ꙮ Morning of the third lumen at the 36 th Tower. It’s the longest you’ve ever spent in one place, so far, isn’t it? Things move at the speed they move at, in the Tower, and no slower and no faster, and there’ve been adventures aplenty already anyways. Caion told you all, at one point or another over the last lumen, that Solei would wish to speak with everyone today, after breakfast was had. Moving as a pack in search of delicious sustenance, rather than going back to the Mad Food Scientist’s Lab full of Exclusively Crunchy Things, there’s a somewhat more run-of-the-mill Academy cafeteria open this morning in the Central tower that’s on the way. There’s the same sweet tea they had over in Ripple’s Rest, although the recipe tastes slightly different, there’s still a dazzling variety of fish (fried, baked, or raw as much as stewed, here) and an equally-dazzling array of the Academy’s own hydroponic vegetables - delicious, light leafy things that are too colourful to simply be called ‘greens’, giant vats of preserved matchsticked root vegetables and cucurbits, some sweet, some sour, some wildly spicy for the Kushtaka and those who love them. It’s all -quite- refreshing.
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- The Dragon
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has his usual pile of…everything. There’s really not much you haven’t seen him eat, and he tends to gravitate towards the things that are most like what he’s never had before. Even if he doesn’t particularly like something–there’s some small, red, round vegetable-fruit-things that he makes a bit of a face after biting into–he’ll give it all a good old, well. College try.
: was kind of wondering if that lab had also invented french toast with syrup or not yet, but that can wait for another day when they don’t need the group, he supposes, and will have to go in for a large bowl of soup and super spicey veggies. instead.
watches Caion assemble his plate first, and as is tradition, takes a little bit of everything he doesn’t, exchanging little nibbles here and there as he pries his eyes open and readies himself for the day.
makes an immediate beeline for anything and everything that looks like it might be salmon, and then piles her plate high with leafs and root veggies and–something that seems a lot like pickles? She carefully watches whatever draws most Kushtaka–she loves spicy–and avoids the sweet tea–too sweet!
is drawn to the wonderful smell of some baked fish (it’s salmon) as a centerpiece for his plate, with various cuts of the leafy-and-otherwise green-to-seafoam-green hued vegetables surrounding the main course. He has a glass of sweet tea that he nurses from rather than openly swills, and a second glass for water entirely.
ꙮ There is so much salmon in basically every imaginable configuration. It’s incredible.
: “If you don’t want those, I’ll eat them,” she offers selflessly to Wolf, noticing his face at the round vegetable fruit thing.
silently and gratefully offloads four of them onto Salme’s plate–and his fork comes away with a slice of her smoked salmon.
is having a great time with a stack of the spiciest offerings
allows the salmon theft, because she is the Sword-Saint and she understands self-sacrifice (and there is plenty more).
goofily nuzzles Archie’s hair as they’re sitting down. He seems like he’s in very good spirits! He’s mostly got a salad made out of a weirdly bitter, oddly minty purple-leafed plant he’s glad they haven’t given up on growing even though most people think it tastes kind of weird, and a couple pieces of raw fish of various sorts.
: “Unua, can you … taste the spice? And what does it taste like?” She likes spicy food and has a pretty high tolerance, but even she’d struggle with … their particular configuration of flavors.
: “It tastes like how fire tastes. And yes, the answer is what you think it is”
furrows her brow at them. If they were anyone else, she’d think they were having her on, but it’s … Unua. Still.
: “Are we absolutely sure there’s not secretly a Kushtaka in there piloting?”
: “Surely, there must be correlation from color to nature and taste.”
: “Must there be?” she says doubtfully.
: “…Remind me to make a list of which peppers are unsafe for human consumption before we get home, Unua.”
grins. “Challenge accepted.”
: “There’s totally some expecation, at least that I have. But it’s also fun to find out that one is wrong about that kind of thing!”
nods. “I will happily dispose of any of the unsafe variety.”
: “Every pepper is safe for human consumption at the precise, correct, carefully-calibrated level of dilution.” He solemnly chomps on a pickled radish spear. “Some of them, you’d have to mix with the entire Sea, to be safe, though.”
