Crying.

And now he's crying too. He was not expecting that.

Grief is a bitch and a half, ain't it. They can just. Hug each other and cry for a while.

Yeah that sounds like a plan.

Eventually the tears peter out.

"Her name was Evasari Edari," she murmurs.

Hug.

"Wanna go home," she mumbles.

"Wonder what that's like."

"I--I don't know how to describe it."

More hug.

Yeah.

Eventually Vengeance Mode reasserts itself and she wants to go back to doing things that will lead to Savaross dying horribly.

Doing things that will lead to Savaross dying horribly is an excellent use of their time.

Yep.

...

Warlocks have a range as well as a volume limit. Normally this doesn't come up because why would you rip any air besides what's right next to you. But most warlocks' ranges, it transpires, are smaller than Ikera's volume limit radius if she does it in a sphere.

Well, that's a major magical combat advantage and then some.

Yes, yes it is. Can she have some of his stored animaltorture magic so she can practice ripping stored magic along with the air?

Definitely.

Good. Can he surreptitiously study the wards Savaross has on whatever stored power he has on him, then duplicate it so she can practice on that?

Yep!

Excellent.

...

Wow, these are really good wards. This's gonna take her a while.

Sairu has some expertise at picking wards apart, and has been studying Savaross's wards for a while; he can help her figure it out.

She's not going to have time to pick the wards apart carefully when this is for real; she needs to be able to bypass them flawlessly and instantly. But knowing how they work--their weak points, how they ravel--it's useful. It will still take a long time, but not quite as much.

It's good to be making progress.

He probably should have expected this, but it's really difficult to pretend he's getting to torture someone on a regular basis. He is just - not that calm, but he needs to be that calm or everyone in the tower is going to know he isn't.

Ikera has no idea what's behind him being so on-edge but she notices that he's on-edge.

"What's wrong?"

"Mm?"

"You're acting--stressed."