Post by andycd on Jul 5, 2022 9:36:45 GMT
Written in collaboration with the ever-phenomenal Velania Kalugina
Gadenthor was flying west, already past the Sunset Spine and crossing the desert back to Harnash. Coll had asked the rest of Xeron and found there was a communication terminal so that they could send word on ahead to Harnash to let them know what was going on.
Xeron was… a challenge. Coll couldn’t deny that they were one entity now, even him thinking that was realistically just a side thought to a larger consciousness - a voice in the back of Xeron’s non-existent head, hopefully just out of earshot as he worked things out. There was a pull to be a part of the whole, a tension in his soul that told him that eventually, inevitably, there would only be Xeron, though with a new voice in the chorus. But he wasn’t ready yet.
He didn’t want to go. There were things that needed to be done.
The communication terminal helped a lot. As Gadenthor flew steadily over the desert (which he was aware of through both their magical position in the Weave and multiple scrying sensors across the edges of the city), what was left of Coll contacted several people to wrap up the important details.
He called Aurelia first. He needed to report to her the details of what Gadenthor was doing now, his intentions and status. And Aurelia was able to talk him through what was happening between him and Xeron - to come to terms with what he was now - what they were.
“I’m so sorry, Coll. I spent a good amount of time studying Xeron - that amalgam is not something that could just be untangled.”
“I get it, Rey, I do. Thanks for thinking it through. How are you though? How many did we lose in the end?”
“Too many. Cordelia, Samed, Kaltenzahn, Sylvia –”
“--Pelor’s breath, tell us Jenna made it.”
“She’s fine, Coll. Sabrina too. Cecil’s ok. But… I fear we miscalculated. Even evacuating everyone we could, enough people still stayed around to help - maybe we should have just invaded Gadenthor ourselves, like we did with Zariel.”
“No Rey, that would have just been a different slaughter. I’ve listened to adventurers for long enough to know that the worst place you want to be against dragons is in tight corridors. And we have enough extra defenses in Gadenthor that might have been activated. You all made the only call you could.”
“I hope you’re right, Coll. What will you do when you get back to Harnash?”
“Well, my goal is to give ownership over to the Queens when we get there - sooner if I can manage it. We think that’s what’s… I think that’s what’s best all round. And I’ll make sure Xeron understands.”
“Agreed. An autonomous city is interesting, but not when 95% of its brain is from an ancient mageocracy known for horrendous practices.”
“Yeah - we hope that with a more modern addition to Xeron we’ll be tempered a bit. Well, we’d better call Cecil next. Thank you, Aurelia - for everything.”
“Goodbye, Coll. Know that you carry all our love with you.”
“Hey Cec”
“Coll - how are you?”
“We’re ok. All a bit confusing really. Did Rey tell you the details?”
“Yeah I heard. This… isn’t right, brother.”
“Well, what is these days? We knew it was a dangerous job when we came to Daring.”
“Did we? We were supposed to run a tavern, not play the hero. That’s what the punters were for. Now Cobb is off ‘franchising’ which I’m pretty sure just means telling other people to make pubs and then swanning about the countryside and you’re…”
“We know, Cecil. We - I know. Look, Jenna will be able to run the Ettin all right, I’m sure. Just… keep an eye on the books once in a while, we never got round to explaining tax deductibles.”
“Sylvanus’ nuts, Coll! She doesn’t know what’s deducti–”
“--It’s fine, brother. Good thing she’s still got you around, right?”
“Heh, sure. I’ll have a few words. Lend her a few legal texts. But Coll, you’re… like we’re talking now. Just hold on, won’t you? You’ll be fine.”
“Hey - we’re Coll Bahtenda! Of course we’ll be fine. It’s just… you might not hear us as clearly in the future. But we’ll always be a part of this city, just like we’ll always be a part of Daring Heights. One voice amongst many.”
“I’m… what good is a Three Headed Ettin with only one head, Coll?”
“There’ll be less arguments, for one.”
