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Palamedes was upset. Camilla wasn’t sure what about exactly, although she had a number of guesses. It was probably several things, knowing him. He flopped rather dramatically onto the bed in their room, heaving a large sigh.
“You don’t have to be so dramatic you know,” she informed him calmly, “I’ll come over there in just a minute anyway.” Nobody else would be able to read the fondly concerned exasperation in her tone, but she knew he could.
He said nothing, which was far more concerning than the dramatics, and made her hurry to remove her boots, lock the door, and drag the shelf in front of it. The room as secure as she could make it (she was certain his wards would hold against most things, but you could never be too careful), she hurried to the bed. Shoving him towards the wall as she did it, she curled herself around him, angling them both so she could still see the door.
After a few minutes for his stress levels to reduce to something less likely to give him an aneurysm, she asked quietly “what is it?”
“Gideon should be dead,” was the firm response. Well that was a good start to a conversation.
“Why isn’t she?” Camilla was nearly certain that Palamedes had no idea, and that was likely causing him even more worry. But he definitely had theories, and theories were better than what ifs.
“Presumably, there’s more to her than meets the eye.”
“Warden is that really all you can come up with?”
“I can’t really theorize without further information. Perhaps she has unusual resiliency due to her size”
Cam’s voice was just about as dry as it gets when she said “She’s not dead because she’s tall”
“Well generally the thalergy of a being is proportional to its mass. But the energy required to sustain even someone as small as Harrowhark for the duration of that experiment should be far greater than that contained in a single individual, even one with as much mass as Gideon. It is possible that the Ninth has some grasp of spirit magic like the Eighth, although that seems inconsistent with Harrowhark’s skill with bone.”
“It also doesn’t sound like what happened” Camilla pointed out.
“Yes. That theory doesn’t align very well with the Ninth’s description, but they also may still be choosing to conceal the true depth of their abilities in order to maintain an advantage.” Palamedes was talking very fast, and attempting to gesture as he spoke, although Camilla was somewhat in the way of this. Not that that would stop him.
“I also somehow doubt Gideon was capable of maintaining any kind of cover story given the state she was in. And neither of them seem all that invested in working together.” In contrast to the Warden, his Hand lay still, letting her warmth calm him some. Her tone remained as even as ever, although there was a hint of contemplation in the second sentence. She was less certain of the truth of it now than she would have been two days ago.
“True,” Palamedes said, slower than before, “but their relationship has shifted somewhat. They have begun to communicate, and Gideon has been present with Harrow for just about everything today.”
He sighed then, and shifted to get more comfortable in Camilla’s arms.
“I don’t think Gideon understands how close she came to dying. And I don’t think she knows why she didn’t.” Was the last thing Camilla said before turning off the light and pulling the blanket closer.
Palamedes was calmer now, but she knew he was still worried about something else. Several somethings, more likely. But for now his body had relaxed as much as it ever did, and they needed to sleep if they wanted to keep unraveling the mysteries of the First in the morning. Camilla made no move towards the cot she typically slept in. Palamedes needed her closeness tonight if he was going to sleep at all. She wouldn’t sleep as well, wrapped up in him like this, but she also was far more concerned about him than she was about herself.