Blllink.

"You're right, I'm not a shaman. Does it seem particularly… mutilated?" (She rubs her fingers together like she's feeling dust.) "Or just disoriented?"

"Imagine a beautiful tapestry. There is one inside each soul. Each soul is such a tapestry.

"Imagine that it has been put near a fire, and a small patch of it caught a spark. That singe has been neatly cut away, the edges stitched close, a perfect little window. Very neat.

"Imagine, now, that this has happened five times. Imagine fifteen.

"Imagine a tapestry with a thousand little holes. Each of them has been painstakingly stitched so it cannot disintegrate further, with the most careful stitches.

"Is that a mutilation? Of course. There is nothing left of what that tapestry was woven to be - save, perhaps, the vaguest outlines. But it only still exists because someone could not bear to let it go, not when they had thread and a needle."

Miko touches her chest, nodding.

(Is the ache she feels from the hard thing inside? Or just from imagining what it must be like?)

"I. See."

Why is it attached to her

Is it decaying more

Can it even be helped

"Should I—I'm sorry, it's probably painful to look at. Is there a… ritual that can be done, maybe? To put it to rest?"

It would be pretty fucked up if this kid's soul was some sort of undead focus, like a vampire's coffin or… some other kind of undead that probably exists somewhere.

Camellia smiles softly. "It's not difficult to watch. Quite the opposite, really... there's a kind of tragic beauty to it, and the craftsmanship is masterful. And of course, I'll learn what I can about what can be done." She pats Miko's hand. "You don't deserve this."

O…kay.

Miko remembers that Camellia has high Sense Motive and can probably discern her mental state from her face, somehow. So it's better to just say things instead of judging her in silence.

"It only hurts me sometimes. Unless it's also draining me vampirically in some way I can't perceive."

"Mm. But you shouldn't have this presence inside you. You have enough to think about already."

She stands. "I'm going to see if Dyra can get me some moonshine close enough to pure alcohol. Potioncraft makes such undignified demands."

She can't, actually, argue with that. And Camellia did in fact offer to do her a favor.

"Best of luck."

She wonders if there are even dwarves on this continent. They'd be good for something close to pure alcohol.

Well. She should probably find Lann and tell him that that's taken care of. And then, hopefully, they can assemble the party that will venture back to the surface.

Lann has awoken from his meditation, and is hanging out with Seelah.

She looks to have been regaling him with various stories; she's still holding that burning feather.

"-a real phoenix I don't think they'd have been selling it so cheap," she muses. "But still, it's so pretty I'd hate to use it. Not that I won't, in a real pinch."

"I wouldn't call five thousand gold coins cheap," Lann marvels. "I've never seen that many coins in the same place, not even tin!"

Seelah laughs. "Trust me: in the grand scheme of things, that's cheap. Ah, Miko!" She stands slightly more to attention. "How'd you - ech. How was your night?"

Seelah's awkwardness puts her at ease.

"It passed relatively productively! I'm going to look up some meditation techniques when we get back to Kenabres. There are really quite a lot of elves around; I'm sure that someone's written a guide for what to do when you're operating on a human schedule. I might also purchase some books for lighter reading, in case that doesn't completely fill the time."

Directed at both of them:

"How was yours?"

Lann grins. "I could hardly sleep because in a few gongs' time I'll see the sun again, that's how my night was."

Seelah laughs. "And I slept like a babe because adventurers who don't sleep die. Don't make me use my feather, Horn-boy - oh, that's bad, scratch that, I'll keep thinking."

Miko appreciates Seelah's attitude! Not enough people take the risks of adventuring seriously. But she also can't blame Lann for being excited!

"Well, maybe he'll be able to substitute the excitement for rest. What does the feather do?"

"Raises someone from the dead, once. Got it in the desert - they said it was a phoenix's feather with a little extra enchantment, so they can make it without diamonds."

That's impressive! Behold Miko's impressed eyebrows!

"As Raise Dead, or as Resurrection?"

"Raise Dead. I don't think anyone would sell Resurrection at five thousand crowns even if it was that much cheaper to make in the first place."

Nod.

"This is true. Well, I also hope that you don't end up needing it. And if you do, that it functions as described. And that it wasn't created through Evil means."

Seelah - chuckles, a bit woodenly. "Well, I'd be a pretty shit paladin if I couldn't tell. So, you know - I'll hope so too."

Miko can't really argue with any of that.

"… Right. I apologize; I've just heard of Evil trade of phoenixes and their body parts. But you don't need to do anything Evil to take a feather, after all…"

"They moult like mad, or so the shaman claimed," Seelah says, back to smiles. "Especially when they've just re-hatched! I almost wanted to see one of the chicks, it sounded adorable, but I know it'd only be baby-bird ugly like every other baby bird. ...this is silly. Let's find Anevia, figure out where our noble flower has hared off to, and head for the labyrinth. Yeah?" she confirms with Lann.

"Yeah," he says, very politely not vibrating.

"I last saw Camellia just earlier; she's talking with Dyra about supplies. Oh, which reminds me, she extended an offer to help find things you might want to purchase."