15[20:39] After noon the rain comes in. Rather than drinking it up, the earth holds it in ink-black puddles that spread wide and thin over the ground. The clouds are so thick that the townspeople of Cinder Hearth ignite jade lanterns that wash street and structure out in deep red light. 15[20:39] Not great weather for a little mouse... [20:39] 14Excellent. [20:39] 14He can swim. [20:39] 14It's not water Piu is worried about. 15[20:40] What's Piu and Zhangyu's plan? What are they worried about, and how surreptitious or sneaky are they attempting to be in their search for Rinca? [20:41] 14Perhaps more importantly, to begin with: Is this the first time Zhangyu has seen her in Silk Shadow? [20:41] 6Zhangyu's going to follow Piu's lead on this. He's starting to realize his "charge ahead, be the biggest presence in the room, intimidate people for the answers you want" strategy doesn't work every time. [20:41] 6I believe it is, yes. 15[20:42] That sounds correct. [20:44] 14It's a full body black gi, hardwraps over gloves and boots on hands and feet, a tight, pinned hood with a grey-black mask: a stylized bird of prey with two empty, huge eyes, pools of darkness even in moderate lamplight. When clad in it, Piu is not fully androgynous -- some feats are beyond even the magic of the artifacts -- but she is fully anonymous. [20:45] 14Her voice is clear beneath the mask, but weirdly displaced; it sounds like it's coming from a spot six inches in front of the 'beak.' [20:47] 14Piu: "So. It's clear that whatever has the power to detain a Lunar would require utmost focus and seriousness on our parts." [20:47] "That's why we need to let Daizo distract them with pretty collaboration and Dryas do her Great Healer of Families routine with the cultists." [20:47] "It frees us up for serious work." [20:48] "And who knows. Maybe we'll find him lounging on a beach." [20:48] 6Zhangyu: "Maybe we will." 15[20:49] Where do they start? How do they start? [20:49] 14Piu: "How good are you at concealing yourself against sight? Against smell or the subtle art of vibrational mediation? Hiding your footsteps and the like." [20:51] 6He grimaces. "It's... a work in progress." [20:51] "I'm not hopeless, but this was never really something I've worked at before." [20:52] 14The mask moves; it might be a nod. "Then you will be the stalking horse, and I will be the stalker." [20:53] 14Wrapped around one wrist is The Chain. Zhangyu probably hasn't had much cause to see this weapon of assassination up close much either; it's a nasty thing, and unlike most moonsilver, a dull matte. [20:54] "I do want to avoid killing anyone. If possible. If unnecessary." [20:54] 6He looks at it with interest, but doesn't ask questions about it. Maybe another time. "How often does it become necessary?" [20:57] 14Piu quickly calculates. "About once a month, professionally speaking." [20:57] "I don't anticipate having to do so today, unless we fuck up." [20:59] 6He nods. "Got it. Any leads?" [21:08] 14Piu: "I know how he smells. And I can track him, in flight or scurrying." [21:08] "And I know he started somewhere on the perimeter, approaching the same gate we did." [21:09] "So we slip out beyond the walls, and we start in the charcoal." 15[21:11] Piu leads Zhangyu outside the camp, retracing what, by heading, would've been Rinca's approach. The rain rinses scent from the air, only partly washes the earth, which means some dark, muddy tracks suggest themselves. The pawprints of mice stretching into jay's feet and then stopping, indicating he took to the air. The hearth-siblings are able to get under the patrol of a passing guard 15[21:11] on the rampart, and step lightly enough to avoid the earthen sense of one of the rebel Immaculates' elementals. 15[21:16] Of course, a bird in the air doesn't leave tracks, but knowing which direction he took off in lets her loop around to the mountain-side of the town, rather than the shore-side, where she sees the scrabbling claws she knows to be another animal form Rinca adopts, some kind of large, mean badger-type thing. It ascends! 15[21:16] How are they at climbing? [21:16] 14Much better than at smelling. [21:17] 6Excellent at it. It was part of training, something about endurance. 15[21:24] Wow, you weren't kidding. The two wrestlers make short work of rain-slicked cliff faces that tremble beneath their touches. Once they find steady ground, it becomes apparent why Rinca took this route - you get a fantastic view of Cinder Hearth, which flows like blood beneath them, red jade lanterns swinging over rain-slick streets of crushed stone. 15[21:25] People are hurrying about their business under cloaks, running from building to building in the rain. Mostly people seem to be staying inside. 