"No, Valerie, that's where you're wrong. You're extremely important."
Julianna said it gently enough, but there was a thread of intensity beneath the gentleness. She knew the party line; Slayers were assets, warriors to be trained, and sometimes to be lost. The way Allison had been lost. The Watcher could feel her expression trying to close up, to help her shut out the memory. She forced herself to remain accessible.
"I considered disposing of the stone," she admitted. "Or trying to destroy it. But given its properties, I don't know if it can be destroyed. Regardless, attempting to do so would mean I broke my word. If this is to work, we must establish trust between us, and if I take the decision out of your hands you'll have no reason to trust me. So."
Julianna grasped the strap of her messenger bag where it was slung over the back of the empty chair at the table, pulled it towards her. A bit of rummaging followed, and she discovered the cloth-wrapped stone at the bottom of the satchel. She plucked it out, set it on the scratched surface of the Formica tabletop. It was the size of a carved scarab from Egypt.
"I'm going to return this to you because I said I would, but I must advise you to dispose of it yourself. I don't care how. Drop it into Lake Mojave. Bury it out in the desert. But get rid of it. Elfleda is very dangerous."
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ninetydegrees
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on 2013-12-06 09:56 am (UTC)Julianna said it gently enough, but there was a thread of intensity beneath the gentleness. She knew the party line; Slayers were assets, warriors to be trained, and sometimes to be lost. The way Allison had been lost. The Watcher could feel her expression trying to close up, to help her shut out the memory. She forced herself to remain accessible.
"I considered disposing of the stone," she admitted. "Or trying to destroy it. But given its properties, I don't know if it can be destroyed. Regardless, attempting to do so would mean I broke my word. If this is to work, we must establish trust between us, and if I take the decision out of your hands you'll have no reason to trust me. So."
Julianna grasped the strap of her messenger bag where it was slung over the back of the empty chair at the table, pulled it towards her. A bit of rummaging followed, and she discovered the cloth-wrapped stone at the bottom of the satchel. She plucked it out, set it on the scratched surface of the Formica tabletop. It was the size of a carved scarab from Egypt.
"I'm going to return this to you because I said I would, but I must advise you to dispose of it yourself. I don't care how. Drop it into Lake Mojave. Bury it out in the desert. But get rid of it. Elfleda is very dangerous."