#earthrunes

"Oh, ferkakta." She swears.

Contradictory signals - fear verging on panic, underneath a rapidly dissolving veneer of calm.

"Fine. I'll TELL you what I sensed.. a title, Zara. Now I am scared shitless... since when do play me for a sucker? This doesn't sound like you. " He pulls out his phone and calls "Uncle Emmit. Zara's under someone's or sometrhing's influence. I need your help, SHE needs your help."

"I... truehearts? You wanted naught to do with me right after I swore fe-...I... she's going to be furious...."

"What?" He blinks "We are oathed, Zara. I love you. SOmeone is mmessing with your mind." A concerned look "Emmit, please. "

She squeezes her eyes shut. "I want to go home." Miserable, and perhaps the first honest thing he's heard from her mouth this afternoon.

"And where is home?" He asks

Resigned. "Not here."

"Zara.... you love this place"

"I can see why...."

A sharp, steadying breath. "Okay, okay. Alright."

A voice from the phone, Emmit says "Zara.. it's me. Emmit... remember me? you looked better in my old glasses than I did"

"Glasses?" Lost.

"The purple ones, a bit 60s"

"I would like to wake up now, please."

"Okay . Zara.. you said you swore fealty. To whom?"

"Well, clearly I didn't here..."

"That..." Her eyebrows twist, and she tries to focus despite her racing heart and sweating palms.

She pinches her arm.

Earl says "Zara... we're going to get you help"

"Is this bedlam?"

"I don't think so... but it is trouble" he admits

She scrubs her face. "Her excellency could fix this."

":WHO is her excellency?":

A flinch.

"Zara, you';re doing it again..." Earl says "You bring something up but won't answer.,... you mention this isnt your home... I ask where do you think home is... you say'not here' which Does not answer the question. you mentiion the countess but wii not name her.. I weant to hellp "

"Countess Akanthea, ruler of Charm. My liege." She closes her eyes and her shoulders hitch. "And I have clearly failed this test."

Once you go Skunk, all other women are junk

"I don't even know what this test is."

"New Agengard..... You avoid that place . "

And then...footsteps

She gums on her lower lip. "It's okay. I have admitted my failure, aye?"

"You've not failed. My hind. You're under attack, our love is"

She tenses, another flare of fear - only obvious to Earl, given how subtle the expression shifts actually are.

"Easy there" Emmit says "Zara... soirryy I couldn't get her sooner"

Emmit senses it immediately. Or rather... the lack.

This Zara is not a Namer.

Emmit says "Young lady.. this is intereesting. Pardon " He gesturses.... and an omen goes off, a snap of dross in a freehand

A swarm of spectral butterflies swirl, wings flapping. Paths split and break.

At a loom, one thread is crossed, and tangled, pulled from where it belongs.

"This young lady is not OUR Zara" Emmit says "No wonder she's terrified"

Earl blinks

"i'm...very sorry": Earl says to her "My Zara, I love her more than my life. But I dijdn't mean to scare you."

".... is this still part of the test?"

She hesitates, wary. "I... I was cataloguing the treasury..." Nervously tangling her spidery fingers together.

"All life is a test" Emmit admits "Now, what object were you finalgling with?"

"Not one I was familiar with. A crystal bell, but the clapper was a butterfly." A guilty look.

"Do you have it on you?"

She shakes her head. "There... it was loud, and I dropped it, and then I was here..."

"Young lady, you've swapped places with this other you..we're going to end the test and send you home. Earl? Going to need your flickerflash as part of this" Emmit explains "I want you to think of our zara as a location, and I want you to send THIS zara too that location."