Sorana

When Althea was able to see something again, she stood in a room. It was decorated, but she ignored that, instead looked at Max. He was breathing, still kneeling on the ground. He seemed alright and her shoulders sagged in relief. "He saved us, again." She whispered and only then realized, what Max was wearing, what she herself was wearing. "Shards." Now she looked around, a wedding? Althea took a step back, suddenly had a hard time breathing, or thinking. Was she really supposed to marry him right here and now? He hadn't even asked her, they hadn't even kissed. She didn't even know if Max wanted to marry, if their expectations aligned. Breathing in stormlight she used it to clear her head, to force down the panic rising in her throat. They could talk about this. They could always walk away and come back later. "Max?" She tried to ask him, but instead gave up after his name. How did you ask if he wanted to walk away, and what would it mean if he said yes? He had told her he wanted to stay with her, but a wedding, a wedding was important, it was a central part, it was... "Do you think I should look for the link to Solace? Check if it's still there?" Cringing at her question her eyes never left him, fearful to see how he would react, what he would make of the situation. She hoped he would see past her words, past business, past the later, and for one time let it be now. Fear, clenched down her stomach. What if he thought that this had been her idea, that she wanted to force him to do something. Althea gathered her courage, took a deliberate breath. She had to listen to her own advise. She was afraid he would discard her, when nothing, nothing he had done indicated it. And yet she almost panicked at the thought that he would walk away, leave her. Another breath, steadying her. She was who she was. Either he loved her, or he didn't, but she couldn't ruin it with her fear. A third breath, looking for the words. "No, that's not what I mean. It can wait. For once it has to wait." We are more important. "What do you think of this?" Her hand gesturing at the dress, the room. Not later, for once it would be now. @I think I am here.

Althea listened to Max words, glad that he took this part over. He was a lot better at it than she would ever be. "I'm scared." she added quietly, adressing only Max and Solace. "I'm so scared I feel like running away and hiding somewhere in a basement. But I won't go. Because if I give in to my fears, if I let them control me I am nothing more than a flag blowing whereever the wind goes. You tell yourself, that everytime you protect someone, something bad happens. And that's wrong. You protected Max, and you saved me, and apart from all the catastrophies, it ended in the best thing in my life." "Max is right, you can push through. If you are as strong as you want everybody to believe. If you really want to protect those you care about, then you can. But not as long as you let your fear control your live and your actions. Not as long as you aren't in control of what you do, but you let your fear dictate your actions. It's easy to hand responsibilty off to others, to tell them, kill me. It's a lot harder to face yourself and accept who you are, and what you are afraid of." Inwardly she grimaced at her own words, she should have kept quiet. She looked at the wanna-be Lord, her voice louder now, to be heard easily. "I don't care for your money or your schedule. We aren't finished here."

"Lord Idos. At first I would prefer if your butler didn't make assumptions about other people's lineage. Calling someone from a noble lineage a commoner is far from polite." She made a short pause here, thought about what she was going to say next, then went with the obvious. "And second I would be delighted if you answered my question why you are here."

Thanks a lot!

Althea observed the three, then two and reached out for Max. Force someone to take them here and then kill him. Obviously he didn't hate investiture enough to not use it. Take Solace and flee? Or use them to show him, that you can protect without anything bad happening? It's your call - if they really want to fight I won't be able to do more than support you. "Who are you?" She asked loudly, her face controlled, not reacting at the murder. @I think I am here. @Lord Meeker

@Archer Damaya smiled at Nogard. "That's fantastic. I never expected to find something like this here. I only came, because..." She trailed of, shook her head. "I needed a change in scenery. The opportunity to proove myself that I can be more than my spren, than all this lightweaver stuff, I have no idea how to do it." She followed the two of them listened when their conversation switched to a spren. The island had a spren. Well it could keep it. One was more than enough for her. "I don't know. I have no idea what to make of this, but it's beautiful, and peaceful. I like it here." She answered Araha and then a thought struck. "Do you live here, or did you simply arrive a lot earlier than the rest of use?" @Ark1002 @xinoehp512

Lena handed them each a bag with their share. She didn't mention that she had hidden a bottle of the paralyzing poison deep down between Alask's chrysts. It didn't feel right but at the same time nobody ever thanked her for poisoning them before. So she had added an instruction and hid it in the bag. "Here you are. Your share." @I think I am here. @xinoehp512

Althea followed Max down the building, using transportation for arrive savely. She let him do the talking, he found the right words, there was no need for her to add something. Instead she stayed close, readied herself to act.

