DM Brainiac's Stolen Fate: Table 1

Game Master Brainiac

You follow the giants' directions further along the road. Though not as obvious or massive as the Maw of Karth, the hill you are looking for is easy to see once you draw near.

A steep, bare hillside that at first seems to evince odd patterns of erosion reveals itself upon closer observation to have been carved to resemble a long, narrow face. Two small, shallow caves look out over the ancient road partway up the carved hillside, resembling nothing so much as empty eye sockets above a narrow spur of rock that evokes imagery of an almost beak-like nose. What appears to be a third cave sits near the ground, yet this stalactite- and stalagmite-adorned opening seems to have been blocked from within by an immense round boulder carved to resemble an eye.

The carving very much resembles a classic representation of The Silent Hag. The face itself is 50 feet high. The two eye socket caves are empty, but an examination of the lower entrance confirms that it is indeed a cave that has been blocked from within by the round, carved boulder. Pushing the 5-foot-diameter eye allows it to rotate a few feet within its mouth “socket,” but the eye will only allow itself to be rotated enough so it appears to be looking in a slightly different direction before it quickly self-corrects to shift back to its neutral position, staring straight ahead.

Up close, the stalactites and stalagmites that decorate the lower cave are clearly carvings, not natural formations, meant to evoke the Silent Hag’s sharp teeth. Investigating the teeth, Visna discovers faint traces of dried blood around the edges of some of the teeth where the stone presses to the eye just within...

Visna looks grimly at the dried blood on the teeth. "An offering of sorts..." She glances over at Sanjana and Pentella. "Can you tell what the consequences might be?"

Pen imagines it is bad, but holds judgment. The wizard moves up next to the warrior, studying the blood for patterns.

occultism? This really seems like occultism.
occultism, trained but shifted to master with the vision: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (18) + 19 = 37

Activate [free-action] envision; Frequency once per day; Effect A visible bolt of blue energy bursts from your head. Attempt to Recall Knowledge about a subject, rolling the check with the most appropriate Lore skill check. This check always resolves as if you were master in the most appropriate Lore skill to Recall Knowledge on the subject (or if you’re at least 15th level, as if you were legendary in that Lore skill). If you’re already master (or legendary) in that Lore, the result of your Recall Knowledge check is one degree of success better than it would otherwise be.

It looks like an offering of blood here will supernaturally "lubricate" the eye and allow it to roll freely within the hag's "mouth." Putting it in the right position should then open up a hidden niche within the hill!

What a cool ability!

Visna starts as the bolt of energy bursts forth from Pen's forehead, but merely nods grimly once all is explained.

She runs her thumb along the edge of Maiden's Smile, squeezing a drop of blood onto the hag's teeth.

Visna's blood quickly seems to spread across the stone eye, giving it a glistening, bloodshot appearance. The eye now moves smoothly and freely in its socket. Rotating it upward, so that the eye’s pupil slides beyond the upper lip of the cave, reveals a small hollow within the boulder—a hidden cache. Within the niche is a stone coffer containing 13 eye-shaped gemstones. Of these stones, a dozen are worth 50 gp each, while the thirteenth is an eye of apprehension talisman.

In addition, the Harrow card you are seeking is here--The Silent Hag.

"It... cannot be this easy." Sanjana looks at the objects in puzzlement, then closes their eyes as their horn begins to glow gently. "Give me a moment. Do not touch anything."

This could be a trap, or an illusion, or a curse. It was unlikely that the stone hag would be this generous.

Casting Read Aura. It's an innate spell, so automatically heightened to 6th level and can target any number of objects.

There are no auras out of place. Everything is as it appears, and you are able to claim the Harrow card with no troubles.

Visna spends quite a while waiting for the other boot to drop. "I suppose this altar must no longer be in use. For surely it would not have been built merely to house a card that lay not here ere our tale began. Well, not all tales are told."

With your prize in hand, you return to the Harrow Court. All of the arches are now clear of mist. It seems you have some time to rest before the next group of Harrow cards reveal themselves. In the meantime, you feel stronger...

Everybody is now level 13 and gains 1 Hero Point.

Visna lets out a slow breath. "Hn. Do you all feel that as well? The quieting of our threads?" She rolls her shoulders, a small smile escaping. "I cannot imagine that this was the end of our quest, but this does not seem to be an appointed hour."

