[Hopetoun] Travel Plans

[Praetorum]

5th of Ymiden, Arc 722

Hopetoun, Prae noted as he walked through the palisade, was a bit more developed than he remembered from last time. Admittedly, it had been something like an arc since he'd last been here, so that was to be expected. He'd walked from Haven, waking up early morning to start his stroll along the island until he'd reached the other settlement. It hadn't taken long, not now that Haven had been moved, and Prae had decided he could use the exercise. 



A few polite inquiries to the settlers directed him towards the oasis at the edge of town, which Prae thought he remembered from the feast. Sure enough, there was a camp set up by the oasis, with a few people about taking care of things. There were, he noted, a startling number of children. But no Vega, and no Arlo in sight. 



For just a moment, Prae hesitated. 



Truth was, he wasn't sure what kind of reception he'd receive—last he'd spoken to Vega was at Saoire's Feast, and she'd been none too pleased with him then. Still, it had been some seasons since then—hopefully she'd at least be willing to hear him out. And besides, he reasoned, the worst she could do was tell him to leave. And his hide was more than thick enough to deal with that. Coming closer, Prae tried to look unthreatening to the children around the camp, and nodded to the nearest adult. "Hello there," he called. "Is Vega around? I'd like to speak with her if she has a moment."

[Vega]

5th Ymiden, 722

The camp was well organised, spacious and, should Praetorum notice such things, set up with maximum comfort and efficiency. There were children running around - three of them were there, playing. Two older ones, one just a bit older than a toddler. They were engaged in some kind of game and Praetorum might recognise the older girl as Joy. The game wasn't rambunctious or loud, but all three seemed to be having quite a lot of fun and the older two were good at taking care of the youngest.

Of course, where there were children, there were also adults. Sitting off in a corner watching the children while he was cleaning and dressing some rabbits was a man with unusually vivid eyes. He noted Praetorum's entrance, but he didn't say anything. There was an older man who was sitting on the opposite side of the clearing where the children played and he was making arrows. He lifted his gaze and Praetorum could see the pointed ears and swirling eyes - eyes which bore a strong resemblance to his daugher's.

"She's o'er'yon," he said, his voice a deep a gravelly baritone. "Won't be long, she'll've hark'd ya." His accent was thick but he smiled slightly. In truth, Vega had indeed heard Praetorum approaching and she could be heard stomping her way to him.

Vega looked, it had to be said, different than she had when he'd seen her last. Same height, same shockingly red hair cascading in a barely-contained manner down her back. Namely, the changes were twofold. Held close to her by virtue of swaddling wraps and cloth wrapped around her was a newborn infant with bright red hair - which probably explained the fact that she was no longer pregnant. Also, her skin had a metallic sheen to it which it simply hadn't before.

She saw that it was Praetorum and she raised a hand in greeting. Vega didn't look angry, and when she called out, "Whatcha, you a'right? What's cookin'?" she didn't sound angry either. She had a bow on her back and she was carrying a very large dead bird that looked like a turkey and two smaller birds with bright feathers. "What brings you to Hopetoun?" Vega asked and she glanced as a second biqaj man moved out from inside one of the tents and walked over to her. "You good with this lot, Huw?" He nodded and she handed him the birds. He looked at Praetorum, nodded politely and then left. "Come on in," she said with a smile and gestured to him to come over to where there was a central fire pit with benches and a chair that was very obviously ithecal-specific. "My brother's an ithecal, I keep it here for him. Park yourself down. Cup of tea?"

And, yes, the children ran to greet her. She kissed three foreheads and spoke to each one. The two older childre - the boy and the girl - observed Praetorum with interest, but no fear. "Praetorum, this is our daughter Joy, an' this is Wren an' Ru, we're lookin' after them a little while," Ru was the three year old. The children loooked at him and Joy gave a slight, shy, wave. Wren did the same and Ru watched him with fascination. "This is Akor, an' Conlan's inside with my cousin. Go on you lot, go play. Have fun, yeah?" She said and the children moved off.

Looking at him, Vega waited to hear if he wanted tea and then, she supposed, why he was here.

[Pig Boy]

Once Praetorum was in Vega's presence, he would note the baby, Akor. He'd feel a strange familiarity with her. Almost as if they'd met previously. The rune beneath his eye began to glow slightly as he got closer to them. His vision grew slightly blurred as he went forward, and everytime he looked directly at Akor, it burned under his eye.

