[center][h2]Anne Mayer[/h2][h3]Aventon — Hunter's Lodge[/h3][/center]
[i]"How can you even read this? I've never seen any script like it."[/i]

"What?" A fresh frown of concern from Anne, who now had to grapple with this latest confusion. "It was just..." Just the same kind of writing practically everyone used across the known human worlds, ever since their unification more than two hundred years ago. Less neat than if it had been typed, but still easily legible to an educated woman like Anne. If Kendrick hadn't brought it up, she probably wouldn't have even noticed anything amiss.

That fact that he couldn't read [i]this particular script[/i], however, had major implications. It was possible this world had been cut off from wider civilization long enough for alternative languages to become prevalent—except if that was the case, then shouldn't she have had trouble understanding Kendrick's speech? Even assuming a smaller divergence in spoken language, it seemed odd that Anne hadn't noticed any unusual vernacular, or even that much of an accent. And that was putting aside all the other strangers who'd been summoned here, from places too far-flung to recognize.

[i]...Something's translating for us.[/i] A leap of logic, but it made sense. [i]The Goddess summoned us here for some purpose, and it'd be hard for us to take action if we couldn't understand anyone around us.[/i] Anne could imagine achieving something like that via implants, but her body should have rejected any such foreign objects... Meaning whatever mechanism let her understand the language here had to be external. Was it drawing power from Millie's body?

It was only when Kendrick stopped talking that the Knight realized something had happened with the necklace. Her eyes slowly followed his gaze to the glowing, bobbing trinket, and widened just a fraction at the sight.

"...That's probably your answer right there." She looked largely unsurprised by this latest development, more like a suspicion of hers had just been confirmed. "I don't know if the Heralds made it themselves or they got it from somewhere else, but if they have stronger versions of this, they could triangulate Millie's position from anywhere on the planet." A pause, as she considered. "Assuming she's the only one, at least." If it worked like Paranormal Powers did, then it could be a hereditary factor that primed its user for possession by the 'Goddess.' [i]Though, based on the results, it's more like a curse than a power.[/i]

She nodded her head toward Kendrick. "Keep it, if you want. I don't trust the Heralds, but something like that ought to at least be useful for keeping an eye on her."

[@PKMNB0Y]