Her small smile sharpens as she looks over at Briar. "Now that means not that there are no troubles in the world, or that no legends may be forged in the absence of Fate's intent, but unless the divinations of our wisers have blazed a trail for our next journey, perhaps we should retire to our Harrowing realm."

***

Not all that long later

"Still?!"

Visna stands, keeping herself from pacing by an effort of will.

"My heart thirsts for new horizons. If the fates are still, and our runes not yet cast, let us make adventures of our own. Sanjana, I know that you appreciate the beauty of the Aurora Iobara, else it would not have been the mold from which your enchantment was cast, but have you yet seen Pulura's gift shine with your own eyes?"

She unfurls a map and points to a tiny dot on the Crown of the World. "Then to Visheksrad!"

"That would be most wondrous! It has been a very long time since I had the freedom to travel and experience for my own pleasures, rather than as a pawn of fate. I shall go pack immediately!" Sanjana starts towards their room, then turns around.

"Oh, and after that perhaps we could pass through Absalom again, say hello to our friends and purchase a few things? With our latest card, I think a crystal ball is called for. It might help us once the will of fate is revealed to us again."

Briar's anticipation almost seems like it's overblown once the Silent hag monument opens up to reveal their prize and no harm other than a tiny amount of bloodshed.

She lets out a chuff and 'almost' seems disappointed at their good fortune. But over the course of the next few minutes visibly slackens and relaxes. "I am... somehow relieved that we did not have to go about tearing anything from it's limbs."

***

Harrowcourt some time later

Briar finds she doesn't exactly know what to do with their newfound time while they wait. Following Sanjana aimlessly like a lost dog waiting to be called on. Though she'd love to spend time going back to M'wangi to join her clan in some kind of celebration, she doesn't feel it right to do so without being accompanied by the Kashrishi. If asked why she'd state something along the lines of "It'd be against the wishes of the ancestors to return without fulfilling my duty."

When Visna suggests a trip to her home(?) she finds no hesitation to agreeing to the task. "Surely there are creatures there, from which you will need a guard." She states with a certain worry in her voice, as if afraid that anything should happen to Sanjana without her watchful eye. "I-I mean Visna is a powerful warrior in her own right, but.. but not bound to you as your guardian."

The giant gnoll paces and whines before departing to her own room, assumedly to pack her rucksack out of worry alone.

Downtown was easy for one needing to transcribe her notes, correlate them, and double check all her math. On top of that there are cats that claim her and her elephant every time she enters her rooms and hordes of books she has not read before. Exploring the endless variations of tea with Sanjana, learning about plant after plant from Briar, and listening to poetic tails from Visna. A homebody's paradise.

All that being said, at the mention of visiting Absalom and Visna's homeland, she visibly brightens. "I'll pack."

Visna reaches up to clap Briar on the shoulders. "Briar, think you that your prowess or further deeds are the coin hwaet your presence requires? No. No friend or battle sister of mine need do more than delight me by sharing the road, even if that span itself is shortened by necessity."

"It will be cold. You may wish to dress for warmth rather than beauty." She smiles, clearly thinking of open skies. "There will be beauty aplenty."

Briar nearly jumps out of her skin as Visna claps her on the shoulder.

"I um.. thank you Visna. I shouldn't worry should I?"

She shuffles through her belongings and pulls out another outfit, meant more for the 'cold' of the perpetually balmy jungles of her homeland. "This should suffice for your cold places right?"

Before she disappears to pack, the elf looks over her shoulder at the outfit Briar presents. Pen's ears twitch rather sharply, then looks at Visna who is much better at telling people things that make them understand AND still like you. "I have spells I can memorize to make everyone endure the elements a little better, but being properly dressed should still be considered important... in case of random dispelling." she suggests, then hurries away to study/pack.

"I have been to deserts where nightfall brought bitter cold with it, but I think where Visna means to take us it is even colder. Woolen layers and furs, is that right Visna?" Sanjana looks down at their own body, already rather square. "Thus dressed, I shall be wider than I am tall, hahaha." Their horn pulses for a moment with a warm pink hue to signal their amusement.