Akor looked at Praetorum a long moment, and for a moment it almost seemed as if she'd scowled at him. Then, she looked up at him and gurgled, smiling, as she reached toward the rune under his eye. A sudden burning sensation occurred as she reached for it, but of course she couldn't touch it from where she was held. The baby Akor gurgled some more, and then snuggled up against Vega, and grew calm again.

After a moment, Praetorum had a glimpse of something, another place. A way into Sirothelle that was hidden from view. That connected the Heart of the World to the greatest Temple of Faldrun in his city. There were mazes beneath, well guarded and protected. But he saw them, and when Akor reached for his rune on his eye, he almost could see a way to access them. But then the vision was gone, and he was back with Vega and Akor.

Akor grunted as she fell asleep in her mother's arms. If they'd look, they'd note that the hand that had reached for Praetorum's eyes, would have an identical rune on the palm of that hand.

[Praetorum]

Looking around, Praetorum had to say, Vega had made quite the nice home for her and her family. The camp they'd set up was comfortably roomy, but without wasted space, everything in the most convenient place. A far cry from the much more slapdash way that Prae tended to set up his own camps. 


Maybe he should take notes. 



Of everyone he could see around the camp, Prae recognized only one face—the older girl, Joy, who had been the focus of the feast where he'd last seen Vega. He nodded appreciatively when an older biqaj told him she'd be around soon. He could hear the sound of footsteps drawing near even as he spoke. But even before Prae laid eyes on Vega, something seemed off. The absence of something...


Then Vega came into view, and it clicked. The elements were ignoring her, entirely. Either she'd managed to alienate all four elements, or...



The thought was pushed to the side as Prae took in her new appearance. "Hello Vega," he said, blinking. "I'd heard people talk, but that's a lot more metal-ly than I was expecting." He shook his head slightly. "We just missed each other in Haven the other trial, and I was hoping to speak to you, so. Figured I'd come by." He hesitated, then decided he might as well ask. "Did you lose your defiance spark? They aren't speaking to you anymore."



Regardless of her answer, his eyes dropped down to the child in her arms as Vega gestured towards the firepit. Yet again, something felt odd here. Only instead of a feeling of distance and disinterest from the elements, this was a sense of what felt like familiarity towards the child. But why? 



Puzzled, Prae stepped closer, approaching the chair Vega had offered him. And as he did, he felt the feeling grow, the sense that he had seen this child before—only, how could that be, when he hadn't seen Vega since she was pregnant? The introduction of the other children pulled Prae's attention away, and he smiled at each child as they were introduced, waving back at Joy and Wren. "Hello," he said softly. "I'm Praetorum. It's nice to meet you all."



When Vega introduced Akor, though, that feeling of strangeness rose up again. The name was not one Prae knew, of that he was certain. And as he settled in Varlum's chair, closer now to mother and daughter than he'd been earlier, he felt something under his right eye start to burn. The child seemed to stare back at Prae, and for a moment, he thought he saw something angry in her expression.



Then, Akor smiled, and reached out towards his face. Praetorum sucked in a sharp breath as the rune under his eye flared up in a way it hadn't since...


All at once, Praetorum's vision shifted, and he saw, sensed, knew. A path between Sirothelle and the Heart of the World, through doors, guards, mazes—and then it was gone, and Prae was blinking furiously as he returned to the here and now, staring in surprise at a baby cuddling up to her mother as she drifted off. 



Raising a hand, Prae touched the rune under his eye, brow furrowing. The last time he'd felt it burn like this... He glanced down at the firepit, but felt nothing strange there. Not an immediate attack then. "Vega, this might be a strange question," Prae said slowly. "But did you have this child in Yaralon? Did you, or she, encounter any of Faldrun's followers there?" 



He hesitated, then realized that Vega would want an explanation. "I have a bit of history with Faldrun's followers in Yaralon, with this—" he tapped the rune under his eye "—and it felt like she has some connection? I don't know if that's something to be too concerned about, Yari won't hurt children, but I guess you should probably know anyways."



The girl's arm shifted in her sleep, and Prae's eyes landed on the palm of her hand. "Did she have that before I showed up?"

Prae paused, just for a moment. "Also yes, tea would be great."

[Vega]

5th Ymiden, 722

Vega grinned at Prae as he described her as more "metal-y" than he'd expected and she nodded. "Yeah," she said. "When Vindecaldra gave me her effigy, it stripped me of my spark an' my curse. All the things that I didn't want." She smiled slightly and gestured. "Well. Not all of them. Still got my freckles an' my hair's still like a person went mad with a candy floss maker."

