Doran’s confirmation about the names was all the clue Woe wanted, and it seemed very significant. Then again, perhaps they were named in honor of the elements and it had nothing more to it than simply that. In any event, it did seem odd that the four missing daughters were bearing those names specifically. It could not be purely a coincidence, in Woe’s mind.
And as he thought of the word pure, his diri turned its head, and looked at one of the trees standing several feet away from where Mert was doing his nighttime gardening. Woe wondered if there was some significance to the word pure now. But then, he was probably getting paranoid at this point.
Sod perked up a bit when he caught sight of Lumi. “Pleased, Lumi. Pleased.” He murmured, and waved slowly.
When Doran pointed out that some of them should stay behind, Woe nodded. “Oblivio, Eve. Would you rest now? We’re enough without you. Oblivio, take care and bring Breen with you, he can keep you safe.” So saying, he let Breen lead Oblivio back into the Beneath so to speak, and Eve departed with a sultry smile to Woe as she threw him a kiss.
Woe ignored her.
Instead he let Doran lead him over to Mert, with Sod invisible upon his shoulder. Sod wouldn’t be interrogating the plants himself, but would aid Woe in translation if needed. But Woe did have some questions for the man, as it happened. Especially when the subject of Faith Augustin came up.
He noted that the girls were probably well known, as performers. Thus probably known to the evil people who’d caused the Docks collapse. That was worth noting, and he’d share words about it with Doran after. But first, he had a question. “These trees, and shrubs. These flowers… They look like they’ve seen more than their share of Sauns. How old are they?”
Mert smiled wistfully, with a hint of sadness as he recalled, “Ahh it were Miss Augustin, she helped grow them with that Moseke magic. Made them bloom up right and proper in a few mere bits and breaks. Amazing what that little bundle of useful can do…” His expression turned sad, almost regretful as he said the last part.
“So they’re not much older than the collapse itself?” Woe asked. Then he turned toward the tree, wondering…
“I want to try something unusual, if I may Mert? I promise it won’t harm the plants.”
Mert scratched the back of his neck, and shrugged, “Fine, if’n yer want.”
Woe nodded, and then approached the tree, taking the little recorder he’d gotten from the pocket of his coat. It was special wood from Immortal’s tongue, that evoked more emotion than usual. Whistle wood or whatever it was called. Anyway, Woe knelt before the tree, and swept away some of the dirt from its roots.
He began speaking to the plants. “What can you tell me, of the time before you were grown?”
The tree groaned, audible only to Woe as a Soul-Forged. “The roots tell much. Much earth, much wind, water. Hungry Heat. Hmmm…” Woe supposed hungry heat referred to fire.
“Can you show me?”
The tree’s leaves rustled in the wind, and then it began transmitting sensations, felt through the lens of a plant a seedling really. It felt the conflux much greater than itself encompassing the area all around it as the earth was disturbed. There were feet above the ground, screams in the air, and the animalistic rutting of humans like animals in the mix. People acting like animals. And something else, harder to define and pair with spiritual energies. Magic of Domain.
Woe frowned, not for the first time reflecting that domain magic was more trouble than it was worth. He brought the recorder to his lips, and began playing a intense tune he’d practiced. Tune was being kind, it was really more like a series of notes he’d practiced, and composed himself. Each in groups of four. For the four elements. He’d only scratched the surface of playing the recorder, but felt it didn’t sound too terrible as long as he didn’t try to get creative in the moment.
Slowly, as he played his song, at the base of the roots, behind the dirt that had been swept away, the impression of four masks began forming along the base. They took on symbols that signified the four cardinal elements. One for Earth, one for Wind, one for Water, and one for Fire.
There was something sinister about these masks, however, not like those who’d stood before the Scalvflame. These were of another kind of energy. That of sacrifice and meddle, of giving the blood of others for personal power. Much like Domain Magic worked.
He shook his head and stopped playing for a moment. He felt the shape of those masks, and asked the tree once more. “What are these masks you’re showing me… What manner of creature do they belong to?”
“Hmmm, Purity. Sacrifice?” The tree echoed words, without seeming to know what they meant. As if it’d heard the words spoken with no reference or context. These things in themselves were not bad things, although their concepts could be construed or turned to evil purposes.
Woe thought about it, and came to the tentative conclusion that the sisters were taken specifically for their names, whether for some misguided notion that they were important to the elements, or else because it pleased some maniacal mage’s sense of kismet.
But that was a logical leap, and even Woe could see it.
He waved Doran away from Mert, and nodded to the caretaker as he tucked his small recorder away.
“Do these masks you see… do they mean anything to you? Anything you’ve seen? They seem to correspond to the four elements. The Tree seems to think they have something to do with purity or sacrifice…” Woe paused, and gave Doran a moment to absorb that information. “I’m going out on a limb, and I know that. But I think these masks belonged to a mage of some stripe. The tree felt the echoes of alien energies. Typically that means Domain magic, although I can’t be entirely sure.”
“There was blood, screams, and humans acting as caged animals before the collapse. It’s hard for the tree to know, it was merely a sapling at the time, though you wouldn’t know it to see it now… Faith used the magic of Moseke to grow it beyond its arcs, just as I’ve worked the shape of those masks into the base of the tree…”
