The entrance hall to House Tindomiel is shrouded in shadows, its only source of light being the burning eyes of the enormous statue that dominates the hall. In Her six arms is the traditional accoutrement of the Goddess of Conjurations - heart, scorpion, arrow, staff, dagger, and phial. At Her feet is a golden bowl filled with coins in what you presume to be tribute to the Hydra Queen. And though Her six arms and burning eyes do draw attention, Her proudly unclothed state makes it difficult to entirely miss that She has a form that is twin to that of the Goddess of Seduction.
To most eyes the hall would be filled with darkness interspersed with flickering, bewildering shadows, but between your Magesight and your attunement to Ulgu a room so thick with shadows and heavy with magic is as clear as if it was open to the midday sun. This makes it easy to notice that in contrast to the crowds of House Miriel and the attendants to receive them, the only response to your arrival is a ripple of energies as one of the many spirits lurking in the murk of the room disappears deeper into the building. A watcher, you surmise, and you consider the statue of Hekarti as you wait.
Her traditional armaments are rather overdone in a lot of the literature - a phial of orphan's tears? really? - but the books on Her you had copied from the Library of Mournings provide another explanation for them, saying that they are a set of basic shapes that got elaborated on over time. The infamous phial began as as the rune of Azyr turned upright, the serrated dagger the rune of Ulgu given a few extra points, the scorpion's tail comes from the flourish at the end of the rune of Shyish, and so on. This leaves two Winds unrepresented, and the statue before you uses one of the two usual solutions for this: burning eyes for Aqshy and an obvious lack of Chamon that a supplicant is invited to correct with the contents of their purse. The other common fix for statues has a brazier at Her feet and a crown upon her brow. You're not entirely sure you're convinced by this, but it's better than nothing.
So we have: Azyr - Phial, Ulgu - Dagger, Shyish - Scorpion tail, Aqshy - Eyes or Brazier, Chamon - Coins or Crown. But how do the Heart and the Staff look like the symbols of Ghyran and Hysh?
Anyway, House Tindomiel definitely has a very impressive entrance.
"If we are to contribute, it will be on our terms. Should this endeavour succeed in the creation of new Waystones, it will be House Tindomiel that erects them, to a design of our choosing."
"What sort of design?"
"One that honours our patroness."
I don't like this at all.
For one I didn't expect them to be so religiously focused. I thought that while they dominate Hekarti worship (together with another House), but Hekarti worship doesn't dominate them. And that they would have at least some interests to haggle with that are not religious in nature.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think that Hekarti is inherently bad. But we are still talking about intimately and visibly binding the Cytharai goddess of magic into the massive magical nexus that is the Waystone Network. This isn't just symbolic. Such things have repercussions.
Then there's the way that such an offer might very well permanently alienate other Cults we could want to recruit, like Hoeth or Taal. And it would also alienate any of the more fanatic folk living in the lands we cover with this deal.
Additionally, this insistence makes me feel as if Hekarti/Hekartians were not really involved in the erection of the existing Waystone Network. Which both means that what they want might have unprecedented results
and that their subject specific expertise might be limited, or at least theoretical and based on attempts of latter reverse engineering (which clearly was unsuccessful to some extent).
I regret that we didn't try and recruit House Tindomiel simultaneously as a Hoeth House. Yes, they would probably have asked for more due to losing the "only House there at the beginning" status and probably having to work alongside what might well be outright rivals, but at least there would have been a theological balance established from the start. My guess is that in some subtle ways the Waystones are already shrines to Hoeth. He is credited with teaching the Elves how to make them after all.
Now I wonder if the other "obviously worse" Hekarti House that Mathilde didn't even consider might have had a deal that's more palatable to me, simply because their Councillor Head of House had other priorities than the devout Hekartinist that Isthien apparently turned out to be.
Right now I am not even sure whether I'd vote yes or no. Voting no feels like shutting down an opportunity without concrete evidence of its necessity, but the cost here definitely seems high.
As you begin to talk to Aksel of the specifics, you think to yourself that if the Nordland Hedgewise were always this trusting, they likely would have been wiped out some time in the past two thousand years. Between that and the relatively unbothered reception you received when you arrived, you suspect you might have answered half the mystery that Ranald presented you with when you were gifted the fifth face of your Coin.
This comes as a surprise. Not that the Father worked, but that you chose to spell out that it did black on white. But after the initial surprise I have to say that I do get why you chose to do so. No reason to be bombarded with questions which you'd have ended up answering in the same way, lest those who find it obvious get into a fight with those who don't.
