The End Of The Beginning
Sept 21, 2021 22:11:35 GMT
Igrainne (RETIRED), Queen Merla, the Sun-Blessed, and 2 more like this
Post by Charlie on Sept 21, 2021 22:11:35 GMT
A brisk knock on the door to the Fort Ettin alchemy lab startles Veridian out of his work. Righting his ink pot and fumbling for his satchel he begins gathering up his materials before a glance out the window stops him short. The sun isn’t up yet. He’s not late for anything, he’s only been at it for a couple of hours at the most. That’s not Jenna coming to gleefully berate him or draw spiders on his face, so who-
Another sharp, impatient knock echoes in the quiet lab. An unfamiliar voice calls out,
“Hello? I am looking for the wizard Veridian.”
“Yes this is he, who may I ask is... asking?” He says suddenly realising the error in his statement. However, before this unfamiliar voice can respond, Veridian opens the door to the lab.
“Yes, hello. I am Veridian Pentaghast the Wizard, how may I be of assistance to you on this fine morning?”
He’s met by a delicate, raised eyebrow. On the other side of the door, her hand raised to knock a third time, stands a young half-elven woman. Her pale purple hair and eyes - as well as the bright red tattoo adorning her forehead - look almost extravagant but her familiar, plain beige and red robes tell of the more humble calling of Ilmater.
She looks him up and down almost critically before nodding, seemingly satisfied with what she’s found.
“Excellent. I am Cassima, seer of the Church of Ilmater. And it is almost midnight.”
The corner of her mouth twitches in a small, sharp grin.
“But you can be of assistance nonetheless.”
Veridian looks in sudden thought as he wonders where the day has gone, but snaps back to the woman standing in front of him.
“Ah, so you are the Cassima that Father Cai spoke so fondly of. Please, please come in, sit down and tell me what it is I can do for you. I can make some tea if you would like, I should have some ....” He looks around the slightly chaotic scene of the lab, “..... somewhere in here.”
Cassima follows him into the lab with another pointed eyebrow, the dark wooden cane in her hand clicking loudly against the stone floor. Veridian begins to quickly get a chair ready for Cassima to sit down and clear some space on the table for her.
“Though not to sound presumptuous, I'm going to assume that this has something to do with Father Cai and the offer that I made to him a couple of weeks ago. If he has sent you in his stead I can guess what the answer is. Or could this be something else?”
Veridian politely gestures to the chair for the woman to sit at and she takes the seat gracefully.
“It is indeed to do with that matter,” she replies. Her eyes follow Veridian’s hurried tidying of the space.
“Please, no tea. I am alright, thank you. Come sit. I wish to discuss said matter with you. That and Father being a pain in my behind.”
Veridian pops up from the other side of the table having been looking through draws on that side.
“Ah yes, probably a good call on the tea.” He sits down next to her.
“Ok, what would you like to know about my offer to Father Cai? Oh dear. I hope that it hasn’t caused some kind of trouble for him or made him question his past decisions. I do hope you’d believe me when I say that was not my intent.”
Veridian begins to look very panicked and almost seems to be regretting his offer.
“As for him being a pain in your behind, I'm afraid I’m better suited to dealing with physical pain but I’ll try to help as I can.” He says as he nervously smiles.
Her sharp smile mellows to a reassuring one and she gestures with her free hand as if to wave his worries away.
“Not at all, master wizard. Father questions all of his past decisions just fine on his own. Trust me, had you not made him this offer he would have found something else to ponder and wrestle with. No, I am here because you have made him a most generous offer and instead of taking you up on it, he is spending his time agonizing over it.”
The smile falls away slightly as her face takes on a long-suffering quality.
“He is being an idiot. Correct me if I am wrong; this is as of yet an untested hypothesis?”
Veridian nods mostly in agreement and she continues.
“Instead of finding out if it would work or not he has trapped himself in a mental circle of debating the two sides of accepting or declining, like a dog chasing its own tail. ‘Do I deserve this? Would this be escaping the Suffering I have sworn to take on? Would it mean prolonging it beyond what He wants? Am I selfish for wanting it?’”
