Dark times ahead:
"Hmm, I have silence prepared if that would help," Isilme offers, thinking what might work. "Perhaps if we had darkness of some form to augment it, but I didn't think to prepare it."
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Isilme looks at the guards confused, "Me?" then she sighs, realizing what had happened. "Oh right, 'A Half-orc' did something. Of course it's me, " she shakes her head and looks at them directly. "It's not like any other half-orcs could have come through here. But it's ok, I know the drill. I don't want any trouble. It's not like I haven't been blamed for other people's actions a hundred times before, and I doubt my saying I couldn't tell this Maroq from any other person in this room would help at all." Isilme does her best to look exasperated and starts walking despondently towards the guards.
While she didn't see Maroq initially, she did see Jahani, the cunning Mauxi Shahdokt she had spent time with in Thuvia. It was certainly convenient to have her pop up here, perhaps a bit too coincidentaly, however. Nevertheless, Isilme decides to see if she can't turn her acquaintance towards aiding her in finding Maroq. She heads over by the woman who had developed a crush upon her when they had worked together to hunt down the Ivory Templars' network in Thuvia. Knowing she'll at least need to understand Kelish in order to interact with her convincingly, Isilme takes the risk of using her divine favor to call upon the ability to comprehend languages. She then slides into the bath near her and turns to look at her. "Jahani, my Blazing Star, It is wonderful to see you again, but your shine is tarnished by worry," she says to her, "what troubles you so?"
"Wonderful," Isilme says, getting out and giving the Vudrani girl a gold coin. She sets aside her gear for storage and then heads to one of the rooms to change. There she grabs a towel and wraps it around herself and heads into the baths. There she begins scanning the room for someone who looks like they've had a bad day at their stall and subsequently at the race track.
Isilme gets directions to the bath house and then wanders off into the crowd of gamblers watching the races to blend in before sneaking her way out to head to her next destination. As she's working her way out, she finds someone who looks like they could use a bit of luck and hands them the ticket with a wink before disappearing into the crowd again. When she arrives at the Bathhouse heads in to inquire as to whether Maroq was still there.
"Hmm," she says, taking a moment to savor a piece of each of the pieces of bread. "Well, it certainly is close," she says, letting them hang on her words for a moment. "I have eaten all over the inner sea and never have I had to make such a difficult decision. Certainly your bread is the clear winner with something sweet," she says to the woman vendor, "But I believe I have to give overall victory to Santigo today, this bread has just the right texture and fluffiness for my palette today. I will drop by again tomorrow, hopefully with another friend of mine and we can see who wins then, however!" She gives them both a wink and after their reactions thanks them both and heads on her way.
Though she had no luck spotting someone matching Maroq's description immediately, she didn't doubt that the merchant frequented the track. After all, someone who believed they were down on their luck and that that might be ameliorated by gambling likely spent a lot of time gambling. Approaching one of the bookies, she puts down a couple gold on one of the underdogs. When he hands her her ticket, she casually asks "Have you seen Maroq today? Santigo over by her stall mentioned she'd come out to see if she could find some luck today. And lucky for her it has! I just need to let her know."
Isilme laughs at the other vendor's rush to beat Santigo to the punch in sharing gossip and immediately leveraging that for a sale. "Fair is fair," Isilme says, tossing the woman the coinage for a couple more small loaves of bread and adding them to her growing collection in her bag. "and the second is for directions to the track." she says, giving the woman a wink. With bread and directions in hand, she thanks both of the vendors and wishes them luck in their continuing competition. As she's about to head out, she stops and turns back for a moment, "Oh, what is she wearing today, by the way?"
Directions and description acquired, she wanders through the stalls for a while, finally settling on purchasing a handful of fresh dates and a pair of figs, along with some soft cheese and a knife, and a small jug of kefir. For the first time in quite a while Isilme was actually hungry, having been without her ioun stone now for at least half a day. As she wanders towards the track she enjoys the simple meal, alternating chunks of bread and cheese with the fruits and kefir. Along the way she continues to occasionally make an arrow in her path, just in case she got lucky and Ehren was still out there. At the track, she heads towards the stands, looking for someone matching the description given by the vendor.
Undeterred, Isilme heads over to Santigo's stall and fishes out enough change to buy a pair of loaves of bread. "I don't suppose you have seen Maroq today?" she asks, pointing towards the empty stall. "I was hoping to find her here, but I appear to have been too slow today," she says, sounding disappointed.
