Post by ruthcd on Nov 4, 2024 12:04:41 GMT
Post Watching the Watchers session, Zaspar, Safire, Fern and Dee’arna walk back to Daring Heights with a wounded Vinya, of the Thirteen Watchers.
Once the woods, and the howls of any other lingering wolves are out of sight and out of earshot, Dee'arna takes a moment to give Vinya some proper healing, and check she's got no major wounds that need tending.
She also thanks everyone properly for helping her out there - despite how strange all of this is. Then, despite being fairly tender in her healing, she turns to Vinya and says in a more commanding way, "Well then, Vinya the Eleventh... I sssuppose you want us to take you somewhere specific where Nalaeryn will be expecting you. Where is that? And you know... I still want a little more knowledge before you disappear completely."
Vinya’s wounds are minor, at least for adventurers, but she is clearly far more frail than most mercenaries. Patching her up is simple enough, and soon she is sat upright on Fern’s disc. “You took me to Daring Heights, and I lef-I will leave you at the gate, Nalaeryn will meet me there and bring me to a safe place, I struggle to see where I am there though, but that is to be expected. As for answers? I can do my best.”
Dee smiles back at her, “Thank you. Why don’t we start with you, Vinya. You’re the first person who has really spoken to me since it all began, and not been immediately antagonistic... So who are you? You ssserve or follow the One and Many right? Is that something you chose, or came to you?”
“My brother and I… were given our gifts. Although it is still… a secret as to how or why. We were given a choice to become cults or to fade into obscurity and we chose.”
“He would be better to ask there, I hope he finds his way soon poor thing..”
"Cults... not cultists? You have your own followers too? So your brother then... the fifth? Who knows about the past I presume..."
She grins. “No. Yes. Well done, I’m impressed, you’re quick.”
Dee'arna laughs, "Not at all... I've been sstudying. And now at last I'm sstarting to see the results of the research."
She shrugs. “Yes, Yuri is the fifth watcher, or at least what’s left of him is. Trying to explain his sight is as difficult as trying to explain mine. Two faces of a golden coin, both in their own present.”
"Intriguing. It sssems as though you have both led very unusual lives. Perhaps I will meet him sssoon enough. And, what is it that you hope to achieve? Each of these curses, they talk of destroying the world. Except for ours but... rewriting... can come in many forms. But ssstill there's a concerning amount of consuming, chewing, flooding, decaying that is ssspoken of."
Dee'arna voice is light, but she is looking at Vinya very intensely as she asks this question.
“I have seen each of these come to pass, and I have seen many others. I know how the world is to be rewritten, one thousand, three hundred and thirteen ways. I don’t have an objective Dee’arna, not in that way. When I can see the lines of present, your lines of future, objective is meaningless. I know my own fate, even if there are several mirrors of it. I only seek now to guide fate down whatever thread feels most right.”
"No objective?" Dee pauses in confusion. "It sounds like a goal of sorts. I do not know how you can 'ssseek to guide' without a drive to keep you invested in that purpose. Do you not have an outcome in all the ones you can see that would make you most satisfied?"
“Once again Dee’arna, to have an objective is to try and change the thread. I simply confirm which thread I see. It will always happen, that thread will always become the one chosen, I play my part in knowing which one is taken, remembering which thread has been true all along”
Dee'arna sighs and looks back at the others for a moment, "I apologise for all these cryptic questions and answers. Let me ask one more, and then I will pause for a moment to think."
Then back to Vinya, "Very well. What of Nalaeryn... and the snake?"
There is a long pause. “The question you ask is past, memory, something long out of my sight. I cannot answer that, but I can tell you a different answer to an unasked question. The snake is not dead, not now. In past, your past, it is dead, true, but not forever. Nalaeryn is simply… interested in learning more, although I don’t understand what caused you to know this”
"I'm fond of secrets...
Please visualise me winking."
Safire has been listening to the questions and has an obvious confused expression on her face with the answers. Leaning over the Dee'arna she asks, "So, The Waveskimmer crew want to remove their marks... but you don't? Why? What's the benefit?"