She rolls her strange eyes in exasperation.
“I tell you, master wizard, I arrived in the Dawnlands two days ago and I have yet to set foot outside this fort because I am spending all my time trying to convince a selfless man that an offered act of kindness is not a sin.”
Her voice rises slightly as she reiterates words she’s clearly said many times before, but she takes a breath and composes herself.
“So. I need your help.”
“Yes in all honesty I should have foreseen that offering something that goes against or puts into question one's beliefs would not be an easy decision. Though I would like to say even if just for your benefit that while what I have offered is a hypothesis, the power of my transmuter stone is pure fact and has been tested thoroughly.”
Veridian pulls out the amber stone strapped to his belt and places it on the table. Cassima narrows her eyes at it with what Veridian recognizes as academic curiosity.
“But of course whatever help I can give, I shall.” He bows his head slightly.
“If you think it would be more effective I’m happy for us to go see the dear Father and I can explain the process in as much detail as I can, and you can help him with the decision. But I must insist I will play no part in persuading or dissuading him - I am simply offering a service. I hope you understand.”
Her eyes had been fixed on the amber stone as he spoke, her head cocked to the side as she pondered it, but suddenly her eyes snap back to his, a calculating and almost wary look on her face. She looks at him silently for a moment before speaking.
“The process itself has nothing to do with his decision. He is a member of clergy, his magic is divine and instinctive. I straddle both worlds myself - Divination is my specialty. How the process works does not matter much to him, I regret to say.” The familiar, curious look in her eyes suddenly makes much more sense to Veridian, but the look on her face keeps him from asking more about it and she presses on.
“But is that all it is, master wizard? A service you are offering?”
There’s a fierce quality to her voice, almost protective, and her eyes search his face with the same unnerving intuition that her mentor possesses. Veridian doesn’t respond for a moment clearly trying to quickly figure out the right words.
“In the future hopefully yes, I wish to offer this to everyone who asks for it, however in Father Cai’s case... to be honest - no. When we first met we had a discussion about what it is he does and how he takes the suffering of others, I asked if he’d let someone take his in the future, though he didn’t really answer at the time. But to cut a long story short I was unable to help him as I said I would on that mission and I felt like I needed to repay that debt to him, this felt like the best thing I could do for him.”
Veridian’s gaze seems to wander off into the distance for a moment, then come back.
“I figured out how to do this in order to help people, and Father Cai seems to be, at least seems to me, to be the sort of person who is deserving of this but would never ask for it himself so I made the offer.”
Her face softens again and she nods in agreement.
“He is. And he would not. So I am glad you offered.” The delicate eyebrow rises again. “Even if it is giving me a headache.”
She glances down at the amber stone on the table between them.
“I would not ask you to explain it, like I said. Nor would I ask you to persuade him.”
She smiles at him again, and for a second she looks almost dangerous.
“No, Veridian, I would simply like you to be present when he capitulates to my persuasion so that it can be done before he changes his mind again. Would that be alright with you?”
Veridian lets out a soft chuckle, “Yes I do believe that would be the best moment for it to take place, strike while the iron is hot as they say”.
He stands and gives a gentle nod.
“Well then, I suppose we should be off and make this actually gets done.” He chuckles a little and gestures for Cassima to take the lead. She gives him an answering grin as she rises to her feet.
“A master of the Arcane, indeed. I knew you would be amenable to a fine piece of strategy. Follow me.”
“Traitor.”
The dialect is unfamiliar but Elvish is still Elvish and Verdian has no problem understanding Father Cai. Even if he’d have struggled with the word itself, the look on his face as he addresses his protege speaks loudly enough. Cassima gives him that same sharp, wholly unrepentant grin and lights another candle to set at the shrine of Ilmater.
“I did what was necessary.”
The older man paces restlessly in the Fort Ettin chapel, his grey hair a little wild as if he’d been tearing at it while trying to solve his moral predicament.
