Rissa watched as the vase was pulled out of the oven, just before it was fired. She’d seen it used. An interesting fight, but it really hadn’t told her that much. She was looking forward to the next part; she’d finally made it back to when the vase was made. Right before the firing should be when the patterns were added; with luck, there might even be more than that. If nothing else, she wanted to know if they made the vases one at a time or in batches. She knew they were used one at a time.

The vision broke apart.

Rissa was suddenly presented with two visions. They overlapped and both screamed for her attention. Trying to watch them both at the same time was headache-inducing.

In one, a series of vases passed in front of her vision. Or perhaps they were all the same vase? She couldn’t tell.

In the second, a man whose flesh glowed beneath his clothing stepped from the bright outdoors into a darkened building. It seemed to consist of a single hall; at the far end, a stone throne sat under an opening in the ceiling, illuminated by the Sun. No one sat on the throne.

In the first vision, the vases narrowed to one, then her vision expanded to the inside of a car, where she watched a thief break in.

In the second, petitioners walked up to the glowing man on the throne. Some left happy and some left despondent. The last in was a woman, dressed in flowing white robes with heavy golden jewelry. Rissa couldn’t hear what she asked any more than she could the others, but she knew this was the important one. When he answered, the glowing man smiled.

In the first vision, Rissa saw the thief find the vase, be enveloped by smoke that she somehow knew was only her mind’s interpretation and not actually visible, pull the vase out of the car, and leave the money he’d found behind.

The white-robed woman in the second vision was kneeling at the feet of the golden man, crying. She was heavily pregnant. The glowing man had a nasty grin on his face as he handed her a glowing chalice full of a dark, oily liquid. She didn’t seem to want to obey, but she drank it anyway.

Rissa’s viewpoint followed the vase as it smashed into the ground after leaving the hands of the thief. A dark, oily liquid much like what she was seeing in the other vision oozed out of the busted pottery. It gathered itself together and seemed to form into a small, man-like shape.

The woman gave birth to twins. One was a son with golden hair, the other, a daughter with hair dark as night. Both bore some resemblance to the glowing man, though it was more obvious in the son.

Rissa saw a car pull into the parking lot where the dark man-shaped figure, now larger, rested on top of a damaged car. She recognized the two people who jumped out the moment the car came to a stop - her father and her fiance.

The woman from the second vision was followed by a young daughter as she walked in rags down a muddy street in what seemed to be a tiny village. There was no sign of the golden man or her son.

Rissa opened her eyes only to find that everything was too bright. Especially the sun. The sunlight hurt; she closed her eyes and curled into a ball. Her head was killing her.

Serenity rushed over to Rissa, horrified at her pained moaning. He knew how that felt; backlash was a bear. He ignored Phoebe’s yell; he still didn’t know why she’d intervened, so it probably served her right if she’d been caught in the backlash as well. He snatched Rissa up; she’d curled up into a ball, but he was strong enough to simply lift her.

Rissa shivered in Serenity’s arms. After a moment, he felt her reaching out to him, leaning against his mind as well as his body. That was a good sign; any positive action this soon meant the backlash probably hadn’t caused any actual damage.

Visions swept through Serenity’s mind’s eye. He hadn’t realized Rissa could do that; he knew he could share his sight or reach out for hers, but he hadn’t realized she could push it to him. As soon as he recovered from his surprise, he triggered the recording Aide had set up for him

It required both his Magitech Affinity and the cyberware he now had in both his human and chimera forms, but once he worked it out with Aide it was really quite simple. He was more likely to use it in his human form, which didn’t use actual cameras for eyes, but both forms would use it for anything that wasn’t visible to the cameras or when he wanted to overlay his different visions and save them.

The more he used it, the more he realized just how much the ability to record and share what he saw was useful, even when it wasn’t something visible to ordinary eyes. As a child of the modern world, he felt like it shouldn’t have been a surprise, but somehow it was. All he could think was that too much of his lived experience came from Vengeance and the Final Reaper, who hadn’t had easy access to that level of technology.

He really needed to figure out a better solution for his Sovereign form, and any other form that didn’t end up with technology infiltrating it.

The visions were interesting and tied in well with what he’d seen in the warehouse. By the time they finished and his attention returned to the outside world, Rissa was aware and clinging to him, still in his arms. “Are you okay?”

Rissa shivered a little and hugged him tighter. “I think so. Do you have any Tylenol?”

“Headache? I think we’ll have to get you home for that.” Serenity smiled sympathetically. He’d had a backlash headache recently as well, though his had healed quickly.

