One to Another {Kala Leukos}

[Rune]

Continued from A Brother's Plea

Valencia of the Railrunners stood in the elaborate entryway of White Knight Hall. The wide space was darkened and mostly empty, containing only herself, one of the odd Order-Coven hybrids that had come into being since Zaichaer's most recent fall, and...

The witch was not prepared to speculate as to the nature of the woman whose eyes she met, as much exploring as being explored. She hoped she was not being explored much further than she was able to, but it was a risk she had accepted when she signed the hastily scrawled contract that Eshar of the Myshalarai had pulled out of thin air and added a few quick details to. The other coven leader had barely given her time to read the words before all but taking her hand to make the Scrivened mark that was her Railrunner signature. Eshar had admonished her to hurry (as though such a requirement had not been obvious) while keeping their eyes trained on the ceiling. Had the Sky Islands not come into existence, the posture might have been more unusual, but a lot of people spent their time looking up, these days. Physically and metaphorically, and mostly due to the actions of Dornkirk and his talented kin. Valencia was not foolish enough to be unwilling to admit that the meteoric re-rise to power of her home nation had only been made possible at the speed it had been managed because of the actions of others. She had nudged things, to her advantage at times, but mostly to the advantage of the now budding government. Safety and stability was good for all, after all.

When she had given Kala a good long moment to find in her face whatever it was she might be looking for, Valencia held out her hand.

"Will you come with me, or will I take you to that pavilion of yours?"

[Kala Leukos]

.

This was new.

Over the course of the women's labor, she had spoken some to Bruno Storlock. The young Grymalka knew of her, perhaps via Aurin or Sivan, whom she knew through Torin. There had been that olive branch offered and before she had quit the room where Delia Dornkirk lay resting with her increased family, she had asked him to carry a response back to the Kindred for her. Kala thought of Stefan as a friend, albeit a problematic one given his politics. She thought he was a good man who could grow into a better man, and while that wasn't her responsibility as a woman he was acquainted with, she was also a burgeoning goddess. Perhaps his spiritual growth was her responsibility. Fuck, she had just given him a miracle—his family, yes, but he was her point of contact into that family.

Bruno told her a great many things as he helped her out of that room and elsewhere.

This was new.

She hadn't come via Blue Star but following the thread of prayer—the prayer of a well-known ghost primarily, but she realized that somewhere along the way, it had twined into those of father and mother, another sort of thing that didn't seem to care so much about Time or Space. It had come to her whole: prayer from these people who eschewed gods.

"I will need help getting home," she murmured. Indric could come to her, but he wouldn't. He was too far away for her to reach him via their bond, and he was loyal, obedient; he would not risk a political storm on the chance that she might need a route home. The prayer had changed inside her, she realized. There was something left. Gratitude, perhaps. Not worship. But Delia Dornkirk had called out de profundis, in a moment of primal fear being uncertain how her husband would handle the matter. Her faith in him was restored, she thought, and that was enough.

But the prayer had been answered and she hadn't been pulled home. Whatever tether she normally had when answering prayer had perhaps been dissolved in the expense of so much power. Stefan's half-elven brother-in-law had sensed it even though his only apparent Rune was the Negation of other Runes. She had his word, and she had a sense that he would keep it, both in letter and in spirit, although perhaps not in the same interpretation as she might wish. She was known here. She was known in Solunarium. She suspected that she might be suspect in Sol'Valen. Sahfri had worked effortlessly to keep her wings under wraps and Marda her divinity, but Kala kept doing things.

Love, she thought, is a doing word.

She could still feel Kaus, and she tried to send wordless comfort; she was unharmed, unworried. But she couldn't speak directly into his mind.

"That was Dienerin," Bruno told her quietly. "Angevin has a Dienerin, too. His cousin. They are... well, they have been valets or manservants for the men since well before the Troubles. They are trusted with everything. I hope not your secrets, though."

And then, as luck would have it, she stood before a powerful Railrunner rather than the Kindred with whom she was in careful communication.

Kala gave Bruno's arm a gentle squeeze and then released him, standing on her own two feet, straight-backed though it cost her. Perhaps worship would refill that numinous reservoir within her. Perhaps she needed to bathe in starlight. In any case, she was—temporarily, she hoped—weakened by what she had done.

Akshara, her mother, had said that to lead was to serve. Perhaps that was true of godhead, as well. Time would tell.