The results of her divination leave Isilme seriously concerned. There was no doubt that Xander and Ary were known across Azir at this point, though the latter perhaps not by name. If the Blackfyre Adepts were keeping tabs on the goings on in the city, she didn't doubt that the news would catch their attention. Given that they had Aravashnial and other Riftwardens captured, it was exceedingly likely they would quickly realize they had come to save them. Isilme holds up the flower she had purchased earlier at the market, a beautiful yellow flower rimmed with pink that was known as a desert rose. Focusing on it, she holds it aloft focusing the magic spell she had prepared into it. As she does, she pictures her friends, Ary, Hinagiku, Ehren, Xander, along with Unafe and Lann, weaving them into the spell so they would be able to see its trail as well. At this point only Ehren was unaccounted for, so it was primarily for him, but there was no harm in including the entire group. Placing the rose in her pack she begins to walk towards the exit, a faint yellow trail appearing behind her as she goes. As she approaches the door, she changes her path to scribe out a crude "Safe but Not Here" message in celestial with her path, then cautiously heads out the door. Were someone to follow the path back to here, they would at least have some idea why it started there that way.
She then begins to head towards the markets, taking care pause to look around every block or two to cover the fact she was moving so as to place simple arrows into the path. Doing so would at least shorten the amount of time necessary to find her. Just for good measure, she takes a 30 min detour around the major thoroughfares to increase the area covered by the spell so it would be more likely one of the group could find her.
Finally she comes to the markets in Grand Souk and begins searching for her, taking advantage of her keen perception and the fact her divination had turned up that she was a copper merchant.
"I don't see anything obvious, but at least we could head out into the desert a few miles out. It would at least lessen the likely hood of people wandering by," she says after looking about for a clear landing location.
"Bring us down a few miles outside the city,' she calls to Ehren through the magic. They'd need to be extra cautious in approaching the city, especially with Ary and Unafe literally glowing in the dark. Isilme scouts the terrain, looking for any sign of outcroppings or dunes that might provide them some shelter from passers-by. "Everyone look for some sort of cover we could use to help hide where we are operating out of."
Isilme is frustrated when she hears use of a boat discussed after realizing the trip would take nearly a week. Such a delay was completely unacceptable. "We cannot afford to waste six days on a boat, we traveled much more quickly on the Long Walk, and we can certainly do so here. We could surely make the journey in under a day if we did so by air. Additionally I think we would do best staying outside the city proper so as to avoid attention. It will be significantly easier for us to remain undetected in the outskirts."
Isilme takes note of the address, it was certainly no coincidence that they were being directed to the same address where the Riftwardens had been staying, though she couldn't say whether that was a good sign or a bad one. Also, how was it that Ai'sintar had failed to mention he was staying at a brothel? That would have to wait until everyone was safe in Drezen again, however. "Venture Captain Obo, would you have maps of Azir and Rahadoum available for us to go over? We should familiarize ourselves with the city before we decide how we are going to get in. Additionally, are you aware of any places we could stay in the city without attracting attention besides the address you mentioned? It would be good to not depend upon this Lady Akoujan to provide us shelter."
"You all were right, we should have aimed for outside the city," Isilme says putting her hands up and making a show of being wrong in front of the guards. "Thank you, we will endeavor to be more careful in our travels in the future. " Isilme walks through the gate and waits for the others.
"Well this seems to be problematic, we're in a private area apparently," Isilme whispers to the others, "I'm just going to go with teleport error, which is technically correct as we erroneously thought this was a public area."
"Hello!" Isilme waves at the guards and calls to them, "We're sorry, our teleport landed us away from where we intended. We were supposed to arrive at the Pathfinder Lodge! We will leave immediately if allowed to do so."
"I would prefer to leave immediately," Isilme says, "The sooner we are there, the sooner we can begin trying to determine what has happened, and the sooner we can act on our information." Isilme hesitates for a second then adds, "And I can't sit here doing nothing while Aravashnial is in danger. Perhaps a few of us could go ahead, and the rest catch up at night?"
"I believe our best bet is just to bundle your gear and keep it in a bag of holding, Ary. Trying to hide you outside of town will likely draw more attention than we avoid by simply trying to pass as Pathfinders," she responds, thinking it best if they got into the Lodge as directly as possible. Following up on Ehren's answer to Unafe, she adds, "The Riftwardens are charged with investigating threats beyond the main portal, and searching for information on dealing with the portal at the worldwound. It is likely they were there because of one or the other. Given they were ambushed, it's possible the Blackfire Adepts set a trap for them." "Perhaps we should pass through the Menhir invisible? Xander, would you be able to provide a sphere of invisibility?"
"Lets not find out if we can avoid it," Isilme says to Xanderghul's suggestion that they needn't worry about repercussions of angering the Rahadoumi government. "Your contact in the Pathfinder Lodge sounds like our best bet, however. Hopefully the menhir isn't in a town square or the like, it would be troublesome if our first appearance got us in trouble for using divine magic." "I think we should still attempt to disguise Ary," Isilme suggests, "it will be easier to blend in as Pathfinders without Ary's appearance and garb screaming 'CRUSADERS HERE'. We will also need to find Aravashnial's contact Maroq without raising much suspicion. Unfortunately I have no divinations prepared today to aid with that, but I imagine Xander and I can do some information gathering while there without attracting attention."
