Legend of Ransera

...continued from Under a starlit sky.

Duchy of Dardouen
Some distance from the next village
10th of Ash, Year 123 of Steel

It was, they said, better to ask forgiveness than permission, but Kala didn't intend to ask for either. In any case, the Queen-Regent had been the one to attempt to control her movements, keeping her as safe as Kalzasi could keep someone, to keep the revelation of her wings from spreading. But now she was merely the Dowager Queen, and Karam Senue had risen to the throne of the Shokaze. He hadn't made any explicit decrees that she would have to ignore at her discretion.

Kaus and their winged companions were gone, scouting out their quarry, a small unit with a pair of Kathar thralls. Kala remained with Asallon, the summoner currently communing with spirits, and so the first winged Avialae woman in Ransera for generations, the young noble lady and goddess, was tending the small cookfire. She was clearly not growing too big for her britches. The kettle was on for tea, and she was preparing fruit, bread, and cheese for when the boys returned. They had already supped, but after hours of flying and tracking, they would likely need a snack before bed and nightwatch. Of course, the spirits Asallon and Indric could bind to keep watch would likely be enough, but four out of five of them were Avialae and they were in the Imperium—albeit far from the madding crowd—and they weren't taking any chances.

"A... spirit comes..." Asallon murmured, still in a trance. "Quickly."

Without seeming to hurry, Kala moved over to kneel beside Asallon. She placed her hand on the small of his back and focused on their bond. Much of what surprised her these days were the things she intuited through her divine nature. 'Tis a Star.

The pale blue wyrmling flung itself through the branches, circled the fire to slow down, and once Kala brought up her arm, it alit upon it, curling around her, keening in adoration.

Gui-Mao, my child.

Soon she was communing with the stellar spirit, and Asallon came to long enough to turn the tables on their state—now his hand was on the small of her back so he could understand her communion via their bond. As such, they were quite unaware of the air spirits circling frantically when the wagon approached. The cookfire flared, a salamander in the coals trying to warn them, as well. It wasn't until Gui-Mao glanced over to welcome the newcomers that Kala, and then Asallon glanced toward the treeline. Gui-Mao was not alarmed, and so Kala was not quite alarmed, and if Asallon reached for his dagger, it wasn't so much that he was alarmed as embarrassed for having not paid attention to the sentries he himself had set up to protect them.

The Siltori summoner was kneeling next to his winged goddess, a stellar wyrmling coiled around her wrist as they all looked at the new face.

She should have kept her cloak on, its glamours protecting her wings from sight, but she had needed to stretch them after so long and... well...

"Good evening," she said. "Welcome to our fire."

Kala resigned herself to the situation. She rose, then set a hand upon Asallon's shoulder that he might not startle out of his trance. That gave him headaches. Then she returned the half-bow.

"You are welcome to camp nearby for the night," she continued, "however, a woman with wings is a target in the Imperium and I would not wish to put you in danger, nor would I like for you to put me and mine in danger either. Can I rely upon your discretion?"

The young woman asked star spirit as much as the Dratori woman who - was that something draconic in her aura? - gazed at her from the edge of the circle of firelight.

"Three other Synnekar Avialae ride the winds hereabout, tracking. There are Kathar to be freed." Two, to be precise. If this foray into Imperial territory was successful, however, it might be the beginning of a war of attrition against the Obelisk, a quest given to her by Mother Naori even as she was given her divinity. Apparently, she thought honesty was the best strategy here. If the woman proved problematic, she was certain they could contain her until it was unnecessary, and then turn her loose. But if she traveled with stellar spirits, Kala hoped she would be an ally.

"I am Kala. This dreaming one here is Asallon." She indicated the kneeling Siltori with a nod of her head. Gui-Mao crept up her arm to perch upon her shoulder, beaming like it was the highest of honors, and then began to sing a strange, delighted song. One had to wonder if it was draconic or stellar or... both. The greatest gods were called Dragon Gods, after all. What that actually meant was a mystery of faith.

