Kire barely hid the look of disgust on her face when Sireen described what those who consecrated themselves to the Goddess used to do to dedicated themselves to her. Amria had its fair share of antiquated, barbaric religious rituals, outlawed by her predecessors, but she was sure that there must be some corners of Amria that such practices continued. She returned her attention to Sireen as she told Ruli where the texts could be, and what had happened to the other priestesses.

Deep beneath Ziad. The catacombs. Kire breathed in deep when Sireen said that. Should have known. She sighed, standing up, taking Sireen’s hand gently. “Thank you for answering our questions,” she said, smiling gently at the woman. “If I may ask a favor? If you remember anything else about the goddess or her—children, would you kindly let us know? I will be very grateful.”

She was quiet for a few moments after they left Sireen’s home. “So. Either hunt down the texts or the former priests and priestesses. If nobody’s speaking up about their worship of her here, that might take some effort.” Kire frowned. “There’s precious little else to go on, and I’m not even sure what in the seven hells this goddess wants with Amria. Though, so far, all she’s done is make a forest sprout up out of nowhere and give us confounding visions.” She ran a hand through her hair, huffing. “For now, I think the next course of action is to watch the inhabitants of that town closely, and to see if that weird phenomenon happens again someplace. See if we get more visions, or more ‘miracles’. Wait and see.” She didn’t look happy with what she had just said. "Would Envy know more about Solaralai's religion?"

Sireen smiled again. "Such pretty eyes." She repeated when she saw Kire before her. "If I remember anything, I will let you know."

Ruli had his doubts about that. But he stood and said his thank yous before he followed Kire away from the house, his hands deep in his pockets. He felt the need for a bath to wash away the woman's words, to wash away the vision of the goddess. Why him? Why did he need to be the one to see her?
"Hm?" Ruli glanced at Kire, having not been listening. "Oh. I don't know about the religion, but he'll have information on her. He taught me what I know."

He fell quiet again as they wandered back up toward the caves. Ruli still struggled with the feeling that he was forgetting something, and the longer it followed him, the more torn he became between wanting to forget it altogether and wanting to remember before he dismissed it. Had the goddess said something to him? What had he seen in her wings?
Something. Something, something, something.

"Envy." He said as they stepped in.
The Kartaian inhaled, grinning thinly. "I have been acosted by Gavin, who seems to think we're being hired in Amria?"
Ruli nodded. "Yeah. Protection wards. Envy, can we ask you about the sun goddesss?"
Envy's eyebrows rose, and his face shifted toward Kire, though he overshot and stared over her shoulder. What is ... no, come here, first." he said, beckoning them to follow as he started for his chambers.

Kire raised a brow at Ruli as she looked at him. He looked distracted, almost like the way Daryll had been right after the visions. She walked with him back to the caves, similarly wondering why the goddess would show herself to somebody who didn’t really pray to her or worship her. And why did she feel such foreboding towards the temple? Beyond associating it with the carnage Ikegai had brought upon Ziad, there seemed to be something else. The dragon and the goddess. Kire huffed. She couldn’t really blame Ruli for sinking into his own thoughts when she, too, couldn’t help but do the same.

She smiled, though, when they saw Envy, and followed him back to his chambers at his bidding. Once they had sat down, Kire turned to the Kartaian and spoke. “The protection wards might come especially handy now, given certain developments,” she began, and then she launched into a recounting of what had happened, and a description of each vision they had seen. “We’re trying to find out as much as we can about Solaralai. If there are still priests or priestesses alive somewhere, better if they have some record or scripture, that would be good. But right now, it’s anybody’s guess what this Goddess wants with my country, or if it’s just some freak magical occurrence.”

Even as she said that last, she snorted softly. “Fat chance of that, though. None of these visions are telling me she comes in peace—though, okay, none of them are overtly an attack, either. I think. See, this is why I don’t pray anymore,” she muttered, frowning.