She gave a shallow bow to the woman, with whom she felt an instant kinship. Kala was not old, but she looked younger than she was. She too had a quiet gravity that struck people as odd. She seemed young, but saw too much, knew too much. It was disconcerting and, perhaps, threatening even if she didn't mean it so.

"What I did will not leave that room," she said firmly, though not unkindly. She looked to Bruno, who nodded, and seemed unsure as to whether he ought to stand at her side or at Valencia's.

"There was a crisis," he told her, "but with the help of Lady Kala, who is also an accomplished necromancer and surgeon, the twin boys are healthy, the mother is healthy, and the father is exhausted from worry, but will be well." He looked then to the goddess whose miracles were locked in his soul now. She nodded, he nodded, and when his eyes dropped toward the floor, they caught on a small, faintly glowing gem suspended from her wrist. It was terribly familiar somehow, as if from a dream he couldn't quite recall. "But...I was looking for you," he corrected. "Her trip here didn't come with return fare. I..." Again, he glanced at Kala, strikingly deferential for a Zaichaeri witch, though Valencia knew better than most how the Kalzasern lady had done right by Zaichaer. Valencia knew much about her from Aurin, but she knew that he kept some things from her. He had his own sort of ethics.

Kala nodded to him, so still otherwise.

"The Kindred reached out to her, I guess. Last season when she was here and her brother dealt with the hollow dragon up north. They offered her an invitation. I'm bringing her response back. I was going to look for Muin and Farza, I think." There was a faint tilt upward at the end of his sentence, almost making it a question. Perhaps the Kindred had caught wind of her arrival and had contracted with Valencia to ensure her safety. But Valencia wasn't forthcoming.

"Whoever it was," Kala said with quiet, weary strength, "I will go to this safe place with you. I have long desired to make the acquaintance of Zaichaeri witches, though I hope I don't romanticize them the way many Kalzasern citizens do. I hope Jacq and the children are well..." This last was said as she reached out to take Valencia's hand.

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[Rune]

Valencia took in much, and said little, as was her way. She was not, in this case, deliberately hiding any of the information she had concerning the current situation but, the truth was, she didn't have all that much. The hints being dropped intentionally and otherwise by Leukos and Storlock, as well as by the manservant and the general feel of tension from the staff as a whole, fell into little niches in her mind, connecting with things she already knew and things she suspected. The pieces would move in her head, touching on each other, trying to find the picture of the truth until she either found it or accepted that she did not yet know enough to find it.

It was almost always wiser to let others talk rather than admitting your ignorance by asking, particularly once one had garnered a reputation for knowing.

The similarities between the Railrunner and the Kalzasern woman were striking, they would not have been mistaken for sister, but cousins, perhaps.

When consent was given, Valencia took one step back from the pair and held out her hands. Nothing happened, she frowned, then rolled her eyes and adjusted the odd medallion fastened to her wrist so that the metal was touching her skin. These pass tokens that allowed magic to be cast on the Sky Islands were an annoyance, the greater for her knowing that the fledgling government was attempting to implement them throughout the High City below. There would be workarounds, there were always workarounds but they would require work before the way around became clear.

With the medallion touching her skin she spread her arms again and this time two portals shimmered into being, one to each side of her. They were the size of goodly doorways, tall and wide enough that one could pass through without any worry. The one on her left looked like it led into a corner of a drinking establishment and the sounds of music and voices could be heard, though muted, through it. Through the other what looked like a sitting room, or a study, all polished woods, fine carpets and plush arm chairs before a fire. No sound at all came from the second portal, though a fire could be seen to burn on the farthest wall from the opening.

"This will take you to see Eshar." Valencia nodded to her right while meeting Kala's eyes. "And this," She nodded to the left and switched her gaze to Bruno, "Will take us to the Menagerie. Farza was there when I left, if we are in luck, she still will be, and you can give her your message. I'll even let you come with me for free."

The last was almost teasing, but only almost.

[Kala Leukos]

.

Of their physical similarities, Kala said nothing. It occurred to her that she had a few things she ought to give the woman; much of her wardrobe had either been altered to work around her wings or sold to raise money for the effort of feeding and protecting the most vulnerable during the Eclipse. She smiled faintly at the thought of asking this stranger her dress size, but let it go.

She glanced from Valencia to Bruno, who nodded encouragingly. Eshar was an oddball, but he didn't think they intended any harm to a powerful mage who had done nothing but help Zaichaer in its time of need. Kala sighed; in for a penny, in for a pound. She stepped through the portal.

