Given they can toss the entire machine into the fabricator, most development will be focused around developing weapons the frame is capable of using before expanding to altering the mech proper. Those ideas will translate to all manner of personal and crew-served weapons, which should be fairly fun to explore, I think. What do you think they might do first?
Cold Winds Blowing (ASOIAF Celestial Forge)
- Thread starter TheBrokenLaw
- Start date
Sensors. Long range radar and stuff probably. That was a nasty surprise.
Oh yeah, for sure. Radar is iffy with the Others, as they've just discovered, but they'll be looking for anything and everything that can give them an edge there. Heck, even training dogs to recognize the scent the Others give off would be something, as someone over on SB suggested.
Dreams
I stretched lazily, blinking my eyes open. The room was cast in the now-familiar sourceless light that marked a Dream, and I grumbled back into Grenwin's arm.
Fucking dreams just wont stop.
"Huh," Kasey's voice sounded from the foot of the bed. Squinting my eye open, I gave her a death glare and deliberately closed it. "No, it's fine, I just thought you might want to know Grenwin is here, too."
Noted woman mumbled something, and I found myself scrunched against her in a most uncomfortable manner.
Grenwin?
I opened my eyes, brain lurching into gear in fits and starts. Yes, that was Gren. Kasey still stood at the foot of the bed, hand on Mai's shoulder and giggling like a schoolgirl.
"Gren, hey," I said, trying to squirm free. The woman opened her eyes, looked at me, then flung her arms wide. Suddenly and violently lacking any restraint, I found myself tumbling off the bed, landing on the ground with a thump.
"Oh, fuck, Maia!" She hopped over, helping me up. "I'm sorry!"
Standing, I shrugged, "It's alright. Hey, do you know those two?" I pointed at my sort-of parents.
She checked, the pair giving her a wave, "Yeah, they're alright. Ask after you a lot." Pausing, she looked down at her comfortable travel-leathers, then back at me. "What did you do?" She accused without heat.
I raised my hands defensively, only to be cut off by Kasey announcing, "Not her fault, Grenwin. You've been coming here all on your own, same as her."
We looked at each other, sleep-addled brains reaching a mutual conclusion.
"Let's not worry about this right now," I offered, receiving a grateful nod from her. I sat on the bed, ignoring the way my uniform shifted into a sleek dress for a moment.
"Kasey, I had the most interesting Dream last night. Do you know an Aeolia Schenberg? Why, he and I had quite the conversation, with such highlights as, I was married, got super-cancer, started getting into weird shit, and died! What the fuck is wrong with you? Why did you do that to him? I know that you intentionally caused that 'accident,' I've run the numbers. You needed such a specific frequency that you must have known something was going to happen!"
The woman reeled, taking a step back for near enough every word, until her back was up to the door. "You-" She spluttered, "What? Wait, that?" Her expression grew stormy, "You don't know shit. You have no idea, you insolent brat! The world was dying, and we caused it. We had fucking plastic in our fucking brains, global famines worsening every month, brushfire wars across the globe! Aeolia and I, we tried to stop it from getting worse, and we were winning!" She raved, jabbing her finger at me with every step.
"You've seen it! You've seen what we were on the verge of! No more war, no more death, peace amongst mankind!" Grabbing my shoulders, she leaned down, forcefully pushing her forehead against mine and staring madly at my eyes. "Did I know what I would become? No! But you know what, Maia? It was worth it. When I see him again, I'll tell him that. He understands, he always has."
Her breathing eased and she pulled away, turning to face away from us all. "And what have you done, Maia? You're just making our mistakes all over again. I've seen the dreams some of the others around here have, using our work, using Gundams to conquer? Don't be a hypocrite."
Grenwin shook her head, calmly walking up to Kasey and tapping her shoulder.
The blond turned her head to look at her, "What?"
"I'm gonna punch you," Grenwin told her evenly. "You've got three seconds."
Kasey's eyes widened, but she stood firm as Grenwin wound up a solid blow. It connected with a crash, sending the scientist to the ground.
"See," Grenwin crouched next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I don't know or care about whatever a Gundam is, but I do care very much that you've insulted my friend. We aren't building weapons to conquer, we're trying to defend ourselves. You've seen dreams? How many dream of pale men lurking in the woods, or standing in the window, or looming over the bed? How many dream of seeing the faces of their loved ones, dead and rotten and eyes gone blue? That's what an Armored Core is for. It's our responsibility, not yours, Kasey. You gave that up when you died," She glanced at me for confirmation; I gave her a nod.
We watched as her face went through shock, anger, terror, and finally a solemn acceptance. Looking at me, "I'm sorry. I- I think I saw what I wanted to see, not what really was. Just… If you remembered what Aeolia helped us do, you wouldn't have said what you said. That wasn't cool, Maia, but I think I understand." She smiled wanly, "Aeolia certainly never would have punched anyone."
Mai sat next to me, pulling me in for a warm hug, but remaining silent.
"Hey," I said after a moment, "Can we maybe not watch people's dreams? That sounds like a major violation, not that I've really thought about it before."
Grenwin nodded, thinking for a moment, then punching Kasey in the shoulder. "Don't watch mine or Ygdis' again. I'll know if you do."
Kasey flinched, nodding quickly, "I haven't! I can't, anyway. It's just, when people dream strongly, the dreams leak out here. I got caught in a frozen forest watching barbarians gleefully slaughtering knights, piloting a mobile suit, and… I'll try to avoid them, if I can, I promise." She shuddered, using Grenwin to climb back to her feet.
Grenwin's figure flickered and she turned, "Yg?"
She vanished.
Kasey shrugged, "Happens when someone wak-"
"Wake up!" Ygdis said loudly into my ear, shaking my shoulder. "We've got time to sleep, we've got time to train! I want out of here! Teach us, woman!"
Batting her hand away, I sat up. "Fine, if you're so damn impatient."
She sat on her cushion on the floor, facing me and smiling. I stumbled over, envious of Grenwin's soft snores as she went back to sleep, more falling than sitting on my own pillow.
"Just let me wake up for a second. Uh, remember what I said about Linking? Try and hold yourself there until, you know, we start doing things. Like a control exercise." I offered, propping myself up on my hand and yawning.
She nodded eagerly, eyes focusing on the middle distance while she mentally trained.
I bided my time, trying to figure out what else to do, even as my eyes inexorably closed.
"Wake up!" Ygdis shouted.
"Fuck!" I shouted back at her.
Stalemate.
Embracing the dearth of sleep, I had my nanites wake me up, focusing fully on training Ygdis for the next few hours. Grenwin continued to snore softly, holding her blanket so tightly I thought she might strain something, and I made sure to keep Ygdis from bothering her. She deserved the rest.
Fucking dreams just wont stop.
"Huh," Kasey's voice sounded from the foot of the bed. Squinting my eye open, I gave her a death glare and deliberately closed it. "No, it's fine, I just thought you might want to know Grenwin is here, too."
Noted woman mumbled something, and I found myself scrunched against her in a most uncomfortable manner.
Grenwin?
I opened my eyes, brain lurching into gear in fits and starts. Yes, that was Gren. Kasey still stood at the foot of the bed, hand on Mai's shoulder and giggling like a schoolgirl.
"Gren, hey," I said, trying to squirm free. The woman opened her eyes, looked at me, then flung her arms wide. Suddenly and violently lacking any restraint, I found myself tumbling off the bed, landing on the ground with a thump.
"Oh, fuck, Maia!" She hopped over, helping me up. "I'm sorry!"
Standing, I shrugged, "It's alright. Hey, do you know those two?" I pointed at my sort-of parents.
She checked, the pair giving her a wave, "Yeah, they're alright. Ask after you a lot." Pausing, she looked down at her comfortable travel-leathers, then back at me. "What did you do?" She accused without heat.
I raised my hands defensively, only to be cut off by Kasey announcing, "Not her fault, Grenwin. You've been coming here all on your own, same as her."
We looked at each other, sleep-addled brains reaching a mutual conclusion.
"Let's not worry about this right now," I offered, receiving a grateful nod from her. I sat on the bed, ignoring the way my uniform shifted into a sleek dress for a moment.
"Kasey, I had the most interesting Dream last night. Do you know an Aeolia Schenberg? Why, he and I had quite the conversation, with such highlights as, I was married, got super-cancer, started getting into weird shit, and died! What the fuck is wrong with you? Why did you do that to him? I know that you intentionally caused that 'accident,' I've run the numbers. You needed such a specific frequency that you must have known something was going to happen!"
The woman reeled, taking a step back for near enough every word, until her back was up to the door. "You-" She spluttered, "What? Wait, that?" Her expression grew stormy, "You don't know shit. You have no idea, you insolent brat! The world was dying, and we caused it. We had fucking plastic in our fucking brains, global famines worsening every month, brushfire wars across the globe! Aeolia and I, we tried to stop it from getting worse, and we were winning!" She raved, jabbing her finger at me with every step.
"You've seen it! You've seen what we were on the verge of! No more war, no more death, peace amongst mankind!" Grabbing my shoulders, she leaned down, forcefully pushing her forehead against mine and staring madly at my eyes. "Did I know what I would become? No! But you know what, Maia? It was worth it. When I see him again, I'll tell him that. He understands, he always has."
Her breathing eased and she pulled away, turning to face away from us all. "And what have you done, Maia? You're just making our mistakes all over again. I've seen the dreams some of the others around here have, using our work, using Gundams to conquer? Don't be a hypocrite."
Grenwin shook her head, calmly walking up to Kasey and tapping her shoulder.
The blond turned her head to look at her, "What?"
"I'm gonna punch you," Grenwin told her evenly. "You've got three seconds."
Kasey's eyes widened, but she stood firm as Grenwin wound up a solid blow. It connected with a crash, sending the scientist to the ground.
"See," Grenwin crouched next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I don't know or care about whatever a Gundam is, but I do care very much that you've insulted my friend. We aren't building weapons to conquer, we're trying to defend ourselves. You've seen dreams? How many dream of pale men lurking in the woods, or standing in the window, or looming over the bed? How many dream of seeing the faces of their loved ones, dead and rotten and eyes gone blue? That's what an Armored Core is for. It's our responsibility, not yours, Kasey. You gave that up when you died," She glanced at me for confirmation; I gave her a nod.
We watched as her face went through shock, anger, terror, and finally a solemn acceptance. Looking at me, "I'm sorry. I- I think I saw what I wanted to see, not what really was. Just… If you remembered what Aeolia helped us do, you wouldn't have said what you said. That wasn't cool, Maia, but I think I understand." She smiled wanly, "Aeolia certainly never would have punched anyone."
Mai sat next to me, pulling me in for a warm hug, but remaining silent.
"Hey," I said after a moment, "Can we maybe not watch people's dreams? That sounds like a major violation, not that I've really thought about it before."
Grenwin nodded, thinking for a moment, then punching Kasey in the shoulder. "Don't watch mine or Ygdis' again. I'll know if you do."
Kasey flinched, nodding quickly, "I haven't! I can't, anyway. It's just, when people dream strongly, the dreams leak out here. I got caught in a frozen forest watching barbarians gleefully slaughtering knights, piloting a mobile suit, and… I'll try to avoid them, if I can, I promise." She shuddered, using Grenwin to climb back to her feet.
Grenwin's figure flickered and she turned, "Yg?"
She vanished.
Kasey shrugged, "Happens when someone wak-"
"Wake up!" Ygdis said loudly into my ear, shaking my shoulder. "We've got time to sleep, we've got time to train! I want out of here! Teach us, woman!"
Batting her hand away, I sat up. "Fine, if you're so damn impatient."
She sat on her cushion on the floor, facing me and smiling. I stumbled over, envious of Grenwin's soft snores as she went back to sleep, more falling than sitting on my own pillow.
"Just let me wake up for a second. Uh, remember what I said about Linking? Try and hold yourself there until, you know, we start doing things. Like a control exercise." I offered, propping myself up on my hand and yawning.
She nodded eagerly, eyes focusing on the middle distance while she mentally trained.
I bided my time, trying to figure out what else to do, even as my eyes inexorably closed.
"Wake up!" Ygdis shouted.
"Fuck!" I shouted back at her.
Stalemate.
Embracing the dearth of sleep, I had my nanites wake me up, focusing fully on training Ygdis for the next few hours. Grenwin continued to snore softly, holding her blanket so tightly I thought she might strain something, and I made sure to keep Ygdis from bothering her. She deserved the rest.
Lorni II
Lorni picked his way through the underbrush lining the old Elk path. Not far behind him, Able kept his senses sharp. They weren't the only scouts moving ahead of the caravan, several other First Forker volunteers had been paired off with the outsiders.
The air had begun growing unseasonably warm the closer they approached First Fork. The Antler, visible through the forest, was the only true sign that they were on course. The summer snow had completely vanished, taking the familiar landscape and transforming it into a verdant foreign mess of life that left Lorni confused.
He would be more concerned, had he not felt welcomed by this new forest. The deep shadows hidden by the ancient growth had gone, replaced by sun-dappled foliage. Where there was once silence, now it was as though the land itself celebrated. Red-tailed squirrels chittered, flinging themselves from branch to branch as if to accompany the pair, while birdsong filtered through the new growth.
It was as if the land itself recognized him. He'd prayed before the Heart tree and felt something like that a few times, but this… Every step was sure as if he'd already known where rocks and roots and divots in the dirt lay. When he stood still, the earth hummed through the soles of his soft boots, but he wasn't frightened by it. It reminded him of how his ma would hum while they huddled together during snowstorms.
Able tripped on a small root he'd somehow missed, cursing. Lorni caught him, giving the taller man a brush across the shoulders. "Woah there!"
"Has First Fork always been like this?" Able asked as they continued, carefully picking his way down the path.
"Nope." Across the river, Lorni could see the familiar snow-blanketed forest, a stark contrast to the localized summer. "Dunno why it's so hot, either." Spying the ancient and gnarled Weirwood that marked where the Sprig River emptied into the Antler, he pointed it out to his companion. "We'll be at First Fork within the hour."
"Great," Able replied happily. "We'll have real food and warm beds tonight." Wiping sweat from his brow, "Beds, anyway. Could skip the warm."
Lorni grunted an acknowledgment. He wasn't blind, and he'd watched the otherwise sure-footed fellow start having trouble back where the snow had been melting. It was odd, and if he had to guess, it might have something to do with the way he was being guided. The more they walked, the more certain he was. Was this a woods-witch thing? He'd ask Ellir, she was a wise woman and dealt with the Gods, so she'd likely know something. Then again, she'd tell him it in a way he'd have to puzzle through…
Able tripped again, and again Lorni caught him. "Thanks," the outsider muttered, kicking the root that his foot caught on.
"Wonder why the land doesn't like you," Lorni said. "You hurt a weirwood lately?"
Shaking his head, "I've always tried to be respectful to the Gods. It never hurts to keep yourself covered. Whatever this is, it feels different." He blinked, shaking his head. "Right, and I can feel it." He shuddered, falling silent, clearly perplexed.
Lorni could admit to himself that some of Maia's long words could be fun to think and say, not that he'd let anyone else know that.
"I feel it too," Lorni offered in sympathy. "Though, I think the land likes me. It recognizes me, it seems."
"Lived here long?" Able asked, studying Lorni's eyes in a discomfortingly sharp way.
"Born under the Heart tree," Lorni nodded, breaking away from Able's gaze to keep moving.
"It doesn't bother you?" The man's voice was thin, "All of this, and what else everyone says of your wise woman?"
Shrugging, Lorni sighed. "It does. It's like standing on the edge of a cliff, looking down over a fog, and not knowing if there's anywhere safe to drop. It helps to know that most of us feel that way. Even if the changes stopped, I don't think what's done can be undone. So, take things as they are, one step at a time. That's how we've learned to handle it." Smirking, "Just wait till you live through a moonturn in an hour. That's about the worst thing, but it's not that bad once it's done."
The other man's reply was interrupted by a branch slipping from his grasp and thwacking him across the chest. He wheezed, stumbling past, and Lorni let him catch his breath.
Once recovered, Able gave him a thankful nod and they continued walking.
Not too long after, Lorni's roving eyes noticed a splash of red and white against the greenery, up ahead and toward the river. As they drew closer, he saw it was the young weirwood that had taken root on a low outcropping. The tree had been carved, recently enough that the carving was barely barked over.
"Someone's carved a tree?" Lorni wondered aloud, noting a considerate noise from Able.
"I'd like to check it," The outsider explained, gingerly moving through the underbrush to get closer to the weirwood.
Lorni followed, perplexed to see one side of the tree had been painstakingly carved into the visage of a woman with a proud stature and a gentle smile on her face.
"An Ancestor-tree…" Able murmured, kneeling before it. He slipped off his pack, rifling around until he brought out a small clay dish a thumb's length wide. He produced a small bundle of long overly fragrant twigs, carefully taking one and placing it in a small hole bored off to the side of the dish.
"What are you doing?" Lorni asked, unintentionally looming behind the man.
"Something a wise woman taught me once, when in unfamiliar lands, always make peace with those who live within." He nodded to the tree, "It's a ritual that's never hurt to do before. And," he said with a small smile, "I think this is a way of showing respect before the Gods."
With a small striking steel and piece of flint, he carefully lit the end of the twig. Setting the tools aside as a stream of thin smoke wafted up, Able took out an uncommonly small blade. It looked to be carved bone to Lorni, inscribed with intricate runes and sigils, crossing over each other.
He watched as Able pricked the tip of his thumb with the point of the blade, waiting for a droplet of blood to build. "I come here in peace, I swear on my blood." Smearing a swipe across an exposed root, "I will bring no harm on those you watch. I will aid where I can," Another swipe, crossing the first. "And I will leave in peace. I claim guest-right among you." He pressed his thumb down in the crook between the swipes, leaving a clear print.
He sat back, kneeling quietly and watching the stream of smoke. Lorni, curious, sat next to him.
A breeze rippled through the forest, sending the leaves of the weirwood fluttering, the sound like a thousand whispering voices at the edge of hearing. The smoke curled, twisting in the air, and Lorni found himself compelled to speak.
"I, ah, I do not know who this man is, or if he is who he says he is…" Able looked at him with confusion, and Lorni could only offer a shrug. "He's the type who listens before talking, and he's got some good stories."
The eyes of the woman seemed to stare through him, dappled shadows dancing across her form, and for just a moment Lorni could see the flesh and fabric the carving only suggested.
Out in the forest, a hare screeched. For a moment the birdsong quieted, before returning louder than before as if annoyed at the interruption.
Wetting his lips, Lorni continued, "I don't think he's one to break his Oath. Not, not an Oath like that."
The wind rustled more strongly, sending the shadows flickering madly. The woman seemed to nod through the haze of smoke lingering in front of her, and Lorni shivered as cold prickles broke out over his skin.
Then, it was over, and Lorni saw only the carving of a woman, set within the pale bark of a weirwood. Able shakily stood, leaving the snuffed twig and dish.
"We should keep moving," Lorni offered, receiving a nod.
They returned to the path, continuing in silence. Lorni understood, there wasn't much to say after a man sees something that shouldn't be. He remembered how it had taken him hours to start feeling anything other than that awful hollow feeling after Maia had shredded that ancient Sentinel.
