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This time, however, the illusion didn’t stay long. It shifted quickly into another, similar scene, where Raheem was a bit older again--only this time, he wasn’t alone. Another, smaller child was right in front of him, tucked in a small cot and sleeping away while Raheem watched.

Then again, the scene changed, even more rapidly than before--so fast, even, that Hector had trouble making sense of everything. And it just kept going. More scenes, more children, more locations and situations. All in glimpses. The only clear throughline was Raheem himself, growing steadily older as siblings sprouted up all around him, pestering him, making him laugh, making him worry, making him angry, even making him cry.

It was remarkable, Hector thought. Overwhelming and remarkable. Too much to take in all at once like this, certainly, and he couldn’t stop trying, either.

The others were saying things now. Abbas and Garovel and Worwal. And he fully intended to listen to whatever they were saying and respond to it.

But for a few moments longer, Hector Goffe simply kept observing in awed silence.


Chapter Three Hundred Six: ‘O, long-departed ingenue...’
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“You have a troubled soul, child.”

“Oh, really? Thanks.” She knew this wasn’t going to be fun. Even with all the training she’d been put through in recent years specifically for this purpose, it would’ve been foolish to think that this mission was going to be some sort of cakewalk.

Dealing with psychics was always going to spell trouble.

And this was a whole town full of them. A whole society.

Well. Mostly whole.

There was, of course, a non-psychic group at the heart of it all. They were also rather important to this place, to say the least.

“That was not meant as a compliment,” said her tall guide as they walked down a long, green-lit corridor together.

She knew that, of course. That was just how she dealt with rude people. By pretending she didn’t understand. In her line of work, it often made things easier. So she made no response here, instead choosing to let her eyes wander at the verdant surroundings, as if she were barely even paying attention to the conversation.

This guide was a persistent one, though. “Your thoughts seem to be of somewhere else. A homesickness, perhaps?“

Ah, she could respond that. “Yeah. Family issues, y’know? But I miss them. As surely as the sun shines.”