Once everyone is gathered in the meeting room in the Citadel, Isilme finally takes the time to explain what's happening. "This morning when I sent a sending to Aravashnial, I didn't get the usual reply from him explaining what he had been up to. Instead, what I got was a very clearly rehearsed message from him: 'They have captured all of the Riftwardens. Somewhere indoors, no windows. Please send help quickly. The Blackfyre Adepts have captured all of us. Find Maroq discretely.' It's concerning enough that the Blackfyre adepts have moved against the Riftwardens, but they successfully captured at least four very capable Riftwardens. Whomever led the attack against them clearly was well prepared and more than powerful enough to handle them." Isilme pauses for a moment, trying to calm herself down, her normally flawless composure clearly fraying. "He is... They are in Azir, the capital of Rahadoum. I have the address they were operating out of here." She puts down a piece of paper with the address and general notes she'd taken on what they were up to. She then stops, allowing the others to ask questions or comment on the situation. It also gives her a moment to center herself again, as her concern for Aravashnial was weighing heavily on her.
The message Isilme got was a shock, to say the least. She never would have expected to have multiple Riftwardens captured simultaneously, much less four of them. The end of the sending leaves her wishing she could reply again to reassure him that help would be on the way, but just the brief thought is all she spares as she runs towards the tower's balcony, grabbing her things as she goes, with Cygnus in its sheath being picked up last. Within moments she's airborne, heading to the citadel proper to find Ary and Ehren who were nearest by. She would need to get everyone moving quickly if they were to mount a rescue before the Hellfire Adepts could harm any of them. "Ary!" she calls out as she flies down the halls, looking for the commander of the citadel. "Aravashnial and the other Riftwardens are in danger in Rahadoum! Grab your gear and get Ehren and Xander to do the same, I'm going to go get Unafe and Hinagiku quickly so we can decide our best course of action. I'll head back here with them as soon as possible!" she only hangs around long enough to cast message on Ary, giving her a chance to respond in full before Isilme gets out of range. Once outside Isilme grabs Cygnus and focuses on it, drawing on its power to allow her to cast magic via runes as she had before she had been reincarnated. Unfortunately, severing the ties with Li'an's body had finished severing her from her divine spark, leaving her a simple mortal--albeit a powerful one. It was in a dream several days after the ritual that she was visited by the Song of Spheres, who offered to grant her a blessing through her sword in exchange for serving as Starsong's Herald when needed. At the very least, using the divine spark she had on loan now no longer physically hurt her. Without the sword she was cut off from her Lady Starsong's powers, however. Tracing the runes for phantom steed, she conjures up a ghostly mare that looked as if it had been crafted from the night sky, a being of shadows and glimmering stars. Mounting it, she quickly finds the main thoroughfare out, heading first to find Unafe, making use of the steed's unnatural speed.
When she arrives at the Demetae encampment outside the city, it takes her a bit to track down Unafe, who had essentially taken over responsibility for leading the tribe. "Unafe, a serious matter has come up, and we will need your aid. Gather your things and head to the Citadel, I will get Hinagiku and head back there so I can explain the situation and we can plan our course of action!" After Unafe agrees, Isilme takes off for the Menhir, this now hoping to pick up Hinagiku and ride back to the citadel with all haste. As she pulls up to the Menhir she calls out to the monk, quickly coming to a stop along side her. "Hinagiku, hop on, we need to get to the Citadel immediately, Aravashnial is in danger!"
Ritual:
Isilme smiles at the sight of all her friends being present at her rebirth. "I think you're right, Ehren, though if you'd asked me a couple years prior, this was certainly not the new body I had been expecting." "Thank you Ary," Isilme says as she picks out an elegant silk blouse and pants from those available. She uses the cloth as cover as she quickly dresses herself, then lets the cloth fall unceremoniously to the ground. "This body does feel like mine though, and beyond that there's a real sense of relief I haven't felt since I returned. I no longer am bearing the burden of having stolen Li'an's body. Which of course is the next thing we need to take care of." Isilme takes a few moments to stretch, then heads over to Li'an's body, which had resumed its normal form with Isilme no longer bound to it. At her feet she had lain the resurrection scroll they had acquired a while back, and which the others had agreed without hesitation to use when Isilme had asked about it. "Elan, I promised I'd look after her, and I still promise to keep doing so," she whispers as she bends down and takes her own Crusader Cross off Li'an's body and dons it, before digging out Li'an's and placing it on her chest. "Let's complete this circle," Isilme says as she unfurls the scroll. A few moments of incantation and the magical writing on the scroll flares and disappears, the magic surrounding the dead elf and calling her soul home. The cloth begins to stir, followed by a gasp for air, at which point Isilme speaks softly, "Welcome home, Li'an."