"It gets easier," Lorni offered after a while. "It's still terrifying, but once you've seen someone wave at an old tree," He pointed at a similar conifer, easily four paces around at the base, "Like that one, and it just lifts out of the ground and…" He remembered the awful prickling he felt then, too, like he'd stumbled into a swarm of biting gnats. "It gets easier." He finished, lamely.
"I'll try to remember that," Able gratefully replied.
It wasn't long after that Able paused mid-step, cocking his head. "How close are we to First Fork?"
"Fairly close," Lorni replied, "I think. I'm not used to all this green."
"Ah." Able cupped his hands to his mouth, "Hullo, whoever has us surrounded! We're part of Chief Teagj's party!"
Out of the undergrowth, three people stepped out to meet them. They each wore similar clothing, well-fitted buttoned jackets, and belted trousers, all of linen dappled a dark grey-green color. Subdued enough that Lorni had missed them, and even now he was having difficulty picking out the others standing around them. Another six, maybe seven?
"Lorni, that you?" The central figure, and it took Lorni a second to place Wyck's voice to that well-trimmed face.
"You cut your hair?" Lorni asked him, "Damn, you were prettier with it."
Wyck groaned, "Don't even start. You're with Teagj? Where is he?"
Able pointed back up the path, "He's back upriver with the rest. There's, oh, around five hundred people coming to First Fork."
Wyck stared at him with wide eyes, then at Lorni, who nodded. "Fuck me," He groaned again, "We've only just got our feet under us and now we have to do the whole 'let's get along' thing again?" He pulled a large square off the side of his pack with a tearing sound, holding it before him and poking at it. "You said five hundred?" Wyck asked Able.
"Around that, probably more." The man shrugged, "Mostly you Antlermen, some Hornfoots, and a few Nightrunners."
"All right," The man said, tapping away for a moment, then slapping the square back onto his pack. To Lorni's amazement, it stayed steady, despite how easily Wyck had ripped it free. "So, can you guys lead us there? Best to bring them in gentle."
Lorni frowned, "Yeah, but what do you mean? What's with the outfits, anyway? And that thing you were poking at?"
Wyck chuckled mirthlessly, "A lot has happened while you were away. Here, I'll tell you all about it on the way." Seeming interested, Able motioned at Lorni, setting off back the way they came.
"See, a little while after you left, the Others came again…" Wick started, laying out a fantastic tale. How they'd worked together to keep the wights at bay, the way the Others had tried to steal the heat from their fires before Maia had distracted them; The rousing song that steeled their hearts and girded their loins as they watched the pale men ignore the enchanted arrows meant to slay them, how the rhythm kept each of them working in tandem to pin down the dead and cut them to pieces too small to keep moving.
"Her sword, you said it flashed and screamed when the Other's blade clashed with it?" Able asked intently after hearing that part of the story.
"Oh, yeah." Anfrei, a uniformed woman Lorni didn't know well, confirmed. "Wasn't her blade that screamed, it was the Other's. When they connected, everything went blue-white for a second, and the only thing we could hear was this shriek. Fucking spooky, I tell you."
On the trek back to the caravan, Lorni noticed two things he thought might be important. One, Able was very interested in Maia's sword, for some reason, and two, the man was no longer having any difficulty on the path. His trouble hadn't been feigned before. Lorni suspected that ritual had something to do with it.
The air had begun growing unseasonably warm the closer they approached First Fork. The Antler, visible through the forest, was the only true sign that they were on course. The summer snow had completely vanished, taking the familiar landscape and transforming it into a verdant foreign mess of life that left Lorni confused.
He would be more concerned, had he not felt welcomed by this new forest. The deep shadows hidden by the ancient growth had gone, replaced by sun-dappled foliage. Where there was once silence, now it was as though the land itself celebrated. Red-tailed squirrels chittered, flinging themselves from branch to branch as if to accompany the pair, while birdsong filtered through the new growth.
It was as if the land itself recognized him. He'd prayed before the Heart tree and felt something like that a few times, but this… Every step was sure as if he'd already known where rocks and roots and divots in the dirt lay. When he stood still, the earth hummed through the soles of his soft boots, but he wasn't frightened by it. It reminded him of how his ma would hum while they huddled together during snowstorms.
Able tripped on a small root he'd somehow missed, cursing. Lorni caught him, giving the taller man a brush across the shoulders. "Woah there!"
"Has First Fork always been like this?" Able asked as they continued, carefully picking his way down the path.
"Nope." Across the river, Lorni could see the familiar snow-blanketed forest, a stark contrast to the localized summer. "Dunno why it's so hot, either." Spying the ancient and gnarled Weirwood that marked where the Sprig River emptied into the Antler, he pointed it out to his companion. "We'll be at First Fork within the hour."
"Great," Able replied happily. "We'll have real food and warm beds tonight." Wiping sweat from his brow, "Beds, anyway. Could skip the warm."
Lorni grunted an acknowledgment. He wasn't blind, and he'd watched the otherwise sure-footed fellow start having trouble back where the snow had been melting. It was odd, and if he had to guess, it might have something to do with the way he was being guided. The more they walked, the more certain he was. Was this a woods-witch thing? He'd ask Ellir, she was a wise woman and dealt with the Gods, so she'd likely know something. Then again, she'd tell him it in a way he'd have to puzzle through…
Able tripped again, and again Lorni caught him. "Thanks," the outsider muttered, kicking the root that his foot caught on.
"Wonder why the land doesn't like you," Lorni said. "You hurt a weirwood lately?"
Shaking his head, "I've always tried to be respectful to the Gods. It never hurts to keep yourself covered. Whatever this is, it feels different." He blinked, shaking his head. "Right, and I can feel it." He shuddered, falling silent, clearly perplexed.
Lorni could admit to himself that some of Maia's long words could be fun to think and say, not that he'd let anyone else know that.
"I feel it too," Lorni offered in sympathy. "Though, I think the land likes me. It recognizes me, it seems."
"Lived here long?" Able asked, studying Lorni's eyes in a discomfortingly sharp way.
"Born under the Heart tree," Lorni nodded, breaking away from Able's gaze to keep moving.
"It doesn't bother you?" The man's voice was thin, "All of this, and what else everyone says of your wise woman?"
Shrugging, Lorni sighed. "It does. It's like standing on the edge of a cliff, looking down over a fog, and not knowing if there's anywhere safe to drop. It helps to know that most of us feel that way. Even if the changes stopped, I don't think what's done can be undone. So, take things as they are, one step at a time. That's how we've learned to handle it." Smirking, "Just wait till you live through a moonturn in an hour. That's about the worst thing, but it's not that bad once it's done."
The other man's reply was interrupted by a branch slipping from his grasp and thwacking him across the chest. He wheezed, stumbling past, and Lorni let him catch his breath.
Once recovered, Able gave him a thankful nod and they continued walking.
Not too long after, Lorni's roving eyes noticed a splash of red and white against the greenery, up ahead and toward the river. As they drew closer, he saw it was the young weirwood that had taken root on a low outcropping. The tree had been carved, recently enough that the carving was barely barked over.
"Someone's carved a tree?" Lorni wondered aloud, noting a considerate noise from Able.
"I'd like to check it," The outsider explained, gingerly moving through the underbrush to get closer to the weirwood.
Lorni followed, perplexed to see one side of the tree had been painstakingly carved into the visage of a woman with a proud stature and a gentle smile on her face.
"An Ancestor-tree…" Able murmured, kneeling before it. He slipped off his pack, rifling around until he brought out a small clay dish a thumb's length wide. He produced a small bundle of long overly fragrant twigs, carefully taking one and placing it in a small hole bored off to the side of the dish.
"What are you doing?" Lorni asked, unintentionally looming behind the man.
"Something a wise woman taught me once, when in unfamiliar lands, always make peace with those who live within." He nodded to the tree, "It's a ritual that's never hurt to do before. And," he said with a small smile, "I think this is a way of showing respect before the Gods."
With a small striking steel and piece of flint, he carefully lit the end of the twig. Setting the tools aside as a stream of thin smoke wafted up, Able took out an uncommonly small blade. It looked to be carved bone to Lorni, inscribed with intricate runes and sigils, crossing over each other.
He watched as Able pricked the tip of his thumb with the point of the blade, waiting for a droplet of blood to build. "I come here in peace, I swear on my blood." Smearing a swipe across an exposed root, "I will bring no harm on those you watch. I will aid where I can," Another swipe, crossing the first. "And I will leave in peace. I claim guest-right among you." He pressed his thumb down in the crook between the swipes, leaving a clear print.
He sat back, kneeling quietly and watching the stream of smoke. Lorni, curious, sat next to him.
A breeze rippled through the forest, sending the leaves of the weirwood fluttering, the sound like a thousand whispering voices at the edge of hearing. The smoke curled, twisting in the air, and Lorni found himself compelled to speak.
"I, ah, I do not know who this man is, or if he is who he says he is…" Able looked at him with confusion, and Lorni could only offer a shrug. "He's the type who listens before talking, and he's got some good stories."
The eyes of the woman seemed to stare through him, dappled shadows dancing across her form, and for just a moment Lorni could see the flesh and fabric the carving only suggested.
Out in the forest, a hare screeched. For a moment the birdsong quieted, before returning louder than before as if annoyed at the interruption.
Wetting his lips, Lorni continued, "I don't think he's one to break his Oath. Not, not an Oath like that."
The wind rustled more strongly, sending the shadows flickering madly. The woman seemed to nod through the haze of smoke lingering in front of her, and Lorni shivered as cold prickles broke out over his skin.
Then, it was over, and Lorni saw only the carving of a woman, set within the pale bark of a weirwood. Able shakily stood, leaving the snuffed twig and dish.
"We should keep moving," Lorni offered, receiving a nod.
They returned to the path, continuing in silence. Lorni understood, there wasn't much to say after a man sees something that shouldn't be. He remembered how it had taken him hours to start feeling anything other than that awful hollow feeling after Maia had shredded that ancient Sentinel.
"It gets easier," Lorni offered after a while. "It's still terrifying, but once you've seen someone wave at an old tree," He pointed at a similar conifer, easily four paces around at the base, "Like that one, and it just lifts out of the ground and…" He remembered the awful prickling he felt then, too, like he'd stumbled into a swarm of biting gnats. "It gets easier." He finished, lamely.
"I'll try to remember that," Able gratefully replied.
It wasn't long after that Able paused mid-step, cocking his head. "How close are we to First Fork?"
"Fairly close," Lorni replied, "I think. I'm not used to all this green."
"Ah." Able cupped his hands to his mouth, "Hullo, whoever has us surrounded! We're part of Chief Teagj's party!"
Out of the undergrowth, three people stepped out to meet them. They each wore similar clothing, well-fitted buttoned jackets, and belted trousers, all of linen dappled a dark grey-green color. Subdued enough that Lorni had missed them, and even now he was having difficulty picking out the others standing around them. Another six, maybe seven?
"Lorni, that you?" The central figure, and it took Lorni a second to place Wyck's voice to that well-trimmed face.
"You cut your hair?" Lorni asked him, "Damn, you were prettier with it."
Wyck groaned, "Don't even start. You're with Teagj? Where is he?"
Able pointed back up the path, "He's back upriver with the rest. There's, oh, around five hundred people coming to First Fork."
Wyck stared at him with wide eyes, then at Lorni, who nodded. "Fuck me," He groaned again, "We've only just got our feet under us and now we have to do the whole 'let's get along' thing again?" He pulled a large square off the side of his pack with a tearing sound, holding it before him and poking at it. "You said five hundred?" Wyck asked Able.
"Around that, probably more." The man shrugged, "Mostly you Antlermen, some Hornfoots, and a few Nightrunners."
"All right," The man said, tapping away for a moment, then slapping the square back onto his pack. To Lorni's amazement, it stayed steady, despite how easily Wyck had ripped it free. "So, can you guys lead us there? Best to bring them in gentle."
Lorni frowned, "Yeah, but what do you mean? What's with the outfits, anyway? And that thing you were poking at?"
Wyck chuckled mirthlessly, "A lot has happened while you were away. Here, I'll tell you all about it on the way." Seeming interested, Able motioned at Lorni, setting off back the way they came.
"See, a little while after you left, the Others came again…" Wick started, laying out a fantastic tale. How they'd worked together to keep the wights at bay, the way the Others had tried to steal the heat from their fires before Maia had distracted them; The rousing song that steeled their hearts and girded their loins as they watched the pale men ignore the enchanted arrows meant to slay them, how the rhythm kept each of them working in tandem to pin down the dead and cut them to pieces too small to keep moving.
"Her sword, you said it flashed and screamed when the Other's blade clashed with it?" Able asked intently after hearing that part of the story.
"Oh, yeah." Anfrei, a uniformed woman Lorni didn't know well, confirmed. "Wasn't her blade that screamed, it was the Other's. When they connected, everything went blue-white for a second, and the only thing we could hear was this shriek. Fucking spooky, I tell you."
On the trek back to the caravan, Lorni noticed two things he thought might be important. One, Able was very interested in Maia's sword, for some reason, and two, the man was no longer having any difficulty on the path. His trouble hadn't been feigned before. Lorni suspected that ritual had something to do with it.
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Ygdis III
Ygdis sipped at her mug of warm broth, sitting comfortably on her floor cushion, watching her sister casually handle threads of Saidar. It was as if a whole new sight had been granted to her, revealing the subtle world that lay all around them.
She savored the taste and the smell and the warmth of her drink, the calm thrum of the One Power running through her as she focused on guiding it through her. Not to channel, but to learn to withstand distraction.
Grenwin sat across the low table from her, popping a small cut of roast turnip into her mouth and chewing thoughtfully.
Maia was sitting between them, drumming her fingers on her crossed legs and thinking. With a sigh, the unseen knot fell apart, threads dissipating into a vague mist before vanishing.
"I think," she eventually ventured, "We should probably talk about the weird stuff that's been happening."
Grenwin clenched her hand into a fist momentarily, brow furrowing as she looked at her injured hand.
"Yeah, we should. I think I dreamt I punched someone," she said, shaking her head.
Maia perked up, "Let's start with that! I'm pretty sure that happened!"
Grenwin gently put her next morsel back down. "What?"
"Your dream?" Ygdis prodded.
Nodding, Maia pointed at Grenwin's busted knuckles. "She punched my past life and got that for her trouble. Thank you, Grenwin."
Slowly, the taller woman nodded. "That was real, then?" A moment passed as she thought, "Wait, you had a husband?"
Ygdis had dreams too, the same dream, every night. Her eyes felt unfocused, having a hard time sticking to any one place as her friends' words buzzed in her ears.
"No," Maia said firmly, "I am not her. She's, sort of, my mother? One of them."
"Huh." Grenwin thought it over, finally nodding. "Aye, I can see that. Not sure how that works."
The old hollow feeling threatened to swallow Ygdis up. Deep within, something cracked, then crumbled away.
Mad eyes of blue flame, flickering wildly in hatred and rage, set in her brother's face. Her brother's voice echoed from her brother's mouth, a song of pain and grief joining a chorus that screamed.
Ygdis bolted to her feet, pointing at the other women. "No! Those are just dreams! He's dead! Dead and with the gods!"
The other two women stared at Ygdis with shock, Grenwin caught with another morsel halfway to her mouth.
Maia moved over, opening a space between her and Grenwin. "Come and sit with us, Yg."
Face aflame, Ygdis sat between them, "I, ah, I don't…" In an attempt at redirection, she took one of Grenwin's turnip bits, popping it into her mouth.
For all the flavor, it tasted like ash.
"Tasty," Ygdis lied, "Lom's work?"
Grenwin exchanged a look with Maia before reaching over and enfolding Ygdis in one of her bear hugs.
Shuddering, Ygdis felt her meager control slip away, breath coming in shaky gasps and tears staining the older woman's tunic. Every time she thought of her brother, the fate she couldn't admit fearing, another sob would force its way out of her. It wasn't real. It couldn't be.
She remembered her brother's laughter, his smiling face as he taught her how to knot a fishing net, how to hold a spear and loose arrows, and the secret songs Mom had taught him before she passed.
In her memory, he lived still, vibrant and resolute.
In her heart, she knew Ebbo was dead, endless dirge echoing around her.
Slowly, a realization came upon her. Sniffling, she pulled away, wiping her face clean with her sleeve.
"My brother is dead." Ygdis told them, "But he still sings." She tapped her head, "I can hear him. I hear him all the time." She shuddered, forcing herself to face the truth.
It felt like great scoops were being taken from her soul, leaving a cold void.
"We can help him!" Turning to Maia, "You can heal anything! We just have to find him!"
Delicate fingers stroked through Ygdis' hair. "Find your brother? How?"
"They used to play games," Grenwin murmured, "And it was their gift to be able to find each other, no matter where the other hid."
Ygdis nodded, "If I'm close enough, I might be able to…" She shuddered, imagining her brother locked away, far from warmth and life. "I can find him," She finished, her tremulous voice exposing her fragile confidence.
"We will," Maia promised, "If we can find your brother, we'll do what we can for him."
Ygdis had no more tears to shed, latching onto the smaller woman with a powerful grip. "Thank you," she murmured.
Grenwin chuckled on her other side, rubbing Ygdis' back with a strong hand. "We'll figure it out," she said with such certainty that Ygdis almost believed her.
Ygdis was unsure how long they stayed like that, quietly supporting her. Eventually, she released Maia, reaching for her mug and taking a sip of life-giving warmth. It settled in her belly, her inner hearth blazing with renewed fervor.
"Dreams." Ygdis said, turning to Grenwin. "What happened last night?"
The bear-wife thought it over, "Maia woke me up, but I was still dreaming. I can tell, the light is different in dreams…" She pointed at the ceiling, where leaf-hidden glimmers softly lit the room.
"In the dream, all the light seems to be everywhere at once, and shadows don't act the way they should. That's how I can tell, anyway. It doesn't feel any different than being awake." She frowned, brow furrowed. "There are two women I meet in my dreams, lately. One looks just like Maia, and I mean exactly alike."
Ygdis looked at the winged woman, cocking her head. "There are two of you?"
"No!" Maia said quickly, "Mai is her own person, I think."
"The other woman is taller than you, Ygdis, and has a most unsettling bearing about her. You know how it feels when," Gren paused, eyes flicking at Maia, "When someone looks at you like you could be more? With Kasey, that's her name, it's like she's looking at the dirt under her boot."
"Like how Symon used to look at us?" Ygdis questioned, remembering something like that from the man before he'd just stopped one day.
"Yeah, exactly," Grenwin confirmed. "Maia accused her of working with someone else in the past, and Kasey changed; It was as though she'd become a different person. She was cruel in word and tone, accusing us of taking Maia's gifts to war and conquest, telling us that she'd watched our dreams, judging us without even knowing what we face…" She clenched her fist again, thumping it into the palm of her hand.
"Some credit to her," Maia said, "She took your punch without whining. I think you got through to her, Gren."
"What'd she say?" Ygdis asked Maia, wanting to hear the tale told by another.
