Desert Star [Pharaoh]

[Kala Leukos]

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Even the littlest laugh felt like a win with Phocion, and she smiled as he ensured she would have what she desired.

"I do hope I didn't overstep," she added. "I am so very new to this, and I hazard to call you a friend, but I would not want to meddle in your religious relationships." But it didn't seem as though she had truly given offense, which eased her mind.

Kaus brightened. "An Avialæ half-brother? Fascinating."

Kala laughed. Kaus, and perhaps Ceran and Indric, would tour the eternal night. Perhaps she would share ascetic pastimes with Phocion. She wasn't a nun, but she was quite aware of how she was perceived in Kalzasi and elsewhere, and she was often more comfortable alone anyway. Perhaps she should see if the real estate the Divine Twins had vacated in the volcano was available for holidays.

"Ah, well," she considered. "I will allow them to read my aura, then. If you vouch for them, I will entrust some secrets with them. In that vein, how much will the Phædryn household know of me?" She was a powerful Sembler herself, and with help, she could turn even the attention of a Grandmaster. An aged dragon was a horse of another color, of course. Even the Twins were wary of Zalkyriax and his kin. Kala didn't intend to be a poor guest, of course. She did want to know how many people would know her secrets.

"Even the Queen-Regent of Kalzasi doesn't know as much as you do about me."

It was a risk to be here, but Aværys and Varvara were now her kin, fellow Moritasi. And if Talon wasn't learning the lessons, that their ascensions required them to reevaluate all their relationships, their responsibilities, and their places in the world, she certainly was. She would look after Starfall, but would not seek to rule it. Perhaps generations later, she might step in if they needed a theocracy, but for now, she had to slowly shed mortal ties so she could be what she was becoming.

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[Pharaoh]

"I can glean the spirit in which your offer was intended and I think well of you for proposing it. I would be unreasonable if I expected you to know the nuances of our admittedly convoluted culture. Having been isolated in the middle of a desert shirking the outside world for millennia we were bound to make ourselves more alien." At the mention of Raithen, Phocion nodded.

"It is strange to me. I do not think of Raithen as Avialæ, but as Aværyan... that is to say half-Re'hyæan with a dose of divinity. I find it a queer thing how your race works not in half-measures. That in Kalzasi he would be regarded as a full Avialæ rather than a half-elf. My Immaculist comrades would have won our cultural debate in the previous century if Re'hyæans worked thusly." This notion seemed to amuse him, though he wouldn't dwell on cultural references that would be obscure to his guests.

"We are in the business of protecting secrets, not spreading them. If that does not serve to comfort you, then cogitate: How would it serve our personal interests to be indiscreet with our knowledge of you? And how would it would reflect upon our Faith if we elicited umbrage from a figure for whom our Cherished Founders have expressed fondness?" With that said, he would lift a gloved hand and sharply turn the wrist in a small, sweeping gesture. Two veiled Sentinels would enter and take positions on either side of the room to begin their assessment.

He glanced down now, as if feeling obliged to hide the smile she stirred when she said he knew more about her than Queen-Regent Sahfri.

"If that is your way of telling me I'm good at my job, colour me flattered." He lifted his gaze, "But I fear I've likely left you at the disadvantage in this regard. Have you any questions about the realm, or... I've already doffed my veil, so it would not be forbidden for me to answer personal questions if, for some reason, you had an interest in me. I'll be quick to confess I'm not as interesting as the first female Avialæ in living memory to bear natural wings and know apotheosis to boot, but I shall brook questions if you have them."

[Kala Leukos]

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Kaus cast a pregnant glance at the other Avialæ. They would definitely attempt to enjoy themselves this far from the authorities they understood. Inwardly, Kala shook her head with fond exasperation. It would be good for them to spread their wings, however.

"In both cases, our ideas of race are inextricably bound to the power structures of our nations. In Kalzasi, Avialæ rule. Here, the Re'hyæan elves. I was quick to assert my race because I lacked wings... It always seemed a chauvanistic choice for there to be only winged men. Then I was born half-human, half-Avialæ; one was obvious, the other not. I shall have to meditate upon this." Phocion did challenge her to broaden her horizons much as his divinities did. That was a good thing.

Kala smiled.

