“Lovely tea, thank you,” Axis compliments after taking another sip. “So tell me more about yourself. Tell me more about this Omicron City you are from. Fascinating story! Serial killings and a demon. What was the demon’s name?”
Well, *he* sure cuts to the heart of things, Teebestia thinks, rubbing the front of her own exposed heart reflexively. But that was a name she dare not utter. Does — Axis know something about all this? How did he get so quickly to the unspeakable center? “I can’t recall,” she instead answers. “Something like Aspartame.” It was a joke name concocted during a particular drinking binge in a particular bar. With a particular person. Another seer, although in this case not also a seeker (of Truth). It served the purpose.
“Ahh,” he answered innocently (or tried). “Like the sugar substitute. Very clever. That always makes me nauseous — don’t know about you.”
“Oh I stay away from all that. Because of the name, see.”
“You’re smart.” He takes another sip. His voice was as bass as Baker Bloch’s. Teebestia’s was, how to put it, musical? She hits all the right notes for him at least. He looks at the heart again.
“And you? Tell me about your search for the heart of the X.”
We synchronize! “Well — a particular person at the heart who is also the heart.” He stares again. He *knows*.
Her room sealed it.
Sunklands 