A Friend to Flame [Pharaoh]

[Hilana Chenzira]

The Hidden City.

Hilana listened attentively to Cevaerius, having gotten out her notebook and pencil. Her eyes never left the dark-robed Rehy’aean, and that included looking at her page. She didn’t need to look down to check her work, she was confident in it. When she felt she was near the bottom of the first page of notes, she flipped it and continued. The Hidden City…. Of which no mention was made anywhere, except for a single poem. Well, the difficult we do immediately, the impossible takes a little longer, and miracles are by appointment only… and she was making her appointment for this one, it seemed, come hell or high water. When papyrus and pen were offered, her pencil went into her hair and she backed the papyrus with her notebook, writing anew to transcribe the poem.

With the way he spoke, she sought to figure out where the lines of the poem were from the breaks in his speech and write it down properly. Her education had not been a classical one, and she couldn’t claim to be familiar with Phaedryn the First’s works. But Cevaerius was. She would check with him after to make sure that she had the lines of the stanzas correct.

She drew two arrows between the two verses at the Pater’s words when he said there was an unusual gap, with a question mark. That was something. She knew the Prince had Semblance. She didn’t know if he had Negation. She’d consider it probable. Odds were likely better that he had it.

“Did he go North with the conquering forces during that time, out of curiosity?” She wanted to know, despite the fact it likely revealed her lack of education on the Glorious History. It could very well be that she was going to have to scour the world at large for this place, and if such was the case, so be it. “I am not familiar with many of his works,” Hilana admitted. “But you said that the gap between those stanzas is unusual? Would you think that there is a jump between the wordings of the verses? Something tying the two? I don’t suppose there might be something obscuring the lines between those stanzas?” The Vastiana mused. If there was a gap, there was a gap for a reason.

She set her jaw, thinking quickly as she read and reread the poem. Glories falling - the Founders at the Rending. Brittle steel. A bad quench could ruin steel structures and make it weak. So could cold. Cold? Depths? Somewhere underwater? Maybe depths meant mountains or caverns. Maybe she was on the right track. Maybe she was overthinking it; maybe it was just meant to be poetic - crumbling steel, bitter loss on the battlefield. The fall of the Founders and collapse of the Empire. “Would it at all be possible that we could please see the original poem, Pater? If there’s something hiding on that paper… I would think that the Princeps Sibylla could uncover it.” Maybe, just maybe, there was more hiding in plain sight. Her own Semblance wasn’t going to be useful… but the Materfamilias of House Phaedryn would be able to see if there was something they were all missing.

This was a challenge, and she was bound and determined to figure it out. And, hopefully, see this Hidden City for herself.

[Pharaoh]

"Not at its outset, but when Raxen’s forces appeared to aid those of Arcas, an alarum was sounded throughout the realms and all the princes were summoned. He was among the first to return to the capital when it was clear the battle was lost. Never having been bound to a Zalkyrian dragon, he rode astride their subject, Israxa." The scholar explained, sounding almost cheerful to be sharing such information, even as fraught as this particular subject was.

"Obviously, such an aberrant example of His Serene Highness’ writings has been dutifully scrutinized and none have found any signs that the gap represents missing text. Rather we have come to believe the void between stanzas is meant to betoken a distinction between one and the next. In truth, we’ve never had cause to think the poem represented more than an interesting bit of trivia. It was certainly a foreboding piece of literature to come out of such a propagandised period. This was clearly a private exercise and the text is certainly strange for His Highness and this period. The phraseology is archaic… some of the word order is atypical to this period and region for the Common Tongue." He pursed his lips, regarding Hilana’s scrawlings of the text he’d recited.

"Why continue the first stanza with ‘Calamities great depths to plumb’? Why the bizarre phrasing of line five?"

Cithæra seemed to be pondering these points, as Hilana requested the original text. The Vigilia Magna shook her head in the negative.

“Puzzle it out. All the tools you require are before you. I don’t believe this was an incidental exercise in Common. That language was selected pointedly… perhaps his contemporaneous studies of the tongue helped him render some manner of cipher…”

[Hilana Chenzira]

"His Highness rode Israxa, the Black Dragon?" Hilana repeated, pausing in her writing in her notebook. With the poem on parchment, she had her pencil back at the pages, hurriedly writing down every note she could get from Pater Cevaerius. "Regularly? Or specifically that day? Would there be a record or confirmation somewhere, in a diary or notes or something that he came back from the Battle of the Rending on Israxa?" Because she knew from His Exalted Majesty that Israxa had been sent to retrieve the Zalkyrian Horn when Melindranovion had taken off with it after Arcas had managed to cut it free from His Divine Radiance and killed Zalkyrion. She knew further, from the esteemed Sophi, that Israxa had caught Melindranovion a ways into the border of Central Ecith, and presumably slew him before taking off with the Horn. As to where she had gone...

