Legend of Ransera

If he has sons, she said to the winged twin, they might be born with wings. If you would have them avoid your fate, please contact me. I might be able to help.

Her mind had grown accustomed to running more than one conversation at once. She often had a running commentary going with Kaus while participating in court functions. This was going to get even more complicated, though. She could hear prayers now, which was entirely unsettling. But her smile was serene all the same. Someday, perhaps they would have a frank discussion of who did what to whom during the conflict, but today would not be that day.

"You engineer different solutions," she replied, "but life often hands us similar quotidien challenges. My people don't disdain the sciences, and Mistress Feada, our runesmith, would likely find your workshop quite similar to her own. She bends dragonshards to her will much the same way as I would guess your engines function."

When his man went to get started right away and he assured her some preliminary information, her smile widened. She also intuited some of what he might need.

"I suppose you might need ore, perhaps even timber, as well. We might share materials as well as supplies, then. Depending on your need." If the Blue Star was going to see more travel, it could certainly carry such to Zaichaer's floating islands before onloading whatever Zaichaer didn't need. "But we wouldn't want to take anything from you that isn't stockpiled. Nothing that would delay taking your people from survival to thriving. And lest you mistake generosity for saintliness... the sooner Zaichaer is secure, the sooner your best and brightest minds can turn to the Eclipse, as well. From what I gather, it affects everyone, though I would imagine you are safe from the shadows while on high. That is, I hope you are safe from the shadow creatures when you are on high."

"And I wouldn't dream of calling you a wizard of an engineer," she said with a tone of the gentlest teasing. Kala smiled into her teacup. Her manners were precise without seeming practiced. She too had been raised to it, trained such that the way she comported herself kept interpersonal dealings moving as smoothly as possible. It was better to have an honest argument than to channel irritation into things and come out with a worse outcome.

"And what would I do with a fleet of airships?" Her question was arch, but in reality, she imagined nothing so terrible as a fleet of merchant ships at her behest, keeping the northern economies connected, and perhaps expanding the reach of Starfall to various valleys such as Torin's. If one of their own had not only brought back the secrets of Atoria but begun the climb to divinity, centuries of secrecy might no longer be possible to continue. But for now... the same.

"Wards can work," she insisted, setting her cup down on the saucer and the saucer upon the table. "Illumite or lunicite are necessary for the warders to weave them, however. And they need aura glass and time to observe what they are warding against." There was a quiet intensity to her for a moment. She daren't ask if his warders knew this; she didn't want to imply they were incapable of doing their jobs, but she was less worried about his feelings on the matter than ensuring his people were safe from the shadows. The question hung in the air unasked, however. She sensed that perhaps he didn't want her to know the details of their defenses, which was entirely understandable. She didn't want him knowing Kalzasi's, let alone Starfall's.

"Perhaps a shared enemy will unite former enemies. I can hope."

A fleet of ships of her own—well, she might consider the ramifications of that at a later date.

After a moment's thought, she nodded and leaned forward slightly. Kala wasn't going to give him anything that would put Kalzasi at risk, but the shadows were a shared threat, a shared enemy.

"I will send you documentation of behaviors and such, but you probably know about as much as we do about fighting them. Illumite and lunicite allow mages to work even under the eclipse. Preexisting magical creations—wards, artefacts, etc.—continue to work regardless of the eclipse. Those same dragonshards also make the shadows vulnerable to steel, fire, and other attacks. They can be vanquished." Carefully, "If your Order confiscated any divine relics, those too might have similar effects. Ioniri's Mystics and others marked by the divine have also been protected from the magic-nullifying effects of the eclipse. A runesmith in my employ has been working unceasingly on his illumite lamps that extend the range of their effects, but perhaps you might... weaponize them. Engineer something with... lenses, mirrors, something... to focus their light into a beam. Forgive me, my physics is rudimentary compared to yours. But as supplies of these dragonshards are in high demand, it would behoove all of us to make what we have more effective.

