"But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura
“That must be awful, Narya, I’m so sorry.” Sympathy and worry both work together to cause a delicate frown on Avelina’s features - she imagines that wherever the voices are coming from, it would be terrible not to know - to hear thoughts that are not your own and have them plague you. She wastes no time in thinking of possible explanations out loud - and it does not even occur to her that Narya could be making this up. “Could it be the thoughts of others, maybe? Can you hear what I’m thinking?” Avelina pauses a little, a small smile on her face as she thinks of her fireflies and other happy things - wishing such an innocent explanation could be the truth.
And then those thoughts fade into other things that could explain what Narya is experiencing. None of her options really help with fixing the problem though… but maybe they can figure that out once they know what the problem is.
Her voice is thoughtful and unafraid as she continues, almost like they’re discussing reasons why certain flowers are purple and others are pink. “Or… my brother can summon souls from the afterlife. I don’t think the boundary between our world and the next is particularly good at keeping things out.” For Avelina, death has always been there, practically part of the family thanks to Cru’s ability. It doesn’t distress her for her own sake - she just wishes her friend didn’t have to be plagued with anything even remotely bothersome. Narya deserved to live in peace.
“Can you hear what they're saying or just the general noise? Like someone is whispering and you can't quite make out the words?” She hopes Narya will forgive her for this little bit of curiosity, though the question could easily be brushed off and Avelina would not mind.