: “Yes.”
: “Mm,” Wolf says. “Sounds too salty, at that point.”
: “Exactly. And finding an apparatus big enough to do the dilution in? Simply isn’t worth the hassle.” He grins at Wolf.
: “Alternatively, you could just dump a bunch of it in the ocean, wait a while, and drink the sea.”
grins, nodding at Wolf. “That’s the spirit! Make an entire lake a reservoir for the mixture.”
gives the Awoken an amused look. “Oh dear. You’re agreeing with me. I must have gone wrong somewhere.”
laughs, softly, takes a sip of water, and munches away at the remarkably-purple salad. “Ah. For if you’re tired of crossing the sea, and wish instead to cross the tea.”
splutters a little into his stew but succeeds in hiding his smile behind the massive ladle.
: “We’re going to Lake Incredible Spice!” he nods, and hacks a laugh at Caion’s addition.
registers the joke just as he’s taking a sip of water, and has to cover his mouth to keep from misting the table.
grins smugly.
: “You’re very silly today, Scholar-Emissary,” she observes.
: “I am enjoying the fruits of good Counsel, Scholar-Storyteller.” He grins Salme’s way, less smugly but with no less enthusiasm, and leans lightly against Archie. “And, admittedly, hoping to carry enough good cheer to bring some to Solei, shortly.”
: “Can you tell us some of Solei? It would be good to have a sense of what we’re dealing with beforehand.”
blushes slightly at the unexpected flattery, and nods at Wolf’s question, seconding his request.
: “They’re a brilliant experimentalist -and- a skilled administrator, and they’ve held the Tower and Circle together through any number of crises. Not alone, of course.” He glances around, ever so briefly. “Their grim news as of late isn’t mine to share at this time, but they’ve suffered a loss, and- they’ve been looking forward to the chance to meet you properly now that the immediate aftermath is resolved, but it may still be weighing on them. If so, it’s nothing any of you did wrong.”
: “So the boundaries are a bit further out to push, I see.” He nods, knowingly.
: “I expect they’ll ask you if there’s anything -you- wish to do or see while you’re here, and where you’re planning on going next - especially if it’s somewhere that’d need their sign-off - so try to have an answer to that question in mind if they ask it.”
nods. “When we first met them upon arriving at the Academy, I was confused and alarmed by the change in their demeanor. But I understand a little more now where they’re coming from, the loss that Caion mentioned. Know that, from what I remember and what Caion has told me of what they were like before I left, they represent the best of what the Academy has to offer. Intelligent, curious, enthusiastic, supportive.”
turns the question to the table. “I have a couple of ideas of where our next stops might be, but I’m curious if anyone else has any leads they’ve developed over your time here so far.”
: “Mmm, only the ones you mentioned before.”
: “Well… did you show them the thing?“ He jerks his eyebrows up at Archie, for emphasis.
frowns slightly. “Caion, is a problematic question if I ask what lies to the north?”
: “Similarly, is there anything that we should keep amongst ourselves, such as where we’re from?”
tilts his head wolfwards. “No, but it’s an -interesting- question to ask. In the north is an enormous glacier called the Septentrione, it’s… been the subject of quite a number of Academic expeditions. It’s… also developed a dire reputation in recent years. We lost two Academicians Primus in a row there, and it’s very off-limits these days without the Primus’ express authorisation. Why do you ask?”
: “That sounds like exactly the kind of place we need to go!”
seems surprised that Caion seems surprised.
to Salme: “I’ve told Solei enough of the truth as I understand it. They’re eager to hear about you and what you can tell them of the worlds unknown to us.”
gives, without any hope of success, a quelling look to the Awoken before continuing. “I am uniquely…attuned, I suppose? To the ‘song’ of the worlds. Though my home’s is most familiar, I can also discern that of Samudra quite clearly.” He looks musingly thoughtful. “There is a unique tone that seems to issue from the northern ice–a complicated rhythm unlike any I have heard before.”
: “Hunh.”
: “What does it sound like?”
