Viveca’s fingertips lightly brushed the walls of crystalline onyx as they approached the balcony.  Her heart leapt into her throat as anxiety filled her to the core.  She watched Indira scan the room and, for had to be the millionth time just that night, had to wonder what was in her head.  The newly ordained inquisitor had such difficulty reading her mentor – the woman was stone cold, and yet so caring, so thoughtful.

As they left the building onto the balcony, Viveca looked up at the stars, twinkling like the gemstones in the walls.  Indira dismissed a serving girl but as she walked past, Viveca lightly placed a hand on her shoulder and leaned in.  “I’m really sorry, but… I’m out and, would you mind if I borrowed one of those?”

The girl seemed a little frazzled by the request at all; two phenomenally powerful women talking to her beyond a simple thanks for a drink or food.  She fumbled nervously for a moment to draw a cigarette holder from her uniform and pass one of the sticks over.  Viveca placed it delicately between her lips and the girl lit it for her before going back inside and back to work.

Leaning on the railing, the new Inquisitor took a long drag from the cigarette and let it blow over the scenery, hazing it momentarily from her view.  Glancing at Indira, she waited for the story and listened intently when it came.  Father Creid and Antonin did what?  And they insinuated Indira in it?  Viveca did everything to prevent her anger from pouring out into the conversation.  All of it sounded so unbelievable – time travel?  Hellfire?  No, nothing, none of this could be true.

Sucking the cigarette down to the halfway mark, Viveca turned back to the sprawling scenery from the balcony.  “No, Mother Indira, I can’t believe this…  All of the fictitious details aside, the absolutely impossible events, the-the… the heresy from the three of you…”  She had lowered her voice to a whisper before continuing on, “I mean…  I’m not here for Lord Varya, but you’re playing with fire here…”

Taking a breath and another puff, Viveca slowly released the smoke from her lungs before letting out a gentle sigh.  “I’m sorry…  It’s not that I don’t believe you, I’m just trying to wrap my head around it.  What can we do?”  She asked, pausing before shaking her head, “I know you wouldn’t tell me any of this – you’d let me live in a happy ignorance until the day I died – if you didn’t think that there was something we could do.  We can fight, we can research, we can learn about it before we go.  There must be something; it might not be in popular recorded history, but this can’t be impossible to avoid.  I just… I’m sure you wouldn’t tell me if it was impossible…”  She began to ramble, placed her head in her free hand, leaning against the railing for support.  The world spun and she felt nauseous after the news.

“Mother, what can I do to help?”  She finally asked, locking eyes with her mentor before snubbing her cigarette against the iron rail, flicking it out into the abyssal night.  “Anything you ask, I serve you; I can fight for three of the people I believe in most.  Even if it lands be back into an ether mine.