"I should-" Bruno protested after Kala had walked into whatever future awaited her. He glanced back toward their late point of ingress. No, his patients were fine. One was even blessed by a fucking goddess. He wondered if he would be able to tell an Avialae fetus in utero if he managed to develop his meager Sembling power.

"I should pass her message along to Farza," he amended. "Then sleep. Then go back and check on my patients."

He nodded to Valencia and offered her his arm as if they were gentlefolk about to go a-courting. He wondered if the other portal went to the Menagerie as well. He thought Eshar lived there, albeit not in the common room. Eshar was uncommon if nothing else.

Eshar wasn't apparent from the view the portal gave, and even as Kala stepped through it into the comforting warmth, she didn't see them right away. The warmth made her want to curl up by the fire and sleep. This was likely an unwise risk, but she tried to calculate them when she had to take them. These people didn't know she had wings, didn't know she was climbing the mountain called Apotheosis. One of their elders merely wished to make her acquaintance.

If nothing else, Torin's lovers were both involved with the covens in some way, so it was possible she even had support therein, and wouldn't share Talon's fate in Gel'Grandal.

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[Rune]

Once the Lady was through her door, and the Doctor through his, Valencia folded her hands back to her waist and, with only the hint of a backward glance, followed the latter. A moment later both portals closed, leaving the entrance of the Hall, according to all those who lived within, blessedly free of witchery.

The room Kala found herself in was, at first glance, exactly what it appeared. To another person, it would have changed in subtle ways anytime one turned around. To a mortal the details of a painting were difficult to concentrate on, the placement, color or patterns of the carpets shifting as soon as the eyes moved away, the doors and windows appearing and disappearing while one's back was turned.

But to the eyes of a goddess, the room could be seen for what it truly was; alive. The space and its furnishings were living in a way that it would have been impossible to speak of but was wholly real. There was nothing malicious about the space, and without the uncanny oddity of it that most people experienced, it was, in fact, quite cozy, inviting even. It was pleased that Kala was there, in a calm, comfortable way that didn't feel of any specific notice.

"Hello," The voice, like the room, was non-specific in gender or any other terms easy to pin down, "I'm glad you decided to come."

The figure that unfolded themselves from one of the two chairs that were gathered close to the wide, crackling fireplace, fit the voice well. With dark hair, golden eyes and a wide, wide smile, Eshar held out a hand to offer the other chair.

"Please, you must be exhausted. It isn't every day one performs their first miracle. It was your first, wasn't it? I could be wrong." The last sentence sounded as though the speaker would be surprised and possibly delighted to be wrong.

[Kala Leukos]

.

When Valencia didn't accept his arm, Bruno walked through anyway; Kala Leukos was clearly a person of interest to all the covens and so he wanted to discharge her message to the Kindred as soon as possible, and then report to his superiors within the Grymalka. In any case, he hadn't meant to offend the ageless Railrunner, and hoped he hadn't.

From his sister's side, Eitan made a mental note to adjust the wards. He didn't want a witch able to travel directly into his bathroom with nothing but a magically coded key. They could arrive on the porch like decent people and knock. Wards within wards.

The little goddess, however, found herself in a room that seemed to conform to her desires. To her senses, mundane and magical, it was a paradox of simple and complex. It reminded her, more than anything, of the Pantheon, though she had not seen this one there. Then again, she had gone enshrouded, at least from the draegir and moritasi; she did not believe she could hide anything from a Greater God or a Mistlord.

Golden eyes opened like those of a cat, and then the rest of the form appeared, or it had always been there and only then revealed itself to her. More even than to her own, the room conformed to their desires. She took in the person, if not an ascendant, than a mage more powerful than her. That made sense, either way.

Ah, the honeyed words: likely an ascendant then.

She bowed as to an equal, murmuring her thanks as she removed her beguiling cloak and sat carefully so that she could relax without earning a crick in her neck, back, or wing. Kala was so tired, she felt like a crone.

A fine brow furrowed at the question.

"I suppose it depends on your definition of a miracle," she said carefully. "I have been able to translocate, following a line of devout prayer, without the aid of a Rune of Traversion. That was how I came to Zaichaer today, though I don't understand the mechanics. For some reason, perhaps I am so depleted, I was unable to return as I normally had, pulled back almost will I or nil I back to where I was when invoked. By day, I am a government agent. By starlight, I am something else." She paused. "Well, the sun is a star, but..."