Lena strolled through the city and asked after the place Alask had mentioned, after the man he wanted to work for. It took her a while, but finally she found him as part of a group, carrying corpses next to a pit. Well, if he felt like doing it. "Hey Alask. I've got something for you. And for your friend, too." she called out to him, and walked over. @I think I am here.

Lena raised an eyebrow at the ten edging along the corner and then turned around to leave the bar, deliberatly taking a path that Crow would see.

Lena devided the chrysts in equal shares and handed them out to Gonev and Georgia. "I'll bring the others their part." She told them. "Or do you mind if I do it?"

Lena stared at Crow and inwardly rolled her eyes. He was ... strange. Hopefully he really had the money to pay for the plane, give them their share and be done with it. She looked over those assembled and saw ten people edging along the wall, eyeing Crow. Interesting. She observed them out of the corner of her eye and looked back at Crow. "Do you want to buy the plane, or not?"

Althea stood on the rooftop, looked at the flames consuming the houses, listened to the screams echoing through the streets. The woman was choking in front of her, Toa played his role. "You can go, if you want to." She told Toa, offered him a way out of the burning city, of the destruction. She knew it were mere seconds that had passed, that it would maybe be a minute until Solace realized what happened and yet it felt like these seconds lasted an eternity. She looked over at Max, his armor mirrored the flames. He told her, he wanted to stay with her. The memory warmed her, guided her thoughts away from the city, and although it was dangerous she allowed it. He wouldn't leave her, he wanted to stay by her side. He hadn't turned away when Solace had messed with her mind, when she hadn't recognized him anymore. Althea looked back at Solace, slowly realizing that she had no idea how he would react. They had a guess, but it was a guess, no fact. If he killed them, if he killed Max... She cut the thought of there, it was too painful to even consider loosing him a second time. If Solace killed her, if she died without touching Max once, him not his armor, without knowing how his hair felt under her fingers, how his lips... She cut that thought off, too. It would be so easy, tell Brashen to observe Solace, take a step towards Max, ignore the city and the situation and lift her head to his. The thought alone was enough to let her heart beat faster and for a moment she was almost surprised how easily her emotions turned her thoughts to a useless pudding, that stopped her from concentrating and at the same time made her stronger, gave her hope. She took the step towards Max, only to loose all courage between lifting one foot and setting it down again. Instead she turned back to Solace, anxiously waited for his reaction, feared the moment he would proove them wrong almost as much as the moment he prooved them right. Without lifting her eyes from Solace her fingers brushed over Max arm, his armor cold under her fingers, knowing that while he might notice, he wouldn't feel it. And yet, she couldn't bring herself to do more, not even to adress him again, unsure what he expected of her, unsure what she herself expected of her own actions, what she should do when, if it was right to always say later, later, when she didn't even knew if there was a later. Her reaction to him confused her, how easily he distracted her from the task at hand, how she suddenly felt like a blushing teen again, how much his opinion mattered to her. And so she stayed where she was, treassured the fact that he was there, that she wasn't alone and tried to concentrate on the task at hand, hoped that she would have the time, that there would be a later for them.

Sally accepted of course. She really wanted to have a new S.

Damaya listened to Nogard's explanation. The Alleystorm, Alleycanes, the islands. It was confusing, and yet it was beautiful. "The island really is a sentinent being?" She asked, looked at the stone walls around her and then tentatively touched the rock. It felt like rock. "It dreams, it hopes, it is sad?" Without waiting for an answer she asked a question that suddenly felt important. "What is its name? And can I talk to it?" @xinoehp512

Oh cool! Thanks a lot. Partially matches with my source, but this part I haven't seen yet. Do you know if he confirmed it again afterwards? *goes to read the article*

The Emperor's Soul is great. One of my favourites! I really hope you'll like it!

Oh that one. It's from 2016. It was discussed for a while, but in the end he never really confirmed working on it. Here you are: https://www.comicmix.com/2016/09/26/emily-s-whitten-dresden-files-jim-butcher-talks-peace-talks/ And the part you mean should be this: Though I can't recall he officially mentioned it again on his page, so I treat it with care. (I could have missed it of course). Officially only Peace Talks, Mirror, Mirror and The Olympian Affair are announced.

Not that I know of, and Jim is one of the author's I follow closely. But I can always miss something of course. I really hope we'll get a new book of him in 2019...