15[20:13] The war is over. At the broken political heart of Nexus, in the shadow of the shattered tower where Balor's star hung until it was thrice stolen and twice claimedm a new battle begins. 15[20:13] claimed,* 15[20:17] Xu Sim has left the struggle behind after the Seventh Caduceus put it to him that his help was needed in triage. Indeed, the medical officers of Lookshy's visiting army are the only ones who don't seem to be gathering behind Keldar, his guard, and the mortal members of the rechristened Nexus Union. Most every eye on the hill is fixed or straining to fix on the creature who made it so, 15[20:17] the smiling silver-masked echo of Stranger-Visits-Heaven. 15[20:17] Elsewhere, a lover and a friend have met to mourn him. [20:19] "A wake, and it doesn't even have a body." 14The Ambassador has been leaning towards...heavy pours. [20:20] "Lemme just, lemme just, all right. Hrrm. How about this. How'd you end up like that?" 12Keldar's alternately pacing, flopping (loudly, given the armor) down into the remains of a seat still sturdy enough to bear him, and gesturing in various directions. "Here's what I remember. We cut down the shadow of Balor. Then everyone dissolves, and we're flying. Stuff's coming at us, but [20:20] it's obviously some kind of faerie mind realm dream duel shit. You step ahead to take care of something coming at us, then we're all on solid ground." [20:20] 12Keldar: "What'd you do?" [20:21] 14What's the highest scale bar or tavern or cocktail house she could have broken into? Because she has. [20:21] 14If the Emissary wants to come and kill her for theft, he knows where she is. [20:22] 13She's been matched drink for drink by Xia Lan. Today is a day for them. "I should feel probably feel worse that I wish there was," 13she says. [20:22] "No you shouldn't." 15[20:23] The Ambassador and Xia Lan find themselves at The Black Bog, a brutally upscale establishment where a lunch with cocktails will set you back as much as a nice dress will in saner parts of town. It specializes, as someone as well-traveled as they might surmise, in the peaty concoctions of the near Northeast, but its wine selection is formidable as well. [20:23] "You shouldn't feel bad at all. I should feel bad. I encouraged this...behaivor. This belief in..." 14She waves her hand about the room. For now, at least, it's controlled. "People." [20:24] "I'd say it was lunacy, but it didn't come from my side of the relationship." [20:25] "And now he's gone. Even if he comes back -- if the Sun grants that exaltation out again -- he's gone." [20:25] "And his body has no use for me, anymore." [20:26] 13Xia Lan: "If I try and think about it, I - I get it, sort of. To do what's right. But there had to be a better... he's gone." 13Best to just finish off the rest of the glass. [20:27] "I didn't even need the body. I needed my fa- friend. And that's gone too." [20:27] 14She leans forward on the bar, crossing her arms. "And then of course I think about how shitty that is to think about, making it all about me, because of course the Silver Pact tells itself we're doing this all for the people." [20:28] 14The Ambassador either misses or doesn't acknowledge the false start. [20:29] 10Jai had planned to stay in the Union chamber, listening in while alliances broke and reformed in the chaos, but right now it's just a bunch of old guys yelling at each other. He quietly excuses himself during a particularly heated shouting match and picks up Xia Lan's trail without much difficulty. It leads him to tbe Bog. [20:30] 13Xia Lan: "Did he say anything to you? Before..." [20:31] 14The Ambassador: "He said he might not be coming back, and that he loved me, and that he wished things were different and that we could be together far away from here." [20:31] "But he said all those things many times, before doing things like this." [20:31] 10Jai: "Room for another at the bar?" 10He doesn't seem particularly surprised to see the erstwhile 'Odette' here. [20:31] "And at some point I just assumed that he would always be coming home." [20:32] 14Without turning, the Ambassador raises her half-full glass of some despicable clear liquor and says, "Jai. Greetings...to the wake of Stranger-Visits-Heaven." [20:33] 14She pauses. "Greetings, and welcome to the wake of Stranger-Visits-Heaven." [20:33] "The body is indisposed." [20:33] "I hear it's taken over the city." [20:33] 13Xia Lan does turn and raises her wineglass. 15[20:33] Stranger-Visits-Heaven folds his arms, as if he's debating telling Keldar nothing at all. There's a slight rise and fall of his shoulders. A sigh? "At the core of Cethleann's being was an unbreakable connection to Balor. As long as Balor's will clung to Creation, she could not be destroyed or driven away as long as that connection lingered. I reached out and released it. The effect is 15[20:33] as you see." [20:34] "What," 14she says, as she gets up from her stool and moves behind the bar, "will you be drinking?" [20:35] 12Keldar: "And it... cursed you? Killed you?" 15[20:36] Stranger: "Was Balor cursed or killed?" [20:37] 10Jai: "Yeah, something like that." 10He grabs a stool and sits, a little heavily. "Gin, probably. Too much to hope there's any grapefruits still surviving in the city." [20:37] 13Xia Lan: "Is there another bottle of," 13she gestures to what she grabbed when she got here. "While you're on your feet." [20:38] 12Keldar: "Well, yeah. Killed, for sure. But we were all there. Couldn't we've - cut it? Dispel it? Whatever?" [20:39] 10Jai: "I asked… him… if we could get some tea before the first round of shouting broke out. Didn't even react. That's when it hit me." [20:40] 14Ambassador: "Gin it is. I'll look for the fruit. They've definitely got something stashed around here, I'm sure of it." 14To Xia Lan: "And yes, dear, there is." [20:40] 14She sort of winces at the mention of tea, but brushes over it. [20:41] 14It only takes a little bit to find the flavorings that Jai wants. [20:41] "Keldar and Xu Sim aren't here," 14she says as she pours the drink, "so I assume they're the ones fighting the corpse of the people for the city." [20:42] 14She uncorks another bottle of Xia Lan's vintage and puts it in front of her. [20:42] 13Xia Lan: "Xu Sim is probably in the medical tents. Think Keldar's the only one who still wants to stay here enough to, I dunno. Get in another fucking war." 15[20:43] Stranger: "Love is not a curse to be dispelled, Keldar of Nexus." [20:44] 14She takes another drink, and then flatly: "I hope he kills it. I hope he destroys the Emissary." 14Hate creeping into her voice: "This city doesn't deserve him. They don't deserve this freedom, or this salvation." [20:44] "They never did." [20:44] 12Keldar: "Spoken like someone who never met my ex." 12He points. "But seriously. We might've been smears of paint right then and there but we were a circle of Anathema. There wasn't another way?" [20:45] 14Her pronouns getting a bit wobbly is the first sign the drink is getting to her. [20:45] 10The gin goes down smooth. "I think Xu Sim just needed to clear his head. He'll be back into the breach soon enough." [20:46] "So fuck it. Bring back in the slavers, and Lookshy, and get rid of their perfect, shining answer to everything. Take it's offer and fucking spit on it. Consign Nexus to the void." [20:47] 14She kills her drink. [20:47] "I don't mean that." 14She pauses, and reaches for the wodka. "...Maybe I kind of do." [20:48] 14To Jai: "How is Xu Sim's woman?" [20:48] "The dead one." [20:48] 13She pours herself another glass, but lets it sit for a moment. "I think you and one of my past lives would've been best friends." 13Sip. "I'm trying really hard not to think like that right now. The best I can come up with is 'at least I won't feel guilty leaving and never coming back.'" 15[20:48] Stranger: "No certain way. If you killed Balor by your own hand, the circle might have broken. But he might have reincarnated. His echo is bound to this city as surely as Cethleann's was to he." [20:49] 12Keldar: "A 'might''s a hell of a lot better than this definitely happening to one of us, man!" [20:50] "I've been having second thoughts myself. I thought I could make a difference…" 10Another drink. He looked like he was about to say something else. "Still dead. Which is good, because it keeps her from dropping dead again by how hard the Mask's forces had her working here." 15[20:50] Stranger: "It is done." [20:50] "I was hoping--" 14She pauses as her voice hitches, staring into space. Then, more controlled: "I was hoping to convince him to come away from here with me, after this. And with you." 14That was to Xia Lan, but she glances at Jai. "Both of you, really, though I understand you have work. Go north a bit. And east. Some place without the Realm and Wyld Hunts and and all this bullshit." [20:50] 12Keldar: "Yeah, yeah, sure. Fine. I'm just trying to get my head around why it was done, and if I'm actually talking to the guy that did it." [20:51] 10Jai: "Not sure I have work anymore, either. This… wasn't an official assignment." 15[20:51] Stranger spreads his hands wide. "Now that you are satisfied, we can begin to implement the new paradigm." 15[20:51] A nervous Master Gen, from behind Keldar: "Now hang on just a minute--" [20:52] 12Keldar: "Ut-ut-ut. Ooonnne second. Who decides the Dogma?" [20:52] 13Xia Lan: "I was going to stay here. Take over everyone's work on the council, build a home." 13A longer drink. "I haven't--" 13She immediately stops talking. [20:52] 13She tries again. "It's been a long time." 15[20:53] Stranger: "The Emissary decided the Dogma. No Dogma or Civility governs their re-writing, so I have invoked the ancient precedent." 15[20:53] Thalevar: "Good enough for me." [20:54] 12Keldar: "That's what I thought. But we've only got your word that you're the Emissary, and, frankly, Emissary ain't supposed to have a name or a smile. My own hungry ghost doesn't get to inherit my manse." [20:55] 14The Ambassador: "And for me, it wasn't long enough." [20:55] 14To Jai: "So what are you going to do now, Black Wind Howling? Or Howling Black Wind. Or...whatever." [20:56] 10Jai drains the cup, then mixes the next one itself.  [20:56] 10Himself, even. It's contagious. 