"You do yourself an injustice," she declared. He was a handsome prince, favored by his Gods, and had a sharp mind that she appreciated.

"Ah," she said when the Assessors came immediately to do their work. "Very well. Have a care. It can be overwhelming."

She let her guard down—at least somewhat. She didn't share her thoughts, nor those she received through her various bonds. But otherwise, her aura was laid bare, and she slowly released. And she released her hold on her nimbus. The room filled with Her. For a moment, bright blue eyes were replaced with black—no, a starry sky. Humanity was lost therein, replaced with the cosmos. When she wasn't holding herself so tightly wound, she could hear the song of the stars, sense their dance through space, and ancient knowledge beckoned her.

Someday, she would fly among the stars, but not yet.

"What are you reading currently?" she asked since he had offered, she was curious, and she didn't really enjoy having people scouring through her aura. All the same, she tried to relax and let them. They were doing their job and that was to protect her while she was here in the lands of Aværys and Varvara.

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[Pharaoh]

"Here, where the pyramid is paramount, it is not uncommon for mixed bloods to strongly assert the more esteemed of their bloodlines. It is much as the mercantile class are more wont to flaunt their wealth than the old families, I find. In both instances, the endeavours are for naught. The natural order preempts all such solipsistic displays of ego." Phocion would smirk at the flattery and shake his head,

"If I do myself injustice, so be it. We've only just permitted Justice back into the realm after many years rejecting him outright. Injustice still seems a comfort..." He trailed off, his eyes following Kala's to the Assessors.

"Worry not. These are no generalists." His own eyes, antithetical to Kala's in their pallour as hers darkened, widened at the revelation she unraveled before his eyes. For a split second they began to glow, an elder and more potent presence seeming to peer through borrowed eyes like some clandestine guardian, but they would quickly fade to Phocion's typical moonlit orbs.

No Sembler he, but Phocion's mortal gaze was trained to scrutinise in vivid detail. Even so, it was difficult to maintain focus for long, and he cast his eyes down.

"What am I reading? Nothing so interesting as the Assessors, I am sure, but the Zalkyrians have favoured this new order with tomes from their archives that have not been seen by mortal eyes in millennia. I have been reading ancient accounts of their exploits and their interactions with the Pantheon." A brief glanced darted up from the table before dancing back to its marble surface.

"I will be interested to see how they receive Your Ladyship. Draconis Platinum have their own celestial associations and I wonder whether they will see kinship or conflict in their old eyes. Whatever the case, I suspect if you're able to win over the Crown Prince that will presage nicely for your interactions with His Highness' elder dragonkin."

[Kala Leukos]

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The young Kalzasern lady had meant which book he was reading, but perhaps the subject change had been too abrupt.

While she unraveled some of her defenses, he changed momentarily as well. She wondered if that had been Varvara peering at her; if so, she wished there had been a greeting. In any case, she was the youngest godling so she didn't suppose she rated equal treatment from her elders. Kala was used to this even as a young woman—nothing new, just a new scale to it.

It did feel good to relax her vigilance. Perhaps her rooms would be so heavily warded that she could relax entirely when she was alone.

When Phocion mused over the dragons, her deeper self shifted. Somehow, she knew from whence the platinum dragons came. Her hands came up as if in prayer, but when they slowly widened, starfire was flickering between them. Spreading her arms slowly, the motes expanded as well, elliptical threads of silver fire, and gems of light traveling their courses. It was a star map, and if one knew how to read the movement of the spheres, they would see how Ransera's star burned brighter by contrast than it truly did, as well as a distant star.

"They journeyed through the unending darkness to find a home, albeit temporary," she murmured. Her voice went sonorous and somehow inhuman. "To bend the world into an image of Order, like unto that of Eikæn, the Platinum Dragon." She fell silent, gazing at her astronomical model. Her entourage was deathly silent; to them, perhaps, this was a religious epiphany. Kala was educated, but she didn't have the math to calculate these geometries. But she knew things without knowing how, without the words to articulate them, nor the means to act on that knowledge. Perhaps that would come with time.

"I see their home," she whispered.

Then, she blinked, her starfire galaxy guttered out, and the room seemed to brighten again. Perhaps a cloud had passed between them and the Sceptre of Aværys. She didn't know what the Assessors saw, nor Phocion. She blinked again, her eyes returning to a more mundane black pupil upon blue iris upon white sclera. She was diminished and came back to herself.

