Chapter 2: Out of the Frying Pan

Verrian frowns at the pauses and the unintelligible conversations happening on the other end of the communication. At the last question, she feels confusion. "No, it's not familiar to us. We only just got here, after all. We do have reason to believe that the Crows were responsible for the wanton destruction of the ruins of the town, and that's where I found the ring, so I suppose it's reasonable to conclude that one of them lost the ring."

With most of the rest of the group distracted by the conversation with the city, Yelnar approaches Ember and sits down.

"Hey, sorry, I didn't know about any of that stuff with using your blood, you can talk to me about it if you need to." he says softly, then pauses awkwardly. "...and hey, on the bright side, Viani seems to have you beat on the doing foolish things front too."

He resumes staring into the fire.

Viani stays quiet for a moment. She doesn't understand half of what Ember explained but even just the bits she did understand are enough to make her skin crawl. Maybe she shouldn't have asked about her scars, although she did just mean the burn, not the cuts. But she is happy that Ember trusts her enough to tell her this story.
At the mention of Occasa, Viani touches her hand to where the small necklace with her symbol is hanging under her clothes. She is just about to reply, when Yelnar jumps into the conversation.
When he mentions how foolish Viani has been acting, she gets upset. She wants to fire back some angry reply but when she takes a deep breath, like Verrian suggested, all of them sound foolish. Without another word, she just gets up and walks away from Yelnar and Ember. Everyone is busy talking to the college through the whitestone disc and Viani doesn't feel like getting involved with that, so she walks up to Froak who is currently busy catching fire bugs for dinner using his tongue. Despite her initial mistakes in dealing with the frogs, she still thinks they're cute and interesting, so she doesn't want to skip out on this opportunity to talk with one of them. She watches him for a while, fascinated by what he's doing, before she speaks up.
Although she is still slightly annoyed at Yelnar, Viani tries not to let that show when she talks to Froak. "Hello Froak, my name is Viani. Do you feel like talking with me for a bit? I have so many questions for you!"

Oh, thank goodness, we're done.

She smiles at Yelnar and decides to leave the possibility for more conversation right now, heading to the whitestone disk party about as they're talking about the rings. Her own concerns make her antsy to get a bead on what's happening.

Krav rests a hand on Verrian's shoulder, and leans down to say quietly into her ear:He then steps back again, and begins to pace around behind Verrian, Ephwrath, and Elora, as if trying to think.

After Krav whispers to her, Verrian stares in surprise at him, then back to the whitestone with a sense of suspicion. What in the stars is going on? She thinks during the silence that seems to be stretching again and says in a voice that does not betray her unease, "Athisa, whose voice was it that answered this call? I was under the impression that you were the keeper of the other whitestone."

"I think most of us miss them," Verrian says. In a teasing voice, she adds, "I'll be sure to ask Krav about all the secrets you two shared during those times. Could provide us with some valuable insights."

She stifles a yawn. "Well, it's been a long and stressful day. I don't think we have much more to report, Athisa. I can't say when we'll be able to report in again, but we'll find a suitable time, I'm sure."

At this, Krav moves closer to the whitestone disk, looking directly down at it, and speaks up.

"Do not put yourself in danger unnecessarily Athisa," Krav says in a strong and almost fatherly tone, "It pains me to think that you may be less safe within the walls than we are outside of them...you are the mother I never had..."

Krav hesitates for a moment as though he wants to say something else, but abruptly turns away. You get the feeling that he is hiding his emotions from the group.

It's a very low note on which to end the conversation, but Verrian is afraid that things might spiral even further downward if it continues, so she says, "We'll be in touch soon, Athisa. Be safe and well," and ends the connection.

While Elora stores the whitestone safely away again, Verrian lets the somber silence sit for a moment, partly because she's thinking, partly to allow Krav time to collect himself. When she judges that it's time to start the conversation that must be had, she says, "All right, here is what we know or can assume from this conversation. One: Athisa is worried about the motivations and plans of some of the other people who are watching our expedition. Two: She'd like us to make contact at a time when only she and her allies are going to be present. Apparently, she believes Krav will know what time that is. Three: someone who was listening to our conversation is strangely interested in the symbol on the ring I found and in Ildemu. Four: the unrest in Meriava is growing."

She lets that settle for a few seconds before saying, "But there's more. Just before I left the Meriava kinship, Adaye warned me that the school had somehow obtained some information about a man outside of the wards named Garand Disos. She said that he had many followers and that his intention is to, somehow, cleanse the world of all magic. A little earlier this evening, Elora showed me a letter she'd been given. It was unsigned, but bore the seal of the Master of Whitestone College. It said much the same thing about Garand Disos. Elora, if you wouldn't mind passing the letter around? I think everyone should be exposed to the full contents.

"Another thing that Adaye warned me of before I left was that my own college, Jade, has developed a schism. One faction is led by Master Iene, the other by Karok Silverhelm. Knowing that I... don't get along well with Master Iene, Adaye warned me that 'the enemy of your enemy isn't always your friend,' which seemed to be a warning for me not to automatically assign noble motives to Silverhelm's opposition to the Master. She also implied that this schism might be connected with the Disos business, although she had no idea how."

