A Whole New World pt 2
[X] Travel only at night. You will be less likely to be spotted, and in general you'll be better rested. However, it will take noticeably longer to get back to Agrithe. You will have time to do some fun things while you're resting (Choose one activity).
-[X] Read a scroll (The Dragon Within)
-[X] Read a scroll (The Dragon Within)
- Runemaster Fafnara of Kepesk-Okar
You and Artemis had been flying for nearly an hour the next night when Artemis speaks up. "Ryza, would you mind telling me more about manakete?"
You glance back at her. "Why do you ask?" you question.
"Why wouldn't I be curious?" Artemis asks. "You're important to me, and it's clear that, for whatever reason, the human history of your people is severely lacking. I'd like to know what got lost over the millennium." There's a moment of silence before she continues. "If you don't want to talk about it, I'll accept that…"
You shake your head. "No, no, it's fine," you say. "What would you like to know?"
Artemis considers for a moment before answering. "I'd like to know a lot of things, but I'm curious about how manakete organized themselves. You mentioned that your mother was in charge; were manakete matriarchal?"
"Not as a rule, no," you say. "Mother was older than Father, and back when there were more members of the tribe around she was the oldest, so everyone looked up to her." You pause to consider. "It's not so much that she was in charge, as she was the one people asked to resolve disputes. From what I remember, manakete don't really have rulers like humans do; each family is… was, independent. It's just that, whenever there was an argument, the sides would go to an older manakete they both respected to make a fair judgement."
"I can understand that," Artemis says. "It's similar among the Kingdoms, or at least Father tries to make it that way. He taught me that, if the Kingdoms fight each other, then it weakens all of us and makes us vulnerable to the Empire. He's spent much of his reign trying to prevent the various squabbles and minor wars that are always flaring up when different people in power are too close to each other."
"Oh, so he's like a High Lord?" you ask.
Artemis frowns. "I thought you said manakete didn't have rulers," she says.
"We don't, but there are some elders that are so respected, that just about everyone agrees they'll make a fair decision. Those manakete are called Lords, and the one that they elect to be the highest judge within the tribe is called the High Lord." You consider. "I suppose you can kind of consider them rulers: from what I read when a Lord or High Lord asks a manakete to do something, they have to have a really good reason not to do it for them. They aren't supposed to abuse that, though."
"Sadly," Artemis says. "What people are supposed to do and what they actually do are not always the same."
"True," you say sadly. "But that's what the Arbiter was for: to make sure the tribes got along with each other."
"Arbiter?"
"The Mother's Chosen One. The ultimate judge, the one every manakete is bound to respect the judgement of," you say. "Whenever there was a disagreement between tribes, or if an argument within a tribe got too big or complex, the Arbiter would come and sort everything out."
Artemis frowns. "That sounds like a lot of power to give one person," she says.
"It was," you agree. "But the rule was that the Arbiter had to give up all ties to their old tribe after being elected. They would then be given the True Stone and fuse it with their own, making them able to represent all the tribes equally and showing that they had the Mother's favor."
"You keep mentioning the Mother," Artemis says. "Was she the manakete's goddess?"
"Pretty much," you say. "There were some scholars that argue that she's just the collective gestalt conscious of the most powerful ancient manakete souls, but in the end that'd pretty much be the same thing. What's important is that she's the one who watches over and protects manakete-kind." You pause before continuing sadly. "Or at least, that's what she was supposed to do…"
Why hadn't the Mother protected your family? Why hadn't she prevented the slaughter of your people? Didn't she love you? Had she been so upset that manakete had not been following the rules, that they'd been arguing and fighting among themselves, that she'd turned her back on you all?
Was all of this your people's fault?
Artemis leans forward, carefully pressing your back-spines down so she can hug your neck. "I'm sorry," she whispers. "Do you want to hear another story?"
"… That would be nice," you say softly.
Rather than another Lady Seryph story, this time Artemis tells a story from her own youth. Apparently, she'd been a pretty willful child, always running around and getting into mischief. This had come to a head when she had snuck into the stables and met Actaeon, who had just been a foal at the time. You couldn't help but smile as she describes how she snuck the young horse out to get him some exercise, since the stable hands had been keeping the rambunctious colt locked up and young-Artemis had thought that was wrong. Even the fact that she'd gotten in a lot of trouble afterwards hadn't been enough to break the bond between the pair.
As you settled down to rest after returning to your heart-form, you feel a bit better.