She made an articulate gesture. As far as she could surmise, some of her 'Domain' was circumscribed by prevailing thoughts. That the sun was a star mattered little to most people. It was the great Day Star, and her divine mantle glittered like the night sky more than anything else. Perhaps she was being too poetical, as well. The mind that could follow Stefan's engineering blueprints often tried to apply such rigor to the numinous, which would always be a failure, she thought, until her mind caught up with her divinity. She was going through a sort of adolescence, all knobby knees and off balance, hardly as urbane and smooth as the Divine Twins of Atraxia—hardly as urbane as this one, this Eshar.

"The Crystal Lady gave me power and enough rope to hang myself, I suppose, should I not intuit my path correctly."

Apologetically, "I am weary. You know I am Kala; I know you are Eshar. What do you desire?"

.

[Rune]

The chair, so carefully perched upon, conformed to the woman who sat upon it. The wings of the chair opened up, making to spaces in which two diminutive Avialea wings might perfectly fit, allowing the back of the bearer of said wings to rest fully against the cushioned brocade. The curve of the chair moved to accommodate the curve of Kala's spine supporting her neck. It did all this just as she sat so that if felt like the chair had scooped her up into it's embrace, all without actually moving, or perhaps only seeming not to move. The little table that sat to one side of the chair sprouted a cup of something steaming that filled the space with a berry scent and little multi-tiered trays covered in what looked like candied jellies.

Once Kala had taken her seat, Eshar sat again also. They nodded, intent on the information as though making mental notes. A grin flashed at the idea of being given enough rope to hang oneself.

"That's always the way, innit?" A little of the Zaichaeri common street accent slipped into the voice, as they tucked themselves up into their arm chair, which stretched to accommodate the position. The grin went from amused to face splitting in a way that was just shy of uncanny at the question.

"I am afraid I am bound not to answer that question, in quite a literal fashion. But mostly, what I want from you, is to give you a little of the help I never got with that hangman's noose we're all handed wrapped up like it's a bow. Things are changing, some that should not, some that absolutely should, and some that haven't made up their minds about should and shouldn't yet. I am certainly one of the latter things, and I am hoping you are one of the middle ones."

The golden eyes flicked to the food and drink and nodded to them,

"Please, eat, it will help. Its my 'ambrosia'," Elegantly long fingers flicked out to make a quotation gesture, "not yours, but any god's will help till you can make your own. It might taste a little heady and desirous, but the effect won't change, not for us. I wonder if yours will taste like starlight looks."

This thought caused a pause to consider before he was literally waved away.

"Worship can do lots of things, you will be able to do things with it, which can be lots of fun, or lots of work, or both, but its always wise to keep a little tucked away in an easily consumable form. For those of us that still have bodies, I find something to eat works best."

Once the other god had reached over and snatched one of the little confections for themselves, popping it in their mouth, probably to show that it was safe, but possibly also just because they were there for the stealing, they continued.

"You can tell me to fuck off, of course, and I'll open a way back to Kalzasi for you. But speaking from lack of experience, having a mentor, or at least someone to ask questions, is a useful thing as one takes the first big steps from one type of being to another."

[Kala Leukos]

.

Kala's answering smile was wan, but knowing. Naori had blessed her, of course, but sometimes blessings and curses were indistinguishable. The young goddess listened with a critical ear. She had learned a great deal from Aværys and Varvara, but she still took what they said with a grain of salt. It had been so long since they were in her shoes, their previous selves actual children of Akrivar. If she was a child of Naori in any tangible sense, her mother was absentee.

She was giving away too much, most likely, but Eshar was offering some back. A restriction against naming desire, and ambrosia that tasted of it. Well, that was likely one of their domains. And domains were strange. Unity was a mantle Naori had placed upon her newly winged shoulders. Stars had come out of nowhere. It wasn't as though the remains of dead Nazam had awoken within her. The Twins of Atraxia seemed curious as to what her third would be, but then Talon claimed several titles that had nothing to do with his domains—prince of dragons, for instance.

But Arcas had apparently been physically fathered by Eikaen, the Dragon King, and nobody had explained much to her. Thankfully, her senses were expanding and she hoped her wisdom would keep pace.

