A Revelation in the Light of Day (January Catch All)

[redlightgreenlight]

Characters: Valdis and Open
Date: January "2017"
Location: Throughout Keeliai
Situation: Various
Warnings/Rating: In Starters


Her memory loss in November hadn't left any visible scars, but its return had been less than pleasant. Thus, apart from spending time with the kedanese children, she had mostly kept to herself in December. Trying to sort out the conflicting memories that belonged to her and those that belonged to Meira. In the end, the memories had merged and she was able to recall in detail the events of November. Some of those she wished she didn't, but others might prove useful.

Now that she was back together, she could focus on what she really cared about, getting back to work at the Dojo and hunting down the cultists. The Cultists had been fairly silent throughout the Chihuelans visit and the Turtle Move, but she didn't suspect they would be for long. Then there was the matter of Yunxu's salt hoarding, Jintou's current state, her hunt for Celaunn and conflict with Zanru, not to mention those zombie kedan who had tried to take her soul gem and the visions from the turtle. She barely had time to think about anything else when her head was spinning with so many thoughts. There was so much to be done and she couldn't do it alone.

Comments

[insertdadjoke]

Cain appreciated it. Really, he did, but with everything going on, he couldn't quite process that he should probably thank Raine, reaffirm that she was definitely family even if not blood, do something to make it known how grateful he was. All he could do was hold her hands just the smallest bit tighter. Her getting closer was good, yet stifling at the same time. He could tell he was breathing heavier, not more panicked but like the air was thicker. Warmer.

"Yeah," Cain agreed. He could remember that. Things nearer to him than home and his life and Romulus and Remus, their ill-thought scheme that ended everything. That was easy. "You did. Following up on that now?"

[ruinsprofessor]

"I don't see why not," Raine said, as calmly as though it was just another day. But she squeezed his hands briefly in return, and stayed right where she was, watching him sharply for some sign that she should change tacks or offer something else. "Let me tell you about Asgard, then. The city is built into the side of a cliff, and it overlooks a great chasm, and there is always wind blowing through. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the summon spirit of wind makes her home nearby." A pause, brief, for thought, before she amended, "Perhaps their home would be more accurate. Sylph appears to be a gestalt entity, composed of three smaller beings, and they have appeared in one body or in three before. I'm uncertain about their nature."

[insertdadjoke]

"Asgard," Cain said with something of an ironic tone. There had been parallels before, of course, in the overall naming scheme as Raine had spoken about before. This was still just another piece on top of it and he found himself wondering at any other correlations to earth Norse mythology. It was all a little too on-the-nose to not be somehow, if incomprehensibly, connected across the universes.

As she went on, it became more and more interesting. There were a couple of interesting questions he could ask, but he would ask the most pressing one before any others. "Which came first, then? The wind or the Sylph?" Thinking about a breeze, the cool that it must have brought, finally centered his attention on the itch in the back of his brain and he closed his eyes. "Is it hot in here or is my sense memory seriously messing with me?"

[ruinsprofessor]

"It's difficult to say," Raine said. "The temples of the summon spirits -- the seals, the places where they are closest to our world -- are filled with those elements. Shadow's seal is deep in the earth, where no light reaches, but how much of the impermeable darkness is because Shadow is there, and how much of that is a natural formation that drew Shadow there in the first place, is difficult to say. Celsius' seal is in the far north, but her mana creates the cold, as well, so in some respects it must be circular."

And she had not had a great deal of time to grill the summon spirits, those ancient manifestations of pure mana, for the particulars of their existence, as much as she would have liked to.

His other question was some cause for concern. "It's not exceptionally warm, no," she returned. "Part of your mind is still somewhere else."

[insertdadjoke]

"Chicken and the egg doesn't really apply," Cain surmised. That was actually very fascinating and he found himself wishing for the opportunity to look into it for himself. Natural world phenomena being directed by sentient creatures of some sort in a way that didn't deviate too much from worlds without such things really shouldn't have been possible, and yet they had somehow achieved a sort of harmony anyway... If only, really.

Sighing, Cain shifted from his slouch and leaned over, enough to press his forehead to Raine's as a sort of apology and grounding both. He gave half of a smile for the worry obviously present and let his eyes drift shut briefly. "It definitely is. I can kind of place where we went except... not the whole thing. Some parts are just pieces."

[ruinsprofessor]

Raine quirked a smile. The scale was certainly significantly grander than the average domesticated fowl. "Not really," she agreed.

She might have gone on more, but Cain shifted then, and she subsided for the moment, simply watching him, looking for any sign that his mental state was improving.

The returning smile was something. A little thing: but something. "In your soul, your memories?" she asked quietly. "Or do you not recall the last period of time?"