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Tahmina's house is right where it always is when Eyrgjafa comes by, with the front porch light on and a Toyota Prius that fits right into the neighborhood parked in the driveway. As is frequently the case the curtains are pulled but there's enough light in the front room to suggest someone's home.
Having parked her matching Prius (a genuine coincidence, despite what a lot of Kindred think when they find out) in front of the house, Eyrgjafa walks right in, knocking on the doorframe as she enters the front room as a polite cue to Tahmina.
Tahmina is seated in the living room, in her big comfy chair, when Eyrgjafa enters. The room's right near the front door, which means she's in a spot where she's both visible immediately, and where she can see the other Septemi make her entrance, and when she looks up from what she's doing a smile spreads on her lips. "Eyrgjafa," she says delightedly, while getting up and moving the... shawl? Blanket? Something in a very pretty shade of blue that she's knitting anyway, which gets moved to the side and put into her knitting basket next to her chair. "Come in, how are you doing?"
"Good, thanks. You?" She smiles back at the other Septemi, approaching for the ritual embrace and cheek kisses. "What're you working on?"
Tahmina returns the affectionate greetings and then makes a gesture toward the couch. "I saw that shade of blue and thought it would make the loveliest shawl for one of my sweethearts," she says, brightening further at the reminder of someone she clearly adores. For the Daeva that can mean very little, or a lot. They do have their clan's bane to worry about, and a tendency to get super attached to people they feed from more than once. It means sometimes there are a lot of sweethearts in their lives. "What have you been up to since the last time we spoke? Did you hear the news about Clayton, by the way?"
"Well, I hope they love it." Eyrgjafa comments, taking a seat at one end of the couch, tucking her knees into it's back so that her feet rest just off it. "Mostly just socialising. A few hunts." She shrugs lightly. "I hadn't heard the news, no. Is he okay?"
"They'd better," is said in a voice that can't possibly be mistaken for anything but joking. "Any good gossip in all that socializing? I know there are a few people who are relatively new to town and I haven't had a chance to meet yet, to my chagrin." Her good humor fades at the question about Clayton and she shakes her head. "Sakima Saagochque tells me that he showed up at the Bala Cynwyd House, but that it wasn't really him, just some kind of infection that took him over. If you see him, don't let him near you. I'm still trying to learn more."
"Some. Guy has a girlfriend now, did you hear?" Eyrgjafa grins at her aunt, more than willing to feed the elder's love of gossip. Not least because they share it. "From one of the other supernatural groups we share the city with, apparently." The news about Clayton turns her grin into a grimace. "Understood. Do we know what might have caused the infection in the first place?"
"Really?" Tahmina says, leaning toward Eyr a little in interest. "I'm glad he's still got some fire in his blood. Good for him! Do you know her name? I'll have to congratulate him if I run into him at the Academy." She is just delighted by this news, and not teasingly. A vampire who is nearing 500 and still dating? It's good! "They, people who have been infected I mean, can apparently spread the infection with their bites and claws. If you succumb to the infection it makes you want to go into the water to live, and you start adapting to the environment with fins and so on. Until we find out how severe the situation is, it's probably best to stay away from the water when possible."
"Petra, I think. I've only met her the once, but she seemed nice enough." Another shrugs, before she nods at the suggestion to avoid the water. "Noted. I don't go swimming much, so that should be easy enough to follow."
"Oh, me neither," Tahmina emphatically agrees. "But if you had the inclination for a romantic walk along the river or something, perhaps put that off until we know more. I'm sure you have no trouble coming up with other date ideas. Speaking of which, are you seeing anyone?"
"Well, you, right now." Eyrgjafa grins at the other woman. "But not in the sense you met, no. I've been thinking about putting myself out there, though."
"What?" Tahmina asks, reeling back in faux surprise and resting a hand on her chest. "I thought that I was invisible right now." Her eyes roll a little as she settles into a neutral position again. "What's making you hesitate?" she asks. "Are you worried about something in particular?"
"Just trying to figure out whether I should wait until Mina's an adult." Eyrgjafa shrugs. "I know she's not my sister by blood, but I do care about her, and don't want the fact I'm raising her and only around at night to be an issue."
"Oh, that makes sense," Tahmina responds with an understanding nod. "Well, that won't take long, will it? I'm sure you'll give it the consideration it deserves, and then make the right decision for both of you. Have you thought about asking what she thinks of the idea? I'm sure she'd have an opinion."
"She's a teenager, she has an opinion on everything," Eyrgjafa says, smiling slightly. "But yes, I should get around to that. Probably tomorrow night, I don't want to keep her up too late."