Dee’arna steps away from Vinya for a moment to speak to Safire, trying to keep her voice quiet.
"Yess, I know it may seem strange. On paper it is a curse." And she flexes her left hand as she looks at it, almost affectionately.
"But he does at least offer me some specific magic in return in the right conditions. One of which is the ability to see through walls... for an archaeologist that is a real blessing! And then there is the hunger for secrets. It can be... intense. But, I already loved discovery... The sharper edge to that interest is an amplification - but it is all sstill me."
"And after all... I have made so much progress on all sorts of mysteries since I came here! Yours, vampires, curses, ancient temples, yuan-ti secrets... I am doing more of my work than ever before!"
"Huh" Safire says, dropping her voice to also speak quietly. "So, if the curse helps you with information, can it help you talk to this one?" Safire asks, nodding her head in Vinya's direction.
"Hmm. I fear that they would then both act in their own interests, rather than mine if I called him up here. And... ssspeaking to him in front of others can have unsettling effects. But he will make himself known if he feels the need.
He did say to me recently though... "the Watchers' secrets are both mine and his" - so they ssshould help me. And I can say that to her if needed. But I rather think she is helping as sshe can. Maybe I need to try being even more direct? But I already asked about purpose, and what I most want to know is if they are moving to end the world."
Dee drums her fingers against her holy symbol in slight frustration.
"Hmm... I can't really say I understood most of that, but that whole talk of a 'war' earlier was... unsettling." Safire just shrugs and sighs. "I hope you get whatever answers you need from her. And remember, the job said 'don't kill her, no matter how annoying.'" She finishes her sentence with a wink.
"Thanks. I am trying to keep that in mind!" She grins back at her Safire. "And if there is a war, I am doing my best to understand the situation. And despite how sstrange this conversation is, it is better than the previous people Kem and I have tried to question! Most of which have been already dead..."
Meanwhile Zaspar is walking next to Dee in irritated silence. Though at one point he asks if anyone wants to hold his hand for moral support.
He is too busy thinking about Robin to really focus on the conversation; doesn’t want to ask Vinya any further questions because she annoyed him. In fact, he is only hanging about to support Dee or he would have stormed off to talk to Robin already. Not that he doesn’t care what Dee is discussing, but it’s all a bit too abstract for him to follow. He is trying to understand but not succeeding.
Dee looks at Zaspar sympathetically, and squeezes his shoulder briefly, though she will not be taking his hand. (Again).
"We can talk about your fiancé again if you wish after? But I don't think you like anything I have to say, even though I am trying to keep you from falling into a trap. Thanks for coming out here for this."
"No." Zaspar replies, perhaps too curtly, and then clears his throat. "Sorry. No. We don't need to discuss it. I wasn't even thinking about it."
He doesn't attempt to lie convincingly. "I will always be here, Dee. Let's get your answers, my friend," he smiles tightly and squeezes her shoulder back in return, then gestures to Vinya. "Let me know if I can do anything." He nods and steps back, content to let her lead the adventure.
Dee'arna nods at Zaspar.
She then turns back to Vinya to resume her questioning. "Hmm. So, what does the word amalgam mean to you in these lines of fate ahead? What of my future connects to it?"
"One is a singular number. All that name themselves One desire to be One alone."
"I think I understand... thank you."
Fern, despite having questions for Vinya cannot approach because if they do so the disk will stop moving, but they have certainly been listening. So, Fern beckons Zasper to join them at the front, with have one hand on their staff and another tucked into their bandolier and thus unavailable. They hope that maybe Zasper can fill them in or take questions back to Dee'arna and Vinya.
Fern asks Zasper to in turn ask Dee’arna for: a full accounting of the known curses and will want to know what's up with the missing numbers; what happened to them; will they appear.