“Don’t you start - “
“- Less competition at the dinner table. More quiet time. Less drama –”
“--I’m going to miss you, Coll.”
“Well, I’ll miss you too, Cec. With every fraction of us that remains. Tell Cobb what happened. And tell him I own more pubs than he does now.”
“No - I refuse. Do you understand me, Coll? I am one of the most powerful fucking mages in the world, trained by one of the most brilliant women in the multiverse. I will kick Gadenthor’s door down and tear that spell…mind-thing apart and pull you out of there like we do every time. You know who we have here? You said it yourself–”
“--Jenna–”
“-- No! You said we had the power to make the gods tremble. Well Gadenthor should be shaking to its foundations with what we’re going to visit upon it until it gives you back! We’ll make what happened to Langston look like a picnic in bloody springti–”
“--Jenna–”
“--like a picnic in springtime, Coll! I will tear every stone of that place apart brick by bloody brick until Xeron WISHES they had just let the Githyanki take the city off on whatever magical journey they wanted to do in the first place, because then they wouldn’t have had to face ME and MY FRIENDS and EVERYTHING that we can –”
“--Jenna–”
“WHAT?!”
“Let me go.”
“Don’t you dare say that.”
“You need to.”
“The hell I do. You don’t get to tell me what I can or can’t let go. My family ran away from me the moment the reality of having a suddenly-adult daughter was too much. You took me in, Coll. Aurelia trained me. You raised me. And now what? I lose you AND Kaltenzahn on the same day? My new family - my real family - is just gone because some pirates wanted a fancy new ship and you got your brain in a twist about it? Everyone’s looking at me like I’m running the fort now, you know that? I don’t even know how old I am, Coll! I’ve lost track. And you want me to just let. you. go? Over your dead body.”
“We’re so sorry, Jen. You deserve so much better than you’ve gotten. You don’t have to run the fort if you don’t want but… it’s yours. Dunno, always found that the joy of a tavern is that everyone’s sort of family there, right? Everyone comes in a stranger, and leaves a friend, a new distant cousin. And some people come into your tavern and become so much more than that, kid.”
“You… you idiot. You’re really serious about this?”
“We’re going to give Gadenthor to Harnash, and let them be the custodians of this city as they have already been for the last 1000 years. Aurelia has looked, and there’s no getting out of this. It’s… it’s getting harder to keep…me… separate from us. But we wanted to say goodbye. It’s the best we can do now.”
“But we’ve fixed blood rituals. We’ve gone into peoples’ minds before. I once climbed up a moving mountain inside a book! I thought you said we can do anything?”
“Yeah - we may not have exactly prepared that speech with this in mind. But this needs to happen, Jen. You’re going to be ok. You’re so strong - not with the magic, but as a person. You’re so much stronger than me, or my brothers for that matter. You’re going to be amazing, you already are.”
“What happens now?”
“I make a few more calls, transfer power to Harnash, and then see how long Xeron remains separate from Xeron.”
“What did you say?”
“We said how long Xeron remains… ah shit.”
“Coll?”
“...Goodbye, kid. We love you.”
"Hi Velania. It's Coll. Sorry we thought to try and talk to you while there's still a chance"
"… … Coll … COLL!! I-is that you? Where are you? … … 'we'?"
"Hey - it's a little complicated. We - I'm in Gadenthor. You may have heard from the others but Xeron is... well, we are all one being now. It's weird. I'm shifting from being one person to one part of a chorus and... honestly we don't think there will be much longer where Coll can communicate like this. We're so sorry."
"It's… always been complicated, hasn't it? Coll, we're coming for you! I promise! Can you resist? Can you stop them taking you over? There must be something we can do. If I speak to Aurelia… "
"Oh, she's looked, believe me. This is old weird magic - if it was fixable, Aurelia would know. At least you're taking this a little more calmly than Jenna. But yes, complicated has been the word. We didn't really get much time, did we? Sorry it - this wasn't exactly expected. Our brother got captured in Gadenthor, Xeron ended up fused with our body and then... yeah. It's a mess. And I'm truly sorry you've gotten mixed up in all this right at the end. We.. I, damnit, I really enjoyed our picnic, before it all went sideways."
