Written Wonderland

The commander sat through the conversation her captains had, her body tensing as Evan started raising his voice. She was prepared to intervene, but she wouldn't do it unless Evan got further out of line. Serio could handle himself.

She was uneasy about returning to the idea of sending another soldier with Evan. While they might come back as expected, sending them now seemed far riskier than sending them as a group. And then they were back to trying to decide who would take that risk.

Then again, spending the time and energy to visit the crone was not especially appealing. The commander was already concerned about how much they were presently relying on her. Still, it was difficult to disagree when her ambassador and her spymaster were both suggesting the visit as a course of action.

Mizu felt urgency in the air that indicated a decision needed to be made, and quickly.

"It sounds as though we are in agreement about postponing the ceremony until tomorrow. Captain Kade, I still want to begin preparing for that possibility. In the meantime, Captain Rutliff, you may visit the crone, but make it a short visit and come back as soon as you are finished there. At minimum, we have Ponderance's gift to offer her tonight, which is no small gesture."

The commander stood from the table to prepare the two of them for dismissal. Before that, though, she added, quietly, "And for my part, it's time Captain Bronwen was informed."

((OOC: happy to change scenes or do whatever from here.))

((OOC: ok, Evan/crone here, Mizu/Blake and Serio/Novelty in their respective threads ))

Serio and Evan both nodded resolutely as Mizu spoke, both of them glad that a plan of action was solidifying. Evan's eyebrows raised slightly when Mizu mentioned informing Blake, but he left it at that, perfectly glad that that wasn't his duty. Serio also certainly didn't envy Mizu; it was a job he would do if needed, but really, the commander was the best possible person the news could come from for Blake.

"I'll go set things in motion," Serio said with a small bow, and turned to take his leave. Evan blinked after him, and his own body leaned towards the tent's exit. He stopped himself and looked back to Mizu, but found he wasn't entirely sure what to say. He partly wanted to give her a good luck about Blake, but wasn't sure that'd be in good taste.

He finally settled on, "I'll be back with some answers soon," and then hastily made off towards the crone's cabin.

---

((OOC: and I guess, it would be helpful to get a brief scene set there. I'll start on setting the scene for Blake in a new thread... might be useful to know what Novelty's up to in his thread... not necessarily nowish (in game) since Serio's got some stops to make first, but at some point that afternoon?))

When the captains had left, the old woman set about her preparations with calculated haste. On the one hand, she wanted to be quick in the event that the ceremony did need to take place tonight. On the other, she wanted to be both thorough and forgiving of her body. She was already tired.

Several times, she looked toward the past and the future to gain some insight as to what might happen, but too many decisions had to be made before the shape of matters would coalesce. The crone hoisted several large buckets of the salt mixture she had used in the goddess' summoning into the clearing, grateful she had purchased a great deal of the materials from the trader that had come by a few weeks prior. But, she would need to make a trek to the spring that still fed the river behind the goddess' ruined temple, and it was quite a walk there. While the old woman was in good shape considering her age, she still did not want to put such a walk off.

She brought several leather canteens with her to fill with the spring water--they would need it in addition to the water Captain Kade would bring--and a small amount of dried meat before she set out.

((OOC: I believe she will arrive back about 10-15 minutes after Evan gets there. If he decides to wait, she will come back from around the side of the cottage nearest the forest (to the right if facing the cottage).))

Evan walked briskly through the clearing--checking for any lines or circles on the ground to avoid, but being pretty fucking hasty about it. When he got to the crone's door he gave it two solid raps, and grew anxious quickly when he didn't hear so much as a shuffle inside.

"Hello?" He called, loudly but trying to keep it more tonal than a yell. Still nothing. Fucking great. The captain turned around and paced a few steps back towards the trail, and then back towards the door again, before sloughing himself down against the wall of the cabin. What did it mean that the crone wasn't here? Was it possible that whatever injured the goddess that hurt her priestess, as well? But, hadn't Serio just talked with her? Right... maybe he'd set her to task doing something; that'd be just fucking like him. Would've been nice if he'd told Evan, though. Ughhhh.