15[20:58] Stranger: "You had only the Emissary's word that he was the Emissary. You never questioned it because he said what you wanted to hear." 15[20:58] "I listen to more voices than yours." [20:59] 10Jai: "Don't know yet. I figured once things settled down here I'd sort of find a niche. I thought he'd— I thought we'd be the ones in charge." [20:59] 14She smiles nastily. "You still can be." [21:00] "Depends how many more bodies you want." [21:00] "...Sorry." [21:00] 13Xia Lan: "Suppose we get to go find our own niches somewhere else," 13she says absently. [21:01] 14She garnishes her drink with some berries. "I certainly will be trying to." [21:01] 12Keldar: "Nah. He had a continuity that you hadn't. Same guy - then, at least, same power and same dogmas. Now we've got a ghost with some nutty ideas who might not even be piloting the replacement's body." [21:01] 10Jai: "It's okay. I'm just feeling a little numb, is all." [21:01] 12Keldar: "Top of that, in terms of seniority, you're dead last. Bunch of Emissaries now, remember?" [21:01] "I don't know how the Pact is going to react to all of this, to be honest." [21:01] 13Xia Lan: "Alcohol does that." 13Sip. [21:02] 14Takes a gulp. "I'm not sure if I succeeded here or failed." [21:02] "Well. Whether or not I failed the Pact. Other failures are obvious." [21:04] 10Long drink. "My boss is in town, he might try and get me to come back into the fold." [21:04] 10Jai: "He might… no, if he thought I knew too much I wouldn't be here right now." [21:04] 14She nods. "For obvious reasons, I will both understand and not be within five city blocks of that." [21:05] 14Then she laughs. "Oh, darling, the Star children aren't going to spend the lives it would take to kill a Chosen of the Sun simply because he knows too much." [21:05] "It's acting on it that's the danger." [21:07] 10A weak chuckle. "You're probably right." [21:08] 14She waves her glass about. "Frankly being here socializing with me is almost certainly a greater sin than 'knowing things.' We are, if you haven't heard, the worst of the Anathema. Beasties all." [21:09] 13Xia Lan: "That's stupid." 13She does not articulate further. [21:10] 14She shrugs. "The reputation is not entirely unearned." [21:10] 10Jai adopts the cadence of an Immaculate telling stories to scare the children. "The slavering skinchangers. The demons' dogs. Beware, little ones, or they'll swallow you whole!" [21:11] 14Ambassador: "Yes." [21:13] 10Jai tosses back the rest of his drink. "Every story's got a kernel of truth somewhere, though. You just have to sift for it." 15[21:14] Stranger turns to Xu Sim, who has returned. "Well, Emissary? What say you?" [21:16] 14Ambassador: "I suppose so. Another?" [21:16] 14She's pouring another for herself. [21:17] 10This is probably a good time to change the subject. "Sure, thanks. How about your future, Xia Lan? If you dod leave the city. Would you still be a singer?" [21:17] 5Xu Sim, looking sheepishly up. "Mmm?" 4he's toting a scroll, tucked under one arm, and an unusually ugly dog, wagging and panting and drooling, under the other. [21:18] 13Xia Lan: "I was a travelling singer before, now... I'll be one again? I guess? But with more friends this time. I hope." [21:18] 13Living ones, anyway. [21:18] 12Keldar, turning to Xu Sim, jerks a mailed thumb at the remains of Stranger. "This joker thinks he's got the standing to just proclaim new Dogmas. Thoughts?" [21:21] 5Xu Sim, contemplative: "I'm not a politician, and neither are you. The dogmas are not facially unjust. He's not selling us to the Realm, nor is he picking our pockets. I just think it's funny," 5he adds, setting the dog down (where she immediately seizes a croaking cricket and begins to chew its legs off with relish). [21:22] 14To Xia Lan: "You'll have one, at least." [21:22] 14She leans forward again over the bar. "I'm giving up on Stranger-Visits-Heaven -- and his body -- but I don't think I'm giving up on what he believed in. Not entirely. Perhaps not even mostly." [21:22] "Maybe not at all." [21:23] 14A pause. "But I'm still fucking angry, and fucking sad." [21:23] "And so everything runs down the stream, against rock after rock, until it hits the river. Until it hits the ocean." [21:24] 14Gary of the Grey, huh. It seems like longer ago than it was. [21:24] *14Gary of the Gray, huh. It seems like longer ago than it was. [21:25] 12Keldar: "Isn't he? No top-level promise of free trade? Doctor guarantee? Even if it were workable, even if we hadn't just come out the other side of a Direction-ending war, it'd ruin us. And it wasn't any of our ideas. Might as well've not even been his, for all we know." [21:27] 5Xu Sim: "I think it's terribly ironic," 5he begins unfurling the scroll, "that the last time this matter was considered by our Circle," 5it rolls and rolls and rolls - the handwriting is that of the Audient Brush - "That in fact you and I each took diametrically opposite positions regarding the governance of this fair City. You got quite upset about it, as I seem to recall from [21:27] our notes," 5he stops unfurling the scroll and taps a finger down the page towards, indeed, the transcript of their previous discussion. [21:27] 13Xia Lan gives the Ambassador a watery smile. "Thank you for coming with me. Wherever we end up going." 