"Actually, no. I'm so very NOT feeling calm right now. But… I don't know what else to say. What can I tell you, Coll? I've been in pieces since the attack. You remember Evenbloom Hill? I've been by your side nearly every day since then. I've been calling out to you. And hearing nothing back except Xeron. It… it's been like watching you die, every day: Every. Single. Fucking. Day."
"Oh... oh um... damn. We didn't know that, Velania. Thank you for sitting with my body, even if it was only Xeron there. Wait - we should have the same memories now... surely I can... oh gods, Velania. You really did.
Hey. Hey listen, you've been through a lot recently, more than your share and certainly more than you deserve. We know you all certainly have lost more than just Coll this tenday. So... we're not saying don't, like, grieve, but you and me were a brief, intense tragedy it turns out. Let it be a bad moment in your life, but not a definitive one. We know Velania Kalugina is a strong, unstoppable woman, beautiful and brave. Thank you, for everything."
"Uh… … … I'm so sorry, Coll, I didn't mean to shout. This is just … I just can't really process it all. I'm losing you all over again, Coll. Gods, this is like watching you die yet again. I didn't know hearing your voice would… " "… … I guess we don't have much time, do we? I love you, Coll. Xeron has heard me say that time and time again. But I don't love Xeron. I love YOU. Carry that into Xeron's consciousness. I… Love… You…"
"We love you, Velania. We'll always remember that. And we'll never stop being sorry for every bit of pain we've caused. Goodbye, Velania. Live well."
Well that could have gone better. Come on then Coll, keep it together. One more call.
“Queen Thundering of Harnash?”
“What? Hello? Yes, who is this? Where are you? Show yourself!”
“This is Coll, ma’am, aboard Gadenthor. We’re flying home to Harnash now and… well we’ve got an offer we think you’ll want to hear…”
Gadenthor was flying west, already past the Sunset Spine and crossing the desert back to Harnash. Coll had asked the rest of Xeron and found there was a communication terminal so that they could send word on ahead to Harnash to let them know what was going on.
Xeron was… a challenge. Coll couldn’t deny that they were one entity now, even him thinking that was realistically just a side thought to a larger consciousness - a voice in the back of Xeron’s non-existent head, hopefully just out of earshot as he worked things out. There was a pull to be a part of the whole, a tension in his soul that told him that eventually, inevitably, there would only be Xeron, though with a new voice in the chorus. But he wasn’t ready yet.
He didn’t want to go. There were things that needed to be done.
The communication terminal helped a lot. As Gadenthor flew steadily over the desert (which he was aware of through both their magical position in the Weave and multiple scrying sensors across the edges of the city), what was left of Coll contacted several people to wrap up the important details.
He called Aurelia first. He needed to report to her the details of what Gadenthor was doing now, his intentions and status. And Aurelia was able to talk him through what was happening between him and Xeron - to come to terms with what he was now - what they were.
“I’m so sorry, Coll. I spent a good amount of time studying Xeron - that amalgam is not something that could just be untangled.”
“I get it, Rey, I do. Thanks for thinking it through. How are you though? How many did we lose in the end?”
“Too many. Cordelia, Samed, Kaltenzahn, Sylvia –”
“--Pelor’s breath, tell us Jenna made it.”
“She’s fine, Coll. Sabrina too. Cecil’s ok. But… I fear we miscalculated. Even evacuating everyone we could, enough people still stayed around to help - maybe we should have just invaded Gadenthor ourselves, like we did with Zariel.”
“No Rey, that would have just been a different slaughter. I’ve listened to adventurers for long enough to know that the worst place you want to be against dragons is in tight corridors. And we have enough extra defenses in Gadenthor that might have been activated. You all made the only call you could.”