Briar scratches her head at that, "Well I've not much more than this currently so we'll have to stop if this is insufficient. You did mention some kind of stop in Absalom did you not Sanjana, perhaps there?"

Note since I might be out of pocket til tonight, Pen will cast endure elements on each of us. Pen and Sanj gets the 3rd level versions giving us protection from heat and cold. Briar and Visna get stuck with the 2nd level

Given an hour in an arctic climate Brair will acclimatize and not need it, and only consumed 1/10 food and water among other benefits. I made her the ultimate survivalist, in a hand full of levels she'll even be able to sustain herself and others on other planes on typically inedible maguffin bars. Really this is just a chance to do a small wardrobe change for the 'vacation' Sadly everyone else will still need weather appropriate clothing, no amount of Bear Grylls'ing will help that part.

Visna doesn't make a whole lot of preparations. "Ha! Your wisdoms do make of travel's burdens the least of troubles."

***

Through the Jugglers' Portal

Visheksrad is warm, bright, and ugly.

Unlike many dwarven citadels across Avistan, the sun and sky are plainly visible from the street. The Crown's chill is dispelled by heat radiating from coal fires in each of the buildings. But the gilt edged towers are all blackened with soot, dripping rusticites hang dangerously from riveted walls.

The streets are not solely filled with dwarves, but certainly lack the cosmopolitan diversity of Absalom, or even Highhelm, and suspicious eyes follow them even without the portal's strangeness.

"We should move quickly before the sun sets. It will mean a cold night, but better a cold night on the road, then a warm bed in such an ugly place."

Visna sets a more than brisk pace, eager to leave Visheksrad far behind her. "Gladly would I swim rather than walk such distances, but Droskar's discharge has poisoned the waters for miles from their foundries. We can camp once the stink no longer fills our nostrils."

The ground is hard and hilly, and the horizon or any vistas of beauty are not easily to be found. The day ends, but the night has not yet begun when Visna's shoulders ease, and her step turns less determined. "We can rest here, where the wind will blow less fiercly; the sea lies just over this ridge. The port there is scarcely lovelier than Visheksrad, but we will not tarry there, we..." She closes her eyes for a moment. "I am sorry. I knew that Visheksrad was a... a trial that awaited me before the beauty I wished to show you. And I... I do wish that greatly."

She stoops to the earth and uses the blunt edge of one of her wands to sketch a circle with a wavy line bisecting it. "My family has a tale, an... understanding. I have learned that it is not uncommon in other parts of the world, but I will tell it as I first heard it. There is a light and a shadow to all things." She scribbles with the wand, scratching the earth in one half of the circle as if to fill it in. "In everything there is joy, and there is sorrow, and both are needed to make up the whole of anything." She smiles and adds to each side another circle, smaller. "And of course this is true of light and of shadow, of sorrow and of joy. Even these opposites can only be made up of one another, for you cannot understand something so absolute as truth, as honor, as breath without knowing their absence...

"I knew that I must pass through Visheksrad to find the sea. I thought that it would help sharpen the flavor, but I find there is too much bitterness on my tongue and in my heart." Her lips hold a smile that her eyes cannot match. "Please speak of something glad, my friends. Please speak joy into the world tonight."

Waddling close to Visna on account of all the layers they're swaddled in, Sanjana puts a mittened hand on her shoulder. "There is more about that place than its ugliness; there is beauty and joy in cleverness, skill, or in making something with your hands. But I think your connection to it is tainted by something in your past that pains you, so I will not speak more of it."

With a soft pat, Sanjana removes their hand, then goes down on one knee as they begin to build a firepit. "Let us speak of beauty, then. What was the most beautiful thing any of you have seen, heard, or perceived in any other way?" The kashrishi smiles softly to themselves. "For me, it was sitting next to a dear friend, a human from Niswan, in the conservatory on Grand Sarret as she performed her life's masterpiece to the learning masters. The music was beyond beautiful, but to be able to sense all she had poured into making that music - the joy and sorrow and love and loss... it is beyond description."

They glance at Visna, still smiling. "Nature can be very beautiful, and daunting, and awe-inspiring, and frightening. One might look upon the sea and feel the call of the unknown, while another might fear drowning, or the terrible creatures living in its depths. I find the myriad different ways in which sentient peoples are moved by what they encounter endlessly fascinating."