“I need more time to think! This isn’t a decision I can make lightly and I don’t want to insult him like this, he’s a kind and brilliant man-”
Cassima lights another candle and fires back without even looking at Cai.
“You have thought about it enough. The decision has been made. Several times, in fact. The only insult to him is your reluctance.” She blows out the match in her hand. “And he speaks Elvish.”
Father Cai stops short in his tracks to look at Veridian, a blush creeping steadily across his face. Veridian nods, a little apologetically. Father Cai looks mortified. Cassima’s grin widens.
“So that’s settled then. Father, nothing is hunting you. Stop. Running.”
She walks over to put a gentle hand on his where it’s clenched tight at his side.
“Allow yourself to have this. All of it.”
Father Cai looks defeated and hopeful at the same time. She gives him a look that brooks no argument.
“I am going to go to bed now. And when I see you in the morning I expect you to have at least attempted this.”
She turns on her heel and walks slowly out of the chapel, her cane tapping the stone floor the only sound in the room. She bids them both a cheery goodnight before closing the door behind her.
Father Cai covers his face with both hands and lets out a heavy sigh before looking at Veridian again.
“I am so sorry, Veridian.”
“Apology accepted,” Veridian replies in elvish with a smirk on his face, before switching to common. “So it would appear that you have been ordered to get this done.” He chuckles a little. “And to be honest I’d rather not be in her bad books. Definitely not one to mess with.”
Cai doesn’t say anything but shakes his head with the same long-suffering, deadpan stare that Cassima had sported earlier in the lab. It’s abundantly clear that while the two might not be blood relatives, they had a strong familial bond.
Veridian surveys the room.
“Yes, I guess this is as good a place as any. I often find in times of indecision it is better to act than to think too much. So let’s do this.”
He pulls out the stone, waiting for Father Cai’s reply. The older man follows his gaze around the room, landing finally on the shrine to Ilmater. Eventually he nods, the defeat and hope returning to his face once more.
He holds out a hand to Veridian - a hand wrinkled and aged before its time, trembling slightly.
“How- What do you need me to do?”
Veridian walks up to Father Cai and takes his hand in hopes of dissuading his fears, and looks him in the eyes.
“You don’t need to do anything. This is all on me,” he says with a gentle smile.
Veridian reaches down to his belt with his other hand and takes out his transmuter stone. The faint glow from the amber slowly begins to brighten as Veridian starts to harmonise with the essence of his magic inside it. He closes his eyes and focuses on his intent for his arcane power.
The amber stone begins to glow brighter still and begins to beat in rhythm with Veridian's heart. Slowly the stone merges with his hand, turning it into the same glowing amber. Veridian opens his eyes, his irises also glowing amber, he raises his hand and touches it to Father Cai’s cheek and he watches the magic begin to transfer over the man.
It spreads and washes over the other man in waves, like liquid fire flickering in the dimly lit room. As the orange hues fade, Veridian sees pale skin flushing, grey hair growing darker. Father Cai’s skin smooths and without conscious effort he stands a little taller as he regains some of the strength his body had given up in the name of Ilmater.
His green eyes never leave Veridian’s. As the last glimmer of magic fades away he lifts a hand and presses it over the younger man’s where it’s touching his cheek. His eyes are shining with tears but there’s a small incredulous smile on his face.
“I do not need to look in a mirror to know that it worked.”
Before the wizard stands Father Cai, now returned physically to the age of 39.
“Thank you.”
Veridian face flashes with surprise both with the fact this worked but more at the end result.
“You are more than welcome, I’m sure it’s not enough for the work that you have done over the years.”
He smiles and spends a moment staring into Father Cai’s eyes and watches the dilemmas that race across his face, with a very soft chuckle Veridian leans in and kisses Father Cai on the cheek.
“Well I’m sure you can use a bit of time to process all of this and I’m sure Cassima will want to see the results so I shall leave you.”
Clearly not wanting to leave but seemingly thinking it’s the correct thing to do, Veridian begins to move away. The hand grasping his stops him short, however, and the other man shakes his head, still laughing quietly like he can’t believe what just happened. After a moment he gathers his thoughts enough to speak.
