S187

Mikhail Kyang accompanies me to the Waterfall.

For months now, I have taken pains to talk to Mikhail. And now, as Mikhail opens up in his misery at the loss of his sister Angi to the fall, I realize it is the first time I have ever spoken with him.

I’ll admit I have a selfish need to speak with Mihkail. I cannot allow the loss of his sister to break him. I need him.

I listen, I suggest, I sympathize, I keep the conversation flowing. I am at the top of my game. I do care about Mikhail, about his truly horrifying past surviving the horrors of Kert’s tyrants.

But I lead the conversation carefully to the important question.

“What will you do now, Mikhail?”

“Why would you ask that?” he says. “I have nowhere else to go. I have no family, no one else to go to. Never would I have thought Angi would leave me in this way.”

“You aren’t saying she committed suicide, are you?” I ask.

He scowls at me. “Angi? She would never quit at anything. Especially life.”

Draw a small circle in Mikhail’s Sway box.

In this mission, gain a free insight draw for Mikhail.

Draw a small hand with a serpent’s eye on the palm in the “Artiste” box.