Summary:The Solars arrest Remembrance and dispense of her allies.
XP:I1, L1, S1, V1, Z1
Tags:< Don't Be So Sentiemental | Sol Invictus Logs | A Night At the Theater >
In the ashen ruins of the city, a few tiny saplings blossom.
And in the manse itself, Remembrance of Seven Tears drops to her knees, her eyes closed and her hair dangling down in front of her face.
Spring "I am sorry for your loss."
Lucent ::You did it, Varanim. Oh poetic justice.::
Imrama "I am not."
zahara twirls a special collar around her finger, studying the woman. "Hmm."
Imrama "But I do not wish to see you lose what little you have left. If you will surrender to the forces of the Sunlands and answer for your crimes, I will vouchsafe your life."
Remembrance "My life is meaningless," she says. Her two allies both calm whatever violent urges they retained, the Hundredfold reaching some sort of water-Essence-driven detente with the Kraken and the demon dropping to a seated position.
Imrama "You have worked hard, down the long ages, to make it so. But it is beyond you or your master to cut the last scrap of meaning from the bones of your soul. Once, you fell and Askaru was not there to catch you. Let me make up for that, this day."
Remembrance looks up at Imrama, her eyes still empty. "I brought you here," she says. "I made you anew, created you, so that you could join me here." She shakes her head.
Imrama "And so I have come, great-grandmother. Not to join you, but to save you."
zahara wills the Kraken to cease its forward attack and merely defend if necessary.
Remembrance stands up again and faces the Solars. Her face is defiant, but her body language is not resistant -- it doesn't seem like she's going to fight back if anyone gets closer.
Spring "Tell us of Laerad."
zahara approaches her with the collar in hand, warily.
Remembrance "He is the Tree of Life, the Spine of the Universe, the Roost of Beginnings," she says. "All that grows and entwines is his; the sun is his vassal, that which his branches enclose, to shine at his own purposes." Her eyes gleam. "Amongst those who ought yet to rule."
zahara raises a brow, snapping the artifact around Remembrance's neck and checking to see whether it has interrupted her Essence flow. "Seems like a nice tree, I suppose."
Spring "How did you come to learn this?"
Remembrance laughs, even as the command of ambient Essence flees from her body. "The right order of the universe is clear to all who look," she says. "In another time, our kind spoke often to our vanquished patriachs."
Lucent "Yes. You cannot summon demons without understanding them, Zahara. Or prepare for them."
Lucent "Of course, SOME of us found understanding to lead all-too-readily to slavish empathy."
Spring "Academic knowledge would seem to be sufficient."
zahara "True, Lucent."
Lucent "Not if you wish to learn their magic. Their craft. The wonders we erected would seldom be possible without knowledge granted by the greatest crafters of existence, the lores of love of Erembour, the understanding of Makharios' dreams. There is beauty and power unsurpassed there, Spring. They cannot be ignored, or forgotten."
Spring "Plagiarism is not the highest form of art, Lucent."
zahara 's gaze darkens as she looks at Luc.
Lucent "That is, clearly, why you use Martial Arts."
zahara "Perhaps we should have this argument another time," she puts in mildly.
Remembrance "It is but the truth," she says. "The Maidens are coquettish whores and the Sun a vainglorious fop. The world needs the hands of strong masters, those who know the workings of reality. Those with whom we can stand beside as equals."
Imrama ::No fighting in front of company.::
zahara "How can you be an equal to a Primordial?"
Spring "You can. But will you? What promise do you have that they will regard you as you regard them?"
Lucent "No, Remembrance. They would not accept us as equals, and they are not trustworthy the way they are. Maybe, when we have healed them of their madness, they will come to live with us. Not as rulers, but, indeed, as equals. Not before."
Remembrance laughs. "You must not think highly of yourselves," she says, and her head lolls to one side.
Varanim "Oh, yes," Varanim's po agrees as it climbs up from below. "All the problems of the world can be solved by telling people what to do loudly enough. Except for all those other people who think they can do it better, but surely they're an aberration."
Spring "Modesty is a virtue."
Remembrance shrugs. "There is no arguing the truth," she says. "You will see."
Lucent "You seem to have forgotten the fact that most of them HATE OUR ENTIRE SPECIES."