"Grenwin hit her, then sat her down and told her that there are more dreams than those of conquest, dreams of…" She trailed off, looking Ygdis in the eyes. "Dreams of the Others, dreams of being Taken."
Ygdis flinched only a little, taking a moment to feed the worry and pain into her mental candle. "Okay."
Grenwin still looked confused. "Yeah, I did. So…"
"Dreams are real enough to communicate through," Maia offered. "Let's start with that."
The three women nodded.
Slipping her tablet out of her capacious coat pocket, Ygdis brought up the notepad, labeling the empty screen with a simple title, Things we think we know. She added Dreams can be real, followed by, Ebbo isn't gone and I still hear him.
Setting the tablet on the table, she gestured at it. "Let's make sure we keep track."
"The weather," Grenwin said abruptly, "It's been bothering me. Why is it so bloody hot here? If it weren't for these clothes, we'd be roasting."
Ygdis nodded, "Yeah, what did you do, Maia?"
The short woman shrugged, "During the first battle, I anchored the artificial sun I'd made to the land. I think it may have had some unexpected effects."
"Jinhe's Earthshaping," Grenwin offered, taking the tablet and typing away. "He said it didn't work outside a Stedding, but Symon and Ame both watched him bend a bench from the earth. Symon, I trust to speak truly."
"The Heart Tree is different," Ygdis interjected, "It doesn't bleed sap anymore, and the eyes seem to watch again."
Grenwin typed furiously, nodding.
Maia frowned, "Ygdis, why do you say they watch? It's just a carved tree, isn't it?"
"No," Grenwin firmly stated, "The gods watch and listen through heart trees. Everyone in my clan knew this, and our offerings were always gratefully accepted."
"Please explain?" Maia asked her, Ygdis nodding eagerly.
Grenwin sighed, "Alright, I'll tell you what the shamans taught us. I'm not as good as they were…" She sat back, taking a moment to put the tale in order.
"Long ago, in the time before the Bear Clans, a time of savagery and untamed strength, the gods warred. Those of the trees, the rivers, the skies, and even those that dwelt below the soil, all roamed the world. Where they tread, the Old Clans were smashed and scattered to the four Winds."
"Our people," Grenwin intoned, gesturing widely, "Those who came to dwell in the heart of the cold Northern winds, we were all still one. We learned from the Singers the ways of speaking to the gods. How to plea for mercy and aid and vengeance, how to command and bind, to bring the spirits to walk amongst us as friends and equals. When the gods came to slumber 'neath the land, the roots of the Weirwood touch where they dwell still, and through the roots they dream of days past."
Taking a deep breath, Gren took a sip of water before continuing. "The Singers taught us to carve the flesh of the living Weirwood, to carve a stream flowing from their world to ours, and from ours to theirs. This is a Heart Tree, the heart of our homes and dwellings. To die under the boughs of the Heart Tree is to rejoin with your ancestors, where you dwell in peace evermore. To be born under the heart tree is to be blessed by the Gods, cursed to bear their gifts in life and in death."
She trailed off, face uncertain. "I'm sorry, I'm not sure I'm telling it right. The point is, the gods sleep, but their dreams touch our world through the heart trees. They can watch us, hear us, and when we drape our offerings throughout the branches, we offer them power. From them, we gained our Bears, or so the stories tell."
Ygdis nodded excitedly, pointing to Grenwin. "That's a little like what I was taught, except for the bits about bears and winds. My Ma used to say that skinchanging was one of the gifts the Gods granted and that they hear our pleas when we pray under the heart tree, but only then."
Maia nodded soberly, "Better note that down, then. I don't know what we should do about our heart tree. Best not to do anything until we find a clear course of action, make sure whatever is watching doesn't learn about this conversation."
Grenwin and Ygdis looked at each other, considering. This wasn't going against the gods, exactly, and it seemed prudent enough.
"Sure," Grenwin offered.
Ygdis took the chance to have another bit of roast turnip, fully enjoying the complex flavors. "I think we need to open this up," she gestured at the other women, "I mean, Grenwin and I don't know everything. I don't think anyone can know everything, but if we get as many people who maybe know things together, we might all learn something useful."
Maia took just a moment to think about it before nodding, "Yeah, alright. Let's take this over to the Lodge and make it as public as possible. Let's keep it restricted to figuring out what's actionable and what isn't worth pursuing."
"Fair enough," Grenwin said, rising. Nodding to the door that led outside,
"Does this mean we're free to go?"
Maia sighed theatrically, "Yes, Gren. It's become very clear that none of us is going to figure out Healing by just shutting ourselves away."
Ygdis rose to her feet, pulling Maia up with her. "We'll figure it out," she told the winged woman, "I don't plan on getting spiked like that again."
Maia gave her a quick hug, murmuring, "You better not."
Grenwin bounced the tablet off her palm, heading over to the door, a small smile on her face. They followed her, the summer heat washing over them as they strode up the long ramp into blazing sunlight.
She savored the taste and the smell and the warmth of her drink, the calm thrum of the One Power running through her as she focused on guiding it through her. Not to channel, but to learn to withstand distraction.
Grenwin sat across the low table from her, popping a small cut of roast turnip into her mouth and chewing thoughtfully.
Maia was sitting between them, drumming her fingers on her crossed legs and thinking. With a sigh, the unseen knot fell apart, threads dissipating into a vague mist before vanishing.
"I think," she eventually ventured, "We should probably talk about the weird stuff that's been happening."
Grenwin clenched her hand into a fist momentarily, brow furrowing as she looked at her injured hand.
"Yeah, we should. I think I dreamt I punched someone," she said, shaking her head.
Maia perked up, "Let's start with that! I'm pretty sure that happened!"
Grenwin gently put her next morsel back down. "What?"
"Your dream?" Ygdis prodded.
Nodding, Maia pointed at Grenwin's busted knuckles. "She punched my past life and got that for her trouble. Thank you, Grenwin."
Slowly, the taller woman nodded. "That was real, then?" A moment passed as she thought, "Wait, you had a husband?"
Ygdis had dreams too, the same dream, every night. Her eyes felt unfocused, having a hard time sticking to any one place as her friends' words buzzed in her ears.
"No," Maia said firmly, "I am not her. She's, sort of, my mother? One of them."
"Huh." Grenwin thought it over, finally nodding. "Aye, I can see that. Not sure how that works."
The old hollow feeling threatened to swallow Ygdis up. Deep within, something cracked, then crumbled away.
Mad eyes of blue flame, flickering wildly in hatred and rage, set in her brother's face. Her brother's voice echoed from her brother's mouth, a song of pain and grief joining a chorus that screamed.
Ygdis bolted to her feet, pointing at the other women. "No! Those are just dreams! He's dead! Dead and with the gods!"
The other two women stared at Ygdis with shock, Grenwin caught with another morsel halfway to her mouth.
Maia moved over, opening a space between her and Grenwin. "Come and sit with us, Yg."
Face aflame, Ygdis sat between them, "I, ah, I don't…" In an attempt at redirection, she took one of Grenwin's turnip bits, popping it into her mouth.
For all the flavor, it tasted like ash.
"Tasty," Ygdis lied, "Lom's work?"
Grenwin exchanged a look with Maia before reaching over and enfolding Ygdis in one of her bear hugs.
Shuddering, Ygdis felt her meager control slip away, breath coming in shaky gasps and tears staining the older woman's tunic. Every time she thought of her brother, the fate she couldn't admit fearing, another sob would force its way out of her. It wasn't real. It couldn't be.
She remembered her brother's laughter, his smiling face as he taught her how to knot a fishing net, how to hold a spear and loose arrows, and the secret songs Mom had taught him before she passed.
In her memory, he lived still, vibrant and resolute.
In her heart, she knew Ebbo was dead, endless dirge echoing around her.
Slowly, a realization came upon her. Sniffling, she pulled away, wiping her face clean with her sleeve.
"My brother is dead." Ygdis told them, "But he still sings." She tapped her head, "I can hear him. I hear him all the time." She shuddered, forcing herself to face the truth.
It felt like great scoops were being taken from her soul, leaving a cold void.
"We can help him!" Turning to Maia, "You can heal anything! We just have to find him!"
Delicate fingers stroked through Ygdis' hair. "Find your brother? How?"
"They used to play games," Grenwin murmured, "And it was their gift to be able to find each other, no matter where the other hid."
Ygdis nodded, "If I'm close enough, I might be able to…" She shuddered, imagining her brother locked away, far from warmth and life. "I can find him," She finished, her tremulous voice exposing her fragile confidence.
"We will," Maia promised, "If we can find your brother, we'll do what we can for him."
Ygdis had no more tears to shed, latching onto the smaller woman with a powerful grip. "Thank you," she murmured.
Grenwin chuckled on her other side, rubbing Ygdis' back with a strong hand. "We'll figure it out," she said with such certainty that Ygdis almost believed her.
Ygdis was unsure how long they stayed like that, quietly supporting her. Eventually, she released Maia, reaching for her mug and taking a sip of life-giving warmth. It settled in her belly, her inner hearth blazing with renewed fervor.
"Dreams." Ygdis said, turning to Grenwin. "What happened last night?"
The bear-wife thought it over, "Maia woke me up, but I was still dreaming. I can tell, the light is different in dreams…" She pointed at the ceiling, where leaf-hidden glimmers softly lit the room.
"In the dream, all the light seems to be everywhere at once, and shadows don't act the way they should. That's how I can tell, anyway. It doesn't feel any different than being awake." She frowned, brow furrowed. "There are two women I meet in my dreams, lately. One looks just like Maia, and I mean exactly alike."
Ygdis looked at the winged woman, cocking her head. "There are two of you?"
"No!" Maia said quickly, "Mai is her own person, I think."
"The other woman is taller than you, Ygdis, and has a most unsettling bearing about her. You know how it feels when," Gren paused, eyes flicking at Maia, "When someone looks at you like you could be more? With Kasey, that's her name, it's like she's looking at the dirt under her boot."
"Like how Symon used to look at us?" Ygdis questioned, remembering something like that from the man before he'd just stopped one day.
"Yeah, exactly," Grenwin confirmed. "Maia accused her of working with someone else in the past, and Kasey changed; It was as though she'd become a different person. She was cruel in word and tone, accusing us of taking Maia's gifts to war and conquest, telling us that she'd watched our dreams, judging us without even knowing what we face…" She clenched her fist again, thumping it into the palm of her hand.
"Some credit to her," Maia said, "She took your punch without whining. I think you got through to her, Gren."
"What'd she say?" Ygdis asked Maia, wanting to hear the tale told by another.
"Grenwin hit her, then sat her down and told her that there are more dreams than those of conquest, dreams of…" She trailed off, looking Ygdis in the eyes. "Dreams of the Others, dreams of being Taken."
Ygdis flinched only a little, taking a moment to feed the worry and pain into her mental candle. "Okay."
Grenwin still looked confused. "Yeah, I did. So…"
"Dreams are real enough to communicate through," Maia offered. "Let's start with that."
The three women nodded.
Slipping her tablet out of her capacious coat pocket, Ygdis brought up the notepad, labeling the empty screen with a simple title, Things we think we know. She added Dreams can be real, followed by, Ebbo isn't gone and I still hear him.
Setting the tablet on the table, she gestured at it. "Let's make sure we keep track."
"The weather," Grenwin said abruptly, "It's been bothering me. Why is it so bloody hot here? If it weren't for these clothes, we'd be roasting."
Ygdis nodded, "Yeah, what did you do, Maia?"
The short woman shrugged, "During the first battle, I anchored the artificial sun I'd made to the land. I think it may have had some unexpected effects."
"Jinhe's Earthshaping," Grenwin offered, taking the tablet and typing away. "He said it didn't work outside a Stedding, but Symon and Ame both watched him bend a bench from the earth. Symon, I trust to speak truly."
"The Heart Tree is different," Ygdis interjected, "It doesn't bleed sap anymore, and the eyes seem to watch again."
Grenwin typed furiously, nodding.
Maia frowned, "Ygdis, why do you say they watch? It's just a carved tree, isn't it?"
"No," Grenwin firmly stated, "The gods watch and listen through heart trees. Everyone in my clan knew this, and our offerings were always gratefully accepted."
"Please explain?" Maia asked her, Ygdis nodding eagerly.
Grenwin sighed, "Alright, I'll tell you what the shamans taught us. I'm not as good as they were…" She sat back, taking a moment to put the tale in order.
"Long ago, in the time before the Bear Clans, a time of savagery and untamed strength, the gods warred. Those of the trees, the rivers, the skies, and even those that dwelt below the soil, all roamed the world. Where they tread, the Old Clans were smashed and scattered to the four Winds."
"Our people," Grenwin intoned, gesturing widely, "Those who came to dwell in the heart of the cold Northern winds, we were all still one. We learned from the Singers the ways of speaking to the gods. How to plea for mercy and aid and vengeance, how to command and bind, to bring the spirits to walk amongst us as friends and equals. When the gods came to slumber 'neath the land, the roots of the Weirwood touch where they dwell still, and through the roots they dream of days past."
Taking a deep breath, Gren took a sip of water before continuing. "The Singers taught us to carve the flesh of the living Weirwood, to carve a stream flowing from their world to ours, and from ours to theirs. This is a Heart Tree, the heart of our homes and dwellings. To die under the boughs of the Heart Tree is to rejoin with your ancestors, where you dwell in peace evermore. To be born under the heart tree is to be blessed by the Gods, cursed to bear their gifts in life and in death."
She trailed off, face uncertain. "I'm sorry, I'm not sure I'm telling it right. The point is, the gods sleep, but their dreams touch our world through the heart trees. They can watch us, hear us, and when we drape our offerings throughout the branches, we offer them power. From them, we gained our Bears, or so the stories tell."
Ygdis nodded excitedly, pointing to Grenwin. "That's a little like what I was taught, except for the bits about bears and winds. My Ma used to say that skinchanging was one of the gifts the Gods granted and that they hear our pleas when we pray under the heart tree, but only then."
Maia nodded soberly, "Better note that down, then. I don't know what we should do about our heart tree. Best not to do anything until we find a clear course of action, make sure whatever is watching doesn't learn about this conversation."
Grenwin and Ygdis looked at each other, considering. This wasn't going against the gods, exactly, and it seemed prudent enough.
"Sure," Grenwin offered.
Ygdis took the chance to have another bit of roast turnip, fully enjoying the complex flavors. "I think we need to open this up," she gestured at the other women, "I mean, Grenwin and I don't know everything. I don't think anyone can know everything, but if we get as many people who maybe know things together, we might all learn something useful."
Maia took just a moment to think about it before nodding, "Yeah, alright. Let's take this over to the Lodge and make it as public as possible. Let's keep it restricted to figuring out what's actionable and what isn't worth pursuing."
"Fair enough," Grenwin said, rising. Nodding to the door that led outside,
"Does this mean we're free to go?"
Maia sighed theatrically, "Yes, Gren. It's become very clear that none of us is going to figure out Healing by just shutting ourselves away."
Ygdis rose to her feet, pulling Maia up with her. "We'll figure it out," she told the winged woman, "I don't plan on getting spiked like that again."
Maia gave her a quick hug, murmuring, "You better not."
Grenwin bounced the tablet off her palm, heading over to the door, a small smile on her face. They followed her, the summer heat washing over them as they strode up the long ramp into blazing sunlight.
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AN- Chapter 25
A short chapter today, further exploring Grenwin's culture and some of Ygdis' oddities I've been glossing over. This marks the beginning of actually cataloguing and analyzing the strange things that keep happening, the first step towards actually gaining some form of control over the supramundane world they keep blundering into.
A General Overview of AU and Crossover Elements
This is an attempt to break down the various changes to the canon timeline of the Earth of A Song of Ice and Fire, as well as the crossover elements from the Wheel of Time.
To begin with, a disclaimer. Though this is a crossover, it is an attempt to entwine two separate timelines that have touched at some points. The plot of the series itself, the characters and the environs they inhabit, have no relation to Cold Winds Blowing.
Instead, I took a hard look at the history of the setting, beginning with its roots in our time. The Wheel of Time can be described as a post-post-apocalyptic science fantasy. The mundane world we live in today was destroyed in an apocalyptic manner over a century of building conflict.
The Dawn Age
This was the era when humanity first arose on Planetos, spanning the ancient days of the early simian line and their interactions with the elder races, up through to the establishment of the Empire of the Dawn. This is a span of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years. We aren't well equipped to understand timescales like this intuitively. Stories from this time simply do not exist in the minds of Men, unless deliberately carried.
Early in this era, the swimming Dragons learned to speak to one another, building subtle societies and settling wherever volcanic ranges met oceans and lakes. In contrast to their flying cousins, these sapient Dragons came to their magecraft through labor and determination, lacking the ability to naturally call fire.
In time, they would come to meet early Man in all their forms, and some grew enraptured with these small people. It was within their capabilities to shape their own flesh and walk amongst humans as one of their own, yet they inadvertently came to introduce their traits into some human populations. This is where golden eyes, specifically, come from, as well as an inherent ability to speak mind-to-mind with a touch.
The children of the dragons lived long lives, and their traits bred strong and true. Metal hair and gemstone eyes, a propensity for wrath and overreaction, unique skills or talents that seem nearly magic for their intensity, these are the signs of dragon-kin.
These Dragons have been amongst men since time immemorial, and they can still be found if one knows where to look.
The First Age of Man
In the waning days of the First Age, our time, when the Earth was poisoned by avarice, enters Doctor Kasey Morioka to the world stage, particle physicist and adopted daughter of the head family behind Murakumo Heavy Industries, alongside her husband, Doctor Aeolia Schenburg, heir to the Schenburg fortune and polymath specializing in mechanical engineering.
They were not the only desperate and prolific visionaries of their day, but their ultimate goal of creating a world without war came to pass without their intervention. Doctor Morioka, exposed to a carefully calculated concentration of the new particle her husband discovered, was altered. Amongst other reasons, this is why Kasey's 'soul' was able to persist as long as she had.
A decade later, another scientist would independently discover these particles, publicizing them under his name. These Kojima particles were too late discovered to be toxic to the environment, their usage polluting the land around for centuries. For decades, global powers and NGOs scrambled to find some way of surviving the incoming cataclysm.
Some took to living in the skies above, folly shining like the sun, in great flying arks. Some took to building great preserves underground, the Layered cities that would one day see humanity safe through the crisis. The unfortunates were left to languish on the rest of the surface, in whatever untouched regions were left to them.
In a year, the great flying arks had fallen to internecine warfare, and the last gasps of humanity on the surface quietly lay down to die. Within the Layereds, humanity thrived under the direction of the Controller AIs. Dr. Schenburg continued his research into mobile suit warfare, becoming a pivotal figure in early Armored Core development and the safe utilization of Kojima particles.
And so the First Age ended, a quiet twilight falling over a dead world.
The Second Age
Here is where things get more speculative. At some point, the Layereds opened and the surface of the Earth was reclaimed. The new societies of the planet, enshrouded in mysticism regarding their survival, discovered the World of Dreams, discovered Channeling, and eventually built themselves up to new heights.
