[center][sup]Made in collaboration with the super rad [@McHaggis][/sup]

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As a chorus of voices rose to answer the newcomer’s question, Constantine allowed his eyes to slide off her and back to the others. So many new faces to learn, names to remember and so on. Obviously some would be more important and interesting than others; the long haired one shooting his mouth off seemed rather too full of himself to be worth talking to much. Some of the others caught Lord Wylde’s eye, however. The silent girl with the knives was a an intriguing figure, the armoured giant an enticing enigma and even the winged one might be worth a few words.

The one that captured his attention most, however, was the second best dressed person in the room, the tall woman in red with darting eyes and many jewels. She had a practised scepticism in her speech, held herself like a woman of independent means and was now appraising the chatter with a critical eye. Constantine got the sense she was used to watching without being seen and so when their eyes met, he leapt forward with a bow and an apology, carefully kissing the proffered ring.

[color=5A3F50]“Please pardon my curiosity, my lady, I am simply entranced with the fabrics of your dress. They float and shimmer quite unlike any I’ve seen before, and yet look more solid than they’ve any right to be. I confess I am baffled to their substance and origin, would you deign to clear away my confusion?”[/color]

Sunstone had done this before. It was a step in a dance she was more than familiar with. The music and rhythm of it might have been a little strange, and that it took place under a void instead of a ceiling of solid rock was disconcerting enough, but it was little surprise that courts and courtiers were the same worlds over.

Granted, usually it was [i]her[/i] kissing rings, but adaptability had always been a strong suit of hers. It was nice, she realised, to be mistaken for someone of concrete status or noble birth. Her importance was usually tied to the  Empress, and there was no such Empress around to argue her worth.

So she smiled, curtseyed (without complaint), and revelled in the brief return to normality. [color=af201d]“It’s made of spidersilk,”[/color] Sunstone said. Did other worlds have spiders? Did other worlds have spiders like [i]hers[/i]? It was worth an explanation. [color=af201d]“The smaller the spider, the more magnificent––and expensive––the dress becomes. As you might imagine, no expense was spared in the creation of this one.”[/color]

Although, she hadn’t paid for it from her own pocket.

[color=5A3F50]”The silk of spiders? How interesting… I had never considered trying to make clothes from webs. I shall remember it for when I am back in Lyonse.”[/color] The last few words were murmured, mostly for the man’s own benefit. In the back of his mind, he was already plotting his comeback to Lyonse, bigger and better than before.

Sunstone quirked a brow, but otherwise didn’t interrupt the mumbling. [color=af201d]“Lord Wylde, wasn’t it?”[/color] The name was nothing like either of hers, nor any other she had heard of in Bedrock or beyond. [color=af201d]“You can call me Sunstone. Charmed.”[/color]

[color=5A3F50]”Indeed, Lord Constantine Wylde, of Anglia. Or, I suppose, of the Circle Sea”[/color] Sensing a flicker of confusion in the lady’s eyes, he continued. [color=5A3F50]“I come from a wide ocean, populated with islands. Anglia is one of them, Lyonse another, the Centre another and so on. Is your world similar?”[/color]

[color=af201d]“We don’t have any ‘seas’ or ‘islands’,”[/color] Sunstone admitted, though she would never admit to not knowing what either of those were. Logic brought her to the conclusion that most other worlds had not yet been ravaged by magic, and that they still had skies to sleep under. [color=af201d]“There are only four cities. Lamplit, Mountainside, The Ravine, and Bedrock. Bedrock is ‘the foundation of the Empire upon which every brick of civilisation is built’.”[/color] It was finished with the dull recital of a tagline committed to memory, complete with an appropriate eyeroll. [color=af201d]“I should start calling myself Sunstone of Bedrock––although it isn’t quite as catchy.”[/color]

Constantine nodded slowly. [color=5A3F50]”These cities of yours sound mountainous and rocky, like the island of Talones. Should we visit my home in the course of our adventures, we’ll have to make a stop there, the views from the cliffs of insanity are simply breathtaking. Do you perhaps have great peaks and ranges like that in your world?[/color]

[color=af201d]“Of course. Mostly in Mountainside, hence the name, but elsewhere too. I’m sure it’s very similar. I don’t doubt that the views are more interesting in your Talones, however, unless you have an intense love of granite architecture.”[/color]

[color=5A3F50]“I prefer marble, but of course to each their own.”[/color]

Sunstone smiled in commiseration and turned to the activated portal. She did not want to be the first to go through, just as she didn’t want to be one of the screeching rats released into mine-shafts down in Bottomrung to test for toxic fumes. [color=af201d]“Although it seems we’ll have to go through whatever land is on the other side of [i]that[/i], first. What even is that?”[/color]

[color=5A3F50]“It looks not unlike a portal I once saw deep in the caves under the Centre. There was a cult and a mad priest and an awful lot of shouting at the time, I seem to remember. Still, I foiled their plan, rescued their virgin sacrifice and…”[/color] Constantine trailed off in mid grandiose retelling. There had been something off about his companion’s voice as she stared, or rather, glared at the portal. Looking more closely, she seemed almost… nervous.

[color=5A3F50]“Perhaps, Lady Sunstone, you would do me the honour of taking my arm as we go through the portal?”[/color] He said, offering a bent arm and an easy, reassuring smile. [color=5A3F50]“I must admit that my appearance here unsettled me somewhat and I am less than confident in our mysterious benefactor’s ability to guide us safely to a new world. At least this way there’ll be a friendly face wherever we end up.”[/color]

Sunstone nodded, and accepted Constantine’s offer graciously.  She was no stranger to reassurance, though once again she was usually on the other side of it, less than genuine. [color=af201d]“I’m sure we won’t be torn apart by forces beyond our control, either,”[/color] Sunstone said.

And so they followed the others into the portal and the unknown.