Zaspar politely suggests to Fern that they ask Dee'arna for information afterwards as he hasn't been able to follow what's going on. But Fern insists that he at least ask Dee'arna to ask what happened to the numbers that haven't been mentioned, unless she knows the answer and can share later. She also suggests that Dee'arna ask how big the cults are that each watcher has, and what their talents are. Do the other curses have a similar arrangement with followers and so forth?
Zaspar nods and walks over to Dee'arna again.
Not wanting to interrupt, he waits until there is a lull in conversation between her and Vinya. "Dee, Fern insists they have some questions for you to ask," he begins, leaning in closer to lower his voice so he is barely audible to anyone other than her. "What happened to the numbers which haven't been mentioned? How big is each watcher cult? What are their talents? Do the other curses have similar arrangements with their followers?"
He pauses to think, and nods, satisfied. He falls back into step next to Dee. "They said if you already know the answers you can just tell them later, though," he clarifies, smiling softly at Dee, and letting her return to the very important conversation.
He pays just a little bit more attention now, in case there is information he needs to bring back to Fern.
Dee listens to Zaspar's recited list of questions and shoots a quick look back across at Fern. There's a raised eyebrow and a grin, doing her best to signal - well someone has been paying attention... And then Dee'arna makes a mental note to herself... keep inviting Fern on your quests, you were right about the keen eye and matching thirst for discovery.
She turns back to Vinya, giving her the full focus of attention once again. "Sssoo. Thank you for your help so far. I am sure you can see that the One and Many and I are aligned on many things. And he likes to see discoveries made and secrets uncovered. So my next question is... if the snake is dead, but may yet be reborn, where are the other missing seven? What happened to them?"
She seems to consider this for a second. "I don't know, and I can't tell you. I know what happens to them, but not what happened."
"I know someone who does, he'll be here soon, but he's rather hard to get places. Nalaeryn may know something of the story, she does tell you it after all, and she's never usually wrong"
"Oh? This time she will be helpful?" Dee straightens her hat a little and brushes off some of the dirt from the woods. "Well, that is promising! Obviously you... and likely Yuri... have sssome special talents. Are the other Watchers likewise gifted with unusual powers?"
Dee also considers whether fair exchange would help with this search for answers so adds, "If you have a question for me... you know I would answer in turn. Or I am surprised you have not wished to talk to the One and Many... but maybe you have your own methods for that."
"Unusual powers... could be, could be. More an... elevation of what we as people were already good at, sight is not exactly a supernatural power I'm just, well, better at it now. As to questions, you already know I see and I tell, I do not ask. What use do I have for questions? But thank you, and yes I have other ways, although not quite as direct"
Dee'arna reaches for her notebook and writes that answer down for future reference. "Of course you do. So, what else is it that you will tell me about the coming battle? The question I can’t form right... about who will be hurt in the cross fire."
She shrugs and looks sheepish. "Double vision I'm afraid, the others have the same effect as gods, they muddy my sight. But they will certainly not hesitate to use this world as a staging ground, and use you and others as pieces. I am... sorry Dee'arna, I cannot see much further".
Dee'arna takes this sincere apology in with some consideration and pauses, trying again to assess Vinya as a whole person. To see if she can see who the person behind the veil and the hood and the cryptic words might actually be. Someone who is at the very least... not thirsting for blood and destruction.
"I hope your many followers... are also wise enough to also be cautious about throwing themselves into any thing like the battles you describe. A few wolves were already harmful enough for you."
"Followers? I have no followers Dee'arna. Of course the others sometimes come to me for advice but I am the Eleventh Watcher alone."
"Ah, right. Well then the advice that I give in turn for caution is to you alone. In the warrens the rats and oxen are already warring with each other."
"But... they're not, are they?" VInya lightly hits the side of her head with her palm "Apologies, yes, then they were, now, my now, they are not. Not when there are larger, older threats to fight."
"Really? And which threat is it they are fighting in your now?"
"Dead things, dead things they shouldn't have tried to wake up. But they did, and so begins the battle"
She almost seems to stop talking to Dee’arna, now talking to herself, almost enraptured by something, fixated on something. "Spiders and snakes yes, and of course the eagles and centipedes, the salamanders, the sharks, the bats, all of that yes, but where is it... where is the Eleventh, why can I not see you...."
