"There's a word we have in fairy land for this, Bryn, it's called a 'need-to-know basis'. Let's wait on what he tells us first and then see if it's worth telling him anything more."
Exercise caution and get information!
"If it's worth..." she mutters over the hissing and whirring of the machines, glancing back at the pair of dimwits ooh'ing and aww'ing over the pendulum.
"I get it."
After watching the pendulum go 'round, Mr. Artificer and the ecstatic Seren go over past records.
"When I performed the procedure on Seren as a young child, she made a most peculiar pattern. It is from this pattern I predicted she would turn out to be a fine magician, if not one to be revered for centuries. I have the record in here somewhere," the artificer muttered, pawing through his drawers. "It must be--Ah! Here."
He pulls out a hand-drawn spirograph and compares it to the markings in the sand. He's right, the general pattern is the same... but at the same time there are some differences. Lines wavering, not completely drawn straight in the sand. Despite the variation, the number of spokes, the symmetry, and the general shape of the spirograph are identical.
"I've never seen this before," he corrects his glasses. "Lady Seren, did you notice anything off about the pendulum? It must have absorbed some kind of resonant pattern that alters its trajectory."
"Sorry, I was looking at the fairy!" she says, pointing at the butterfly wings inside the cage. The creature inside, its head covered in some long, straw-like white hair, turns to look slowly.
You can feel it coming off his face, the terror, his uncovered eye widening as Seren catches his eye... he darts between the bars of the cage and hides among the boxes in the back of the workshop.
Author
Topic: False Illusion - Step Past the Mirror - IC (Read 15237 times)