Blas stared blankly at the knight who bowed before him. "That's… not right," he said, shaking his head.

The young Blas, only sixteen, forcibly relaxed his clenched jaw. "I'm sure the Scryer was seeing the wrong timeline," he said casually, waving it off. "Just last month, Father instructed me to avoid a date with Alliana because I'd be struck by a carriage, which would burst alight with me beneath! He… he's too dependent on them I think."

Leah Severin, who was herself gifted with visions despite her tender age of seven, just huffed. She wasn't convinced either. "Yeah, what Blasy said. They could tell him the sky will be pink and they'd believe it! What did the vision say?" She demanded, muttering about what a terrible joke this was for Felthinus to pull just because he was angry that Blas was named successor.

The messenger, a balding officer with dark skin and an eye of brown and another of grey, just gave a sad smile. "Lord Pentius said you two would say this. I have the scroll the scribe who recorded the vision used. But I must, however fruitlessly, warn you that-"

Blas stood quickly, bumping the table and slightly spilling the tea he'd been sharing with Leah. "It's ugly, yes yes. Just give her the scroll already!"

A sharp nod was returned. "Yes, Lord Severin," he said, pulling a ceremonial scroll, clad in silver and bronze with platinum inlays of a crow atop a gauntlet, from his hip.

This made both youths stare. "But… that's Master Bavar's scroll-work," Leah stated, which Blas had already noted mentally. This got a nod from the messenger.

"Aye. And verified by Master Hadar, you'll see their seal inside," he explained, having risen to his feet.

Blood had drained from the Severin siblings' faces. Rarely were they wrong…

"Leave us," ordered Blas, getting another sharp nod and a quickly departing from the circular room clad in crystal carvings.

Leah gave him a weak smile. "Well… you were here to help me train, right?" She joked, voice shaking. Stabilizing herself with a breath, she glanced back at the door, making sure they were alone. "Okay, so… I learned some tricks from Fer…"

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Blas balked. "The heretic? What could he possibly teach a Severin?" He demanded sternly.

"A lot!" She snapped, mouth a firm line, the spitting image of her mother. "Anyway, shut up. I just… need you to keep quiet about it, okay?" She asked, voice suddenly shy. "He taught me some stuff it turns out I'm really good at… but Mother and Father would be really mad… so when… when this vision is wrong, and… they come back fine… you need to not tell them."

Blas stared at her, trying to figure out what this trick could be. "I guess…"

This got a sweet, grateful smile from her. "Thank you. I just… I need to know this vision is wrong," she said as she withdrew a dagger. "Take my hand."

"Is- you- blood-?" He stuttered, unable to believe what he was seeing. "They won't just be mad, they'll ground you til you're ten! Blood magic is… it's-"

"Not illegal! If you have to, tell them when they get back! I just need to know, but I… I need you for it, okay?! I need your blood too. It’s safer."

After a moment of processing, he gave a sharp nod. "You don't like… summon demons and stuff with it, right?"

"No. And Fer doesn’t either! Anyway…" she said as she held a hand out, which he took. The girl held their hands over the silver inscribed scrying bowl, and slipped the dagger between their palms. Clenching their jaws, she turned the blade sideways and swiftly drew out from between them. Neither of them winced, which surprised Blas; he had countless bruises from training, but Leah must have been practicing for a while to get such pain tolerance.

She began a modified version of the usual chants for scrying, but he felt a heat spreading from the cut, and gasped as he felt blood flowing unnaturally fast from the wound. "Leah-" he began, but got cut off as she raised her voice to a crescendo, which was admittedly less impressive than with the adult seers. What was no less impressive, though, was the sense of being yanked straight up into the ceiling, even seeing only darkness… but unlike usual when helping her practice, the darkness didn't change.

Wondering briefly if a mistake happened, he soon realized that wasn't the case as he rose again. This time it was in the vision, though, and soon he began to see what he feared ever since the messenger came.

"That's… that's a f… fish…" he said, a numb weight in his chest. "What… what were you-"

A hiccup burst from her chest as they were suddenly back in their bodies. "They… where they are…" she said, trying to continue but her words turned into anguished wails. "And it's just… w… wa…"

"Water…" said Blas as tears formed in his eyes. "Leah… they're… our parents… are…"

Leah sobbed harder, hugging into his thigh, not caring that she was staining his clothes.

That was enough mourning for now. For him, anyway. His sister needed him right now. He scooped her up, bringing her so she could lay her head on his shoulder as he quickly cast a healing spell.

"I… I'm the Duke…" Duke Blas Severin said, voice hollow.