: “Can I try Circling with you at some point, later? I’d love to know if that’s an experience that can be shared.”
: “A…pulse? A rhythm? It is hard to describe.” He thinks, then closes his eyes–his ears would be perked up intently, if he was a dog–and then his fingers start drumming a rhythm on the table, using both hands to capture the complexity of it.
I'm doing my best but the description I was given was quite vague.
gives him a rueful look. “I’m afraid the gap between World-singer and the less musically-inclined is quite large.”
: “But I appreciate the attempt.”
squints at Wolf, tilting his head to the side, glancing curiously at Archie.
drums a soft tattoo on the table for a good 15 or 20 seconds–there’s something heartbeat-like about the rhythm, if a heartbeat was in 7/8 time, and you had about five hearts. He tapers off, looking somewhat abashed as he opens his eyes. “Agh. It is hard to capture and do justice to.”
focuses on the sound of the rhythm. “I have not experienced this as a rhythm, but I know it, too. It aligns with the pattern of how the - some might call them leylines, I’ve referred to them in my notes as gnosis-currents - traverse the world, the points and frequencies with which they intersect. Which means, as convinced as I already was of our next destination, I have one more reason.”
: “Hm…”
: “I would be pleased to attempt to share the Song with you at some point,” he says to Caion. “It would be…” He smiles wryly. “It would be interesting, to be able to share the experience. Unprecedented?”
: “We’re going to convince Solei to approve an expedition to the Septentrione. We have to. It’s not just that it’s dangerous, but it keeps cropping up again and again in everything I’ve been working on. We have reason to believe the Strange Path is there, I believe that it may be deeply connected to the Ancients I’ve been studying, and I further believe that we may have the ability to succeed where others have failed.”
: “I also would hate to invite myself along more, but … this Circling? I would like to experience at some time. It’s relevant, I think, to a project I’m working on.”
: “Psh. If Caion assents, you are more than welcome.”
nods to Archie, focusing back on the matter at hand.
chuckles. “Which means our job will be convincing Solei to sign off on it. I think we can manage without it coming to a Rite.” And he nods, towards Salme and Wolf. “And I’ll look forward to that, then.”
: “I suspect what they call Circling is that thing you’ve taught yourself to do with the flourishing.”
: “Eeh, it can be a Rite if it needs to be. I respect Solei, but I’m not scared of him. Still, I’d much rather convince him to our side, for all of our sakes.”
: “Do you imagine it might come to a Rite?” He sounds bemused.
looks at Aurelius, and grins at him. “(Me too. Or something very like it. But I don’t want to assume.)”
laughs, pounding his hand on the table, forgetting where he is briefly.
: “If it comes to a Rite, it might be better if we just Left.”
finishes off the rest of his salad and fish, too, while they talk, and eventually stands. “It was mostly a joke, for what it’s worth. Although I think it’ll take time for them to come to terms with the request, and for that I apologise in advance.”
laughs. “You’re not helping your case that you aren’t secretly a Kushtaka in a mech suit with those kinds of jokes, you know.”
: “This discussion is seeming more like a formality at this rate!”
groan-chuckles at Unua.
chuckles at Unua and shakes his head. “Come on, let’s be off. Their morning meetings ought to be over by now. I hope so, anyways, for their sake…”
manages to snag a few particularly large whole tomatoes on the way out.
For the first time on their adventure, Unua is pocketing food for themself, instead of for their companions. One of their pouches is laden with hot peppers.
doesn’t hoard food, but does grab a handful of little pickled roots to snack on as they go.
ꙮ It’s another journey through the Tower, with Caion and Archie leading the way. Up to the very very top of the Central Tower, where there’s a huge room like a blossoming flower at the Tower’s crown, a roof made of crystal of every shade of blue imaginable, so that when you’re inside it looks like you’re underwater and high up in the sky, at the same time. You can see forever, but it’s ocean in any direction… and the vaguest, faint hint of cold fog, to the impossibly-distant north.
doesn’t even attempt not to gawk–as Solei already knows they’re not from around here.
smiles at Wolf, glad that something impresses him as much as he was impressed by the sights of Almachadta.
tilts his head slightly as he takes in the room. His gaze lingers on the ceiling for a few moments, before turning it to find their host.