The rest of the night passes calmly, the pair of you engaging in only light, fun stories to pass the time. Finally, however, dawn comes, and you're forced to settle down to rest for the day.
Once you wake up from your sleep, you notice that Artemis is taking a nap of her own. Although you're interested in learning more about human writing, you decide to let her sleep for a bit and get The Dragon Within out again: there's still a lot of reading you need to do to try and figure out how to live alongside that part of you in a world that may not forgive the sort of mistakes and experimentation that your old home would have.
…
Path of Awakening
Path of Awakening
The undisputed transition from childhood to adulthood among all the tribes of manakete is the moment when they awaken their dragon-self from torpor. Although even young dragon-selves still affect the whole of the manakete, their influence is limited until the heart is ready to work alongside that part of themselves rather than be overtaken by it.
To this end, the tribes have long taught their children how best to reach this point in their lives, so they might become full, productive members of society. However, as manakete-kind has grown ever closer to the Mother's ideal that we live and trust each other as one people, the mingling of different cultural elements has shown the weaknesses and strengths of each color and tribe's methods. The purpose of this section of text is to collate the best practices of millennia of culture into a Path of Awakening that any manakete might follow in order to smoothly awaken and partner with their draconic self.
The first step, and the one that is as much biological as societal, is coming to an Understanding of Emotions. While manakete are young, it is important to understand that their minds are not yet fully developed. It is completely natural that they will struggle to understand their emotions. The most important thing for parents is to help their children name their emotions. This will take time, but without this understanding all other steps will be far more difficult.
…
You pause to consider. You remember Mother and Father often asking you how you were feeling, sometimes even pressing you when you gave vague or uncertain answers. You'd thought at the time they were just being considerate, and you suppose they had been, but it appears they'd had another motive.
It was a good thing you'd taken to those questions so well. You'd even started thinking about your emotions yourself when Mother and Father weren't around. You had, however, fallen somewhat out of practice this last week.
You should really start doing that again.
…
The second step is the Control of Emotions. This should not be mistaken for Mastery of Emotions, a far later step on the Path. In the Control step, the most important thing is to recognize emotions, recognize what sort of actions they might drive a manakete towards, and then either resist that path or follow through with full understanding of what the outcome will be.
This step, more than the last, is on the manakete themselves. The best way to advance this step of the Path is to a moment to consider what the current emotion is pushing towards, and recognizing if that is an outcome is one they are comfortable with. Should that not be the case, it is vital for manakete to train themselves to interrupt that emotion, lest it awaken the dragon in ways the heart knows is dangerous.
The third step is the Channeling of Emotions. Previously, this work has discussed the risks of the dragon within, but it should not be forgotten that that part of our heritage is not only necessary, but beneficial. We are manakete; heart and dragon combined. Without either, we are nothing. Once a manakete has learned how to recognize their emotions as well as predict the actions they will lead their dragon to take, it is time for them to practice the heart's true purpose: guiding the emotional path so that their dragon can act without fear or regret.
There is no easy way to train the heart for this step: one must be able to control their own natural instincts. When emotions can be brought to the fore at will, when rage can be smoothly eased into determination, fear emboldened into ferocity, passion purified into love, can a manakete take this third step on the Path.
Only once these three steps have been completed, will it be safe to carry out The Awakening.
…
"Anything interesting?"
You jump as Artemis speaks up behind you. Turning, you see that at some point she'd sat up from where she'd been laying and was munching on some of the food Father left. You hadn't noticed. "Artemis!" you squeak. "How long have you been awake?"
"A few minutes," she says, grinning. "I thought about saying good afternoon, but you were so adorably focused on your scroll I didn't want to disturb you." You puff your cheeks up, causing her to laugh. "Just like Apollo. Spirits, you two really would get along well. At least, if either of you could ever get your noses out of your reading."
"Reading is good for the mind and the soul!" you say, feeling your face go red.
Artemis shrugs. "Never said it wasn't," she said. "Just that you look particularly cute doing it." Somehow, your face heats up even more, and almost without thinking about it you hold the scroll up to hide behind. "I'm sorry, Ryza," Artemis says, and when you peek over The Dragon Within you see her frowning slightly. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."
You pause to consider your feelings. You were embarrassed, true, but the same sort of embarrassment as when Mother or Father had been particularly affectionate towards you: there was a warmth behind the embarrassment that meant that you were happy. "It's okay," you say. "I'm not uncomfortable, that was just unexpected."