Visna smiles, but the corners of her eyes tug in sorrow, not in mirth. "No, my history with Visheksrad is but a pair of stanzas in my saga. I just find the way its workers labor to spread its ugliness to be... sad."

She sighs and sits beside the kashrishi, not attempting to help with the fire. "But we were speaking of beauty. The most beautiful thing I have ever seen is a perfect smile, though it has changed many times over the years, and rarely have I seen it twice shine forth from the same face, and only the once from a terrible creature within the ocean's depths."

Anguish pulls at Pen, seeing one of her companions in pain. She knows caring about people ends in sorrow, but with these three it has been impossible not to.

Pulling off her pack and pulling off her gloves, Pen retrieves a sealed jug of tea, which she heats with her magic. As she gets cups out, she hesitates to tell hers. Too personal, something she would never tell others, but...

Handing a cup to Visna and Sanjana, she says quietly "My first child... my daughter." a brief but warm smile of memory. She goes to get the next cup, handing it to Briar "Holding her for the first time, touching her cheek, her little hand wrapped around my finger."

Sitting down with her own cup, blowing on the steam rising before sipping, she adds in unneeded explanation "That's mine"

Briar takes the tea and sips on it, her heavily bundled furcoats making her look like a small mammoth. "I was.. unaware you had children Pentella."

Her tiny ears swivel under the thick cap as she gets a sense that there is a very tense reason as to why she is here and not with them and it makes her fearful to ask. So in the spirit of telling tales of beauty she decides to spin her own yarn, mostly to try and deflect any attention from uncomfortable questions aimed at Pen.

"My first pack of Deinonychus was quite the treat. I had to chase the herd through one of the mother trees to their nest, so I could dispatch the sick and infirm of their ilk. The work was gruesome and earned me many of my oldest scars. But in my path out of the great innards of their nest I found myself atop the tree layer for the first time. To properly see the sunsetting over all of Mwangi. I didn't want to leave that perfect place, I felt so fulfilled and warm. Ra'sha said I didn't stop smiling for days once I returned, that she'd never seen me so full of light."

Briar shuffles under her burden of clothes to toss back the tea. Then shuffles under her clothes some more pulling out some brightly colored feathers, "I even still have some of their plumage."

Visna rolls her shoulder uncomfortably, clearly recalling other words on this topic. "Ah, motherhood is not an adventure I have yet embarked upon, though think not that the rallying fyrd-horns have never sounded to call the daughter of Freydis to that struggle." Shaking off whatever words Freydis may have had she asks Pentella, "I know that despite your ageless beauty, your children have most like seen at least as many suns as I. Do they follow after your scholarly passions?"

Pen nods as Briar mentions her having kids, smiles at the imagery of the sunset she portrayed and the retained trophy. She colors at the idea Pen has beauty, ageless or any kind at all, then settles into old sadness at the question.

Again she thought to pull back, to hide her memories only for herself. But decides against it.

Recollections danced in her eyes, as she says with a soft smile "Nae was, she'd nearly fall sleep in my books every night, but Lorin was too little to show much more than an eager desire to eat my hair." though she would like to stay in the warmth of those thoughts, she knew 'was' and 'did' needed explanation. "There was a plague, the 'blood veil' they called it." a pause, her eyes briefly betraying the horror of what she had seen, then she collects those memories and tucks them away, as she stands to collect the cups now that the tea was over. "It was a very long time ago."

Briar's concern about Pen seems to have been warranted and she places a hand on Pen's arm before she can stand to collect everything.

"I am sorry for your loss. I understand what it is to lose family to a wasting disease... but to lose child from it. You carry yourself strong despite those burdens." She glances over to Visna, then back to Pen.
"But do not feel that you must bear them alone."

Visna's eloquence fails her, and for a moment all she can do is look at Pentella with eyes hollowed out by grief. "Pentella, I am so sorry. I had not intended- I am sorry."

Sanjana cannot imagine being a parent, or the pain of having your children die. They look at Pen with a new appreciation - of the immense strength it must have taken to carry on after that immeasurable loss. For once, the words fail Sanjana, and they only reach out a hand to gently squeeze Pen's own.