13Another sip. "I think I'm too exhausted to be angry right now." [21:27] 10Jai props his elbows on the bar and rests his chin on interlaced fingers. "When he said he believed something, you almost felt it in your gut." [21:28] "Yeah." [21:28] 12Keldar grins, but also narrows his eyes. "What I said, was that I wouldn't let anyone just move in and take over 'cause they saw the opportunity, and that appears to be exactly what's happening here." 15[21:29] Gen: "Yeah!" 15[21:29] Thalevar: "Bullshit." [21:29] "A bandit and a heartbreaker," 14she sings to herself. [21:29] 14Then she pours herself another drink. That one disappeared quickly. [21:30] 12Keldar rounds on the Councilor of the Eclipse. "How d'you figure." [21:31] 14Sipping, now: "Forget how the rest of that one goes." [21:32] "North, huh." 10Jai closes his eyes and the map in his mind's eye unfurls.  [21:32] 14She shakes her head. "No." 14Pause. "Well, maybe. But with Stranger...gone...I've got work." [21:33] "And all I've got is work." 15[21:33] Thalevar: "We got a chance to do some good for people and you're saying we toss it away because it's not how things have been done? Buddy, letting Anathema rule the city isn't how things have been done. The Dawn Sergeant bullying the Emissary isn't how things have been done. If he doesn't own the Council, you don't either." [21:33] "So I'm going to wait for word." 15[21:33] "I say we put it to a vote." 15[21:34] "Let every one of us put their name, in public, to leaving Nexus as it is or changing it." [21:34] 13Xia Lan: "I can sing it, if you'd like." [21:34] 14Quieter: "No. I'd just start crying." 15[21:34] Gen: "No-oo, I think Keldar's right. We just survived a war, now's not the time for social upheaval. How will we pay for it?" [21:35] "But thank you." [21:35] 5Xu Sim: "This new Stranger is, it's true, even stranger than before. And he's not who he was, he's something different now. A synthesis. But we must give peace a chance, I think. But as to the esteemed Councillor's question - how will we pay for it?" [21:35] 12Keldar: "I'm trying to make it so Anathema don't rule the city. The Council rules the city according to the Dogmas and the Emissary has their back, that's how it goes." [21:36] 12Keldar: "Maybe all along the Emissary could've rewritten the Dogmas if he felt like it, but we haven't got the Emissary now. We've got... emissaries." [21:36] 5Xu Sim: "This City can soon become the most prosperous and righteous under Heaven, I think. Very soon." [21:36] 5Xu SIm: "In that case, I vote to change the Dogmas." [21:36] 13Singing while crying isn't one of her favorite things to do, but she'd do it for a friend, if they asked. Still, this is... probably for the best. She nods to the Ambassador, understanding. 15[21:37] Aged, cranky Evening Master Beale: "It may be that the Dogmas can no longer legally be changed. That's the Sergeant's position, as I understand it." [21:39] 14After a moment, she sighs. "Maybe it's good to cry sometimes. Play it if you'd like." [21:40] 5Xu Sim: "A city must be able to change. Even the cities of the dead may change, so I am told." [21:40] 12Keldar shoots Xu Sim a glare before returning his attention to the Councilors. "Or if they can we'd have to figure out how, and that's only after figuring out whether to. Not because some stranger, that's starting with a little character, comes blasting down out of the sky and says so." 15[21:40] Ephiselle, the Midnight Queen: "This is all highly irregular. Whether our coffers can support it, we can't afford to antagonize our successful residents. Nevermind the Guild! We would have lost this war without them, and now we propose to stick our hands in their pockets?" [21:40] 5Xu Sim: "What is Nexus, Keldar? What is a city?" [21:41] "Nexus," 12says Keldar, "Is Creation's only free city." 15[21:41] "Freedom for whom? Freedom from what?" muses Doctor Udelph. [21:42] 5Xu Sim: "Empty its buildings, then, clear out its boulevards, let no stone stand on another, and it would be free." [21:43] 12Keldar: "No empress, no satrap, no god-king, no god. You can keep what you earn and dispose of it how you like. You can tell off anyone you want. And if you don't like it you can just leave. Can't say that about anywhere else." [21:44] 13Deep breath, and she finishes her glass first. Do re mi. "Sweet silver angels over the sea, please come down flyin' low for me / One time I trusted a stranger..." 13 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj8RFOp7iVQ It's completely unaccompanied. Just her voice and the quiet of the bar. [21:44] 14The Ambassador is crying by the first refrain, sobbing by the second, and sitting against the wall behind the bar singing along and drinking straight from the bottle by the end. 15[21:46] Astrologer Kratz: "What about a compromise? A way to care for our worst-off that still lets people excel if they have the skill and ambition?" [21:46] 10This one's for the two of them. Anyway, there's just a little dust in his eye. Yeah. [21:46] 5Xu Sim: "Many people disagree," 5Xu Sim notes. "Then why not resolve it with a contest?" [21:50] 5Xu Sim: "Stranger! What say you, then? Are you still so uptight? We compromoise, and determine the bounds of the compromise by a contest fairly agreed." [21:50] 12Keldar: "Do they? I don't even - we haven't actually got to the point where even discussing changing the Dogmas makes sense. It's not up to one guy who might not even legally be an Emissary and what we've got to do right now is rebuild from the damn war!" [21:51] 12Keldar: "Wind down all the war Civilities and pay all the mercs and get the Council meeting properly and then we can start talking about what the Emissary's death means for us." [21:51] 5Xu Sim: "You've identified the game then, a game of rebuilding," 5he muses. [21:51] 14Her voice is...uncommonly beautiful, given how much she's drunk in the last two hours. [21:52] 10By the time the duet ends, Jai's openly weeping. Dammit. Dammit. Why did it have to end like this? [21:53] 14Maybe there was no other way. [21:53] 12Keldar: "You can't treat rebuilding the damn city like a game! Unless you're a construction contractor, I mean. But that's a metaphor." [21:53] 13There's always another way. The real question is, was this the best way, in the end? [21:53] 5Xu Sim: "You can make a game of war, why not make a game of peace?" 