As Kire jumped into the explanation of the strange happenings in Amria, Ruli slumped against the cavern wall, resting his heat against his hand. When Kire mentioned Solaralai, Envy raised his eyebrows gently, swallowing.
"She knows." Ruli said without provocation.
"Oh." Envy answered. "Oh!" He glanced to Ruli, then to Kire, swallowing so many questions to focus on the task at hand. "Right. Well, no, she's never been known to be peaceful, exactly, but she hasn't always been necessarily cruel. Look at the elves, for instance. Her forbidding their travel in daylight has likely save men from nihilation."
"Our of spite of our existence." Ruli put in.
"Well, sure, we're they bastard offspring of the God she adored and felt she had a right to. Just because her thought process is incorrect doesn't mean she's not benevolent. Without her sunlight, the world would have withered, all life would have collapsed. Her balance with the Moon God has helped our world thrive."
Ruli narrowed his eyes, skeptic. "Neither of them exist, or did exist, in Kire's world, and its doing just fine. This bitch is just taking credit for something she's simply piggy-backing onto."

Envy pursed his lips, then turned toward Kire. "I doubt all of her fellowship perished in Ziad when it fell. There's bound to be some somewhere. I reluctantly suggest asking the princess. Her family has always been patrons of the temple, if there is a priest or priestess left, she'll know."
He sighed, and leaned back. "Truthfully, I would like to assume she's exploring your world. She broke through somehow. She's dipping her toe into this new playground to see what is available for her."
"There's no elves." Ruli said, realizing. "She'll love that."

Kire smiled briefly at Envy's surprise regarding what she knew about their gods, then listened as he offered a counterpoint to her impression of the Goddess. He did have a point. Gods in general had complicated attitudes, their tempers a reflection of Nature's power and human caprices. "To be honest, I'm not fond of the other god, either. He might not help how he feels and who he loves, but he's a god. Surely he should have had an idea what would befall his offspring if Solaralai found out. And as for my world, if indeed the gods exist, or had existed in its ancient times, then there must have been good reason for their leaving, or magic being sealed away. The idea of a new god taking interest in Amria doesn't really fill me with glee, benevolent or not."

A conversation with Risa, though. She sighed at that. "I'll talk to her, then. Beats going back to the ruins of Ziad, at least. Should I wear my full regalia for that conversation?" she asked, grinning at Ruli, only half-joking.

Ruli glanced toward Kire, staring blankly for a moment before he blinked and his attention returned. "Ah, I never know with her." He answered. "If you show up in full armour she might assume its a take-over. You want answers, dress normally, and she'll tell you anything to get you to go away."

He stood, grumbling at the idea of speaking to Risa, and wondering if he could pass along the chore of escort to Zeke or Ysaryn.
"Envy." he said suddenly. "Are you going to make yourself a charm to allow you to help us out?"
"Mm." Envy grumbled. "I have Gavin making something for me already."
"You sound so pleased."
"Go bother the princess." The Kartaian ordered, and Ruli smirked and wandered out of his chambers.

"I've only ever seen him take on a daylight charm once before. Narda must have made quite the impression." Ruli commented as they left the caves.

Kire chuckled at his comment about Envy as they made their way outside. “That’s a surprise for me, too. Narda’s mellowed out a lot more than I thought she had. I suppose the two of them have really been longing for the kind of company the other provides. It’s adorable, and that’s a word I don’t normally use on my friend.” She grinned briefly at that, then remembered their impending task and sighed. “You’d think being used to pompous nobles like Risa, and worse, that talking to just her would be less taxing. But I feel my soul rolling its eyes at the mere thought of it. I’m tempted to put it off for tomorrow.”

She glanced at Ruli. “Are you alright? You seem pretty shaken by what you’ve seen. Then again, who doesn’t get shaken by a sudden appearance of a god?” She shook her head, then paused, looking back at him. “Um.” She rubbed her nape. “I know it’s not a week yet, but can I sleep over here tonight? Just that—with this whole thing going on, I’m already anticipating a week’s worth of headaches.” She shrugged, appearing—at least in her head—nonchalant about it. “I usually get a good night’s sleep when I’m here.”

Ruli merely nodded along when she pointed out the difference in Narda, and then grunted when she mentioned putting off Risa til tomorrow.The less time he spent talking to that woman, the happier he'd be, so he had no argument in postponing their meeting.
And when Kire asked if he was alright, Ruli glanced at her, then raised a shoulder in a shrug. "Yeah. I just - I feel like I'm forgetting something. I'm positive I saw more than I remember in the vision, but I can't recall what, exactly. There's just that feeling that I'm forgetting something horrible, and as much as I try, I can't remember."

He sighed, gesturing with his hand, palm upward. "Yeah. Stay. I never mind. Can't promise a cake, though." He started upward, toward the cliff tops and the castle perched on its end, but stopped might flight. "Can we postpone her until tomorrow?" Ruli asked, exasperated. "I never want to talk to her, I might send Ysaryn in my place."

