A NEW HOME:

Wylie was barely eight years old when his mother died, essentially leaving him an orphan—far too young to live without a guardian. And with death so rare in our world, the Council was at a bit of a loss on how to best proceed. There was talk of Wylie living with Prentice’s cousin (Lesedi Chebota), since he was close with his second cousin (Maruca Chebota). But Lesedi was still struggling with her grief over what happened to Prentice. Grady and Edaline Ruewen were also suggested, but they were still mourning the loss of their daughter, Jolie (who’d died a few years earlier). Thankfully, Prentice’s close friend (Sir Tiergan Alenefar) offered to let Wylie live at his estate (Solreef). The offer was somewhat unexpected, given Tiergan’s relationship with the Council at the time. He’d been Prentice’s best friend and resigned from the nobility (quite angrily) to protest Prentice’s memory break and exile. (As an aside: It’s interesting to consider that Tiergan is now known to be Granite, a member of the Black Swan’s Collective. Definitely casts new light on his anger over the injustice.) But even with that noted tension, the Council agreed that Tiergan was the best choice for Wylie as a guardian. Adoption proceedings began soon after. And while little has been recorded about Wylie’s life at Solreef (Tiergan was particularly protective of their privacy), the fact that Wylie has continued to thrive and excel over the years, despite all the tragedies he’s suffered, more than proves that Prentice provided him with a loving home and supplied the care and support he needed.

HOPE, FURY, AND HEALING:

Reports indicate that before Prentice’s memory break, he’d somehow assured his family that if something bad happened to him, it might not be permanent. And Wylie (and his mom) interpreted that promise to mean that whomever Prentice was protecting would be his salvation. Thus, when Sophie arrived in the Lost Cities, Wylie’s hope soared—and then turned to anger and resentment when she made no effort to help his father. He confronted Sophie at Alden’s planting—and while the interaction appeared to be quite hostile, it seems whatever he said helped Sophie to realize that she might have been designed by the Black Swan to be able to heal broken minds. Her abilities first needed to be reset (thanks to damage caused by her own near-fading). But when Sophie tested the healing process on Alden, it was found to be a tremendous success. Wylie naturally assumed that his father would be next, but sadly, that was not the case. With Prentice locked away in Exile, Sophie was unable to reach him without the Council’s permission. And the Council opted to focus on healing former Councillor Fintan Pyren. His case was simpler than Prentice’s, since he would be healed strictly to recover what he’d hidden during his memory break, and no one would have to answer the question of “What do we do with him now?” And when Fintan’s healing led to disaster (including the fire that destroyed half of Eternalia and killed Councillor Kenric), the Council seemed reluctant to allow any further healings. The Black Swan took matters into their own hands—and while their attempted prison break into Exile was a failure, Sophie did manage to barter a deal with the Council for Prentice’s release. He was then handed over to the Black Swan, and everyone (including Wylie) assumed he’d be healed soon after. But when Sophie tried (with Fitz Vacker’s help), Prentice was found to be unresponsive. All hope seemed to be lost—until Tam Song tried lifting the veils of shadowvapor in Prentice’s mind and Prentice showed hints of improvement. The Black Swan discovered soon after that Prentice had been drugged with the Neverseen’s dangerous sedative (soporidine), presumably by dwarves working with the Neverseen. But they still chose to have Sophie attempt the healing again—though it was an incredibly delicate process. Prentice would be waking up to devastating news about his wife (as well as the knowledge that he’d missed most of his son’s childhood), and Sophie had to ensure that those revelations wouldn’t shatter his mind all over again. But somehow, she managed to make it work, and Prentice has not only returned to consciousness, but also seems mostly like his old self. The main difference—aside from natural signs of trauma and grief from his experiences—is that Sophie was unable to recover any of his damaged memories. Perhaps with time, a way will be found to recover something useful, but for the moment, Prentice seems grateful to be alive and free and focusing on the future instead of the past.

THE NEVERSEEN’S NEXT TARGET:

Despite his father’s affiliation with the Black Swan, Wylie has kept mostly separate from their activities (except those related to Prentice’s healing). So it came as a shock to everyone when the Neverseen abducted him from his room at the Silver Tower at Foxfire and brought him to one of their hideouts, where he was interrogated for an unknown number of hours before managing to escape. And while his physical injuries were healed, the greater challenge has been the mental toll. It’s honestly quite incredible—given the number of traumas Wylie has endured—that he’s managed to hold himself together so well. He’s gained some solace from his recent companionship with Linh Song. But what truly appears to be driving him is focusing on figuring out why the Neverseen came after him and what actually happened to his mom.

DEADLY STARSTONES:

Our investigation into this topic is incomplete and ongoing—and it’s highly possible that certain information is still being held back by either Wylie or the Black Swan (or both). But reports indicate that the Neverseen did not question Wylie about his father while they held him captive (as might be expected). Instead, their interrogation focused on his mother. Cyrah’s death has long been viewed as simply a tragic light leaping accident, but the Neverseen’s questions suggested something much darker. Wylie evidently begged Sophie Foster to look into it for him, and from what little she’s gleaned, it appears that Cyrah might have been murdered by the Neverseen. Cyrah was a talented Flasher—much like her son—and that apparently made her a target for Lady Gisela, who tried to trick her into using her ability to manufacture a series of special blue-flashing starstones. The starstones were supposedly for the Black Swan (but were really meant to provide transport to certain of the Neverseen’s most secret facilities), and Cyrah knew enough about her husband’s order to spot the lie. She tried to resist—until Lady Gisela threatened Wylie’s safety. Gisela also promised to kill the Black Swan’s moonlark if Cyrah didn’t cooperate—and while Cyrah had no personal attachment to Sophie, she knew the moonlark was the only hope for healing her husband’s shattered mind. So Cyrah did her best to cooperate. But Fintan decided she should be terminated when the project was completed, because she knew too much. It then appears that Fintan enlisted Gethen (another known member of the Neverseen) to use his ability as a Telepath to break Cyrah’s concentration before she leaped home, causing her to fade away. But much of that story was provided by Lady Gisela, who could easily be fabricating certain details to cover her own involvement. Without proof, it’s hard to say for certain. What is known is that one of the starstones Cyrah made is still missing, and given the drastic measures they took to interrogate Wylie, the Neverseen seem desperate to find it.

PROTECTING WHAT LITTLE FAMILY HE HAS LEFT:

Wylie’s second cousin (Maruca) recently manifested as a Psionipath—an ability that could prove to be invaluable to Sophie and her friends. The Neverseen’s strategies tend to rely heavily on their Psionipath (Ruy Ignis), so having a Psionipath helping the Black Swan would be a game changer (particularly since Ruy’s power seems to have been affected by one of Tam Song’s shadowflux attacks). But Wylie begged Sophie not to let Maruca swear fealty to the order. Sophie definitely understood why he might not want Maruca to put her life in danger after losing so many members of his family—but she also knew the decision was up to Maruca. And Maruca is every bit as strong-willed as Wylie. She refused to sit by when she could be helping save lives—and Wylie has begrudgingly respected her decision.