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‘Okay, okay,’ said Hector. ‘I understand everything else you said, more or less. Pocket dimension or whatever. No bodies here, no matter. Only our minds. Right?’

‘Yeah?’ said Garovel.

‘And uh, I get that we can hear your guys’ thoughts. You’re reapers. You can, er, communicate with souls directly or whatever. That makes sense.’

‘Uh-huh?’ said Chergoa.

‘But then... why can Emiliana and I hear each other?’

‘Oh, well, that’s...’ And Garovel just stopped.

Hector waited, but the reaper didn’t finish. ‘...Garovel?’

‘Uh... hmm.’ Garovel paused another time. ‘Actually, that’s a really good question.’

Chergoa had to chime in now. ‘Er... yeah. Huh. You two shouldn’t be able to hear each other. Your souls aren’t bound together. You should both be able to hear me and Garovel, but you definitely shouldn’t be able to hear one another. That’s... really weird.’ And she waited a second before giving them another, ‘Huh.’

‘I can’t tell if they really don’t know,’ said Hector, ‘or if they’re just messing with us again.’

‘I think they are being serious,’ said Emiliana. ‘They would not purposely make themselves look ignorant.’

‘Ah, you’re probably right.’

‘Hmm,’ said Garovel. ‘I don’t like how well these two are getting along all of a sudden.’

‘Me neither,’ said Chergoa. ‘It was a mistake to allow our servants to mingle. We should release them and start over.’

‘Good idea.’

‘So basically,’ said Hector, ‘you two have no idea what’s happening here at all.’

‘Agh, it must be the shards,’ said Garovel.

‘You’re just gonna blame everything on the shards, aren’t you?’ said Hector.

‘It’s the only explanation, really. Stupid soul-catalyst bullcrap. I wonder if even Qorvass understands how they work. I bet he just pretends like he does.’

‘Because that’s what you would do?’ said Hector.

‘Hell yeah. Bullshitting is a very valuable skill, my friend.’