Artemis sighs. "Still, I shouldn't be so forward," she says. "Spirits, sometimes I forget that we've only known each other for a week. I guess it's true what they say: bonds form quickly under stress."
"I guess so," you say.
The pair of you sit in silence for a few moments before Artemis glances up. "We still have some time before night falls, and you look tired. Get some rest: we'll probably reach Agrithe sometime tonight, and we're going to have to fly lower so I can direct you. From what I've heard: low flying is some of the most dangerous kind of flying, so we should both be at our best."
"Okay," you say, putting your scroll away before crawling over and curling up against Artemis. "Do… do you think they'll like me there?"
The human gently pulls you into a hug. "You saved my life," she says softly. "That'll be enough for Mother, and even if it's not enough for Father, she and I will bring him around. You have my word."
You smile slightly as you close your eyes. If everything Artemis has said about her home is true, you can't wait to get there and see it for yourself.
"Bear a little left, left!"
"Make up your mind!" you whine. "You said right not two minutes ago!"
You had thought finding your way to Artemis's home would be easy. It had certainly been easy enough to just fly northeast, occasionally letting Artemis read the sky to tell you if you were getting off track.
Now, however, it felt like you'd spent hours just flying in circles!
"Forgive me for finding it a little difficult to navigate in the middle of the night from dragon back!" Artemis snarls, hanging onto a spine as she leans off to stare down into the darkness. "No, that's too far left, you want to follow that trail down there…"
You hiss as you dip lower. "That's not a trail, that's a stream!" you shoot back.
"Are you sure?!"
"I can see in the dark. You can't."
Artemis mutters a word that you choose not to hear. "Alright, already, find a hill and set me down, let me try to get my bearings."
You suppose it makes sense: Artemis has never flown before, so she'd have no idea what her home looked like from above. Still, it's frustrating as you drop down slightly more heavily than you probably should have, if Artemis's yelp means anything. "Sorry," you mutter. 'Tranquil, Ryza, tranquil.'
Artemis doesn't answer, simply hopping off of you and marching to the edge of the hill to peer around. "Okay…" she mutters. "I think I recognize that tree line over there. Ryza, does that look like it ends with a bunch of fields?"
You move to look over Artemis's shoulder (or head, as the case may be.) "I think so," you say. "Do you know where we are?"
"I think so," Artemis says, frowning into the darkness for a moment longer before looking up at the stars. "Okay, Ryza, here's what we're going to do. When we take off, fly straight towards that mountain in the distance, the one that looks like someone took a bite out of it. Then, once you pass over the trees, turn hard right, pass over the field. We should see a small river before too long; once you see that, turn left and follow it. That should take us almost straight to the castle."
You think for a few seconds before nodding. "Okay," you say. "Come on, get on, I'm not sure how much longer I can keep this up."
Artemis grimaces. "It shouldn't be too much longer," she says, taking your offered leg and settling herself onto your back again before petting your neck. "We're almost home, where we can both get some sleep. Just a little longer, Ryza."
"Okay…" you say with a yawn. "Hold on, let's go."
Thankfully, it seems this most recent stop is paying off, as the landmarks go exactly as Artemis said they would. You find your spirit lifting as the end finally seems to be in sight.
Or at least, in the right direction.
Finally, as you start to worry that you might have to stop to rest, you feel Artemis perk up on your back. "There!" she cries. "I recognize that bend in the river: we're almost there! You can probably see it ahead of us."
Indeed, as you peer into the darkness, you can see a massive stone shape rising from the riverside. "Wow…" you whisper. Artemis hadn't been lying when she'd said her father's castle was even bigger than Countess Mantrae's!
"Ryza, there should be a road leading up to castle," Artemis says. "I think there's a hill over to our left; set down there. As much as Father and Mother are going to love you when they hear what happens, the guards will probably not appreciate a dragon trying to land in the castle courtyard, and they have a lot of ballista."
"That doesn't sound good," you say. Your real dragon-self could probably deal with that, especially at night, but an exhausted half-shift? Not a good idea. "Alright, going down." Taking care to land more smoothly this time, you slump to your belly in exhaustion. "I'm tired…" you whine as Artemis climbs off, finally allowing you to transform back into your heart-form.
"I'm sorry, Ryza," Artemis says softly, bending down to rub your back. "But we're almost there. Can you stand?" Groaning, you clumsily push yourself to your feet. "Great job, Ryza," Artemis says encouraging, crouching with her back to you. "Hop on."
"What?" you ask.
"You have carried me for more than four hundred miles," Artemis says. "I can carry you for a little while."
