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[spellsandcharms]

[ After long consideration - couldn't she just approach the women in their group fitting the prince's description? - she's decided, reluctantly, this is the best way to pose the question. ]

The prince would apparently like to speak to one of you. The best description he could give was dark-haired, beautiful, with feet.

[ All said with absolute dry seriousness, if she's still a little nonplussed by 'she has feet.' More and more he reminds her of a daemon, talking nonsense that isn't nonsense. ]

I said I would ask.

Comments

[spellsandcharms]

[ That...makes a kind of sense. ]

He talks like a daemon. I've been with one long enough. [ ...meaning she should know. ] Confused nonsense that's less confused than it sounds.

[valeas]

( ... Okay, they'll need to set some time to talk about this daemon, though. )

His sickness doesn't help matters. He spoke to me feverishly, moving from one thing to the next. What do you make of it? ( His sickness, that is. She's seen Sarah in the Wards, seen her proficiency firsthand. )

[spellsandcharms]

It's as strange as the rest of him.

[ Talking to the Crown Prince seemed to yield more questions than answers. When they'd spoken, his attention had seemed to drift elsewhere, with moments of clarity that didn't clarify much. But there had been something there. ]

His symptoms come and go, not always the same.

[valeas]

I've never heard of such a thing. When I touched him, I couldn't feel him at all, only the print of every magic that has been attempted on him. His body was so unsettled, hardly his own. It almost seems a punishment.

( Something being stolen from him, or collected. His life force if not his blood. Or perhaps her own experiences are coloring her judgment, having traveled to a land where bargains and blood magic are of great currency. )

[spellsandcharms]

[ Sarah doesn't disagree. There's a tipping point where it becomes a matter of prolonging someone's suffering rather than helping them, and she thinks that line was crossed with the prince long before they showed up. But she also has her doubts he came by his illness naturally. ]

He claims he's been ill since he was a child. I have a feeling they've tried to cure him every way they know how.

Dig deep enough, you might find the mark of what caused it.

[valeas]

I'll do my best.

( If he wants an audience with her, she can't waste the opportunity. Not when she can't ignore this feeling the royal family is hiding an important piece to this greater puzzle.

Although — )

When he asked for me, did he seem... upset?

[spellsandcharms]

Agitated. But not with you, or with her, I guess it is.

[ With her lack of presence? With Sarah's lack of understanding? With his own muddled thoughts? ]

I'm not sure the prince is always quite with us, but he's clearer when he's not.

[ Or maybe she just has trouble trusting a sickly, kindly man thanking her for help she obviously couldn't provide. ]

[valeas]

I believe you have the right of it, but I can't say no to an opportunity to gather more information.

( Even if it does sound like nonsense.

If it is nonsense that's less confused than it sounds, might be they can put the pieces of this puzzle together. )

[spellsandcharms]

[ Sarah doesn't care one way or the other about most people in this place, not any more than she thinks what's happening here should concern them - even if she hates war, hates seeing women and children suffering - but she likes Emilia. And part of her worries about her seeing the prince again, especially alone. He might be talking more sense than it sounds, but that doesn't mean his mind is clear. But she has a feeling that, like Diana, Emilia's apt to do what she thinks is best anyway. ]

If he still thinks you're someone else, there's no telling how he'll react. Even if he knows you aren't her, he might forget again.

[ The 'Be careful,' is silent. ]