Scene Archives

If there were a Sun, Moons, or Stars, here in the place between all places, it would be just too late to be the early morning, and far too late to be considered the middle of the night. The Quiet Time, where humans sleep, and Endjinn wait. Ĉasid is curled up by Unua, who sits against the ziggurat, carving shapes into a blade shaped from Almachadtan stone. Every now and again, they look up at Archie, wondering if he’ll take a small nap while deciphering the static.

wakes up from–it falls away nearly immediately, dream or nightmare, but she is awake. She tries to fall asleep again, to curl into the Awoken’s arms and just sleep, but it’s as if every tiny sound, every minuscule discomfort, things easily ignored, is suddenly writ large. She disentangles herself, drapes a heavy blanket from her bedroll around her, and goes looking for Unua, who most certainly will be awake. At least she need not be cold and grumpy alone. ⁂

When she steps out of the Ziggurat and sees them she straightens, and heads directly for them. “May I have a moment of your time?” she asks, looking down at them. This is probably the first time she’s actually been able to look down at them. 🙧

: “Always, Friend-Salme.” They put down their chisels and rest the oversized blade on the ground gingerly, as to not wake Ĉasid. “Though it is the Sleeping Time for you, is it not? What ails you that you are awake so early?”

: “Oh. Just. Sometimes I wake up and can’t get back to sleep.” She considers where to sit, and then takes the side of Unua opposite Ĉasid. “You said you get cold. Would you like to share my blanket?” she flaps it a little ridiculously, as it is a little ridiculous wrapped around her–much too large for her small size.

chuckles a little. “It is a different type of cold, but yes, that is very kind of you. I would not mind at all. I hope your sleep returns to you quickly, but I am not sad to have the company.”

goes through several odd contortions to get the blanket around them both, and then almost mirrors Ĉasid curled up against Unua’s other side. “It seems like you … spend a lot of time alone,” she ventures.

: “Endjinn often take watch when traveling. I suppose it does seem that I am alone often. But I make friends easily.” They gesture at Ĉasid, and pull out one of the stone birds. “And even still, had I not, I am far less alone than I had been for many years. I have five good friends to travel with. Just because you are asleep does not mean you are not with me. It is far preferable to journey with you and be patient through the nights, than to travel by myself.”

considers that. “I didn’t really have many friends before this either,” she offers, a little awkwardly. “Any, really, unless you count Badri, and he sort of didn’t have a choice in the matter. You handle it with a lot more grace that I have.” There’s a warm fondness in her voice as she says it though, the self-loathing from the day(?) before wiped away.

: “I have had much longer to practice,” Unua chuckles “One hundred and twenty years is a long time to learn how to wait. And I am sure that Badri would have been your friend had neither of you been the Sword Saint. He doesn’t seem capable of not being friendly. The situation we face is…staggering. But I still consider myself lucky for it. Otherwise, we would have never met.”

: “I also … feel very lucky,” she says, and then falls silent and adds, “One hundred and twenty years is a long time. That’s a lot of human lives to live and die. I don’t know and will never know what that’s like but … there have been Spoken Wood Sword-Saints before, and they have watched many human and metahuman and monster friends die.”

: “It was…a life changing experience. To remain, while everyone I knew passed on. I spent a long time alone as a reflex. I am not sure it was the correct choice, but it was the one I made. I think with that mask of yours, you know a great deal more than you give yourself credit for. Though I can’t imagine wanting to feel like this if you didn’t have to.”

: “Oh, I know a lot of sadness. Everything else as well, but most Sword-Saints do not–the Mask is as kind as it can be, but it’s not a happy role.” She frowns. “I hadn’t really considered how unhappy a role it is until I told everyone about it.”

: “Why is the role unhappy? Do you not share in the joy you spread?”

: “Or does your sadness stem from the secrets you must keep away from others?”

nods slowly. “We do, but. Hm. Forgive me. I’m trying to think this through.” She pauses again. “It is still a lot to keep going, in the face of it. It was destroying Badri. That’s part of why I dueled him for the Mask. It was destroying him, and it had destroyed many, many others before that. I chose to show Aurelius and Awoken part of it, just a part of it, to make them understand and I’m not … sure … that didn’t hurt them both more than I than I had intended to.”

: “So there is joy, and much of it. But very few Sword-Saints are happy.”

: “And…has that changed for you, since making your choice to share your sorrows and push back against what has always been?”

: “I’m happy,” she says, and when she says it it’s true but it’s also a surprise. “I’m happy, and I hope that, in the future, if there is a Sword-Saint of Almachadta, it will be much more about keeping small, lovely memories alive. I hope I’m the last Sword-Saint to ever have to live with the knowledge that the world ends in fire. What about you, Unua? Do you want to change things about the Beast?”

