1629, Earth Season, Harmony Week, Probably Fireday
Context
At Tourney Altar, Varanis and Berra walk, talk, and climb. This follows on from a conversation between Varanis and Lord Raven (Kinship is complicated; associated with Session 6.05, S6P5 – needs editing).
Events
Varanis returns to the place where she and Raven left Berra, checking to see if the priest is still watching the blacksmiths’ huts.1B: Do me a Scan, and if that passes, an Insight. V: Both pass
Berra has moved and is now at the other side of their little camp, watching the entrance to the Temple. She looks tense, nervous in the way she does while she is twisting herself up in readiness for something.
Circling the camp widely ensures that the Vingan can be seen approaching well before she gets close to the anxious Humakti.
Berra is looking calm and peaceful by the time Varanis arrives, although that is by short Humakti standards; she gives a wave to the Vingan and hums a greeting. It is probably ‘hello’ but she forgot to say it, so it is “Uhn-un!”
“Lord Raven is out watching the sky, or he was. He said he didn’t have much time left outside the sword,” Varanis says by way of greeting. “I haven’t felt him come back, but I don’t know if I would.”
“He’s generally pretty quiet when he comes back.” Berra pulls herself to her full height to then bow as she puts her hand out for the sword.
Varanis offers the sword with both hands and a bow of her own. Her face is a streaky mess, making it obvious to anyone who is looking that she’s been crying recently, despite her calm tone and demeanour.
Berra takes the sword before she looks, and then her head tilts. “Y’alright?”
“Mhmmm. You? You looked ready to pounce when I first spotted you.” A deflection. Of course.
Berra considers. “I need to talk to High Sword Gorak. But he’s… weird. And also he might be Kargan Tor.”
“Kargan Tor?”2B: You may know this one – he’s the old god of war from before there was Death. Original god of, uh… gatekeeping and fighting things.
“Yeah, as the gatekeeper. But also, I think he’s really good at fighting things.” Berra’s face scrunches up in thought.
“But how is it possible for him to be Kargan Tor? Do you just mean he’s like the dead god?”
“Well, yeah. I mean, he’s not him. But, um, in that Heroquest, I think he was.” Berra gives Varanis a confused look.
“Oh, right. That makes more sense. Sorry. Rav… Lord Raven told me some hard truths. Or at least, he stuck them in front of me.” Varanis stares at her feet, then looks back to Berra. “It was needed, but I was shaken for a bit. I guess I still am.”
There is a wince, and Berra looks down at the sword. “Yeah, his house is called Truth. You want to go see if we can score some kumis, maybe wrestle a few people? Not cause trouble…”
Varanis snorts. “I’m not sure I should drink kumis. I don’t have the best history with it. Wrestling could be good. Do you suppose we can find some willing victims?”
There is a shrug. “It’s not too late. We only have to move around to find impala riders following us, but that kinda seems unfair. Foot race?”
“We could have fun wrestling with the pack?”3V: No wrestling with the pack. That’d be a pain to write. Or else really brief. “They were overconfident and rapidly overwhelmed by sheer numbers. They lost. The end.”
“A lot of them are children.” Berra’s nose wrinkles, and she gets into motion. “Let’s just go walk, and maybe we’ll have an idea.”
Her friend falls into step beside her. “I sort of embarrassed Lord Raven, by the way. For some reason, I assumed he could float in the air. Turns out… no.”
Berra puts her hand up, needing a moment, and then says, “Oh, wow. Yeah, he has weight. At least, he’s hard to push. Like he’s solid. Um, skinny, mind.”
“I found this great stone pillar… not as high as I’d like, but a pretty good perch. But… limited seating. Want to see it? Probably the best climbing near the camp.” The last isn’t saying much. Things are pretty flat overall.
Berra looks around. “Yeah, sure.” She points to the Temple, though, which is taller than just about anything nearby.
“I didn’t think it’d be polite to climb that,” Varanis replies with a shrug.
“Yeah. No.” Berra scuttles a little to catch up with Varanis and then settles down to walking. “Kolyey’s going to be learning all this week. I need t’ask Lord Gorak if he’s fine with me inviting his people to the worship of Eril.” Items on a list.
Varanis slows her steps enough to make catching up easy. When Berra finishes speaking, the Wind Lord says, “Please tell me how I can help prepare for the worship ceremony. You know that I will assist you any way that you permit it.”
“Uh, find people who know Heortling and Tradetalk? We’re going to need translators.” ‘We’. For all they are in different cults she speaks as if Varanis is a partner.
“I can do that,” the Vingan agrees.
“We should probably go around the market and stuff, too. To be polite.” Needs must when bronze-wearers come into a stone-working town.
“It’s always useful to see what’s on offer.” Varanis tends to get merchants excited when she comes to markets at places like this.4A Wind Lord who wears bronze and gold and carries iron. It’s kind of amazing she doesn’t get mugged, except people probably know enough to assume she earned the iron. Still hasn’t gone back to wearing Kallyr’s arm ring.
