Of a Curious Mind
Twenty-Eight Day of the Twelfth Month 293 AC
"A measure of trust begets trust in turn," you answer not aloud but in thought, the seed of an answer in a question hidden.
"Tell me, Ishmagnis, what do you who's taken refuge under the skies of broken Heaven know of the Plane of Balance, to whom so many vie like a pack of jackals expecting ripe flesh only to come away again with bleeding lips and torn jowls?"
"I know that it is bounded as other realms are not," his mind has the feel of dry parchment inked a thousand times and a thousand times again until it has grown thin and fragile, yet bearing secrets beyond count.
"I know that many there are ignorant, though not as many as one might imagine to hear of the passage of years since the Breaking of the Spheres. There are rumors of slaves taken there though none have been seen in the common markets yet."
Silence falls within and without for a long moment before he continues, only the slightest twitch of pale tentacles marking nervousness or excitement.
"I know that there have been tales of dragons there as well as that precious morsel you traded me about the Sea of Fire, though the name given was rather different."
You give no sign of recognition yet and offer no rejoinder, Ishmagnis had yet said nothing of himself.
"I have never seen blue skies stretching out over Stone and Sea. My departure from the ones who once were my kin is immeasurably older than these stories of a passage opened, a new Lightless Dominion awoken, but not so old as to recall the last age. I have never met a mortal born in a mortal realm, or so at least I thought," his pitch black gaze falls to Ser Richard to be met by the same assessing gaze the knight had given angels, demons, fel monsters and gods in flesh.
"It would be quite dangerous for me to bathe in those waters and not for fear of the local powers and dominions, however little most mortals would care for my form, but that strays rather close to answering the question you asked of me does it not?"
"You are an exile, holding no loyalty to the...," you hesitate, looking for a thought-concept that would fit,
"colony of your birth."
"Loyalty is a mortal concept flowing upwards and downwards through the Spheres, but it has had little meaning in the life of the illithidae." The last word surprises you, it would be more fitting to a stranger looking in than one who once belonged to the breed who have many names for themselves, all prideful and grand.
"Domination and subsumption define that life, but to dominate requires understanding, to subsume requires affinity. I had divergent interests breeding divergent thoughts."
"So you left?" you half-ask, knowing there must be a far longer tale to be told there.
"So I abandoned the limitations of flesh and in so doing parted ways more thoroughly than distance alone could have accounted for." The thought pauses unexpectedly.
"Distance helped."
Was that a joke? You wonder surprised, the timing certainly speaks to it.
"My current work, trading in memories and whispers, is far more rewarding than a return to the simple hierarchy of the past could ever be," Ishmagnis continues.
"Complex patterns of relationships are much more fulfilling to untangle and make use of. Indeed, I have concluded that complexity is itself a desirable state of affairs and should be encouraged by the rational mind seeking engagement."
What do you offer as the next step of your unveiling?
[] Write in
OOC: I thought about going farther but I was not sure what you guys would be willing to offer for this, plus it's past midnight for me. If I do not get this out soon I may just not get a third update posted today at all. 
