15[20:14] The lesson apparently over, the hearth and Caxi are left watching Garnet lead Seiri in the direction of the barracks. They could follow... but the rest of the island awaits as well. 15[20:14] Technically, as XO Zhangyu is in charge of what the group does... but come on. What's the plan? [20:15] 14Piu is inclined to let them have their moment; Garnet could probably use a couple hours before having to deal with her pestering again. [20:15] 14That leaves her schedule wide open to help Daizo. [20:15] 14Assuming he needs it, and Caxi isn't going to get territorial. Hee. 15[20:17] Caxi, thinking aloud: "We could make a circuit around the island looking for physical or geomantic disturbances from the accumulated energy... that's a lot of walking though..." [20:18] 10Daizo's not opposed in principle, but if Piu wanted to try and speak with the castellans again, this is likely to be her last chance.  [20:19] 14Oh right, Garnet's going to go give them last rites or the like. Yes, she might as well oversee that. [20:20] 10Daizo: "I believe I would be able to carry one person while gliding a short ways, but that still leaves Dryas and Diamond Weapon out in the cold." [20:20] "Not to mention that if we're surveying the coastline, it'll be difficult to keep finding places to leap off of. Hah." [20:23] "So, we'll need to find an alternate means of conveyance. What leaps to mind?" 15[20:28] "Hmm...." Caxi traces her fingertips through the air, leaving trails of chill mist that layer and curl, growing thick and puffy and sinking gently to the ground, until a fat, roiling cloud hangs around their ankles. She looks up at Daizo. "Why walk when you can ride?" 15[20:29] Piu's got no trouble catching up to Garnet and Seiri, especially when the sailors - Lao's men - standing watch at the barracks are reticent to let her in. "Please," she says. "I have dispensation from the Commodore." The guards seem uncertain about letting their shawled, armed quasiprisoner just walk on by. [20:30] 14Piu: "Is there a problem?" [20:31] 14Her look on her face explains directly what she expects the answer to that to be. [20:31] *14The [20:32] 10Daizo looks suitably impressed. "True enough. We'll just have to trust that Diamond Weapon can keep up with us." 15[20:32] The guards exchange a stony glance and the nearer replies, "No, ma'am," and stand apart to admit the three women. [20:33] 14Piu: "Thank you." [20:33] 10Daizo: "Erm… it does carry another person, right? Or should I be the one holding on to you?" [20:33] 14She'll lead them inside. [20:33] 10That would be fine, actually. [20:34] 14It's a perfectly genuine 'thank you,' for what little that's worth. 15[20:35] Caxi: "It's so tempting to lie... but no, we can sit side by side." [20:38] 10Daizo: "Oho. That will do just as well, I think. Let's be off, then." 15[20:43] The other sailors have vacated; lots of rations remain packed in the basement, pending a final decision on the hold. But Piu and Garnet go upstairs, with Seiri in tow (the third flight up lugging that jade jar has her breathing hard) and find the stoneskinned sons of the Shogunate lying side by side in one of the officers' suites. The stout man is awake, and looking out the window at 15[20:43] the manse's minarets. The whiskered man is snoring gently on the far side of him. [20:43] 14Piu will move out of the way to a corner and stand there; she has no real intention of interfering here unless asked. 15[20:56] The cirrus skiff is quite convenient, being quick enough to feel like a true conveyance and able to rise or fall arbitrarily to get better vantagepoints. Between that, Dryas's far-seeing speed, and Zhangyu's patience, the group makes thorough work of their survey. The place is in very good shape, overall, though everywhere are the signs of destruction and decay that strong planning 15[20:56] and careful stewardship can't fix. The essence lamps that line every walkway are all dim, and mostly cracked, and the portholes from which the sentry war machines emerged the night before are here and there ajar, broken open, or wedged shut. [20:59] 10Daizo: "It's funny… flying like this is completely different from flying as birds. It's easier to concentrate like this, for one thing." 15[20:59] Caxi: "What is it like?" [21:03] 10Daizo thinks on that for a moment, watching the landscape pass by underneath. "You see through dozens of sets of eyes. You can touch the currents in the air as easily as if you were walking barefoot on a beach and feeling the sand between your toes. And… it's joyful. Like your heart is swelling and apt to burst." [21:03] "But you also have to keep the flock together, or they would fly off in all directions, and you'd be lost." [21:06] 10Daizo: "I think I could teach you, if you'd like. We might need to talk for a while and find some common… vocabulary, for lack of a better word. I don't think the key I was given is the same as whatever they teach at the Heptagram." 