Weighting Wisdom
The Twenty Second of Elnu-hamba [Elnu Descendent], Year Unknown
Rather than speak you continue doing right by the sunfruit in front of you. Sweet and tart by measure and possessed of an aroma all its own, an acquired taste, but one which you are glad to have acquired. Such thoughts as pass through your mind now are not for Inge to hear, for right or wrong they would wound her.
For his part Ohun looks troubled to hear of the deaths of his countrymen and even more so at the desecration and curse of the dead. His voice is grave as it is deep when he reaches out to carefully pat Inge's shoulder: "You have done well, young one."
"Does the walker choose the path or the path the walker?" Inge says softly. It has the ring of a question not meant to be answered, not really, rather some spinet of old wisdom or holy text.
The old man smiles, and though the quirk of his lips might be lost in his beard the gentle light in his eyes is unmistakable. Yet for just a moment there is something else in his eyes, a flash of
fascination perhaps.
Soon Inge excuses herself and seeks her bed, extraordinary though she may be she is still a child and as a child she will sleep the night away, for the first time in many months far from peril of sea or dark sorcery. Only once you have heard the sound of the door closing firmly and given time for her to go down the corridor do you speak. "I know little of these lands or their ways, and much of what I do know I have learned from Inge, but still I have not spent my years idly and I know something of the hearts of men for good or for ill, and
that I do not think is so far different from one land to the next."
"Oh?" Ohun leans forward in his seat, eyes gleaming in the light of the bronze lantern flickering overhead.
"Perhaps Ilfa sought nothing more than wisdom and learning on the Spear Islands, perhaps the men who accompanied him were only a guard against the dangers of the journey, but it seems to me strange that he had a piece of the greenstone before his first death, which he gave to his apprentice and then sought out in death." Here you shrug. "I do not know of any strife or grievance between Ilfa and the folk of Orinilu, nor any evil in their hearts that may have promoted treason, but it seems to me that he sought more than knowledge in death as in life."
As you speak the sorcerer's expression grows ever more searching.
Is he looking for lies, you wonder,
or have you disproved some thought he had about your origins? Three long breaths pass, then finally he sighs. "The thought has crossed the threshold of my mind and cold has been the wind it brings. This goes beyond a few dozen, or even hundred souls sent untimely into Ikomi's embrace. He sought to use that place, to use..." he cuts himself off. "It is late and you are no doubt weary from a day of walking the streets. Do not let an old man's ramblings keep you up. The dead are far beyond our judgement now and the girl is safe by fortune and fortitude."
Old man, yes, but one made wise and cunning by age, on that you would stake a hundred gold nobles. A part of you is curious about what he had been about to say. What use would the towers on the island been put to? On a more practical matter you wonder if he can do something about the magic which the Stout Folk claimed to have seen cursing the
Marcella, it will be a while yet before you are alone with him like this, yet Antonio might resent speaking on matters of his ship without his knowing.
What do you do?
[] Ask more questions about the Spear islands and what Ilfa was apparently 'trying to use'
[] Mention the magic that was said to cling to the Marcella
[] Say your farewells and seek your own bed, on the morrow you speak with a king
[] Write in
OOC: I hope I made the transition for Roland being able to speak about local magic relatively smooth and believable.