"That tends to be the way of teenagers, isn't it? If you ask her, it might also mean she feels like she has a little more control about something in her life, at a stage where everything seems more complicated and control is harder to come by," Tahmina answers. "Or she might not care at all, who knows. You, probably better than I."
Eyrgjafa nods. "Hopefully the latter, I do try to let her control things about her life, within reason." Beat. "Oh, speaking of Mina, she loved that gift you got her, I've been asked to pass on."
"Oh, good! I had almost forgotten about that. Oh, while I'm thinking about her, has she showed you this new thing called TikTok that people have on their phones?" Tahmina brightens. "Some of the things people are making are just wonderful."
"She hasn't, no. What is it?" Eyrgjafa sounds genuinely curious, leaning in slightly.
"It's a phone app for people making videos. Some of them are the funniest, some of the are just strange in a compelling way. It's a little bit like YouTube, but more casual and shorter," Tahmina tries to explain. Look, this is pretty good for a vampire her age! Give her a break! "She probably knows about it, maybe you should ask her some of her favorites?"
"Sounds like a plan," Eyrgjafa agrees, taking a moment to set a reminder to do just that on her own phone. "Are there any you especially like?"
"Basically anything involving cats" Tahmina says with a laugh. "You know me, though. That's an easy win with me, just put cats on it."
"Cats are adorable," Eyrgjafa admits, smiling. "I know I loved my family's Sótta and Engifer, back when I was Mina's age."
"I wanted cats when I was little, but my mom had an allergy. Either that or she just didn't want a cat, or to have to explain why, but usually she was pretty honest with me, so probably an allergy," Tahmina says, getting a distant expression as she looks way back on her past and thinks about things that happened hundreds of years before. "What colors were yours?"
"Sótta was ginger and Engifer was black. I have no idea why it wasn't the other way round, but I didn't name them," Eyrgjafa shrugs. "Have you thought about getting one now? You'd have to ghoul it, of course, but they're not people."
"What do the names mean?" Tahmina asks, smiling in anticipation, since it's probably going to amuse her if it was something that Eyr felt the need to comment on. "I've thought about it, but I'm busy so much, and for a good portion of the year I'm asleep most of the time. I'd hate to leave an animal who can't provide for itself locked up alone in the house all the time, like that, and I've read outdoor cats cause a lot of their own problems."
"Sooty and Ginger, respectively," Eyrgjafa answers, before nodding. "Reasonable enough. It'd be fine if they were native, from what I hear, but, well." Another shrug. "I got one for Mina not long ago, but she's around to provide it companionship when I can't be, for now. Hopefully she gets attached enough to want to take it with her when she moves out. If she does, with housing prices so high."
"I'm sure she will, when the time is right for her," Tahmina says with all confidence. "At some point she'll want a space of her own, and she'll find a way to make it happen. It's something you can figure out together when the time comes."
"True," Eyrgjafa nods again. "She's only fourteen, so it won't be for several years yet." She takes a deep - and unnecessary, since she doesn't actually respire anymore - breath before continuing. "Before I forget, I did actually come here with a purpose beyond just the pleasure of your company."
"That will be sooner than you think," Tahmina says, and she reaches out to pat Eyr's knee gently, then leans in interestedly. "What purpose brings you to my door, then?" she asks, her curiosity showing.
Eyrgjafa chews on her lip for a moment before answering. "How familiar are you with the Coil of Ziva? I've only managed to find scattered references to it in the Academy's library, but you have title words nobody else in our chapter has, that I know of."
Tahmina goes a little still, in the way of someone who is aware that they not only have knowledge that some would kill them for, but that they advertise almost openly. After a few seconds she offers a slight frown, considers briefly, and then says. "Tell me what you think you know about the Coil of Ziva."
"Not a lot," Eyrgjafa admits. "The few texts I've found that do mention it condemn it as a reversion to mere humanity, but, well. Humanity is something we should value, not rush to abandon, I think."
"A lot of the Ordo Dracul disagrees with you," Tahmina explains, unnecessarily. Of course her niece knows this, but they're also both Septemi. Neither of them is a stranger to what portions of kindred society considers heretical. Their blood itself is heresy to the Lancea et Sanctum. "To be a vampire is to transcend their mortal self, and to be Dragon is to transcend their kindred self."
A nod. "And yet is transcending not to become better, not simply more powerful?" Eyrgjafa asks. "The Great Work means little if we allow ourselves to become monsters like James Holden in pursuing it."
