>>FROM:@STORMBORN | >>TO:@ALL

[dorzalta]

I ask that you use caution if encountering Yhych in the courts. Or at least carry with you an anti-toxin.

[ dot dot dot . . . ]

Is anyone a weapon-maker here?



>>FROM:@STORMBORN
>>TO:@BURGERKING, @PONYTAIL, @MODERATUS, @POINTANDKICK, @DIEDHARD, @BOARING, @AEGONNER, @PERSONALSTAFF

Ignore my next message until you are alone or are able to control your reaction.

[ There will be a pause, one which seems to tick away as an eternity for her. And then: ]

I'm told Kebechet is here.

Comments

[northerndragon]

I've spoken more to the Sergeant in the past. With the Scout, I've spent more time keeping her and your daughter apart than I have talking to her directly.

[dorzalta]

She seems prideful, but I see no reason not to be if a Regency member refers to you as a creature of catastrophe. I'll speak with her, then, the next chance I find.

[northerndragon]

All right.

A creature of catastrophe? Was this the man who wants the spear, or someone else?

[dorzalta]

The man who wished for the spear. Rather a dramatic coin of phrase, even for a Regency member.

[northerndragon]

It means he's afraid of her.

Good. Unless she's done worse than any of us to earn it.

[dorzalta]

I can't imagine what would earn her such a title.

[northerndragon]

Trouble for them. You could ask her that, too.

[dorzalta]

I could, but she seemed eager to brush aside any mention of her role in that mission. I don't know how forthcoming she'll choose to be.

You're the man of crows. Did you northern boys have a tale about being who would split into crows the way she does?

[ Northern boys. He can't hear it, but there's a flirty, teasing affection to the label. ]

[northerndragon]

No, but

sometimes the ravens and the crows seem like they know something you don't. And I did know a man who would watch the world through the eyes of an eagle, if he chose. He was a warg. It's not a leap to think some might use crows.

[dorzalta]

Do you think she could be a version of that?

[northerndragon]

Not after what she did in the stadium. Not after we saw birds fly out of her. I only don't know — is it the woman that's true, or the birds? Or both of them?

[dorzalta]

I've never stood near her. Perhaps she's an illusion, or a witch enough like Pyat Pree was.

[ She doesn't think that he'll have no inkling of who that wizard was; it's what happens when someone becomes so incorporated into one's life. ]

[northerndragon]

Pyat Pree?

The witch I knew, the Red Woman, she doesn't remind me very much of her. But it's a little strange to think that the crows are watching — that they're not just crows. A little like something from the Old Gods.

[dorzalta]

If the gods exist, what's to say one cannot walk amongst us? The Red Priestess believed in the prophecy.

Are you familiar with the House of the Undying?

[northerndragon]

No. Only the Silent Sisters. Are they anything to do with each other?

HORSEPOWERED spoke of knowing gods like knowing other people, once.

[dorzalta]

I've not heard of them. The House of the Undying is a large tower which housed the warlocks in Qarth. Pyat Pree represented them and kidnapped my dragons. When I went to find them, I was caught in illusion after illusion.

He did mention the gods, including one who raised him. He's not made mention of Scout to me.

[northerndragon]

You're not there now.

His gods aren't the same as the gods of our people. It seems like the gods of Scout's people would be different still.

[dorzalta]

I'm not, those illusions were like puzzles, not pointless violence. The fact remains that there is magic which exists, the sort which goes beyond what we understand. Ymir, these other gods, maybe even Scout as well.

[northerndragon]

So you solved the puzzle.

It makes me wonder. Ymir, wasn't it once something like Bob The Fish is? Are we meant to try to kill Bob if we lose this supply? It seems wrong to me.

[Morally wrong. "I don't know if I can continue with COST" levels of wrong.]

[dorzalta]

I killed the warlocks.

[ The span of silence with his question grows uncomfortably long, an answer in and of itself. ]

I refuse to participate in that.

[northerndragon]

That's one way to solve a puzzle.

So if killing Bob and having Irriella harvest the bones is the only option, we leave COST, then. We're agreed? No matter what it means? We accept that some wars aren't worth winning.

[There's a lot that each of them would do to win a just war. Both undeniably have blood on their hands.

That's a few steps past it, he thinks.]

[dorzalta]

[ She's laughing. You can't hear it, too bad, Jon. ]

You know my preference for solving problems.

[ But the levity dies as soon as it appears. ]

We leave if that is the only means of winning, agreed.

[ She promised Grothia her aid, but there are limits, and Bob was... Gods, what sort of toll would that take on Irriella? Was it worth the protection of their children, such an ancient being's death? ]

We can protect them. We have to protect them if it reaches that point.

[northerndragon]

We find some other way to make something impossible happen.

[dorzalta]

Together.

[northerndragon]

Together.

And if we fail, it won't be because we didn't try.