"Hen Ichaer," she says, still pacing. "The Elder Blood. A gene passed down from the days of Lara Dorren...this is a long story." She looks up at him, shaking her head. "You needn't listen to it all now. But, what you saw, what happened to me – I carry the gene. It gives me...strange powers. Powers I can't control.

"Sometimes they manifest as prophecy. Sometimes they allow me to act as a medium. I'm never aware of it, but I have been told that under the right influences – drugs, shock, magic – I may begin practicing augury."

She stops pacing and turns to him, her hands still worrying at each other. "I don't know how it works. But I know...I know that whatever you heard, it was the truth. I'm sorry."