It was their discovery of the World of Dreams that would later enable them to travel to other realities, other timelines that ran in parallel to their own. Most were uninhabited, most just pale reflections, yet when they found Planetos and all it's terrible majesty, they learned that they themselves were not unique.
These early pioneers made contact with the Empire of the Dawn, the ancient polity that controlled most of Essos in the time before the Long Night, and learned of magick and prophecy. In turn, some of these pioneers remained behind, bringing the gift of Channeling to a foreign world.
At some point, the explorers stopped coming, and contact between the worlds ceased as the Age of Legends grew to a peak. After it fell and the Breaking of the World began, many Ogier Stedding would choose to use the Book of Changes to translocate their homes to a world their human brothers had forgotten. In so doing, they brought with them many human refugees, and many of these had the seeds of Channeling within their blood.
The Ogier found themselves spread out over Planetos, halfway through the Age of Heroes, and they adapted quickly, making fast friends with those they could, brutally defending themselves against those they couldn't.
The Age of Heroes
This was an era of international and interspecies cooperation between the peoples of the world. A prosperous confederacy of nations inhabited Westeros and much of Western Essos, while the Empire of the Dawn persisted in the far East.
The Ogier appeared during this time period.
When the seasons began shifting wildly, climatologists predicted an incoming drop in global temperature, uncertain of the cause but recognizing the effects. Their word was heeded, as food production was increased, vast stores being sealed away for the century of darkness to come.
The actual shift happened earlier than expected, as the supervolcano residing on Westeros' north-eastern coast was coaxed to erupt in tandem with the volcanic range amidst the easternmost mountains of Essos. The ash and smoke blanketed the skies globally, turning a bad winter into a literal period of darkness.
It was during this time that the Others attacked, seemingly unprovoked, bringing to bear weapons beyond what they were thought capable of, swiftly taking much of the Northern hemisphere. They would be stymied further south, but they held their lands until the end of the Long Night.
Where the war began with magical weapons that could blow mountains away like leaves in the wind, it ended with swords and spears.
Lightbringer was a real sword, but the stories told about it have changed the original telling, but that's a tale for another time.
After the Others were driven back, the remnants of the previous orders fought bitterly amongst themselves. In a cataclysmic echo of the end of the First Age, what little survived the Long Night was destroyed at the hands of men trying to do they best they could with what they had.
The Second Dawn
Bran the Builder/Betrayer was a military leader horrified at the state of the Northern peoples after the Others' occupation ended. Battered, beaten, but not broken, they strove to build something for themselves at long last. Unfortunately, Bran thought himself the rightful leader of the last of the Allied Nations and saw this as dreadful treachery.
He warred tirelessly against what he saw as bandit-kings and war-chiefs, smashing each in turn and bringing them under his rule. While he was later labeled as the first King of Winter, kingship is a later concept that was retroactively applied.
The Ogier of the North were pushed above the wall, as were a great many other undesirables.
It was in this time that the Kingdoms later associated with the Age of Heroes would rise, after the Long Night, as mankind backslid. Perhaps the worst hit were the Vale-clans, who forgot steel and iron, living amongst the valleys and forests as the Singers encouraged. They lived freely for thousands of years, to be later conquered by the duplicitous Andals ruthlessly abusing their customs and cultures.
Westeros has remained in a state of flux since, while new empires rose and fell across the Narrow Sea. From this point, history is much better understood by those living who study it, yet it remains curiously empty of the fantastical elements still told in story and song.
Legacy of Channeling on Planetos
Magic on Planetos is wildly varied, and we never have a point of view from an actual practitioner of magic. Bran is more sacrifice than student, and Dany is a victim who wrenched away control of a blood ritual. Eddard Stark is utterly ignorant even of his own families' customs, not knowing even why the old kings were laid to rest with iron blades. (Iron, like salt, interacts with the subtle world in ways good steel doesn't.)
We do have hints that there's more to the world, and with this changed history, channeling should certainly not take center stage. It is one of Maia's greatest strengths, and she greatly focuses on it, but it is not the only 'true' thing. Rather, it's one of a multitude of expressions of the fundamental forces driving the world, and to the common observer, one of the most difficult to spot the effects of.
There are more channelers in east Essos due to the ancient interbreeding with the peoples of Earth, but they are still rare. The bloodline thing has been long been known, tied closely to the gemstone bloodlines, yet still independent.
The state of Carcosa and the worsening of the conflicts in Yi-Ti is a direct outcome of a long-lived channeling dragon-blooded lord coming to power centuries ago, ambitions focused on integrating the island of Leng into his desmene and ensuring growing land for his people's immediate survival.
Ellir is a practitioner of Moonsinging, and her rituals have very different effects than what someone ignorant might do alone. She's very much a believer of the Old Gods, she just holds the Moon to have a special significance, especially when it comes to her social duty as a repository of knowledge. She cannot channel, yet she spoke the fundamental philosophy behind it to Maia. There is a link in the distant past between the Moonsingers and Channeling, as the Moonsingers originated in the Empire of the Dawn.
Everyone knowledgeable calls Channeling differently. Liu Bei and Liu Mai were both raised to call any non-Carcosan mage a derogatory term that boils down to 'spirit wearing a pretty face.' The Ninvay regard it a gift to be used for the betterment of their people. Mainland Yi-Ti conflates it with other forms of sorcery, having real effects without the necessary sacrifice of blood magics.
It never really became established around the Narrow Sea, with precious few ever being born to wield the One Power. Those that could remained ignorant, living longer lives in good health, accomplishing little else of note.
It is in this way that Westeros remains mostly its canon self, below the Wall, at least.
To begin with, a disclaimer. Though this is a crossover, it is an attempt to entwine two separate timelines that have touched at some points. The plot of the series itself, the characters and the environs they inhabit, have no relation to Cold Winds Blowing.
Instead, I took a hard look at the history of the setting, beginning with its roots in our time. The Wheel of Time can be described as a post-post-apocalyptic science fantasy. The mundane world we live in today was destroyed in an apocalyptic manner over a century of building conflict.
The Dawn Age
This was the era when humanity first arose on Planetos, spanning the ancient days of the early simian line and their interactions with the elder races, up through to the establishment of the Empire of the Dawn. This is a span of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years. We aren't well equipped to understand timescales like this intuitively. Stories from this time simply do not exist in the minds of Men, unless deliberately carried.
Early in this era, the swimming Dragons learned to speak to one another, building subtle societies and settling wherever volcanic ranges met oceans and lakes. In contrast to their flying cousins, these sapient Dragons came to their magecraft through labor and determination, lacking the ability to naturally call fire.
In time, they would come to meet early Man in all their forms, and some grew enraptured with these small people. It was within their capabilities to shape their own flesh and walk amongst humans as one of their own, yet they inadvertently came to introduce their traits into some human populations. This is where golden eyes, specifically, come from, as well as an inherent ability to speak mind-to-mind with a touch.
The children of the dragons lived long lives, and their traits bred strong and true. Metal hair and gemstone eyes, a propensity for wrath and overreaction, unique skills or talents that seem nearly magic for their intensity, these are the signs of dragon-kin.
These Dragons have been amongst men since time immemorial, and they can still be found if one knows where to look.
The First Age of Man
In the waning days of the First Age, our time, when the Earth was poisoned by avarice, enters Doctor Kasey Morioka to the world stage, particle physicist and adopted daughter of the head family behind Murakumo Heavy Industries, alongside her husband, Doctor Aeolia Schenburg, heir to the Schenburg fortune and polymath specializing in mechanical engineering.
They were not the only desperate and prolific visionaries of their day, but their ultimate goal of creating a world without war came to pass without their intervention. Doctor Morioka, exposed to a carefully calculated concentration of the new particle her husband discovered, was altered. Amongst other reasons, this is why Kasey's 'soul' was able to persist as long as she had.
A decade later, another scientist would independently discover these particles, publicizing them under his name. These Kojima particles were too late discovered to be toxic to the environment, their usage polluting the land around for centuries. For decades, global powers and NGOs scrambled to find some way of surviving the incoming cataclysm.
Some took to living in the skies above, folly shining like the sun, in great flying arks. Some took to building great preserves underground, the Layered cities that would one day see humanity safe through the crisis. The unfortunates were left to languish on the rest of the surface, in whatever untouched regions were left to them.
In a year, the great flying arks had fallen to internecine warfare, and the last gasps of humanity on the surface quietly lay down to die. Within the Layereds, humanity thrived under the direction of the Controller AIs. Dr. Schenburg continued his research into mobile suit warfare, becoming a pivotal figure in early Armored Core development and the safe utilization of Kojima particles.
And so the First Age ended, a quiet twilight falling over a dead world.
The Second Age
Here is where things get more speculative. At some point, the Layereds opened and the surface of the Earth was reclaimed. The new societies of the planet, enshrouded in mysticism regarding their survival, discovered the World of Dreams, discovered Channeling, and eventually built themselves up to new heights.
It was their discovery of the World of Dreams that would later enable them to travel to other realities, other timelines that ran in parallel to their own. Most were uninhabited, most just pale reflections, yet when they found Planetos and all it's terrible majesty, they learned that they themselves were not unique.
These early pioneers made contact with the Empire of the Dawn, the ancient polity that controlled most of Essos in the time before the Long Night, and learned of magick and prophecy. In turn, some of these pioneers remained behind, bringing the gift of Channeling to a foreign world.
At some point, the explorers stopped coming, and contact between the worlds ceased as the Age of Legends grew to a peak. After it fell and the Breaking of the World began, many Ogier Stedding would choose to use the Book of Changes to translocate their homes to a world their human brothers had forgotten. In so doing, they brought with them many human refugees, and many of these had the seeds of Channeling within their blood.
The Ogier found themselves spread out over Planetos, halfway through the Age of Heroes, and they adapted quickly, making fast friends with those they could, brutally defending themselves against those they couldn't.
The Age of Heroes
This was an era of international and interspecies cooperation between the peoples of the world. A prosperous confederacy of nations inhabited Westeros and much of Western Essos, while the Empire of the Dawn persisted in the far East.
The Ogier appeared during this time period.
When the seasons began shifting wildly, climatologists predicted an incoming drop in global temperature, uncertain of the cause but recognizing the effects. Their word was heeded, as food production was increased, vast stores being sealed away for the century of darkness to come.
The actual shift happened earlier than expected, as the supervolcano residing on Westeros' north-eastern coast was coaxed to erupt in tandem with the volcanic range amidst the easternmost mountains of Essos. The ash and smoke blanketed the skies globally, turning a bad winter into a literal period of darkness.
It was during this time that the Others attacked, seemingly unprovoked, bringing to bear weapons beyond what they were thought capable of, swiftly taking much of the Northern hemisphere. They would be stymied further south, but they held their lands until the end of the Long Night.
Where the war began with magical weapons that could blow mountains away like leaves in the wind, it ended with swords and spears.
Lightbringer was a real sword, but the stories told about it have changed the original telling, but that's a tale for another time.
After the Others were driven back, the remnants of the previous orders fought bitterly amongst themselves. In a cataclysmic echo of the end of the First Age, what little survived the Long Night was destroyed at the hands of men trying to do they best they could with what they had.
The Second Dawn
Bran the Builder/Betrayer was a military leader horrified at the state of the Northern peoples after the Others' occupation ended. Battered, beaten, but not broken, they strove to build something for themselves at long last. Unfortunately, Bran thought himself the rightful leader of the last of the Allied Nations and saw this as dreadful treachery.
He warred tirelessly against what he saw as bandit-kings and war-chiefs, smashing each in turn and bringing them under his rule. While he was later labeled as the first King of Winter, kingship is a later concept that was retroactively applied.
The Ogier of the North were pushed above the wall, as were a great many other undesirables.
It was in this time that the Kingdoms later associated with the Age of Heroes would rise, after the Long Night, as mankind backslid. Perhaps the worst hit were the Vale-clans, who forgot steel and iron, living amongst the valleys and forests as the Singers encouraged. They lived freely for thousands of years, to be later conquered by the duplicitous Andals ruthlessly abusing their customs and cultures.
Westeros has remained in a state of flux since, while new empires rose and fell across the Narrow Sea. From this point, history is much better understood by those living who study it, yet it remains curiously empty of the fantastical elements still told in story and song.
Legacy of Channeling on Planetos
Magic on Planetos is wildly varied, and we never have a point of view from an actual practitioner of magic. Bran is more sacrifice than student, and Dany is a victim who wrenched away control of a blood ritual. Eddard Stark is utterly ignorant even of his own families' customs, not knowing even why the old kings were laid to rest with iron blades. (Iron, like salt, interacts with the subtle world in ways good steel doesn't.)
We do have hints that there's more to the world, and with this changed history, channeling should certainly not take center stage. It is one of Maia's greatest strengths, and she greatly focuses on it, but it is not the only 'true' thing. Rather, it's one of a multitude of expressions of the fundamental forces driving the world, and to the common observer, one of the most difficult to spot the effects of.
There are more channelers in east Essos due to the ancient interbreeding with the peoples of Earth, but they are still rare. The bloodline thing has been long been known, tied closely to the gemstone bloodlines, yet still independent.
The state of Carcosa and the worsening of the conflicts in Yi-Ti is a direct outcome of a long-lived channeling dragon-blooded lord coming to power centuries ago, ambitions focused on integrating the island of Leng into his desmene and ensuring growing land for his people's immediate survival.
Ellir is a practitioner of Moonsinging, and her rituals have very different effects than what someone ignorant might do alone. She's very much a believer of the Old Gods, she just holds the Moon to have a special significance, especially when it comes to her social duty as a repository of knowledge. She cannot channel, yet she spoke the fundamental philosophy behind it to Maia. There is a link in the distant past between the Moonsingers and Channeling, as the Moonsingers originated in the Empire of the Dawn.
Everyone knowledgeable calls Channeling differently. Liu Bei and Liu Mai were both raised to call any non-Carcosan mage a derogatory term that boils down to 'spirit wearing a pretty face.' The Ninvay regard it a gift to be used for the betterment of their people. Mainland Yi-Ti conflates it with other forms of sorcery, having real effects without the necessary sacrifice of blood magics.
It never really became established around the Narrow Sea, with precious few ever being born to wield the One Power. Those that could remained ignorant, living longer lives in good health, accomplishing little else of note.
It is in this way that Westeros remains mostly its canon self, below the Wall, at least.
Very useful information. One question of clarification: is this "the history as it always was" or is history changing every time she gets a perk from a new franchise, such that the physics and magic to support it have now "always been present"?
Actually, second question that one brought to mind: Is this still a Celestial Forge fic, or is it just now a crossover of these specific elements and no more? Because I can't recall the last time she actually rolled a new perk. Before the hiatus, at least.
EDIT: Nevermind thst second question. I remember now she got a big digital archive recently.
Actually, second question that one brought to mind: Is this still a Celestial Forge fic, or is it just now a crossover of these specific elements and no more? Because I can't recall the last time she actually rolled a new perk. Before the hiatus, at least.
EDIT: Nevermind thst second question. I remember now she got a big digital archive recently.
Last edited:
History as it always was. The Forge is a new thing rising out of something old, but the past cannot be changed.
Interlude: Eshe
Maia sat on her bed, re-reading the summary she'd put together on dreams and Dreaming earlier. On the floor nearby, Ellir hummed a low tune, patiently waiting for her pupil's choice.
The lights were set low, moonlight and false-stars filtering through gold and crimson trefoil leaves. Atop a small bedside table sat a pitcher of steaming liquid, a brew to bring a deep and dreaming sleep.
Quietly murmuring as she read, Maia finally closed her mismatched eyes and set the device aside. "This feels ridiculous," she softly told Ellir, not able to place the source of the shame she felt.
The white-haired woman shrugged. "You asked what I knew of Dreams. You asked me to prepare the draught, and you asked me to watch over your mortal form. Stay your path, or do not."
Meeting her student's eyes challengingly, Ellir held her gaze.
Blinking and looking away, Maia took the steaming pitcher in both hands, taking a few deep gulps before setting it back on the table and laying back on the bed.
Looking straight up, Maia's vision shifted and swam, the carvings of the ceiling flowing like branches in a summer's wind. Eyelids heavy, she blinked slowly, then again.
It seemed hours passed before her eyes snapped open, staring up at the full moon. Around it, the ribbons of the aurora flowed strongly, the foreign stars beyond kept at bay. The leaves above her were the scarlet fingers of the weirwoods, swaying in unending dance.
Awareness of her body returned slowly as the moon's gaze stripped bare her soul. She was laying in a meadow, soft earth smelling strongly of life. High above, lightning flashed in golden arcs between the auroral curtains, hot wind bringing the scent of ozone to her nose.
A pale and delicate face appeared above Maia as an unfamiliar woman, clad only in moonlight, knelt next to her. Ice-blue eyes framed by straight snowy locks transfixed Maia's gaze.
"Well, you're something new." Her voice was kind and gentle, cool hand coming to rest on Maia's shoulder. "You know where you are?"
Maia's mouth worked slowly as she remembered how to speak. "A dream? No, right, the Dream?"
"Whose dream, do you suppose?" The strange woman looked up at the sky above, taking a moment before nodding. Leaning down, she hauled Maia up to her feet. "The moon is ever a friend to us. Under her light, we shall be safe. Remain on the path."
"What?" Maia asked, "Who are you?"
"This grove is safe. Beyond, you must remain under the moon's sight." Turning, the woman pointed at a patch of shimmering mist, hovering close to the ground and drinking up the moon's pale light. The mist trailed off into the thick forest beyond, the shadows seemed a wall for all they revealed.
"I am a guide, bound in death by Oath to my Goddess. Women who come to walk these paths are precious few, and fewer still survive alone."
Maia wet her lips, confused. "I don't know what you mean. I thought," she looked around, "I was trying to reach the Dream of my village. First Fork, I mean."
The guide's lips curved in a smile, subtle laughter at the corners of her eyes. "Aha! I know it well! I was born there, and I bore my children there. Perhaps it is that some still live?"
"Your name, then," Maia requested. "I can ask Ellir, our wise woman. She's lived in the area for more than a hundred years."
The peculiar woman turned, sitting and lounging on ephemeral bands of mist. Gesturing for Maia to join her, "Come, let us speak for a time. I will tell you my name if you tell me how my home fares."
Maia smiled fondly, "First Fork is well. More than well." Thinking of the vast assembly they'd held earlier, and then the scramble to prepare for half a thousand newcomers, she focused on a patch of space between them.
With effort, the scene materialized, Maia's best attempt at a third-person recreation.
The other woman leaned over in interest, getting down on her hands and knees to gaze at the tiny doll-like people gathered before the heart tree, flanked by wood and stone buildings standing like great walls studded with windows and balconies.
Bringing her face low, she watched as the little image-people debated the mysteries of the world.
"Truly?" She whispered, a silent tear falling to splash amongst the little weirwood's branches. "My name is Eshe. I was their Wisdom, when I lived. To see them so hale, to see what they've done…"
Maia coughed, recognizing the name from Ellir's stories, uncertain if this guide was the same woman. "I don't want to give you false expectations. I'd brought a lot with me when I arrived, ah, two full moons ago?"