Dee'arna gives Vinya a moment to herself, hoping she might let something else slip, but then nudges her. "The Eleventh... but that is surely your responsibility? Perhaps I can help there? With my adventuring ways..."
A strange voice fills Dee’arna’s head. Well, strange but familiar. It chuckle,s “She won’t find it, only I can find the One who Is Not, at least could. It vanished loooong ago”
“Some argue it never existed, but I remember the secret”
Dee’arna replies to the One and Many, "Of course you do. If there are secrets, I would expect you to be one who has them. Though it sounds like maybe this One has a few of its own... hmm. Have the others outsmarted you before?"
“Never. If they think they did, that just proves my point.”
"Well, I am glad to hear you are the one who came to me then," She says, unabashedly flattering it.
There is no response, only a subtle feeling of self-satisfaction
After a longer pause of reflection Dee'arna asks one more question of Vinya, "If I do nothing, just passively carry the One and Many and leave these investigations... I follow other studies... what happens?"
She grins. “And how should I know that. I don’t see you doing that any time soon. And besides, your future seems to go a third path you haven’t seen coming yet”
Dee'arna raises an eyebrow, and then a prayer to Lasseega, her god of patience and trickery. "A third path... why I barely know what the first two might be... Well, I am open to discovery and I guess we wait and see. My own recent vision of the future the feywild offered gave me many doors..."
Vinya explains that Nalaeryn, the Seventh Watcher will not show herself until they have all left. So eventually, reluctantly for Dee, everyone departs for their separate ways.
When they are saying goodbye Dee'arna just adds... "You seem alright Vinya. Take care of yourself. Tell Nalaeryn... we could have a nice time together if she wants to say hello sometime. Again... I am winking."
She winks.
Vinya nods and smiles "I have told her that, and I have seen you again Dee'arna. Good day, I remember you had one." With a strange swaying walk, never seeming to know where she is stepping but always just managing to find her way through the street, she turns a corner.
Once the woods, and the howls of any other lingering wolves are out of sight and out of earshot, Dee'arna takes a moment to give Vinya some proper healing, and check she's got no major wounds that need tending.
She also thanks everyone properly for helping her out there - despite how strange all of this is. Then, despite being fairly tender in her healing, she turns to Vinya and says in a more commanding way, "Well then, Vinya the Eleventh... I sssuppose you want us to take you somewhere specific where Nalaeryn will be expecting you. Where is that? And you know... I still want a little more knowledge before you disappear completely."
Vinya’s wounds are minor, at least for adventurers, but she is clearly far more frail than most mercenaries. Patching her up is simple enough, and soon she is sat upright on Fern’s disc. “You took me to Daring Heights, and I lef-I will leave you at the gate, Nalaeryn will meet me there and bring me to a safe place, I struggle to see where I am there though, but that is to be expected. As for answers? I can do my best.”
Dee smiles back at her, “Thank you. Why don’t we start with you, Vinya. You’re the first person who has really spoken to me since it all began, and not been immediately antagonistic... So who are you? You ssserve or follow the One and Many right? Is that something you chose, or came to you?”
“My brother and I… were given our gifts. Although it is still… a secret as to how or why. We were given a choice to become cults or to fade into obscurity and we chose.”
“He would be better to ask there, I hope he finds his way soon poor thing..”
"Cults... not cultists? You have your own followers too? So your brother then... the fifth? Who knows about the past I presume..."
She grins. “No. Yes. Well done, I’m impressed, you’re quick.”
Dee'arna laughs, "Not at all... I've been sstudying. And now at last I'm sstarting to see the results of the research."
She shrugs. “Yes, Yuri is the fifth watcher, or at least what’s left of him is. Trying to explain his sight is as difficult as trying to explain mine. Two faces of a golden coin, both in their own present.”