15[21:26] Many of the buildings are lit from within with the same lurid red of the lanterns. The sole exception seems to be the temple itself, where the children are being trained. The light spilling from that domed structure's doors moves and glows like a real fire. [21:27] 14Piu: "Hrrh." [21:27] "You can see the building that sticks out." [21:28] "Let's assume a night approach...the children might be abed by then. But likely the temple is lit up like this then, too." [21:30] 6He grunts in the affirmative. "Sensible." [21:30] 14Is there an actual trail that leads somewhere, though? 15[21:38] It's hard to see - with cloud cover this thick it's hard to tell there's a sun in the sky at this hour - but yes, the honey badger tracks lead back away from the cliff overlooking the village, onto the plateau itself. Somewhere, a few hundred yalms away, is the glass-thin roof of the atrium where they met the rebel Immaculates. But the badger cut another path, among the debris of 15[21:38] shattered stone which has been shoved off of working paths and arranged, in places, into cairns of rough red rock. [21:38] 14Interesting. [21:39] 14Not a lot of cover out here. 15[21:39] Not until you get among the cairns, anyway. Which is where it seems Rinca went. [21:40] 14Then there's too many places for eyes to watch from. 15[21:43] Up here any tracks in the dust have been scoured away by the rain, but the scratches of little claws in the stone have yet to erode. The trail leads Piu and Zhangyu past piles of earthen rubble that obscure the working paths beyond them, and reveal campsites, stones laid flat for sitting, the remnants of cookfires and pots gathering rain... all disused and left to the elements. [21:43] 14This is overlooking the encampment? A forward scout base from Budokan's people, maybe? 15[21:46] It's a ways from that, and looks like it's been here a while and been abandoned for a while... but Piu's theory is maybe bolstered by the sight of a rough-hewn statue, white granite against the red stone of the plateau, the size and width of a man wearing Imperial armor in the style they remember from Budokan's redoubt. The face os shallowly carved, more impression than depiction, but 15[21:46] it suggests anger. [21:48] 14How much weathering? [21:48] 14Someone didn't bang this out idly over a day or two's posting, did they? That's Anathema behavior. 15[21:53] Some. Not enough to suggest any real age, but enough that it's clearly been exposed to the elements for a bit. Piu and Zhangyu guess that it's been a few weeks at least, but Zhangyu goes farther; the Earth Aspect observes a subtle disparity in detail. The face is shallow and impressionistic, but the level of care paid to musculature, to posture, to proportion - even to the weave and 15[21:53] wrinkle of the cloth garments - is masterful. Even a Blooded sculptor would have invested days or weeks of work into something like this. And then, not only to leave the face unfinished, but to just leave it here? 15[21:53] That's weird. [21:53] 6Quietly: "Why put all the details into everything but the face? And why here?" [21:54] 14Piu: "Maybe they wanted to wait to see who wins." [21:55] "Maybe. Still, this is a lot of work to just... leave out here. Unfinished, more or less." [21:56] 14Piu: "Maybe they've got something against depicting faces." [21:56] "It's a fringe religious practice." [21:56] 14She begins circling around the camp again... 15[22:05] Piu explores... there's more white granite around, but nothing interpretable as sculpture. Just scraps and chunks. As she gets further afield from the camp center on the opposite side, she and Zhangyu become aware of a rattling sound that's only barely audible against the wind and the rain. 15[22:06] It snakes between cairns, through a loose pile of granite chunks that would make for awkward stepping if you had to move fast. [22:07] 07Dryas wraps herself in a sealskin tunic, it's one of the last bits of her original wardrobe to survive the capsizing of the Defiance. After ensuring that Diamond Weapon has been properly seen to, she will make her way to the temple-complex where all those blindfolded children have been getting taken to and fo. [22:07] 14That makes Piu want to get up above it as fast as possible. [22:09] 6Can Zhangyu get eyes on whatever it is making the noise? 15[22:10] Piu can do that without too much trouble, though amusingly the sudden change in viewing angle means that Zhangyu sees it seconds before she does. Something small, lumpy, and gray-white crawls out from between the cairns, heavy little digging claws scraping through and over granite. The creature only seems to be able to move with its forelimbs, dragging itself forward over chunks of 15[22:10] granite that its stiff, immobile backside blends in with seamlessly. 15[22:11] That looks like Rinca's honey badger form. Well, no. It half looks like that. The rest of it looks like a granite statuette of a honey badger. [22:11] 14Well, fuck. [22:11] 14She drops back down. [22:11] "You've been cursed." 