ooX ✘ and i- i took the one less traveled by [ location: gatas castle | visual ]

[herquietude]

As she stirs, it's almost immediately clear to Petrana that she isn't where she belongs. This is not Riva, nor any of the bedchambers she's most accustomed to occupying there or elsewhere. She considers this new development in her situation with slightly more tranquility than might be expected of her, her hands folded on her stomach as she regards

Comments

[visual]

[oneofthequick]

Behold a slightly sleepy, but generally well put together Uther Doul.

"It's not often that death is a good sign. How may I help you, Lady?"

[ visual ]

[herquietude]

Startled at being addressed, Petra nearly drops the tablet momentarily. (When she's got a grip on it again, she starts picking through the controls to figure out how she made that happen in the first place.)

"Well, first of all you may tell me where the devil I am."

[ visual ]

[oneofthequick]

"You are in a land called Taxon. This is a place that has the power to take people at will from wherever it chooses and brings them here. Another of its powers is that, occasionally, it 'trades' one of the people here for alternate versions of themselves." The visual setting is still on, but he's in the process of getting dressed and not visible. Sorry, Petrana, there's no show here. (That's later tonight.)

"I am Uther of Deadhouse Doul and the Lady Petrana I know has hired me as a mercenary. Should you need me, the contract still stands."

[ visual ]

[herquietude]

"A mercenary! The more things change, the more they stay the same- but in a moment. Do you mean to speak of other worlds?" Petra is accustomed to some strange methods of communication already, so she merely waits for him to come back into view without fussing too much about why he isn't there.

[ visual ]

[oneofthequick]

And he's back in view, still adjusting whatever sort of fastenings are needed and looking considerably more 'mercenary' like and less sleep warmed.

"I do, Lady. I am from Bas-Lag and most here are from Earth."

[ visual ]

[herquietude]

"What manner of Earth?" Petra asks, almost briskly, and the nature of her inquiries may be somewhat telling. "Bas-Lag I don't know, but I can name two worlds that call themselves 'Earth' and are not a damn thing alike."

She drums her fingertips on the tablet, pursing her lips. "Are these trades permanent, Doul?"

[ visual ]

[oneofthequick]

"I'm not sure. But if you look out your window, over the city itself, I've been told that it looks something like that -- only more uniform. Very 'high tech'," he says and with his accent oddly emphasizing those words.

"No, for good or ill, they are not." The background behind Doul is changing! He's walking over to Petrana's room and sincerely hoping that this other-Petrana is not going to boil the flesh off his bones or otherwise give him undue grief.

[ visual ]

[herquietude]

"I suppose that's something, at least." Petra can guess his intention - Gatas is a uniform sort of place and she's spent enough time in Elene castles to know one when she sees it - and she briefly contemplates getting up and locking the doors before deciding not to bother.

She's already looked out the windows, and so she marks her mental tally of Earths up to three.

[ visual | location ]

[oneofthequick]

"Small mercies, indeed. You're not dead, you will return home, and they've technology that allows you to eat fresh fruit year round." A man has to have priorities and strawberries in winter are important, Petrana.

In a moment or two, there's a knock at the door. He'll wait until she decides to let him in, or not, as the case may be.

[ location :: countess's chamber ]

[herquietude]

The door opens and Petra examines him from head to toe before she moves aside to let him enter. "I have that at home, too, but we call him Belgarion," she says, dryly, on the subject of fresh fruit. "Sit," she instructs, in the tone of someone who is accustomed to giving orders and having them obeyed, "and explain this place to me. As well as your own place in it, if you'd be so kind."

[ location :: countess's chamber ]

[oneofthequick]

Doul is very good at doing what he's told and it shows in how he follows instructions without hesitation. However, it is worth noting that he has examined this new Petrana with a critical eye. Similar, but definitely not the same woman

[ location :: countess's chamber ]

[herquietude]

The look on her face is a touch inscrutable when he refers to her world and the lack of anyone else from it - almost wry, maybe, but very much like she's putting a number of things together in her mind and hasn't yet decided what they mean or whether or not she intends to share her thoughts at all.

"No Elenes," she interprets, half to herself, as she listens to the rest of what he says. "I see. And so, if I'm following you, you are resident here, whereas I myself am a visitor...?"

[ location :: countess's chamber ]

[oneofthequick]

"Yes, I believe that to be the case. I cannot swear to it, but as far as I've seen, people are occasionally 'swapped out' for an alternate of themselves coming from a different, but plausible future." There's some sort of quiet, strange emotion in his voice.

"You are similar, but not identical to the Lady Petrana I serve. You are younger than her and have a scar she does not."

[ location :: countess's chamber ]

[herquietude]

"Am I indeed?" Her fingers brush the edge of the scar where it reaches her jaw and she sits down now as well, crossing one leg over the other and treating the settee like a throne. "Tell me how we differ, please. I've known other worlds exist for quite some time now, but I can't say that I'd encountered anything like what you describe."

[ location :: countess's chamber ]

[oneofthequick]

"Other than the two things I have stated, I do not know either of you so well that I can describe, in detail, many of the differences. I did not feel it my place to ask more about the countess than necessary, but I do know that she married late in life and misses her children. She is connected to the Pandion and Alcione knights." For the time being, he is going to leave out his own observations about her personality and mannerisms.

[ location :: countess's chamber ]

[herquietude]

The revelation of the Alciones is enough to make Petra laugh, startled, and she regards him with a speculative sort of an air. "I imagine that explains the Deiran castle, I was wondering. So she married an Alcione, did she? She must have. What a thing to do."

She taps her fingers restlessly against the upholstery before flattening her hand and straightening. "Well, allow me to introduce myself, Uther of the Deadhouse Doul. I am Lady Petrana, royal advisor to King Belgarion and Queen Ce'Nedra of Riva, and their world is the first I've traveled to besides my own; this is now the second. I'm older than I look, my dear mercenary, and the scars I gained some ten years ago when my husband failed spectacularly and we all paid for it with our lives. I was never a countess, though I could have been a margravine once."