Kire nodded, stopping when he did, all too willing to leave the task for tomorrow. “Ugh. Yeah, sure. Even if we get anything useful out of Risa, Solaralai’s appearance and behavior in Amria is uncharted territory. Until it happens again, which, safe to say, is a certainty, and we see a pattern in the phenomena, we’re flying blind anyway.” She grinned when he said he couldn’t promise cake. “I’m not that big of a glutton. And fair enough, I can talk to Risa with just Ysaryn tomorrow. I’ll go back home for a bit and check on Daryll’s progress, see if he needs a second pair of eyes looking over the manifests. I’ll be at the house after dinner.”

The moment she returned to the Tower, Daryll immediately roped her into his research which, to her dismay, involved poring over long lists of major and minor families, tracing their bloodline to any prominent mages or sorcerers, and looking up old accounts of places where magical phenomena may have happened. Most of these were recorded in stories, or in tomes that detailed major events in certain regions of the continent. Now and then Daryll would stop as if distracted, and Kire wondered if his thoughts drifted back to the woman in his vision. By dinnertime they had pinpointed areas on a map that might be potential sites for an explosion of magical energy like the forest today. These were places were supposed miracles, faery-stories, or legends allegedly took place, though given the nature of such tales, it was hard to know for sure how accurate this information was.

Daryll ate by the table, still looking at his notes, while Kire ate with Ed and the little ones. Etta was more glum today; she had been having nightmares, and last night she had woken up feverish. Precy, too, wasn’t her cheerful self, worried about her cousin. The healers at the Palace were able to care for her earlier that day, but the girls missed Elva’s care. “We’ll see her tomorrow, don’t worry,” Kire assured them. After dinner, Kire told them she’d be staying over at her house in Uvano, and Ed asked her to give word to Ysaryn he would be coming over the next day. Remembering that the elf had insisted she not say a word about the conversation they had about him, Kire only nodded in reply before going over the gate. “Ugh. My poor eyes,” Kire muttered in Taakalon as she stepped through. She’d hunt down Ysaryn first, then head over to her house, already thinking about the soft bed.

Ysaryn was easy to find, out on her nightly patrol of the docks to ensure all the tasks were done and ready for the retrieval the next morning. One of her female's pointed toward Kire as she approached, and Ysaryn broke away to meet her. "Well met." She greeted, and, as Kire passed along Ed's message, the elf nodded. She'd make a note to meet him at the gate, to ensure no unfortunate meetings with her family.

Ruli was in Kire's house, loitering in the sitting room, lost in his thoughts about the vision. He still couldn't remember. He knew, subconsciously, that it had been important, and wondered if he was being prevented from remembering.
When he heard the door open, he looked up, offering a small smile to Kire. "How was Daryll?" He wondered. Perhaps if Daryll had luck, Ruli would find some way to imrpove his own.

Kire smiled back when she saw Ruli inside the sitting room. She sat down on the couch next to him, then slumped back with a huff. "He's still researching when I left. I don't think he intends to sleep; he brewed another pot of coffee. We mostly just tried to anticipate which provinces would experience some magical anomaly, though it's mostly just educated guesswork."

She yawned, then leaned closer, resting her head on his shoulder. "Last thing I saw him doing was look up emblems, sketches, insignias. Said something about the woman's dress being familiar somehow. He's practically married to the desk right now." She sighed, lazily reaching for his hand, lacing her fingers with his as she fell silent. "And you? No luck remembering yet?"

Ruli grunted again in response, turning his head slightly when she leaned against him. He went still, hoping not to disturb her. "No. Maybe." He flexed his fingers gently, mindful not to squeeze. Her hand felt so warm. "She showed me something. I remember that. But the details are fuzzy." He was silent for a few seconds, thinking. "Maybe I'll ask Envy to root around, see what he can find. I normally wouldn't ask, but if a goddess is showing me something, it has to be important, right?"

He turned to look her way again. "You? Any further understanding? I feel as if you got the most vague of the visions. Figured with the Seer shit, you'd have some detailed map in your head."

She snorted softly at his remark about the Seers. "I've stopped expecting actual clear direction from Them," she muttered, her thumb softly rubbing his. "But--I don't know, it felt like a warning to me somehow. You saw a god from your world and I saw mine. If magic is coming back..." Her voice trailed off as her tired mind wandered. Dragons. What if they came back too? And would they be happy with another deity in Amria?