"Intriguing. It sssems as though you have both led very unusual lives. Perhaps I will meet him sssoon enough. And, what is it that you hope to achieve? Each of these curses, they talk of destroying the world. Except for ours but... rewriting... can come in many forms. But ssstill there's a concerning amount of consuming, chewing, flooding, decaying that is ssspoken of."
Dee'arna voice is light, but she is looking at Vinya very intensely as she asks this question.
“I have seen each of these come to pass, and I have seen many others. I know how the world is to be rewritten, one thousand, three hundred and thirteen ways. I don’t have an objective Dee’arna, not in that way. When I can see the lines of present, your lines of future, objective is meaningless. I know my own fate, even if there are several mirrors of it. I only seek now to guide fate down whatever thread feels most right.”
"No objective?" Dee pauses in confusion. "It sounds like a goal of sorts. I do not know how you can 'ssseek to guide' without a drive to keep you invested in that purpose. Do you not have an outcome in all the ones you can see that would make you most satisfied?"
“Once again Dee’arna, to have an objective is to try and change the thread. I simply confirm which thread I see. It will always happen, that thread will always become the one chosen, I play my part in knowing which one is taken, remembering which thread has been true all along”
Dee'arna sighs and looks back at the others for a moment, "I apologise for all these cryptic questions and answers. Let me ask one more, and then I will pause for a moment to think."
Then back to Vinya, "Very well. What of Nalaeryn... and the snake?"
There is a long pause. “The question you ask is past, memory, something long out of my sight. I cannot answer that, but I can tell you a different answer to an unasked question. The snake is not dead, not now. In past, your past, it is dead, true, but not forever. Nalaeryn is simply… interested in learning more, although I don’t understand what caused you to know this”
"I'm fond of secrets...
Please visualise me winking."
Safire has been listening to the questions and has an obvious confused expression on her face with the answers. Leaning over the Dee'arna she asks, "So, The Waveskimmer crew want to remove their marks... but you don't? Why? What's the benefit?"
Dee’arna steps away from Vinya for a moment to speak to Safire, trying to keep her voice quiet.
"Yess, I know it may seem strange. On paper it is a curse." And she flexes her left hand as she looks at it, almost affectionately.
"But he does at least offer me some specific magic in return in the right conditions. One of which is the ability to see through walls... for an archaeologist that is a real blessing! And then there is the hunger for secrets. It can be... intense. But, I already loved discovery... The sharper edge to that interest is an amplification - but it is all sstill me."
"And after all... I have made so much progress on all sorts of mysteries since I came here! Yours, vampires, curses, ancient temples, yuan-ti secrets... I am doing more of my work than ever before!"
"Huh" Safire says, dropping her voice to also speak quietly. "So, if the curse helps you with information, can it help you talk to this one?" Safire asks, nodding her head in Vinya's direction.
"Hmm. I fear that they would then both act in their own interests, rather than mine if I called him up here. And... ssspeaking to him in front of others can have unsettling effects. But he will make himself known if he feels the need.
He did say to me recently though... "the Watchers' secrets are both mine and his" - so they ssshould help me. And I can say that to her if needed. But I rather think she is helping as sshe can. Maybe I need to try being even more direct? But I already asked about purpose, and what I most want to know is if they are moving to end the world."
Dee drums her fingers against her holy symbol in slight frustration.
"Hmm... I can't really say I understood most of that, but that whole talk of a 'war' earlier was... unsettling." Safire just shrugs and sighs. "I hope you get whatever answers you need from her. And remember, the job said 'don't kill her, no matter how annoying.'" She finishes her sentence with a wink.
"Thanks. I am trying to keep that in mind!" She grins back at her Safire. "And if there is a war, I am doing my best to understand the situation. And despite how sstrange this conversation is, it is better than the previous people Kem and I have tried to question! Most of which have been already dead..."
Meanwhile Zaspar is walking next to Dee in irritated silence. Though at one point he asks if anyone wants to hold his hand for moral support.