ꙮ There’s some number of chairs in a circle facing each other, set equidistantly around the edges of the room. Solei’s sitting in one of them, in a uniform marginally more ornate and formal than the one they were in when they met you the first time, and they stand, and nod- and their gaze lingers on Unua, briefly.
stretches his arms wide while within the impossibly-crafted room, and with a satisfied grunt, he has centered the splendor within himself.
Unua stops staring out the crystal panes long enough to bow.
: “Thank you for your service to the Tower, stranger. Ines told me what happened.” They return the bow, a little stiffly.
looks at Unua curiously.
: “I am always happy to help those in need.”
also gawks, smiling up at the ceiling, then around, so caught in the beauty of it she briefly forgets where she is, before, Solei’s words call her back to the ground. She also looks at Unua curiously.
: “Oh, a thing happened?” He turns to look at Unua.
glances between the chairs, Solei and Archie, then moves to take a seat if no one stops him.
: “Your companion was in the right place at the right moment, and saved us from- at the very least, a significant flooding incident and potentially much worse.” A pause. “I’d like to ask you some questions about what happened, but- that can wait until we’ve both some time to speak privately, if that’s all right?”
also bows politely–his usual hand-over-fist-over-heart bow of general respect–and only glances at Unua a little.
nods, sinking the thought for the time being.
gives a polite, brief, curtsy and goes to sit next to Aurelius.
: “Of course.”
bows to Solei. “May we be seated?”
spins into a sit into one of the chairs, one leg crossed over the other, his hands interlocked and holding onto a knee.
: “Please, feel free. The chairs are for the Tower’s Circle, and for the immediate moment, that means they’re for you.”
nods along. “You strike me as a man who wouldn’t want to waste a chair.”
, who has already sat, one leg crossed over the other, says, “(Oh, good.),” a bit chagrined.
nods in thanks and takes his own seat, choosing the one at the opposite side of the circle from Solei to make it easier to maintain eye contact.
sits at Archie’s left, leaving the right-side seat for Caion.
: “I hope you’ve found our Tower welcoming? I apologise that it took so long to be able to speak with you at liberty.” They glance over at Archie and Caion. “The two of you should know - there have been reports of a -new island- near Cloudset.”
looks surprised. “When was it first reported?”
: “Three lumens past. What’s more - they say that as far as they’ve been able to gauge, it is -anchored-.”
nods, slowly. “Three lumens aligns with our return, which is a curious detail. Anchored how, and to what? Do we know, yet?”
: “Does ‘anchored’ mean that it does not float, as this one?”
turns to Unua. “Not just this one - all islands here float. The bottom of the sea is not known to exist, though some have theorized it must. The idea of one being anchored is a notable phenomenon, indeed.”
tilts his head, very slightly.
is frowning slightly, thinking.
glances around, to the others. “Nothing like this has ever happened before, no.” They do not seem thrilled about this; their features are drawn. “The last experimental bathysphere was decommissioned two centuries ago, we currently have no way to even attempt to fathom the depths to which this island extends.”
smile creeps up slowly, but inevitably. “Infinity does have a limit, huh…?”
lets out a snort, then quickly stops himself from actually laughing.
shrugs at Awoken. “It’s always possible that infinity isn’t infinite, just… really, really big.”
: “Ksenija is in contact via pearlcaster, and keeping me up to date if anything changes. Cloudset is… monitoring the event. They may not be in formal communion with the Tower and Circle, but they’ve every reason to be working with us hand in hand on this. So. That’s also been on my mind.”
does the math in his head about how long ago three lumens was, and frowns.
turns to Solei with a look of sympathy. “It’s good that this isn’t solely in your hands. There are plenty of people ready and willing to help, I can only hope that you’re letting them. You have more than enough cargo on your ship.”
smiles at Archie, and it’s a very you-caught-me,-damnit smile.
returns it, and as the smile reaches his eyes, he allows his mask to slip for just a moment, showing the weariness behind them.