15[21:54] Doctor Udelph: "There's also the question of peacekeeping. Discontent is high, and the ruin of the city falls principally on the poorest districts. Making no reparations to the poor could lead to riots." [21:54] 12Keldar: "And that's what Civilities are for." 15[21:55] Doctor Udelph: "What if we made these new Dogmas into Civilities, then? Would you be satisfied?" [21:57] 12Keldar: "I mean, that's Council business. Maybe there's some precedent, so long as it doesn't mean fucking with the markets or seizing assets. Point is, Nexus already has the machinery it needs to deal with a problem like this." 15[21:58] Beale: "To be clear, your position is that the Dogmas are unchangeable?" [21:59] 5Xu Sim harrumphs at the absurdity of such a question. [22:00] "Yeah, obviously! They're-" 12Keldar pauses, watching himself. "Look, it's like I said. In fuckin', might as well be prehistory, there weren't Dogmas and then there were. Right? Obviously they're a thing you make. And, right now, seeing as the Emissary's dead twice over, there's some question about who backs 'em." [22:01] 12Keldar: "So, when we've found our feet again, maybe call a meeting discussing the question. Could be interesting. But the actual, original Dogmas - they're good. They work. They made us what we are. Absolutely we don't toss 'em over our shoulders at the drop of a hat, in the middle of a crisis." 15[22:01] Thalevar: "What we are is dogshit! We have a chance to be better." 15[22:02] Gen: "Why are you even a Councilor?" 15[22:02] Thalevar: "Someone's got to stand up for real people in this town." [22:02] 13She is currently on her second bottle of wine, singing and crying. [22:03] 12Keldar: "Hey! We're the fuckin' - yeah, why are you, even - we're the fuckin' heart of the Scavenger lands! Trade hub of an entire Direction! And we're the only place with real people, and not fuckin' imperial peasants or chattel slaves!" [22:03] 5Xu Sim: "The Dogmas held the city back, Keldar, when Cethleann came for it," 5Xu Sim notes. "When men called this city Hollow, it needed no Dogmas." [22:05] 12Keldar: "Like hell they did. We kept to all six, and we still raised an army of armies and beat the Raksha back. And as for - Empress could've made the same boast. 'Oh, I don't need any dogmas, since I just do what I like.'" 12The Dawn Sergeant doesn't actually do a falsetto there but does sound a little more arch and sarcastic. [22:06] 5Xu Sim: "But you have not proposed a way to resolve this disagreement. You've proposed doing nothing. That is why the Dogmas make the city weak." 15[22:07] Thalevar: "People die in the streets! This is the richest city in the world and people starve. Good people, ready to work! People who can't work. They're our people too." [22:07] 12Keldar snorts. "Imagine if I demand your, your, I don't know, you dog. And you tell me to fuck off, and I'm like, oh, wow, can't disprove my argument, eh?" [22:07] 5Twice-Refined Princess pants, humidly. 15[22:07] Kratz: "Did you just equate money with your beloved pet?" [22:08] 12To Thalevar, the Dawn Sergeant offers a shrug and a sorry expression. "People die every day. Law's fair, fate's not." 15[22:09] Udelph: "People we could save." [22:10] 12Keldar: "Yeah? How?" 15[22:11] Udelph: "Are you familiar with the concept of 'taxes', son?" [22:12] 12Keldar: "There's a whole Dogma about 'em." 15[22:12] Stranger: "That's true. There is." [22:16] 12Keldar rolls his eyes. "Point is, we got 'em. Keep the city running. But they've got limits. And now, right now, what they're mostly going to be for is paying back all the soldiers and suppliers who saved our asses." [22:17] 13Now with the bottle of wine on the floor next to her, Xia Lan slumps against the bar. 13 she starts.  15[22:18] Tsuka's response is immediate. 