He is too busy thinking about Robin to really focus on the conversation; doesn’t want to ask Vinya any further questions because she annoyed him. In fact, he is only hanging about to support Dee or he would have stormed off to talk to Robin already. Not that he doesn’t care what Dee is discussing, but it’s all a bit too abstract for him to follow. He is trying to understand but not succeeding.
Dee looks at Zaspar sympathetically, and squeezes his shoulder briefly, though she will not be taking his hand. (Again).
"We can talk about your fiancé again if you wish after? But I don't think you like anything I have to say, even though I am trying to keep you from falling into a trap. Thanks for coming out here for this."
"No." Zaspar replies, perhaps too curtly, and then clears his throat. "Sorry. No. We don't need to discuss it. I wasn't even thinking about it."
He doesn't attempt to lie convincingly. "I will always be here, Dee. Let's get your answers, my friend," he smiles tightly and squeezes her shoulder back in return, then gestures to Vinya. "Let me know if I can do anything." He nods and steps back, content to let her lead the adventure.
Dee'arna nods at Zaspar.
She then turns back to Vinya to resume her questioning. "Hmm. So, what does the word amalgam mean to you in these lines of fate ahead? What of my future connects to it?"
"One is a singular number. All that name themselves One desire to be One alone."
"I think I understand... thank you."
Fern, despite having questions for Vinya cannot approach because if they do so the disk will stop moving, but they have certainly been listening. So, Fern beckons Zasper to join them at the front, with have one hand on their staff and another tucked into their bandolier and thus unavailable. They hope that maybe Zasper can fill them in or take questions back to Dee'arna and Vinya.
Fern asks Zasper to in turn ask Dee’arna for: a full accounting of the known curses and will want to know what's up with the missing numbers; what happened to them; will they appear.
Zaspar politely suggests to Fern that they ask Dee'arna for information afterwards as he hasn't been able to follow what's going on. But Fern insists that he at least ask Dee'arna to ask what happened to the numbers that haven't been mentioned, unless she knows the answer and can share later. She also suggests that Dee'arna ask how big the cults are that each watcher has, and what their talents are. Do the other curses have a similar arrangement with followers and so forth?
Zaspar nods and walks over to Dee'arna again.
Not wanting to interrupt, he waits until there is a lull in conversation between her and Vinya. "Dee, Fern insists they have some questions for you to ask," he begins, leaning in closer to lower his voice so he is barely audible to anyone other than her. "What happened to the numbers which haven't been mentioned? How big is each watcher cult? What are their talents? Do the other curses have similar arrangements with their followers?"
He pauses to think, and nods, satisfied. He falls back into step next to Dee. "They said if you already know the answers you can just tell them later, though," he clarifies, smiling softly at Dee, and letting her return to the very important conversation.
He pays just a little bit more attention now, in case there is information he needs to bring back to Fern.
Dee listens to Zaspar's recited list of questions and shoots a quick look back across at Fern. There's a raised eyebrow and a grin, doing her best to signal - well someone has been paying attention... And then Dee'arna makes a mental note to herself... keep inviting Fern on your quests, you were right about the keen eye and matching thirst for discovery.
She turns back to Vinya, giving her the full focus of attention once again. "Sssoo. Thank you for your help so far. I am sure you can see that the One and Many and I are aligned on many things. And he likes to see discoveries made and secrets uncovered. So my next question is... if the snake is dead, but may yet be reborn, where are the other missing seven? What happened to them?"
She seems to consider this for a second. "I don't know, and I can't tell you. I know what happens to them, but not what happened."
"I know someone who does, he'll be here soon, but he's rather hard to get places. Nalaeryn may know something of the story, she does tell you it after all, and she's never usually wrong"
"Oh? This time she will be helpful?" Dee straightens her hat a little and brushes off some of the dirt from the woods. "Well, that is promising! Obviously you... and likely Yuri... have sssome special talents. Are the other Watchers likewise gifted with unusual powers?"