“I hope you’re right, Coll. What will you do when you get back to Harnash?”
“Well, my goal is to give ownership over to the Queens when we get there - sooner if I can manage it. We think that’s what’s… I think that’s what’s best all round. And I’ll make sure Xeron understands.”
“Agreed. An autonomous city is interesting, but not when 95% of its brain is from an ancient mageocracy known for horrendous practices.”
“Yeah - we hope that with a more modern addition to Xeron we’ll be tempered a bit. Well, we’d better call Cecil next. Thank you, Aurelia - for everything.”
“Goodbye, Coll. Know that you carry all our love with you.”
“Hey Cec”
“Coll - how are you?”
“We’re ok. All a bit confusing really. Did Rey tell you the details?”
“Yeah I heard. This… isn’t right, brother.”
“Well, what is these days? We knew it was a dangerous job when we came to Daring.”
“Did we? We were supposed to run a tavern, not play the hero. That’s what the punters were for. Now Cobb is off ‘franchising’ which I’m pretty sure just means telling other people to make pubs and then swanning about the countryside and you’re…”
“We know, Cecil. We - I know. Look, Jenna will be able to run the Ettin all right, I’m sure. Just… keep an eye on the books once in a while, we never got round to explaining tax deductibles.”
“Sylvanus’ nuts, Coll! She doesn’t know what’s deducti–”
“--It’s fine, brother. Good thing she’s still got you around, right?”
“Heh, sure. I’ll have a few words. Lend her a few legal texts. But Coll, you’re… like we’re talking now. Just hold on, won’t you? You’ll be fine.”
“Hey - we’re Coll Bahtenda! Of course we’ll be fine. It’s just… you might not hear us as clearly in the future. But we’ll always be a part of this city, just like we’ll always be a part of Daring Heights. One voice amongst many.”
“I’m… what good is a Three Headed Ettin with only one head, Coll?”
“There’ll be less arguments, for one.”
“Don’t you start - “
“- Less competition at the dinner table. More quiet time. Less drama –”
“--I’m going to miss you, Coll.”
“Well, I’ll miss you too, Cec. With every fraction of us that remains. Tell Cobb what happened. And tell him I own more pubs than he does now.”
“No - I refuse. Do you understand me, Coll? I am one of the most powerful fucking mages in the world, trained by one of the most brilliant women in the multiverse. I will kick Gadenthor’s door down and tear that spell…mind-thing apart and pull you out of there like we do every time. You know who we have here? You said it yourself–”
“--Jenna–”
“-- No! You said we had the power to make the gods tremble. Well Gadenthor should be shaking to its foundations with what we’re going to visit upon it until it gives you back! We’ll make what happened to Langston look like a picnic in bloody springti–”
“--Jenna–”
“--like a picnic in springtime, Coll! I will tear every stone of that place apart brick by bloody brick until Xeron WISHES they had just let the Githyanki take the city off on whatever magical journey they wanted to do in the first place, because then they wouldn’t have had to face ME and MY FRIENDS and EVERYTHING that we can –”
“--Jenna–”
“WHAT?!”
“Let me go.”
“Don’t you dare say that.”
“You need to.”
“The hell I do. You don’t get to tell me what I can or can’t let go. My family ran away from me the moment the reality of having a suddenly-adult daughter was too much. You took me in, Coll. Aurelia trained me. You raised me. And now what? I lose you AND Kaltenzahn on the same day? My new family - my real family - is just gone because some pirates wanted a fancy new ship and you got your brain in a twist about it? Everyone’s looking at me like I’m running the fort now, you know that? I don’t even know how old I am, Coll! I’ve lost track. And you want me to just let. you. go? Over your dead body.”
“We’re so sorry, Jen. You deserve so much better than you’ve gotten. You don’t have to run the fort if you don’t want but… it’s yours. Dunno, always found that the joy of a tavern is that everyone’s sort of family there, right? Everyone comes in a stranger, and leaves a friend, a new distant cousin. And some people come into your tavern and become so much more than that, kid.”