Too exhausted to argue, you wrap your arms around Artemis's shoulders and let her lift your legs up on either side of her. "Thank you, Artemis," you say.
"You're welcome, Ryza," Artemis says as she stands, lifting you up like Mother used to. "Hang on, now, I'm afraid it will be a little while, but we're almost there. Spirits be praised, we're almost there." Too tired to do more than nod in agreement, you simply rest your head on Artemis's shoulder, letting her carry you down the hill and along the path.
As you walk, Artemis seems to be considering something. Finally, she says quietly "Ryza… I'm going to have to tell my father about you."
You blink. "I thought we were trying to keep my being a manakete secret?" you say.
"I know, and in most cases that is best, but… but he's my father, Ryza. I can't lie to him, and a lie by omission is still a lie." She glances at you. "I promise that I will do everything I can to protect you, to convince him to keep your nature quiet, at least until you've gotten settled, but I can't not tell him."
You suppose that makes sense: if something this life-changing had happened to you and Father was still alive, you'd tell him. Or Mother, especially if it included an outsider. "Okay," you say, laying your head down on her shoulder again.
You don't quite fall asleep, but it's a near thing, and you certainly aren't aware of much before Artemis comes to a halt. "Hail!" she calls, causing you to grumble and look up.
"Who goes there?" another voice shouts, and you realize that you'd somehow made it all the way to the gates of the castle. Just like Countess Mantrae's, you can see the light of torches along the top of the wall, to allow the late-night guards to see in the dark. Squinting, you can see more and more starting to come to the edge, their holders probably peering down to see what was going on. On the top of the massive gate, an armored man is leaning over to stare down at you.
"Lady Artemis Cartese, first daughter of Archduke Letoro Cartese of Agrithe," Artemis calls back. "I have had a long, hard journey and am glad to be home."
You faintly hear muttering coming from the top of the gate as several of the guards talk to each other. "Lady Artemis left here with a retinue," the armored man shouts after a few moments. "Yet you approach alone?"
Out of the corner of your eye, you see Artemis's eye twitch. "Did you miss the part where I said it was a long, hard journey?" she shouts. "I am tired, and I have a tired child on my back. Let us in."
"How do we know you're really Lady Artemis?" the man asks. "In the dark, you could be anyone!"
Yeah, Artemis's eye is definitely twitching. "Would that happen to be Sir Ulrich up there?" she asks sharply.
There was a long moment of silence. "How-"
"Let me make myself clear, Sir Ulrich. If you do not come down here right now and check my proof that I am exactly who I say I am, when I do get in, by all the elements I will tell everyone EXACTLY what you wrote in that truly awful poem you wrote to Selena when you were a squire!"
You had expected there to be another silence, but instead you almost immediately hear the clatter of rushing armor, along with what you were pretty sure were snickers from some of the other men on the wall. "What did he write?" you whisper.
"Maybe I'll tell you when you're older,"
"I'm older than you!"
Before Artemis can answer, there is a rattling noise, and a small door set into the gate opens up, revealing the armor clad man who had to be Sir Ulrich. "My lady-" he says.
"You do need to see my proof, Sir Ulrich," Artemis says dryly, working a ring off her finger and holding it out for the man to see (you wrap that leg tightly around her waist to stay up). "After all, I could just look like Lady Artemis, couldn't I?"
The man grimaces as he looks at the ring. "Be that as it may, I should have been more cautious, my lady," he says. "But… may I ask what happened? Where are…"
"Dead," Artemis says darkly. "Most of them, at least. I need to talk to my father, immediately."
Sir Ulrich blanches. "Spirits preserve us…" he whispers, stepping back and holding the door open. "Go and wake the Archduke! Hurry!" he says to someone inside. As Artemis carries you in, ducking down so as not to bump your head on the door, you see a man in lighter armor rushing out the other way. "Are you injured, my lady?"
Artemis shakes her head. "No, thankfully," she says.
"And the child…"
"I'm okay," you say. "Just a bit tired." Okay, a lot tired, but he doesn't need to hear that. He gives you an odd look, but glances back at Artemis, pales slightly, then leads the way towards the main building.
Unlike when you arrived at Castle Legerius, there aren't many people to greet you, just a few guards who take one look at the strange procession and get out of the way. Sir Ulrich leads you and Artemis to a massive room with countless long tables just off the main entrance hall. Artemis ignores him as he starts to hurry towards the table at the other end of the hall, instead sinking down onto the bench. Clumsily, you work your way off her back and sit next to her, leaning against her weakly. "Thanks, Artemis," you say.
