"All right."

So she carefully repeats the exact methodology she took when she first successfully managed this with her brother. The strands weave together solidly enough, and it feels the same as with Rylen, just pointed at a different person.

She covers her mouth with a hand, and whispers, "Testing."

It comes through as if she were whispering the word into his ear, instead of her palm.

...he tilts his head and smiles slightly. "I heard that."

"Oh, good," she says, echoing strangely. He hears her next to his ear, and from where she sits in front of him. "Then I'll just disentangle this so you can stop experiencing the weird double-speak -"

She does that.

"There. Now I'll be able to talk to you directly!"

Smile.

She smiles back, warmly.

Then it falls.

"I'm tempted to try and figure out how to be able to hear a reply before I try to leave, but that's - it's harder. For esoteric magic reasons. And experimenting to get one way was - not always super pleasant, for my brother, and I hated asking it of him and I'd hate asking it of you, too."

"Unpleasant how?"

"Well, first it failed by letting him hear everything but me, then it failed by having him hear me so well he could awkwardly hear my heartbeat and breathing, then when I tried to fix that I - sort of temporarily deafened him. I fixed it. And then there was some trouble with getting the volume right so I wasn't, uh, basically screaming in his ear. Nothing too awful, but it wasn't super pleasant at the time."

Snort. "Ah. My magic wasn't so inclined to act up."

"Mine doesn't act up with me, I rigged myself a perfect memory just fine, it's - wait. Wasn't?"

"I haven't been able to use it in a long time."

That - follows, really. His magic was torture powered. He hasn't had anyone to torture for a while. Maybe himself, but from what she's read (and what she can recall, she had been seriously skimming at the time and her memory picks up what she pays attention to, not everything she sees) the required pain for power was - well, it had a high bar. People did not really get tortured by this man and then walk away. Self harm can only go so far.

"Ah," she says. "Unavailability of subjects, or does the magic shut you down? Do you know?"

"I tried to escape with it, in the very beginning, when there were still other people around. It didn't work."

"Ah," she repeats, softly.

He looks away again.

She does, too.

"... Anyway. Mine doesn't act up with me, I can heal myself and wire in changes just fine, it's. Whenever I do something external that it starts getting strange."

Pensive nod.

She can stave off having to say anything with the power of food. Food, meet face. She is saved from having to converse, now. Excellent.

Tarakova still isn't eating.

"You can um - eat, if you're hungry," offers Navethae.

"I..."

He tries to find words for a few seconds, and then gives up with a sigh.

She considers him.

"If it helps any," she says dryly, "I don't bite."

He snorts softly.

"I mean maybe if someone asked nicely but that's - nevermind, I stand by my statement, I don't bite. It's okay to just - say things to me? Even if it'll come out awkward? If you haven't noticed I'm plenty awkward."

"It's not that I - it's -" Frustrated gesture. "I don't - I can't always just say things. Sometimes it works and sometimes it's like... like I've forgotten how."