Barely turning her head to look up at her, "You seek recognition?" Eshe asked neutrally.
Shaking her head, Maia emphatically responded, "You deserve to know that I've altered their course from what it could have been."
Eshe regarded her, then smiled. "Be at ease. I can see the bonds you've tied. Wisdom to Wisdom, I'll help you as I may." She said, ending with a low inclination of her head.
"What do you think I need help with?" Maia asked with earnest curiosity.
Rising to sit cross-legged across from her, the snow-haired woman observed her, head cocked as though listening to something.
Eshe studied her for so long that Maia began fidgeting, discomfited by the piercing gaze. Finally, the blue-eyed woman sighed. "I do not think you will like what I have to tell you."
Bracing herself, Maia nodded. "I need to hear it, right?"
"You need to find who you were. You have kin," Eshe told her, the world blurring around them.
It came to rest. Maia sat amongst pale roots, confused and disoriented. Above her, a towering tree loomed tall and strong, earthy bark speckled with little white unseeing eyes, round vermillion blossoms draped throughout the drooping branches. Far above, the moon blanketed the little clearing.
In the moonlight, Maia saw nearly every tree around was a weirwood, and each a carved heart tree, grinning faces leering. The dark tree seemed grafted to the older roots yet remained itself untouched.
Eshe put a finger to her lips, crouching next to Maia. Above them, the tree twisted as though caught in an unseen gale, shifting back and forth between settling with a contented sight. It seemed almost to breath as Eshe pointed at Maia, then at the tree, then gave her a pat on the back before pushing the shorter woman off the root.
Tumbling, Maia found herself falling, wind whipping at her hair and wings. Through some instinct, she tossed out her limbs, timed to gain control over her flight.
Far below her, she saw a coastline, great land extending to one horizon, ocean extending to the other. Up the coast, she saw a straight little ridge, stretching from the sea to beyond sight further inland. The Wall?
In the sea not far from where the Wall ended lay an archipelago, a series of smoking peaks rising from islands amidst the salty sea-spray.
She was falling towards a depression in the earth, a rough ellipse of peculiar smoking mountains, sweeping around gentle slopes and rolling valleys. Where the mountains met the sea, they descended, leaving a great protected bay. At the center of the harbor lay an island, coated in the scarlet leaves and pale bark of a thick forest of weirwood. At the heart of the island, the dancing dark tree stood alone.
As she fell, the smoking of the peaks intensified, before gouts of flame spewed high into the air. The land within their protective wall rippled and buckled, searing magma flowing in waves from deep wounds, invisible death flowing through heated twisting air. Where the forests burned, great whirlwinds of flame roared, linking earth to blackened sky.
It felt warning as much as memory, the land screaming as its power taken and used for great evil. Passing past those mighty whirling columns of flame, she fell toward the boiling water of the bay.
Maia screamed, the heat feeling all too real. With a sudden splash, she sunk beneath freezing water, moon's light filtering through the waves. The ripples beckoned as Maia drew closer. Finally, she found herself laying on her back on the mirror-flat surface.
Her eyes drew closed, and when she opened them, she found Ellir's concerned face looking down at her. Beyond her, the familiar setting of her bedroom brought a reassuring feeling of reality.
"Are you well?" Ellir asked her cautiously, packet of smelling herbs readied in her hand.
Maia thought about it. She had a migraine, but she was halfway expecting it anyway. She didn't seem to be burned or otherwise harmed, despite how raw and singed as her skin felt.
"I think I am," Maia groaned, head pounding. "I need a minute."
Concentrating, she devoted the experience to memory. Once she felt it committed, she took up her tablet, journaling to the best of her ability. Satisfied, she set it down, shivering as she remembered falling.
"I'm not sure if this was a success or not." She ventured after a few moments more. "I woke up in a moonlit clearing, ice-eyed woman with hair as white as snow kneeling over me. She said her name was Eshe, and claimed she was First Fork's, ah, wisdom?"
Ellir frowned, looking away for a moment, clearly uncertain. "That matches…" Unsettled, she moved over to sit next to the short woman. "Did she show you anything?"
Maia looked at her quizzically, "Yes? I mean, she said she would help me how she could, I asked her what she thought I needed, and she, ah…" Quietly, she whispered, "She said I have kin, and took me to a tree, reddish-brown bark with little lenticular spots, branches like a weirwood but leaves all little red blossoms."
Her mouth moved silently as she tried to figure it out. "The tree was dancing, I think. I," A bark of mad laughter broke from her lips, "The trees aren't trees, are they? I thought they were plants, but I should have known…" She looked at her hands, seeing anew the viscera coating them as she worked flesh to her desire.
Stomach rebelling, Maia bent over the side of the bed and retched, panting heavily as her body rejected everything.
"Fuck me, I hate that!" Maia cried, wiping her mouth clean. "Did you already know? That they're…"
Ellir quieted her with a sudden embrace, "They live tree lives, yes. Not like us, but like us enough to dream."
"I, really, don't like this." Maia said into Ellir's shoulder. The younger woman pulled back, "I need to find that tree. I think I know where it is, and I think it's important."
"Do you trust her?" Ellir asked, tone deadly serious.
Maia shrugged, looking away. "I trust myself, and I think I need to go."
"Then go." Hesitating for a moment, waiting until Maia had risen and walked halfway to the door. "Be careful, Maia. If Eshe is involved, the Moon has an interest in you, and the Gods' interest is never a blessing."
The winged woman paused, turning and giving Ellir a serious nod. From the mount on the wall, her sheathed blade floated over, belted firmly a moment later.
Maia gestured, outer door silently opening, flooding the room with bright moonlight. "You can hang out if you'd like. I don't know how long I'll be."
The winged woman left, closing the door behind her.
Shrugging, Ellir took the rest of the pitcher, taking a few sips and leaning back on her cushions. Her eyes closed as she let herself drift away, curious to see if she couldn't meet Eshe again.
Intent was key, she reminded herself, keeping the ice-eyed woman in mind. Ellir had more than a few questions she needed answers to ask this thing posing as a guardian. Best not to worry Maia until the morning, then the light may reveal illusion for whatever it may be.
***
Grenwin dreamt that she rode atop a fierce bear at the fore of an army. Before her, the assembled might of the Kneeling Kings bore down on them.
She shouted, standing and stabbing her spear at the sky, a wordless war cry. Hurling the spear, it flew straight and true, the fat king with his warhammer crying out as his long-faced brother took the point in the neck.
The scene fuzzed and faded, a gentle touch on her shoulder waking her. Eyes blinking open, Grenwin saw Maia kneeling by her bedside, illuminate by moonlight.
Her friend was dressed for travel, sword and spear prepared. Eyes wet with tears, Maia spoke softly. "I need to go find something, Gren. I don't know how long I'll be gone. It's south, to that place Tunerk said, I think. If-" Her voice hitched, "I'll try to send word each day, okay?"
Behind her, a point of light grew to a tall line, swiftly twisting into a doorway. Beyond, waves crashed on a rocky moonlit shore, the sound shockingly loud in the quiet.
"Wait-" Grenwin began, reaching out. Maia stepped back through the Gateway, her lips moving soundlessly.
In the light, Grenwin almost thought she made out the words. Through the haze of sleep, she couldn't tell it for true or if she was merely hearing what she wanted.
"I love you."
The door closed suddenly and Grenwin was alone.
***
The maiden sat atop a rock, down by the shore. This late at night, under the light of the full moon, the waters below glowed an eerie blue. She'd lost track of how many times she'd seen this, now, but it enthralled her all the same.
It was so different from where she grew, but this felt far more home than anywhere else. Her father had made her a tool, her lord had given her life, and the divine child had given her time to heal and grow.
Her heart still gave a little pang when she remembered them. It may have long since ceased to beat, but her lord's gift ensured she would continue.
Below, the sound of soft footfalls rounded the bend, a girl following close after. The maiden cocked her head, looking at both the blade she bore on her waist and the wings on her back, considering.
She could go to Kazui, who would certainly know what to do. Except, Kazui had fallen into a fitful sleep… She counted the turns of the moon on her fingers, she lost count somewhere past two hundred years. If only she'd still had the mortal blade, to cut away the slow rot creeping across Kazui's form. It had worked to wake a dragon once, and she would so dearly like to speak with her friend once more.
The girl's sword seemed to absorb the maiden's sight. Something about the sword called to her, a familiar feeling.
Heedless of danger, the maiden dropped to the rocky beach, standing just in front of the odd girl.
She spoke to the maiden, peculiar words that had no meaning. They sounded nice, the girl's voice carrying a musical quality that soothed the maiden's heart.
Eventually, she stopped speaking, looking curiously at the maiden. Did she want something?
Heedless, the maiden could feel the blade within its plain sheathe. This, this was the same sword! The girl looked near a match for the divine child, beyond her stature and wings. Could it be that Kazui had living kin still?
The maiden gestured at the sword, pleading with eyes and posture. Hesitantly, the girl untied it from her belt, cautiously handing it over.
Taking the sheath in one hand and hilt in the other, the maiden drew it partway with practiced ease. To her delight, the blade's ancient and familiar runes confirmed her hopes- Yet, the blade was dull and dim, bereft of the scarlet flames she knew it for. No touch upon her mind, no proffered gifts, not even a hint of healing under the full moon.
Concerned, the maiden knelt, recalling the old methods they'd used to grant it temporary life. A measure of blood, freely given, to bind the blade and share their life.
Sliding her palm across the edge, she held the wound above the runes of the blade, naught coming out but dust. It drifted down, falling like rusty snow, enchantments unheeding.
The maiden made a keening wail, startling the stranger. Hugging the blade to her chest, she tried to call out to the kami within, pleas falling on deaf steel.
Gently, the stranger put her hand on the maiden's wrist, drawing her attention.
Taking the sword back, the winged girl took a step back from the maiden, kneeling and examining the metal in the moonlight. Delicate fingers traced the ancient runes, mismatched green and blue eyes asking the maiden something.
Helplessly, the maiden nodded, not knowing what the stranger desired.
Suddenly, as if to get it over with, she cut her palm and let her lifeblood fall onto the intricate engravings.
The blade flared with the first drop, a gentle pulse of scarlet flame that rippled down the steel. Each drop after brought another wave of flame, until the whole of the metal glowed with an inner light.
The stranger's eyes were wide, shocked, as the fire traveled up her arm, and the maiden felt a little loss as she watched her sword choose another.
The sword sung, awareness stretching and flexing as though long asleep. The maiden felt it watching them, as uncertain as the two women.
The stranger asked something in her strange tongue.
"Still a girl, and you take up arms? Who are you, what need have you, to break my chains?"
The blade's question rung in the maiden's head, and she felt hope bloom in her heart. "To free Kazui. She dreams endlessly and will not wake. A rot creeps up her flesh and your magic we seek, Need."
The stranger said something in her own speech before the sword could come to a decision.
"Wolf! It has been long enough I thought you at rest! You, Maia of First Fork, I sense your desire. Let us satisfy the need at hand, then bring ourselves to face again the Enemy."
The maiden exchanged confused glances with the stranger.
"Ohkahmee?" The winged girl asked, pointing at the maiden.
"Maia?" The maiden asked in return, pointing back.
Both women smiled, mutually pleased to share names. Maia said something to the warm sword, the kami within giving the sense of listening intently.
"Wolf, she says she will help you. Her need is greater than yours, and so she shall bear me. Lead us to Kazui so we may save her from this curse you describe."
Maia nodded seriously, re-belting the sheath and resting her hand on the hilt.
The maiden told her to follow with a quick gesture, leading the girl through the hidden paths up into the interior of the island. Before them, it seemed a path was scribed in moonlight, the branches of the heart trees making way.
They walked tirelessly, the maiden helping the shorter girl ascend some of the more difficult cliffs, until they stood in the sacred grove, Kazui's rooted form shuddering.
Taking Maia's hand, the maiden led her quickly over to the ancient Sakura, pointing the pale streaks of bark-rot to the girl.
"Use me to clear away the sickness, and I shall help you heal the flesh thereafter." The blade hummed in their minds, giving Maia quite a startle as she flinched.
The maiden held the sheathe steady as the blade was drawn, scarlet flames lingering where the edge cut the air itself. Maia carefully scraped away some of the pale rot, the tree shivering and sounding an injured wail. Where the healing fire passed, fresh unbroken skin replaced bleeding rotten wounds.
They worked in tandem, tending to the old tree as the maiden had long desired. When it was done, they rested together, backs against the mended trunk. Wordlessly, Maia passed the maiden her waterskin, which was received gratefully.
The maiden knew they would have to wait until Kazui woke on her own.
The moon traveled westward across the sky, falling halfway to the horizon before the winds changed.
The ancient Sakura rippled and flexed, sending the women tumbling to the earth below. When the maiden looked up, she watched as the tree began to molt, blossoms and branches falling to the ground, revealing the slumbering scaled serpent within. A great golden eye flickered open, looking around the clearing, focusing on the maiden.
In a flash of movement, the remnants of the Sakura burst apart, and where it once stood now curled Kazui. Daughter of the dragon who had so cursed ancient Ashina, she rested, long whiskers curling and flexing in confusion.
The golden globe looked at Maia, blinked twice, then looked back at the maiden. The sinuous dragon yawned deeply, stretching out her wingless length under the light of the moon. Slowly and gently, she brought her massive head down to the maiden's level, one long whisker coming to rest on the woman's forehead.
"I have slept too long, I can feel it. I am so, so sorry. Thank you, my loyal Wolf, you have saved me from a slumber unending." Kazui spoke into the maiden's mind, a warm feeling that drew out her doubts and worries, soothing them away.
"This girl brought the stolen blade," The maiden told the dragon, "Without that, I could only watch."
Kazui's body moved, curling around the two of them, focusing both eyes on Maia. A whisker came to hover just before the girl, who took it with her hand.
There was a moment as Kazui spoke to her. Her face went through a most entertaining series of flickering emotions, confusion and denial chief among them.
"This, this is my sword." She said defensively, "I woke with it in the snow! I don't know where it comes before that, only that I'd be dead or worse without it."
The girl's voice grew heated, "I don't know what you mean! I am human! How does it feel to pretend to be a dragon, huh?"
Grinning, overjoyed that her old friend was awake once more, the maiden giggled at the tone, meaning escaping her. Everyone had treated Kazui as something beyond understanding, and the maiden felt that Maia recognized the person within the flesh.
Had she truly forgotten what it was to live? When had she last laughed at the dragon's antics? Centuries, she thought, centuries of a hollow life indeed.
The girl spoke with the dragon intensely, fear for the form before her fading, replaced by a growing anger. Finally, she cast away the whisker, muttering something. She looked up to the dragon's eyes, said something in her strange tongue, then a line of light appeared before her. It turned, a doorway in the air that the girl fled through, a quiet moonlit village along a river visible for a moment before it slammed shut.
Kazui bent low to settle near the maiden, drifting a whisker over to her.
"I think I want to follow her. Will you come with me?"
The maiden grinned up at her, heart beating in excitement, the promise of a new adventure buoying her spirit. "Always!"
Deftly, the maiden mounted the dragon behind the forelegs, holding onto the long mane as her friend set off bounding through the forest. Occasionally they would break out above the canopy of weirwoods, pale scales gleaming in the moonlight as they cried out in joy, heading northward.
The lights were set low, moonlight and false-stars filtering through gold and crimson trefoil leaves. Atop a small bedside table sat a pitcher of steaming liquid, a brew to bring a deep and dreaming sleep.
Quietly murmuring as she read, Maia finally closed her mismatched eyes and set the device aside. "This feels ridiculous," she softly told Ellir, not able to place the source of the shame she felt.
The white-haired woman shrugged. "You asked what I knew of Dreams. You asked me to prepare the draught, and you asked me to watch over your mortal form. Stay your path, or do not."
Meeting her student's eyes challengingly, Ellir held her gaze.
Blinking and looking away, Maia took the steaming pitcher in both hands, taking a few deep gulps before setting it back on the table and laying back on the bed.
Looking straight up, Maia's vision shifted and swam, the carvings of the ceiling flowing like branches in a summer's wind. Eyelids heavy, she blinked slowly, then again.
It seemed hours passed before her eyes snapped open, staring up at the full moon. Around it, the ribbons of the aurora flowed strongly, the foreign stars beyond kept at bay. The leaves above her were the scarlet fingers of the weirwoods, swaying in unending dance.
Awareness of her body returned slowly as the moon's gaze stripped bare her soul. She was laying in a meadow, soft earth smelling strongly of life. High above, lightning flashed in golden arcs between the auroral curtains, hot wind bringing the scent of ozone to her nose.
A pale and delicate face appeared above Maia as an unfamiliar woman, clad only in moonlight, knelt next to her. Ice-blue eyes framed by straight snowy locks transfixed Maia's gaze.
"Well, you're something new." Her voice was kind and gentle, cool hand coming to rest on Maia's shoulder. "You know where you are?"
Maia's mouth worked slowly as she remembered how to speak. "A dream? No, right, the Dream?"
"Whose dream, do you suppose?" The strange woman looked up at the sky above, taking a moment before nodding. Leaning down, she hauled Maia up to her feet. "The moon is ever a friend to us. Under her light, we shall be safe. Remain on the path."
"What?" Maia asked, "Who are you?"
"This grove is safe. Beyond, you must remain under the moon's sight." Turning, the woman pointed at a patch of shimmering mist, hovering close to the ground and drinking up the moon's pale light. The mist trailed off into the thick forest beyond, the shadows seemed a wall for all they revealed.
"I am a guide, bound in death by Oath to my Goddess. Women who come to walk these paths are precious few, and fewer still survive alone."
Maia wet her lips, confused. "I don't know what you mean. I thought," she looked around, "I was trying to reach the Dream of my village. First Fork, I mean."
The guide's lips curved in a smile, subtle laughter at the corners of her eyes. "Aha! I know it well! I was born there, and I bore my children there. Perhaps it is that some still live?"
"Your name, then," Maia requested. "I can ask Ellir, our wise woman. She's lived in the area for more than a hundred years."
The peculiar woman turned, sitting and lounging on ephemeral bands of mist. Gesturing for Maia to join her, "Come, let us speak for a time. I will tell you my name if you tell me how my home fares."
Maia smiled fondly, "First Fork is well. More than well." Thinking of the vast assembly they'd held earlier, and then the scramble to prepare for half a thousand newcomers, she focused on a patch of space between them.
With effort, the scene materialized, Maia's best attempt at a third-person recreation.
The other woman leaned over in interest, getting down on her hands and knees to gaze at the tiny doll-like people gathered before the heart tree, flanked by wood and stone buildings standing like great walls studded with windows and balconies.
Bringing her face low, she watched as the little image-people debated the mysteries of the world.
"Truly?" She whispered, a silent tear falling to splash amongst the little weirwood's branches. "My name is Eshe. I was their Wisdom, when I lived. To see them so hale, to see what they've done…"
Maia coughed, recognizing the name from Ellir's stories, uncertain if this guide was the same woman. "I don't want to give you false expectations. I'd brought a lot with me when I arrived, ah, two full moons ago?"