And Khyan had pronounced Celatium.

But if she had pursued Melindranovion from Mount Kaladon in Auris all the way across the Crystal Sea and into Ecith, fought him, and summarily had gone from Melindranovispont to Celatium to hide the Horn, and then all the way back to Auris to pick up His Serene Highness, then back to Solunarium... then something was off somewhere. Because she knew that Sophos Val'Etherys had said that Israxa had not been located since she had gone after the Horn. Maybe she had the Rune of Traversion. Otherwise that was a lot of flying for a young dragon. Especially if Phaedryn I had been one of the first ones back home. That could change things, maybe to help narrow down a searching zone... she had to stop herself from bouncing on her toes. Calm. Breathe. Focus. Focus. Don't overthink it, don't overwork the trail. Do not get caught up in the twists and turns.

She nodded at Pater Cevaerius' explanation that the original text had been scrutinized for such tricks, and she wasn't put out by it. It had been worth asking, if only to rule it out. It might have been too obvious, but then again... some things were best hidden in plain sight where they could be ignored. Like her. But when Princess Cithaera told her to puzzle it out, that was certainly fair. She nodded in agreement to her words about not being an accident. "You said that he was the only one one of his siblings to speak the Common Tongue at the time, so perhaps he was using Common to help conceal it from the others. That if anyone else should look at it, they'd take it as a writing exercise and dismiss it." She exhaled, looking over the poem. "Was there a date on the poem? I was wonder if it was written before or after the Battle of the Rending?"

"'Come dreadful days we’d fain forestall, betides a time when glories fall,'" likely refers to the fall of the Founders," she glanced from one to the other. Those two made sense, at least. "'Calamities great depths to plumb'... a fall from grace, maybe? Or maybe a clue to a location - far below the ground or earth. Caverns or caves? Chasm, canyon? Then the break. 'Fate turns stark steel to brittle glass'... cold or water can make steel brittle. 'Doth this for we e'er come to pass:' I wonder if 'we e'er' might mean 'whenever'?"

[Pharaoh]

"Certainly not regularly. Phædryn’s usual mount was a silver dragon called Khoraxys, who was nesting in the Zalkyrian Mountains at the time of the battle. Her eggs had not yet hatched and so she did not participate in the final battle.

“By all accounts, Israxa preceded His Serene Highness to Kaladon— serving in the Draconic van under the command of His Exalted Highness Rhekainoxys. Phædryn Princeps arrived by portal and seems to have connected with Israxa upon surveying the scene before him. There is conflicting testimony as to whether Phædryn fled on dragonback or portalled away, but the scholarly consensus is that he returned to Solunarium proper by portal. Even if he left the immediate area astride Israxa, the established timeline doesn’t allow for him to have flown all the way back to Ecith.”

Cithæra seemed genuinely intrigued, hanging on every word the scholar uttered. Schooled as she was on the life of her storied ancestor and on the Rending in particular, there was nuance here that had escaped her notice.

“I’m afraid no date was inscribed, and His Serene Highness was as powerful a Sembler as ever arose from our realm of arcanists. The content of the poem certainly suggests it was penned prior to the battle, but I doubt by much. The wars went swimmingly for many years prior and such portents would have been out-of-place. All this and Prince Phædryn was the last of his kin to even set foot on Ailizane.”

Cithæra pondered with pursed lips as Hilana recited and cogitated on the text. At the final query, she shook her head sharply.

“‘We ever’, not ‘whenever’…

“The poem reads like a caveat that ends with a vague instruction. A contingency scheme? He bids the reader travel to an unknown place obscure by definition with no instruction as to how… She arched an eyebrow,

“How many letters in the Common alphabet?”

