Reunions (E 2.1, H 2.1, L 2.1)

Litch, your vision pulls in the others in the room and you all open your brains to the Gray Wing.

The three of you are one person staring out across the wine-dark sea with the crumbling buildings jutting up like the fingers of a drowning person. To the west is a long trail of dead bodies, all bobbing in the water like human-sized stepstones. In the distance, away from the sun, is a miasma of despair, a library of suffering. To the east is the rising sun, burning bright, scouring away sin and pain and weakness. It is blinding and purifying. It is destiny. It is heaven. There are no bodies left in a trail to clamber over, it can only be reached by wings.

After the vision ends, the three of you come back to your senses in the chamber

What do you do?

It can mean only one thing - the path to glory is paved by the bodies of the dead. If I carry their voices in my head, am I the last corpse to be left behind in the destruction? Or am I the only one who can move us beyond the lost?

Or am I the one who kills everyone and leaves them to bloat in the darkness?

I push the fear out of my face, aiming for a more placid countenance as I take a step back from the brazier and look at Litch. I wonder if the sea of bodies is a symbol of worship in his eyes.

"I don't understand," I say softly. Maybe I'm too stupid to understand.

This is the first vision where I have been conscious of melding with another person, but the augury is similar to others I have been shown. Helix admits to not understanding, while I am struck by the clarity of meaning. Prior displays have been more cryptic, a mystery to puzzle out. This presentation is remarkably clear. However, I don't want to discourage her. Had I not been given the gifts of divine sight many times previously, I too might struggle to understand the greater picture.

"The Gray Wing doesn't often give us a straightforward path to follow, Helix. She wants us to be thoughtful in the process of interpretation. Tell me, what do you think it might mean? Do not fear whether you are right or wrong in your own interpretation, for the journey of discovery is often more rewarding than the destination."

Litch speaks as if this is a mere exercise, a theoretical exploration, not a vision we all shared mired in the smoke of this room and the mirage of what might be.

I press my fingertips against my thumbs, thinking. I don't want to tell him my true thoughts - that I might be the cause of the destruction we saw - so instead I think of what Zephyr told me earlier about what the Gray Wing promises and offer, "That...there is peace after death."

I feel stupid even saying it aloud. Kiwi almost found happiness, but I pulled him back. Hard Strike lives with the Whispers now, battling with them for the chance to be heard. None of it seems peaceful because none of it seems safe.

I think the real truth of it all might be that this is peace after my death, when the Whispers have no sane place left to live. If I were gone, would the world renew to calmer waters and sunnier skies?

It's a good response, if mayhap the obvious answer. "The Gray Wing shows us the same vision, yet it may have three different meanings. The floating bodies might represent the corpses of my fallen foes. The putrid vermin who despoil our home with their despotism, as well as worthy rivals. But to you, it might have an entirely different meaning. Old burdens, memories full of sorrow. For Zephyr," I turn back to my daughter to place a hand on her shoulder, pulling her closer to me. "Perhaps it is both." I murmur, looking into her eyes with a melancholic gaze, before turning back to our guest.

"Our world suffers. Suffering and despair are all around us, as we have just seen. But...there is hope. A chance for renewal, for transformation. I believe that the Gray Wing wants to use each of us to achieve that state, not just in the afterlife, but here and now. And..." I trail off, not sure how best to proceed. "Well, she led you to us for a reason, Helix. None of it may be possible without you."

Litch's litany of interpretations are stones in my chest, each possibility a fear and a burden. I shouldn't give credence to any of it. These people are as crazy as the bird they expelled from their midst, and maybe one day Harpy will return to replace Litch as their leader, but it won't be me. I can't be the lynchpin upon which the whole hope of the world resides. I barely have enough hope to keep myself above water.

Suddenly the smoke in the air seems too heavy, the tapestries closing in on us, the space too small and growing smaller. When was the last time I took a full breath? Maybe I am already drowning. "I. Need some air." I turn and head quickly out of the room, backtracking our path and hunting for the nearest escape outside, desperate to feel the wind on my face again.

I'm not taken aback at Helix's sudden departure. The magnitude of the potential meanings of the vision - at least how I understand them - would feel crippling to just about anyone. Which is why she needs a guiding wing. I inhale deeply of the scented air, reveling in the afterglow of the Gray Wing's touch upon my mind and soul. "Do you think my interpretations accurate, daughter? What more did you see that I missed?" I query Zephyr.

I nod at her assessment. I tried to temper my passion, but I also know that I tend to wax poetic in my religious soliloquies. "Aye, perhaps it was too much for the first time. No, let her be for now." I don't want Helix to feel like a rogue sheep that needs shepherding. I need, well want is more accurate, her to choose this path. "Thank you for showing her around, Z. You're free to do as you please for the rest of the evening."

Litch,

Zephyr thanks you for giving her the night off and informs you she'll be "heading out" for a bit and might take Javan or Plo with her before she leaves you alone in the chamber.

What do you do?

Helix,

You rush down the hall away from Litch and his daughter, following your nose to the water, finding your way to the docks where jet skis and a large Ravager boat bob in the water. The bearded guy, maybe Merle or something? is working on a jet ski, but he doesn't notice you coming outside. The Whispers immediately reach you on the wind, warning you to leave, right away, to flee while you can.

What do you do?

Alone, at last, I center myself by breathing and humming. The aroma of incense is mild now, but still lingers, masking the ever-present smell of damp clothing. I can hear the sounds of activity below and outside, but it's muffled and easy to ignore. My eyes, having adjusted to the gloom, pick up the bobbing movement of Mage, strutting around on the rug, before he croaks and flies over to perch on my shoulder. "Hello, my friend." I greet him. He must have arrived shortly after Zephyr departed. "You missed the excitement."

I caress his breast plumage lightly and he warbles in reply, almost like a cat purring. I chuckle at his verbal contentment, then cast my eyes over the burning coals in the brazier bowl. "Think She would provide me my own vision, Mage? Would you put in a good word with her for me, friend?"

I walk over to the bed to simply sit and be for a quiet moment.

"I can't!" I answer the Whispers in my head. What would I even do? Steal a boat or a jet ski? Hope it starts? Wait for the Talons to swoop in and scoop me out of my apartment at night, this time with malice instead of just machinations for my future. "I can't," I repeat. "I can't just run," the last bit comes out in a whisper of my own, soft and resigned to this fate. Litch may be unwilling to call me a prisoner, but that won't stop me from seeing the bars all around me.

Suddenly I hear Nuport's voice in my head as if she's standing right next to me: You are the key!

I inhale a sharp breath at the memory, the Whisper, whatever it was. "I am the key," I say to myself as if I'm understanding the words for the first time. But Nuport called herself the door, and what is a key without a door?

My eyes fix on the bearded man. It must be him, the one who took her eye. I am marching down the dock toward him before my better senses can subsume my mission.

"Harpy is coming back," I call as I approach. "You're going to have to find a way to live with that."

I cross my arms. "Then you'll have to explain to your beloved prophet how you're the reason he lost the Voice of the Tempest and all hope for the future."

"I accept the situation I'm in," I answer him. "And Litch has enough faith for all the Talons plus me." I take a breath and study him with narrowed eyes. "The question is, are you willing to accept my mantle? To let me be what Litch says I am?"