15[22:14] Dryas apprpoaches the temple in the rain, and shadowed figures withdraw from the windows to open the doors as she gets close enough to enter. It's warm and dry inside, a bit stuffy with all the children sitting quietly before stone tablets etched with raised ideograms, running their fingertips over them as blindfolds hide furrowed brows. There's a couple dozen kids in here, ranging 15[22:14] from preteen to late teen, she'd guess. [22:14] 14She pulls the mask up -- there's a hitch on it so it can slide up over her hair and stick -- and her tone is light, but she's assessing the damage. 15[22:14] A lot of them look up as the doors open and they feel the new presence in the room. Nellens Szalony, the only one besides Dryas who isn't blindfolded, tuts just once, gently, and everyone returns their focus to their work. [22:15] 6Zhangyu hops down next to her but stays quiet, also looking over the half-badger half-statue. [22:15] 14Presumably Rinca can't talk in this form? But the Silver Anathema are endlessly physically gifted. [22:16] 07Dryas: "Good evening." 15[22:17] The badger waves one claw weakly in Zhangyu's direction, and then heaves its whole body to look up at Piu. With great, gravelly effort, she marks her lover's voice. "Hey, babe." [22:18] 14Piu: "You mind if I carry you back? We're parked at the dock." [22:18] "You clock whoever or whatever did this?" 15[22:20] Daizo's got a meeting of his own. Seiri's bundled up against the rain, and he's leading her up into the mine to meet with Rikai, who has committed to showing Daizo some of the research and occult work that justifies, so they say, their scheme. She huffs and puffs a bit, but it's nowhere near as bad as the last time Daizo led her up a mountaintop, when she fainted on the way up to see 15[22:20] Hamoji's death. 15[22:21] Rikai is dry and warm, and he looks with sympathy at the rained-on Daizo and his retainer. "The weather turns quickly this time of year. I hope you're not too uncomfortable. Who is this?" 15[22:24] Dryas greets the schoolmaster and takes an expansive look around. The most immediate thing she notices is that Szalony is overmatched. Moments after refocusing her pupils, their attention wanders again - the youngest, the ones nearest the periphery of the altar-room converted into a classroom, in particular lose their trains of thought and seem to revert from whatever careful work 15[22:24] they're doing to caressing or drumming on the tablets. 15[22:26] A few of the students are incredibly focused - they sit at the front of the room, nearest the altar, nearest Szalony. They're also among the oldest kids in here - sixteen, seventeen, maybe a bit more. Two girls and a boy seem to redouble their efforts, as if the strange distraction of a visiting foreigner was another layer to the test. [22:26] 10Daizo: "Ah, this is Seiri, my chief clerk and research assistant. I'd like to have her around to jot down notes while I'm reviewing your materials." 10Rikai doesn't need to know that Seiri is his only clerk.  15[22:27] Overall the mood in the room is pretty good. They're kids who are stuck in a stuffy room doing something weird and boring, but they don't seem scared, or hungry, or particularly nervous or put out. Everyone's dry and safe and warm. 15[22:27] ...except... [22:27] "As for the weather, it's far from the worst we've encountered on the open sea—and frankly, I'd walk through a rain of flaming toads for this opportunity." 15[22:28] One kid, near the back but not at the back, is damp. Looks like sweat, except it clings to his narrow betunicked shoulders as much as his pale brow and thick, pale hair. He contemplates his assignment with an expression like chagrin, but his hands are in his lap. 15[22:29] "Lady Dryas," says Szalony in a low voice. "Have you come to see the work in progress?" 15[22:30] Rinca: "Yeah, sure. I can't really look like a bigger geek than I do right now. Pick me up." [22:31] 07Dryas maintains the composure of a confident gambler. "I am intensely curious. I had a chance to visit Abbess Dusk's academy in Abalone. I am curious how this will compare, given the... alternative curriculum." [22:31] 14Piu: "Alright, here we go." [22:31] 14She'll pull her mask back down first. [22:31] 14Piu: "I'm counting on you to tell me if whatever's done this is still hanging around." 15[22:32] He's heavy. He really does feel like he's solidly half stone. "Gone. Left a little bit ago. Heard you coming, maybe?" [22:32] 14Piu: "That means time to set up an ambush. Monster, elemental, or man?" [22:33] 6Zhangyu: "Is the stone spreading at all? Or has it stopped where it is?" 15[22:34] "Good afternoon, Seiri." Politeness aside, she seems beneath the monk's notice. He doesn't pay her much attention as he leads them through swept-out sections of the mine that have been converted to gathering-rooms and offices and, here, a library full of scroll racks and tablets. The room is lit red with glowing jade crystals embedded in the walls. "What's your background, Daizo?" 