Dee also considers whether fair exchange would help with this search for answers so adds, "If you have a question for me... you know I would answer in turn. Or I am surprised you have not wished to talk to the One and Many... but maybe you have your own methods for that."
"Unusual powers... could be, could be. More an... elevation of what we as people were already good at, sight is not exactly a supernatural power I'm just, well, better at it now. As to questions, you already know I see and I tell, I do not ask. What use do I have for questions? But thank you, and yes I have other ways, although not quite as direct"
Dee'arna reaches for her notebook and writes that answer down for future reference. "Of course you do. So, what else is it that you will tell me about the coming battle? The question I can’t form right... about who will be hurt in the cross fire."
She shrugs and looks sheepish. "Double vision I'm afraid, the others have the same effect as gods, they muddy my sight. But they will certainly not hesitate to use this world as a staging ground, and use you and others as pieces. I am... sorry Dee'arna, I cannot see much further".
Dee'arna takes this sincere apology in with some consideration and pauses, trying again to assess Vinya as a whole person. To see if she can see who the person behind the veil and the hood and the cryptic words might actually be. Someone who is at the very least... not thirsting for blood and destruction.
"I hope your many followers... are also wise enough to also be cautious about throwing themselves into any thing like the battles you describe. A few wolves were already harmful enough for you."
"Followers? I have no followers Dee'arna. Of course the others sometimes come to me for advice but I am the Eleventh Watcher alone."
"Ah, right. Well then the advice that I give in turn for caution is to you alone. In the warrens the rats and oxen are already warring with each other."
"But... they're not, are they?" VInya lightly hits the side of her head with her palm "Apologies, yes, then they were, now, my now, they are not. Not when there are larger, older threats to fight."
"Really? And which threat is it they are fighting in your now?"
"Dead things, dead things they shouldn't have tried to wake up. But they did, and so begins the battle"
She almost seems to stop talking to Dee’arna, now talking to herself, almost enraptured by something, fixated on something. "Spiders and snakes yes, and of course the eagles and centipedes, the salamanders, the sharks, the bats, all of that yes, but where is it... where is the Eleventh, why can I not see you...."
Dee'arna gives Vinya a moment to herself, hoping she might let something else slip, but then nudges her. "The Eleventh... but that is surely your responsibility? Perhaps I can help there? With my adventuring ways..."
A strange voice fills Dee’arna’s head. Well, strange but familiar. It chuckle,s “She won’t find it, only I can find the One who Is Not, at least could. It vanished loooong ago”
“Some argue it never existed, but I remember the secret”
Dee’arna replies to the One and Many, "Of course you do. If there are secrets, I would expect you to be one who has them. Though it sounds like maybe this One has a few of its own... hmm. Have the others outsmarted you before?"
“Never. If they think they did, that just proves my point.”
"Well, I am glad to hear you are the one who came to me then," She says, unabashedly flattering it.
There is no response, only a subtle feeling of self-satisfaction
After a longer pause of reflection Dee'arna asks one more question of Vinya, "If I do nothing, just passively carry the One and Many and leave these investigations... I follow other studies... what happens?"
She grins. “And how should I know that. I don’t see you doing that any time soon. And besides, your future seems to go a third path you haven’t seen coming yet”
Dee'arna raises an eyebrow, and then a prayer to Lasseega, her god of patience and trickery. "A third path... why I barely know what the first two might be... Well, I am open to discovery and I guess we wait and see. My own recent vision of the future the feywild offered gave me many doors..."
Vinya explains that Nalaeryn, the Seventh Watcher will not show herself until they have all left. So eventually, reluctantly for Dee, everyone departs for their separate ways.
When they are saying goodbye Dee'arna just adds... "You seem alright Vinya. Take care of yourself. Tell Nalaeryn... we could have a nice time together if she wants to say hello sometime. Again... I am winking."
She winks.
Vinya nods and smiles "I have told her that, and I have seen you again Dee'arna. Good day, I remember you had one." With a strange swaying walk, never seeming to know where she is stepping but always just managing to find her way through the street, she turns a corner.