"Now, a question... have you noticed the shadows and the mist-corrupted showing aggression toward each other? I don't get the sense that they have similar provenance, but if you could foment discord between them, they might help you keep both populations down without risking yours."

Know thine enemy, she thought to herself. If Sahfri ever questioned her for these humanitarian efforts, she could claim she was doing just that, while she hoped their nation-states would be able to move past their differences. Karnor was wide and there was enough room for more than on ideology, so long as no ideology required the annihilation of the other.

"Thank you," she said with a nod and a warm smile. "If you will trust the Blue Star's captain with the coordinates of your flying islands, perhaps she can begin moving materials as well as reports back and forth for us. The only caveat being that if you move the islands too close to the rift, I will not risk her, the crew, or the ship until you move them again. But I can't imagine you want to be living near it, only keeping a healthy distance and observing it for fluctuations." At least, that was what she would do.

Kala nodded again when he shared the information.

"I know not how clever the mist-corrupted are, but the shadows don't seem to be highly intelligent. Perhaps you can manipulate them into each other's paths more often. The fewer remaining, the fewer you will have to risk lives to clear out so you can rebuild Zaichaer—if such remains your plan." Sometimes cities were rebuilt over the bones of previous incarnations; sometimes population centers moved. He seemed a practical man, but also sentimental. She didn't know what the future would allow him and his people to accomplish, but she felt a flush of power or something similar as she sensed how he and his people were working together.

Disaster could bring the worst out in people, but it could also bring out the best.

Now if she could just persuade them that reasonable policing of magic was sufficient and that humans weren't inherently better than every other race...

But one step at a time.

"And perhaps I'll have my runesmith focus on weaponizing illumite to fight the shadows..." She paused. "Ah. I don't know if your people have investigated the towers and such at cardinal points. At the beginning of the season, someone... solved the southron tower. There has been a lessening in the nocturnal shadow. Soon, I believe, the stars will begin to shine again. And the moon. If such is the case, nights might not be so dangerous anymore. At least from the shadows. So that might be something for your strategists to consider when pitting them against each other."

"Thank you," she repeated. The concession of any strategic coordinates were a risk on his part, and she appreciated the trust.

Kala nodded, agreeing with his assessment of proximity to even a contained rift, as well as his estimation of the shadows' intelligence. If that changed, they could be in more dire straits, but with any luck, the other cardinal keys would be turned and this would end sooner rather than later. There was quite enough wrong with the world without adding whatever this eclipse was.

"I didn't assume you would have the manpower to tackle those puzzles, but I thought you might like to know that some abatement is in the offing." She didn't need anyone to know who had solved it. Other than her people, Venetia was the only person who had been there. She considered the dragon and the God to be outside such calculations. "The southron tower has now locked its position south of Atinaw and remains impregnable." One thing at a time.

"Hm." The thoughtful noise was her response to the idea of boots on the ground. She gathered he would want his own to be the boots in question, though his people wouldn't want to risk him. Kala herself took more risks than her people approved of, but someone had to get things done and she had been given certain powers, but they came with responsibilities. At his preparations to depart, she smiled, and stood.

"Of course. Thank you for your time and your tea, sir. I will collect my assistant and return to the Blue Star forthwith." His people would be wanting those supplies, she was certain. "I shan't be with the Blue Star for each voyage, but I will be back. You can count on that." Her smile was then brighter, more open than one might expect from a well-heeled lady. Soon enough, she had collected Asallon and they had returned to their own ship. The cargo had been transferred and both crews cooperated in carefully loosing their moorings without any bumping.

She waved to Minister Dornkirk as they drifted apart a space, and then let her hand drop as both engines began to move them into new headings. Perhaps she would see a unified Karnor before she was too old to hide her divinity any longer. But that was another matter for another time. She and Asallon descended into the cabin to join her brother and her other friends. The Avialae didn't mind the cold, but Asallon was only elven and Frost was keen.

Lore:
Kala: 15
Stefan: 14

Points: 10 each

Injuries/Ailments: None

Loot: Potential Trade Agreements

Notes:

Mod XP: none