#scarsdale

even to her eyes, everything goes black for a second, then light as she comes up to the garret. the troll there is ancient even by troll grump standards. Thin as a rail, yet his muscles are hard wires in those scrawny limbs. HIs beard is cut in a victorian fashion.

Earl 's eyes flicker? "Zara?"

Zara moves with a crone's walk to her man, and breaks out the soup

"It's getting harder to remember things. I don't even know why I painted this" He gestures to a painting of a dungeon with a forlorn sidhe count crumpled in a cell

"You are so old, my love..." She reaches to touch his face.

Her own hands are withered with time. She can't help but admire the claw like quality to the shriveled things- vanity.

"You're as young as ever" He chuckles

"Am I?"

"to my eyes, always" He says "You I remember, but ..what were you doing there?" He gestures to the painting again "I.. I know tha's you, the eyes in nhe corner of he painting, but how did you ge there? What happened that day?" He seems confused, losst

they only have each other here it seems. Children grown and moved on, friends died before they. This old victorian and they, whey there's not even any chimera in there with them. She truly has her artist to herself

She looks for the Raven.

No Chimera, indeed...

There's no raven.. not for either of them! No murmuring song! No rustle of feathers!

Why, not even the sign of betrayal of a dead bird

"No... no, this isn't right, either."

This is no happy ending, it's a lie!

"You are not my love."

And she pulls back, pressingg agains the painting... and she falls falls into the image of the dungeon of the defeated count and...

Glass.. glass everywhere

"You are one furkingg tough nut to crack" The Chancielor curses

She's in a sluagh sized glass globe! One she can't pour through or squrim through. She can feel the infusion making it strong as steel. Other cantrips she can't pick out.

Hissss. She glares at the nocker.

For a moment, Zara's not even sure THIS is real. The art used.. Dreamcraft.. this woman used her DREAMS to try to steal her secrets

There has to be a crack, doesn't there? Some seam.... an airhole...

"Don't even think about it," Guzela says "You'd have to be in the dreaming to turn into the liquid state required to pour out, and as hard as I made that so called glass? YOu'd cut yourself trying and sill not get out. I know who you are, but that was more through hard work than anything YOU gave me. Zara right?"

A resentful silence and baleful eyes.

"Shit. I hate this." She sighs "Look, Zara? You're a commoner, like me. Why are you trying to help the Count? Why help ANY Of them? Are you that eager to have every one lick boot?"

Snort.

"See, I'm not making those with titles do anything but ACT on their titles" She paces "They're real selves come out, max to the force... and I play the poor helpless commoner gal who tthose snobs ignore.That's the beauty of this. this isn't a plot to furking take power, it's a power to give pwoer to the people. And It's so close. your own Uncles? Right now, Ratchet is bellowing about Star metal missing and even if he's okay with it, his apprentices are blaming the nobles who made it needful to 'repurpose' for those shit head nobles. And we won't even talk about Hirim's reaction when some of HIS apprentices have been reassigned by a Dougal who thinks they can pull rank there. I have a lot of hope my own kith will be among the first to demand a local Republic! But I digress. I'm not your enemy. I'm trying to bring democracy"

"Their 'real' selves, you say?"

"Who they'd eventually become over furking time anyway" She shrugs

Eyebrow.

"Oh wow, you are really indoctrinated by them aren' you?" She snorts "Damn shamee, because I've used willow whisper to learn wha I could on you, omen to learn a bit more.. and I really though you didn' like crowns"

"I don't. I do not bend knee."

"You don't? Then why the FURK are you tryinng to ruin my plans?"

"I dislike compulsion."

"Then we really need to get rid of the masters of Soveriegn, don't we?" She snorts "If you're no against the nobles, you're FOR them. And drastic times require drastic measures." She paces "Well, you know too much about this. And you know too much about other holds. Sorry Zara, I'm afraid that whiel I hate the idea of holding a commoner in prison, you're just too useful a potential weapon"

The word WEAPON echoes the memories of a man who was very MUCH pro noble

Snort. "Ah, you would place me in a box. I must be and fit in your definition. Black and white. I saw your work - and if you can omen, surely, you saw the blood."

"And I am no-one's weapon."

"no, but you're about to be the cheat code the Cause uses to get a leg up. Earth Runes might just make a good target. " She flips a lever and gas starts to flow in "You have to breath don't you? don't bother.. it's chermical.. not Chimerical. I can smell power off you like a bonfire and I know not to give you play things"

Zara takes a deep breath and holds it. The gas is coming in, that means something.. oh, she might get cut, fine...

She looks for the source, for a chance to escape...

And she presses trying to squirm against the torrent

And does, threatening to black out from whatever this knock out was... she pushes and oozes

Cuts form over her body from the flesh, however soft, hitting sharp edges. Does she push on knowing it might shred her?

She recoils in pain, wanting to gasp, to cry out, but she needs to hold her breath... but it hurts...

blood flows back with her

And then the ceiling breaks open

Well, more accurately, a figure falls through the portal passage made