"Younger than you would like," I answer calmly.
The hammer in her hand lowers.
"I am sorry," she says.
I blink as something in my ribs shifts without consent. "You are not afraid?"
She looks at me then. "Should I be?"
"I told you my magic was used to harm people," I continue, watching her face for the thing I expect — the small withdrawal, the recalculation behind the eyes but it does not come.
"You told me you were trained to use it," she replies. "You didn't tell me you chose it."
A bell on the table before us rings faintly, responding to nothing. We both look at it. The vibration dies slowly, leaving silence that feels heavier than before.
"There was a noble family," I say, the words arriving before I can reconsider them. "The Chivdouyu caste. They valued power over sentiment. Control over compassion. When they realized what I could do with resonance, they saw opportunity."
"What kind of opportunity?"
"The kind that required cooperation from people who did not wish to cooperate."
Her hands still completely. "Interrogation."
"Yeah,” I swallow.
Roseth sets the hammer down carefully.
"How long?" she asks as I look out the view.
"Years." I respond.
She takes her time before inquiring further, "When did you stop?"
"When I realized what I had become."
She absorbs this quietly, her amber eyes holding mine without flinching.
"And … what… did you become?" she asks.
I look down at my gloved hands. "A weapon."
"But you did have a choice." Her voice shows how curious she was
"Eventually, yes,” I affirm. “I fled Kantor. Left everything behind except the bells I had collected."
"The bells you bought from me. How long ago was this?" She asks.
"More than you have been alive."
She picks up the hammer again. Turns it over in her hands, examining the worn handle as though it holds answers.
"You have been wandering since then. Searching for what?" Her question makes me look back on my life's journey.
"Silence. Peace. Something quieter than the voices that follow me."
"The voices?”
I gesture vaguely toward my head. "Resonance does not stop simply because I wish it to. Every sound carries frequency. Every frequency carries information. Most days, the world screams at me constantly."