She introduced him to the children and they waved, said hello, watched him and so on. And then, she showed him Akor and, just for a moment the baby looked angry. Vega watched and she wondered , but for the moment she said nothing. Then, Akor reached up and touched Prae's face and Vega saw a lot of things. She saw that Praetorum reacted - it was something that he didn't do often. She didn't know him well, but she knew him well enough to know that he was the very opposite of "wear your heart on your sleeve".

It was one of the things she liked about him. Vega couldn't - usually - be bothered with touchy-feely-hey-nonny-nonny-lets-all-share-and-grow stuff (as she thought of it), but sometimes, there was a need. However, this wasn't her story to tell, this was Akor and she'd been asked to care for the child.

Prae had questions, then, about Yaralon and that made no sense to Vega. But as for Faldrun's followers? And then, there was the mark on Akor's hand. Vega looked down at it and then she turned to the two older children. "Wren an' Joy, could you please take Akor, an' ask my Papa to have her. Bring your Seq’at Conlan will you?" They nodded and then Wren took the baby from Vega and the pair of them moved. Vega looked at Praetorum, checked he was alright, and then got on with making the tea. Everything was there, near by - and she opened up a small and compact box which had all the items she needed.

She didn't speak, because she was thinking.

It didn't take long before Wren and Joy came back, carrying a baby. Vega handed Praetorum his tea and then took the baby that Wren passed to her. Vega smiled and nodded. "Thanks, little bird. Thank you both. You a'right?" They nodded and she motioned away. "I need to talk to Praetorum. Go play with Huw, would you?" She didn't try and pretend there was nothing, instead she spoke the truth to them and so they went. In her arms was a small child, smaller than the one who they had taken.

"This is Conlan," she said, softly. "He's the babe I were pregnant with when I saw you last. Akor isn't mine by birth any more than Joy is, but she is - they both are mine an' so I'm not goin' to tell you her story." Vega looked at Praetorum calmly. "Jus' in case this isn't somethin' what seems to be almost fated." Her skin shone, metallic patches reflecting the light as she watched him. "So you tell me, if you would, everythin' you can, an' I'll tell you when an' if you're right. I can tell you now that Akor has nothin' to do with Yaralon, as far as I'm concerned, but my useless Immortal parent an' her, yes. Yes, there's a history."

Sipping her own tea, she looked at Prae without apology. "If you tell me anythin' what's important or matches up, I'll tell you. But I'm not tellin' you her story unless there's a reason." She shrugged slightly. "An' if there's no reason, I'd like that very much. So, either way, tell me what the situation is with you an' my daughter?"

[Praetorum]

Prae took his tea quietly from Vega, watching as she cradled a baby even smaller than Akor. So this was the hatchling she’d bore. Nothing strange happened with this one, and he looked back up at Vega.

“Fair enough,” he said at her words. If there was some troubling story behind her adopting Akor, he supposed she was well within her rights to keep it to herself. So, the child was related to Faldrun, but not to Yaralon, as far as she knew or cared—that was a little puzzling, but he supposed the mark of one who had flayed flame could call even to Aukari outside the city.

“I don’t know if you had your spark during the Fall of Emea,” Prae began, “but it was a difficult time for mages. Cut off from Emea, we were cut off from ether, from the power that fuels our magic. But there are other ways to replenish ether other than to absorb it from Emea. A mage can flay, can devour the ether of other creatures with souls. And when Emea fell, our sparks turned to try and devour other sources of energy.”

He grimaced. He’d seen people drained of life, drained of their souls… it had been an ugly time in Yaralon. “One source of energy, the most innocuous one, was fire. I, and others, found that we could flay flames to gain a tiny bit of ether. But the first time I did so, I got this.” He tapped the rune under his eye.

“I didn’t think much of it at the time—I thought it was my defiance spark objecting to my flaying one of the elements. But some seasons later, while I was traveling, I was accosted by Yari follower of Faldrun. There was this chant, ’That is the eye that fed on fire, that is the one who slaked his unholy thirst on our domain. He who shall be forsake by fire.’ A portal of sorts opened from my campfire, and out come half a dozen fighters, all with polearms. A woman was with them, with a staff and this burning mark on her chest. Aukari, long hair, lightly armored. Never met her before. Definitely from Yaralon, though—that was a Yari accent, and the… the feeling I got from the fire, I’ve only ever felt that near Faldrun’s Spire in Yaralon. Best guess, that was a priestess of the spire, but I had no business with any of them, so I don’t know for sure.”

