Interlude 1 – Searching for a sign

A woman in a sleeveless dress sat in a chair, an ice pack against her forehead, as she looked through reports. Charity work, green energy, housing... All her philanthropic projects were doing good. What wasn't doing good was her head. It wouldn't hurt as bad, had whoever had awoken her descendant done a proper job of it.

"Ms. Lugubra? You have a meeting in ten minutes." Her assistant stepped into her office, and she nodded at them. "Is everything okay, ma'am?"

"Yeah, just a massive headache… Hey, I need to find someone really soon, can you get me in touch with someone who can scry for an unknown person?" She put down the ice pack for a second as the assistant looked on their tablet.

"I guess we can find someone for that, shouldn't take too long." The assistant tapped away, scrolling through options.

"Great! I'll be taking a vacation as well. Dunno how long, dunno where, but I'll return as soon as this urgent matter is taken care of!" She hopped off her chair and walked towards the assistant, her high heels clicking on the hardwood floor.

"That's… That'd be the first time off you'd have scheduled in 20 years, ma'am!" The assistant looked up into the eyes of their boss, which had an odd yellow tint to them, warm but looking as if they held centuries of sadness in them.

"Oh, is it? Huh, never realised I spent so much time here. Well, I do care about my family of employees and coworkers." Ms. Lugubra patted the assistant's head while walking out the office. "Do send me the contact information for the scrier as soon as you get them! Very urgent situation!" She waved before turning a corner, leaving the assistant confused.

"Well, the board is gonna rip me apart for this. Hate dealing with Returnists..." The assistant sighed and started making their way to the meeting room to deliver the news.

Elsewhere in the building, Ms Lugubra rubbed her head some more as she mumbled to herself about what has happened.

"Owh… she didn't have to hit me THAT HARD, sure it's surprising to feel your descendant awaken partially, but I wasn't causing THAT MUCH of a scene during the meeting a couple days ago… I swear she must have given me a concussion with that hit..."