With Yulin: "Not everyone has innate gifts like yours, Yulin," Isilme says as they sit together under the shade of a tree. She hands the young half-demon one of the pomegranates she'd had Horgus ship in for. Isilme had long since dispensed with any pretense of treating Yulin as a child, at least in terms of explaining the world to her and teaching her things. "Have I ever told you that I once was an Azata, a Raelis? A powerful outsider with the ability to change shape, fly, and call upon a wide variety of innate magics." "I will tell you the full story of how I got to be where I am now someday, but for now it's enough to know that my current body doesn't have those abilities. For a long time I was frustrated and felt powerless because of it. What good was I if I did not have that power? But over time I came to realize that those powers were as much a limitation, a shackle as they were a blessing. They kept me chained to one path, to doing things as a Raelis would. All of my friends helped me see that I'm more than that though." she pauses after that, almost as much for her own reflection on the thought as for it to sink for Yulin. "If you rely first and foremost on your powers, you will be defined by them, and others will define you by them too. But you are so much more than that... you are Human. A Sarkorian at that, heir to the legacy of a proud people, one you should take pride in yourself. There is a reason humans have prospered and spread across Golarion. They are willing to learn, to push themselves to surpass their limits. A demon, azata or archon may be gifted great power to begin with, but very very few every grow beyond that power. It is mortals, and Humans especially, that have pushed to heights further than any had ever imagined possible." "I believe you can be someone truly great Yulin, that you can accomplish anything you set your mind and heart to. To do that, though, you need to embrace your humanity. And to embrace others as well, for no matter how strong you may become, one day you will only be stronger for having friends, and they will be there to aid you when the day comes that you find a challenge you cannot surmount. Your heritage means you will need friends you can trust even moreso. People who can vouch for you or defend you when others see only your demonic heritage." She stops for a while to eat her own pomegranate, opening the fruit and eating the seeds inside, giving Yulin a while to sit in silence and think. Isilme knew a single speech was insufficient to help her see the world in a new light, she would need to listen to Yulin and guide her to think through these things on her own.
At the Ritual:
The experience of completing the ritual was in some ways similar to when she'd lost her body the first time, only without the excruciating existential pain of being torn asunder and remade by dueling wishes. So she wasn't disconcerted by suddenly being a spirit within an inanimate object. She watches as Ehren begins setting up for the reincarnation ritual around the small stand atop which the gem she'd chosen for the ritual was safely ensconced. When the ritual begins, she watches as her new body begins to take shape, and begins to feel almost a tug towards it as it nears completion. Finally in an instant she's drawn forth from the gem into her new body, something she expected only a few people had ever experienced. Clearly her body had changed, she thought as she began to stir. She felt larger overall, though her form was still relatively lithe. When she stands up and the cloth falls away, it's clear to everyone present that she has a slightly different appearance. Her first true hint that something had changed dramatically was the fact that her lower canines were now small tusks. The second was that her skin was, in fact, a light shade of green. As she stands up, she reveals flowing, raven-black hair and golden eyes not unlike those she'd had as an elven aasimar, though with proper irises and pupils, and is clearly taller than she had been in Li'an's body. "An orc? Or half-orc?" she says, looking at her hands and arms, then looking towards Ehren and the others. "At least it's mine! How do I look?" In the time after the ritual Isilme returned to her work, and though she spent some time in her new, natural half-orcen form, she spent most of her time as an elf for simplicity's sake. On the morning of the 10th of Rova, Isilme wakes up alongside Aravashnial, with whom she'd finally begun sharing a room. She quietly leaves the bed, giving him a quick kiss before heading out to do the rounds of the city, walking along the walls and stopping to meet some of the scout patrols that were partially her responsibility.
Isilme spends nearly a month training with the monks in Sakakabe temple, mostly enjoying the opportunity to focus on her own well-being. She spends the days doing chores and training exercises, and the evenings atop the pillar meditating and praying to Desna. Though the combat style they practice doesn't fit well with her own fighting style, she learns quite a bit on better focusing her meditation, expanding on what Hinagiku had taught her when she'd needed to find a way to overcome the slow deterioration of her soul. Eventually, however, the responsibilities she had begin to demand her personal attention, and she heads back to Drezen with the help of Ehren. Once returned, she reaches out to Hingiku daily but quickly finds her unresponsive. Through conversations with Hinagiku's mother and Kuso-san, she finds out that the monk had entered a catatonic state, and she keeps tabs on the situation with mending until Hinagiku reawakens, at which point she lets Ehren know to go pick her up. Returning to town keeps her fairly busy tracking down disappearances, which winds up being Xander's unscrupulous students. She also has to devote some resources to tracking down some shape-changing madman cartwheeling about the back streets, at least until she finds out that's also due to Xander. In between her responsibilities as the spymaster for the city, she aids Xander and Ehren in researching the reincarnation spell, during which she comes upon a solution for her own dilemma and begins researching that on the side as well. Between having access to one of the heartstones used by the hags for storing souls, and Xander's vast library, she's able to come up with a ritual to bind her own soul to a gem, severing the final connections it had with Li'an's body. Doing so would leave her vulnerable, but she trusted Ehren and Xander without hesitation, and knew that they would see that she was properly reincarnated once bound within the gemstone. After that she could see to a proper restoration of Li'an, if the others didn't object to using the resurrection scroll she had in her possession. In the evenings, after her responsibilities are done, she makes time to visit with Yulin and Ledsa, having not had much of a chance to be a proper god-parent in the past year. She takes Yulin out to Kule's grove and spends time talking about how she's doing and teaching her various things to help her determine what she might enjoy learning and doing most. Though her demonic parentage would make her life difficult, Isilme knew that her power was capable of great good if she could overcome the impulses that her heritage brought with it. As the end of three months near, Isilme begins preparing for the ritual, working with Sosiel to get some space to complete it within the hallowed halls of Drezen's unique multi-denominational temple.