Barely turning her head to look up at her, "You seek recognition?" Eshe asked neutrally.
Shaking her head, Maia emphatically responded, "You deserve to know that I've altered their course from what it could have been."
Eshe regarded her, then smiled. "Be at ease. I can see the bonds you've tied. Wisdom to Wisdom, I'll help you as I may." She said, ending with a low inclination of her head.
"What do you think I need help with?" Maia asked with earnest curiosity.
Rising to sit cross-legged across from her, the snow-haired woman observed her, head cocked as though listening to something.
Eshe studied her for so long that Maia began fidgeting, discomfited by the piercing gaze. Finally, the blue-eyed woman sighed. "I do not think you will like what I have to tell you."
Bracing herself, Maia nodded. "I need to hear it, right?"
"You need to find who you were. You have kin," Eshe told her, the world blurring around them.
It came to rest. Maia sat amongst pale roots, confused and disoriented. Above her, a towering tree loomed tall and strong, earthy bark speckled with little white unseeing eyes, round vermillion blossoms draped throughout the drooping branches. Far above, the moon blanketed the little clearing.
In the moonlight, Maia saw nearly every tree around was a weirwood, and each a carved heart tree, grinning faces leering. The dark tree seemed grafted to the older roots yet remained itself untouched.
Eshe put a finger to her lips, crouching next to Maia. Above them, the tree twisted as though caught in an unseen gale, shifting back and forth between settling with a contented sight. It seemed almost to breath as Eshe pointed at Maia, then at the tree, then gave her a pat on the back before pushing the shorter woman off the root.
Tumbling, Maia found herself falling, wind whipping at her hair and wings. Through some instinct, she tossed out her limbs, timed to gain control over her flight.
Far below her, she saw a coastline, great land extending to one horizon, ocean extending to the other. Up the coast, she saw a straight little ridge, stretching from the sea to beyond sight further inland. The Wall?
In the sea not far from where the Wall ended lay an archipelago, a series of smoking peaks rising from islands amidst the salty sea-spray.
She was falling towards a depression in the earth, a rough ellipse of peculiar smoking mountains, sweeping around gentle slopes and rolling valleys. Where the mountains met the sea, they descended, leaving a great protected bay. At the center of the harbor lay an island, coated in the scarlet leaves and pale bark of a thick forest of weirwood. At the heart of the island, the dancing dark tree stood alone.
As she fell, the smoking of the peaks intensified, before gouts of flame spewed high into the air. The land within their protective wall rippled and buckled, searing magma flowing in waves from deep wounds, invisible death flowing through heated twisting air. Where the forests burned, great whirlwinds of flame roared, linking earth to blackened sky.
It felt warning as much as memory, the land screaming as its power taken and used for great evil. Passing past those mighty whirling columns of flame, she fell toward the boiling water of the bay.
Maia screamed, the heat feeling all too real. With a sudden splash, she sunk beneath freezing water, moon's light filtering through the waves. The ripples beckoned as Maia drew closer. Finally, she found herself laying on her back on the mirror-flat surface.
Her eyes drew closed, and when she opened them, she found Ellir's concerned face looking down at her. Beyond her, the familiar setting of her bedroom brought a reassuring feeling of reality.
"Are you well?" Ellir asked her cautiously, packet of smelling herbs readied in her hand.
Maia thought about it. She had a migraine, but she was halfway expecting it anyway. She didn't seem to be burned or otherwise harmed, despite how raw and singed as her skin felt.
"I think I am," Maia groaned, head pounding. "I need a minute."
Concentrating, she devoted the experience to memory. Once she felt it committed, she took up her tablet, journaling to the best of her ability. Satisfied, she set it down, shivering as she remembered falling.
"I'm not sure if this was a success or not." She ventured after a few moments more. "I woke up in a moonlit clearing, ice-eyed woman with hair as white as snow kneeling over me. She said her name was Eshe, and claimed she was First Fork's, ah, wisdom?"
Ellir frowned, looking away for a moment, clearly uncertain. "That matches…" Unsettled, she moved over to sit next to the short woman. "Did she show you anything?"
Maia looked at her quizzically, "Yes? I mean, she said she would help me how she could, I asked her what she thought I needed, and she, ah…" Quietly, she whispered, "She said I have kin, and took me to a tree, reddish-brown bark with little lenticular spots, branches like a weirwood but leaves all little red blossoms."
Her mouth moved silently as she tried to figure it out. "The tree was dancing, I think. I," A bark of mad laughter broke from her lips, "The trees aren't trees, are they? I thought they were plants, but I should have known…" She looked at her hands, seeing anew the viscera coating them as she worked flesh to her desire.
Stomach rebelling, Maia bent over the side of the bed and retched, panting heavily as her body rejected everything.
"Fuck me, I hate that!" Maia cried, wiping her mouth clean. "Did you already know? That they're…"
Ellir quieted her with a sudden embrace, "They live tree lives, yes. Not like us, but like us enough to dream."
"I, really, don't like this." Maia said into Ellir's shoulder. The younger woman pulled back, "I need to find that tree. I think I know where it is, and I think it's important."
"Do you trust her?" Ellir asked, tone deadly serious.
Maia shrugged, looking away. "I trust myself, and I think I need to go."
"Then go." Hesitating for a moment, waiting until Maia had risen and walked halfway to the door. "Be careful, Maia. If Eshe is involved, the Moon has an interest in you, and the Gods' interest is never a blessing."
The winged woman paused, turning and giving Ellir a serious nod. From the mount on the wall, her sheathed blade floated over, belted firmly a moment later.
Maia gestured, outer door silently opening, flooding the room with bright moonlight. "You can hang out if you'd like. I don't know how long I'll be."
The winged woman left, closing the door behind her.
Shrugging, Ellir took the rest of the pitcher, taking a few sips and leaning back on her cushions. Her eyes closed as she let herself drift away, curious to see if she couldn't meet Eshe again.
Intent was key, she reminded herself, keeping the ice-eyed woman in mind. Ellir had more than a few questions she needed answers to ask this thing posing as a guardian. Best not to worry Maia until the morning, then the light may reveal illusion for whatever it may be.
***
Grenwin dreamt that she rode atop a fierce bear at the fore of an army. Before her, the assembled might of the Kneeling Kings bore down on them.
She shouted, standing and stabbing her spear at the sky, a wordless war cry. Hurling the spear, it flew straight and true, the fat king with his warhammer crying out as his long-faced brother took the point in the neck.
The scene fuzzed and faded, a gentle touch on her shoulder waking her. Eyes blinking open, Grenwin saw Maia kneeling by her bedside, illuminate by moonlight.
Her friend was dressed for travel, sword and spear prepared. Eyes wet with tears, Maia spoke softly. "I need to go find something, Gren. I don't know how long I'll be gone. It's south, to that place Tunerk said, I think. If-" Her voice hitched, "I'll try to send word each day, okay?"
Behind her, a point of light grew to a tall line, swiftly twisting into a doorway. Beyond, waves crashed on a rocky moonlit shore, the sound shockingly loud in the quiet.
"Wait-" Grenwin began, reaching out. Maia stepped back through the Gateway, her lips moving soundlessly.
In the light, Grenwin almost thought she made out the words. Through the haze of sleep, she couldn't tell it for true or if she was merely hearing what she wanted.
"I love you."
The door closed suddenly and Grenwin was alone.
***
The maiden sat atop a rock, down by the shore. This late at night, under the light of the full moon, the waters below glowed an eerie blue. She'd lost track of how many times she'd seen this, now, but it enthralled her all the same.
It was so different from where she grew, but this felt far more home than anywhere else. Her father had made her a tool, her lord had given her life, and the divine child had given her time to heal and grow.
Her heart still gave a little pang when she remembered them. It may have long since ceased to beat, but her lord's gift ensured she would continue.
Below, the sound of soft footfalls rounded the bend, a girl following close after. The maiden cocked her head, looking at both the blade she bore on her waist and the wings on her back, considering.
She could go to Kazui, who would certainly know what to do. Except, Kazui had fallen into a fitful sleep… She counted the turns of the moon on her fingers, she lost count somewhere past two hundred years. If only she'd still had the mortal blade, to cut away the slow rot creeping across Kazui's form. It had worked to wake a dragon once, and she would so dearly like to speak with her friend once more.
The girl's sword seemed to absorb the maiden's sight. Something about the sword called to her, a familiar feeling.
Heedless of danger, the maiden dropped to the rocky beach, standing just in front of the odd girl.
She spoke to the maiden, peculiar words that had no meaning. They sounded nice, the girl's voice carrying a musical quality that soothed the maiden's heart.
Eventually, she stopped speaking, looking curiously at the maiden. Did she want something?
Heedless, the maiden could feel the blade within its plain sheathe. This, this was the same sword! The girl looked near a match for the divine child, beyond her stature and wings. Could it be that Kazui had living kin still?
The maiden gestured at the sword, pleading with eyes and posture. Hesitantly, the girl untied it from her belt, cautiously handing it over.
Taking the sheath in one hand and hilt in the other, the maiden drew it partway with practiced ease. To her delight, the blade's ancient and familiar runes confirmed her hopes- Yet, the blade was dull and dim, bereft of the scarlet flames she knew it for. No touch upon her mind, no proffered gifts, not even a hint of healing under the full moon.
Concerned, the maiden knelt, recalling the old methods they'd used to grant it temporary life. A measure of blood, freely given, to bind the blade and share their life.
Sliding her palm across the edge, she held the wound above the runes of the blade, naught coming out but dust. It drifted down, falling like rusty snow, enchantments unheeding.
The maiden made a keening wail, startling the stranger. Hugging the blade to her chest, she tried to call out to the kami within, pleas falling on deaf steel.
Gently, the stranger put her hand on the maiden's wrist, drawing her attention.
Taking the sword back, the winged girl took a step back from the maiden, kneeling and examining the metal in the moonlight. Delicate fingers traced the ancient runes, mismatched green and blue eyes asking the maiden something.
Helplessly, the maiden nodded, not knowing what the stranger desired.
Suddenly, as if to get it over with, she cut her palm and let her lifeblood fall onto the intricate engravings.
The blade flared with the first drop, a gentle pulse of scarlet flame that rippled down the steel. Each drop after brought another wave of flame, until the whole of the metal glowed with an inner light.
The stranger's eyes were wide, shocked, as the fire traveled up her arm, and the maiden felt a little loss as she watched her sword choose another.
The sword sung, awareness stretching and flexing as though long asleep. The maiden felt it watching them, as uncertain as the two women.
The stranger asked something in her strange tongue.
"Still a girl, and you take up arms? Who are you, what need have you, to break my chains?"
The blade's question rung in the maiden's head, and she felt hope bloom in her heart. "To free Kazui. She dreams endlessly and will not wake. A rot creeps up her flesh and your magic we seek, Need."
The stranger said something in her own speech before the sword could come to a decision.
"Wolf! It has been long enough I thought you at rest! You, Maia of First Fork, I sense your desire. Let us satisfy the need at hand, then bring ourselves to face again the Enemy."
The maiden exchanged confused glances with the stranger.
"Ohkahmee?" The winged girl asked, pointing at the maiden.
"Maia?" The maiden asked in return, pointing back.
Both women smiled, mutually pleased to share names. Maia said something to the warm sword, the kami within giving the sense of listening intently.
"Wolf, she says she will help you. Her need is greater than yours, and so she shall bear me. Lead us to Kazui so we may save her from this curse you describe."
Maia nodded seriously, re-belting the sheath and resting her hand on the hilt.
The maiden told her to follow with a quick gesture, leading the girl through the hidden paths up into the interior of the island. Before them, it seemed a path was scribed in moonlight, the branches of the heart trees making way.
They walked tirelessly, the maiden helping the shorter girl ascend some of the more difficult cliffs, until they stood in the sacred grove, Kazui's rooted form shuddering.
Taking Maia's hand, the maiden led her quickly over to the ancient Sakura, pointing the pale streaks of bark-rot to the girl.
"Use me to clear away the sickness, and I shall help you heal the flesh thereafter." The blade hummed in their minds, giving Maia quite a startle as she flinched.
The maiden held the sheathe steady as the blade was drawn, scarlet flames lingering where the edge cut the air itself. Maia carefully scraped away some of the pale rot, the tree shivering and sounding an injured wail. Where the healing fire passed, fresh unbroken skin replaced bleeding rotten wounds.
They worked in tandem, tending to the old tree as the maiden had long desired. When it was done, they rested together, backs against the mended trunk. Wordlessly, Maia passed the maiden her waterskin, which was received gratefully.
The maiden knew they would have to wait until Kazui woke on her own.
The moon traveled westward across the sky, falling halfway to the horizon before the winds changed.
The ancient Sakura rippled and flexed, sending the women tumbling to the earth below. When the maiden looked up, she watched as the tree began to molt, blossoms and branches falling to the ground, revealing the slumbering scaled serpent within. A great golden eye flickered open, looking around the clearing, focusing on the maiden.
In a flash of movement, the remnants of the Sakura burst apart, and where it once stood now curled Kazui. Daughter of the dragon who had so cursed ancient Ashina, she rested, long whiskers curling and flexing in confusion.
The golden globe looked at Maia, blinked twice, then looked back at the maiden. The sinuous dragon yawned deeply, stretching out her wingless length under the light of the moon. Slowly and gently, she brought her massive head down to the maiden's level, one long whisker coming to rest on the woman's forehead.
"I have slept too long, I can feel it. I am so, so sorry. Thank you, my loyal Wolf, you have saved me from a slumber unending." Kazui spoke into the maiden's mind, a warm feeling that drew out her doubts and worries, soothing them away.
"This girl brought the stolen blade," The maiden told the dragon, "Without that, I could only watch."
Kazui's body moved, curling around the two of them, focusing both eyes on Maia. A whisker came to hover just before the girl, who took it with her hand.
There was a moment as Kazui spoke to her. Her face went through a most entertaining series of flickering emotions, confusion and denial chief among them.
"This, this is my sword." She said defensively, "I woke with it in the snow! I don't know where it comes before that, only that I'd be dead or worse without it."
The girl's voice grew heated, "I don't know what you mean! I am human! How does it feel to pretend to be a dragon, huh?"
Grinning, overjoyed that her old friend was awake once more, the maiden giggled at the tone, meaning escaping her. Everyone had treated Kazui as something beyond understanding, and the maiden felt that Maia recognized the person within the flesh.
Had she truly forgotten what it was to live? When had she last laughed at the dragon's antics? Centuries, she thought, centuries of a hollow life indeed.
The girl spoke with the dragon intensely, fear for the form before her fading, replaced by a growing anger. Finally, she cast away the whisker, muttering something. She looked up to the dragon's eyes, said something in her strange tongue, then a line of light appeared before her. It turned, a doorway in the air that the girl fled through, a quiet moonlit village along a river visible for a moment before it slammed shut.
Kazui bent low to settle near the maiden, drifting a whisker over to her.
"I think I want to follow her. Will you come with me?"
The maiden grinned up at her, heart beating in excitement, the promise of a new adventure buoying her spirit. "Always!"
Deftly, the maiden mounted the dragon behind the forelegs, holding onto the long mane as her friend set off bounding through the forest. Occasionally they would break out above the canopy of weirwoods, pale scales gleaming in the moonlight as they cried out in joy, heading northward.
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AN- Chapter 26
The Maiden and Kazui are two unfortunate souls who got wrapped up in something happening on our Earth long ago. I admit, I take a great deal of inspiration from Sekiro, as it was in development alongside Elden Ring, and while I know GRRM had no influence, I can still see some useful parallels with his work. The Divine Child and Kuro, I believe, underwent a similar soul-merging as what happened to Maia, producing Kazui, which means they both know that they aren't alone in truth. Their migration to the West, I interpreted as a literal and metaphorical journey across the realms, until they found themselves in Carcosa centuries ago and thought themselves safe. Nasty business went down, and Kazui brought the Maiden with her when she fled east, beyond Essos.
Edit: Wake up Ravens, new AC trailer just dropped.
View: https://youtu.be/Vs2piSWfofQ
Damn, I'd love to one day portray action like that!
Edit: Wake up Ravens, new AC trailer just dropped.
View: https://youtu.be/Vs2piSWfofQ
Damn, I'd love to one day portray action like that!
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Maia's Sword: What is it?
I've come to an unsettling conclusion earlier today, after posting the most recent chapter. Maia's sword is weird. Lightbringer was, supposedly, also weird. I started thinking about the weird things they both shared, and set out to compile a list of references to the protagonist's sword and the mythical blade.
This is an ongoing compilation of the genuinely unintended similarities up to this point. At this point, I think I've made my own conclusion on the blade, though I think I'll leave it up ultimately to each of you. Remember, prophecy is bullshit!
I'm not sure how many enchanted swords from the Long Night are still around, but this is at least one of them.
To begin, a compilation of things said of Lightbringer:
This is an ongoing compilation of the genuinely unintended similarities up to this point. At this point, I think I've made my own conclusion on the blade, though I think I'll leave it up ultimately to each of you. Remember, prophecy is bullshit!
I'm not sure how many enchanted swords from the Long Night are still around, but this is at least one of them.
To begin, a compilation of things said of Lightbringer:
- It is an enchanted blade created by a skilled smith.
- It was a long-term work, requiring multiple attempts.
- It required a willing sacrifice to complete.
- It is always warm, like Nissa Nissa had been, and that the blade burned fiery hot during battle.
- It boiled the blood of a monster when thrust through the belly of the beast.
- It is foretold that when stars bleed and the cold winds blow, the burning sword will be drawn from fire.
- "The handle was warm under my palm."
- Initially, Maia holds the sword "Awkwardly," with a wavering point. When actually using the blade, she uses the proper form.
- The wight's cold fire was quenched when the edge touched the wight's heart.
- The blade cuts with a humming noise, meeting no resistance.
- The sword is associated with one of Maia's lights, and is explicitly described to be forged using the One Power.
- Swords are uncommon north of the Wall. Both Grenwin and Ygdis initially assume she stole it from the Kneelers.
- The sword warmed the water around her as Maia drug herself to the depths of the river.
- Her sword easily cuts through wood, Maia internally describing it as "absurdly sharp."
- People don't really care about the sword, those that do tend to be women. (So far at least?)
- Sidenote: Maia mistakenly assumes that the requests for climbing equipment were for starting new lives, not raiding. Cute.
- Grenwin considers the sword bad for keeping distance, and observes that it takes too much time and effort to draw to be a useful sidearm. Implication being that it's a primary weapon on the field, not unlike spears. Of course, Grenwin is far from an expert swordswoman and can only speak to her own experience watching people try and fail.
- Meta note: The reason Maia's nanites defaulted to healing was due to the sword's influence. This is subtle enough not to be obvious in the text, even on multiple rereads.
- When she invoked John Brown in her mind, the feelings she evoked resonated with the sword, the result being a firm impulse to see to the eradication of slavery. She can postpone this, but she will be forced to follow this silent oath.
- During the slaver's raid, the sword guided Maia's healing of the downed.
- When she saw Ygdis restrained, the sword gained enough influence over Maia to physically guide her through the melee to free the young woman.