Kala nodded; her work in the Imperium would always be dangerous - for others as much as for herself. The Kathar were in danger of punishments. Bystanders were in danger of becoming collateral damage. And, of course, she and her people were in danger of capture, experimentation, and worse. She watched, curious, as a card was pulled from a deck and matched against her, and she almost laughed at the woman's name.

Starseeker, indeed. Well, she had found them - her familiar, Gui-Mao, and their young Mother.

Instead, she smiled.

"Welcome to our fire, Freya Starseeker," she said. She indicated camp chairs and a small, portable table. "I would welcome the wisdom of your cards." She knew how to read them herself, but was not in the habit of doing so regularly. While she was a jane-of-all-trades, she deferred to experts when she could.

Kala sat in one of the chairs, managing to make her etiquette by the cook fire seem entirely appropriate without making things uncomfortable. Asallon was coming to, aware enough to participate if he was needed, but still slightly off as he listened to the chorus of the spirits doing his bidding. He began to pour out tea for the women, and for himself. When the lads returned, there would be plenty for them as well.

To Freya's familiar, she gave a sober smile and a word, Welcome.

An introduction to the cards was nice. She knew them, but it didn't hurt to hear another person rehash them with her own words. Especially if the elf was going to read her cards, it would behoove them to develop a rapport first.

The request seemed odd, but Kala only hesitated for a moment. She didn't sense any taint of blood magic, nor did the affectionate star spirit warn her of any ill content. 'Twas a small risk then. She took out her curved dagger and pricked her finger like the proverbial princess, although this wasn't a the spindle on a spinning wheel.

Once the talisman had its due, they were treated with a bit of a show. Strange fire, and then the star spirit's map of the sky.

Kala smiled at the woman's description of the Keeper, nodding at those parts that resonated most with her. And then her own question was inspired by what Freya said.

"I wish to know more about this quest of mine," she said. "Whether we will be successful, about consequences, anything the cards wish to share."

At Freya's bidding, she took the deck and began to shuffle the cards, concentrating on her question, letting her aura linger over the cards, informing them. Compliant, she cut the deck per Freya's instructions, and then handed the reconstituted deck back to her. In the flicker of firelight and false starlight, Asallon brought them tea cups and set them on the table, but out of the way so the cards would have their space. Then he sat back, near enough to watch, but not so near as to crowd them. The Siltori liked a good mystery.

When Freya fanned the cards out, face down, and bade her select one at seeming random, Kala did so, then flipped it over and set it down on the table between them.

Kala's wards weren't the strongest, but they were carefully constructed and only occasionally flickered into view. The milieu in which Freya read her cards was strange, but then they were surrounded by stranger things that arcane shields—star spirits, for one.

The young Avialae admired the art of the cards even as she tried to remind herself that the iconography needn't be so dire as it looked, though it might indeed be so. She remained calm, remembering how long it had taken Baudric to come to terms with the truth of what had been done to him. Perhaps she had been given immortality because the work would be long, not the work of one woman's lifetime.

"Breaking the chains shall amount to naught if they are unaware of the chains or, worse, are comfortable with the chains," she acknowledged. Then, she nodded. "Yes, please. Do continue, especially if they offer advice how to make them aware of their chains and chafe at them."

Naori had given her the means to break their bonds to the Obselisk, to wingless overseers. She didn't want to core bond each of them in order to force them away from the Imperium, however. That wouldn't end well, would be cruel as the slavery of the Emperor.

Gui-Mao settled in her lap like a cat, content to be in her presence. That was a boon as it could be quite distracting if it wanted to be, or even if it had no such aims but was riled up. Such had brought Freya here to their hidden camp. And thankfully, Kala detected no alarm resonating through her bonds to Kaus, to Ceran, or to Indric.

Blue eyes turned curiously once more to the woman before her.