: “It has been a difficult tide for us all.” They bow their head, briefly. “But I hope the Academy has been welcoming to all of you. I wish… so badly, to sit down with you all, to hear every thing you have to share with us. Caion has told me what he knows and it is- fantastic, and strange. But you have the look of chasing down a theory in your eyes, and I would not keep you from that, if I can help it. I take it you did not come here simply to return our wayward Archivist.”
: “That’s his call, though personally I’d feel the loss if we did leave him.”
looks over to Archie. “No pressure intended!”
smiles at the Awoken, and adds, “Yes, I fear I, at least, have the intent of keeping your Scholar-Archivist.”
almost adds, and of stealing your Scholar-Emissary as well but Solei seems like they’ve been through … enough.
smiles a little sheepishly. “I should let them tell the story in their own words, but if you’ll permit me to at least begin the report, I was on a research trip when someone or something took me to a place called Sanctuary run by someone calling themselves the Architect. There, we were told that -,” he says, catching himself a little, thinking about Solei’s recent troubles. He tenses slightly and exhales, lowering his tone, before continuing, “We were told that our worlds - and yes, there are five of them, one primarily aligned with each primary type of gnosis - were no more. That we were the last remnants of them, called to fight against a tide of monsters.” There’s the gentle sound of friction as his tail droops enough to brush against the floor, remembering the dismay. Brightening back up, he continues, “That turned out to not be true, of course, and by the intervention of a second person calling himself the Omniclast, we escaped the Sanctuary, and thereby found our way to the space between the five worlds for the first time.” He turns to Salme and Wolf. “Do you want to pick it up from here?”
gestures towards Salme. “If you would do the honors? As our historian and storyteller?”
looks at Wolf and then … nods. And she says, to Wolf, “keep the rhythm, for me?”
: “And also the … mood. If you’d be so kind,” nodding at his flute.
chuckles and nods, one boot-heel starting up a soft heartbeat rhythm as he draws his flute from his belt with a little twirl between his fingers, setting it to his lips and starting to weave a gentle melody around the sound of his boot on the floor–nothing so gripping as to distract from Salme, but an undercurrent to build her words upon.
sits still for a moment, as some of their panels re-align. Their gears now turn in harmony with Wolf’s song, providing a bit more percussion.
closes her eyes and thinks, draws the memory to the surface, but does not resort to the mask. “My name is Salme, and I am the Sword-Saint of Almachadta, and my job is to remember the story of our world and tell it, tell every story ever told to me, or the Sword-Saints who came before me. I am a repository of memory. I am an archive. I walk beside the Wolf-Priest of Almachadta, World-Singer, yeresh, sacred song-keeper. Our world is one that flourishes and flourishes and flourishes until it flourishes too much, and then there is disease, and hunger, and fire, and the world is cleansed and born anew and only the Sword-Saint remembers, because the Sword-Saint is not a person but a Mask, tied to the Duelist’s Mask in the sky, which is a repository which is an archive which is a palimpsest upon which of all our memories is written. That is the truth of our world that the Sword-Saint is always supposed to keep and never supposed to tell.” ⁂
: “So,” she drawls, “imagine my surprise arriving back home after being told our worlds had been destroyed, in a pretty different manner than I’d been expecting, to have Wolf tell me that Almachadta was still dying.” ⁂
If it was possible for a flute to sound chagrined, it would.
catches the rhythm again, the way of speaking a story that isn’t singing but isn’t talking either. “We had forgotten, Wolf and I, that before we awoke in Sanctuary, we had been given a task–a quest. Because the King of our world–a tree tall as this room, broad with age, wood-speaking, bristlecone pine, old as the first flourishing of this world-cycle–had asked us. There is a place at the center of Almachadta where, at the end of all things, the Sword-Saint goes to lay the Mask to rest, and to draw a tally marking the end of the cycle, and to perform one last act of hope in the face of despair. And it is there that my predecessor–not the Sword-Saint before me, but the Sword-Saint before him, heard a knocking from another world and tried to open edges of the world as if it were a door. And Wolf and I had been sent, because it was the end of all things, and what was there to lose, to see if we could open that this time door. And we arrived in the place where the door is and someone was waiting for us and so we were taken.” ⁂
weaves bits of the Palimpsest-King’s song beneath her words, and Tsem’s–and, always, beneath it all, Almachadta’s.