She closed her eyes for a moment, feeling the warmth of his hand, comfortable as she nestled against him. "I'm half-asleep," she admitted. "Will you stay?"

"But did your god try to tell you something?" He wondered. "Any sign, movement, anything, that might be a warning?" Ruli sighed.

When she asked about his staying, he cracked a grin. "I assumed that was the idea." He admitted, rising to his feet and tugging her to hers with their intertwined hands. "Come on, you. Need that beauty rest before you see Her Royal Nose tomorrow."

He led her to the bedroom and pulled back the blankets, crawling in after her. Once he was settled against her, sharing one another's warmth, he closed his eyes. But it still took him a while to sleep, his thoughts circling the vision relentlessly for hours.

Kire had had this nightmare before, many, many times. The world around her on fire, and the rubble of the Palace about to fall upon her, as it did sixty years ago during the Storm. The only thing that saved her then was an attendant, who had helped look after her as a girl growing up in the Capital, falling upon her, her final act of service shielding her from the worst of the damage. In these dreams she would relive that moment, her young hands reaching up, the world going black, the death cry of the woman who saved her, and pain. She knew how the rest would go: she had fallen in and out of consciousness on that day, until later in the evening she would be found, bleeding from some cuts and scrapes but otherwise alright, with the blood of the dead attendant on her tattered dress, and later she would be told that she had lost her mother and father, too. This was how she became Empress, upon the ruins of her home, and at the cost of many lives. Her dream would flash through them, the events of the day blurring into one another until she was told of the loss of her parents, the one other moment besides the collapse of the old Palace wing that would be most vivid of all.

But the nightmare was different this time. Though it began the same way as before, this time, she was a grown woman, and she was alone, buried under the rubble. Through the cracks and crevices she could see red skies. Her throat burned with thirst, as if she had been under the rubble for hours, and she could feel their oppressive weight pushing down on her. Get out, get out, get out! In desperation she dug through, clawing at the debris until, at last, she was able to free herself, her fingers bleeding from the effort. When she stood upon the rubble, though, she found, to her horror, that she wasn’t anywhere familiar.

She was standing on the ruins of a place she had never seen before: broken pillars of stone and wood, statues cast down onto the ground, and the fields around her on fire. Above her, flashes of flame. Kire looked up and gasped: the great silhouettes of dragons fighting in the air filled the sky. A white-hot light shone behind her. When she turned, she saw a massive gate, so huge and bright it blinded her. She heard the angry roar of dragons rend the air, and Kire cowered, covering her head with her arms, as they swooped down upon the gate, ready to breath dragon-fire at it…

Kire woke with a gasp. She had been gripping the sheets, her body tense, breathing heavily. “Fuck…” She collapsed back onto her pillows, rubbing her face with one and with the other reaching for Ruli’s hand.

--

Ed stepped out of the gate, sword at his hip. He hadn’t been able to sleep properly, between worrying about what the strange forest and visions could mean for Amria and about his fight with Ysaryn. There was so much about the former that they couldn’t control, not until Kire or the others found some other clue or gathered more information about it, and the latter he attributed to his own stupidity. But at least he could do something about it. Would she even entertain me now? he wondered, feeling very much like the young, foolish man he had been when he had been Earnest’s age.

Ruli jumped when she did, raising himself up on an elbow. She'd been twisting in her sleep, muttering, sweating, and he tried to coax her out of it. She'd ignored him, only to jolt awake shortly after, her grand finale a swear. He watched her flop down again, reaching for him. His hand found hers and he settled against her, pressing his brow against the side of her head.
"Maybe its the cake that helps you sleep." He muttered to her before tucking his arm across her torso. "Hour til sunrise. Sleep." He added, exhaling against the crook of her neck.

~

Waiting for Ed, putting an end to at least a portion of his concerns, was Ysaryn. Without her combat leathers, wearing soft hues of lavenders and grey, she looked rather feminine. One side of her hair pinned back behind her ear, her eyes glittered brightly with the morning light. "Wyvern." She greeted him, her fuchsia eyes scanning him curiously. She noted the bags beneath his eyes, and the slight dishevel to his hair. "You look like feces." Ysaryn tossed at him, arching one eyebrow gently. "The forest is not that bad, yes?"