"I agree with you," Tahmina replies with a slight shrug, like it's a battle she's been fighting for hundreds of years, and can only do much to continue waging. "Fortunately, we're in a city, and an Academy, that's more understanding of views like our own. But a hundred and forty years ago this city wouldn't have been tolerant of our perspectives if we were open with them. A hundred and forty years from now, this one might not be again."
"Something we will need to take into account, lest that take us by surprise," Eyrgjafa nods. "But I do not think we should let fear of that happening prevent us from sharing knowledge with each other. Even were we not bound by ties of blood, we are family to each other by choice."
"You're right, of course," Tahmina says with a soft nod. "I just want to be clear about the risks you're taking if you pursue this line of study. There's a very real chance the day will come when just knowing the answers to your current questions will mean your final death. I need to hear you say that you know and understand that, and that you accept responsibility for the decision to pursue Ziva's Coil with understanding of what that might cost."
Eyrgjafa nods, meeting Tahmina's eyes as she replies. "I know and understand that, and I accept responsibility for the decision to pursue Ziva's Coil with understanding of what that might cost," she recites, not looking away from her aunt at any point.
"Good." Though she doesn't seem surprise, she does seem pleased, and she reaches out to touch Eyr's knee again, briefly, lightly. "There are limits to what I'd be able to teach you," she says. "I only mastered the first two coils before I gave up my studies to help others, and the one who guided me is no more."
"That you would teach me even that much means a lot," Eyrgjafa says, sincerity obvious in her voice. "What do the coils grant? As I said earlier, the books I found were more concerned with warning away from it than providing information to one wishing to study it."
That question makes Tahmina's smile spread. "Ah, that might be something to delight you. I'm happy to report I don't get obsessive about people if I feed from them more than once, any more." The Daeva clan bane can be pretty devastating, and shapes so much of their requiems if they're not careful. "That's the result of the first coil, which can also relieve other banes that we face, like those some of us accumulate as our proximity to our humanity fades."
Eyrgjafa's eyes widen slightly. "That does sound delightful," she admits. "I'll still have to be careful about feeding on someone more than once, of course-" Tahmina had helped her figure out how to mitigate the problems her addictive Kiss could cause "-but at least slipping up occasionally won't be so dangerous."
"It opened a lot of doors for me in my personal life," Tahmina admits with a slight shrug. "I know that your situation has its own complications, but it reduces your risks quite a bit. From what I've been told, the final of Ziva's Coils allows us to shed our immortality entirely, for a few hours. We can walk in the sun, eat, and everything else. Include die, as easily as a human can. There are parts of that which seem like a dream, but it's one that I won't be having any time soon."
A nod. "I would like to see the sun with my own eyes again, but not so badly that I would risk dying as a human for it," Eyrgjafa agrees, shifting position on the couch slightly. "...Are there any scales associated with Ziva, do you know?"
Tahmina shakes her head slightly as she shrugs her shoulders. "If there are, I never learned of them," she says. "I know that the second coil, which I know, can help us resist the fading of our humanity as we encounter the hardships of our long lives. The third can help us face the results of that fading with more strength, when it comes. That's what most of the Coil focuses on, is our loss of self that comes with the deaths of loved ones, especially our families. The deaths we cause in moments of weakness. Those kinds of things. But I know nothing of the Scales."
"Well, even what the Coil offers sounds amazing." Eyrgjafa says quietly. "Helping us to stay connected to our humanity is a worthy goal in itself, for all that others among the Defiant might disagree."
"You make me glad to call you family, Eyrgjafa," Tahmina tells her niece with a brilliant smile. "There's something I'd like to ask for you to do, in return for my teaching, though. It's tradition, after all, for there to be an exchange with such knowledge."
"If it is within my capabilities, I would be glad to do so," Eyrgjafa says, returning the smile. "If not, I will simply need to acquire new ones."
"Find some others who are good at research and the occult, in or outside of the Ordo Dracul, and see what you can learn about the Nereids. The things that claimed our Keeper of Elysium," Tahmina urges. "You won't be the only one working on this task, I'm sure, so if you can identify others who are making the same study, you might be able to save each other some work."
"Of course. A threat to a Keeper is a threat to us all." Eyrgjafa agrees. "If I learn anything potentially useful, I will be sure to alert you at once."
"Good. Then we'll start on your studies soon. I have a couple of busy nights ahead, but then, we're not in a great hurry, are we?" Tahmina answers.
"We're not, no. For now, however, I'll get out of your hair," Eyrgjafa answers, smiling at her fellow Septemi as she rises. "It was a pleasure talking to you as always, Auntie."
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