Pentella Cole pauses in her cleaning, her eyes drifting to one then another of her companions, biting her lips in thought. She knew this would happen, that her past would cause distress in others, which is one of the reason she did not share. She didn't want to cause them grief. Especially when they had been sharing happy memories...

She almost apologized, but even she knew that would not change things. She almost repeated it was a long time ago, and every thing was fine now. Which would be a lie, her mind was too keen to ever truly heal.

So instead, she patted Sanjana's comforting hand, the same to Briar's and then looks to Visna. "I do not run from remembering, I cannot, or I would forget."

She smiles a little, slipping herself from warm hands to go to her pack, pulling out he her most recent notebook. "Memory is about repetition, so would you like to see what they looked like?"

Opening the notebook to a random page, she turns it so they can see. Her neat notes all in her own shorthand fill the pages, interrupted by a hand drawn half elven girl, pretty with a furrowed brow of one in deep thought, maybe 5. Then another lower down of a little boy, about two, a wide happy grin splitting his cubby cheeks.

She flips to another page. Two more pictures at a different angle and different expression, She repeats, finding a couple more. One in the margins, another weaving around a drawing of one of rice plants they helped cultivate for the ritual.

Turning the book to back to herself, she runs a thumb along a picture of them both smiling. Her own smile so full of love it truly transforms Pen's normally plain features.

Then she closes it, tucks it back in her pack, and wipes an eye she didn't know had started to water.

"Fate is..." she didn't know what she wanted to say, how to explain her study, her desire to understand, but instead she simple said "Thank you for listening."

All packed up, the wizard slips her pack back on, adjusting her straps. "Everyone ready to go?" she asks.

Unlike in Visheksrad, Visna is greeted once more with smiles and nods of recognition, rather than the looks of suspicion, even when arriving this close to nightfall.

"Visna! Hear to see the Family or the Lights?" asks a wizened old fisherman. Visna smiles, "Both. Is Aunt Spekk out on the water?" Yes, but Amaruq is launching tonight. I'm sure he has room for some passengers; I'll ask."

***

It's colder out on the water, and clouds still cover over too much of the sky to allow more than the faintest glimmer of what may come. Visna though, is nothing but cheerful. "Worry not, they will soon part, and all will be revealed"

And then before long, the clouds begin to part.

Sheets of color curl and dance across the night sky, painting the world in rainbow hues. Everything shimmers with all colors at once, only the very darkest surfaces maintaining their placidity.

Visna's face bears nothing of that placidity, shining in the light as she murmurs. "Every time, a new wonder."

Briar looks like she wants to hunker down when they get out to sailing, but ever desperate for a moment to hone her body to the ways of the world she spends the first hour of the boat ride tempering herself to the native climate. Peeling back the layers of worn furs and exposing herself to the elements before retracting into the shell again. After about an hour she seems to just leave the furs parted, feeling the chilling sea breeze on her short pelt.

"Heh.. and here I thought she would have more bite, based on what you told us." The hulking gnoll performed light stretches to keep herself inured to the shifting waves and changing landscape that would approach them soon enough.

When night falls she gazes at the sky at the small flecks that appear behind the clouds, but when they finally split and reveal the undulating waves of color above her eyes widen like saucer plates. "Sisters above." She speaks breathlessly feeling like the very air was ripped from her lungs. Her heart stirred at the sight and she couldn't help but wonder what deity or spirits might dance in the skies above them to create such a wonderous display. Almost too afraid that asking would break the illusion she stared awe-struck by the scene.

Pen had been busy as busy can be making notes in her notebook. Numbers, reactions, so on, until the clouds part... the books slips to the deck, as she stands, mouth open in surprise. She rises standing next to the others, eyes wide "It's... lovely" she keeps Briar's reverent tone. For a moment she considers going back and grabbing her notebook, to sketch this, so she will never forget.

But there is no way she will be able to catch this on paper. So she just watches, tracing the sways of color.

Visna suddenly smiles, turning to look off the side of the boat at what it seems she already knew would be there. "We are not the only witnesses to Pulura's splendor tonight."

Despite their size, they are difficult to pick out at first, just smooth flesh, dark enough to make no obvious reflection of the aurora above. They are huge, the smallest of them at least twenty feet long, the largest bigger than the boat. Her skin is no longer smooth, roughened by age and scar tissue, but in the middle of that inky blackness a blaze of white gleams with the sky's reflected splendor.