: “We went again, this time. Wolf and I, and Unua, First Endjinn, All-Protector, Faith-Keeper, of the Beast, and Aurelius, Lion-Marked, Crafter and Maker, and Shining Golden and Spear-Rent, of the Beast, and Arcs-Through-The-Depths-Towards-Truth’s-Light, Swift-Swimming Thinker, Holder of Truths, of Samudra, and the Awoken, who does not carry a name but carries with him a heart, Walker-of-the-Ways-Between, Fearless and Fey, who is maybe from Valaïs but makes home wherever he does, and we went into the heard of Almachadta, where wood and river and light tangle together into something strange. There we saw the heralds of the end of Almachadta, and we resisted, and we walked into the Shrine, and we vowed to break the wheel, and we opened the door (well, we did not open the door, it was infinitely stupider and more complicated than that, but that is an entirely different story) and then we were back on the void-path that takes one both anywhere and nowhere at all.” 🙧
looks with kind, shimmering eyes at Salme as this tale comes to not an end, but a continuation.
lets his flute trail off on a few notes of Ember’s haunting song, then lowers it from his lips, and gives a proud, warm smile to Salme.
reconfigures, their gears much quieter.
grins back at Wolf before letter her eyes wander to Awoken, and then winks.
gives Salme a flat look. “Awe inspiring and simple, I’m sure you meant.”
listens to the entire story without interrupting, a look of wonder on their face. Wonder, and concern, and they raise their hand in the air and twist their fingers in a certain way, and very expertly, they Bubble the entire chamber. “Thank you for sharing your tale. I have a dark question to ask.”
nods encouragingly, preparing to answer the hard questions.
: “Just the one?”
grins at Aurelius briefly and winks at him, and then says, “It’s probably no darker than any question we’ve asked of each other.”
is thoughtful, for a moment. “Have you learned, in your travels, how -long- it has been, since the last time Almachadta’s doom befell it? And is it possible that Samudra, too, experiences this… cycle, but without any Mask to let us know that it has been happening?”
looks at Archie, and says, carefully, “I think that is an answer best given by your Scholar-Archivist,” and then laughs a little ruefully and adds, “because he was able–somehow!–to touch the taproot of Almachadta and know something I had no hope of knowing, though I am very glad to know it.”
: “By my reckoning, about 1300 years since the last cycle on Almachadta, which aligns closely with the age of the samples of ice retrieved from the Septetrione. I believe the possibility you raise is likely, and I believe that we may be poised to find a way to alter course.”
lets out a slow breath. “The thoughtstorms are getting worse. Every day, the Uninvited Guests rise closer and closer to the surface. Periegesis - my home - and Aporia are gone. Tell me what you know.”
: “Though, Archie, if–I forgot to ask. You counted the tallies in the shrine. What was the precise number?”
looks at Salme. “216. Sorry, I should have mentioned it earlier, I didn’t want to presume you didn’t know.” He turns to Solei and nods. “As Salme described, the phenomenon which causes the cycles on Almachadta is an excess of Flourishing gnosis, which causes a disease which functions like an ailment studied here in Samudra but on the scale of an entire world, not just one body. The treatment the Academy has identified relies upon an application of Burning gnosis, tempered and given precise direction through the simultaneous employment of Pellucid gnosis. My theory is that whatever phenomenon causes the cycles here in Samudra will be similarly rooted in an overabundance of Pellucid gnosis and be best remedied by gnosis of other types. In essence, the fundamental cause of the cycles has to do with the nature of each world as being so highly polarized in its gnosis affiliation. If you’ll allow me to elucidate further…” ⁂
very softly says, to no one in particular, although maybe Salme can hear: “(They’re not the -cause- of the disaster. They’re trying to -warn- us about something we have no way of seeing.)”
hears Caion, and her heart squeezes at that.
