Part MDCXC: In Blood Repaid
In Blood Repaid
Second Day of the First Month 293 AC
As the implications of what had been said and done during the battle make themselves apparent, you find yourself unsure if you should curse your ill fortune or embrace a rare chance. These Shaitan had not reacted to battling agents of the Brazen Throne as ones hunted by a greater power, but instead as warriors with a hated foe before them. Though your acts here today may bar you from the City of Brass, perhaps even from the Bazaar of Beggars, other paths open before you, and of course before an open door one should be very careful with one's introductions.
Rather than use magic to make yourself understood, you answer in the tongue of elder wyrms: "Viserys Targaryen, Lord of Sky and Flame." Then with a slight smile and the slightest tinge of contempt to your voice, "At the very least the latter I can claim with greater right than those pot-bellied monstrosities." As you had expected the barb cast upon their foes lightens the mood, though one without your experience in reading the expressions of otherworldly beings might have missed the subtle signs.
Before the commander can answer, Echo Caller interjects, "I am merely here as a guide charged with aiding and protecting merchants from distant realms. I ask for no recompense for myself or my clan as I am myself fulfilling an obligation."
With an approving tilt of the head the Shaitan turns her attention to the rest of your company. Malarys follows your lead in giving his name and the name of his house, though he does use magic to make himself understood. After sharing a look with Ser Richard, Dany introduces not only herself as a dreamweaver but also the knight as your champion and sworn protector.
"Know then, foreigners, that you have the thanks of myself, Alyneah Daughter of the House of Ajhar, and of my company," she speaks the same tongue and manages it as well as you have ever heard it save for a certain stiffness that comes from a tongue learned from books. "It pains me to say that I can grant you no reward here in the wilds that could compensate for the aid you have given us, indeed all of us are under an oath of silence regarding our charge, so you may not yet know what your timely aid fully means."
For once you are rather glad to hear the looming shadow of 'however' in someone's voice. A soldier this Alyneah may be, but she is enough of a courtier to know to lead with the bitter before the sweet.
"Though it is not within my power to reward you as you should rightfully be, I can open the path." So saying, she draws out a small chalky stone the size of a robin's egg and allows some of her blood to fall upon it. The stone transforms before your eyes into a midnight blue sapphire. "Show this token once before the Rainbow Gate to enter the Opaline Vault and a second time before the the walls of mine kindred's palace, and not only will you be rewarded, but there others may find you..." She says the last with marked discomfort, as one skirting the edges of an oath you suppose.
Gained Opaline Token of Entrance (House of Ajhar)
"My lady, your offer is most gracious," you say sincerely. "Yet I fear none of us here know the path to your realm."
"How could any merchant upon these paths, much less a sorcerer of your power, not know the way to the Jewel of the Peerless Empire?" The question is tinged with genuine surprise, almost shock. "From where do you hail?"
Truly the genies of any stripe come near to matching a dragon's pride, you think with carefully hidden amusement. Beneath it however is a genuine concern for what you might reply. Here in the wilds the guards you had just rescued are unlikely to probe into your secrets, but you doubt those who guard the gates of the great city itself would be so understanding.
What do you answer?
[] Write in
OOC: This can include other matters you want to discuss, not just the answer to her question.
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