Kire smiled tiredly at his comment, but only for a moment. As he settled against her, bidding her to sleep, she nodded, closing her eyes and trying to ignore what she had just seen. But even with the comfort of Ruli’s warmth next to her, she couldn’t go back to sleep immediately. She stared up at the ceiling, piecing the nightmare together, even as the details started slipping from her grasp. The feeling of foreboding she felt from it was not all that different from the one that accompanied the vision in the forest. It was a warning.

She did eventually manage to sleep just before sunrise, and by the time she stirred again the sun was already up. Kire cursed softly when she woke, curling against Ruli with a groan, unwilling to get up. “Is it too much to ask the powers-that-be to not give me strange dreams after giving us weird, inexplicable visions?” she muttered against his shoulder.

--

Ed smiled warmly at Ysaryn the moment he saw her, grinning at her observation about the way he must look. “Good morning to you, too, milady.” At her comment about the forest, he shook his head, walking out of the gate chamber with her “The forest may not be that bad, but I am worried about what else might come after.” He sighed, looking sidelong at her. “And I worried about what you might think of me, after yesterday.”

Ruli groaned again when he felt her wake, inhaling before yawning. "I think its too much to ask that they don't meddle to begin with." He grumbled back at her, extending his legs in a stretch before rolling onto his back. He blinked his bleary eyes open squinting at the ceiling. For a moment, he'd forgotten they weren't in his little home before remembering. He sighed. "What was it about?" He wondered. "You were muttering in your sleep. You sounded afraid."

~

Ysaryn raised her chin, acknowledging the dangers that lurked within the forest. She recalled seeing him in her vision. Different. With a man who looked younger. Who could have been a son. Same blue eyes. Same blond hair.
"I need to know you are worth the fight, Wyvern." Ysaryn answered him. "Did you yield to me?"

She sat up, cross-legged on the bed when he rolled onto his back. "I thought I was having an old dream about the Black Storm. Did you notice part of the Palace looks older than the rest? That's a portion of the original structure; the rest was damaged. I was buried in the rubble when it happened, and I'd have a dream about it now and then. This nightmare started out like that."

Kire frowned down at her hands. "This time, when I got out of the debris, I saw more dragons. I'm not at the Palace but somewhere--ancient? It feels ancient. And I saw the largest world gate I've ever seen. I woke up just as a dragon was about to rain fire on it." She looked up and at the window; hearing the sea helped calm her. "I feel like I'm being warned somehow. This, and yesterday's vision. But damn it, I can't do anything if that's all I have to go on."

She rubbed her face, sighing. "Guess I should talk to Risa soon and get it over with. Then we'll discuss the wards for the Palace after and how much gold I should be paying you," she added with a smirk.

--

Ed knew that question was coming. "I did. Foolish thing to do, I realize now. I had thought you needed to let off steam and take your anger out on me, and my winning the match would anger you further." He sighed, frowning. "I realize now that that isn't your way." He looked into her bright eyes. "I'd like to rectify the situation."

Ruli turned his head, watching her as she sat up. He was still far from waking completely, and unwilling to sit up yet, but her words brought his mind from the fog of sleep. He hadn't really noticed about the structure of the castle, but its architecture hadn't been a priority at the time. Maybe when he and Gavin went back to work, he'd take a closer look.
It sounded terrifying, though. Her dream. "Do you have that dream alot?" He wondered. "You said 'old dream', as if its reoccurring." He sat up with a groan, sitting cross legged beside her, his shoulder brushing hers. "Two visions of sorts with dragons. And a cranky goddess. Maybe your dragons are pissed about the world gate appearing, and want it torn down before my cranky goddess uses your world as her new sandbox." Ruli shrugged.

"Eat breakfast first. Drink coffee. No one handles Risa well even on a good day, and you're running on nightmares and stress."

~

Ysaryn studied him as he spoke, her gaze unmoving. "It is not my way." She agreed with a slight dip of her chin. And when he continued to announce he wanted to rectify the situation, her chin rose once more, a curious grin shadowing the corners of her mouth. "Good." She said, stepping forward to stop inches from his torso, her head craned upward to meet his gaze. "Fight me as if our sex life depends on it, Wyvern, because I assure you it does."

Then she turned her head and stepped away, circling and eyeing him in that feline way. "Am I your only reason for the visit? Shall I offer you the chance to correct your mistake now, or are you here to collect your cousin from her sweaty bed?"