15[22:35] Szalony: "I don't know Dusk. How did they do things in Abalone?" 15[22:35] Rinca: "I got enough control over my shape to keep from getting all the way gone. The kid thought it was funny and came by to ask me questions. Brought me food, which I didn't eat." [22:36] "Kid." [22:36] 14Piu: "That's not good." 15[22:37] Rinca: "He's got a blindfold to hide his eyes. But one straight look... you see the soldier there. That guy couldn't stand up to it, you can tell. All the way gone." [22:38] 14Piu: "What does it, eye contact? Or does HE just have to see you?" 15[22:39] Rinca: "Dunno. We made eye contact." 15[22:39] "Maybe it's easier for him, I couldn't really test it." 15[22:39] "He asked about you." 15[22:39] "He asked about you by name." [22:39] 14Piu: "I'm hating this more and more. Did he give his?" [22:39] 10Daizo: "Cloister graduate, specialties in spiritology and martial arts. I didn't choose the razor, as you can see, and for better or worse, I don't believe it's my path any longer. Since our voyage began, I've found myself in the deep end—" here he casually flexes his wings— "and I've picked up the fundamentals of the Emerald Circle." [22:40] 6Zhangyu: "Yeah, none of this sounds good." 15[22:40] Rinca: "No, he didn't. He said some bullshit." [22:40] "What kind of bullshit?" [22:41] 14Piu: "They're trying to grow a Solar in there. With those blindfolded kids. But this looks more like Wyld bullshit?" [22:41] 07Dryas: "Efficient, excellent staff, I seem to recall there was a bit of a shakeup while we were there. But the children did well. One of our retainers was taught there; she has been beyond compare -- diligent, effective, just brave enough to keep alive, not quite too much to get herself killed." 15[22:43] Rinca: "You know, corny bullshit. I lost my name at sea, and gained clarity in its place. Or I'm too peripheral to concern yourself with. You know the type? There's a lot of those guys in the world. I don't know how they don't all get the shit kicked out of them as soon as they start talking." [22:43] 14Piu: "Fuuuuuck. Heaven Guys." [22:43] "Dammit." [22:43] 10Daizo: "And relevant to your current situation, we've plumbed a handful of pre-Cleansing ruins and come out mostly intact. Dryas purchased a property in Abalone situated above an ancient waste dump, if you can believe that." [22:43] "We keep running INTO these assholes!" [22:44] "I'm honestly starting to appreciate Salim. At least his bullshit speeches were about the necessity of murder or whatever." [22:44] 10Uh. Hmm. Well. Hopefully Daizo wasn't directly responsible for Rinca getting his face pushed in.  [22:45] 07Dryas: "And what are we learning today? Touch-reading?" [22:45] 14She tilts her masked head to the side. "But he did kill one of my last boyfriends. So I guess I don't appreciate him all that much." [22:45] "Alright, let's get you back to Caxi for a diagnosis." 15[22:45] Szalony: "Oh? You have a trained native on retainer?" Her mood brightens a bit. "That's useful. That's very useful. She sounds like a real success story. I'm sure Sister Dusk is proud." 15[22:46] She nods at Dryas's question. "Literacy is the real linchpin of the project. Where our pupils are going, they won't have eyes to see. But they need to read and to hear, to speak and to write... to be suitable for election." 15[22:47] She says this like it's not supposed to sound insane. 15[22:50] On the way down, Rinca says, "Hey, Zhangyu." 15[22:50] "Real talk." 15[22:50] "If you and Piu had to fight. Who you got?" [22:50] 6Zhangyu: "Weapons or no?" [22:50] 07Dryas: "And the election, is of the ana-er, ancient lord. And would require a suitable vessel? Is that the idea?" [22:51] 14Piu sighs. 15[22:51] Rinca: "Unarmed, obviously. We're not assholes." 15[22:52] Szalony: "Yes. The children know that the odds are long, and the sacrifice is great... but the hand of destiny will elevate them among the Elect, and place the very current of history at their fingertips." [22:53] 6Zhangyu shrugs. "Straight up one on one? Depends on the day. Probably split the fights down the middle, maybe a slight edge to me. Drop us on an island somewhere and she ambushes the shit out of me nine times out of ten." 15[22:53] Rikai: "In fact, I can. You find things like that all over the Direction. Have you ever come across anything like a sacramental jar, carved in jade? It might've just been inert metal, or it might have held polluted essence, or even a deceiving, corruptive spirit." [22:54] 14Primly: "Master Zhangyu is my sensei in Mantis Style. I believe he would have the edge in that sort of contest." [22:54] "If it's limited to Mantis alone, yeah." [22:55] "Mixed martial arts? Who knows." 