Spring "A familiar argument."
Lucent "Excuse ME, I actually present arguments based on reality."
Varanim "That flower is really cute," she adds, speaking directly to Remembrance now. "Did the boss have you dig that up, or was it your idea?"
zahara glances over at the demon and the hundredfold speculatively.
Remembrance grins at Varanim. "A favor, from an old friend."
Lucent "And who might THAT be?"
Remembrance "The one called the Lion," she says. "It had been... some time, since we spoke."
Spring "Ah."
Spring "And how is he, these days?"
Spring "Still dead, I trust."
Remembrance "Dead."
Spring "Good."
Lucent "Not dead enough. Not yet."
Lucent "But soon."
Spring "And how surprising, that the Neverborn and the Yozi can cooperate so easily. I suppose they know each other of old."
Lucent looks at Zahara, "I imagine we banish that one. As for the one with leaves... send him back to his people? The last thing we wish is to kill more Hundredfold." He pauses. "Who are not the Ija, of course."
Spring "He is a war criminal. The least he can expect is a frank discussion of the events in question."
zahara "I believe if he has not been summoned by sorcery, he can simply return to Malfaes at will." She looks over at the demon in question.
Remembrance And like that, Hamza-Hathmet vanishes in a burst of sand and desert leaves.
Spring "Diplomacy triumphs again."
zahara wiggles her fingers goodbye, in the direction of the departed demon.
Lucent "Well, then. It will give us time to dissuade him from Yozi-worship, I suppose." He looks in the Hundredfold's direction. "Do we have your total and unconditional surrender?" He says that with the coronal about him, the Solar Circle on each side. A far from unimpressive sight.
Imrama "Remembrance of Seven Tears - if Cerin the Wolf were here, he might provide a list of your crimes so that others would take your disappearance as a warning. As it stands, let it suffice to say that you have waged undeclared war against the Sunlands, intentionally targeting noncombatants. What remains of your existence you now owe in debt to your victims."
Remembrance La'arh turns its many-splendored branches towards Lucent, and they wave in a rainbow-hued shudder of sigils and signs that seem to form into the sounds of speech as they float off into the air. "Do you think to hold me?" they seem to say, "Or will we pass and part now? I have naught to do with your claim against this woman."
Spring "Perhaps I am unusual, but when somebody attempts to kill me, I expect to discuss it with them afterwards."
zahara ::Technically, that ''is/ rather unusual.::
Lucent "Only until we learn of your role in this, your culpability, or lack thereof, your knowledge of Laerad, and have, if you are indeed guilty, administered a fair reprisal. You have my word it will be no more or less than that." As he says this, the Hearthstone ripples the air, making sure that is truth.
Remembrance "I come to the call that bears the sign of my master, that is all," he says. "If our kinds are to be at war, then chain me. If not: let us part here." The leaves glow a brilliant emerald green for a moment. "And if you wish to learn of the tree-father, the Estarus would gladly teach you, though... I guess that you would not like that which we taught."
Remembrance The plant-creature looks down at Remembrance. "Whatever she may have done before our people sensed the touch of our master returning to this place again, I know not."
zahara "Hmmm I would be interested in learning of the tree-father, though I will not worship him."
Spring frowns.
Lucent "You have attempted to kill both me and my companion Long-Awaited Spring. We will hold you not that we are at war, but to deal with what I mentioned, and tell your brethren of your actions. We cannot simply ignore what was done here, but neither do we wish to go to war with your kind."
Spring "Conflicts of this nature are so politically delicate."
zahara "Perhaps you could return with us, while we speak of these things and discuss what happened here as well."
Spring "Of course, we do not desire war with your people, but we nonetheless must confess some concern as to our safety and yours. Creation is a dangerous place, and who knows what might befall a Hundredfold such as you, travelling alone? Allow the Deliberative to render you the assistance it can muster, and escort you from here to a place of safety, and thence to the home of the Hundredfold Alliance, there to discuss the events th
Spring "We will, of course, offer such guarantees as we can."
Spring '''if you want to say that selling back
Spring '''events that we have participated in."
Remembrance "Then by our sworn bond with our cousins in Era'vina, no harm shall befall me -- and all my kind shall know in a moment if it does."
zahara "Excellent. This way, please..."
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