15[21:07] Caxi takes in Daizo's description with a rapt smile, which falters briefly at the end. "I suspect you're right." [21:09] 07Having seen all she is likely to see for now, Dryas wheels Diamond Weapon about and makes for the barracks, blowing on her horn a short signal to the flyers, and Zhangyu, wherever he's gone off to. [21:10] 4Presumably the men will let Cynis Dryas in without fuss; when they do, and Dryas makes her way upstairs, Piu will wave her over. [21:10] 14Presumably the men will let Cynis Dryas in without fuss; when they do, and Dryas makes her way upstairs, Piu will wave her over. 15[21:11] Garnet gives the two prisoners that forearm salute she gave the Commodore. The awake man either coughs gently or snorts. "Holdest thou the command?" he croaks. His eyes flick up as Dryas enters, and he winces a bit. [21:12] 07Dryas' spurs jingle as her boots thump across the floor in the quiet, still air. For her own part, she merely tilts her head respectfully. [21:13] 14Quietly, once her hearthsister is close: "Spoke with Daizo. We're agreed that the most attractive destination after we're done here is sailing for Danguro, loaded full with prizes." [21:14] "What's your read on that?" 15[21:14] Daizo swears he can almost taste the accumulated essence, like something bitter and metallic on the air. He follows the sensation as it sharpens, the skiff taking crooked paths to try and home in on it. They come to a verdant park space, an obscured walled garden with petrified trees and stone benches grown over with what looks like ivy. But the blades of grass and the twisting ivy - 15[21:14] the only green he's seen out here, glitter in the sunlight like Daizo's mica feathers. [21:16] 10Daizo: "Aha! Let's stop here. It's remarkablty unspoiled." [21:21] "Danguro, eh? That hive of scum and villainy?" 07Of course, the would-be Roseblack Of Crime could truly polish her jade in a place like that... [21:23] 07Dryas: "I suppose we stand a better chance trying to pawn off our scraps in the den of thieves than we do taking it to sea where they can pluck it from us as they please, if they please..." [21:24] 14Piu: "It's there or leave the hold empty and sail for Ashen Awu. If you're looking to recover some family effects." 15[21:24] Daizo and Caxi set down, and the grass crunches beneath their feet like broken glass. [21:24] 14Piu: "As Daizo points out, Danguro is likely to be better for morale." 15[21:24] Caxi: "Glad I didn't wear sandals." [21:26] 07Dryas: "There's a lot we could get done in a place like Danguro. I like this plan." [21:27] 14Piu: "...At some point we're going to have to have a conversation with Ratel that I've been avoiding. I hope to avoid it further! But Danguro might be the breaking point." [21:27] "The one about how she's not really in charge of this expedition anymore." [21:28] "It remains an excellent fiction, and we should keep it going as long as possible, and hey, maybe she's even amenable to it, but..." [21:29] 10Daizo's got a set of Legion-issue boots—heavy, ugly, but undeniably effective. "Hrmm. So it's gone to glass here instead of withering. Now why could that be?" [21:30] "I don't understand," 07Dryas replies quietly, looking at Garnet. 15[21:31] Garnet sits beside the gunzosha rider, ignoring his question. "My name is Garnet. I know that the two of you have been here a long time. Too long. And alone. But your vigil is ended. The war is over. The world is at peace." [21:32] 14Piu: "Do you think the responsible, on-mission thing to do if you're tasked with searching for Furia is to go looting, then turn around and sell it to pirates? You can certainly craft a rationale for it, but Ratel isn't stupid -- at some point she'll notice what we're actually doing, setting up a permanent power base out here in the islands. I just want us to be prepared and united [21:32] when she bucks back." [21:32] 10For certain definitions of 'peace', anyway. But for anyone who survived the Balorian Crusade, the incipient Realm civil war must feel like a playground scuffle. [21:33] 14In fairness, Garnet might actually believe that, fully. She's still getting up to speed. 15[21:35] The stout castellan is silent. After an awkward silence, Garnet continues: "You have given everything for the defense of Creation - the full measure of devotion. What can we do for you? How can we help you?" [21:36] 14Having them on side and enjoying a retirement while keeping the lights on at Old Mionzi wouldn't be the worst thing in Creation -- far from it -- but even as a not-particular-discerning-amateur Piu can tell these guys are maybe a bit past that. 15[21:39] Caxi bends down to pick up one of the shattered blades of 'grass' and hold it up for inspection. The light goes through it like a tinted windowpane, and it's very sharp. "Did you bring a mirror?" 