15[22:55] Is Piu making any effort to avoid people en route back to the Prolix & Terse? Is she hiding Rinca at all? [22:55] 14Yes and yes. [22:56] 14Preferably Zhangyu would walk in the open here to distract attention and make it easier for her. [22:56] 6He's very good at that. [22:58] 10Daizo nods. "More than a few, in various states of wholeness and decay. I imagine your project here will make use of such vessels?" 15[22:59] Rikai: "To the contrary! They need to be buried. If they can't be buried, they need to be destroyed." 15[23:00] "Here we are." He pulls down a couple of scrolls and spreads them open on lecterns. "These are quite old, but the atmosphere in here is favorable, so as long as you're gentle they should hold up." [23:03] 10Daizo's alreadu pulling on a pair of thin gloves to prevent the oils from his hands damaging the paper.  15[23:03] Szalony goes on: "Our oldest students take to the work the best, but we're training everyone who want to undertake the challenge. Beetle, Petal, Rain - acknowledge Lady Dryas." 15[23:04] The three kids Dryas clocked at the front of the class look up. "Ma'am." "Lady Dryas." "Is this part of the lesson?" [23:07] 07Dryas will hum pleasantly in lieu of a smile or bow for the blindfolded audience: "Children. So everyone here wants to undertake the challenge? You are all volunteers?" 15[23:07] "Yes, ma'am." The kids don't all respond in unison - but they do all respond. 15[23:10] With Zhangyu running interference, it's a cinch to get Rinca into the ship and to see Caxi, who is picking at some sweet bread with Sadako. 15[23:10] Caxi: "Piu, Zhangyu, lovelies. You look waterlogged." [23:11] 14Piu: "There's three of us actually. And Rinca's problem is the part of him that can't get soaked." 15[23:11] Dryas casts her gaze around the room, and the children seem to be paying silent attention, straining to hear her movements... but only the slightly damp boy seems to react to the mere weight of her gaze. He smiles thinly. [23:11] 14She will gently set him down. 15[23:12] Full Heart Fosters the Victory Inevitable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsKQIuTeXLw - Justice for my very own amusement, with no regard for the conclusion. [23:12] 10Daizo leans over the first of the lecterns and begins to inspect the scroll. "Seiri, be ready to start writing. And, Brother, spirits trapped in such vessels? Is there anything to be done for them?" 15[23:15] Rikai: "Of course. Lethe or annihilation." 15[23:15] "Has it been that long since the Cloister?" [23:15] 07Dryas: "Impressive, children! Such valor! Such conviction!" 15[23:17] Sadako: "Holy shit." 15[23:18] Caxi: "Oh, my." [23:18] 6Zhangyu: "I agree." [23:18] 14Piu: "One of the children pretending to Golden Anathema is already something else entirely." 15[23:19] Sadako: "Is Seiri in trouble? Daizo took her up to see one of them." 15[23:21] Caxi prods Rinca's half-stoned body and asks him some questions. "Huh... okay. I think I can help him wriggle out of this. It might hurt a bit." [23:21] 14Piu: "I'd worry more about Dryas, who is almost certainly picking at some related scab. The V'Neef guy isn't our culprit." 15[23:21] Rinca: "I don't care. Will I be alive below the waist?" [23:21] 14Piu: "Silver Anathema, babe. He's gonna say something like pain don't hurt." 15[23:21] Caxi: "I suppose Piu'll be the judge of that." [23:21] 14She grins. 15[23:22] Szalony beams. "They're taking this very seriously." 15[23:22] "People are quick to underestimate children. But they appreciate the gravity of the task before us." [23:23] 07Dryas's mind works in a few directions at once. Best to take note of this one and move on, return to the hunt in more favorable conditions. "They certainly are. I am very impressed. For their youth, they grasp something of the truth of what the future holds." 15[23:23] Sadako: "Dryas put an arrow through that gross guy's eye. Seiri's been sleeping in plate armor for a week." 15[23:23] Szalony: "May we speak privately?" [23:23] 10Daizo: "No, I suppose not." 10Aside from the whole "harnessing the power of Anathema to reignite the sun" thing, Rikai is remarkably orthodox.  [23:24] 07Dryas: "Of course, I apologize for interrupting their studies." 15[23:24] Daizo does notice he's the only one of the ex-Immaculates who's kept his head shaved. 15[23:26] Szalony: "Return to your primers, children." She leads Dryas into the meditation cells behind the altar. There are a dozen of them, and it's impenetrably quiet back here. "They really are working hard. Honestly, the weak point in the process... is me. None of us are teachers. There was someone much better suited for this work, but her resolve faltered at the last moment. Maybe you met 15[23:26] Sister Mos?" 15[23:27] "But the long and the short of it is, we need more teachers. We need dedicated teachers. People who can speak the Seatongue, who have the patience to work with children and a background in the Philosophy." 