An Echo of Mirth
Seventeenth Day of the Third Month 293 AC
The thought of all such a spirit could do is almost breathtaking... and yet so are the pitfalls. Had you not already built the Inquisition you could easily see yourself falling into the same trap as the Silver Eye, trading years,
decades of safety for swift and sure communications. "Such a spirit would be of great use... but not as a spy."
Lya turns to you, surprised, as Alysande merely nods, either understanding your reasoning or not wishing to pry. There is no reason not to find out which, and warn her if there is need. "It creates too dangerous a fracture point, builds dependencies that can be exploited..."
"Do you not trust the Lady's character or her power?" The first among the Silver Eye asks, her voice carrying nothing save polite curiosity.
"Gods are strange... primal, timeless, and unbending," you reply after a moment finding your words. "That is surely a great comfort to those seeking shelter in faith and miracles, but it can make them unreliable given the ever-changing realities of mortal life. Beyond that their servants can be captured, twisted, or driven mad. Too much of a risk no matter the prize."
"What would you use this spirit for then, less delicate messages?" Lya's gaze fades into the distance for a moment. "Perhaps showing songs or plays. That would fit with some of what they taught at the temple."
"Music cannot travel through the mirrors," Alysande interjects. "Agents using them must 'speak' with their hands, not wholly a bad thing for spy-work in that it adds another veil of secrecy, but.. "
You briefly consider giving up on the whole notion as not worth the effort for all involved. However, it soon becomes apparent Lya is not done considering the matter: "You could have it show Tyroshi plays, the wordless ones."
"Didn't those go out of fashion a century and more ago?" you ask, briefly thinking back to a line you read on the history of the city a few days before its conquest.
"Yes, it is old, it's
traditional," Lya leans closer with a smile whose twin you have so oft seen in the mirror. "That's what so many of the damn magisters are arguing about, isn't it? That you do not respect their glorious past?"
"So you mean to give them something harmless to amuse themselves with, yet which obviously required some effort on my part to arrange," you finish, catching on, before giving her a mock-suspicious look. "Are you sure you don't want a city to rule over?"
Lya seems to be seriously considering the merits of kicking you and only
just deciding against it.
***
The temple of the Moonsingers seems at first unchanged by the passage of time, but before you can cross the threshold Alysande stops you with an outstretched hand. "Pull up your cloaks and release your glamours," she counsels. "There is a ward in place that reacts rather loudly to attempts at arcane trickery. "
"How fortunate for us both that it was not here three years ago," Lya whispers in your ear upon a spell-wrought wind.
"I like to think you would have chased me down even if you did know I wasn't a Faceless Man," you answer, amused.
If nothing else the speed with which the highest and most respected among the Moonsingers arrive proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Alysande was not exaggerating when she spoke of the favor she had gathered. Here they stand: men and woman garbed in flawless white and without ornament, and among them one being you had not truly expected to see again: shining like quicksilver with eyes as embers bright, the Herald of the Laughing Moon lands unceremoniously upon the table between the bread and the grape bowl before plucking a handful of the latter to devour.
From the looks of the priests they did not expect the spirit's presence, and some of them might perhaps possess reservations about it, though they would never speak it. By contrast Lya looks at the little thing with perhaps a trace of the reverence she had accorded it the first time you encountered it, but mostly as though she would dearly like to interview it for a few hours... or possibly days.
"How was the door? Hope you didn't bring too much back with you from the other side," the Herald said seemingly idly. "Nasty place, that."
How do you answer?
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OOC: You guys wanted to explain your laws and the reasons behind them, so I thought I'd give you a chance to fine-tune the presentation. Also if you want Sorcerer's Deep in spite of Lya's idea following her successful knowledge history roll you can of course say so here.