: “I am glad you are happy. Remember that even if Sword Saints keep one terrible fact locked away, that they will always have the joys of the past to bring back to life through the mask. For even if we fail, and all turns to ash. The future will look back and find all the joys of the past, and see that even in the face of danger and death, you, Friend-Salme-Sword-Saint, were able to choose love and happiness. You have one dark shadow. But behind that shadow, a million candles, outshining it. Their is always grief when life ends. But your mask carries so much beauty within it, that you might always be able to share the brightest moments of the past with the future.” ⁂

: “I do wish to change the Beast. I must change things about the Beast. It has been known to me since I was created, what I was created to do. Since my arrival, the fiends and monsters of the Beast have….changed. Both in their cunning and danger. They are…more like me now. I am meant to bridge the gap between them. If I am part fiend- and part-man, then surely, there must be a way for all of us to understand one another. That is my struggle. I was made to fight against an entire world that loves to fight.” 🙧

snuggles in closer to them. “That’s a heavy task set before you. But you don’t have to undertake it alone. None of us do.” ⁂

: “And whoever set that task before you in the first place was asking … a lot. Do you know who? Was there anyone there to tell you, or were you just suddenly alive with this purpose before you?” 🙧

: “It is good to remember that I do not have to fight alone.” Unua pauses. “I remember…waking up…a great, warm, giant presence. What seemed like the very heart of the Beast herself watching over me. I immediately knew my purpose. What I was designed to do. Later, when there were more Endjinn, I spoke with them. They…had no memories of their creation. Of the warmth. The Heartbeat. They were made to exist. I was made to pave the way for them.”

: “And you did. Alone.” She sits with that a moment, and then says, “I did want to says. Last evening, at dinner, when I mentioned your people, I didn’t mean the Endjinn specifically. I meant … I think Aury used the term … ‘clan’? Do you have one on the Beast?”

: “I did. I could have another if I wished it, I think. When I was new, there was a small clan in Queenstown that befriended me. I was strange to everyone. The Scorpion Queen fought me upon my arrival, and pronounced me the “First Endjinn.“ Some kept a wide berth, thinking me a fiend, some attempted to feign friendship so that they might profit from my strength. But there was one clan that wished simply to spend time with me and to help me acclimate to life in Queenstown. When the last of them passed on, I chose to disband the clan. I could not bear to attempt to find others to fill their places. The clan that took over the hall allowed me to stay there, whenever I wished. The clan that took over from that clan allowed me the same. For as long I will be, I think I will have a place there, should I choose to take it. I stayed in Queenstown for a while longer. I watched my friends’ children grow into hunters and mechanics and chefs, masterful in their own right. They, too, are all long gone. I met the grandchildren as well. But I realized I could not stay in Queenstown forever. And so I said my goodbyes and wandered for many years. I always made sure to stop back in and check in on the young ones. Pay my respects to my clan. But I had fiends to understand. And a job too strange, too dangerous to have the small ones help with. Sometimes I would have other Endjinn help me, but most found my plans strange. The Beast, after all, is a place of strength. A place of competition. Who would consider peace?”

: “I do not know if Aurelius would agree. But since our capture and escape, I now think of the five of you as my clan. I trust you. I will protect you. My only hope, is that with your help, I will achieve the task set before me. Save not just my world, but all of ours. To know…peace…would be nice.”

swallows, hard. “I’d hold your hand right now if I could, but I don’t know–how do Endjinn like to receive comfort? Or. How would you like to receive comfort?”

: “Your presence is comfort enough, Friend-Salme. Though I do enjoy a good hug. I find it hard to hug humans well. It’s very dangerous to hug humans without thinking about it. I digress. You, more than the rest, I think, know what it is like to know things that are older than everyone you have ever met. It is similar to how I spoke of your mask. I do not despair, for having outlived my clan. Their memories are a blessing that I will always have. One day, even I will be unmade. I will be happy to have fought beside them and all of you when that day comes.”

shifts, then, up to her knees to hug them. “May their memories always be a blessing, and when we are gone, may the memories of us also be a blessing.” She’s crying, of course. It seems she’s always crying, but it is not a miserable cry, just an acknowledgment. A settling of the heaviness of this story. A promise to remember as well. “Thank you, for being patient, and for caring so well. For keeping us fed. For being able to love so many things so different from yourself. You will find peace, I think. Or you’ll make it.”

hugs back with one arm, softly. They have accidentally bruised friends before letting their emotions power the hug. “They always are. As your presence already is.” Unua isn’t crying. They don’t have tear ducts. But the light shining from their eyes is blinking on and off much faster than usual. You’re not sure you’ve ever seen Unua blink before, come to think of it. Their gnosis-voice shimmers a bit, before recomposing. “No thanks are required, Friend-Salme. This is what friends do. I speak often of the Beast being a place of strength and violence. That is only one side of it. It is a burning place full of all things driven by fire. It is also a place of friendship and love just as strong, if not stronger, than the fighting. To be from the Beast, is to burn bright for the others around you, that when one falters, the rest may light their way. Someday, I will have a lasting peace, just as you will have lasting happiness. But on our way there, we have some worlds to save.”

hugs them harder, and laughs, softly, “yes, we do.” She relaxes. “I think I can sleep now but. I think I will like the Beast. I’ve always felt like I’ve burned too hard for Almachadta. Perhaps in the same way you felt like you flourished too much to be wholly of the Beast. I …. suspect … that saving the worlds might mean that none of us have to choose any one thing. Maybe we’ll get to have it all.”

: “That would be delightful. The Beast is my home, but the flourishing of Almachadta feels almost just as home to me. I wonder if the Radiant world will as well. You should sleep, Friend-Salme. Archie has sped up again, which makes me think that come whatever passes for morning here among the stars, we will have a new world to explore together.”

: “Yes, I suspect you’re right.” She gives them a headpat as she stands, reclaims her blanket, and goes to get a bit more rest.

blinks one more time. He pets the kitten and sits for just a moment, before resuming his carving. They have many things left to save before their time comes. This sword isn’t going to carve itself. They resume etching a scorpion’s tail into the blade.