(Untitled)

[kassandraloxias]

Kassandra is downstairs.

A copy of The Wind in the Willows dangles half-forgotten from her fingertips as she trails through the bar. She found it somewhere

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[thatseemright2u]

"Maps lead somplace," says Early, abruptly. "It's ontological."

He's not looking at Kassandra's face, which would be polite, or her chest, which would be rude, but at the scraps of parchment. Intently. "Is it still a map if it don't?"

[kassandraloxias]

It is a map if I say it is so. I am a daughter of kings.

And this map leads somewhere. Past everything. There is blackness... and then light... and then there you are.

[thatseemright2u]

Eyebrows up. "Misplaced your kingdom, princess?"

His gaze wanders the room, and comes to rest on a patch of shadow in the rafters. "There's no light beyond the black. That's crazy talk."

"It don't stop, neither. Just keeps on going." Pause. "Some folks say lambs'll scream when they die. But they sure as hell don't scream after."

[kassandraloxias]

I have not misplaced my kingdom. It was long ago destroyed. As your country and your kingdom will someday be.

If there was no light beyond the black, then this place would not be.

[thatseemright2u]

"My kingdom?" His forehead wrinkles in thought. "Well, I never been called a king before, but it don't fit so ill. S'pose you could say I rule over the space I inhabit."

Also: he has a mighty roar.

And then his eyes narrow. "This place -- it ain't solid. I step back out that door and there's nothing but the black and the cold."