Exodus: Concordance

[opius]

Evening had come and the sun had begun to set, casting the jungle into vibrant golden reds and deep blue shadows. A cordon of watchers kept point facing the east flank of the caravan, which circled close this eve and kept their revelry subdued.

Smaller fires cooked large communal meals while neat and orderly lines were urged to wait their turn. The general tone of the band of travelers was begrudging acceptance - more fires meant quicker meals, but also more unwanted attention.

Alina sought out Jeane de la Croix and found she was pitching in to help cook and serve in this temporary soup-line. It wasn't... Hectic, but the fire was hot, people were hungry, and the strain was beginning to show.

Naturally, Alina offered her services to the cause. Cooking meals, checking in with the faces she knew, humming and singing subdued campfire songs. There were cautionary tales of adventures in the lyrics, warning those who might be antsy. Reminding them that although things had gone smoothly so far another boot was indeed hanging overhead, waiting to drop.

The evening grew darker and the line thinned. Groups of travelers made their way to their tents, their wagons, and their beasts- keeping a wide distance from the interior of camp and the cordon. Alina and Jeane were relieved quicker than expected, and the two began to walk toward the tents.

"A moments quiet is harder to come by when the camp is curled up like this. I haven't seen you for a little while. How did the expedition go?"

[redcoat]

Work always came first- especially when that work was taking care of a line of hungry people. Alina jumped in eagerly- and while she was an awful cook, she was more than capable at carrying heavy things, stirring pots, and serving food- and cracking plenty of jokes about how It wasn't dinner.

And Jeane knew better than to trust her with the salt. Again.

Soon enough though, work was done and Alina was comfortably tired, happy to fall into step beside her mentor, It tucked into her shoulder.

"I'll... give you the run down first, then we can get into details. It was a lot- even for me." She paused, looking up at the night sky before beginning.

"Got excommunicated, the celestial who came for me was name Zajira. She got jumpy when I had a piece of divine grace that I literally could not surrender and nearly executed me. She was stopped by a Raven, who was likely a messenger of the Raven Queen granting me some mercy. Then I met some mushroom people, made a mushroom friend. Went to sleep and had a family reunion with all the Aasimar that I'm a reincarnation of, including my mother Kate. Spoke with the Progenitor, the first one in our line who gave up divinity in order to become mortal. They said they didn't know the name of the god who had imparted this particular bit of Grace on me, and that it's a mystery. Best that anyone can tell, it has something to do with my mama- Ilya- and how I came to be."

"The.... rest of the day was just here. Keeping busy and trying to let things settle a bit."

[opius]

This time around, Jeane was subdued and more... reserved with her reactions. It seemed as though when Alina came to seek counsel, she was more prepared. It was hard to say with Jeane's light colored hair whether or not these meetings were causing her to gray. With a small knit in her brow, Jeane nodded and inclined her head. "Zajira... The name isn't known to me, but there are a great many angels out there. Daeva are only one of many, and each serve a different purpose." She frowned.

"To hold a piece of divinity is... Big. People spend their lives trying to achieve a fragment of the gods power, only die never achieving it... Or they destroy themselves in the attempt. On a cosmic scale, possessing even a small amount of a god's essence would cause imbalances in the order of things." She folded her arms. "... In your case, it seems as though this fragment of something was given to you- embedded in you? Hidden with you? In secret or... perhaps its origin is something you can't remember." She tilted her head. "The gods can be incomprehensible in their decisions. I... Haven't the foggiest idea what it means, but I think you're right about Ilya. If there were any hints about this in your... conception, she would have the insight."

She shrugged her shoulders. "The reunion is peculiar, but you're no stranger to vivid prophetic dreams. Part of the strangeness that makes you you, I suppose." She tapped her chin with her knuckle. "That even the ancient memories of your aasimar line could not put a face or a name to the power is... troubling." She glanced again to Alina.