“At any rate, the woman closed the portal, left that half dozen fighters to, and I quote, bring my hide back as a trophy. As you can see, they didn’t exactly succeed in that. We fought, I won, and the last thing they said to me was that they were the kindling, and that I was the fire they were here to stir. Then they burned up, and I never saw any followers of Faldrun ever again. To be honest, I’d nearly forgotten about it all until now. It seemed like it was leading up to something, but I suppose Faldrun’s death might have disrupted whatever plans they had. This was two arcs ago, in Ymiden, if that matters.”

Prae considered for a moment. “Saying it all like this, I really can’t see what connection this could have to your Akor. They were clearly angry about my flaying of fire... Maybe this sign is a mark for all Aukari to know that I’m an enemy, but I could have sworn that I’ve come face to face with other Aukari since then. Never had anything like this happen. And if this is marking me as an enemy, why would I have gotten a vision of Sirothelle?”

He paused, realizing he hadn’t yet mentioned that. “When your daughter reached out to me, I saw a hidden path from Sirothelle to the Heart of the World. Something of a security risk to show that to an enemy, assuming it’s true. I don’t know. It’s odd, and it doesn’t add up to me.” Prae sipped at his tea, shrugging. “Whether it’s relevant or not, I hope nothing comes of it. For either her, or me.” This seemed as good a segue as any. “Especially given that I intend to make my way to the region around Sirothelle. That was what I was hoping to talk to you about, actually. I’m given to understand that you were recently in that area, and met the dragon Sir Kisaik mentioned, Vindecaldra? I was hoping to ask you about her, if you’re alright with that.”

[Vega]

5th Ymiden, 722

Vega looked at him with a calm expression as he explained about the fall of Emea, and the sparks. "I had my spark then, yeah, but I never used it." She said it factually. "It wants ... it wanted to control my behaviour. It offered me power to make me open myself up to it an' tried to manupulate me into thinkin' it were somethin' I needed. But none of that were true. It needed me. I didn't need it. So, yeah, I had my spark, but I didn't use it because usin' it had a price an' I'm not prepared to pay the price it asks."

She gestured to Praetorum, "Because whether you admit it or not, that thing inside you what you have? It pushes you an' it tries to control you. An while I believe you can resist it, it takes energy to do that, an' I'd rather spend my energies elsewhere." Bottom line, for her. All this gubbins about their Sparks and them was just that, as far as Vega was concerned. Gubbins.

Listening to his story of the fighters who emerged from the flames, Vega's eyes swirled colours and then, when he was done, she spoke. "I don't get it," she said. "There's a thing what attaches to you an' tells you what to do an' pushes an' pushes, an' the more you use your magic the stronger it gets. Don't you see that you're addicted an' it's your dealer?" She shook her head. "First hit migh'a'been free for you, but I died when they tried to put that in me the first time, because I won't be controlled."

She shook her head and spoke it - as always - as she saw it. "It feeds on givin' people power in exchange for who knows what? Well, I won't be bought an' you're a right plonker if you will. Frankly an' all." Vega wondered if there was ever a time that she'd be subtle - considerate of others feelings - sensitive, even. And, having considered it she moved on to something as likely as birthing an Ithecal baby.

Maybe good for others, that was, but not for her.

She listened to his story and she sighed. "Akor were a woman when I met her," she said. "Metal bikini barely holdin' in her enormous knockers an' an ability to monologue that'd make Cassion jealous. She used to be a Champion of Faldrun, so she did, an' so yeah." A brief pause, and then, "Vindecaldra is about rebirth. Literally. Bein' reforged an' becomin' someone new - second chances, I guess.So now, Akor is my daughter an' I'd appreciate you keepin' it to yourself."

Glancing back at where the baby had been taken, Vega sighed and spoke. And then, he told her why he was interested and Vega nodded. "I met Vindecaldra, yeah. She gave me her Effigy an' introduced me to Martha an' Arthur." She looked at him. He was going to Sirothelle, she considered. He was skilled, there was no doubt, but he was also a plonker and that would get him killed.

"Want some help?" Vega asked, looking at him levelly. "Vindecaldra's open to meetin' new people, an' I know the way. Up to you." She spoke the truth as she both saw it and felt it. "I can draw you maps an' stuff, btut that's not goin' to be much use since I arrived through U'frek. But yeah, I can go with an' introduce you, if you'd like." She nodded. "Besides the fact that it means I can ask about what happened with your eye from the point of view of my kid, I'm less of a plonker than you an' I can fight better than anyone you've ever met." There was no bragging from Vega. It simply was what it was.

Besides, she thought - to herself but no one else - it sounded like fun.