While he carried Rissa to the car, he listened to Russ and Phoebe. They’d clearly had much of their conversation while he was watching the visions from Rissa, but that didn’t mean he didn’t hear anything.

“Who’s the Oracle here?” Phoebe sounded annoyed.

Russ, on the other hand, mostly sounded tired. “You promised you’d explain if there was time. Why did you interrupt?”

“There wasn’t time. She had to be interrupted before she saw-” Phoebe stopped herself.

Russ sounded puzzled. “Before she saw what? Aren’t we trying to figure out what’s going on with these things?”

“Of course we are.” Phoebe groaned as she picked herself up off the ground. She turned and walked to the car, ignoring Russ.

Once Russ slid into the driver’s seat, he tried to pick up the conversation again. “So why did you interrupt Rissa? What’s so important that she had to not see it?”

“What are you talking about?” Phoebe sounded honestly puzzled. “Can we head home? I have the worst headache.”

Serenity turned to stare at Phoebe. What?

Out of the corners of his eyes, he saw Russ and even Rissa turn as well.When neither of them said anything for a moment, Serenity decided he’d better speak up and be very precise. “Why did you interrupt Rissa’s vision? That’s why you have a headache.”

“What are you talking about? We just came here to pick you up, I’m not sure why Russ insisted that I come. I’ve been waiting in the car for you to finally be ready; you should have been ready when we got here. You’re the ones who asked for a lift.” Phoebe sounded indignant. “Now stop being ridiculous and let’s get home. I need to do something about my headache.”

Serenity stared at Phoebe and wished he could ask Russ if this was normal. He’d never seen anyone deny reality that blatantly and think they’d get away with it, but Phoebe didn’t seem to think anything was wrong. Was it possible that she literally didn’t remember? “If we just needed a lift, I’d have called Janice. It’s part of her job.”

Phoebe snorted. “Then I don’t understand why you didn’t.”

Russ started the car - Rissa’s car - without another word.

:Do you think it’s the curse?: Rissa’s telepathic question was quiet, but showed that her thoughts were heading the same way his were.

:I can’t think of anything else. Is she usually this bad?: Serenity did his best to keep his mindvoice at least as soft as Rissa’s. Backlash could easily make telepathy as painful as normal speaking, or even worse. Her lack of a wince told him he’d succeeded.

Rissa grabbed the jacket she always kept in the back seat and used it to shield her head and arms from the outside. :No, not usually. Not about anything other than Jacob. She’s been especially bad about Jacob lately, refusing to admit he even exists and getting angry whenever he’s mentioned. So we just aren’t.:

:We were already thinking that was the curse. I wonder just how much of your mother’s life is ruled by it. She’s been almost completely different since the Tutorial.: Serenity wondered which one was the real Phoebe. He’d liked her before, but he had to admit that she was doing a good job at changing that lately.

:You know, I wonder.: Rissa cleared her throat before she spoke. “Mom? Do you remember when I Foresaw my own death?”

“Of course I do. You were … six, I think? You were so upset, I hated to see it.” Phoebe sounded sympathetic and caring. It was almost creepy after her earlier show of petulance. “In a way, it was good news; you’re a strong Seer. It’s always unpleasant, and worse for a child, I think. Why do you ask?”

“Do you remember what I told you about it right after the Tutorial?”

Serenity knew exactly what Rissa must have told her after the Tutorial: that her foreseen death had been averted. She’s probably said that it had been avoided twice. That was the truth, after all.

Phoebe seemed to have to think about it. “Hmmm. I think you said something about seeing the man that was going to kill you in the Tutorial, and being glad you made it outside? You know, I never did ask; how much older was he in your vision than the Tutorial? If your death is near, you really should get started on having a child; I’d like a granddaughter.” Her voice was absolutely flat at the end of the statement, as though she weren’t saying something outrageous.

Serenity could see Russ’s hands clenched on the steering wheel. He wished he had the same sort of telepathic link to him that he did with Rissa.

:You could. Well, he could. He’d have to set it up.: Rissa’s mindvoice interrupted Serenity’s train of thought. :He’s a skilled telepath, but he doesn’t read others’ thoughts when he can avoid it if he’s not openly invited. I’m afraid I was listening. Can’t really avoid it.:

Serenity grinned. :I don’t mind when it’s you. Not sure about your Dad, I think I’d want to limit it to spoken thoughts only.: A momentary flash of Rissa naked passed through Serenity’s mind as something he would definitely not want to show her father. :About your mother. I’m betting that’s not at all what you told her.:

:Has to be the curse. If it’s changing things that much, what else is it affecting?: Rissa agreed with him and opened an entirely new problem, all at the same time.