"I suppose... it will depend on how they saw Nazam, and what they gather from our first meeting."

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[Pharaoh]

Though he got a bit glib in his interpretation of 'reading' in the first part of his statement, Phocion had ultimately answered Kala's question as it was posed by referencing the books released to him by the Zalkyrians and highlighting the subject matter he was currently reviewing.

His eyes darted up to regard the demonstration Kala began to present, knitting his brow as he watched and listened.

"Temporary for some." Phocion amended, "Many remained." This was the precise subject matter about which he'd been reading just the prior evening. "And more who came to Ransera returned there after the Rending." He tilted his head, wishing momentarily that he could see what Kala did. Perhaps these unearthed archives were but the beginning of what their draconic overlords were to share, and he would have that opportunity in time. Such as things were the notion, like Kala's celestial simulacrum, turned to dust.

"If they see fit to grace you with their presence at all. His Exalted Highness is the lone member of the Zalkyrian brood who is committed to meeting with you, thus far. The others are reticent. Often and to a degree that a lesser man might deem vexing." The way he spoke through his teeth suggested that he might have been a tad lesser than he liked to portray. He found his eyes trailing toward one of the shifting tapestries depicting Zalkyrion- a projection, albeit less luminous than Kala's had been- Meant to be in the background. A reminder more than a demonstration. And it served its function with Phocion. With a slight quiver, he turned his attentions to the cup in his hands.

"I understand you attended the coronation of the new Kalzasern Shokaze. How did you find it?" Apparently she'd not crossed paths with the Solunarian delegation or there'd have been no need for some of the formalities on the docket for the following evening.

[Kala Leukos]

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If the silver prince asked, she would share what she had seen beyond stellar cartography. If he didn't, she would leave it alone. There was no telling what the dragons might take umbrage at. These were dissimilar from Nessena, or from those ridden in Antiris. She had only the beginnings of a grasp on draconic language, and she didn't want to offend.

"Yes, they remain." She considered. "I suppose I oughtn't to peer too deeply into their home. Everyone appreciates their privacy." That said, she wondered when the Assessors would be done. More time with any aetheric pattern led to greater understanding, of course, but she hoped they weren't going to study her until they could predict her menstrual cycle or similar.

"If I meet the Dragon Prince, I will consider myself honored. If his kin deign to meet me, all the better. But I didn't come to inflict myself upon anyone." She laughed lightly.

"'Twas grand after the Kalzasern fashion," she admitted. "A different aesthetic than Solunarium. But its importance lies in the shift in power from Great House Novalys to Senue. Daikozu Talon declined a proposal of marriage from the new Shokaze. I don't know if that remains the talk of the court. I don't know if you met him when he was merely Karam Senue..." Her brow furrowed. She hadn't been present at every event and every moment of Phocion's time in Kalzasi, but she had tried to keep some tabs on him, the better to aid Sahfri in her hosting.

"From what I gather, I might see more of Talon Novalys here than in Kalzasi."

When the then-Shinsei had asked her opinion on the succession, she hadn't shirked her duty to the nation-state. She spoke of his continued absences, the prolonged regency, and how he seemed to prefer Cathena to Kalzasi. The young woman hadn't been accusatory so much as pointing out accountability.

"I did see Arvaelyn Princeps there with his fiancé, though I did not have the opportunity to greet them."

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[Pharaoh]

The assessors seemed to be in no particular hurry to complete their task. There wouldn't be a sense that they were doing a thorough scouring, but perhaps that was a deception put forth by design. If Kala voiced her concerns Phocion would freely explain they were reading æther signatures alongside behaviour and comparing mental notes they'd derived from other divine subjects.

"I certainly do." Phocion affirmed at Kala's statement on privacy. In the rigid boundaries the Zalkyrians set when it came to their privacy, Phocion felt a kinship. He did enjoy his all-too-rare moments of solitude when he could claim them and often wished he had some inhospitable magma chamber or distant world in which to hide away when those times were his to cling to.

"No, I know. You haven't made a thing of meeting their Hallowed Highnesses. I suppose I'm just curious myself. Perhaps that is coming across as projection." He trailed off, tilting his head as she responded to his question about the coronation.