[Hilana Chenzira]

Well, that helped and that didn't. Because as Pater Cevaerius pointed out, the timeline wouldn't have allowed for such a thing, if he had traveled with Israxa. If he had... then that might just have reduced the possible search area for the vaunted Celatium to whatever was within that timeline's travel. That was, of course, if they didn't have Traversion. But since he had not come back with Israxa... that meant the whole of the world was wide open. It could be on their continent, or it could be abroad. With one as clever as Phaedryn Callidus, perhaps her initial thoughts that Celatium might have been one of their old colonies or outposts was likely going to be wrong. Still, she'd reserve her judgment on that until they puzzled out the verses.

All the same, those notes got written down in another page on her notebook - Khoraxys, Silver dragon flight, female, on eggs in Atraxian mountains. If she had time one day, she might well go and take her Mask of Midnight's Mother and her Volumen and see what she could find in those caves. On the other hand, that seemed like a wonderful way to get burned beyond all recognition, and trespassing on a place where dragons might still be holding out, waiting for the return of the Founders, might not have been wise. Especially if she didn't have the Horn on her.

If the poem had been written before the Battle of the Rending, it did confirm His Exalted Majesty's thoughts that Phaedryn I had focused on keeping the flames burning when others did not. It was always wise to have a contingency plan.... or thirteen. When the Vigilia Magna corrected her on her last line, Hilana made another note. We ever, not whenever. She'd thought that might have been too obvious, but she would go with that interpretation. At her query, Hilana blinked. "There are 26 letters in the Common alphabet, Domina." That one she knew off by heart; she had had enough lessons from her minders on that early on. She paused, staring down at the parchment, shifting to her book once again.

C - 3 - C
E - 5 - E
L - 12 - M
A - 1- A
T - 20 - V
I - 9 - I
U - 21 - X
M -13 - N

C - 3 - C
A - 1 - A
L - 12 - M
A - 1 - A
M - 13 - N
I - 9 - I
T - 20 - V
I - 9 - I
E - 5 - E
S - 19 - T

Those two words were the odd ones of the bunch - Cevaerius had called out 'calamities' as odd, and depending on which version of Vastian there was... Camaniviet. “'He will come'? Maybe it's a scramble."

[Pharaoh]

Cithæra stood and stalked around her desk to regard the transcribed poem over the shoulder of she'd who'd put it to paper. Gleaning where the girl's thought process was taking her, the Vigilia Magna shook her head.

"You are overcomplicating this. Cogitate: What is mine ancestor's motivation here? If this poem is a warning that ends in a directive to seek out some cache or boon, he would have wanted to conceal his intent from the casual reader... the fool or the foreigner for whose eyes these words were never intended. However, to his intended audience he ends by saying 'Hie thee to Celatium'. If he earnestly wished for this endeavour to be pursued, he'd not have gone out of his way to make the cipher indecipherable to those who keep the fires of his age lit. To wit..." She pursed her lips, pausing the read the lines over herself.

"The words themselves are florid, but their meaning is rather straight forward: If our strides in this war be ill-fated, seek Celatium. Pater Ceværius has highlighted that the phraseology is unconventional in a few places, so let us focus on the mechanics of the verse rather than the meaning of the words." She glanced to Ceværius,

"You asked why the bizarre wording in line five? I would propose that the answer is simple: He was contriving to start the line with the word 'Doth'. Why continue the theme of the third line? As to start that one with the third letter of the Common alphabet." Her attention returned to Hilana.

"Do you ken, now, what is at play here?"

Caværius, for his part, seemed to be catching on as he let an "Ahhh" sigh through his lips.

[Hilana Chenzira]

Just doing those two words had been enough to discourage Hilana from trying to do the entire poem that way; it would have been a waste of time to try. Clearly, not all of them would have a proper translation if she attempted it, and unless it was a further scramble... at which point that was going to be scattered so much that the entire point would be lost. And it seemed that the Vigilia Magna thought she was overworking it, as the Vastiana stopped her writing and listened to the Re'hyaean. She figured that Phaedryn I had likely been intending to hide it from just about everyone, considering bits and pieces were known to different people; but no one seemed to have the full story.

The meaning was straightforward, true. And perhaps focusing on the possibility of hidden meanings in the words that Phaedryn Callidus had chosen was another issue. The mechanics of the verse... Hilana hadn't studied poetry or any real form of it; but she loved music and she loved listening to Finn's work. If she thought about what might make up the mechanics, she considered syllables and what rhymed with what. Each line had eight syllables, by her count, and the first two lines of each stanza rhymed, while the third line of each rhymed with the other third line.