"もちろん、クソ先生！" she responds when he asks her to stay behind for any challengers. As long as they were not the equivalent of, say Hinagiku or Shu Lien, she would at least stand a decent chance of holding the position, especially being able to fight with a star-knife.
"I am only champion because Shu Lien opted to fight us all at once," she points out to Hinagiku. "I likely would have been thrown out of the ring instantly had she trained her sights on me directly." Once the others have left, Isilme spends the remainder of the afternoon atop the pillar, enjoying the vista. At a couple of points challengers attempted to make it up the pillar, but it wasn't until late in the afternoon one of them actually made it. Unlike the brute force of Shu Lien, Isilme was more cautious in the fight, preferring to take time to gauge her opponent before committing. Once she did, however, her combination of physical prowess with the star-knife, her bardic inspirations and magic made it an inevitable, albeit slow, victory. She rejoins the others at the conclusion of the day, heading to grab a bite to eat and to enjoy the fireworks. "I am thinking about staying for a while, if it wouldn't pose a problem to come pick me up at some point in a few weeks, Ehren," she asks, unaware that Hinagiku had been considering staying as well. At the end of the evening, she journeys back to the pillar and teleports to the top to spend the evening beneath the stars. Given the clear skies and altitude, she had the best view of the stars she'd had in ages, and the solitude of the gave her a chance both to pray to her Lady Starsong, as well as to ponder what needed to be done to finish freeing her soul from Li'an's body. Eventually she falls asleep atop the pillar wrapped in her cloak, the magic of which easily keeps the chill of the night air at bay. The next morning she flies off from the pillar in the form of a raven and heads down to the temple, resuming her human form as she comes to rest on the steps. She then heads in to see what the training entailed. At the very least, she could further refine the meditation techniques she had learned from Hinagiku.
"Well played everyone, and nice moves Unafe," she says, walking up and patting Unafe on the shoulder after resuming her human form. "There is no challenge we cannot overcome together!" "You did well, Hinagiku. Shu Lien certainly is lighting quick at this point. Neither you nor Ary had a moment to react." When she is declared the champion, she turns to the master and bows deeply. "しばらくの間、皆さんと一緒に滞在してトレーニングできることを光栄に思いますが、やがて他の人たちと一緒にMendevに戻る必要があります。 ご注文のストーリーや歴史も知りたいです！" she says without hesitating. Though their training was quite different to anything she would normally do, the experience seemed too good to pass up, and she didn't doubt for a moment that there were many fascinating stories to hear within their temple. Minkaian: "I would be honored to stay and train with you all for a while, though I will need to return to Mendev with the others before long. I would love to learn the stories and history of your order as well!"
Isilme falls to near the others, careful to give Shu Lien a wide berth. Once there she begins to cast a spell to bolster her allies' attacks and calls out to the group: "She is swift, and her blows terrifying, no doubt, but is that any different than our fight against Eustoyriax? Or Staunton Vhane? No, she is powerful, no foe can best us when we work together towards one end!"
Isilme is surprised when the brief breather Hinagiku is given turns into a quick end of the fight as Shu Lien surges across the battlefield in a heartbeat. Clearly the fight they were about to have would be no simple task. Steeling herself, she takes her position at the edge of the 'arena', changing herself into the form of a pink-haired gnome to make getting around invisibly easier should the need arise during the fight. After she finishes changing she gives Shu Lien, focusing her attention on the monk and listening for the call to start.
Isilme watches the fight quietly, focusing on watching the fierce exchange between the two monks. She's surprised by the ferocity of Shu Lien's opening attack, and is relieved when Hinagiku survives the brunt of her initial attack and manages to gain control of the fight. "You can do it, Hinagiku," she whispers under her breath.
Isilme chuckles at Xander's observation that shapeshifting had to be valid after her own feat of teleportation. "True enough!"
When the master prepares the platform for the combat, Isilme moves up to pick up the Star-knife in the chest and moves to the edge of the platform to wait for the others to prepare.
Isilme chuckles at Unafe. "Fair, but I did get to enjoy the view for a few moments longer! That was quite an impressive feat of athleticism."