: “We have some leads towards what we think might be an identifiable solution. Wolf’s uncanny ability to identify world-song, my long-term study of gnosis-currents, my study of ancient texts, and recent information we’ve gained, including on Almachadta, all point us towards one direction. I believe you may already know what it is, and what I must ask of you. Believe me, I wish there were any other way. If you’ll permit, I would share a story.” ⁂
frowns, and nods for Archie to continue.
- You hear — and your Star hears — a song, echoing from the stillness: Veritas Manebit
: “In the beginning: solid ground!* But who believes this? Who recalls? I have read the most ancient fragments, and have conjoined what once was severed Book after book, letter after letter, seeking truths cloaked in palimpsests, Scripture upon scripture, ages upon ages Before the Apoleia— what was here? . The earth stood still! Only water flowed like water! The first city, buried now in ice, awaits A lost library, calling my name I keep vigil every night and day with hands gloved in silk and leather lest I harm the precious pages. . The Lantern-and-Eye watch me: To truly know is danger, To remain ignorant, greater danger still, and so: I proceed northwards to the Septentrione! All that was lost, I shall reclaim or I shall perish in the attempt but memory shall not die with me: *Truth remains.”
mumbles to himself as the song starts to fade, “(Okay, but does everyone have a unique language…)”
tilts their head to the side, and listens, as Archie talks, and… slumps, back, in their chair, holding their head in their hands. Looks up, after a moment, harrowed. “I don’t want to lose you again, Archivist. If. If a third Expedition to the Septentrione ended as the first two did, I don’t think any eidesis in the world could hold. I’m sorry.” They close their eyes.
: “…give me time. Please.”
: “Time you shall have. I’m in no rush to leave, either. It’s been good to be back with my studies and my family. But there’s something you should know: Tasna is alive and well. She’s on Beast and using a device she created to communicate with Almachadta. We believe the door she took is in the Septentrione. I won’t force you to do anything you’re not ready for, but you deserve to know… not all of the Expeditions ended in failure or tragedy, even just counting the two.” He looks down slightly, thinking carefully about what to say next, how much he’s ready to admit. “Saving the worlds is a noble purpose, and one that I feel called to. But at the end of the day, Solei? I just want to bring her home.”
looks up and meets Solei’s eyes. “I just want to bring her home.”
looks up at Archie, blinking, repeatedly. Meets his gaze. “She’s… alive. Then the statue that we retrieved from the Septentrione… then Thesis was -right-.” They let out a very slow breath. “I know you can’t promise me that the Septentrione won’t shatter you, but also, you’re not Thesis. I… it’ll take some time. Even taking into account my own concerns, the Circle will have to be in accord to authorise an Expedition. I will. Endeavour, for my part, not to take up any more time than is strictly, absolutely necessary.”
: “Respectfully,” she begins, voice wavering, but then she finds her footing and she says, more firmly. “Respectfully, because I also think this is useful data, and I don’t mean to sound cruel, but. We knew how to cure the rot at the heart of our world. We knew millions of years ago. We knew to use burning and pellucid to cut away the disease. We did not have the means to do so.” She looks at Archie then, and then at Solei. “I am sorry that you have suffered so much and I am sorry we all must ask it of you. But I think Archie offers the only viable solution to saving my world, and probably yours, and probably Unua and Aurelius’ as well. Take the time you need but. But please know it is time.”
turns and nods, to Salme. “You are correct. And I must not let fear guide me when truth is available, instead. I will make the argument before the Circle. And they will listen. If I, who swore never to permit anyone to set foot on that damned glacier again, am arguing on your behalf… well. It still may take lumens, and I’m sorry for that. But I will make the argument.”
: “Bureaucracy sure is complicated.” He says to no one in particular, tapping at his arm after having not said several things for the entire duration of this conversation.
taps a finger to the side of his lips, but offers nothing.