15[23:27] "I don't know how long we have. Every moment counts." 15[23:29] Caxi: "Okay. Give me and Rinca a couple of hours. Come nightfall he'll be good as new, or at least a man-sized stone badger." 15[23:29] Rinca: "You're not funny." [23:29] 07Dryas's tone is measured. "We met. She is in... good health." 07"They know what I need them to know. If I could make them care I would have." [23:29] 14She winks at Rinca. "Don't go having too much fun." 15[23:29] Caxi: "I solemnly swear he'll hate every minute." [23:33] 14Piu: "Well, I'll block off some time to fix that tonight. For now, let's do some more recon." 15[23:33] Caxi scoops Rinca up in her arms and totes him off, leaving Piu and Zhangyu with Sadako. "Well... what can I do?" 15[23:33] Szalony: "That's very cautious of you. I take it she didn't speak highly of us." 15[23:34] She shakes her head. "I suppose I don't blame her, despite everything. I don't envy anyone who catches the wrong end of an argument with Gu Len and Rikai." [23:36] 6Zhangyu tilts his head, considering. "You could join us scouting, though that's ultimately Piu's call." [23:36] "And yours, obviously. If you want to go out in this weather." 15[23:37] Daizo reads some bizarre and blasphemous ancient texts. The Old Realm speaks of the Speaker of the Deliberative, He Who Holds Court With the Gods of the Firmament and the Brass Kings of Hell, He Who Claims Dominion Over Men. Ideograms crunched into a personal sigil spell out a name: Stranger-Visits-Heaven. It is said, here in this scroll, that he learned to "cross the river Lethe with 15[23:37] his soul undefiled", to carry forward as one continuous will from life to life, that no barrier can constrain his will, and no lesser mind can withstand it. [23:37] 07Dryas: "She told me that she has said her piece. I don't know what that piece was - perhaps part of it isn't meant for me. She's the teacher, after all." [23:37] 14Piu: "Yeah, up to you but we're now on 'someone's got stone powers' alert and you're among the few people on this ship cleared for that action." 15[23:39] Sadako crams the rest of the bread in her mouth and then mumbles "Let's go." [23:40] 14Piu flips the mask back down. 15[23:42] Szalony: "Mmm. I wasn't there, myself. Rikai and Gu Len have a way of making it sound like anyone who disagrees with them is an idiot. But I know Sister Mos is a thoroughly decent woman. I don't envy her the task she's chosen for herself." [23:45] 07Caution has served Dryas well, and her tone remains cautious: "There is a terrible shortage of decent people in this Direction, or perhaps in this turn of the cycle. Sister Mos is one of them. She was no fool, that I could tell." 15[23:46] Szalony: "I regret leaving her to hold back that old beast alone. But the work we're doing here is the surest route to bringing peace to these people. Peace to everyone." 15[23:46] "Once we've succeeded, she'll understand." [23:47] 07Dryas's voice is barely a whisper: "What is going to happen to those children?" 15[23:49] Szalony: "To most of them? Nothing. The hand of Fate will pass over them, as it does almost everyone. But one of them, who proves themselves worthy and strong, will stand at the moment of eclipse and find themselves Chosen. They will take the lost Sun's breath and use it to stir the world." [23:51] 10Daizo: "Learned to cross Lethe…" 10Daizo looks up. "An indestructible, immortal will." [23:51] 07Dryas: "They're just going to go sit in that chamber when the eclipse happens?" 15[23:52] Rikai: "Tall claims. But the historical record proves out. Going back to the fall of the old Deliberative to the present day. Do you have any idea how close we were to a second Balorian Crusade? The Stranger stopped it. Him and the people he led to victory." 15[23:53] "This isn't ancient history. It's barely even the past." 15[23:54] Szalony: "The moment of election is hard to predict. It stands at a unique crossroads; the will of the Sun and the whim of the Moon must be in perfect harmony. If we can, yes, we will gather the children together. It's the safest thing to do." [23:57] 10Daizo: "Do you have a plan to keep hold of this tiger's tail, should you catch him?" 15[23:59] Rikai: "Have you ever killed a Golden Anathema, Daizo?" [00:00] 10Daizo: "I have not." [00:01] "But I have seen one fight. And it was like nothing else I had ever seen." [00:04] 10Bruiser Khang leaving the Hinokuni ring 10not10 a smoking hole in the ground, honestly, the most unbelievable thing that transpired that day.  [00:04] 07Dryas: "Do you want the help of Mos because you think it would make the election more likely, or because those children need more help than you can give them here?" 15[00:04] Rikai nods. "It's not even what they do that's so terrifying. It's what they don't. Take a novice who's never raised a hand in anger and give them the kiss of the Sun, and sometimes - rarely - you find they inherit a whole library of martial techniques from the soul that burns within them. But more often that's not what happens. A farmer's son picks up a a scythe in anger for the first 15[00:04] time in his life. A princess draws the sword she never pointed at anyone outside of a training room. They fight, and they're simple, they're ignorant, they're untrained..." 