Verrian sighs. "I'm sorry, I know this is a lot to dump on you all at once, and that it sounds a little wild and convoluted. But I think we need to be very clear that this is no longer - and never was, it seems - simply an expedition of exploration. Clearly, some people want us to find out information about Garand Disos, and some of them might actually be sending us to serve his interests in some way. I think I probably speak for everyone when I say I'm not fond of being used without my knowing what it's about.

"So here's what I am proposing. This is not just an exploratory mission now - it's also a mission of espionage. I think Athisa is trustworthy, but she obviously doesn't have safety from the other factions herself. So I think that from now on, the only people we can fully count on... are each other. We have to trust the people in this party with our lives, and be worthy of them putting that same trust in us. We will follow the mission as it's laid out for us... until it no longer makes sense to do so."

She sits back, watching as Elora's letter is passed from person to person, and opens the floor for further discussion.

As Verrian's words sink in, Ember's eyes flicker with light, like the meteor storm she cast earlier. Froak can probably even tell that she's trying as hard as she can to keep it together.

We can't let them do that. We can't!

She takes a deep wavering breath.

Magic can be horrible, but metal can be, too. Alcohol can be too. Pride can be too. But...but how else do you get farming tools, and parties...and....and legends! You can't just rip magic out and expect everything to be okay!

She's shaking, water in her eyes as she paces madly.

I mean....I mean, they're going to kill some of us, just because of who we are! We didn't ask to be born like this! People have died trying to prove that idea wrong!

She screams, which actually seems to help. She locks eyes with Verrian.

I'm an Elliad, okay? I come from a long line of women who prove Disoses right. And I just...I don't know. I'm not supposed to make it back. I know it. It makes sense for my family. But everyone else??? And I just.......you should know you've got some really bad luck having me here...

The fire catches her black left eye like an animal in the dark.

...because for as bad as it can be, I think magic is life.

Yelnar listens to what Verrian has to say, shocked at the complexities he ad never considered.

He stops, thinking for a while. Ember's outburst washes over him, as he doesn't know what an Elliad is, and agrees with the rest.

Eventually, the thought occurs to him, he has the letters from his father to his mother. He knows his father is definitely devious enough to be using him, and asks "I have unopened letters from my Father to my mother. I have no idea which faction my father might be involved with, though he would definitely be involved somehow. Should we open them and make sure they're what he told me they were?"

Frankly, it's all Verrian can do not to let her mouth hang open after both Ember's impassioned speech and divulged secret, and now Yelnar's forgotten trove of family letters. She manages to maintain the appearance of poise, however, and simply says, "By all means. Let's see what they say."

If this were any other day, Elora would strongly consider going home to get away from this overabundance of stress and drama. "Oh this is bad...real bad..." She feels her breath quicken. "I just wanted to hunt monsters. Not all this talk of magic haters and schisms and ulterior motives..." She sits down, feeling the weight of this knowledge affect her physically.

The conversation with Athisa terminates, and Ephwrath spends the next several minutes standing very quietly throughout Varrian’s lengthy speech, Ember’s outburst, and Elora’s musing. Staring at the ground, with eyebrows furrowed and a very serious look on his face, he finally looks up at Varrian and nearly whispers "Do you know what this means?.?.?"

There is a pregnant pause, and then he explodes in victorious laughter "It works! It actually works! She said they received my samples!" He looks around from one shocked face to another, clueless as to why no one else is excited. "I must double my efforts!"

Unfazed, he quickly opens his journal and begins writing furiously in it. However, a moment later he stops abruptly and looks up at Ember "Did you say... Elliad?"

Viani, who had decided against participating in the whitestone conversation, listened up when Verrian made her speech. She listens to everyone's reactions but stays quiet herself. Getting rid of magic? She searches her own feelings but doesn't find a definite answer on how she feels about this goal. It's certainly a huge job that this Garand Disos has set for himself.
Ember was right in her speech. Metal can be dangerous as well, not just magic. But metal is precise, a tool without its own will. And the reliance on metal has never caused an entire civilization to crumble. And Viani only has to look at Ember and her scars to see just how horrible magic can be. If there was a way to get rid of it, wouldn't she be able to live so much safer?
She doesn't say any of that but anyone who looks at her would be able to tell that she is deep in thought.
Finally she shakes these thoughts for now and turns back to Froak who is still busy catching his dinner and has not even acknowledged her presence yet.

Ember, slowly calming down, watches Viani nervously.

You just had a talk with her. Bad move pointing out what you are.

Who.

No, what.

She shakes her head when Epwrath speaks up. Somehow, his distracted outburst makes her feel better. Someone else who gets unadulterated joy from magic. She replies sheepishly.

Um, I don't know how long you were around, but my great grandmother got expelled from Whitestone for...trying things. The ladies after her did a really good job upholding her legacy.