: “No apologies are needed. It will take the time that it takes, and we will see to our preparations as thoroughly as possible. There are several uses of our time that seem productive here. For one, I will rejoin my aunt Ksenija. He smiles. “Not for any Academy business, of course. Simply as a matter of family, and my friends will accompany me as my friends and as my wards during their time here. In other words, nothing that would require approval, as I’m sure you may appreciate.“*
bows to Solei again. “We appreciate your efforts. If there is anything I, at least, may assist you with, you have only to ask.”
inclines her head and says, “I understand. The King of Almachadta requires time for deliberation all on their lonesome. If you have a bunch of … bureau…cracy … I’m sure it’s worse. Counsel as a boon and also a curse, hm?”
: “I, too, will be happy to assist if you require it. Though I cannot promise I will be as lucky as last time.”
: “It is possible that I may have need of you, specifically. Or, rather, that Ksenija will. Given the timing of the first report of the novel island… I half expect her to end up on my doorstep demanding to borrow the six of you. Her virtue of Curiosity has not failed her, and Timing is not an enumerated virtue.” They smile, slightly.
laughs a bit before converting it into a not-very-elegant cough.
: “Sounds like fun.”
: “Time and timing is no less a construct of Stillness than the very chairs we sit upon. Nothing will happen, until suddenly, everything does.”
: “I really have wanted to meet Ksenija,” she says, running an appreciative hand over her paneled skirt. “Caion spoke highly of her.”
: “Isn’t that just the way of it?” They laugh, a little, and sigh, and sprawl back in their chair. Defeated, but not unpleasantly so.
: “You’d better- well. I won’t say ‘come back’, because it sounds like if you’re right, you’ll be going on some sort of new adventure. Find a way to write home.”
: “Working on that, actually. With Synthesis. Speaking of which, Aurelius, I need to borrow you later.”
scoots subtly towards the front of his chair. “So far, we’ve told you all that we know about the most pressing matters. I have a variety of things I know will be of academic interest to you, once the present moment has passed. Is there anything else you wish to discuss for now?”
: “Sure.”
tilts her head at that exchange between Aurelius and Caion, but doesn’t remark on it.
: “Nothing I’ve the presence of mind to properly address, I’m afraid. I wasn’t expecting to break any oaths to myself when I awoke this morning, but I ought to have known better.”
: “The willingness to do so saves more than it tears at the self,” he remarks, tapping one boot on another. “Don’t make yourself bleed because of it, unless you wish to create a particularly striking painting.”
: “What an odd way of looking at Relinquishment.” They give the Awoken a wry look.
’s gaze is pleased, though.
smiles at the exchange, appreciating that Awoken internalized more of Samudran culture than he originally thought. Coming to a stand, he turns to address Solei. “Will you permit me one last, brief moment of impropriety before we part for now?”
stands, raising a delicate eyebrow at Archie. “Whatever you’ve got in mind, I’ve already said yes to far worse, I imagine.”
faster than Solei has time to react to, much less resist, he crosses the distance between them, grabs Solei by the arms, and launches him up out of his chair and into a hug. Squeezing tight, Archie leans in, whispering something only Solei can hear.
shudders a quiet breath, in response - to the hug, to whatever Archie said - hugs him back just as hard.
releases the embrace after a long moment and straightens himself back up. “Well, I think - uh, what I mean to say is, I’d hate to take up any more of your time, and…” He peters off, looking a little sheepish. He gives Solei a hurried bow and turns towards the door.
does, then, outright grin, and laugh, shaking their head from side to side with a Glance towards Caion.
gives Solei a Look, but it softens almost immediately into something grateful, and a tiny little bit you-brought-this-on-yourself, and then he shrugs. “We’ll leave you to drafting your arguments for the Circle, then. Let me know if you need an Emissary for that?”
: “Oh, I likely will.”
ꙮ And Caion gently herds everyone towards the elevator, as Solei lets the Bubble disperse. Feels like it didn’t even end up being necessary, at all, honestly!
uncrosses his legs and stands in one motion, giving a half-salute as he jams his other hand into a pocket. “Don’t let impossible stop ya’, boss!” he calls out, before heading out.