The captain rubbed somewhat furiously at his hair, trying to calculate how long it was reasonable to sit and just... wait. It felt important to talk to the crone--really fucking important--but Evan also recognized that the sun was getting awfully low in the sky, and he absolutely didn't want to miss the goddess' portal tonight. At least they didn't need to have all the volunteers set in stone yet... so there was that.

The captain groaned and pushed himself to his feet, too antsy to stay seated. Besides, what if she really was hurt? Should he just bust into the cabin to see? Surely not after just a few minutes, though. But, unable to slake his anxiety, Evan meandered around the cabin to find a window to peer into. When he couldn't make out anything noteworthy there, he continued around the cabin to find another.

At last, he heard footsteps, and quickly backed away from the cabin window to toss his gaze in the direction they approached from. Once he figured the direction, he hurried around to the side of the cabin nearest the footsteps, and his face brightened to see the crone, perfectly fine--albeit, perhaps weighed down by something. Evan rushed to go meet her, partly out of impatience, partly in case he could help with something. When he got closer, it seemed she was indeed carrying some canteens, and Evan held his hands out to her in a silent offering to load him up. It wasn't terribly far to the cabin, but he wanted to be helpful if he could be, especially since he was here to ask something of her. He should probably start with the update that might affect her specific plans first, though, however much he wanted to get to his burning question after.

"We've decided to send the volunteers tomorrow night. I'm to take that news to the goddess tonight."

The old woman handed Evan several of the canteens wordlessly, mildly surprised at his appearance--and his urgent energy--but she had been meditative on her walk back. Preparing actual volunteers, not just one-off desperate attempts to free the goddess, was bringing back memories of happier times.

That the captain had news immediately pulled the crone back to the present. She frowned as she walked the last few steps toward the cottage door, opening it for herself and gesturing Evan inside. She dropped two canteens on the table and assumed Evan would follow her lead as she took a seat there. Perhaps this meant they would have more time, then, and she could afford a short rest while she talked to the man. The crone was grateful that he seemed well. The other men she had sent to the goddess had not lasted this long. It was getting far too easy to hope.

And yet, even with the ceremony tomorrow, there was still so much to prepare. The crone let out a deep sigh and shook her head slowly side to side.

"It's risky," she said simply, "but so is everything else you've done so far." After a moment of thought, she asked, "Is it for lack of time or lack of interest?" She was curious how the army at large held the goddess. She knew that their leadership was at least in agreement now, but they wouldn't be the ones leaving.

Evan did indeed follow the crone's lead and set the canteens he carried on the table, grateful that she'd let him help without fuss. He remained standing though, partly unsure whether it would be presumptuous to sit, and partly having a bit too much energy to want to sit.

He couldn't help an airy chuckle when the crone said everything he did was risky. He certainly couldn't argue with that. When she asked her follow-up question, he grew a little more serious and answered quickly: "Time."

He paused only briefly, wanting to give himself a chance to gather his thoughts before he blurted them out entirely.

"We want to put on a proper ceremony--what can be pulled together in a day, anyhow. Also..." the captain chewed a frown as he mulled over how to approach this next bit. He realized, he probably shouldn't just... out and say who Ponderance was, and why they were listening to him... maybe he could approach this from a more theoretical angle?

"I did want to ask, though... I'm, uhm, a little worried she might have gone ahead and released the Shel'ti..." the captain couldn't quite stay still on his feet, his weight swaying from side to side as his toes wiggled in his boots. He really was awful at lying, but he hoped the crone wouldn't push him on it. "Will she be all right, until we get her the volunteers? I'm considering offering to stay with her through the day, if necessary."

Course, that still didn't address the injured question, but it'd take Evan a bit longer to think up how in the hell to approach that from a different angle.