"I didn't see you in the Pantheon," she noted. "And I was shrouded. I am not ready for my mortal identity and what I will grow into to be equated just yet, so I would appreciate your discretion. I mean no harm to you, your covens, or your city and its population."

Kala took the tisane in her hands mostly because they felt so cold, though she would sample it. After Eshar took a confection, she tried one herself. Normally, she might have one if they were offered, but if they were made of divine energy rather than sugar, she might have more.

"Thank you. I have spent some time in Solunarium with my cousins newly released from prison. I haven't revealed myself to Talon or to Rickter, though. I wasn't ready, and I did not want to fall victim to the sort of machinations that led to Talon's abduction along with his husband, nor whatever curse ripped Rickter out of memory for a time. Also, they are draegir and I am not."

She didn't know what that meant, truly. It had occurred to her that perhaps she was being set up: natural son of Eikaen and adoptive daughter of Naori in the same city. But he seemed content with Aoren for now, and she had a suitor from farther afield. Life was strange. Divinity only set it on fire.

Pale blue eyes cast about for a moment.

"I haven't a place like this. I haven't an emblem to give to my most trusted people, only an Avialae bond. The whole point of me is to rescue the Kathar from enslavement or, at least, offer them an alternative and promote their agency, whatever they choose."

.

[Rune]

"Nor are you like to." Was the rather tart reply to having their absence in the Pantheon acknowledged, though any sourness in the tart was not directed at Kala. "Very few who I have not invited into my realm, so, very few in general, are aware of my status. You have aided Zaichaer and by proxy my people several times now, when you had very little reason to do so, significant reason not to and seemingly without seeking any repayment. This intrigued me, so I've decided to do the same. Well..."

Their head tilted to nearly to their shoulder and then back as they thought through the truth of their statement.

"I can't promise I won't gain anything from our acquaintance, and I can't promise it isn't part of larger machinations, because we're all a part of those. I can promise not to intentionally use you without telling you first."

It might have seemed like a small assurance, but as Kala was beginning to learn everything was a part of something larger, and if anyone knew who was ultimately moving all the pieces, it wasn't anyone willing to share that information with the likes of two lowly minor deities.

"I'd like to help you get your own realm set up, and learn the basic applications of worship. That way you'll be able to retreat and recharge when needed. We young guns have to stick together if we want to survive."

They leaned back again in their chair, staring into the fire as through remembering their childhood sort of fondly.

"Took me ages to learn how on my own, or to even realize who was worshiping within my domain. They don't have to know it's you for it to come to you. It can be a lot more powerful when they do, but that's a lesson for another time."

Returning their attention to their guest they eyed her carefully,

"I imagine all of this might be a lesson for later. Unless you want to clean your plate and work through some on the energy high and then crash when it runs out?" A manic grin flashed at the idea, like a child offering another stolen candy.

[Kala Leukos]

.

While most people thought her work was all numbers and ledgers, Kala had been on diplomatic missions to other free cities of Karnor, her purported territory in the Kalzasern government, and farther, to Silfanore and Solunarium, exceeding her jurisdiction but sharing the glory with her superior when trade deals were made. As such, she acknowledged the hint without following down the rabbit hole; there was some issue Eshar took with the Pantheon or some of those who spent time there, perhaps.

"That is not a small promise," she acknowledged. And she wondered whether it worked like fairy stories, where a misplaced word bound one to a deal. Perhaps she ought to have demanded Asallon be allowed to accompany her; he was a summoner, and knew contracts well enough to be a lawyer should he desire a side hustle.

Kala nodded carefully. "I am trying to grow accustomed to worship. It's strange, but I can already see how it allows me to do things. Faith and worship." It was more than the power of positive thinking, although the faith people had in her did push her to work harder, be better, though how the weight of anyone's expectations could be more than a drop in the bucket compared to the vast sea of Naori's... well..."

She took another confection, taking a small bite. It did bolster her somehow, though she would need more time to semble it properly.

"I would rather not be depleted if I can help it. This helps. If you would like to teach me something that will require power but not as much as..." She wasn't sure exactly what she had done; inverted the newborn's body. The wings were not physically present, though, but hidden in the aether, translated into more dimensions such that the mortal eye couldn't sense them.

"...as what I've done."

Divine emblems seemed premature. She didn't even know that she wanted a Dawnhold, or needed a place like this. Perhaps she would in the future. But she didn't know what questions she ought to ask.

"I also need to learn draconic."

That was apropos of something, although it might not be immediately apparent.

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