15[00:05] "...but they don't make mistakes. Every blow goes where they intend it to go. Their hands do what they want their hands to do, without fail, every time they move. As a student of the martial arts you understand the madness of this. Our greatest masters can't achieve that level of grace, and to the Sun-scorned it comes as easy as breathing." 15[00:07] "So the trick to defeating one, I learned, is not to test their skill. Don't make it a battle of wills. Don't make it a fight at all. Let them win. Let them win every time." 15[00:07] "If you're gracious and careful, if you don't jostle their ego with condescension or insult... they will defeat themselves for you. They will walk into a death of their own devising. They will do it gladly. And they'll do it, as they do everything, without the prospect of failure." 15[00:08] "I don't fear the Stranger, Tepet Daizo. I fear what becomes of us in his absence." 15[00:09] Szalony: "Both. The work is of such dire importance that we need all the help we can get. But once the work is done, and one of them is chosen... the rest of the children will still need teachers. They still need to learn to read." 15[00:10] "The world won't stop when the Stranger comes. Far from it. Our commitment to our charges will only deepen." 15[00:10] "But we will finally have real hope for the future." [00:10] 07Dryas: "Don't they say the Bull of the North was an old man when he became what he became? Why children, anyway?" [00:12] 10Daizo closes his eyes and nods. "Thank you, Brother. I will contemplate this lesson." 10Gods around. They're all so certain. They're all so sure. Everything fits together so well—far too well for any of it to last. 15[00:12] Szalony: "The circumstances are different. Every burning golden soul calls out to its like in the world. Some seek the wayward, some seek the bold, some seek the desperate." [00:12] 14Well, they don't want it to last. So advantage them. 15[00:12] "The Stranger seeks the weak." 15[00:13] "The insignificant." 15[00:13] "The overlooked." [00:13] 14The real question is what they know about the stone-gazer in their midst, and when they knew it. 15[00:13] Abruptly: "What does he want?" 15[00:14] Rikai looks up with some surprise. "Ah. Hello." He seems to have forgotten Seiri was there. [00:14] 10! 15[00:15] Rikai: "Power, of course. The same thing they all want. They might define it in obtuse or idiosyncratic ways, but they all want one thing, as disgusting as it can seem." 15[00:16] "Good day, Daizo, and adjutant. I leave you to your thoughts. Feel free to share what you've learned, of course. We have no secrets from decent people." [00:18] 10Daizo: "Seiri. Not 'adjutant', Brother Rikai. Good day to you." 15[00:19] Rikai nods with a pleasant, conciliatory smile as he sees them out. [00:19] 10He's never been so glad to get out of a reading room in his life. 15[00:19] Seiri seems similarly pensive. [00:19] 07Dryas: "I see. Well, my hearth-siblings and I might pick around a bit more. But I don't want to interrupt your lessons any further. One question, sorry - that wet lad in the back, what was his name?" 15[00:20] Szalony: "Oh, you mean Victor. He asked to be excused for some air and got caught in the rain a bit. It's fine. I'll make sure he doesn't catch cold." [00:22] 07Dryas: "I am sure you will. Keep doing the best you can. We are working to resolve this. I am hopeful, hopefully not unreasonably, that some kind of resolution beyond crude violence is possible." [00:23] 14There's a black-clad demon waiting for Dryas when she gets out of class. Or at least a babe in a mask. [00:23] 14Piu's not out in the open but Dryas will be able to see her just by looking with a little curiosity, from the angle of the door. [00:24] 07The Cynis's eyes go wide as she espies Piu peeking. "Good day. All my best to your pupils." [00:26] 14As soon as they're damply in a dark sidestreet: "Found Rinca." 15[00:26] The door to the temple shuts to keep the wind at bay. The rain is steady. [00:27] 07Dryas huddles against a wall: "Is he...?" [00:28] "A boy with a blindfold over his eyes turned him half to stone. If you can believe that. Cleared out a camp of Budokan's scouts up on the cliffs, too. Caxi assures me that in time, his dick will grow soft and work again, as paradoxical as that might sound. But if any of the boys in there got you throwing your amulet around out of curiosity, there might be a substantial reason why." 15[00:32] Dryas can feel eyes on her. One pair. She scans around. No one in the streets, no one on the rooftops, no one hiding between the buildings... oh! There. In plain sight. There's a pale boy with pale frizzy hair and a dopey expression, slurping at a bowl of noodles. It looks like he just happens to be sitting such that the two women are in his rough line of sight. 