Legend of Ransera

Fascinated with how the wayshrine seemed to act like some artefact from a runeforger's workshop, Finn stilled and paid keen attention. Ever since Zef had given him the Rune back when he was a lover rather than a fighter, he had begun to pay keen attention to maps, to landscapes, to the space around him. Anomalies of Traversion would perforce catch his interest.

He crouched, collected the little chunk of illumite, and stood. His examination ended when Imogen appeared, and his fingers closed over the morning glow to savor the comforting warmth of it. With a smile and a small bow to the Venerable and Decrepit High Witch, he murmured thanks to Decius, who came to take the stone and semble it to ensure it wasn't something that might harm the royal legate. Satisfied, the Sentinel made it disappear and fell back to a position with his back to a wall much as the others who had accompanied Finn did.

"An outsider opining on the native kaiju?" he asked with a mild smile. "Massive beasts who roam western Ecith, each connected to an elemental plane. There is diversity among them. Some might be malicious, but most are dangerous because we are like ants to them and they hardly notice our presence. Sometimes they rampage. Isn't there one near Kythera's ruins that's a dragon-killer?"

In Kalzasi, they were spoken of as nigh mythical creatures. Few were those who could claim to have reliable first-hand knowledge of them. In Solunarium, most spoke of them as aberrations, proof that the Commonwealth was a place of chaos, where even nature was outsized and out of hand.

Part of why Finn was supporting his friend now was to learn the truth of things, even if he had to get past Liar-Beasts to get there.

Finn nodded along as he listened. If he had learned anything from his years of studying song and history, it was that everyone had a different perspective. Imogen had experience with them, it seemed. That might be the best one could hope for without knowing who or what created them. He assumed it was Aedrin, perhaps subverted from their original purpose by Thultu.

Hunting them didn't seem wise to him, not without good reason. Even the village he had grown up in, the houses were all built away from the shore of Udori and not on the sort of earth that was liable to wash out from under a home in a particularly rainy season. One had to learn one's environment and work around it or with it—if Primals could call downpours, floods, and the like, one would have to learn how to work around the Primal or with it, or just avoid it altogether. It was similar with Gods, sometimes.

He just hadn't been able to avoid Aværys in the end.

The Primals were another Pyramid.

Finn hadn't received this sort of philosophy with his own Rune of Reaving, but then the Solunarians liked to do things their own way, even if his Gods had made peace with Dæmon, whose Dawnmartyrs historically wielded it.

This was Karmordi's quest, but...

"Do you have a Primal in mind, Karmordi? If they are all singular, we had better learn all about so you know what sort of power you need to defeat it."

If power was being offered, Finn was inclined to take it as well. His God demanded it, Hungered for it.

If Finn could take down a Primal, that might be statement enough to impress the Senators, as well. But he wasn't going to snatch his friend's quest out from under him.

Finn's head canted to the side when Imogen mentioned the death of the Queen of Kythera would serve his aims. In for a penny, in for a pound, he thought to himself; perhaps she assumed that he would stand by Karmordi's side and battle whichever primal he chose.

But she pooh-poohed the idea. Finn tucked it away for a later date. He would do his research and perhaps suggest the idea to the Crownwyrm and the Divine Twins. Perhaps riding Alikhandrian with boons from he might slay—or, given Varvara's domains, bind—the creature. If that would win Karmordi eternal fame, a seat on the Senate, and the favor of his gods, what would it do for Finn and his 'Solunarian question' before the Ecithian Senate.

Perhaps he needn't slay it at all. Perhaps he could broker some sort of understanding, much as he hoped they could do with the ancient creatures of Ugrimal in the Zonam Mysterium. But he was careful not to think too much on them; he had wards and his control of Mesmer was masterful, and yet there were greater powers than him in the world.

"Pardon," he begged. "I was happy to help Karmordi with the Liar-Beast, and I think our preparations for that were certainly preparatory for whatever comes next, but can he claim the glory if I fight a Primal at his side or is the nature of this beast the solitary journey?"

He glanced at Karmordi, brow furrowed. It was not that he would back down if his help was required, but there were risks to be calculated. Karmordi was on this journey, but nobody was depending upon him. Finn carried the weight of divine and temporal responsibilities, and had, all unknowing, founded a new gens. Were he to die or be rendered incapable, many would suffer for it.

Whatever he might have said in response to Karmordi, the Great and Venerable Witch steamrolled over the opportunity. With a gentle smile for his friend, he told himself he would have to explain where he stood on matters at greater length, perhaps after the wily witch had gone her own way once more.

That smile made him wonder how much of Zaichaeri anti-witch propaganda came from some kernel of truth. Anyone who proved a thorn in the side of the Zaichaeri government made him smile grimly, but he didn't know enough about their current government to know whether it was still evil. It was still nominally an enemy of his homeland, but the idea of the enemy of my enemy is my friend could get someone into trouble.

In any case, "Checking up on it is one thing, killing it another. Have its rampages around its new territory, the northeastern fire marshes, threatened settlements?"

Fire-marshes in jungle territories didn't sound like a place right-minded people would want to live. Then again, he had made his home in the middle of a desert, so he couldn't really speak to that without some hypocrisy. All he knew about the fire-marshes were that they hosted rodents of unusual size.

Imogen seemed to know an awful lot about the current situation of Vonaoid Koid, and her 'suggestion' sounded vaguely suspect. She clearly got around as well as hearing a lot of Ecithian news from another continent. He wondered why she would send Karmordi to 'check on' Vonaoid Koid rather than do so herself if she was concerned and was easily capable of doing so.

Finn hadn't delved into Imogen's symphony, aware only of those surface impressions she gave off. It was more a heightened level of intuition and emotional intelligence at that level, he had found, and thus not morally suspect. He could also sense the wheels in Karmordi's head turning as he cogitated.

The Witch was hiding things, but of course she was. His grandmother the witch had also hidden things. It was in their nature to obfuscate. While Finn had the tendency to burn with the light of his solar deity, he was wed to the darkness, and he worked well with the noctian twin of his God, as well as her Tethered.

"Well, Karmordi," he finally said, "are we going to try the cider and rum of Gihah K'uvfoi'uv Fi'uv?"

While not yet fluent in Ecitharese, the bard's tongue shaped the sounds as well as the bard's ear heard them. Communication was one of the gifts of his God, though. He wondered if he could use the divine gift to speak to a Primal...