“No. No, Veridian, I do believe she has seen and heard enough from me for a good long while.”
His other hand comes up to mirror Veridian's, gently touching his cheek.
“At least enough for the rest of the night.”
Another sharp, impatient knock echoes in the quiet lab. An unfamiliar voice calls out,
“Hello? I am looking for the wizard Veridian.”
“Yes this is he, who may I ask is... asking?” He says suddenly realising the error in his statement. However, before this unfamiliar voice can respond, Veridian opens the door to the lab.
“Yes, hello. I am Veridian Pentaghast the Wizard, how may I be of assistance to you on this fine morning?”
He’s met by a delicate, raised eyebrow. On the other side of the door, her hand raised to knock a third time, stands a young half-elven woman. Her pale purple hair and eyes - as well as the bright red tattoo adorning her forehead - look almost extravagant but her familiar, plain beige and red robes tell of the more humble calling of Ilmater.
She looks him up and down almost critically before nodding, seemingly satisfied with what she’s found.
“Excellent. I am Cassima, seer of the Church of Ilmater. And it is almost midnight.”
The corner of her mouth twitches in a small, sharp grin.
“But you can be of assistance nonetheless.”
Veridian looks in sudden thought as he wonders where the day has gone, but snaps back to the woman standing in front of him.
“Ah, so you are the Cassima that Father Cai spoke so fondly of. Please, please come in, sit down and tell me what it is I can do for you. I can make some tea if you would like, I should have some ....” He looks around the slightly chaotic scene of the lab, “..... somewhere in here.”
Cassima follows him into the lab with another pointed eyebrow, the dark wooden cane in her hand clicking loudly against the stone floor. Veridian begins to quickly get a chair ready for Cassima to sit down and clear some space on the table for her.
“Though not to sound presumptuous, I'm going to assume that this has something to do with Father Cai and the offer that I made to him a couple of weeks ago. If he has sent you in his stead I can guess what the answer is. Or could this be something else?”
Veridian politely gestures to the chair for the woman to sit at and she takes the seat gracefully.
“It is indeed to do with that matter,” she replies. Her eyes follow Veridian’s hurried tidying of the space.
“Please, no tea. I am alright, thank you. Come sit. I wish to discuss said matter with you. That and Father being a pain in my behind.”
Veridian pops up from the other side of the table having been looking through draws on that side.
“Ah yes, probably a good call on the tea.” He sits down next to her.
“Ok, what would you like to know about my offer to Father Cai? Oh dear. I hope that it hasn’t caused some kind of trouble for him or made him question his past decisions. I do hope you’d believe me when I say that was not my intent.”
Veridian begins to look very panicked and almost seems to be regretting his offer.
“As for him being a pain in your behind, I'm afraid I’m better suited to dealing with physical pain but I’ll try to help as I can.” He says as he nervously smiles.
Her sharp smile mellows to a reassuring one and she gestures with her free hand as if to wave his worries away.
“Not at all, master wizard. Father questions all of his past decisions just fine on his own. Trust me, had you not made him this offer he would have found something else to ponder and wrestle with. No, I am here because you have made him a most generous offer and instead of taking you up on it, he is spending his time agonizing over it.”
The smile falls away slightly as her face takes on a long-suffering quality.
“He is being an idiot. Correct me if I am wrong; this is as of yet an untested hypothesis?”
Veridian nods mostly in agreement and she continues.
“Instead of finding out if it would work or not he has trapped himself in a mental circle of debating the two sides of accepting or declining, like a dog chasing its own tail. ‘Do I deserve this? Would this be escaping the Suffering I have sworn to take on? Would it mean prolonging it beyond what He wants? Am I selfish for wanting it?’”
She rolls her strange eyes in exasperation.
“I tell you, master wizard, I arrived in the Dawnlands two days ago and I have yet to set foot outside this fort because I am spending all my time trying to convince a selfless man that an offered act of kindness is not a sin.”