"A moment. I should greet them."

Visna rises, stepping into the shadow of the mast before quickly and methodically stripping off her armor and clothes. But even as the bulk of her furs and plate rests on the deck, she seems all the larger; the light of the aurora seems to touch her less and less as her skin drinks it in, black as the night sea, or white as fresh snow.

She slips into the water and swims over to greet her kin.

For someone born and raised on an island, Sanjana deals remarkably poorly with being on a boat. Kneeling by the railing and clutching it with all their strength, the kashrishi's skin - the little exposed by the layers of furs and wool - takes on a sickly greenish tinge.

They seem to forget all about it once the celestial lights become visible, however. Absent-mindedly releasing the railing, they slowly flop on their back on the deck, starfishing their arms and legs as they gaze at the sky. "Falling... Floating..." is all they manage, awed.

They sense the large creatures before they are visible, and one hand caresses the planks of the deck as if reaching out to those swimming alongside the boat. "So beautiful... you are so beautiful."

Pen loses herself in the moment of beauty, and even forgets for that time to look away as society would deem proper as Visna disrobes. Color grows on her cheeks as her breath clouds in front of her. One heartbeat, then two, then the warrior is gone, like a dagger into the water.

The wizard moves over to the railing next to Sanjana, asking them after drinking in the masses beneath them. "What... are they?" there is a reverence in her tone, rarely there.

Briar only snaps from her revere as she hears the splash of the water, thinking someone fell under the spell of the sky and wandered off the vessel. She turns over in a moment of panic and it doesn't relent when she see's Visna swimming over to a pod of Orcas having seemed to miss what she'd said about her greeting them.

"Visna, where are you going. There are beasts there."

She moves to dive into the water herself only just realizing there is no struggle happening in the water or worry from any of the boats other inhabitants. So she calms and registers Pentella's question, "I've read of these beasts... Orca I believe. Great water pack hunters, they possess a cunning intelligence though, so many do not believe they are simply mindless beasts of the waters."

She watches as Visna swims towards them, "To think one could align themselves with the pack however. Perhaps a local custom?"

Pen absorbs Briar's knowledge, nodding slightly, as her brain takes the notes that will eventually make to paper. "A wonderful one, if it is." she comments.

Visna does not tarry long in the waters, resting her forehead against the matriarch in farewell before swimming back to the ship along with one of the adolescents from the pod.

She hoists herself out of the water, still clad in nothing but skin of black and white, her normally chiseled physique is thickened, made more powerful by layers of insulating fat. She stretches out an arm to the orca off the portside, and somehow hauls him on board.

By the time she does though, his bulk has fallen away. The skin that either shone with the aurora's light or drank it down into fathomless depths, turns brown and wiry, prickling with hair until her young Erutaki cousin stands on board.

"Hello! I am Aqlaq Gullsbeak, cousin to Visna; to meet the companions of her heart and- and- Visna it's cold!"

Visna laughs and laughs, new belly jiggling until she shrinks back down to her normal stature, blonde hair and slightly pink flesh once more returning. "Clothes, Aqlaq." She tosses him a fur before draping one over herself to dry off. "We'll wear clothes."

"Oh" Pen's new favorite word. She desperately wants to ask seven thousand and twenty three questions, but somehow she stifles them for politeness. Stepping to the pair, she quickly casts magic that dries them as quick as can be, and warms them just enough before the furs can help.

"My name is Pentella Cole, an elf from various lands." she bows in greeting before adding "You can call me Pen if you like."

Visna beams as Pen prestidigitates away the cold and wet. "Too often do I forget the joys hwaet come from journeying with others."

Aqlaq's eyes shine likewise in excitement. "But then you are the sage who guided her through the Shifting Pyramid of Kamaria! And untangled the riddles of the Well of Lies! Or, wait... was that the saga where-"

Visna interrupts him with a great clap across his shoulders. "Ha! Clearly you have not studied them so well as you claim! Elsewise you would already have known and named Sanjana Nirman Niramaidhi, lorekeeper of Jatembe's hallowed halls." "Oh, and then is this The Drauglu-" Visna shakes her head in alarm, glancing apologetically at Briar. "No, she is a far nobler warrior than they. This is Briar Oathbound, Bonekeeper, Demonsplitter and Dragonseizer. When I next chant new songs for you all, then you will learn her tales."