When Ary arrives at the top, Isilme waves at her. "Is it really a journey if I don't get to see anything along the way that I didn't get to see at the top?" She gives the commander a wink before resuming playing her flute.
"You will have to share more of these stories with us, Arai-san" she says to their host as she walks up to the pillar and looks up. "If you'll excuse me for a moment..." She looks over her shoulder at the others and then up at the top of the pillar, utters a short incantation and then suddenly vanishes. In an instant she appears at the top of the pillar and sits down with her legs dangling over the edge, and conjures a flute out of thin air.
She then proceeds to play a ballad she had once heard about a solitary pilgrim crossing the snow covered mountains in search of a new home. The soft melody washes over the area below, alternating in quiet and fierce sections representing the changing of the weather and coming of storms endured by the pilgrim. She continues to play as she waits for the others to climb up to the top.
As the others work their way up, she uses pauses in the piece to wave down at them.
"Did Old Aye only need to keep it there overnight?" Isilme responds with a wink at Unafe's ambiguous wording. "I would certainly love a warm fire at this point," she says more seriously. "I'm still numb from the water's chill."
Isilme follows along for the trip out into the countryside, curious as to the nature of the fourth trial. She is surprised when they arrive at a waterfall arrayed with posts beneath it. She listens as Arai-san explains the challenge, then sets aside her yukata and gear to the side to avoid getting them wet. Once the others are ready, she works her way over to one of the posts and hops up atop it, getting drenched by the cold water almost immediately. Balancing on one leg, she sinks down, lowering her center of gravity to improve her balance. Then she settles in to meditating, once again relying on her knowledge of the stars above to provide her with something to focus on besides the chill of the water. The first twenty minutes pose no real problem, though she finds herself adjusting her position slightly several times to better stabilize herself. The next third of the trial she finds the chill starting to get to her, numbing her senses and slowing her reflexes. Nevertheless she manages to perfect her position, effortlessly remaining balanced underneath the cascade of water. With the end in sight, she does her best to remain focused in the final twenty minutes, finding it more difficult to do so as her muscles tire and the cold continues to wear her down. When Arai-san finally calls time, Isilme is happy to simply fall off the pillar into the water below and head back to shore. Once on dry land again, she quickly uses magic to dry herself off, gets dressed, and gathers her things. "新井さん、上級生はいつまでそこに留まることができると期待されていますか？" she asks as the others get ready to depart, curious as to the limits of the students who were far into their training. Minkaian:
"How long are upper-level students expected to be able to remain there, Arai-san?"
Isilme closes her eyes and centers herself, focusing on the smells and sounds of the room about her. As Arai Kyo comes by her she focuses on the scent of the incense of his robes, but also on the sound of the fabric of his pants rustling softly against the folds of his robe as he walks, painting a clear picture of the movement of his legs to her. She takes a moment to inscribe the divine rune for courage in the air, empowering herself with her own version of heroism before taking the blindfold and putting it on. Once ready, she begins to chant softly to herself in celestial, picturing the skies above and reciting each of the stars beginning at Cynosure and working her way out from it in a spiral. Planting the staff centered on the ground in front of her, she readies herself for the attacks. The first attack she catches as the rhythmic pattern of steps of the monk pacing around her is broken when one comes early. Stepping to the side, she hears the staff whiff by her. The second comes half a circle later, his steps coming more quickly now. The slight offset of the last step gives him away again, and she quickly steps back from his strike, feeling the breeze where it wooshes past her arm. With the third his steps begin to lose their rhythm entirely, depriving her of the clues she had been using up until that point. Keeping her focus on her chanting, the whistling of the tip of the staff through the air is her first warning of the impending attack. Despite this, she misjudges the weapon's approach, thinking it aimed higher than it actually was. It's only at the last second, by releasing the magic of her song that she's able to twist out of the way, falling backwards and catching herself with the staff. Standing back up, and the magic of her chant dispersed, she notices the complete lack of sound coming from the monk. Focusing on the direction his scent was coming from, she tries to visualize him solely based on the smell of incense wafting around her. The sudden rustling of his robes obscures the sound of the staff, and it's only at the last moment that she recognizes the reason: the attack was a slow, wide sweep with the staff along the ground, designed to trip her. The low speed easily concealed the strike's sound within the rustling of his robes, but Isilme's keen senses and quick reflexes easily allow her to hop over the staff. When the attacks finally stop, she removes her blindfold and bows respectfully to the monk, impressed by his ability to control his own sound and presence so effectively.