Her voice rises slightly as she reiterates words she’s clearly said many times before, but she takes a breath and composes herself.
“So. I need your help.”
“Yes in all honesty I should have foreseen that offering something that goes against or puts into question one's beliefs would not be an easy decision. Though I would like to say even if just for your benefit that while what I have offered is a hypothesis, the power of my transmuter stone is pure fact and has been tested thoroughly.”
Veridian pulls out the amber stone strapped to his belt and places it on the table. Cassima narrows her eyes at it with what Veridian recognizes as academic curiosity.
“But of course whatever help I can give, I shall.” He bows his head slightly.
“If you think it would be more effective I’m happy for us to go see the dear Father and I can explain the process in as much detail as I can, and you can help him with the decision. But I must insist I will play no part in persuading or dissuading him - I am simply offering a service. I hope you understand.”
Her eyes had been fixed on the amber stone as he spoke, her head cocked to the side as she pondered it, but suddenly her eyes snap back to his, a calculating and almost wary look on her face. She looks at him silently for a moment before speaking.
“The process itself has nothing to do with his decision. He is a member of clergy, his magic is divine and instinctive. I straddle both worlds myself - Divination is my specialty. How the process works does not matter much to him, I regret to say.” The familiar, curious look in her eyes suddenly makes much more sense to Veridian, but the look on her face keeps him from asking more about it and she presses on.
“But is that all it is, master wizard? A service you are offering?”
There’s a fierce quality to her voice, almost protective, and her eyes search his face with the same unnerving intuition that her mentor possesses. Veridian doesn’t respond for a moment clearly trying to quickly figure out the right words.
“In the future hopefully yes, I wish to offer this to everyone who asks for it, however in Father Cai’s case... to be honest - no. When we first met we had a discussion about what it is he does and how he takes the suffering of others, I asked if he’d let someone take his in the future, though he didn’t really answer at the time. But to cut a long story short I was unable to help him as I said I would on that mission and I felt like I needed to repay that debt to him, this felt like the best thing I could do for him.”
Veridian’s gaze seems to wander off into the distance for a moment, then come back.
“I figured out how to do this in order to help people, and Father Cai seems to be, at least seems to me, to be the sort of person who is deserving of this but would never ask for it himself so I made the offer.”
Her face softens again and she nods in agreement.
“He is. And he would not. So I am glad you offered.” The delicate eyebrow rises again. “Even if it is giving me a headache.”
She glances down at the amber stone on the table between them.
“I would not ask you to explain it, like I said. Nor would I ask you to persuade him.”
She smiles at him again, and for a second she looks almost dangerous.
“No, Veridian, I would simply like you to be present when he capitulates to my persuasion so that it can be done before he changes his mind again. Would that be alright with you?”
Veridian lets out a soft chuckle, “Yes I do believe that would be the best moment for it to take place, strike while the iron is hot as they say”.
He stands and gives a gentle nod.
“Well then, I suppose we should be off and make this actually gets done.” He chuckles a little and gestures for Cassima to take the lead. She gives him an answering grin as she rises to her feet.
“A master of the Arcane, indeed. I knew you would be amenable to a fine piece of strategy. Follow me.”
“Traitor.”
The dialect is unfamiliar but Elvish is still Elvish and Verdian has no problem understanding Father Cai. Even if he’d have struggled with the word itself, the look on his face as he addresses his protege speaks loudly enough. Cassima gives him that same sharp, wholly unrepentant grin and lights another candle to set at the shrine of Ilmater.
“I did what was necessary.”
The older man paces restlessly in the Fort Ettin chapel, his grey hair a little wild as if he’d been tearing at it while trying to solve his moral predicament.
“I need more time to think! This isn’t a decision I can make lightly and I don’t want to insult him like this, he’s a kind and brilliant man-”
Cassima lights another candle and fires back without even looking at Cai.
“You have thought about it enough. The decision has been made. Several times, in fact. The only insult to him is your reluctance.” She blows out the match in her hand. “And he speaks Elvish.”