- She physically cannot stop herself from cutting the slavers down, the blade has such influence at this point.
- She 'lost' her sword, but no slaver could pick it up from where it lay. The one that tried was eviscerated.
- When Maia is considering weapons she has at her call, she does not think of the sword.
- Maia explicitly does not remember some portions of the battle.
- When Wyck is remembering the day Maia arrived, he doesn't think anything of her blade. He was unconscious during the time it acted alone.
- When confronted with Jenine and the fact one of her people, under her protection, chose to do what he did, she finds herself halfway towards shredding the boy with flows of Air. The sword reacts violently to situations like this, and she had to stop herself from committing willful murder. This is the origin of the headache.
- When considering the physical items her lights have granted her, the sword was the only object not questioned when thinking of where they came from.
- Teagj confirms that Maia killed a wight, specifically with her sword.
- Adaro tells of how the blade cut with no resistance, where Valyrian steel may be caught when cutting through bone.
- In the World of Dreams, her sword summons itself to her hands.
- The Crow flies faster than Maia can move the sword.
- The Deserter takes a great interest in the sword after holding it, stabbing Maia through the heart with it.
- The sword tries to comfort Maia after the dream, feeling similarly used.
- Mai claims the sword belonged, past tense, to her brother, Liu Bei.
- Kasey tells Maia that Mai's family "Can fly and do magic."
- Grenwin jokingly calls the sword a knife.
- Maia is fairly certain a noble would take the blade if they had the chance. Speaking from experience.
- She's dismissive of the idea that a man who stole it could draw or use the blade whatsoever.
- Grenwin Dreams of Mai with the blade.
- Maia is pulled toward battle with the Enemy by the sword.
- During the battle, she's able to channel while actively wielding the blade. The sword itself handled their movements using a high stance while Maia concentrated on her magecraft.
- Music is important, and it was vitally so in the days when the blade was forged.
- When the blade clashes with the Other's sword of Ice, the Other's sword is screaming. This is oft how it's described when their Ice comes to close to fire. Maia's blade is very deeply aligned with fire.
- The actinic flash of light is explicitly a reference to the way power-wrought weapons clash against the soul-forged blades wielded by Myrddraal in the Wheel of Time mythos. This is one of those events where a power-wrought weapon came into contact with a similar weapon, not somehow one of those swords transmigrated to Planetos.
- The sword reminds Maia to tend to her people first, in the aftermath of the battle.
- The sword had drawn deeply on Maia's strength, bereft of it's own, which is one of the reasons she passed out after it ended.
- Ellir draws the symbol engraved on one side of the sword's hilt, prior to examining the blade.
- Maia confirms to herself that she was stabbed through the heart by her blade while telling the story to Ellir.
- Ellir, after holding the sword, declares that it 'feels like' Maia. As in, it's warm like life to the touch. She explains she thinks both of them are deeply aligned with philosophical Fire.
- Able sees the newer Maker's mark on Teagj's sheathed dagger, hears the words "rune" and "sword" mentioned in the same sentence, and connects something.
- Teagj describes the blade as long and slightly curved. The blade is recognizably an Odachi.
- Dagmoor claims holding the sword is "comforting," specifically in the context of a maternal figure providing shelter from winter weather.
- When not in use, Maia hangs her sword over the mantle of her fireplace in her new residence.
- Ygdis points out the blade specifically in the context of magic.
- Maia reveals the Other she fought had her easily handled and that she felt he was toying with her, despite her or the blade's skill.
- Without the blade's helping hand, Maia's combat skills remain sub-par, as shown by her sloppy piloting. She was also distracted by Ygdis' taking a mortal wound, so it's not cut and dry.
- Able displays some knowledge of the subtle world, in regards to an increasingly obscure tradition.
- Able's interest in the blade increases as he hears what it did during battle with the Others and their wights.
- Ellir warns Maia to be careful when the Gods' eyes are on her. Maia responds by retrieving the blade from over the fireplace.
- Maia takes the blade with her when she visits Grenwin, and then when she Travels below the Wall.
- The Maiden can feel the blade at a distance.
- The Maiden is familiar with the blade, to the point of obsessive focus.
- The Maiden expects certain things from the blade, confused when there is nothing.
- The Maiden confirms the runes are true to the blade she knows.
- The blade can be fueled by the willing sacrifice of lifeblood.
- Maia's blood fuels it to a surprising degree, returning the blade to full awareness.
- The blade recognizes the Maiden, treats her as an old friend.
- The blade chose Maia to bear her, implying a prior incomplete bond.
- The blade is aflame with a scarlet fire, fading to black at the edges. The metal itself glows, as if heated.
- The blade can speak. It can also translate.
- The blade is used as a tool of healing and is associated with the Moon in the Maiden's mind.
- The blade can control its flames, leading the healing process.
- The blade recognizes the Others as the Enemy when Maia tells it of her need.
Maia XVI
First Fork's heart tree loomed over me, rays of the dawn sun casting it in warm light. The sapless face seemed kindly today, looking out towards the crowded plaza where the morning bustle was well underway.
My sword, sheathed in lacquered wood, lay in a crook of the roots. I sat on a comfortably large root, occasionally glancing at it.
It was quiet, had been quiet for so long that I thought what happened last night was a dream in truth. I'd felt so irresistibly drawn to that island, it almost felt I'd been watching through my own eyes as my body moved on it's own.
The thought brought back the cold shivers. Was that even me? I remembered stepping outside, the light of the Moon suffusing everything, and then it became a blur.
Something about visiting Grenwin, as if I really thought I wouldn't come back. Why had I felt that way? It doesn't matter where I go, I could always just Travel back home, after all…
Come to think, things had become clearer after I'd returned, like reality had asserted itself. I'd not drawn my sword since, terrified that scarlet-black flame would come back, worming its way through my skin…
Shuddering, I turned away from the blade. Looking up at the face of the heart tree, desperation bubbling away up my throat.
"Who am I?" I asked the face, "Why is this happening to me?"
The face watched the people, impassive. A breeze from the river rustled softly through the tree's crimson leaves.
I thought it through, starting from the first. I woke up in the snow, and I remembered not knowing my name. Maia had felt right, but my childhood memories… They all named me Kasey. I wasn't her, though. She and I, we were similar, but I knew for sure that we were not the same person.
I had thought my bachelor's in sociology had been mine. It wasn't. Like it seemed everything else, it was thrown at me. What made it any different than the lights, giving me so many wonders?
My sword, as well. I thought it tied to a light, yet I could remember watching a young man practicing with it. It had been plain metal then, unlike last night, after I'd watered it with my blood. Mai's memories, then? Why were hers so faint, when Kasey's memories were like remembering a clear dream?
"I don't know what to do…" I whined at the face, embracing a moment of juvenility. That, at least, was my choice. I thought for a moment, pieces coming together. "No, I know what I need to do. I'm going to stay my course, see my people to safety below the Wall. From there, I don't know, but that's my goal right now."
The face did not respond.
"Hullo!" A man's kindly voice called up, followed by surefooted footfalls.
Turning my head, I saw a slender man coming up to the little rise the weirwood rested on. His eyes were shrewd, and I knew this man was dangerous.
I looked over at the sword, trying to figure out if this was my own impulse, or something foreign.
I waved the man over, standing to greet him. "Hello. I don't think I've met you yet. Name's Maia."
The man's mouth curled in a small smile, "Figured, you're the only one with wings around." He looked up at the heart tree, hesitating, before continuing to settle on a nearby root. Looking back over the plaza, he leaned forward conspiratorially. "I'd ask you not to tell anyone else, Maia. My name is Mance Rayder."
I tilted my head, looking him over. He didn't really seem the great man the stories told about him suggested, if he wasn't lying for attention.
"If you were Mance, how did you find yourself here? I find it an unpleasant coincidence after recent events." I watched his face, noticing a hint of affront that was covered quickly. What was that supposed to mean?
"The Antler-Clans gather near the high solstice each year, I'd been told, and I wanted to see the kind of people they were when they come together." He shrugged, "I hadn't expected the Antler-King to have as much sway as he does. You should honor Teagj, he and his people worked hard to bring as many as they had. I accompanied them, curious to see if what they claimed was true."
That tracked, by my reckoning. Not targeted, then. Not more bullshit, just regular human shit.
Relaxing, "You must know how, ah, odd it might seem for a man claiming to be Mance to appear. So, are you going to try to kill me, take my people for your own?" I almost hoped he would try, at least it would be straightforward.
Emphatically shaking his head, "I swore an Oath to bring no harm to First Fork. Trying to kill you and take your claim, well, I think that would make the land murderously upset with me." It sounded a joke, and he paused before continuing more seriously. "I've never seen before what you and yours have built here. I'm envious of your success."
"You've nearly a hundred thousand people following you, I only had to worry about a hundred and a half." I pointed out, entertaining the man's claims.
He nodded seriously, "And each and every one of your people is fed. There was enough food last night that each of us had a full bowl! They're well-clothed, sheltered in something better than tents, and they've repelled the Others not once, but twice!" He quieted, watching me intently.
"So, what do we do, Mance?" I shrugged, "My course is set. I will continue to gather people here, and when we have enough to move below the Wall and establish ourselves, we will do so. I won't move against you, if that's what you're worried about. I don't want your title."
He blinked, surprised. "Truly?" He tapped his chin in thought, "That's a first. What does being Queen-Beyond-the-Wall mean to you, then?"
"Grenwin says it's about being willing to fight for and alongside the people, Ellir says it's a thing to do with the Gods and spirits, and myself? All I know is that I've not had a single night's rest since I've taken the role. I'm terrified that the Others will come and wipe us all out, because they can. Have you seen them, Mance? Have you fought one? I have, and despite losing a hand, it was so beyond my ability to fight that all I did was stall it until something incredible happened."
Mance's eyes widened, and he laughed. It started as a small chuckle, growing until great peals of belly-laughter sounded from him. Calming himself, he wiped tears from his eyes.
"I've certainly not heard that before. 'I'm the strongest and thus I rule,' or 'I was chosen by the Old Gods,' that's what I was expecting." Soberly, he gave me a reassuring nod, "It doesn't get any easier, you know. That weight? That fear you feel? Keep a strong hold on it. Use it to remember how you began when the world itself seems to conspire against you."
…Did I even know anything about Mance the person, and not Mance the King? I could see, suddenly, how he could bring so many together.
"I, ah, I will." I awkwardly affirmed.
He nodded resolutely. His eyes wandered over to where the sheathed blade sat, and his face grew curious.
"I've heard wondrous things about your sword, Maia. May I see it?"
A cold chill ran down my spine. But… What was I so scared of? The sword had healed last night, those scarlet flames feeling warm as sunlight as they wriggled up my arm-
Resolutely nodding, knowing I'd have to face it eventually, I took up the long sheath. I closed my eyes, hesitating before grasping the hilt, feeding my worries into an imagined flame.
The hilt was as warm as the Lodge's hearthfire, and I felt a distinct awareness within acknowledging me. I opened my eyes, unlatching the sheath, steadfastly ignoring the trembles in my arm. The scarlet-black fire dripped from the blade as I drew it a handspan.
Despite the blaze, it counteracted the growing heat of the morning, somehow more personable and comforting than the overwhelming strength of the sun.
Mance's eyes were wide as he beheld the glowing blade and rippling fire, shock warring with hope over his features. He leaned towards it a little, looking closely. At the runes? I couldn't tell.
He whispered something I missed, shaking his head. "Can, Can you put that away?" He asked quietly, transfixed by the rippling flames.
I sheathed the blade, latching and setting it aside.
We sat like that for a while, Mance's eye's locked on the sheathe. Abruptly, he stood, stumbling unsteadily away without a word.
I didn't feel much better off myself, though perhaps glad that the fire had stayed outside of my body this time.
…Fuck me, I met a dragon last night? Wingless, sure, but… Symon had said dragons had been real, before they'd died out. Maybe she had just been a survivor, somehow? Didn't explain why she was a tree, though.
There had been that strange woman who couldn't bleed, too. She had spoken something that sounded like Japanese, but my knowledge was too limited to be sure.
Should I confront Tunerk over this? Something told me he probably didn't know about the dragon that was maybe also a tree. The whole of that volcanic caldera had been large, and I'd only seen a little of the island in the center. It wasn't impossible that I'd just bypassed whoever else lived there, whoever it was that he thought I would meet.
Or, he meant the woman my sword named Okami. There was something about her that was distinctly off, and it was only that heart wrenching scream of hers that convinced me she was human at all.
"You're an interesting girl, Maia of First Fork."
The feminine voice came from the sheathed blade, yet sounded in my head.
Oh, that's where my limit is.
"Nope." I said coolly, "I'm not doing this." Standing, I took the sword and belted it at my waist, ignoring the voice. "I'm going to go fix my goddamn Armored Core. Then, I'm going to find Gren and Ygdis, and then we're going to run the newcomers through how we do things here." Nodding forcefully, I resolved myself.
I made my way down through the plaza, forcing myself to stop and give every person I passed some form of acknowledgement. I paused at one of the food stalls, trading the knife I kept on my ankle for a few skewers of sizzling elk.
Sitting not far from an ongoing boxing match, I took my time savoring the food. The consistent sound of the two burly men hitting each other and the cheering of the other watchers were soothing.
I should do something about Mance. I don't know what, but I could at least have him watched, maybe. If he tries taking any of my people, I'll toss him out on his ass and let it be known he's not welcome back.
I pulled out my tablet, sending his description to Ygdis and the request to watch him closely. He'd asked me not to spread his name, and for my own reasons, I'd keep it quiet. Whatever he went by here, it had less weight than Mance Rayder.
The boxers were still at it by the time I finished my skewers and stood, tossing the wooden sticks into a nearby trashcan. A hoop rolled past me, chased by a group of kids with sticks.
After they passed, I walked through the Lodge to get to the hangar, passing through the doorway that still led to my pocket reality.
The Knight hung suspended by braces of shaped wood, unable to bear its own weight with the left knee blown to hell and back. The incongruity of wooden scaffolding around something so clearly advanced made me smile.
I climbed up to the cockpit, climbing in. Turning on the computers, I kept everything on battery for the moment. It took a little bit of finagling to get the tablet to hook up to the internal systems of the Knight, but I was eventually able to get a detailed damage report.
It wasn't that bad, for how it looked. While the blade-legs those Arachs used were sharp and pierced the armor, they couldn't cut, as it seemed they were designed to do.
Schenburg's borrowed intuition told me they had more in common with anti-infantry MTs than anything else. I wasn't sure how accurate that was, but it did explain the scything motions they'd tried at first, trying to cut through the metal skin.
Each cut didn't do that much damage, not in comparison to AC-grade weaponry. Under the armor, the only damaged components were those directly in the path of the piercing strikes, whereas the rounds the Knight's rifle fired were designed to explode after penetrating armor.
I wondered what the Others must think of us. The first time they come, the people vanish. The second time, the people fight with arms and coordination, and use a large weapon to strike the present Others directly. The third time, the Others bring anti-infantry equipment and are faced with the Knight.
Maybe it was for the best that I was a shit pilot. Two hours in the onboard simulator for fun in the days prior to the battle did not prepare me.
Given how much of my time was already occupied, I needed to start looking for other pilots. I half considered Grenwin, imagining her bellowing orders from the towering Knight. Shaking my head, I knew she'd need a clear head for directing battle, and there was too much going on in the Knight to make that possible.
Perhaps we should just run trials with the simulator. I didn't know many people well enough to be able to tell who'd make a good pilot. So, keep it open, maybe just make it an ongoing thing people can do. Test yourself with the Knight and see if you've got what it takes, or something.
I poked my head into the gaping wound of the Knight's knee. From the damage report, the Arach had struck a concentration of power distribution nodes, which somehow caused the nearby thermal regulator to overdraw power and explode violently.
The interior was slagged, but not unsalvageable. Maybe. Most of what I'd been getting from Schenburg's memories were unrelated to repair work, but I should be able to identify, with help from the computers, the components I needed to replace.
Embracing Saidar, I Delved the joint. Examining each and every component, I carefully started scraping away the slag with flows of Fire and Earth. It was tedious work, but I wanted to be thorough.
I tried hard to ignore thoughts of rotten bark.
Once the wound had been cleaned, the full extent of the damage was plainly visible. The knee joint itself had been badly damaged, to a degree I didn't think I could fix by just cleaning out junk. Nor could I just fabricate a new one, as I'd not had the time to take it apart for future spare part procurement.
That meant actually designing a new one, and that meant I'd need to take apart the intact leg to see how everything worked in the first place.
It was a prospect I was excited to tackle.
Checking the time on my tablet, I found I'd been at this for nearly an hour. Sighing, I put it back in my pocket, descending the scaffolding.
Time to find my sisters, and then to start integrating the newcomers. After that…
After, I'd deal with the sword, and get my answers one way or the other.
My sword, sheathed in lacquered wood, lay in a crook of the roots. I sat on a comfortably large root, occasionally glancing at it.
It was quiet, had been quiet for so long that I thought what happened last night was a dream in truth. I'd felt so irresistibly drawn to that island, it almost felt I'd been watching through my own eyes as my body moved on it's own.
The thought brought back the cold shivers. Was that even me? I remembered stepping outside, the light of the Moon suffusing everything, and then it became a blur.
Something about visiting Grenwin, as if I really thought I wouldn't come back. Why had I felt that way? It doesn't matter where I go, I could always just Travel back home, after all…
Come to think, things had become clearer after I'd returned, like reality had asserted itself. I'd not drawn my sword since, terrified that scarlet-black flame would come back, worming its way through my skin…
Shuddering, I turned away from the blade. Looking up at the face of the heart tree, desperation bubbling away up my throat.
"Who am I?" I asked the face, "Why is this happening to me?"
The face watched the people, impassive. A breeze from the river rustled softly through the tree's crimson leaves.
I thought it through, starting from the first. I woke up in the snow, and I remembered not knowing my name. Maia had felt right, but my childhood memories… They all named me Kasey. I wasn't her, though. She and I, we were similar, but I knew for sure that we were not the same person.
I had thought my bachelor's in sociology had been mine. It wasn't. Like it seemed everything else, it was thrown at me. What made it any different than the lights, giving me so many wonders?
My sword, as well. I thought it tied to a light, yet I could remember watching a young man practicing with it. It had been plain metal then, unlike last night, after I'd watered it with my blood. Mai's memories, then? Why were hers so faint, when Kasey's memories were like remembering a clear dream?
"I don't know what to do…" I whined at the face, embracing a moment of juvenility. That, at least, was my choice. I thought for a moment, pieces coming together. "No, I know what I need to do. I'm going to stay my course, see my people to safety below the Wall. From there, I don't know, but that's my goal right now."
The face did not respond.
"Hullo!" A man's kindly voice called up, followed by surefooted footfalls.
Turning my head, I saw a slender man coming up to the little rise the weirwood rested on. His eyes were shrewd, and I knew this man was dangerous.
I looked over at the sword, trying to figure out if this was my own impulse, or something foreign.
I waved the man over, standing to greet him. "Hello. I don't think I've met you yet. Name's Maia."