She's surprised when Hinagiku turns out to have missed the board entirely, although her own showmanship and unexpected success might have been responsible for that given the astonished look on the monk's face. It was hard not to feel a bit guilty for having ruined one of Hinagiku's opportunities to show off her prowess in her former temple. Her focus changes to Ary as she chooses the same thickness of board and summarily dispatches it like some poor dretch that had shown up at the wrong place and time. Isilme returns Ary's ovation upon her success. There was no doubt in Isilme's mind that, unlike herself, Ary didn't need luck to succeed at all. All the crusader needed was to avoid being unlucky. Nevertheless it was impressive watching Ary do it, especially since she had not really been able to observe her own feat since she was too busy putting on a show and then controlling her own reaction to succeeding. "I wonder how many times a festival that happens?" she says, pointing to the two pairs of broken 2" boards nearly back-to-back. She gives Ary a grin and then looks to the others. "Ready for whatever comes next?"
Isilme watches as the others fail to make much progress on the task before them, with only Unafe having been able to best the lightest of the boards. There was no doubt in her mind that her body was unsuited for the feat of strength required to split one of the boards in two. That left her only two real options: First, she could abstain from the event. Clearly knowing oneself also implies knowing that one is not at a point where they can succeed. It is likely such a solution would be pleasing to Kyo, given it was the purpose of the trial in the first place. Second, she could attempt the impossible. Knowing herself included knowing that she was not a follower of the Iroran philosophy. Magic and the most tangible blessings of her goddess aside, luck was certainly as important to her as skill. And, of course, the entertainment value should she succeed simply could not be underrated. Just the whiff of the possibility of seeing Xanderghul attempt to hide his reaction at her having succeeded was worth the attempt in and of itself. Her mind made up, she walks forward quietly and grabs the largest of the boards. Then walking to the center of the room, she turns and faces the others, holding the board aloft. My Lady Starsong, this may be the most frivolous request I have ever made. Nevertheless, guide my steps today if only for the entertainment of it all, she thinks to herself. As she drops the board, she gives Xanderghul a knowing wink, suggesting she knows her victory is assured, then lashes out at the middle of the board with her fist. Though her strike is off-center, the accidental torque from her hands releasing the board at slightly different time rotates it such that her blow strikes dead center. Just as she begins to make contact, one of her leg muscles twitches, causing her to lurch forward, putting the full weight of her body into the blow itself, causing the board to snap with a loud crack, sending the two pieces to the ground with a pair of heavy thuds.
It takes all her composure to hide her surprise when she actually succeeds at her task, both from a combination of shock and a desire to laugh out loud at the outcome. Unceremoniously she walks back to among the others and waits for the end of the trial without saying a word.
"私がそれで作ったものを例で説明させてください," she begins, responding to Arai Kyo's questioning about the passage she had read. "土鍋は最も有用なものであり、それが生まれた場所からの粘土の塊よりもはるかに有用です。 窯で焼くのは同じことですが、一方には価値があり、もう一方にはほとんど価値がありません。 どうして？ ポットを定義するものとそうでないものの両方。 それはその目標を達成するためにその実体と同じくらいその不在に依存しています。 2つは切り離せません。 しかし、何かが何かに依存し、何も依存しないという有用性がある場合、2つを本当に分離することができますか？" Minkaian: "Allow me to explain what I made of it with an example," "A clay pot is a most useful thing, far more useful than the lump of clay from whence it sprang. Fired in a kiln the two are the same thing, and yet one has value and the other hardly any. Why? Both what is and what is not define the pot. It is as dependent upon its absence as its substance to achieve its goal; the two are inseparable. But if the usefulness something depends upon nothing and of nothing upon something, can one truly separate the two?"
"I'm quite certain your times in the Abyss were full of scrabbling and scraping. I suspect your ability to 'feel more able to live' comes from the appreciation that things are pretty good here compared to 'home'." "Yes, that's no different than my own experience Unafe," she adds to the discussion about bad luck presenting opportunities or unexpected benefits. "I spent the better part of a century bound to a blade. I spent almost that entire time cursing that situation, yet I would be hard pressed to undo that if it meant losing all I've experienced since I awoke."
"I am not certain that you could ever see everything in an eternity. Even Heaven and Elysium themselves are without limit. But even as an eternal being, the concept of living for the moment is a worthwhile one. I doubt Xanderghul had any choice but to live in the moment when he was eking out a living in the Abyss, and from what I still remember, my days were spent perpetually in the moment. Perhaps too much so, at least until my time with Elan," she says, joining in the philosophical discussion. "I wonder how applicable this," she says, pointing to the passage of Unbinding the Fetters open before her. "The concept that nothing and something are one-and-the-same is interesting philosophically, but I do not know how relevant it is out in the world."
Isilme ponders the specific passage for a bit before deciding that it must be an attempt to show that distinctions between 'something' and 'nothing' must be arbitrary within the Iroran worldview. She wasn't sure she agreed, however, as the view bordered on solipsism in a world where literal demons were streaming forth from a gaping interdimensional wound in the world. Perhaps it might serve a purpose in training, but in the real world there was a distinction between this and that, especially when that was intent on corrupting or killing you. Satisfied with the readings for the moment, she contents herself to stand against the wall and simply listen to the goings on within the temple.
