@ircnclad

Although he couldn’t see through the smog that gripped Val Faim in its chokehold, Zhenya could feel the shift that ran beneath the inscrutable veil. The lengthening of the board as it stretched like a gaping maw, swallowing newly-added pieces and eating at long-standing boundaries. The tilt of its lines as they grew jagged and skewed. The blur of its slots as they merged and melted into one another. Until it seemed as though every stroke of order and tinge of structure was lost to the encroaching haze.

He was not daunted by the change; having learned from the winding trails and elusive pitfalls of his path to never lean into his steps, to never trust his footing lest it was ripped from him. Whichever arena he traversed, he could only swerve with the turn, adapt to the shift, and halt before the collapse. This instance was no different. However, he couldn’t deny that the unprecedented and rapidly broadening scope of development left him quite ill at ease. Most prominently because he couldn’t latch the blame for the disorder onto the swiping arm of the Empress, despite the fact that she had singularly governed the landscape of his duty for the entire duration of his stay and up to this decisive point. It was clear that the board no longer sat solely between Celestine and the North; not with Widrowem striding in with its own agenda and the Obsidienne lingering in the periphery with a hoard of mystifying secrets and malignant omens.

Spurred on by the tumultuous circumstances and the stray whispers he had snagged throughout them, Zhenya went scouting for information. Midway through a pensive morning riddled with volatile encounters with the Empress and grim discussions of the explosion, his venture sent him in pursuit of Helene Farrow. He had heard that she was one of two courtiers tasked with interrogating the dungeon-bound mage who had survived the incident, and although Sidonie would most likely be far more pliable, Zhenya had decided to seek out Helene instead. Although he had earned the favor of many nobles within the court, he had yet to gain a foothold with Empress Calandre’s imperious advisor, and this was the ideal opportunity for it. After a brief, inconspicuous search, he found Helene in the Empressian Gardens. “Good afternoon, Helene. May I join you on your walk?” He requested upon his approach. A beat of silence passed as they walked, then he remarked, “Quite a strange turn of events this week, isn’t it? I hope you’ve been faring well since the explosion.”