She smiles up at her friends, but her eyes focus on Briar and Sanjana. "I must ask your forgiveness that I had not told you of my other skin. We are not many, my family, and there are those who would hunt us for no greater reason than that. Freydis asked an oath of me that I not be too free with secrets that are not mine alone. Only to those companions of my heart," she gestures slightly to the probably confused by this Pentella, "have I shown my first skin."

Pen remembers most things, the blazing heat the sands gave off, the maddening whispers from the stones of the well. The end of that saga as well, all too well. As the younger cousin starts down THAT path, her cheeks almost explode in color. Her eyes widening to look at Visna.

There is an emotion in those eyes that rarely seems to bubble out of her, annoyance. About THAT being part of the saga. Annoyance then swims with a bit of soft hurt at perceived betrayal. Finally something else... a kind of tender pride? Visna's sagas, her epics, were about truly amazing events. All of them.

Did that mean...

She had to turn away for a moment, shielding what she was sure was her face practically melting in a flush. Deep breath. Hold. Emotions were easy to hide away, at least most times.

Turning back she nods to Briar and Sanjana, admitting she had known this part. "The Well had sought one last sacrifice, pulling me to its depths." looking back at Visna "She saved my life." she said tenderly, then smiled. A smile that lite her face in its brilliance. After a moment, probably a too long moment, she turned her attention away again to Aqlaq "I did not know of her family, so this sharing is still a blessing indeed."

Briar rubs the back of her neck, "I uh.. well Ehem." She folds her hands neatly at her waist, "I may not have actually earned all of those titles officially yet. But I am thankful for Visna's recounting nonetheless. It is good to meet you as well Aqlaq Gullsbeak, cousin of Visna. Treader of frozen seas if I may be so bold to assume."

She offered the boat they were in, "It may not be much and we can't offer you a warm fire, nor comforting cabin to stay in for your jaunt here. But you are free to join us. I believe I may do just that alongside Sanjana here."

With that Briar takes a careful seat on the deck floor next to her Kashrishi companion.

"You... did not know of my... But when... My pardons, but in the celebrations that followed, did you wear a blue dress? Or a green one? At that evening's dawn, at least. For though I nearly emptied even the Prow of the Honey Waves of its mead, still I know that I recall the twirl of..." Amarielle? Visna presses one hand to her brow, ears blazing red with embarrassment.

"Then I suppose my first skin was a surprise to you as-" She lets out a long embarrassed sigh. "Well. Long have I known that by drink I can be made to play the fool, but never has it made me so foolish for so long."

Surprise erupts in Pen's face, then a bit of confusion. Maybe even a little hurt. She truly does not know how to hide her emotions very well.

'She doesn't remember' Pen's mind whispers, which is where the hurt comes in, which is ridiculous since Pen also drank way too much that night and only has part of the night burned into her memory pathways.

"I... I meant... what I was... I did not know of your family. You did tell me of your nature. And..." she reaches out with a tentative hand and touches the other woman's arm briefly, which is huge for the wizard "And I saw you, before I blacked out, when you dove in to save me. So... the first telling was not a surprise." Pen had not, she thought, mentioned that part back then, since Visna had seemed so earnest in sharing a secret, not know Pen had seen.

"Thank you again, for my life."

Under the light of the aurora, surrounded by so much wonder, it is no surprise that Visna turns into an orca and an orca turns into Visna's cousin. Sanjana can feel the bond they share, and they smile in dreamy greeting at Aqlaq. There is a very complicated play of emotions between Visna and Pentella, but it has the tinge of something deeply personal and private, so Sanjana moves away from them to avoid prying.

Instead, the kashrishi gathers Briar to help them make tea - hot if they can manage, but Sanjana knows of herbs and roots that can warm up a body even if drunk in a cold infusion.

"Well met, Aqlaq Gullsbeak. You can call me Sanjana."

Visna rests her hand on Pentella's to squeeze it in return and looks back up as the aurora reaches new heights. "A debt long since paid, my Pen."

Fin?