“You… you idiot. You’re really serious about this?”
“We’re going to give Gadenthor to Harnash, and let them be the custodians of this city as they have already been for the last 1000 years. Aurelia has looked, and there’s no getting out of this. It’s… it’s getting harder to keep…me… separate from us. But we wanted to say goodbye. It’s the best we can do now.”
“But we’ve fixed blood rituals. We’ve gone into peoples’ minds before. I once climbed up a moving mountain inside a book! I thought you said we can do anything?”
“Yeah - we may not have exactly prepared that speech with this in mind. But this needs to happen, Jen. You’re going to be ok. You’re so strong - not with the magic, but as a person. You’re so much stronger than me, or my brothers for that matter. You’re going to be amazing, you already are.”
“What happens now?”
“I make a few more calls, transfer power to Harnash, and then see how long Xeron remains separate from Xeron.”
“What did you say?”
“We said how long Xeron remains… ah shit.”
“Coll?”
“...Goodbye, kid. We love you.”
"Hi Velania. It's Coll. Sorry we thought to try and talk to you while there's still a chance"
"… … Coll … COLL!! I-is that you? Where are you? … … 'we'?"
"Hey - it's a little complicated. We - I'm in Gadenthor. You may have heard from the others but Xeron is... well, we are all one being now. It's weird. I'm shifting from being one person to one part of a chorus and... honestly we don't think there will be much longer where Coll can communicate like this. We're so sorry."
"It's… always been complicated, hasn't it? Coll, we're coming for you! I promise! Can you resist? Can you stop them taking you over? There must be something we can do. If I speak to Aurelia… "
"Oh, she's looked, believe me. This is old weird magic - if it was fixable, Aurelia would know. At least you're taking this a little more calmly than Jenna. But yes, complicated has been the word. We didn't really get much time, did we? Sorry it - this wasn't exactly expected. Our brother got captured in Gadenthor, Xeron ended up fused with our body and then... yeah. It's a mess. And I'm truly sorry you've gotten mixed up in all this right at the end. We.. I, damnit, I really enjoyed our picnic, before it all went sideways."
"Actually, no. I'm so very NOT feeling calm right now. But… I don't know what else to say. What can I tell you, Coll? I've been in pieces since the attack. You remember Evenbloom Hill? I've been by your side nearly every day since then. I've been calling out to you. And hearing nothing back except Xeron. It… it's been like watching you die, every day: Every. Single. Fucking. Day."
"Oh... oh um... damn. We didn't know that, Velania. Thank you for sitting with my body, even if it was only Xeron there. Wait - we should have the same memories now... surely I can... oh gods, Velania. You really did.
Hey. Hey listen, you've been through a lot recently, more than your share and certainly more than you deserve. We know you all certainly have lost more than just Coll this tenday. So... we're not saying don't, like, grieve, but you and me were a brief, intense tragedy it turns out. Let it be a bad moment in your life, but not a definitive one. We know Velania Kalugina is a strong, unstoppable woman, beautiful and brave. Thank you, for everything."
"Uh… … … I'm so sorry, Coll, I didn't mean to shout. This is just … I just can't really process it all. I'm losing you all over again, Coll. Gods, this is like watching you die yet again. I didn't know hearing your voice would… " "… … I guess we don't have much time, do we? I love you, Coll. Xeron has heard me say that time and time again. But I don't love Xeron. I love YOU. Carry that into Xeron's consciousness. I… Love… You…"
"We love you, Velania. We'll always remember that. And we'll never stop being sorry for every bit of pain we've caused. Goodbye, Velania. Live well."
Well that could have gone better. Come on then Coll, keep it together. One more call.
“Queen Thundering of Harnash?”
“What? Hello? Yes, who is this? Where are you? Show yourself!”
“This is Coll, ma’am, aboard Gadenthor. We’re flying home to Harnash now and… well we’ve got an offer we think you’ll want to hear…”
