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--- sessions:worldbuilding:2026-03-27 [2026/06/13 18:56] – pinkgothic
+++ sessions:worldbuilding:2026-03-27 [2026/07/11 18:28] (current) – shyriath
@@ Line 104: / Line 104: @@
 With some tension he could not yet quite shake, he kept himself still beside her. "If this place brings you solace," he said. "And there is no one here that would lay claim to this place, then I consider it yours, and can only encourage you to spend the time you need here. And later, if we succeed..." - he did not say 'when', but 'if', because he trusted Evrith that it was too difficult to be certain about it - "...as much time as you want."}}
+{{wst>shyriath|Evrith stared out at the sea, and shivered a little despite the warmth. It was said that in the deepest depths, where the weight of water crushed the body and, away from the warmth of the sun, it was cold as ice, Uvvun swam in silence. This sea was too shallow to reach His realm, but...
+"No," she murmured, "Not as much time as I want. But it would be nice for a bit, at least."
+A white bird, coasting along with the wind, came to a landing in front of them on the sand. It turned its head, glancing at them with one beady eye and then the other; when they showed no sign of dropping any food, it squawked harshly at them and flapped away again. Evrith recalled that her village had had superstitions about encounters like this, with the little sea-dragons that infested the coast, but she couldn't recall them right at the moment and she wasn't sure they applied to alien feathery things.
+She shook her head. "Well, perhaps we should go back."}}
+{{wst>pinkgothic|With a bit of embarrassment in his voice, An-uxhwi said "Please," although his attention followed the bird that had briefly caught Evrith's attention. It was certainly a bit odd that a wild, alien animal would approach them this way - from its perspective, it could just as easily have been putting itself into danger of being eaten. He wasn't sure what to make of that it had considered them safe to land near, but felt glad for both his sake and the creature's sake that it had clearly been correct. Maybe it was poisonous.}}
+{{wst>shyriath|As they walked, Evrith seemed... uncomfortable, far less comfortable than she had when they'd come down. Whatever anxieties she'd been able to leave behind when they came here had come back. She said, hesitantly, "I should tell you..." She paused, then tried again. "I should tell you some of what may happen..."
+She paused again. "As you may have gathered, I wish first to try to... intercept the path of the figure in white. And to find something to set in motion that will interrupt or alter their journey. What exactly that will be, I cannot say - once we are closer, I may have a better picture of who they are and why they are a danger. I //hope// that, perhaps, their danger is unintentional - or not yet developed - and they might be turned aside with some kind of message left for them. But one way or another, it may not work, and the change made must come somewhere else along their path."}}
+{{wst>pinkgothic|"Do you have other ideas? Of what to do, if the message isn't enough?" he asked, his tone a little subdued - remaining hopeful, as always, because the alternative was madness and depression, and that helped no one, but also not ignorant of the risks, and certainly not //wanting// to be ignorant of the risks.}}
+{{wst>shyriath|Evrith paused again, and then continued heavily. "There may be other ways besides a message, but there may not. And in the latter case, we must make a choice. The white figure's path will extend in two directions: one backward, to wherever they came from, and one forward, to the Citadel: to change events such that the figure never becomes a threat, or else that the figure does not find the Citadel to be a viable catalyst for what danger they pose. But... there are disadvantages, in both cases." She stared at the ground. "For the beginning of the path, it is very likely that it will be found in a populated area. Somewhere it will be very difficult to hide from ordinary takmar."}}
+{{wst>pinkgothic|"And the difficulties with the Citadel?" An-uxhwi asked. It had been brought up before, of course, but he still only had a vague impression of the thing, and he didn't fully understand the threat it presented. Certainly, he himself was probably not welcome there, and Shyriath had some past dealings with it of some sort that seemed bad, but he would be lying if he said he understood much of those dynamics.}}
+{{wst>shyriath|A look of pain crossed Evrith's face. "The Citadel is... a refuge. Its people are descended from, and refreshed by, Chosen who are drawn or led there because of what is done to them in the world outside. And because of this, they are... insular. Something like Hyd'natt's people, though perhaps not so obvious. They welcome other Chosen, but they have trouble seeing the outside world and those others that live in it as anything other than a threat. At their best, they want nothing to do with it, to forget it exists. At their worst, they dream of rendering it... no longer a threat."