"They say when Bahamut and Tiamat created the world, the Celestials in all of their courts and virtues rushed to meet them, made real by the Divine Dragons' coupling. The celestials are the oldest servants of the Divine Dragons and their children, and ... should know of all the gods who came after." She glanced away and sighed. "Even the ones who attempted to usurp godhood for themselves, false idols and ambitious fools." She shook her head. "There should not be secrets from them, and yet here we are."

She pursed her lips. "...How can creatures who's knowledge of the divine borders on omniscient, who know of every god not know whom this belongs to? That... unsettles me."

[redcoat]

Alina nodded along, listening- her natural exuberance giving way to something a bit calmer, and a bit more introspective.

"Secrets seems to be the nature of the thing. My mama kept it a secret from my mother, the progenitor couldn't place it. Perhaps it wasn't meant to be discovered..." She sighed a bit.

"It makes me hesitant to draw on it, to be honest. Just because it's not a demon, or hell, divine, doesn't mean it's good. There's all sorts of evil gods."

[opius]

Jeane... Nodded slowly. "This is true. If... One of the Forsaken, for some reason or another, were able to somehow conceal themselves..." She shook her head, brows knitted. "Or worse yet, one of the Dreamers..." Pursing her lips she glanced back at Alina.

"But an evil god... Would their power not be at odds with the will of a good person? I would think that wielding such a power would be impossible without concordance." She bit her tongue and squinted some. "...But then, this isn't a matter of concordant investiture, you already have this... fragment with you." She folded her arms and furrowed her brows.

"Part of me agrees- that it may be best to leave it be. The other is... Feeling very much like making an Alina Move." She paused a single beat. "To fuck around and find out."

[redcoat]

Alina chuckled at that. "Oh, truly- the temptation is real, and I likely will sooner rather than later. I have no intention of changing my plans just because the Raven Queen's Choir has found me unworthy of service." She sighed.

"And it's easier to fight evil with smite than a longsword alone. I just... hesitate before I call on it. What if it somehow corrupts me?"

[opius]

Jeane inclined her head. "Corruption and Power go hand in hand. It's an... unfortunate truth. But that said, I find it hard to imagine you as anything but... Well, the way you are." She laughed, folding her arms.

"Caution. I think that's the right call. But even so, if it comes to a point where you must choose- to use it to save yourself or abstain and perish- I would hope you choose the prior." She glanced at Alina. "... We can fix just about anything for the living. Illness, broken bones, even diseases of the mind, with time and care. But death..." She shook her head.

"Life's a gift. We should do everything in our power to preserve it. This investiture may be a gift as well- something to preserve and nurture." She sighed.

"Or perhaps that's the gambit. Like a cuckoo bird, it finds a caring and generous soul to take care of it." She pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes. "I can only speculate at this point, and I kind of hate it."

[redcoat]

"The good news is, that I am so aggressively me that if I start being anything but people will notice right away. So it seems unlikely that if I do call on it, and it does corrupt me... hopefully I would not be able to travel too far down that road before it is noticed."

She nodded then.

"I hate it too. I have a lot of questions for my mama, and not a lot of patience to deal kindly with the entity keeping her hostage."

[opius]

"You are aggressively Alina. I'm certain if you did start acting strangely, the whole town would know." She nodded with a smile.

Soon they were upon the tents, and although there were other campers nearby, they were distant enough to grant a modicum of privacy. Jeane took to her stump and crossed one leg over the other, continuing the conversation.

"This... Master? Lord? The business with the mists and your mother's captor is all quite perplexing. Though I've thought about it and have been considering what I know. It may be speculation, but powerful spirits are often associated with mist and fog. Avoid gravesites shrouded in mists, beware the ships that sail within the dense sea fog." She rolled her hand.

"I could be off the mark, but Te'Kaal has one of the highest proliferations of undead entities, second only to maybe Iya Drofai. We often think of undead skeletons and zombies- the most common of the animated undead... But this Lord may very well be a powerful poltergeist-" she hesitated and continued to roll her hand. "-or something similar. Something intelligent enough to act as a lord, save spiritually or magically potent enough to draw this shroud to it's city."

