—she starts her spell, opening herself up for a tentacle—

It slams a spiked tentacle into her head, pulverizing it against the cobblestone street.

KORVOSAN CARRIER
FIREDAY, DESNUS 29th, 4708

ACADAMAE STUDENTS ON RELEASE FOR BREACHING FESTIVAL

The spring rains have been unusually long. You can hear them flow down off the roofs and into the gutters on the street, if you're listening. A Chelixian trade galleon bound from Corentyn pulled into the dock at Midland this morning. In two days, the gates of the Acadamae will open to outsiders for the exhibition. Dark things move in the Vaults beneath the earth. Last night, there was a tragic accident involving two house drakes, a careless wizard, and a walking mushroom.

So, nothing particularly out of the ordinary for this time of year.

Ow. Hopefully that worked. Not that she'll know any time soon, but with any luck Mika at least will survive. Hopefully the Bank can delegate her permission to the others and not have the money locked up forever.

...This is not what she thought the Choice of Damnations looked like. The Abyss, obviously, it may not give her a good chance but it's the best she'll get. What... is she supposed to be doing here? Why does the Boneyard look so much like Korvosa?

Tencednil is seated at the desk in her room. Her hammock, bookshelf, and dresser are as she left them. The black curtains are closed.

Her notes on the desk are slightly older than she remembers and in different places.

Well. Hesitation is pointless, she may as well get to the choosing. (Will she regret this? Probably. So be it.)

She sits and breathes deeply for a few minutes before getting up, pulling on her shadow, and walking out into the "hallway". That must be where she gets her choice.

The hallway is pitch dark, as usual. Nothing seems out of the ordinary.

Strange and confusing! It really should not be difficult to distinguish being dead and being alive!

Well, whatever's happening here, the best way to learn is to listen to people. (Petitioners? Close enough.)

<Hello? Is anyone there?>

Nothing seems to happen. The hallway is unchanged.

Anything through the walls wouldn't be able to see, so maybe sound? Looking like her house is a strange choice if she's meant to talk, but oh well.

"Hello? Anyone?" She'll go to the end of the hallway near where Mother's room would normally be and then wait a few minutes in case anyone heard that. No point announcing exactly where you are, but if something did hear her, she wants to be close when it comes.

A few minutes later, the door opens.

<Daughter? Why are you so loud so early? The sun is still rising!>

<Mother? Did you... What do you mean, so loud so early? Last I checked it was well in the afternoon, and also I was dead.>

<It's far too bright out to be any more reasonable hour of the day, and you quite clearly are not dead.> Her fingers flick sharply through the sign. <What exactly did you think you saw.>

Report. She can do a report. Not knowing what's going on is no reason to fail at reporting.

<I went out Toilday a few hours after sunturn—> She thinks through this as she goes, dragging the memories to the surface.

<Don't resist.> Ulon reveal the thoughts of those around me.

—that is not what reading should show, and that is not how resisting should work either.

<Stop. Whatever you're about to mention, it is being shrouded from my sight. There is a reason; I need not know it. It is Fireday, Desnus the 29th, 4708...> She turns back to look at the faint reflections of the sun from the slight gaps at the edge of her curtain. <More than an hour before sunturn. If Ulon has blessed you, it is for a reason, and you must make the most of it yourself. If another has touched you, you must ensure the consequences fall not upon me and your brother. If the second, we must not reveal this, so I will not change my actions towards you, and you will not towards me. Remember, we were the first to foresee Earthfall, we must be vigilant for the next time the humans fail in their duties. Now go.>

Earthfall? Ulon's blessing? But she— no, she can cast, she can still feel her cantrips. And they're the same as when she woke up, nothing new and nothing lost. Earthfall? She can't possibly be on her own to stop something that large, can she? That would be absurd.

Unless the King's death is important somehow? Could Ulon have shown her a future for her to avert? Prophecy is supposed to be dead! ...no, invalid, it is said that prophecy is dead, it is taught never to blindly accept what you are told. Prophecy is generally accepted to be dead. Perhaps he did. Even then, what can she possibly do?

Well, she won't do it here with Mother, not now. And anything she's going to do will need money, and she knows how to get that. <As you say. Tomorrow I should have a buckler shield-ring, which you would buy at slightly below twenty thousand shields without this. Be prepared to hear my offer when the time comes.> Trying to profit from or avert the King's death can come after that.

Out the door and down to the Rusted Anchor! She wants to arrive a little bit before she did in the vision, this time.

The Rusted Anchor is mostly as she remembers it. Low conversation fills the bar.

Anton and Julio have not yet arrived. Mika is seated at a small table, eating.

How does she want to play this?

Julio and Anton are idiots, and they don't realize it. She doesn't have the time to wait for the slow, mutually-agreed money transfer. If she wants to change things, she needs money, and that means having sails available to her in time to bet on the Breaching Festival. That means she needs to throw them, show them they need to offer reasonable shares to her. And possibly also Mika, he was important in the vision.

She buys a bite and sits near the door, waiting for the two of them to walk in.

Something like forty minutes later, Anton and Julio walk in. They look around for a moment, before moving to sit down at a corner table.

She walks up behind them as they go. "You two are idiots. You want him over there." She nods to Mika. "You also should be somewhat more circumspect about large quantities of potential money. Some people might overhear. Your tunnel starts at 44 Stone's End in Midland, I won't say the rest in a place this public."

??????

"That's rather rude of y—"

Anton is affronted. "Nobody asked for your opinio— how do you know that?!"