Veils Lifted
Seventh Day of the First Month 294 AC
Lady Melisandre's room aboard the
Moonchaser is not what you had expected it. Austere lacking any of the vivid crimson you had come to associate with her as flame is with a candle. The only piece of furniture not part of the ship's normal complement is a man high mirror framed in onyx studded silver, a scrying mirror you would guess, though that is not what the priestess is using it for a the moment. Gaze lost in some memory of the past or plan of the future she is currently brushing her hair, having missed your approach, though the
simple shadow-born servitor who opened the door obviously had standing orders to let you in.
"Well met, Your Grace," she calls with a small but you would judge sincere smile as she sets the brush aside. It looks more ornate than her tastes run to normally. Perhaps a gift or memento of her long life. She waves you towards a small folding table of the sort common in the
Moonchaser's smaller guest rooms. "Is there something you require my aid in?"
"Your counsel," you reply taking her offer. Her expression grows a touch brighter at the words, a gleam of interest in her eye.
"First, I would know what you think of what you have seen so far. I know some of my works may once have seemed the work of madness to you, my lady, and I appreciate you reserving judgement until you have come to know my mind and plans better as I do yours."
And so each of us could trust the other more, you do not add aloud, but the words are still clear in the silence that follows.
"The practice of sorcery,
all sorcery, even that which is born of the Flame Imperishable, is the act of reaching into the unknown. No sight or prophecy can reveal all ends." The words are obviously meant to allay your concerns about the prophecy of Azor Ahai, for it would hardly take one as insightful as her to guess you would not blindly step into that mold, even if her god did not share the contents of your discussion with her which he might have.
"Speaking of the unknown, my lady, I have planned to set against the Enemy weapons such as they have never encountered, and to judge from the first battle this very ship has fought as well as Their
interest in the wyverns it seems my hopes were not in vain," you continue. "That is not to say of course that the battle has not shown places where more could be done. Weapons that can harm the intangible but can also be set in many hands, even wildfire such as the Harbringer breathes, these are all things I plan to distribute widely among my armies."
"'Warriors speak of the clash of arms, generals speak of strategy, princes speak of supply,'" she quotes an old Volantene adage from the Century of Blood softly. "A good thought, though perhaps it might be wise to consider not only how the armies might fight, but how hearth and home might be protected. There is scarce a sadder tale than that of a victorious army returning home to death and cold ashes."
"What did you have in mind? Rune-wards such as those that protected Thenn?" you ask, though you are certain she means more. There would not be much point in advising that after already seeing you claim all you could of the Thenns' legacy, even going to far as to attempt to claim the wardstones.
"In part," the priestess inclines her head towards a stack of parchment stacked next to the bed. "I have been reading the reports of the Sothoryi from Wisdom Malarys' first reports of the interior to more recent accounts from around Gogossos, and I have spoken to both the Lady of Naath and Wisdom Riz'Neth. There is clearly a vibrant tradition of ward-crafting in the Green Land born of necessity in the face of its many arcane perils. Most of these wards are sustained by settlements that would be counted little more than hamlets and villages in more settled lands, leading me to hope that the knowledge could be spread far and wide even as the rituals of healing and other 'Low Magic' have been." She pauses, the words obviously strange to say and little wonder. It was not so long ago when workings such as your ritualists are performing everyday were the province of sorcerers with decades or centuries of experience.
After a moment the lady continues: "Such wardings would also be hopefully strange and unknown to the servants of the Great Other, just as the wyverns and other arcane constructions were. The only sign of Their hand you encountered in the south was willfully invoked, not the sign of any deeper incursion, yes?"
"Yes, it was part of the mechanisms that preserved magic in and around Set'Var through the ages," you confirm.
"I suppose there is some comfort to the found in the fact that our elders could be as foolish as us," she says half to herself, a look of anger and sadness passing over her face. "Tell me, Your Grace, what do you know of Asshai?"
"More than most, not as much as I would wish," you answer honestly. "What can be gleamed from travelers' tales and sorcerers' grimoires." This was no offhand remark you know. As you had come to trust Melisandre of Asshai more with every battle fought so too has she come to trust you with more of her past, at least indirectly.
"The city at the Shadow's edge is old, as old as the Wall here in the Sunset Lands I suspect," she begins smoothly, having obviously prepared for this moment. "Most likely it is the oldest continuously inhabited settlement of men upon this world, though it was not men alone who raised its spell-carved walls nor carved vast boulevards that were never to be filled. As the first rays of dawn touched a broken world and most of those who endured sought to build anew those few who remained of the old world and sworn to it, mortal and immortal alike, sought to set a guard upon the festering wound of blackness in the east."
"Mortal and
immortal?" you probe.
Had there been enough celestials left in the world to give it one final gift?
"According to the records I was able to find, fragmentary and in places contradictory I must warn you," the sorceress temporizes. "Those who raised Asshai were alike onto Lord Elaenos,
much alike."
"Ones who did not forget their duties though they Fell," you guess. "Do these records tell from which kindred they were?"
"No, I could offer a few guess perhaps but..." she shakes her head. "That is not what brought my thoughts to Asshai when we spoke of the city of the serpent's kin, for you see of all magics those who raised Asshai were strongest in foresight and they saw the waning of magic, perhaps even the Doom of the dragonlords and thus they anchored the wards of the city to the only fount of power they knew would endure as long as Asshai's watchfulness would be needed."
"The Shadow itself," you say, words soft but certain.
What does that make it, twice in the span of three days you have heard of someone trying to use the power of the Void against itself? You find yourself stifling an inappropriate laugh at the absurdity of it all. At least the long dead builders of Asshai seem to have managed it better than Dovrak of the Thenns.
"Yes, the wards of Asshai are the strongest I know against the power of the Great Other, for no matter how heavy the blows have been over the ages the shield grows stronger to match every one," Melisandre says. "Madness I thought it when I first learned of it and never did I think I would share the insight for fear of the corruption it might unleash, but given all that I have seen today and in the days before in your realm I believe I can trust you with the secret, though I ask that you involve me in any attempt to study it be it by traveling to Asshai or in any other manner."
"Of course, my lady," you reply at once. This was no easy decision she had made and to give any other answer would be to poison the trust she had extended.
"Oh... and Your Grace, take care not to lose that crown." Her smile turns almost playful at your no doubt surprised expression. "If you do the Eldest of the Shadowbinders will be able to divine that I have shared this secret outside the order and they will seek my death."
"I shall endeavor to keep it affixed to my head, my lady," you laugh. Grim humor indeed, but honest for all that.
Do you have any further questions for Melisandre?
[] Yes
-[] Write in
[] No, continue to Moonsong
-[] Write in
[] Write in
OOC: Well this turned out a lot longer than I thought initially, but hopefully it proves an interesting look into Melisandre herself as well as what she unveiled about Asshai.
