Quellyn's Gaze

Adric...
Adric started awake at the voice calling inside of his mind, coupled with the cry of the shadow bird, and as he awoke he saw those eyes again, as if their image were burned into his brain. Deep dark eyes, regarding him with... what? Contempt? Judgement? Amusement? He threw off his blanket in frustration and got up, stomping towards the workshop. He got to the door and lifted his fist to knock, working up the nerve to ask Tertius for something else to banish unwelcome dreams...

He can't help you...
Adric froze at the voice in his head. Mocking. Taunting. Suggesting? Was that even something a Whisper could do? Could Quellyn really have implanted some aspect of herself in his mind, or was he just imagining her voice? Why would he, though? Why would he want her voice, of all things, inside his head? He’d sooner be haunted by the Maw again.

He shook his head and sighed, letting his arm fall back to his side. It didn't matter. The voice was right. Even if he could persuade Tertius to give him another sleeping draught, it wouldn't fix the problem, it would only cover up the symptoms. Whatever Quellyn had done to him with that shadow bird, there were clearly after effects. This was a spiritual issue, and there was only one way to deal with it.

He needed to seek aid from another Whisper. He wasn't confident enough in his own skills yet to attempt to fix it himself. But he only really knew two people who might qualify. One was Mara, who was even less skilled than himself, since she had no real interest in the arcane. And the other was the one who did this to him in the first place, so it seemed unwise to seek help there. Even if Quellyn were willing to be a good sport and lift whatever effect she'd placed upon his psyche, he couldn't trust that she wouldn't take advantage of the opportunity to do something worse.

He turned and started walking away from the workshop, and he was halfway back to his cot when another idea slowed his step. If he couldn't seek aid from a Whisper, perhaps the demon Setarra could help him? But that was just as risky, if not more so, than asking Quellyn to do it. He had only had a couple of encounters with Setarra, and both times had set his hair on end. She had a grudge to settle with Erdrad, that much he knew, and so he could count her an ally against him. But he had called on her for help with a matter unrelated to their mutual enemy before, and she was yet to call upon him for repayment. He was loathe to place himself even further in debt to the demon for another unrelated matter.

No. This wasn't worth the potential risk, not yet. It wasn't even worth mentioning to the others. In fact, he wasn't sure he would want to mention it even if it was. Arden worried him, and he feared what she might do with that information. No, if he left it alone, perhaps it would fade in time. And if it didn't... well, then he might have no choice but to turn to desperate measures to fix it.

He reached his alcove and pulled the curtain around his sleeping space again. Then laid down in his cot and closed his eyes, trying to ignore the lingering image of those dark eyes boring into him...