15[21:41] The castellan's expression is stony. He remains unresponsive. 15[21:42] Garnet: "...the Legions broke apart after the Terror, but the united houses that hold power venerate this history. You would be celebrated, revered, anywhere the houses reach - and their reach is far." [21:44] 14They don't seem to be buying it. Or they're beyond buying it. [21:48] 07Dryas, slightly scandalized, hisses back: "Abandon our mission? Mutiny?!" [21:48] 10Daizo's already reaching for it when Caxi asks her question. He breathes on the polished silver, wipes it clean, and looks into the reflection.  [21:49] 14Piu rolls her eyes. [21:50] 14At the very least Dryas won't have to be persuaded to remain in character if Ratel asks how this actually advances their mission, at least. [21:53] 07Dryas rolls her eyes right back, before turning to the ancient Legionaries. She clears her throat. 15[21:55] Through the mirror, Daizo sees an accretion of light and crystalline geometry that puts him in mind of a vast, intricate snowflake, rotating along hundreds of internal axes, gently scraping and shifting, triangular flakes of light breaking loose on unseen winds as others drift in from afar, reshaping it. It stretches through the entire garden. He and Caxi are standing right in it. 15[21:55] Casting the mirror around reveals that the air is thick with these shapes, a vertiable blizzard... but the geometry here is more intricate than anywhere else he can see. [21:59] 10Daizo's breath catches. "It's… is this an elemental of some kind? It's as beautiful as Carmine Road was ugly." 15[22:01] Caxi huddles up to Daizo, following his gaze through his mirror. "Remarkable..." 15[22:04] "I don't think it's an elemental, though. Or at least not yet. Did you ever make salt sculptures?" [22:05] 10Daizo: "Salt sculptures? No. What are they?" 15[22:07] Garnet and the castellan look up in Dryas's direction. [22:08] 07Dryas eyes the large gong in the chamber before pulling out her small pipes. "Did you bring anything to keep up?" 07she asks Piu. [22:09] 4Piu grins. "This mouth does work." 15[22:10] Somewhere Caedus sneezes and doesn't know why. 15[22:10] Caxi: "If you dissolve a great deal of salt in water - make a solution that's more salt than water, but totally clear - you can let it sit for a moment and then sprinkle in a few grains, and the fresh salt will pull other salt out of the water, knotting up into crystals that will stick to the jar or settle at the bottom. I'm not clear on the mechanics - the workings of the little gods 15[22:10] are very vague to me." 15[22:11] "But this reminds me of that. There's no sense of a guiding intelligence. It's just... essence in suspension." [22:11] 07Dryas sets the key and lays into a mournful song - "They crossed over the border the hour before dawn..." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkFtFiKQiZ8 [22:14] 10Daizo nods. "I think I understand. You said it wasn't an elemental yet. Is there some way to awaken it?" 15[22:16] Caxi: "Extending the metaphor... it needs agitation. Perhaps we could summon an elemental of our own to start the process." [22:18] 10Daizo: "That is something I'd wanted to ask my tutor about, before duty called me away… but all in all, I think I'd much rather learn from you. If you would be willing to share your secrets with me." 15[22:20] Caxi, slyly: "I'll share my secrets if you share yours." 15[22:21] She begins sketching out an elemental summoning circle. "Tell me about your tutor." [22:26] 10Daizo: "The principle of equivalent exchange." 10How much to tell her, and how much to hold back? [22:27] "We managed to track down the sorceress who had been assisting Ted, to inform her about Heaven's killer. And I… foolishly offered her a service at some future date in exchange for tutelage. An imbalanced trade. I only hope that when she calls it in I won't regret it." 15[22:31] Caxi looks up from her knees at Daizo. "Huh." She has the intense but slightly distant expression of someone doing math in their head. "You must have judged it worth the cost at the time. And you didn't even know then what it felt like to fly." [22:34] "The name she gave is was Clara. We set up a correspondence in a stationery shop in Abalone, and one day I received a crystal flower from her, and instructions. We met a few times after that… none of this felt like a teacher-and-student situation. She would ask me questions and I'd get them right, or wrong, or more often half-right—and later, when I contemplated the flower and thought again on my answers, I felt as if a gate [22:34] was opening, little by little." 