15[22:19] Stranger: "Pay them with what?" [22:19] 14The Ambassador has stood back up and is taking fuller stock of the liquor. Ah, has Xia Lan...restricted this message properly? [22:19] 5Xu Sim: "To resolve the question, why not send out certificates or, I don't know, mint coins or something of that nature. Pay them to those who perform services for the City. Then at the end of the fortnight, each certificate confers a vote. Something has to break the deadlock without violence." [22:19] 14Or can anyone with a page hear it? 15[22:19] Beale: "He's right. We don't have near the revenue to cover war debts. We'll be mired for years. Decades, maybe." [22:20] 14It is her Codex now, after all. [22:20] 5Xu Sim, immediately: "If the Council makes an investment in the Circle, we will return handsomely on it." [22:20] 13Xia Lan:  13She's got herself, Tsuka, Ambassador, and Jai on the call. Whether the latter two are in on purpose is left as an exercise to the receiver. [22:20] 13Jai* [22:21] 12Keldar eyes the new Stranger. "Haven't got a psychic feel for our finances or anything? Tax breaks, interest, property - s'all been worked out and signed off. Hurts, but it's the nice kind of pain where you're alive to feel it." [22:21] 14Much more crisply: [22:21] 13She squawks. "What the--" [22:21] 5Xu SIm: "There are a number of ruined districts that I believe we could rehabilitate." [22:22] 14The Ambassador raises her page and winks. [22:22] 13She reddens. [22:22] <...what she said.> [22:23] 5Xu Sim: "Because ultimately, I am not really interested in trying to stop Keldar from being destroyed by the Stranger-Visits-Heaven, nor am I particularly interested in trying to destroy whatever the Stranger-Visits-Heaven has become." 15[22:23] Tsuka: <...I'm on my way.> [22:24] 5Xu SIm: "Both may be accommodated, trivially, as I see it." [22:25] 5Xu Sim: "But the Council and the people of Nexus both must have a way to be heard by the Emissary - which Balor could or would not do, as the war came upon us, and perhaps before as well. That deficiency must be immediately rectified." [22:25] 12Keldar: "Only one of us two is part of your Circle." 15[22:26] Kratz: "Where is Xia Lan? She should be part of these deliberations too." 15[22:26] Tsuka arrives at the Black Bog to find... what, exactly? What shape are Xia Lan, the Ambassador, and Jai in?" [22:27] 10Thence follows one of the most tense minutes of Jai's life to date, where he has to pretend he didn't hear any of that, which includes not laughing. He almost… almost makes it thirty whole seconds. [22:27] 14The Ambassador is mostly fine. Her tolerance seems...very high, and she's recovered from the sad song. [22:27] 12Keldar: "She was tired, for some reason. We could put this on hold and reconvene?" [22:27] 5Xu Sim: "And if you quarrel with me we will resolve it within the Circle. And I do not much trouble the affairs of these political bodies." [22:28] 13Xia Lan is in that interesting space between "definitely not sober" and "drunk." She's made her way back to the bar, where she has her second bottle of wine still - small mercies - and is no longer bothering to pour it into a glass. [22:29] 14Ambassador will have drawn her a glass of water in between. And Jai and herself, as well. [22:29] 14Pacing. [22:29] 13When Jai laughs she reddens again, but given the lack of people going "what the fuck" over the Codex, that's... probably it. Or maybe they are just very, very nice. [22:29] 14Lookshy and the Council could, after all, come to kill us at any time. Over property. [22:30] 12Keldar hmphs at Xu Sim. "Sure, politics ain't your business. But new fighting's another story." [22:31] 10Jai's doing all right. His eyes are red-rimmed and he's a few in, but overall he looks like someone who's just been able to set down a heavy burden for a few minutes. He gives Tsuka a little wave. 15[22:32] Tsuka draws himself some water, and sits beside Xia Lan so his good arm is towards her. "They're still arguing up on the hill." [22:32] 13She leans into him. "Nobody's dead yet, then." [22:32] 10Jai: "Keldar killed anyone yet?" [22:32] "Jinx." [22:32] 14Ambassador takes one look at him and decides to pour herself another drink instead of ask what he wants. He seems like that kind of boy. [22:32] 5Xu SIm: "I have come to detest war, bold Keldar. But"5 and with this he gives long looks to both the assembled Councillors and Stranger-Visits-Heaven -  "I have become acquainted with death." [22:32] 13Xia Lan: "I owe you a drink." [22:33] 14To Jai, then: "What'll it be?" [22:33] 12Keldar: "Well, I expect at least a little bias over who it comes to first, is all I'm sayin." 12He turns back to the others. "But yeah, like I said - Xia Lan's on leave, and there's still stuff actually on fire. Motion to carry on as usual and have this conversation later." [22:34] 10Jai: "Surprise me." [22:35] "Indeed." 14When she serves the shot, it's on fire. "All in one go, my good man." [22:37] "Just like in the South. Kanpai!" 15[22:37] Tsuka puts his arm around Xia Lan. [22:38] 14The Ambassador downs her own Firedust Special. "AAAAHhhh!" [22:38] 14Grin. "Nice." [22:39] 10It hits like a brick. "Whoof." [22:39] 13She leans in closer. "...seriously, is anybody dead?" [22:40] "It's that good fire." 14Not actually a shot at Tsuka, but the Ambassador has had just enough to drink she's not thinking the implications out that far down." [22:40] "I worry about Xu Sim." [22:40] -14" [22:40] -14" 15[22:40] Stranger: "We will not bleed the city's coffers and wait for it to die. We will not bleed the city's coffers and then vote to share our poverty. That's farcical. There is no freedom in Nexus if there is not freedom from need." 15[22:41] Tsuka: "He seems to be doing okay. I think his dog got hurt, though. Its face was all mangled." [22:41] 14The Ambassador, fittingly, barks a laugh. [22:41] "This can't be the first time they've locked horns over something. Hell, I know it isn't." [22:42] 13Xia Lan: "It's... like that. It's been like that." [22:42] 14She looks like she wants to say something, but she doesn't. That was before Jai got here. [22:42] "No such thing as freedom from need," 12Keldays says. "Not while you're human. And if we're not where everyone, everyone can come to do business, those coffers never, ever refill. We just end up another shitty Scavenger Lands backwater." 