The man's mouth curled in a small smile, "Figured, you're the only one with wings around." He looked up at the heart tree, hesitating, before continuing to settle on a nearby root. Looking back over the plaza, he leaned forward conspiratorially. "I'd ask you not to tell anyone else, Maia. My name is Mance Rayder."
I tilted my head, looking him over. He didn't really seem the great man the stories told about him suggested, if he wasn't lying for attention.
"If you were Mance, how did you find yourself here? I find it an unpleasant coincidence after recent events." I watched his face, noticing a hint of affront that was covered quickly. What was that supposed to mean?
"The Antler-Clans gather near the high solstice each year, I'd been told, and I wanted to see the kind of people they were when they come together." He shrugged, "I hadn't expected the Antler-King to have as much sway as he does. You should honor Teagj, he and his people worked hard to bring as many as they had. I accompanied them, curious to see if what they claimed was true."
That tracked, by my reckoning. Not targeted, then. Not more bullshit, just regular human shit.
Relaxing, "You must know how, ah, odd it might seem for a man claiming to be Mance to appear. So, are you going to try to kill me, take my people for your own?" I almost hoped he would try, at least it would be straightforward.
Emphatically shaking his head, "I swore an Oath to bring no harm to First Fork. Trying to kill you and take your claim, well, I think that would make the land murderously upset with me." It sounded a joke, and he paused before continuing more seriously. "I've never seen before what you and yours have built here. I'm envious of your success."
"You've nearly a hundred thousand people following you, I only had to worry about a hundred and a half." I pointed out, entertaining the man's claims.
He nodded seriously, "And each and every one of your people is fed. There was enough food last night that each of us had a full bowl! They're well-clothed, sheltered in something better than tents, and they've repelled the Others not once, but twice!" He quieted, watching me intently.
"So, what do we do, Mance?" I shrugged, "My course is set. I will continue to gather people here, and when we have enough to move below the Wall and establish ourselves, we will do so. I won't move against you, if that's what you're worried about. I don't want your title."
He blinked, surprised. "Truly?" He tapped his chin in thought, "That's a first. What does being Queen-Beyond-the-Wall mean to you, then?"
"Grenwin says it's about being willing to fight for and alongside the people, Ellir says it's a thing to do with the Gods and spirits, and myself? All I know is that I've not had a single night's rest since I've taken the role. I'm terrified that the Others will come and wipe us all out, because they can. Have you seen them, Mance? Have you fought one? I have, and despite losing a hand, it was so beyond my ability to fight that all I did was stall it until something incredible happened."
Mance's eyes widened, and he laughed. It started as a small chuckle, growing until great peals of belly-laughter sounded from him. Calming himself, he wiped tears from his eyes.
"I've certainly not heard that before. 'I'm the strongest and thus I rule,' or 'I was chosen by the Old Gods,' that's what I was expecting." Soberly, he gave me a reassuring nod, "It doesn't get any easier, you know. That weight? That fear you feel? Keep a strong hold on it. Use it to remember how you began when the world itself seems to conspire against you."
…Did I even know anything about Mance the person, and not Mance the King? I could see, suddenly, how he could bring so many together.
"I, ah, I will." I awkwardly affirmed.
He nodded resolutely. His eyes wandered over to where the sheathed blade sat, and his face grew curious.
"I've heard wondrous things about your sword, Maia. May I see it?"
A cold chill ran down my spine. But… What was I so scared of? The sword had healed last night, those scarlet flames feeling warm as sunlight as they wriggled up my arm-
Resolutely nodding, knowing I'd have to face it eventually, I took up the long sheath. I closed my eyes, hesitating before grasping the hilt, feeding my worries into an imagined flame.
The hilt was as warm as the Lodge's hearthfire, and I felt a distinct awareness within acknowledging me. I opened my eyes, unlatching the sheath, steadfastly ignoring the trembles in my arm. The scarlet-black fire dripped from the blade as I drew it a handspan.
Despite the blaze, it counteracted the growing heat of the morning, somehow more personable and comforting than the overwhelming strength of the sun.
Mance's eyes were wide as he beheld the glowing blade and rippling fire, shock warring with hope over his features. He leaned towards it a little, looking closely. At the runes? I couldn't tell.
He whispered something I missed, shaking his head. "Can, Can you put that away?" He asked quietly, transfixed by the rippling flames.
I sheathed the blade, latching and setting it aside.
We sat like that for a while, Mance's eye's locked on the sheathe. Abruptly, he stood, stumbling unsteadily away without a word.
I didn't feel much better off myself, though perhaps glad that the fire had stayed outside of my body this time.
…Fuck me, I met a dragon last night? Wingless, sure, but… Symon had said dragons had been real, before they'd died out. Maybe she had just been a survivor, somehow? Didn't explain why she was a tree, though.
There had been that strange woman who couldn't bleed, too. She had spoken something that sounded like Japanese, but my knowledge was too limited to be sure.
Should I confront Tunerk over this? Something told me he probably didn't know about the dragon that was maybe also a tree. The whole of that volcanic caldera had been large, and I'd only seen a little of the island in the center. It wasn't impossible that I'd just bypassed whoever else lived there, whoever it was that he thought I would meet.
Or, he meant the woman my sword named Okami. There was something about her that was distinctly off, and it was only that heart wrenching scream of hers that convinced me she was human at all.
"You're an interesting girl, Maia of First Fork."
The feminine voice came from the sheathed blade, yet sounded in my head.
Oh, that's where my limit is.
"Nope." I said coolly, "I'm not doing this." Standing, I took the sword and belted it at my waist, ignoring the voice. "I'm going to go fix my goddamn Armored Core. Then, I'm going to find Gren and Ygdis, and then we're going to run the newcomers through how we do things here." Nodding forcefully, I resolved myself.
I made my way down through the plaza, forcing myself to stop and give every person I passed some form of acknowledgement. I paused at one of the food stalls, trading the knife I kept on my ankle for a few skewers of sizzling elk.
Sitting not far from an ongoing boxing match, I took my time savoring the food. The consistent sound of the two burly men hitting each other and the cheering of the other watchers were soothing.
I should do something about Mance. I don't know what, but I could at least have him watched, maybe. If he tries taking any of my people, I'll toss him out on his ass and let it be known he's not welcome back.
I pulled out my tablet, sending his description to Ygdis and the request to watch him closely. He'd asked me not to spread his name, and for my own reasons, I'd keep it quiet. Whatever he went by here, it had less weight than Mance Rayder.
The boxers were still at it by the time I finished my skewers and stood, tossing the wooden sticks into a nearby trashcan. A hoop rolled past me, chased by a group of kids with sticks.
After they passed, I walked through the Lodge to get to the hangar, passing through the doorway that still led to my pocket reality.
The Knight hung suspended by braces of shaped wood, unable to bear its own weight with the left knee blown to hell and back. The incongruity of wooden scaffolding around something so clearly advanced made me smile.
I climbed up to the cockpit, climbing in. Turning on the computers, I kept everything on battery for the moment. It took a little bit of finagling to get the tablet to hook up to the internal systems of the Knight, but I was eventually able to get a detailed damage report.
It wasn't that bad, for how it looked. While the blade-legs those Arachs used were sharp and pierced the armor, they couldn't cut, as it seemed they were designed to do.
Schenburg's borrowed intuition told me they had more in common with anti-infantry MTs than anything else. I wasn't sure how accurate that was, but it did explain the scything motions they'd tried at first, trying to cut through the metal skin.
Each cut didn't do that much damage, not in comparison to AC-grade weaponry. Under the armor, the only damaged components were those directly in the path of the piercing strikes, whereas the rounds the Knight's rifle fired were designed to explode after penetrating armor.
I wondered what the Others must think of us. The first time they come, the people vanish. The second time, the people fight with arms and coordination, and use a large weapon to strike the present Others directly. The third time, the Others bring anti-infantry equipment and are faced with the Knight.
Maybe it was for the best that I was a shit pilot. Two hours in the onboard simulator for fun in the days prior to the battle did not prepare me.
Given how much of my time was already occupied, I needed to start looking for other pilots. I half considered Grenwin, imagining her bellowing orders from the towering Knight. Shaking my head, I knew she'd need a clear head for directing battle, and there was too much going on in the Knight to make that possible.
Perhaps we should just run trials with the simulator. I didn't know many people well enough to be able to tell who'd make a good pilot. So, keep it open, maybe just make it an ongoing thing people can do. Test yourself with the Knight and see if you've got what it takes, or something.
I poked my head into the gaping wound of the Knight's knee. From the damage report, the Arach had struck a concentration of power distribution nodes, which somehow caused the nearby thermal regulator to overdraw power and explode violently.
The interior was slagged, but not unsalvageable. Maybe. Most of what I'd been getting from Schenburg's memories were unrelated to repair work, but I should be able to identify, with help from the computers, the components I needed to replace.
Embracing Saidar, I Delved the joint. Examining each and every component, I carefully started scraping away the slag with flows of Fire and Earth. It was tedious work, but I wanted to be thorough.
I tried hard to ignore thoughts of rotten bark.
Once the wound had been cleaned, the full extent of the damage was plainly visible. The knee joint itself had been badly damaged, to a degree I didn't think I could fix by just cleaning out junk. Nor could I just fabricate a new one, as I'd not had the time to take it apart for future spare part procurement.
That meant actually designing a new one, and that meant I'd need to take apart the intact leg to see how everything worked in the first place.
It was a prospect I was excited to tackle.
Checking the time on my tablet, I found I'd been at this for nearly an hour. Sighing, I put it back in my pocket, descending the scaffolding.
Time to find my sisters, and then to start integrating the newcomers. After that…
After, I'd deal with the sword, and get my answers one way or the other.
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I Think Maia should wield the blade with saidar instead of her hands. Her weaves of air can exert much greater force than her hands and she could turn her sword into a floating buzzsaw if she ever needs to kill a lot of others.
There is no reason to wield it by hand of your telekinetic magic is so much stronger and nimbler.
There is no reason to wield it by hand of your telekinetic magic is so much stronger and nimbler.
Oh yeah, that's extremely true. It would certainly better fulfill the battlefield role she tried in the first battle. Given her personal protections, they could use her to distract the Others directly while they figure out countermeasures.
You know, I just remembered, but didn't the Wheel of Time books describe how to create those unbreakable stones? I'm kind of surprised Maia hasn't tried to do anything with that.
Actually, considering the sword is indestructible and comes back whenever she loses it (iirc), couldn't she imitate a railgun and just fire it off at her enemies with magic? I doubt there's much an Other can do when a multi pound slab of enchanted steel hits them at mach 5.
EMIYA would begrumpy as all hell proud.
Actually, considering the sword is indestructible and comes back whenever she loses it (iirc), couldn't she imitate a railgun and just fire it off at her enemies with magic? I doubt there's much an Other can do when a multi pound slab of enchanted steel hits them at mach 5.
EMIYA would be
That is actually brilliant. She's got a hard 60 second cooldown between recalls, but after an attack like that, do you need to worry about reload time?
Edit: Didn't see the first part, I was so enamored. That indestructible stone is called cuendillar, and the making of it requires a specific weave. The One Power is best considered as we would engineering, with specific weaves being created with the intent of something. Sometimes, in the Wheel of Time, people can just do things like this naturally, or figure out how to with examples. On Planetos, they're starting mostly from first principles, with Maia's instinctive weaves being the exception. They might try and pursue it, there are other individuals actively reading through the series to see what they might be able to actually use, though this is born of a misunderstanding that it's a factual account of past events.
Best part is, even if Maia tries to convince them otherwise, her actively using the specific terminology from the series the whole time she's been using the power around them just makes it all the more real.
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What kind of government can we figure out together?
I'm having a fairly rough time trying to figure out the kind of system of governance these people are growing into. I'd like to ask if anyone has any good historical references I might be able to look at. Any ideas or suggestions, too, are always welcome and greatly appreciated! I'll add more context in the spoiler.
I know this is still fairly underdeveloped; I hope it's enough to start thinking about.
First, a breakdown of the various people who now reside in First Fork and will be shaping their future. These are in order of population size at present, just to give an idea of what we're working with. Note that some minority groups, like the Bear Clans, have extremely disproportionate representation in government, like Grenwin.
All the present Free Folk follow the general belief in the Old Gods. The particulars can vary between a vague notion that stuff happens around heart trees to a complex understanding of the unseen world around them and the spirits that dwell within. In the case of this deeper knowledge, it is passed from the mother to the child. Those snow-haired women, like Dalla in canon and Ellir here, are not born with their coloring. It is a consequence of the knowledge they hold, and a visible sign of their influence. Dalla was Mance's princess, Ellir was Raymun's.
The Antlermen
The Hornfootmen
Now for the groups with less population locally.
Nightrunners
The Bear Clans
The Flown Crows
Second, the current government. It's currently headed by Maia, who has a significant influence and is driven by her desire to maximize her people's wellbeing. Immediately after her, Taegj, Ellir, Uven, and the other current leadership of the incoming clans/tribes remain in their roles, all of them having been brought into the Planning Committee as soon as possible. In this way, low-level interpersonal disputes are generally settled quickly and fairly, and Maia's general precepts are disseminated. As long as she's useful, everyone present is disposed to work with her in good faith.
When it comes to organization of occupation, they've begun transitioning into specialist knowledge-holders teaching that to others, ultimately to be integrated into a broader curriculum. During group labor, the foremen are chosen by the workers on a task-by-task basis. This is something that Maia wants to keep and potentially expand on. As an extension, the current military leadership was ultimately chosen in this way.
The armed forces is an interesting challenge for me. With their accelerated training, as long as Maia can keep that up, they have shockingly quick turnaround. Anyone with a particular knack or skill are encouraged to train others how to do the same, and for now, they have all the time in the world to learn. Maia has a limit to how many she can bring into the compressed time, currently seven hundred individuals. Eventually, the military will become too large for her to handle at once, and they'll need to start prioritizing where she's deployed.
Ellir is an important woman amongst the Free Folk, once she's introduced. She was Raymun Redbeard's princess and Queen, yet forewent the title after Raymun was killed. She was old enough to have learned the secrets of her mother and her mother's mother when she was taken. Shortly after, she escaped for a time, finding shelter among the Ogier and learning from them. She hasn't said much about her life between then and coming to lead the small village near First Fork.
All the present Free Folk follow the general belief in the Old Gods. The particulars can vary between a vague notion that stuff happens around heart trees to a complex understanding of the unseen world around them and the spirits that dwell within. In the case of this deeper knowledge, it is passed from the mother to the child. Those snow-haired women, like Dalla in canon and Ellir here, are not born with their coloring. It is a consequence of the knowledge they hold, and a visible sign of their influence. Dalla was Mance's princess, Ellir was Raymun's.
The Antlermen
The Hornfootmen
Now for the groups with less population locally.
Nightrunners
The Bear Clans
The Flown Crows
Second, the current government. It's currently headed by Maia, who has a significant influence and is driven by her desire to maximize her people's wellbeing. Immediately after her, Taegj, Ellir, Uven, and the other current leadership of the incoming clans/tribes remain in their roles, all of them having been brought into the Planning Committee as soon as possible. In this way, low-level interpersonal disputes are generally settled quickly and fairly, and Maia's general precepts are disseminated. As long as she's useful, everyone present is disposed to work with her in good faith.
When it comes to organization of occupation, they've begun transitioning into specialist knowledge-holders teaching that to others, ultimately to be integrated into a broader curriculum. During group labor, the foremen are chosen by the workers on a task-by-task basis. This is something that Maia wants to keep and potentially expand on. As an extension, the current military leadership was ultimately chosen in this way.
The armed forces is an interesting challenge for me. With their accelerated training, as long as Maia can keep that up, they have shockingly quick turnaround. Anyone with a particular knack or skill are encouraged to train others how to do the same, and for now, they have all the time in the world to learn. Maia has a limit to how many she can bring into the compressed time, currently seven hundred individuals. Eventually, the military will become too large for her to handle at once, and they'll need to start prioritizing where she's deployed.
Ellir is an important woman amongst the Free Folk, once she's introduced. She was Raymun Redbeard's princess and Queen, yet forewent the title after Raymun was killed. She was old enough to have learned the secrets of her mother and her mother's mother when she was taken. Shortly after, she escaped for a time, finding shelter among the Ogier and learning from them. She hasn't said much about her life between then and coming to lead the small village near First Fork.
GeekGod_of_Speed
He Who Enjoys The Big Words
I think the Roman Triumvirate is a good model and would allow the MC to ignore the government unless they need a tiebreaker with a council or something below them
The roman triumvirate(s) almost immediately descended into civil war twice. It's a terrible system, in the roman case tried on a republic in terminal decline to try to appease factions fighting over power against some other enemy until they stab themselves in the back. They even had different administrative regions for more of that 'ready made civil war' mood.
Anything can work when people are well intentioned, it's finding a system that scales well after the well intentioned people fuck off and die and it grows out of the city state level that becomes hard, and what's the stick holding and gluing competing interests and if that stick doesn't get ideas.
Anything can work when people are well intentioned, it's finding a system that scales well after the well intentioned people fuck off and die and it grows out of the city state level that becomes hard, and what's the stick holding and gluing competing interests and if that stick doesn't get ideas.
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Whatever they end up with has to be stable enough to last on its own without Maia's direct influence. It's one of the victory conditions, y'see, but they do have room to try different things to see what works, since Maia won't be expiring naturally. They seem like the kind of people to make sure their government takes into account the realities of the given situation, and to keep their structure flexible enough to adapt. I suppose they have a few advantages that no other state has ever had, especially where material resources are concerned. Additionally, aside from the land they need to build a city, the current government has very little interest in territorial acquisition beyond that which is strategically valuable. I'm not sure expansionist empires are a good fit, if that makes sense?
I'm not confident that a region with wealth and power will not seek more if they consider themselves so much more "advanced" than their direct neighbors. Rome didn't stay a city state (or rather, it did, but established a exploitative extraction and slavery economy over the continent), and cities that stayed city states were often in regions where that was the norm and there were logistics problems or army parity, or where their real power was economical/fleet based, or it was a case of a expansionist smaller empire reaching a mafia agreement with a larger, but technological inferior invaded country (your Shanghai and a bunch of others) so they were only city states because of distance from the colonial center and lack of invasive manpower.
If you want a defensive only country, even one without any needs, Maia better get ready to come back out of obscurity and break heads (or sing about peace and harmony) every two generations, when the inevitable oligarchs get big headed. In fact, I'd say prevent oligarchs is the only way that if Maia dies/leaves, that any country with freaking robot armor is not going off the rails quick into conquer the world mode and I'm not even certain that's enough.
Manifest destiny is a really really tempting irl meme for a prosperous country.
If you want a defensive only country, even one without any needs, Maia better get ready to come back out of obscurity and break heads (or sing about peace and harmony) every two generations, when the inevitable oligarchs get big headed. In fact, I'd say prevent oligarchs is the only way that if Maia dies/leaves, that any country with freaking robot armor is not going off the rails quick into conquer the world mode and I'm not even certain that's enough.
Manifest destiny is a really really tempting irl meme for a prosperous country.
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