As she talked with Michael a few more things became clear about Mind's Eye, but just as he suggested, she will read the much more detailed description in the mysticism book.
Veronica promised him to not place the earrings in without his presence, or at least not when she was alone. She wanted to tease him a bit, but seeing his serious expression she decided against it.
Instead she tried to divine Silent Whisper ––the Ethereal knife.
Sadly she didn't learn anything knew and it was the same kind of divination as with the Earrings of Dissociation. She saw nothing, and only heard Floyd describing the knife's properties.
After this Veronica asked Michael about divination, and how can someone manipulate it so well.
"Divination is not an exact science. It's not like physics or chemistry, there are no sets of rules. What you see is purely dependent on three factors, your own soul's strength, your divination target's soul strength and if there are any interference." He said with curiosity.
It was even strange to him. Altering divination results to this degree should've been impossible for someone of the 7th Order.
"What can cause interference?" Asked Veronica, when she saw that Michael wouldn't say anything else.
"Well, a lot... Anything that has anti-divination property, or if you stand next to someone who's path provides strong defense against divination. There are also places, which disrupt divination, for example churches or any holy ground. You can also get blessed by a God or Goddess, which provides additional defenses. Then..."
He was about to continue, but Veronica cut in.
"Okay, okay, I get it..." She said, then turned thoughtful for a moment. "Is there a way to not block the divination, but control the result the other party sees?"
What Veronica asked was a very good and interesting question. Michael was thinking about the same thing, but his clearance within the Unbroken wasn't high enough to know about the truly powerful Relics. His knowledge was only surface level.
"If there is a way, Floyd would only be able to do it with a proxy. He would have to use a Relic of the 2nd or 1st Order, which is especially dangerous."
"Why exactly?" Asked Veronica with curiosity. She wasn't stupid, it was obvious that the more powerful the Relic, the more dangerous it would become, but she had a feeling that Michael was talking about something else.
"Relics can develop a conscious, or more like semi-conscious state. These Relics are generally referred to as Live Relics. These became much more powerful and treacherous, also they won't necessarily obey the commands you give them."
Veronica looked a bit scared, and she glanced down at the pair of earrings. Noticing this Michael quickly cleared a few things up.
"That isn't a Live Relic. When a Relic becomes conscious their classification instantly jumps to the next Order. For example if a 5th Order Relic gains consciousness it turns into a 4th Order one."
Veronica breathed a sigh of relief. The drawback of the earrings were already bad enough. She had no interest in wearing a pair of conscious earrings for the rest of her life.
"Wait... Does that mean that a Relic could only be from the 1st Order if its conscious?" Asked Veronica and Michael nodded in agreement.
"Yes, but Relics of higher Orders often develop consciousness. The pent up Ethereal Property gives them life. And before you ask I have no idea how or why. That kind of information is way out of my paygrade."
Veronica chuckled at that, and as she bent down to grab the Ascended Characteristic, she said... "Oh yeah? How much you are getting payed anyway?"
"15 to 20 gelt based on my weekly performance!" He said proudly, but Veronica just snorted in mockery.
"I make 25 gelt... I thought the church would pay you more..." She said with a mischievous smile. Michael just raised an eyebrow and stared at her with boredom.
"Yeah, but at least my job is legitimate!" He spoke with a smirk, causing Veronica to chuckle lightheartedly.
"Hey! I will let you know that I'm a really good barmaid! I definitely deserve that 25 gelt payment!" They stared at each other with serious expression, then they both burst out laughing.
While Veronica was doing the tour of the inn, it became clear that Michael knew what and who were inside the basement. But when she offered him to show it, he instantly refused.
Their laws were clear. If he had suspicion of pirate activity, he didn't have to report it, but if he had clear evidence, then he was obligated to do so. This meant that even though he knew what was down there, until he didn't see it with his own eyes, he didn't need to do anything about it.
"Okay, that's enough. Let's hurry up before we get late from dinner, or before someone finds us sitting on your bed with closed eyes."
Imagining the scene of Suze walking inside her room and finding them holding hands with closed eyes, was quite funny for Veronica. But she didn't actually want to experience that.
She held the pink gemstone firmly in her palm, while she began the Ritual Dance. The Theater's background music made a fast-paced tune, perfect for the quick and abrupt moves of the dance.