15[22:43] Kratz: "Why don't we do both?" [22:43] 12Keldar: "What?" [22:46] 5Xu Sim, fanning a page of the Codex: "Can the rest of you get back up here please?" 15[22:46] Kratz: "We don't need the poor to starve to let rich people seek their fortune. We can be open for business and safe to call home. Give the city government a stronger hand to run its own businesses, with a commitment to re-invest the proceeds. Why shouldn't a shopkeeper be able to hire the Dawn Guard as well as any mercenary company? Why shouldn't the Midday Husband retain chiurgeons 15[22:46] as well as any Guild office? We can provide for people without losing what makes us unique." [22:46] 14The Ambassador: [22:47] [22:47] 5Xu Sim: [22:47] 5Xu Sim:  [22:48] 13Xia Lan stiffens.  13That'll sober you up, quickly. "Okay, well, shit." [22:48] 12Keldar scratches the side of his chin with a thumb, regarding Kratz. "See, that's the kind of stuff I figure we could do anyway. Like I said, Civilities material." [22:48] 14Ambassador: "Water all around, and the metabolism for the rest." [22:48] 10Jai, to Xu Sim: [22:49] 5Xu Sim, to Keldar: "A brief sidebar, if you please?" [22:49] "And then we go do this." 14She narrows her eyes while pouring water. "Whatever the fuck this is." [22:49] "Accelerate our departure, hopefully." 15[22:50] Beale: "There's been some debates about this in the past. The Emissary always took the view that city-state-run businesses violated the first and second dogmas. A sideways form of taxes, you see, and competition that stifles local business." [22:50] 12Keldar nods, walking out to confer with the sorcerer in private. [22:52] 10Jai: "Maybe. Hey Tsuka, you want to be a travelling musician?" [22:52] 13Xia Lan coughs. Good thing she just finished her water. 15[22:52] Tsuka: "I can't sing." [22:53] 13Xia Lan: "Any instruments?" 13She'll need a second glass. [22:53] 5Xu Sim, quietly: "This information doesn't leave the Circle. But you know if the new Emissary steps out of line, I'll be the first to destroy it. I've already got part of a plan to do it, from, ah, before. We can't let the city see us take sides against each other like this, or we're all of us dead within the year." [22:55] 10Jai: "I can't play the flute either, but I've been meaning to learn." 10Jai stretches and heads out the door of the Bog, only wobbling a little. [22:55] 5Xu Sim, continuing as the others arrive: "We've been through Hell. And we're going to let a question of taxation or state medicine split that apart? After what we've been through? It's absurd. But we have to let things run their course. And we have a chance to change things," [22:56] 14Ambassador pours four generous bottles of water out, using empty wine bottles she's rinsed. "For the walk." [22:57] 12Keldar: "Don't be so sure I don't wint that race when it comes to it. ...but you heard me. We don't need a chance to change things, and the changes proposed are stupid, and even if they weren't they're not ours. Do you - I mean, I'm not remembering the end of the fight wrong, am I? We never... had this opportunity presented to us. We never conferred. We never even saw it happen. [22:57] Bastard snuck it right by us!" [22:57] 5Xu Sim: "It's the exact sort of object lesson an old coot like him would pull. I almost wish I'd thought of it first." [22:58] "Oh, thank you..." 13She takes a swig. "We should get going, probably." 15[22:58] Watered up, the mourners make the trek back up Sentinel Hill. 15[22:59] They have to wade through significantly more Lookshyan soldiers and Dawn Guard than they did on the way down. [23:00] 12Keldar: "Yeah, well, it's a good thing you didn't or else I'd be here sizing up both your animate corpses for weak spots! If something has to change about this city, it's the people who actually live here and love the place that have to cook it up together, not, I dunno, the echo of a dead man's voice." [23:00] 10Jai: "Feels like when a storm passes, but you're waiting to see if the floodwaters are going to break the levees." [23:03] 14Before they hit the soldiers, the Ambassador will suddenly be replaced by...a black house cat, with white highlights. [23:03] 14No telling when the worm is going to turn, here. [23:09] 5Xu Sim: "Those people, Keldar, Thalevar is right about them. They're wretches. They're struggling. We fought for them, and we won! The greatest war, the biggest battle, anywhere, in a hundred years? That's bigger than the Bull of the North! We destroyed Dread Ardua, together. And you put your life on the line for those people - those wretches drinking filthy water when - now - they [23:09] won't have to anymore... [23:10] 5Xu Sim: " We could have run, but we didn't. We made a sacrifice for them then. I'm asking you, as a comrade-in-arms, to make another sacrifice. And we're going to win, again. We're going to rebuild this city into something it hasn't been in thousands of years!" 