Sins of the First: Researcher's Respite

[§~Samwise~§]

Taliesin felt how Mirrai was shaking. He wanted to set her at ease and reassure her, but all he could do was to continue holding her. 'Some privacy and fresh air might be nice,' he thought to himself.

As the books turned to ash in the cauldron he wondered if retreating to the Glade was a good idea. She had just come from there and perhaps needed space to disconnect from the research. 

"Is there anything I can do?" He asked just above a whisper in Sylvan. The question was accompanied with a light arm rub.

[Ancelas]

Mirrai took a deep breath as she turned away from the cauldron. "I just... need some fresh air," she said softly in common, her eyes roaming across the deck. She tilted her chin toward the railing along the main deck and moved toward it, down the fore-deck stairs, running her hand along banister.

She came to a stop at the place she had indicated and turned to look out across the dark sky, leaning on the railing. After a moment, she let out a soft, humorless laugh. "Unnerved by a pair of books... if my father could see me now..."

[§~Samwise~§]

Taliesin gave a short nod and let her go as she moved. He followed a couple steps back and to her side. He stopped beside her and looked out into the dark beyond.

He paused and took a quiet deep breath. "I expect he would understand." His eyes darted from one point in the sky to another. "A malevolent force that can grow in number and appear beside you simply by knowing of them ... and this was the same force he made sure you escaped from ... " He trailed off bending down and resting his forearms on the rail.

[Ancelas]

"Sigil," she said softly. The City of Doors... we spent years there, although it seems so... strange, to think of it now." Mirrai closed her eyes, focused on the touch of the wind moving through her hair. "Even when they came, we never saw them... not directly. Their ships in the sky... the chaos in the streets. Enough to..."

She trailed off, shuddering, and opened her eyes. "My father did, though. His name was - is - Xielann. I think... I think maybe he would understand. He taught me to fight and survive, but when the invasion spilled toward where we lived, his instinct was to run. To save who he could and make sure I was safe. He never ran. He wouldn't have taken me to Sigil, had my mother not forced him to give his word. He never ran, but when these... aberrations... invaded Sigil..."

[§~Samwise~§]

Taliesin had not intended the conversation to move where it had. He'd simply kept himself from droning on and assigning words to things he could not be certain of. His body clenched as her description triggered memories of his own experience as a child.

As she continued his body relaxed as his focus was put to her words. He was getting a chance to learn more about Mirrai and her family. His mind latched onto something she said as he turned his head to look at her.

"So, your mother made your father promise to take you to Sigil? And your father sent you through a doorway in Sigil in the hopes of getting you to safety with your mother?" He was trying to make sense of how new information meshed with the old and it seemed simple at a quick glance, but with prior details it was much more complex.

[Ancelas]

Mirrai nodded. "Two different catastrophes, same result... I get sent away while my parents stay and fight." She gripped the railing tightly and looked to Taliesin, her eyes growing almost lupine in the lantern light of the ship.

"I won't be sent away again. Velkyn... I couldn't do anything in that fight, and I chose to stay behind rather than be a hindrance. But I won't be sent away for my own safety again."

[§~Samwise~§]

Taliesin watched Mirrai's expression shift as she spoke. It was certainly something to behold. He listened to everything she said, but understood something she may have only recently come to accept. She had all but admitted that she was sent away at the start of the Days of Fury. She somehow was kept from knowing what was happening when her mother convinced her father to take her away.

After a moment he replied softly. "Choosing to stay at a distance or to not go to a location that is dangerous is not getting sent away." He expected she knew that, but her words made it seem like perhaps she viewed it in the same light.

[Ancelas]

"I know. I'm just... making sure you know. Just in case." She lowered her gaze and looked out across the sky again. She shivered and hugged herself. "Those books... it's good that we burned them."

[§~Samwise~§]

Taliesin reached out and place a hand on her shoulder. "None of us have the ability for Planar travel that I am aware of. And the only skill we do have wouldn't work because you are a Mobian." He flashed a small smile before turning his gaze back into the night. "Even if we could, I might-" He stopped himself short.

"Good that the books are burned to prevent further use? To prevent possibly pulling more things?" He asked hoping she would continue.

[Ancelas]

Mirrai tilted her head slightly toward Taliesin's hands and closed her eyes. "It's... hard to explain when you haven't experienced it. The more we translated, the more we understood... it was like something was watching us. In the room with us. Turning the pages for us, whispering for us to continue. Toward the end, Ta'ro realized that we had begun translating... instructions. Directions. They weren't just a history book and a journal, Taliesin."

Mirrai opened her eyes to meet Taliesin's gaze. "They were a ritual. A way to reach out to the Far Realms, hidden within the madness of two arcanists who could somehow commune across millenia. Erebus learned his half from Argyl Tal, and Argyl Tal learned his half from Erebus. Do you understand?"

[§~Samwise~§]

Taliesin listened without interrupting.The only sound she might hear from him would've been his breath if the sounds of the airship around them had been less present.

He locked his eyes onto hers as she met his gaze. Her questions elicited true thought, his eyes almost appearing to search through her. "An entity that is effectively a god wanted a doorway opened between the material plane and the Far Realms, but couldn't do it on their own. Other realms don't necessarily have time pass like here. So as the barriers between thinned the entity facilitated the communication hoping that one of them would succeed."

He blinked several times and shook his head. "I chalk up the communication to things that are effectively deity nonsense. I don't understand the how - but the why seemed clear with everything you've researched and shared."

[Ancelas]

Mirrai snorted softly. "Yes... that for sure. Effectively a god... an assumption, but a reasonable one. That's not what I meant, though. I meant, if Tal learned from Erebus, and Erebus learned from Tal... where did the original idea come from?"

[§~Samwise~§]

Taliesin smirked softly, seeing that she had not connected what he had said. Or perhaps she was thinking too specific where he was fine to think broadly. "Deity nonsense." He repeated softly.

"Silvanus has spoke to me in dreams. He's manifested at his shrine and spoken there as well." He looked out to the night sky and gestured vaguely. "Something in the Far Realms, akin to a god, reached out its ... mind ... to connect with people who could further its end goals. Gods do it here when they are stuck behind the veil. Makes sense that a god, or something like a god could do the same from the Far Realm."

He turned back to Mirrai. "You said it yourself. It felt like something was there with you, guiding you, urging you on. And it was both you and Ta'ro - working together as a team feeling this. But with someone interrupting you and giving you respite keeping you from possibly falling to madness."

[Ancelas]

"It's not the same." Mirrai opened her eyes and sighed. She turned and leaned against the railing, now looking out across the deck. "I've felt the presence of the divine. We stood in the shadow of Velkyn - this wasn't that. Maybe it was a god, but... I don't know. All I have are... whispers and fears. Nowhere near enough to make any kind of guess, and no inclination to expose myself further to find out."

[§~Samwise~§]

Taliesin shifted in his position so he was facing her properly as she turned. Perhaps it wasn't the same. This was not something he felt the need to argue on. "Well, those whispers have lost the artifacts that called them. And you've chosen not to seek."

He turned further to look where she was looking and sighed. "We have a little over a week before we need to rush into another large battle. Hopefully you'll find rest and piece of mind before then."