15[22:35] Caxi: "Until one day it opened all the way." [22:38] "...And all that I ever / was able to see / the fire in the air glowing red / silhouetting Mionxi..." 07The sweet smell of plum blossoms float through the air as orchid petals fall at Dryas's feet. The light in the barracks catches her just right - and, for a moment, the singer's beauty eclipses the song. But then the song overtakes again, as she sings a heartfelt paean to the sacrifices of war and the nearly-incomprehensible [22:38] 07 nobility of the ancient warriors who saved the world from untold calamity. [22:38] 10Daizo nods. "And the day that the Realm delegation came to Abalone, I felt that joyous bursting feeling… and flew. There are still lessons that she has to teach me through the relic, I can feel it… but they can wait." [22:39] 4Dryas didn't need to brief Piu; she's a natural performer. She hums in the verses and once she's got the refrain she harmonizes with it. Touching, vulnerable, compelling; less is more. No flirtation or dancing here, these old men's hearts couldn't handle it. Plus it's disrespectful. 15[22:46] The music rouses the other castellan, who pulls himself into a seated position as the song goes on. The two men clasp hands and close their eyes as the tale of great valor at great cost washes over them. When they open once more, the castellans' eyes are red, but no tears come. The song settles into silence that, for a long moment, no one dares break. 15[22:48] Caxi's less chatty as she walks Daizo through the principles of elemental binding, of the rite as Daizo knows the Dynasty's sorcerers practice it, as "midwife to the mother of dragons". [22:49] 4It is, almost certainly, one of Piu's finest performances...for two men on their way out, in a dead city, at the dreg end of Creation. And she doesn't regret it. 15[22:50] Seiri doesn't let go of the jar, so the tears run freely down her face. Garnet's face is obscured, but she remains very still. 15[22:52] It is, in fact, the whiskered castellan who speaks. "Do you remember how to call out the answers?" [22:53] 10This concept and that click into place as the rite comes together. He's utterly fascinated, interrupting only briefly here and there for a clarification or to rephase something. His grounding in Immactulate theology, wherein all elemental beings descend from the dragons, means they have firm common ground, at least for this procedure.  [22:53] 4Hopefully that's for Garnet, because... 15[22:54] Garnet's voice is very thick, but she replies "Yes." almost immediately. 15[22:55] The castellans exchange glances. "The pyre is west of here," says the stout one. 15[22:59] Caxi's hands are practiced and skillful... but as she describes the steps of the ritual, Daizo realizes her explanations are anything but. All the pieces are there, more or less, but rather than an adept sorceress, she sounds like Daizo might have sounded when he was trying to bullshit past an indifferently done assignment on brains alone. The rite of the midwife is so iconic in Dynastic 15[22:59] sorcery that it appears in mortal literature, and she's just barely pulling it out of her ass. Despite this, the actual work is flawless. Her hands and her voice are following different instructions. 15[23:00] Garnet stands. "But wait," says the whiskered castellan. "Before we go... please." 15[23:00] "Tell us why." 15[23:01] Garnet: "I don't understand." 15[23:02] The stout castellan: "Yes you do. Garnet." 15[23:02] The whiskered castellan: "You hide your face. I would too. But you can't hide your voice." 15[23:03] The stout: "That voice." [23:03] 07Dryas stiffens. [23:04] 14Piu steps back and lets it play. [23:06] 10Hrmm. What does it mean that she seems to have so little passion for her work, but can still practice it flawlessly? And as the twin miracles of healing the Cathak boy and propelling the ship back-to-back proved, at no small risk to her own life? 15[23:17] The stout castellan continues: "Burning Hollow, fine. The armies were massed there. Acceptable loss. Poisoning Mionzi, a blind sacrifice, missives you ignored. In their hundreds. Their thousands. There was a strategic case to be made. But we heard all of it. The groundwater at Jiewei. The dream-eaten you had freed just a stroke before. Gloating as you put your own people to the Sword." 