15[23:14] Around now the Black Bog crew crests the hill, and sees the Council conferring among themselves in hushed, contentious whispers while Keldar and Xu Sim do so off to one side. Stranger stands there, arms folded, waiting. [23:15] 14The cat...falters. [23:18] 12Keldar draws a breath through his nose. "You're right. We did do that. But-but-but - we chose to do that, all right? I thought about it and I said to myself I'd see a world with Nexus in it even if I was risking never seeing the world again at all. But that's because this place is something special! I'm not kidding around with this 'only free city' stuff. Realm peasants get roofs [23:18] over their heads. Slaves get fed, guaranteed. That's 'cause they're parts in someone else's machine. It's just here that every man or woman owns themselves. Otherwise it might as well be another satrapy." [23:18] 14She will wander back down the hill and jump into a bush, unless stopped. [23:18] 10JaI, to the Ambassador: [23:19] [23:19] 13Xia Lan strides with a confidence she doesn't feel. Here we are, then. 15[23:21] Tsuka is there beside her. [23:22] 13He helps. This has been a nightmare of a day. [23:23] 10Jai squares his shoulders. Here we go again. He'll approach Xu Sim, but not yet; he seems to be at some kind of critical juncture with Keldar. [23:28] 5Xu Sim's eyebrows knit together and he sighs. "I spent a long time thinking about... well, all of it. But I think there is a higher freedom out there. Not just letting things fall as they may. Love is a higher freedom. And that's why we've got to give Stranger a chance, that's what we owe him, ourselves, the people of Nexus." [23:30] 12Keldar: "He had a chance, but went and got himself killed instead of taking it. Now Nexus is our problem." [23:33] 5Xu Sim nods. "It's our responsibility. And we can't just wash our hands and pretend nothing happened. That's no longer possible, at all. If we destroy the Emissary and try to run things the old way, we're going to have the same problems everyone without a Balor had. And we don't have a Balor anymore, now we have Stranger-Visits-Heaven. So things will be different. And hey... [23:33] 5Xu Sim: "Like I said. If it doesn't work for some reason, we erase him from existence and hammer that mask into a gravestone more worthy of our old friend." [23:34] 5Xu SIm: "Because at the end of the day, we will win. That's why we can afford to take risks." [23:48] 12Keldar narrows his eyes. He looks down for a moment, then up. "You think it's a good idea to just take the new Dogmas as given? That it'll just -- work out? Despite us already being on the hook for gods knows how many loans and contracts?" [23:50] 5Xu Sim claps his friend on the shoulder and takes a deep breath in. "Let me put it this way: who's gonna stop us?" 5He grins. [23:52] 10The tension doesn't dissipate entirely, but it eases up enough for Jai to butt in. "Have you come to terms?" [23:53] 12Keldar: "It's not that they'll stop us. It's that they'll starve us. If it's just, bam, new regime, trade's no longer free, business dries up, our neighbors lock shields against us, call in every debt -- when Balor made Nexus, there was ruin on all sides. But thanks to us plenty of the Lands're doing fine." [23:53] 12Keldar's spinning a hand now, pointing. "If we want to make this thing work, we have to sneak up on it, see? Civilities first. Votes. Special zones-" [23:55] 12Keldar's ready to spin these ideas as he walks with Xu Sim back to the rest of the Council, unless the sorcerer has any final notes. [23:55] 5Xu Sim is content to let the Tiger of Nexus do the talking now! [23:56] 10Guess they came to terms. [23:56] 13Nobody's dead yet. [23:58] 12When Keldar returns to the general negotiating table it's with some purpose in his step. "Listen. Just rewriting the Dogmas in a day'll kill us dead. If you want more sick people cared for-" 12this to Thalevar, "-and if you want to do your creator any justice-" 12this to Stranger, "-you need to be smart about it." [23:58] 10Almost nobody. But maybe their ideals have a chance to live on. 15[00:02] Thalevar: "What are you talking about?" 15[00:02] Stranger: "If I might interrupt." 15[00:02] "I think at this point we'd best discuss this privately." [00:02] 5Xu Sim falls in besides Jai and Xia Lan. He gives them each a subtle nudge and a confident, comforting nod of his head. 15[00:02] People can feel the weight of the crowd gathered around them now. [00:03] 12As only Xu Sim's heard this material, Keldar takes the opportunity to simply repeat himself. "If you just change the Dogmas in a day we're done for. Balor made this place when everything was ruined, but thanks to us a lot of our neighbors aren't - and the Second's been our lifesblood." [00:04] 13Xia Lan: "The Emissary has a point. We should discuss this privately." 13She has a headache. [00:05] 12The Sergeant looks around and gets a bit vaguer. "Maybe there's a way you can get what you want, and I can get what I want - that being a Nexus that sees the next decade. But the way we do it's tricky and it's gonna take longer than you like." 15[00:06] Stranger's smiling mask is fixed and frozen. "This is good. This is progress. Come! Let us work this out together, as one." 15[00:07] NEXT TIME: Epilogue