“Is that the rock?” Berra points, correctly, ahead. “Looks like a goddess left one of her bed-toys around.”
There’s choked laughter from her friend. “Yeah. Race you to the tip?”
Berra sets off at a dead sprint.5B: Pass on DEXx5. Jump or climb? V: I went with climb. Normal pass on both, which I think puts Berra ahead. B: Well, I haven’t rolled mine yet, but Berra did get a head start by just setting off. OK, pass on that too.
Varanis is on her heels but reaches the base of the stone a breath behind Berra. There are plenty of ways up, but Berra hogs the easiest, the selfish little blighter. It is a jump up to a small ledge, a bit of wriggling and scraping up a crack in the rock, and then a roll onto the top. Berra slaps her hand down on the highest point.
Laughing, Varanis acknowledges her defeat though that doesn’t stop her from squeezing onto the top too. One step the wrong way and either one of them could tumble off, but she’s heedless of the risk. It’s just falling, after all. And falling can become flying. And… she grabs hold of Berra. “I forgot you couldn’t fly. Don’t you dare fall or Raven will have my head.”
Berra peers over the edge. “Broken bones. I’ve fallen further. Hey… wanna see a really cool thing?” She glances down at her iron sword for a moment, and her hand brushes the hilt.
“Yes?”
Berra says, “Alright. Just make sure I don’t fall. And this is a big secret, right?” She unbuckles Lord Raven’s sword, carefully.
Varanis keeps her grip on Berra by grabbing onto her belt.
Berra holds her sword carefully, rather outwards. A smoky cloud begins to form around it, with a tiny red glow. “It’s something that can’t really be done except for the battlefield, and in Dark Season,” Berra explains. “Because of how he’s made.”
Varanis whistles. “Does that mean that if you strike with the sword, he will be the one doing the killing?”
“Shh…” Berra is watching, rapt.
The cloud coalesces. Tiny claws scrabble for purchase on the metal of the hilt and a rough ‘caw’ echoes. The red glow becomes a distorted patch, around an eye. A raven perches on the hilt, head tipped to stare at the pair of them.
Unconsciously mirroring the bird, Varanis tilts her own head. “Lord Raven?” she asks in an awed whisper.
There is another caw, a flutter of wings, and he is off into the desert. Berra watches after him, and breathes, “I can’t fly, but he can.” Awe, care, amazement. There is even a suggestion she wants to keep him safe by getting into fights before he can, which is one of the ways Humakti express love.
The Vingan just keeps watching in the direction he headed, searching the sky as he disappears from sight. “One day, I’d like to fly with him,” she finally says.
Berra watches too. “We don’t tell people he can do that. He can’t see much in the dark, but at the time it’s worth him forming in the day, we probably really need him to. Maybe then he’ll need a guard.”
“How long will he fly for?”
“As long as he’s got. He didn’t stay out as a man for long, so a few more minutes?” Berra is likely guessing. “He’s probably going to be tired later.”
“It’s good that he has some freedom,” Varanis replies, compassion softening her words before she realizes the implications of them. “Not that… well… we all know it was necessary, but it… fuck. You know what I mean.”
“Yeah. Sometimes he goes up to the eaves and I don’t think he even flies much. I know what you mean.” Berra shrugs. “Anyhow, it’s really cool, and he can do it, and that’s good.”
“What’d he say to you when you told him about Silor and me adopting each other?” A change of subject with the abruptness of Berra and the self-focus of Varanis.
“Uh…” Berra looks confused, and then says, “That it would be polutically interesting?” She aims for his accent and misses. “And sometime about Silor having a conversation, but I couldn’t tell if he already knew. He keeps that kinda thing pretty private.”
“I didn’t really think about how it might affect Venlar or the Cinder Foxes… through me, they are even more closely connected to Fazzur than they would have been with Mellia.”
“Oh, yeah. Right.” Berra wrinkles her nose in thought. “Practically in-laws.”
They are standing awkwardly at the top of the pillar still. No room to sit. “Wanna head down?” Varanis offers.
“Well, I kinda like it here. But Lord Raven’s gone. We could go back.”
“I’m in no rush. We can stay a while longer.”
Berra carefully buckles her sword back on, and falls silent, watching the stars.
- 1B: Do me a Scan, and if that passes, an Insight. V: Both pass
- 2B: You may know this one – he’s the old god of war from before there was Death. Original god of, uh… gatekeeping and fighting things.
- 3V: No wrestling with the pack. That’d be a pain to write. Or else really brief. “They were overconfident and rapidly overwhelmed by sheer numbers. They lost. The end.”
- 4A Wind Lord who wears bronze and gold and carries iron. It’s kind of amazing she doesn’t get mugged, except people probably know enough to assume she earned the iron. Still hasn’t gone back to wearing Kallyr’s arm ring.
- 5B: Pass on DEXx5. Jump or climb? V: I went with climb. Normal pass on both, which I think puts Berra ahead. B: Well, I haven’t rolled mine yet, but Berra did get a head start by just setting off. OK, pass on that too.