Father Cai stops short in his tracks to look at Veridian, a blush creeping steadily across his face. Veridian nods, a little apologetically. Father Cai looks mortified. Cassima’s grin widens.
“So that’s settled then. Father, nothing is hunting you. Stop. Running.”
She walks over to put a gentle hand on his where it’s clenched tight at his side.
“Allow yourself to have this. All of it.”
Father Cai looks defeated and hopeful at the same time. She gives him a look that brooks no argument.
“I am going to go to bed now. And when I see you in the morning I expect you to have at least attempted this.”
She turns on her heel and walks slowly out of the chapel, her cane tapping the stone floor the only sound in the room. She bids them both a cheery goodnight before closing the door behind her.
Father Cai covers his face with both hands and lets out a heavy sigh before looking at Veridian again.
“I am so sorry, Veridian.”
“Apology accepted,” Veridian replies in elvish with a smirk on his face, before switching to common. “So it would appear that you have been ordered to get this done.” He chuckles a little. “And to be honest I’d rather not be in her bad books. Definitely not one to mess with.”
Cai doesn’t say anything but shakes his head with the same long-suffering, deadpan stare that Cassima had sported earlier in the lab. It’s abundantly clear that while the two might not be blood relatives, they had a strong familial bond.
Veridian surveys the room.
“Yes, I guess this is as good a place as any. I often find in times of indecision it is better to act than to think too much. So let’s do this.”
He pulls out the stone, waiting for Father Cai’s reply. The older man follows his gaze around the room, landing finally on the shrine to Ilmater. Eventually he nods, the defeat and hope returning to his face once more.
He holds out a hand to Veridian - a hand wrinkled and aged before its time, trembling slightly.
“How- What do you need me to do?”
Veridian walks up to Father Cai and takes his hand in hopes of dissuading his fears, and looks him in the eyes.
“You don’t need to do anything. This is all on me,” he says with a gentle smile.
Veridian reaches down to his belt with his other hand and takes out his transmuter stone. The faint glow from the amber slowly begins to brighten as Veridian starts to harmonise with the essence of his magic inside it. He closes his eyes and focuses on his intent for his arcane power.
The amber stone begins to glow brighter still and begins to beat in rhythm with Veridian's heart. Slowly the stone merges with his hand, turning it into the same glowing amber. Veridian opens his eyes, his irises also glowing amber, he raises his hand and touches it to Father Cai’s cheek and he watches the magic begin to transfer over the man.
It spreads and washes over the other man in waves, like liquid fire flickering in the dimly lit room. As the orange hues fade, Veridian sees pale skin flushing, grey hair growing darker. Father Cai’s skin smooths and without conscious effort he stands a little taller as he regains some of the strength his body had given up in the name of Ilmater.
His green eyes never leave Veridian’s. As the last glimmer of magic fades away he lifts a hand and presses it over the younger man’s where it’s touching his cheek. His eyes are shining with tears but there’s a small incredulous smile on his face.
“I do not need to look in a mirror to know that it worked.”
Before the wizard stands Father Cai, now returned physically to the age of 39.
“Thank you.”
Veridian face flashes with surprise both with the fact this worked but more at the end result.
“You are more than welcome, I’m sure it’s not enough for the work that you have done over the years.”
He smiles and spends a moment staring into Father Cai’s eyes and watches the dilemmas that race across his face, with a very soft chuckle Veridian leans in and kisses Father Cai on the cheek.
“Well I’m sure you can use a bit of time to process all of this and I’m sure Cassima will want to see the results so I shall leave you.”
Clearly not wanting to leave but seemingly thinking it’s the correct thing to do, Veridian begins to move away. The hand grasping his stops him short, however, and the other man shakes his head, still laughing quietly like he can’t believe what just happened. After a moment he gathers his thoughts enough to speak.
“No. No, Veridian, I do believe she has seen and heard enough from me for a good long while.”
His other hand comes up to mirror Veridian's, gently touching his cheek.
“At least enough for the rest of the night.”