+She paused to rub the tip of her muzzle. "I think that the arrival of the figure in white will make the latter tendency much more likely, and that that will contribute to what is to come. So my task, in going there, would be to weaken it before she gets there. Oracles are... revered there, to an extent. There would be those that listen to me. But changing a whole society of thousands, in any direction, is not a simple task even in the best of circumstances. And the way I must change them might not be for the better - if I find I cannot persuade them to be more open, it may be that I have to find a way to weaken them. Break their society. It will be a long and painful process, regardless of which way it goes.
+"And you and I will be required to bid each other farewell, because you - and the others - will not be going with me," she concluded, her voice cracking. "Not even for an Oracle's sake will they break their oldest laws: that no one who is not Chosen may enter the Citadel, and that no one who their Council does not declare safe may leave. Those caught between those laws are executed; Shyriath knows it all too well."}}
+{{wst>pinkgothic|"Understood," he said. It was a great understatement, of course. They had bonded well beyond friendship, after all, and the idea of parting ways was painful, and it ached in his chest, but the whole basis of their cooperation was, at the end of the day, still his life-debt to her. If they did part ways because it was her destiny to try this alone, that same debt dictated that he would accept the parting. He might yet weep about it, but he certainly wasn't going to do it prematurely, when it wasn't clear if it would even need to happen.
+But he wanted to make it clear that it was only an //understanding//, not a personal statement of cold discontent, and so he smiled warmly and nuzzled at her neck affectionately. A part of him wanted to make the time they did have count for something, count for more, somehow spend more time with her away from the prophecies of doom, but there was no place that was truly away from them, and time was not their friend.
+Loving gestures would have to do.}}
+{{wst>shyriath|Evrith felt that An-uxhwi was handling the revelation much better than she was.
+She had not had many reasons, up to now, to care much about living. Her life had never been pleasant, and in offending the gods she had made it worse. The presence of An-uxhwi made things... better, or at least better than they would have been. The idea of having having him taken away again - or having to //give him up// - was excruciating.
+For the first time, she had found herself considering abandoning her quest. The world had never treated her kindly; why expend so much effort, so much of her dwindling time, to save it? Why not stay here - or in some other of the book-worlds - with him, and salve the agony that was to come with unconcerned peace? Several times, she had found herself with the urge just to destroy the book that led back to Avishraa, to cut herself off from the dangers and concerns there...
+But she didn't think An-uxhwi would appreciate that. Or any of the others, for that matter. And the gods least of all, and she was certain that if she'd thought she was cursed already, they could make it clear that they'd barely gotten started.
+No, there would be no peaceful escape. Not, at least, until she had done what she set out to do, and even if she managed it, she might not be in a state to enjoy it by then. There would be brief moments of respite, as now, but those were all she dared look forward to.
+She returned An-uxhwi's nuzzle, though her attempt to smile did not quite hide her anguish. Hesitantly, she said, "I think... if, that is, I must stay in the books for the time being while you are out there," - something in her tone suggested that, while she understood the reasons, she felt no need to pretend to be happy about it - "I would appreciate it if we could at least find more time to share our company when you aren't." She added, awkwardly, "Alone, if we can find a spot to be alone."}}
+{{wst>pinkgothic|An-uxhwi nodded mutely, gently rubbing the side of his muzzle against her neck. "We can do that," he promised, smiling. It sounded much, much easier than saving the world, not to mention more pleasant. Not privy to what Evrith was thinking about being tempted to abandon the whole plan, it was obviously simple a side quest, too, and it didn't occur to him that it was an option to simply do nothing else.}}