Isilme joins the others in reading, curious to expand on the cursory knowledge of the materials she'd gained from skimming them moments earlier. "It would certainly be entertaining if so," she replies to Xander's outlandish suggestion. "I suspect they intend to be significantly more subtle than that, however."
Isilme isn't surprised to find that Kyo had found Xanderghul's behavior offputting, but there was little to be done about it. It's not like he was about to take her advice on behavior here. Noting the scrolls and books, Isilme takes the time after their host leaves to peruse the lot of them.
Not to be outdone by Xanderghul, Isilme introduces herself ostentatiously as well, though without the need to use magic to do so. "私の名前は Va'ardalia Isilme です。私はエリジウムの次元の出身ですが、ザンダーと同じように現在メンデフに住んでいますが," she begins, "今日、この旅に参加できることを光栄に思います。" She bows formally to their teacher. Minkaian: "My name is Va'ardalia Isilme, and I hail from the plane of Elysium, though like Xander I too reside in Mendev currently," she begins, "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance and an honor to be able to participate in this journey today."
The concept of requiring trials to speak with the master was interesting, but in some ways it was similar to the work she theoretically would have had to put in before being accepted into Kitharodian, if the fact she'd been traveling around Golarion for many hundreds of years already hadn't rendered it trivial. "私の友人が言ったように、あなたの試練に参加できて光栄です。私たちが提示される挑戦を歓迎し、楽しみにしています," she adds after Hinagiku and Unafe accept the monk's offer. Minkaian: "As my friends have said, it would be an honor to participate in your trials. I welcome and look forward to the challenges with which we will be presented"
Isilme bows deeply in return to the monk's greeting, returning to an upright position and smiling at the monk. "ここにいる私たちの仲間はそれ以上の用事がありますが、この機会を利用してアスピラントを訪問しないのは失礼でしょう. このような機会は、私たちのような旅行者にはめったに見られません." she says softly in response to the monk's question, briefly turning to gesture at Hinagiku when she mentions her. As she's looking towards Hinagiku she catches Xander out of the corner of her eye looking like a caricature of Irori suffering from extreme constipation and barely manages to stifle a laugh. She couldn't imagine that he was intentionally trying to be offensive, so after she addresses the monk she looks back towards the wizard and mouths "Relax" silently at him. Minkaian: "While our companion here has business beyond that, we would be remiss in not taking this opportunity to visit with the Aspirants. Such an opportunity does not present itself often to travelers such as ourselves,"
Isilme takes time to enjoy the festival, at first staying somewhat near the others before going off on her own. As she wanders around watching the people coming and going, she finds herself wishing Aravashnial had been able to come along on the trip. Though she knew Ary was simply doing what was best for Drezen in her view, Isilme couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed that he'd been sent away to do research elsewhere. Wandering about, she eventually finds a stand with many scrolls bearing calligraphy hung from its walls, and a selection of brushes, ink stones and papers available. Sitting there amongst the various sets was one with a jade ink stone and black-laquered brush inlaid with white jade. Without hesitating, she goes up to the merchant to inquire about them, and shortly afterwards leaves with the stone, a pair of brushes and all the materials necessary, along with a small tome in Minkaian on the art of calligraphy. While she was fairly certain Aravashnial couldn't read it, she was pretty certain there were still several dozen scrolls of comprehend languages lying about somewhere at home, and she thought he would get a kick out of both learning to read and practicing it as a way to unwind. Afterwards she swings by a small sweets shop selling '団子', doughy sweet dumplings on a stick covered in a sticky sweet sauce. She sits and enjoys them with a hot cup of green tea, listening to the sound of the ocean waves breaking. When she finishes she heads off to find the others, rejoining them as they begin to head for the temple. "This is truly a beautiful festival, Hinagiku. I am glad we were able to come," Isilme says, smiling at her. "So what shall we do now? And were we going to visit your mother again for dinner tonight?"
Isilme eats the simple meal in silence with the others, enjoying the fact the rest of their troubles seemed so distant here. The biggest worry on their plate was avoiding offending Hinagiku's mother--doubly so for Ehren. She chuckles to herself at Ary's continuing discomfort with her title, though it wasn't a bad thing. Having her feet firmly planted on the ground still was a major reason they'd been able to keep everything together. A distant commander might not have done half as well making Drezen into what it was today. If anything it would just be a drab fortress instead of the increasingly vibrant city it was becoming. "It is your call, Hinagiku," she when the question of where to stay is brought up. "It would certainly be nice to stay out here away from the bustle of the town and inn. I would be happy to help around the house while we are staying here if we do stay."
Isilme takes a moment to swap out socks and then sets aside her sandals at the entry as she comes in along with the others. "はるかさん、お迎えいただきありがとうございます。 私はVa'ardalia Isilmeです、," she says with a courteous bow and smile towards Hinagiku's mother. Minkaian: "Thank you for welcoming us into your home, Haruka-san. I am Va'ardalia Isilme,"
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