15[23:17] "Why?" [23:18] 14...Now this is an interesting piece of history. [23:19] 07Dryas blushes fiercely. How 07dare07 he?! [23:20] 14He dares because he lived through it, and he knew who she was before. And we just spent like ten minutes getting on his good side. [23:21] 10There's a few lulls in the procedure and just watching feels awkward, so Daizo broaches a new topic. "What led you to study sorcery? Was it decided by your elders, or did you choose the Heptagram?" [23:24] 10Daizo: "I was supposed to go to the House of Bells, be the hope of Tepet's future—but even before the Legions were wiped out, the other houses were undercutting us. I kind of fell into spiritology." 15[23:26] When Garnet speaks, her voice is firm and bled white of all emotion. It's the closest yet she's come to matching the voice Dryas remembers from her childhood. "...what could I tell you now that would make the slightest difference?" 15[23:27] Caxi: "I got into sorcery after getting kicked out of the Cloister." 15[23:34] Then she looks away. "It wasn't much better there. But there was nowhere else to go. So I made it work." [23:34] 10Daizo: "Is it all right if I ask what the circumstances of that were?" 10Every year there's a certain number of students who leave, because they can't keep up with the coursework or have a crisis of faith. But expulsion? You don't hear about that a lot. 15[23:35] Then she looks up at him sharply. "I killed someone." 15[23:39] The whiskered castellan's bristly moustache twitches. "There it is, I suppose." 15[23:39] "Was it worth it, at least?" 15[23:40] Garnet: "I've said what I'll say. If you want Answers, you'll get them where we all will - at the pyre. Can you walk unaided?" 15[23:44] The castellan: "We can lean on each other." [23:45] 07Dryas, a little less sullen than she appeared a moment ago: "Let us help you?" 15[23:45] Caxi doesn't say anything else, nor does she break eye contact. What does Daizo do? 15[23:46] The castellans will accept Dryas and Piu's aid. [23:47] 4Piu offers it. 15[23:49] The guards are alarmed to see the old soldiers walking out on Piu and Dryas's shoulders, arms linked together. But they're long past the point of trying to object. Garnet explains that this ritual involves a series of call-responses, and that the simplest one goes like this: she sings 'suffer', you say 'feel'; she sings 'promise', you say 'think'; she sings 'witness', you say 'teach'; 15[23:49] she sings 'reason', you say 'hear'. [23:51] 10A long moment, stretching longer, until it feels as brittle and sharp as a spar of salt. "Was it worth it?" 10Not "this is wrong", not "oh, it must have been a terrible accident"…  [23:51] 4Piu nods. 15[23:52] Caxi: "No. But I don't regret it." [23:53] 07Alright, we can do that. [23:57] 10Daizo: "I understand." 10And he realizes, with a chill, that he does. First Piu, now Caxi. We are all killers, aren't we?  15[23:57] Killers, thieves, and sorcerers. 15[23:59] The pyre is the fixture Piu and Sadako (where did she go anyway? she was clinging to Seiri when they set off) saw Seiri and Garnet at the night before. The two castellans are helped into the great brazier, and Garnet bids them to recite their names for the watchful Maidens. The stout castellan is Guan Tzu, Who Brings Towers Down. The whiskered castellan is Zhao Zhaoqi, Who Holds Back 15[23:59] Sunrise. [00:01] 4Piu isn't going to get into a habit of chasing down Sadako whenever she needs some alone time. 15[00:02] The air hangs in silence as the castellans share a long look, clasp hands, and sing: 15[00:02] I close my eyes; tell us, why must we suffer? 15[00:02] Release your hands, for your will drags us under 15[00:02] My legs grow tired; tell us, where must we wander? 15[00:02] How can we carry on if redemption's beyond us? 15[00:04] Garnet's voice picks up in reply. "To all of my children in whom life flows abundant... to all of my children to whom death hath passed his judgment..." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWdeMqELN-U [00:05] 4Piu is ready to hit her notes. 15[00:06] It comes after a bit. Piu, Dryas, and Seiri all come in at the right times. Piu is given to glance in Seiri's direction; every time the round comes back to Reason / Hear, her eyes drift down to the jar in Seiri's arms. [00:07] 4Mmmmm. [00:10] 07Dryas will sing her part, to honor those that came before. [00:10] 4Even as they burn. And we burn. And Creation burns. 15[00:10] The song is at turns solemn and pleading, a call for answers that never really come. As the final verse begins, Garnet rises from her kneeling position, and the three lost children of a dead empire share the song's conclusion as Garnet lights the torch. 15[00:11] When the flames lick the sky, Guan Tzu and Zhao Zhaoqi slump against each other, back to back. They don't seem to be in any paid. Not anymore. [00:12] 14Good. 15[00:13] NEXT TIME: Out and through