The crone narrowed her eyes at Evan when he paused, curious about why he would have that suspicion. Had the goddess told him something? But, rather than focus on that, she gave thought to his actual question. Would the goddess be all right?

The old woman took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

In all the literature, myths, and books the priestess had read, everything told her that leaving the goddess alone was asking for trouble. And that wasn't even considering that the goddess was trapped and otherwise under duress. But how to explain all that to this captain? And would it be safe for him to spend extra time with her?

As though she had all the time in the world, the crone started into her explanation. "The gods are not just imbued with stranger powers than we are," the crone began, "they are more potent distillations of us. They feel everything more potently and experience it more thoroughly than most of us could ever imagine. The goddess Dehaljadrun is a distillation of desire and creativity, of dreams and connection, of what might be. Leaving her alone creates within her with a vast cavern of loneliness and hunger that I could not possibly fathom." Tehlunae paused again, taking another deep breath. "I don't understand why she would have done that to herself. But, in some ways, these distillations make the gods more fragile than we are."

Now, to address if Evan's presence would be enough for her. "From what I understand of her--and while I have served her longer than anyone else I know, I still only profess to know little--her identity, her power, and her stability comes from the lifeblood of others. We sustain her. Our rushing excitement, our wish fulfillment--they all feed her. Do I think that a day or two would leave her starved enough to cause problems? Probably not. But then again, the king has left her starving for a very, very long time."

"Then again, staying with her during the day... I must admit I doubt her self-control. It may be best to get some time away from her to remind you why you are going there."

Evan slowly shrank and tensed as the crone spoke, his body horrified at trying to grok a superhuman loneliness. His fist clenched fiercely at his side, only barely holding back from gripping at his shirt against his chest. He'd been starved for connection plenty in his life, and he didn't relish imagining even larger chasms than that, yet he couldn't stop himself from trying to, even if it made his heart ache and wound up the anxiousness in his gut, screaming at him to figure out how to get back to her now now NOW.

And then, despite all that, the crone cautioned him against staying with the goddess. Evan didn't realize his eyes had been growing watery until a tear escaped, and the captain hastily brushed it away. His hand rubbed awkwardly at his neck afterwards, his gaze flicked off to the side as though that would hide how affected he felt. He was quiet for a moment, chewing a frown as he tried to keep the emotions in his body calm, despite the need to contemplate even worse things than the priestess suggested.

"Is..." Evan started, his expression flinching as he stumbled over how in the hell to approach this. He thought about asking the priestess if she knew of anything that could injure the goddess, but instead decided to take a slightly more direct approach, especially since he was curious about this even without Ponderance's concern. The captain brought his gaze back to the old woman a little nervously.

"What do you know about Samael?"

The priestess found herself pleased that Evan had been emotionally affected by what she had said, and really, it boded well that he was. If he could fathom the deep of sensation the goddess had, perhaps he really would free her.

She listened patiently as the captain fought for words, but when she heard Samael's name, she quickly closed her eyes, giving herself time to think. She saw flashes of the interactions Evan had with Samael and tried to make sense of them. Nothing she saw comforted her. It seemed the goddess was worse off than the crone had originally expected. And that Samael was involved did not bode well.

"I haven't heard that name in a long time," the old woman said without opening her eyes. She could get incredibly lost trying to answer Evan's question, so she dug deeper. What was he really asking about here? Was Samael a threat? Might he have pressured the goddess to release the Shel'ti?

The truth was, the crone knew a lot about Samael, but little of it felt relevant.

Opening her eyes, the priestess said, "Let's just say he has a long walk back to paradise."

Admittedly, Evan's first impulse with the crone's response was frustration, and his expression betrayed as much, but he reeled it in quickly, acknowledging that he himself had been vague.

"Is he a danger to the goddess?" he clarified, dropping his hand to his side and rocking his weight to his other hip as he brought his gaze back to the crone, his eyes both angry and worried. "Especially if she's alone?"