Winding Down
Twenty-First Day of the Fifth Month 294 AC
"It could, though the survivors of Paradise are careful and paranoid. It will take time to forge the bonds necessary for them to trust Imperial forces near their realms, even if we were just to raid the Illithid or Fiends. For now, we must focus on matters closer at hand," you reply, speaking carefully for you can well guess what impulse had driven Lord Stark to ask, and it is the same one that has a few of the Northern Dukes, most prominently Umber and Mormont, to look on approvingly. Aid given to defenders far off to guard against a distant foe they can well understand. If only there was but one convenient Wall to guard. "Alas, we have still the remnants of our own last great battles here to fight. The shadows of the Long Night yet linger under the green hills of Westeros and they are ever at the call of their masters..."
As the shadow of pain crosses the lord's stern face, you feel the bite of guilt just as swift, but still there could not have been a better way to lead the man away from talk of angels and the breaking of Heaven. Even at such a time as this and with all the weight of your words and Mereth's added to them, it is still Winter for which his deepest hate is reserved.
You continue to eye the room warily as you recount first the threat of the intruders in Qohor, still dark to your sight and foresight both, the devils who had slipped into Slaver's Bay, the Deep Ones in their hidden fortresses, and finally the War of the Three Spheres. On this last conflict, it seems most likely you could count a victory one day, for it is indeed a war and one in which you have allies and a seat at the table. Everyone here had seen the delegations of the shaitan and the djinn with their own eyes and could make their own judgements as to their wealth and power from the markets of the Deep. By the time one is speaking of the matter of fronts and battles, of skirmishes and avenues of supply, it is clear the worst of the panic has abated for the moment, but it is clear to your eye at least that panic is not the worst of the perils to come.
More than one of the notables in attendance had fallen into deeper and deeper silence, seeming almost to sink into themselves with each word they hear. With the Archon of Saath that might have been in consequence to your demonstrations, but you do not like the look of Oddo. Waxen you would call his face without his usual animation, his gaze half-lidded as though he can barely stand to watch the goings on.
As for Mace... he has something of the look of a trapped beast, eyes darting to the door and windows seemingly against his will as he tries to escape the reality before his eyes. He is in many ways no harder to read that Stark. Olenna Tyrell was not known for her piety, so what then might her fate have been? The same fate that could have been avoided if he, Mace, had not fallen for the lures of the fey. In this, at least, you think he might be judging himself too harshly, but there is little enough you can do to help... Perhaps the time has come for Mace to retire.
Then there is Darry, who you had thought was whispering to his neighbor, until a moment's careful spellcraft revealed that he was in fact praying to the Seven, a reasonable enough reaction to what he had just found out, but one you hope he will not take too far. Moving your gaze a little aside, you see Brenn Pyke also murmuring under his breath, though in his case it seems to be a mantra made up entirely of mundane tasks to anchor himself.
Otherwise, besides poor Veda, who has only just managed to control herself at some point into your explanation of where the cities of the Deep Ones lie, everyone seems well enough, for ones who had been wrung dry of every emotion one can conceive and then some. You doubt you are going to get much more information past many of them today, and the mind healers you have gathered will doubtless earn their keep.
As you start to wrap up the session, you consider if you should speak to any of those in attendance personally on the morrow or should instead take the day to judge how the political factions will align.
What do you to over the next day?
[] Speak with specific Curia members
-[] Write in who
[] Observe from afar
[] Write in
OOC: Well here we are, once we got back to the Others and the Deep Ones everyone was back on solid ground, they had all been briefed on that so it was just adding context and did not cause as much san damage for lack of a better term.