"Næ, I'm afraid we never crossed paths and, given His Exalted Highness' personal connection to Kalzasi, my attendance would have been superfluous in this latest envoy." Phocion could have gone, naturally, but was more than happy to allow Arvælyn to claim his moment on the international stage. With his new position as head of the Custodes Deorum it was easier to make excuses to bow out of such frivolous functions.

"Aye, His Highness Prince Talon... or Dæmon as he's taken to calling himself locally, is something of a fixture here at the Citadel. He was our first divine guest and, though he may not know it, the inciting factor in the founding of this new order. It brings to mind a foreign saying I have heard bandied about: 'The devil you know beats the devil you don't.' And Solunarium is reckoning with our devils dutifully these days..." Phocion sighed slightly,

"Then I apologise for my brother's oversight. His Exalted Highness is rather new to being both exalted and high, so such faux pas are wont to occur."

[Kala Leukos]

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"I am certainly curious," she attested.

"I would press more than my sister," Kaus noted. Though generally ebullient, he was generally happy to let Kala do the talking and Phocion seemed to take better to her anyway.

As the conversation progressed, Kala's nigh invisible brows furrowed in consternation. "It was one thing to be taken, his husband used as a tool to force his cooperation in Gel'Grandal," she opined. "But spending time as Dæmon in Solunarium and whatever he calls himself in Cathena..." She sighed and shook her head. "He needs time to heal from his trauma. I do think Kalzasi will benefit from its new Shokaze."

Of course, she had told Talon he ought to mark Karam Senue, allow him the throne but keep him under his eye. Perhaps she was learning about delegation from the Divine Twins.

"Oh, not at all. In Kalzasi, I am merely the daughter of a marcher lady, doing her part by counting coins for the Queen-Regent and such. 'Tis better to maintain a modest profile while I understand my new place in the scheme of things. If your exalted brother had paid undue attention to me, my cover might have been compromised." She smiled. "And now I am another devil you know."

Kala did want to know the devils of Solunarium. She felt pulled toward a Unity with them, though she was cautious, not sure where that path would lead her. She hoped whatever the Assessors learned about her wouldn't be used against her. She wasn't an enemy of Solunarium, but she had only words from princes and gods declaring her welcome there. Words were fragile things sometimes.

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[Pharaoh]

"I do not doubt it..." Phocion said, looking Kaus up and down. It was impossible for the Raven not to think of the Goldfinch in his own family when he looked at the Kalzasern lordling. He would be amused to introduce them. They looked more like brothers than he and Raithen ever did and he suspected their personalities might be similarly complementary.

Phocion chuckled at Kala's frustrations, his smile lingering after the laughter.

"It is odd. In Solunarium the Founders are larger than life... Corpus et Spiritus are beyond comprehension. So to sit with you, a goddess in her own right, hearing talk of the emotional trauma and poor coping skills of another deity is... Well, just bizarre. I suppose this position was bound to demystify some of the grandeur of the Pantheon... For me it has also served to further distinguish our Gods from the gods of greater Ransera." He would not go so far as to play pædagogus to this foreign, albeit friendly, holy figure. He did know that they were all of them distinct from mere mortals in power. He was just finding that many of them came up short in his estimation when it came to how they chose to wield it. Apotheosis was not achieved, it seemed, via meritocratic means and there seemed to be more bent on spreading chaos rather than Order.

"Well, his Exalted Highness is as much Her creature as I am. We bear the same Mark, so perhaps it is Her will that you meet on the morrow in our context when you will be protagonists, rather than as supporting characters at someone else's event." He sniggered as she took his devilish allusion to its natural terminus.

"You are, at that, but not in so literal a sense as the artlessly named 'Dæmon'." He quipped. "In any event, if you are feeling refreshed, I will give you a brief tour of the facilities and see you to your chambers. You'll not be left wanting here, but I believe you'll be lodged at the Palatium tomorrow, so... excelsior, as we say." He would rise and show the party around the facility, informing them of its origins as a palace for Prince Phædryn which was later repurposed as a central Sentinel outpost before being committed to the study of gods and other powerful entities. The tour focused more on the architecture and the draconic art that had recently bedecked the facility than its functions, but Phocion would answer questions about their work up to a point. Anything that pushed the limits of his discretion would be politely declined.

Finis