[redcoat]

"I've got my fingers crossed for vampire." Alina said, her voice flat... but there was an amused edge to it. "I know how to fight a vampire, how to kill a vampire. There are so many things, have been so many things that I've fought or encountered in the last few weeks that I have never heard of. A vampire feels like a simple problem with a simple solution."

[opius]

"A Vampire." She furrowed her brows and nodded slowly. "Vampires are extremely charismatic, they make for natural rulers. And very old ones are known to possess powerful magic." She folded her arms as she mulled the idea over. "Locals have legends that line up- of wicked men, neither living nor dead who demand offerings of blood or flesh. Though up until now I had chalked it up to particularly intelligent Ghouls. Those we've run into." She pursed her lips and shook her head.

"Perhaps the fact that we haven't yet run into a vampire is reason enough to believe we're dealing with an intelligent and careful one." She paused and squinted. "Good gods, what a paranoid line of thought."

[redcoat]

Alina looked up at the starry sky. "It's too pretty a night to fret about whether it's a demon, a vampire, or some other monstrosity I haven't met yet. I will find them, and I will kill them. Mysterious Grace or in the service of a new goddess or fuck. Naked with my bare hands."

Alina sighed.

"They took my mother and made me think she was dead. They are holding children hostage. That is enough for me."

[opius]

Jeane closed her eyes and nodded. "That it must be stopped, I think, is more important than the specifics of how and why." Arms folded, she turned her gaze back to Alina.

"Once established in New Haven, I imagine you'll have an ideal place to begin your investigation. All the more reason for us to defend it." She found herself tapping her toe somewhat, the little thrill becoming hard to conceal. For Jeane, the date had been full of discoveries, and ultimately forward momentum. She was, after all, among those of the settler-mindset, like most from Nyanzaru.

"I think I'll ask Miss Darkmoon her opinion on building a missionary. Non-denominational, of course. There's a temple as I understand it, but from what I've heard it's barebones- neither suited for arming the faithful nor for seeking concordance. I'll have to investigate myself, but..." She shook her head. "I think it would help your goals, especially if this investigation turns into something more like a crusade."

She chuckled at her own hyperbole.

[redcoat]

"I hadn't planned on settling yet- I was waiting on Salihn, but... the plans are in place. We were thinking perhaps the second wave, but Salihn... understands that I need to find my mother."

She tilted her head side to side, contemplating.

"I've spoken with Bones a bit about New Haven. It seems Boscov set it up in an attempt to 'bring the light of Pelor to the Darkness of Te'kaal'. Which he planned to do by training jaggis and other beasts from Aegis to destroy... everything." Alina shook her head. "Bones had a lot of loud and murderous opinions about that plan."

"I don't know how much she knows or trusts the current head of the faith there. She does know and trust you though."

[opius]

She nodded and frowned. "... I'm no priestess. I can perform ceremonies and rituals, certainly, but running an entire temple may be beyond my skill set." She drifted into her pondering.

"... But there's other clerics of different faiths in our circle now. At the very least we can keep the threat of bodily harm ever present if this shepherd of Pelor turns out to be untrustworthy." She laughed. "... That said, I find Pelorites tend to be amicable- most of the time. But most isn't all, as we know." She glanced aside with a bit of a frown.

"I'll bring it up with her. Perhaps Rorr's large friend can help. Though I'll have to sweeten the pot- likely he'll bargain for an offering fountain for the Mordinsamman." She rolled a hand noncommittally. "Maybe I can.. I don't know, convince him to use it as an alms box " she half rolled her eyes and shook her head, realizing quickly that this thread was turning toward imaginary logistics.

"Plans for another time, I think. For now, you've got a heading. That's incredibly exciting! What an intense week it's been!"