ruinsprofessor

I'll be there.

[Thankful for shadow-walking, and the fact that it keeps him from moving. He was fine immediately after the confrontation, save for the understandable ache. It was only after sleeping he'd discovered he might be a tad more injured than he thought.

[He sent the message just before he meant to go and continue work on Emily-Helen, so it's not long before he's at the hospital room Raine set aside for him, donning his apron and rolling up the sleeves of one of his oldest shirts, and moving stiffly.]

[He gets there before her, of course, so is probably already working by the time she catches up. She stands in the doorway to watch him for a moment, noting the stiffness of movement, before entering properly.]

I presume from your lack of concern that he didn't actually open any wounds?

You presume correctly.

[Bathing a turtle's body takes time. So does finding the preservatives. So does removing its organs. Particularly when he has no books on physiological. Solomon withdraws his tools from the incision in the side, puts it down, and turns with a wince, moving away from the body toward the table on the other side of the room.]

Just got a little physical.

[A little dryly:] I can see that. If you'll stand still for a moment, I'll fix that.

[She's already casting, has the arte formed and ready within a few seconds, waiting only to make sure he's actually stopped moving.]

Apart from that, what do you need me to do?

[Since she's already here, and he'd said he'd like an assistant for this.]

[Solomon pauses long enough for the spell to be cast, and the magic eases the ache and pangs in his back. That's going to make this much easier. He stretches, and though the injury hadn't been too bad it's still relieving to have gone.

[He collects some tools and returns to the table.]

I need some help removing the organs. The kedan have finished some of the jars and I've enchanted them to expedite the embalming process, so we can put them in right away.

[Raine watches him a little longer, making sure his movement is natural. Better. She shrugs out of her jacket, leaving a sleeveless, high-collared shirt, and leaves it with her staff, out of the way, before joining Solomon by Emily-Helen's side.]

All right. Would you mind explaining the reasoning behind the traditions, what you know of it?

[She'd ask the primary source. But. Well. For obvious reasons, that's not exactly an option.]

[This is also not something she has anything like experience with, and while she's determined and more than willing, she's also uncertain where to start.]

Preservation in the afterlife.

[It's a simple initial answer as he gives her an apron and uses something like a jack to part the long slit in Emily-Helen's side.]

The Ancient Egyptians believed in an afterlife which reflected their landscape. In order to interact with it, the parts of the soul had to be able to reunite with their body in order to experience their new plane of existence. For that reason, the body had to be properly honoured and preserved before interred.

[He indicates the jars with a sigh.]

Ordinarily it would take forty days to soak them in natron--salt--but we don't have that kind of resource and I very much doubt we have that kind of time. It's more a matter of necessity of waiting for desiccation, anyway, and I'm not subject to that constraint.

[She ties the apron on while listening, slowly recalls what she knows of turtle biology. It's not much, but it's something.]

Since the self isn't complete without the body, of course. What of those who can't be so honored and preserved, for one reason or another? Soldiers, perhaps, or the poor?

[Even if she knows relatively little of Egypt she can make some educated guesses. This procedure requires time and resources both, after all, and if it was a large enough country she can't imagine there were people who didn't fall through the cracks.]

It's fortunate you can shortcut that step, then. How do you want to proceed?

[Too many variables to just jump in. If he has some kind of process in mind, excellent; if not, they can sort out the steps together before moving forward.]

[Fortunately for them both, Solomon managed to get a book on turtle physiology, and he points to it now as he speaks.]

Here, then here, then moving along here to here. I'll be using shadows for precision, but things will move faster with someone to help hold and carry the organs.

[So saying, he conjures a series of shadows to help hold up Emily-Helen's body, and use them as blades.]

In the distant past, only those who could serve a purpose in the afterlife would be allowed in--people like the pharaoh. If you could prove benefit, then you could enter the afterlife; naturally, that usually meant having enough coin to pay for it. Over time the funerary rites became more accessible to the commoners, especially those in service to the rich--though I admit I don't know what happens to those who die out of country. Efforts were made to bring their corpses home, I suppose.

[She follows his gestures on the book, studies it a little longer, focusing with an eye to retaining both the information therein and the path he plans.]

Understood.

[And that's simply that, as far as she's concerned; with that much information she can follow what Solomon's doing and respond appropriately in good time.]

[Her response to his elaboration is a slightly downturned expression. Not really disapproving, just-- resigned. ~~Humans~~ people really are the same no matter the world, aren't they.] Of course. I suppose I should have expected something like that.

[Raine lets that fall for now, and it's a little time before she brings up something else.] There's something I've been meaning to ask you, by the way. Regarding our endeavor with Skulduggery's ribs.

[Likewise Solomon attends to his task. They've gotten one organ out and in its jar and Solomon is concentrating hard, using shadows to find the next, when Raine asks. Her question sends a prickle of warning down his spine, but he doesn't react much otherwise.]

Yes?

