...Miles blinks.

"Yes?"

"You almost reminded me of—" and then he double-takes. "Um. Okay, that's an unexpected and inexplicable interdimensional happenstance."

She blinks, and looks at Miles.

"... What is?"

"...You look exactly like my friend's dead father - I've only seen a few pictures, he died before I was born, but now that I'm paying attention, you've got the family eyes, too - it was the laugh that clued me in, you sounded just like him..."

"...I have to admit that's a new one," he says.

"Also, by 'friend' I may in fact mean 'Emperor'."

"...well, if your Emperor's father was ever Emperor himself, and is not remembered as the biggest disaster the empire in question has ever seen, he's definitely not me."

"The empire in question has seen some pretty big disasters, but no, Prince Serg got himself killed pursuing a really stupid war during his father's reign."

"That sounds like exactly the kind of thing I would've done when I had a soul."

"... Okay, that's just. Weird. And yes, let's. Let's not put your soul back, ever."

"I was a complete trainwreck!"

"I haven't heard that Prince Serg particularly resembled a vehicle accident, but then, the history books sort of skip over him, he never inherited and we're kind of embarrassed about the whole Escobar fiasco..."

"... Did the history books skip over, say, his parents? You could compare and contrast those and see if there's a resemblance."

"Ezar and Soraya Vorbarra - Ezar was a good Emperor, by all accounts, maybe a little too heavy-handed sometimes, but he dealt pretty well with the situation he was given. My grandfather knew him."

"...Serg, Serafin; Ezar, Evaras... did Ezar have the 'family eyes' too?"

"Yeah, I think so. And he looked a lot like - well, you. If you look at portraits of the three of them side by side, Ezar and Serg and Gregor, it's really obvious they're three generations of the same family."

"Well, that. Sort of calls up a number of awkward questions, like, 'is there a me there' and 'is there another you here.'"

"Yyyyes. Those are some awkward questions all right. But I think we can probably leave them alone for now. We have more important things to worry about."

"Right, yes. We do. Just." Handwave. "Anyway. I think we're cleared to talk magic again? Probably?"

"Seems like it!"

Serafin hugs Yvette again and then steps away. "I'll go get the witch, then."

She hugs him back, of course. But yes, five second rule for hugs, good.

"Thanks."

He goes and gets the witch.

"All right," says the witch, "let's hear about this spell of yours."