With her eyes closed she muttered the same sentence under her breath... "Who's Floyd Hawkins?"
Her dance lasted for a few minutes before her perception left her body and travelled to somewhere else.
...
This divination was different from the previous two. It still wasn't like the ones, when she saw everything how it played out, like a video. She only saw pictures, with a few background sounds, but no actual words spoken.
Veronica saw a picture of a child being born in a dark alley. Her mother frozen with a painful expression, she was biting down on some leather scrap that she must've found in the trash.
There was another person delivering the baby. A man about the same age as the woman and with similar dirty disposition.
The picture soon changed. It seemed to be maybe a few months or a year later. The couple were in an apartment, similar to the one's in the Dirt District. It was awful looking, but a lot better than the dirty alley.
The woman held her child, with her husband standing behind them. They stared at the child's face with bright, proud smiles.
Veronica saw their eyes... They were both pink.
The angles changed a couple of times until it showed the baby's face. It was similar to every other baby, nothing too distinct except the two bright pink eyes and black hair, same as his father's.
The picture changed again. This time it showed the boy helping out at their home. It looked much cleaner since last time, and judging by the child's change in appearance, it was at least a few years later.
The child was at home alone, but the next picture jumped forward a few hours probably. The previous woman sat in a chair at their rickety dining table. She was smiling brightly while she sewed up a small hole on her husband's jacket.
Her belly protruded out, she was close to the end of her second pregnancy.
The next picture showed her giving birth again. The husband was away, so the boy helped deliver the baby.
There were no complications and the next picture showed the boy holding the baby, while both parents looked at him proudly. It wasn't clear what the baby's gender was, and their eyes were closed.
The next picture jumped a few years again. The child was away attending school, he was doing really well. His mother always talked about the importance of education, and he made it his life's mission to get his family out of poverty.
The picture changed again. The child arrived home and was greeted by his sibling and mother. He had a little sister about three years younger than him.
She was already walking like an adult even though she wasn't even three years old. Her eyes were bright pink with orange and rainbow undertones, her hair was light brown just like her mother's.
As her brother entered the one room apartment she ran to him and jumped, giving him a big hug. The mother smiled in the back.
The same picture happened again, but with the father when he came home form a long day of work... One big happy family...
It didn't matter that they were poor, the joy ran rampant in their small house. Eventually the girl started to attend school as well. She wasn't doing as well as her brother, but he helped her every chance he could.
Eventually the boy became a teenager. He was a genius and started attending university when he was only 14 years old. Sadly he had to leave his family and little sister behind to study in Vindra, since the capital had the best university.
The family of four stood in their small house. They were crying from joy, but also from a bit of sadness. They would rarely see each other after that, but they were all so proud of him.
The little sister took it the worst out of the four. She knew why her big brother was leaving, but she didn't want him to.
As a farewell gift the brother gave her a pink envelope, and he said that every week he will send a letter to her in an envelope just like that.
From here on out the pictures moved by fast, or at least it was fast for Veronica. Her mind was in disarray and she could hardly concentrate.
She saw the brother attending university. Everyone loved him and supported him. She saw him write letters for his little sister. He saw him run to the post office each week, where he knew he would find a similar pink envelope, just like the ones he always sent out.
Veronica was crying helplessly at this point. She tried closing her eyes, while she muttered under her breath... "No... No I don't want to see... Please don't... I don't want to remember..."
But it was no use. The picture changed to the 16 year old boy running towards the post office, like he done each week for the past two years. But this time he got no pink envelope.
This scene repeated itself for a few more times. Before eventually it changed to the teenager taking a train back to Hammon.
He was confused and a bit afraid. He began walking in the Dirt District, towards his family's home... He never found it.
Where it was supposed to be only a burnt pile of wood and ashes remained... He broke down in tears and stayed there for a very long time.
He asked people living nearby about what happened, but they only said that one night the building spontaneously went up in flames... Nobody made it out...
He walked around the piles of ashes, digging through them, trying to find the corpse of his parents and sister, but it seemed the police had already taken them away...
The only item she managed to dug out was one pink unsent envelope... He read the letter hundreds, or maybe thousands of times... Eventually, while crying he only reread the end of the letter, which read...
'From Your Little Sister,
Veronica'