[She barely hesitates in her turn, either about the organs or about this question, and forges straight ahead.] There's a lapse of a few seconds I can't account for.

It's possible I imagined it. [Unlikely. She guards her memory jealously.] In the midst of everything else that was happening at the time. Still, I wondered if you might know something.

[She does have a hypothesis, though she's not going to mention it yet. She's had time to think about it and her probable reaction, at least, and there's nothing accusing in her tone, just neutral questioning.]

[He doesn't flinch, but he stills, staring into the slit in Emily-Helen's side.]

I was hoping you wouldn't ask, to be frank.

[After a moment he resumes his task.]

When Skulduggery attempted to throw out a death-aura, I had to counter him with the same or he would have taken me, and that would have destroyed the shield protecting you. I ... overlooked ... the fact that my shield, forged of my shadows, wouldn't have protected you against me.

[Fascinating. Unsettling, yes, that she actually was briefly dead, but here she stands, and they succeeded that day. Intent, and the fact he could remedy it quickly, does a lot to put her at some kind of peace with the idea.]

[She does, however, think she recognizes that stillness, and the refusal to look at her. Oh, Solomon, what are you expecting.]

[Still fairly neutral:] You noticed and compensated quickly, at least.

As soon as I had broken Skulduggery's aura, yes.

[It hadn't exactly been easy. He couldn't have risked trying to use her--he didn't know if it was possible to return someone already used for power.]

[A decisive nod, though she's aware she's probably out of his field of vision.] Fast enough I wasn't initially sure what had happened.

[And a breath, slightly heavier on the exhalation, not quite a sigh.] I appreciate your honesty. [She really, really does; she's not sure what she'd have done if he'd actively tried to conceal it, or even if she would have caught that.]

[Somehow it's the last part that makes him pause. He's not sure why; possibly it's because no one's appreciated it when he has been honest before.]

You're welcome.

[That's it? That's all she's going to say about it?]

[She'd much rather uncomfortable honesty than that he lie to her.]

[Well, it was all she was going to say about it, but there's something strangely expectant about his silence, and whatever it is she'd like to understand. She pauses, finally straight-out asks,] What are you thinking, Solomon?

[It's only now that he straightens, though after a pause, letting his shadows dissolve for a moment while he looks at her.]

I'm wondering why you can simply accept the fact that I murdered you. Most people would take issue with that.

[The last is said rather dryly.]

[Oh good, he's looking at her. That's much better.]

[Raine raises her eyebrows a little. Tilts her head just a little to one side, as if she's just everyday curious.] Did you intend to, then?

[Intent is a large part of the battle. A beat, then she adds,] And do you regret it?

[This one she's pretty sure she knows the answer to, but some things really do benefit from being said aloud.]

No.

[It comes out almost brusque with the unexpected force of the answer, and he glances away again to collect himself. In contrast his answer to the second question comes out soft.]

Yes.

[As she thought. Good. She carefully ignores, does not examine the way some emotion twists, deep in her gut, at the force of his answers. Anyone would regret accidentally killing a friend; now is not the time to read any deeper than that.]

[What she does do is take a couple of steps toward him.]

Then why should I take issue? You slipped, and you fixed your mistake. That's all. I'm alive and well.

[There's no sense dwelling on what can't be changed now.]

[He watches her come closer and even though it's Raine, and Raine is too practical to do anything in this location, with what they're doing--despite that something about the flicker of emotion in her eyes and the way she steps forward is alien to Raine. Alien and a little exciting at once, but exciting in all the wrong ways for their duty now.

[Unintentional. Certainly unintentional. But it still makes Solomon more aware of her in a way he hadn't been before, at least not consciously. It's conscious now, and he holds himself still, examining her face with an impassive expression of his own.]

Not many people would view it as simply as that.

[Definitely unintentional. Even if she may have progressed to admitting it to herself? Not now. Definitely not here.]

[She doesn't quite know what to make of that impassivity, but she does have a point to make, and so Raine stays right where she is, meeting his gaze as evenly as she can. She's also determinedly continuing to ignore anything more than simply the conversation they're having.] I suppose not.

I have had some time to consider the possibility, however. [It's possible she might not have been quite this graceful the day of.] And it's not something either of us can change. There's little point in belaboring it.

[He didn't intend to; he regrets it; he'd probably change it if he could. That's more than enough to move forward with.]

[It's not exactly difficult, focussing on just the conversation, but there's still a little section of Solomon's mind where he has to note the fact that he appreciates how Raine meets his eyes. Always has. He just hadn't noticed, because she reminded him so strongly of Morwenna.

[... Solomon's not sure what it says about him, that he's attracted to a woman who does remind him so strongly of Morwenna.]

You're a very practical person, Raine.

[But he's smiling, just a little, and it's wry and accepting even though he doesn't understand how she could just dismiss it like that. But he turns back to Emily-Helen, and the tension that had gathered at Raine's question has left again.]

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