"Don't mention it, Ryza," Artemis sighs, wrapping an arm around your shoulder.
Sir Ulrich looks between the two of you oddly, but thankfully doesn't comment or look offended. Instead, he pokes his head out of the door and spends a moment speaking to someone out there. Finally, he steps back over to the two of you.
"My lady, His Highness the Archduke will surely be here soon. Is there anything you need? Food? Water?"
"Both would be appreciated, Sir Ulrich," Artemis says.
"At once, my lady!" he says, hurrying back to the door and speaking some more.
"Artemis, who is he?" you ask softly.
"Sir Ulrich is another of my father's cavaliers," Artemis says. "Don't worry, I do not believe he is another Robert." You nod; you hope so too.
The next few minutes pass in tense silence. Sir Ulrich does not leave the room, but he does not approach either, standing by the door with a worried expression. In fact, he doesn't seem to look at either of you much at all, his eyes scanning the dark room as if expecting Robert and the bandits to leap from every shadow.
Finally, however, you hear the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. The cavalier snaps to attention as a pair of guards step in and stand on either side of the door, followed by two humans wearing some sort of robes.
"Artemis!" the woman cries as she accelerates.
Gently extracting herself from you, Artemis stands just in time for the woman to wrap her in a hug. "Mother," she says softly, embracing the woman back.
"Dear, what happened? You look so pale! And where is Selena? Spirits, are those shadows under your eyes…"
You're distracted from listening to Artemis's mother fuss over her as the man who had to be her father steps forward. He doesn't speak, simply studies the situation for a moment before turning his gaze on you.
You shudder slightly at his piercing eyes: just like Baron Rickman, Archduke Letoro Cartese has an air about him of a man so certain in his own authority that the world itself almost seems to bend to his will. He looks you up and down, and you find yourself automatically lowering your eyes in submission.
You half expect him to start interrogating you on the spot, instead he simply nods before turning back to Artemis and her mother. "Dione," he says softly. "Artemis cannot answer your questions if you do not give her a chance to."
Dione flushes slightly, though she doesn't let go. "We were just so worried about you, dear," she says. "You were days overdue, and we hadn't heard of any ill weather that might have caused a delay. What happened?!"
Artemis swallows as she looks over her mother's shoulder at her father. "We had just made it to the Shattered Pass," she says. "There was an ambush. Bandits attacked us, Robert betrayed us. I managed to get away, but only because Selena… because Selena and Master Shadebringer and the others stayed behind."
Her mother gasps. "Oh Artemis!" she cries, redoubling her grip enough that you see Artemis flinch slightly. "Is there… is there any chance…"
"No…" Artemis says. "I saw her die." Dione doesn't say anything, simply running her fingers through Artemis's hair.
"Why would Robert do that?" the archduke says, seemingly asking himself. "He was not a perfect man, but for all his flaws simple greed was not one of them…" He looks at Artemis. "Are you certain it was bandits who were behind this?"
Your friend frowns. "I cannot be certain, no," she says. "There are… other factors, that make me think that there was more to this than a simple attack of opportunity." She takes a breath. "We were able to make it to Castle Legerius, where I had thought to find shelter. Countess Mantrae, however, imprisoned me, as her own daughter had been taken. She intended to trade me for Sypha."
Archduke Letoro's eyes flash with rage. "Mantrae…" he growls, before taking a deep breath. "A problem to be dealt with tomorrow. You said we, Artemis. Who else was there, and how did you escape?" He gestures at you. "And where does this child come into this?"
"Letoro!" Dione says. "Surely you can't think to interrogate Artemis tonight?! With everything she's been through, she needs to rest, to grieve…"
Artemis pats her mother on the back. "Thank you, Mother, but Father is right. There are things that must be discussed tonight." She glances at the guards and Sir Ulrich. "However, these things must be discussed in private."
Archduke Letoro studies his daughter for a long moment. Artemis meets his eyes firmly, and eventually he nods. "Leave us, and ensure that we are not disturbed," he says shortly.
You half expect someone to argue, but all three soldiers simply bow and file out, closing the door behind them.
After the last echoes of the closing door fade, Artemis looks at you. "Ryza… do you want to tell them, or should I?"
[] "…Would you, please?"
[] "I'll do it."
- [] Go into detail.
- [] Say only what Artemis already knows.
- [] Try to hold something back (What will you try to hide?)
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