How many will believe he hasn't been a traitor in one way or another, to have lived this long? And if they found out about these two Dremora...

"Oh," said Laure quietly. "Yes, it's something of a problem, isn't it."

"These two brought me back here," said Goneld. "I've got to do what I can for them, thought that's not much." The big Dremora snorted, whether in denial or ironic agreement Laure could not tell. He seemed to have accepted her on Goneld's word that she was harmless, previous events notwithstanding. They trust him. Most people would find that alone entirely damning.

And what about me? She wondered. Where shall I go now? If I go back to Bruma I will see Tychicus Varen every day and he will be consistently and relentlessly polite, the same way he always is. I can't bear that. "Will you all stay here, then?" she asked.

"I do not know," said Ebel-Merodach. "The Sleeper will not be able to speak for some," he apparently sought a word, "hours as you would count it. Until then we will stay here and I will build up the fire again. This place is very cold and she has much from which to recover." He took her over beside the coals and dumped her unceromoniously onto the ground; Laure winced as one curly horn bounced against the stones. Ebel-Merodach turned to look at Tychicus Varen. One gauntlet lingered near his mace.

"And you, Kheised," he said. "What will you do?"

"I will go back to Bruma," said Tychicus Varen. "I believe what I was called here for is accomplished. There will probably be two more Blades here before morning. I warn you only because the Sleeper will probably be unable to divine for some while, as I will."

"I see," said Ebel-Merodach.

Varen turned toward Laure. She could not see him well in the dim light. He probably looked much as he always had. Much as he always will. "Sister Laure," he said. "Will you return with me to Bruma?"

"No," said Laure. "But you knew that, didn't you?"

"Yes," said Varen, easily overriding the beginning of a protest from Goneld. "But consider carefully what you do here. There will be no returning to the service of Arkay if you stay." His voice was calm, almost gentle. She had no way of knowing if he knew or understood. Probably more than I would wish.

"I know," said Laure. "Will you tell them for me at the Chapel? Not about these," she waved a hand at the others. "But that I won't be coming back."

"I will tell them," said Tychicus Varen. He nodded at Menien Goneld, who was watching with an expression that Laure could not read in the dark. "She is not as helpless as you think her, Menien Goneld. No priestess of Arkay could be so."

"I'm sure that's true," said Laure. She looked sideways at the Imperial. "I know you're not exactly safe to be around. I will take my chances."

"I think you're crazy," said Goneld bluntly. "But if the Sleeper says you can stay, I'm not going to say no. We'll find out tomorrow."

"But I must go tonight," said Tychicus Varen. "There are yet things I must do. Laure, I cannot say you will be safe, for that would not be true – but I think you will be happy. Goodbye."

"Goodbye, Varen," said Laure. She was proud, later, that there was no break in her voice at all.

He was gone, just like that. In the doorway behind where he had stood were the two Redguards. The starlight fell coldly on the blades of two katanas, and on two faces as stiff and cold as the stones of the floor.

--

Sodrinye was expecting the gray limbo this time, the absence of vision that resulted from proximity to Tychicus Varen. She held herself still for a while as she tried to listen. The flame atronach was long gone from this bit of the ether, and if the krynvelhat who had sent it was still alive, she was not nearby. Sodrinye had no precognition on the point, but she suspected that failure at such a gamble would not be tolerated by the lord of the citadel who had now lost his chance of retrieving Sodrinye.

Not completely, perhaps, she thought. But he will not wish to expend the resources. He no doubt has enemies at his gate already, and the occupation of Natural Disaster must have cost him in ways he can ill afford.

That krynvelhat might be making her way through the Voidstreams even now, but Sodrinye could not sense anything of that kind from this place. It was enough to know that Merodach was nearby and not in much danger. Else I must wake.

"Ka rhedek indeed," she whispered to the swirling mist. "But not from my side only, thanks be to Dagon." If Dagon ought to be thanked. She suspected that particular daedra had no interest whatsoever in her. Chaos and change were his attributes. Even the rigid and consistent chaos of the way the Kyn lived must occasionally throw up variants like herself, each one a locus for new and swirling form in the great unpatterning of all things.

She sought out and around herself for other Sleepers, curious now. She felt some echo of Drurinye's recent presence, but she was now what passed for awake, no doubt doing some work for the one to whom she belonged. Onesimus, she called him, and that is an Imperial name rather than a kyn one.

There was one other nearby. Under normal circumstances the blur of visions would have obscured her presence, even something as powerfully bright as a Sleeper, but Sodrinye felt her now. She did not see Sodrinye. She was immersed in vision herself. Sodrinye reached out to push away the mist, moving in a direction roughly approximating forward. The other Sleeper stood there before her. Both her horns were broken off at the tips. For the damage to persist here in limbo, where they did not have bodies as such, it must have been done very early in her first incarnation.

"Sister," said Sodrinye. The other kynaz was taller than she, and even thinner, but she had the same dark skin and eyes. Now she stood dully on the substance of the Void, eyes scanning things Sodrinye could not see. Sodrinye reached out tentatively to prod one of her arms, not wishing the gesture to be mistaken for aggression. "Sister!"

The other Sleeper shook her head suddenly. Her eyes focused on Sodrinye as she moved back a pace. "What do you want?" she said.

"I am Sodrinye," she said. "And I am in Nirn."

"This cannot be," said the other. Sodrinye felt half her attention, dull disbelief. "No terrestrial mage can summon us."

"There is no lie here in the Void," said Sodrinye. "I was not summoned. I traveled here myself." She had the other's full attention now.

"I am Pelinrye," said the other Sleeper. "Tell me how you have done this thing, and how you survive."

Sodrinye explained it all from the beginning, quickly lest she lose her sister to visions again. "But debtsworn he must be," she said. "There are other qualities which you will know when you see them. Drurinye did not bring a mortal with her, but I think it will serve you well if you treat it well."

"If I could find one whose mind was not broken," said Pelinrye. She did not necessarily trust Sodrinye, but it was true that no one could lie in this place, certainly not one Sleeper to another.

"They are surprisingly resilient," said Sodrinye. "That I leave to your discretion. Do as you will; in any case it takes some time to hoard enough power for the trip, and it is a dangerous journey. I ask only that you tell any other Sleepers you meet and with whom you are not at war."

"I will," said Pelinrye, and was lost in vision again.

Sodrinye turned and pushed back through the mist. She thought she sensed something from Nirn now, something requiring her attention, and waking would not be easy.