Legend of Ransera

While Kala hoped that eventually, Phocion wouldn't have to make an effort, she appreciated that he was making an effort for the time being. She would make an effort to shield him from excessive socialization, knowing it was not his preferred activity. She engaged a bit in some sotto voce with the prince while Hilana and their escorts made some decisions. Both she and Phocion were amenable to the walk.

"I will have to ask Her how she does that," Kala murmured, half to herself and half to Hilana and Phocion. Hilana had artefacts from the silver sister, as Kala thought of Her. Kala still relied in large part upon the patronage she had established with a human runeforger before her apotheosis began for powerful artefacts. Perhaps Varvara had collected some things, but Sentinel Finn had showed her what Varvara had turned his sacrificed lute into.

"Lead on," she encouraged with a smile. A part of her wanted to fly ahead, as well, the last in the chevron formation so Ceran could cleave the air with his greater size, creating much easier currents to navigate. But this was a joint venture, and she supposed she could fly a bit when they finished what they came for.

In truth, she could have knelt there and communed with the Plane, but not knowing how long it would take them, it did seem best to find an idyllic and defensible spot for the larger party.

"How long does attunement require for you, Hilana?" she asked, curious rather than competitive. Outside of the foundational four, she had only attuned to Aether, and that in the Pantheon. She wasn't sure the experience would be the same even in another plane, not when the Pantheon had been created specifically for the Gods. She also wasn't certain she was meant to speak of it to mortals. She had managed to take Kaus there, but the Divine Twins had helped her shield him from the aspects of it that mortals weren't capable of withstanding.

Kala nodded and, "I don't actually know how long my attuning will take."

She didn't actually know how long this attuning would take, whether she would be faster or slower than the other woman. It oughtn't to matter, she supposed. Each soul was unique, after all, and many things required time and patience. If she couldn't remember how long it had taken to attune to primordial aether, it was because the Pantheon existed outside of Time.

No, that wasn't correct. Perhaps it was Time-adjacent. She could ask Avatar, she supposed, but she knew very little about chronomancy and only some about philosophies about the nature of time. Perhaps given time and growing power, she would transcend Time as well, but for now, her experience was defined by its passing.

"With the other Avialæ?" she asked for clarification. Then, "No. Kaus and I have been core-bonded since the womb. We would have to be quite far apart not to be able to communicate clearly mind-to-mind. My bonds to the others aren't quite so deep and they could travel a lesser distance before they were but a vague sense in a certain direction."

She wondered, though, whether that range would now be extended given the boys did worship her, albeit in a way dissimilar to how she had witnessed worship before. They had known her as a person, as a peer in the Warren March, and many other things before she began her ascent at Naori's insistence. They venerated her, but would still tell her if she had some bit of food caught in her teeth. So, it was strange, but more comfortable for her given the circumstances than it was to be more formally worshiped by the entire population of one's home.

That too would come with time, she supposed. Certainly, the Divine Twins reveled in it.

"They won't travel too far ahead or fall too far behind. They just want to scout in directions our honor guard cannot as easily, but they will remain close enough to come to our aid should we stumble upon unforeseen dangers. To augment our already competent protection."

A part of her wanted to fly, too, but she felt it would be rude to Hilana who had invited her here, and to Phocion who had come because she was there, a little glimmer of feelings she anticipated in the future: leaving mortal cares and connections behind.

If ever Hilana brought Finn here, he would certainly tell her of the timeline where Ecith's jungles covered Atraxia. She might not be able to imagine it quite.

In any case, Kala was happy to answer questions about herself and her people. She hadn't seen any other Avialae but Raithen in Solunarium, so there was the added benefit of educating people around him to support him here where he was different.

"I do not think there is a limit other than one's ability to manage those connections mentally and emotionally," she said. "I cannot imagine living without my twin's presence at the back of my mind. The Silver Wings have all asked for bonds, and there are a few others outside of them for me. None nears the profundity of what I share with Kaus, though they are all, of course, special. Having this many, though, is not common. For the Avialae, it is helpful to have that emotional anchor, but it also opens us up to manipulation, as one can see with the Kathar in the Gelerian Imperium. Bonds between Avialae seem more equitable, though. And in Atoria, they have a sort of... grand connection... not exactly a hive mind as one can observe in, say, a hive of bees, but everyone is connected and one has access to everyone. With consent, of course. I think Atoria proves that an innumerable number of bonds is possible, whether or not it is advisable."

As for wings, she smiled, and said, "They open up the sky. On land, they can be more burdensome."

It was clear she wouldn't give them back, however, given the opportunity.

"This place seems appropriate," she said. It was all quite magical, and the presence of Wood was everywhere around them so one place was as good as any by some measures. "Perhaps we ought to see to business, the sooner to enjoy the rest of our visit?"

Kaus landed nearby, folding his wings neatly before approaching. He too was a master elementalist and would want to attune while they were there. Kala pulled a slim, leatherbound volume from somewhere on her person and handed it to Phocion "so you won't grow bored." It was a gift she had promised before, one of many more to come, no doubt. This one was a transcription of a scroll she had found in a Hytori library describing the schism between the Hytori homeland and the Re'hyæan religious movement.

She didn't know if she would ever see a Unity between Sol'Valen and Solunarium, but if he was curious, she was keen to assuage his curiosity.

That gift given, she released Phocion's arm and glanced at a thick, winding root that would make him a perfect bench. But he would do what he would do. She knelt with a dancer's grace upon some moss. Kaus sat cross-legged, leaning back against the bole of that root's trunk. He looked as though he might just be settling in for a nap with a smile, but she could sense his mind stilling.

Hers would too. She smiled at Hilana, then exhaled, her eyelids growing heavy and her focus on the world about her soft.