15[00:32] If Dryas makes eye contact he waves. [00:33] 07Dryas's eyes narrow with an intentionality that Piu can recognize. [00:34] 14Piu turns to look. "You know. That might be our boy." [00:34] "See, Rinca also said he talked bullshit." [00:34] "The way Heaven agents do." 15[00:35] When the eye contact lingers the wave is accompanied by a big, enthusiastic smile. 15[00:35] Starveling Gamin Clears The Last Table: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxwBbCdpkQQ - See the tyrants' bones picked clean — rulers once, now just cuisine for our little wriggling friend: the larva of the fly. [00:37] "Everyone talks shit out here," 07Dryas replies darkly. "These aren't agents of the Bureau of Destiny." [00:40] 07Dryas: "That one is 'Starveling Gamin Clears the Last Table.' There's a blindfolded lad in there, 'Full Heart Fosters the Victory Inevitable.' We are in exceptional danger." [00:40] 07Dryas, clarifying: "That last bit is commentary on my part, not anyone's name." [00:41] "You know what Ted's real name was?" [00:41] "'Idle Witness Wasted the Keenest Eye.'" [00:41] "The names seem to have a structure in common." [00:41] "And the Heaven guys all had numbers, right." [00:42] 07Dryas: "Yeah." [00:42] "Twelve year old boys with the power of reified, incredible death at their fingertips." [00:42] "Not great!" [00:43] 14How's frizzy-hair reacting to them muttering to each other? 15[00:43] His eyes are kind of unfocused. He seems a lot more interested in his noodles. [00:43] 14Grrreat. [00:45] "Two here, you [00:45] have to figure there's at least one in Budokan's camp." [00:47] 14Piu: "They might just have an old-fashioned seething mole over there." [00:47] "Grenseal." [00:48] "Three of them, four of us. Could be worse, not by much." [00:50] 14Piu: "He hates his father, loathes his brother, and resents his commanding officer but really wants to fuck her. The three-in-one compromised asset." [00:50] 14To that subject: "We've got ringers of our own. Rinca will be prepared next time." [00:50] "And hey. Maybe they'll actually summon a Golden Anathema." [00:52] "That seems extraordinarily bad. 'Let them fight,' who hopes for problems to go away like that?" [00:53] 14Piu looks over incredulously: "Historically, us. That's our primary strategy." [00:53] "We were hooting and hollering at the decapitation strike on the Deliberative." [00:54] "Not that it's any hardship but I've done a lot of work getting at least one of them on-side. When the time comes, we're gonna use him." [00:55] "The both of us consider another one basically our niece. I'm not telling Sadako to stay home on this. In fact, I just got done telling her to suit up." [00:56] "The rule was, no kids. We don't use kids like that." [00:57] 14Piu: "The rule's a good rule. But like I said before: do you think gutting that Nellens and her weird cult-head bosses in front of them are going to make it more or less likely whoever's handing out Golden tickets decides to punch one?" [00:57] "We don't get to choose on that account." [00:58] "She thinks if they all hang out in that chamber during the eclipse then they'll get what they want." [00:59] 14Piu: "Yeah. Or maybe they'll get what they need." [01:00] 14Piu: "Let's get back to the ship. And lock it the fuck down overnight." [01:01] "They know we know. You don't think they might spring something while we're gone?" [01:02] 14Piu: "Of course they might. But that's no excuse to just stand here in the rain." [01:02] 07Conceded. [01:04] "Sister, you've offered analysis of me and my motives before that hasn't precisely been wrong. So in that spirit, I just want to say that I think you'll be happier, confident, and more focused when you acknowledge that you don't oppose the Anathema for any moral or religious reason, but because they're clearly the greatest individual threat to your -- and our -- control of our destinies. [01:04] And once that's acknowledged, co-opting them becomes so much more sensible." [01:04] *more confident 15[01:04] Rikai agrees. [01:06] "We treat them just like we do any other people. Fuck some, fuck over some, destroy some, buy some nameday gifts." [01:06] 07Dryas bristles considerably at this. "It's not that simple." [01:06] 14Piu: "It can be." [01:07] "At the very least we can't keep doing this thing where you grand mal pretend not to notice Sadako's face sloughing off or whatever." [01:08] "That's different. She's not a silver or golden Anathema. Or a deathknight. She's something else, something exceptional." [01:08] 14Piu sighs, but she's smiling. "We agree on that at least." 15[01:12] NEXT TIME: Satirical Mine Crafts