The question from there had to do with where did Princess Cithaera's earlier query about the number of letters in the Common alphabet. She blinked. 'To start with the third letter of Common'. That might be something there, especially when Pater Cevaerius was starting to understand. Her eyes went back to the words of the poem, and she made another note.

C - 3
B - 2
C - 3

F - 6
D - 4
G - 7

"So that would be 3, 2, 3, and 6, 4, 7." Hilana summed it up. "That would be 8 and 17, respectively, if one added them together. Those would correlate to the letters H and Q. Or they could very well be coordinates on a map." Now she needed to rack her brain, and her research of the maps and possible places where this Celatium may be, and see if anything there might have stuck out.

[Pharaoh]

Cithæra smiled.

"Well reasoned." She said with a nod, as she lifted her hand to summon an atlas from one of the bookcases. "I believe you are correct that these are coordinates." The book alighted on the desk before them and opened to a map of the Ecithian continent that filled both of the open pages. She trailed her finger until it paused at a spot far East of the Tertian coast.

"Intriguing... Duke Raithen visited an island a bit Southwest of these coordinates not long ago in service to Our Lord." She knew enough from Sembling to know that the island he'd visited was not at this precise location, but it was close enough to be noted certainly. The map before them did not reflect either land mass but one was literally called "The Hidden City" and the other, she'd gleaned from Raithen, was too small to be worth noting on a map.

"You might speak with him next... See whether his time in that area lent him any insight that may be of assistance." Cithæra stalked back around to her side of the desk and took a seat. "If there is nothing further, you are both dismissed. Happy hunting."

Caværius bowed and turned to face the door, waiting for Hilana, before making his way toward the exit.

"May I say, young lady, this has been an exciting day of revelations. I thank you for bringing this to our attention. Thus is solved a mystery that has puzzled us for generations. Please do not hesitate to visit the Archivum Phædralis. Perhaps there are other answers you might unlock..." He smiled, almost giddily. He was eager to get back to his brethren to share the news of these revelations.

[Hilana Chenzira]

When the atlas opened itself on Cithaera's desk, Hilana joined her, peeking at the pages around her. She did stay a respectful distance - the young woman knew her place, after all, and crowding the Vigilia Magna wouldn't go well. But the atlas did save her pulling out one of her hand-copied maps from her notebook, especially as most of what the girl had dealt with the landmasses. That one of them was named "The Hidden City" made her almost laugh, but the Vastiana restrained herself, biting her lips instead. Unbelievable. Right there...

Her pencil was making a number of notes in her book, including quick rough sketches of the coast and its points, along with a star with the coordinates once again. She also wrote down the name of her lover and underlined it. He was away at the moment, but she would be able to mention it to him when he reached out to her again by the mirror. She couldn't very well call him back for this, this was his much-needed and much-deserved vacation, and she was glad that he was enjoying himself out there. She had a feeling she should borrow a wyvern and try a flyby as well with her mask, if only to familiarize herself with the area. She didn't need to land... but she could find the exact spot that she needed to find with her Volumen and see what there was to see. Varvara's mask at night might well lend her plenty of stealth to keep her and her mount hidden... She could arrange that with Sentinel Phocion with one of the Sentinel aeries.

"I will speak with Duke Raithen about it, Domina, and go from there. Gratias, thank you for your time, and advice," Hilana bowed low to her, clutching her notebook and the parchment. The girl's eyes were bright with excitement - the hunt continued, and something she had been thinking about and researching and trying to find information on for nearly a year was now one step closer. The pen was returned to its earlier place upon Cithaera's desk, and she headed for the door. She had her next steps now, and then she could follow through on it.

When she met Pater Cevarius there, Hilana's excitement at his words nearly spilled over, as she beamed at him, bowing to him as well. "I thank you for your time and your input, Pater. I've learned so much today, and this isn't something I could have learned anywhere else, from anyone else, and I will treasure it always... and I would be delighted. Hopefully I will have some more information on Celatium for you when I do visit you and your colleagues." Perhaps one day, this unravelling would be tucked away in the Archives. But the two of them could head out, and Hilana would make her way to the Praetorium library in order to get one of those atlases.

All in all... this had been an excellent day. And now she could pester her Lux for more details, and hopefully drag him out to Neptori Isle when he returned.

[Pharaoh]

!	Message from: Pharaoh
	Review Experience: TBD Injuries: None Loot: Clues Notes: This thread is parcel to Hilana's Legendary Addendum Quest. Please keep add this to your tally of threads to be rewarded upon completion of the quest.