Lore of Legends

A foggy, damp fall evening finds a single light shining in the window of the small stone dwelling, on a quiet, mana lamp-lit cobblestone street off of Sage Orum's Plaza. Recent windy days have brought a good many leaves to the pavement, and rain has since given them a good soaking, leaving leaves of every color glinting in the soft light as they cling to the pavement, the roof, and the gutters.

Zeke has already been provided with a key, and told that should he come by, he should let himself in and do so quietly, as Seldan is planning to do something this evening that will not tolerate a serious interruption. He hadn't said exactly what, but the implication had been that it was magical in nature. Everything appears calm, peaceful, and completely ordinary.

Hearing an invitation of sorts in Seldan's giving of the key and his instruction, Zeke stopped by the market place before heading to the house which is the home of his kin. He brings with him a basket of foods, a whole chicken of enough size to feed three and perhaps have some more to spare. Some steamed vegetables, and a pie which Zeke had watched made with some facination as was his current method when dealing with foodstuffs. All of this tucked carefully away into his basket so as to keep it warm.

He presses the door open silently as he can, slipping into the house and looking around somewhat for Seldan. The door closes with equal quiet behind him, since he has no desire to disturb the paladin whom he is certain is up to something tonight.

Seldan usually comes to the door to greet him, if not always at once, then usually with reasonable promptness. Not this time. There is no answer, no response from within, the light in the window dancing and flickering in response to the opening of the door. Still, nothing seems amiss - all is in its place, quiet and undisturbed, the house exactly as it should be. The only thing that is not as it always is is the sharp, prickly scent of rare incense, a scent that Zeke will readily recognize as a focusing tool similar, but not identical to, the incense he used bare days past to commune with the servants of the Dragonfather.

Walking into the sitting room by the hearth provides more information - before the hearth, a single brazier rests on tripod legs, smoke arising from it. It is clearly the source of the at once sharp and complex aroma, and Seldan sits cross-legged on one of the floor cushions before it, four carven sticks of ivory set at four corners around him. Two rest behind the paladin, just outside the corners of his cushion; the other two, on the hearth to either side of the fire itself, clearly enclosing himself, the brazier, the cushion, and the open scroll that is pinned down with rocks at each corner on the bricks of the hearth before him.

His pose is meditative, loose and relaxed, hands atop his knees, dressed in a dirty and scratched-up woolen shirt and trousers, his feet bare, his eyes closed, his lips moving in what appears to be a rote chant of some sort.

GAME: Seldan rolls 1d4: (2): 2

Unwilling to disturb Seldan while he is so engrossed, and certain of what it is that Seldan is about now that he can smell the smoke wafting from the direction of the paladin; Zeke sets about quietly in the kitchen. He prepares the food - what little preparation it needs - sets plates and begins some tea. The tea will only take a little while to boil so he begins this last. Once the food is set out and the tea ready for steeping he sets it to do so. A nice, simple tea to go with a chicken that is flavored perhaps more so than Zeke is really used to.

When he has completed these tasks, he sits down, ready to wait for Seldan to come out of his trance.

It takes some time for that to happen, but not unbearably long. After a few minutes, Seldan's eyes open, but he seems to be watching something that is not there, following a thing that takes place only in his mind's eye. This is very short, perhaps a space of two or three minutes, during which he seems to concentrate intently, in the way of one trying to follow many things at once. By the time it fades, the last of the incense has burned, leaving only a memory of it to linger in the air, and the pinned scroll before him crumbles into a fine dust. He breathes out, heavily, staring straight ahead at the flickering fire in the brazier as if to reorient himself.

Zeke is endlessly patient, allowing himself to become still and his thoughts emptying until he notices that Seldan is rousing and then... Then he stirs himself. "Are you hungry kin?" He does not ask immediately what Seldan was doing. He knows that such information will come as it comes. Besides, there is no guarantee that it is something that Seldan wishes to share; openly or in secret. So Zeke will abide until he knows.

Blink, blink. It takes Seldan some time to reorient himself in the here and now. The smell of the chicken and vegetables helps, the here-and-now sensations triggering a growling stomach that is equally an earthy thing. "You have brought food," he replies, real gratitude in the words. "You are most kind." The words are still faraway, though, blinking as he works to sort through whatever it was he saw.

GAME: Seldan used a Scroll of Legend Lore.

It had been a tumultuous vision, legends enough to fill a thousand pages. Too much information perhaps. Yet at the beginning... The beginning had been easy enough to understand. The legends that filled Seldan's mind were stories of the first of Eluna's chosen. Those that had been gifted three orbs by her celestials. Items of divine power meant to lend them her will when they might doubt their own actions.

Then, tragedy, her will was lost when her champions could no longer fight alone the things that were filled to the brim with evil. The orbs... were stolen.

Yet the legends were clear, that the orbs only lit for those chosen by Eluna. For all others they were but dim orbs lighting infrequently, but still helpfully - so long as the user was filled with a love of the very things which Eluna herself embodied and valued. Not much of the legends spoke of the orbs themselves - for they were but a tool for those that were legends.

Silently, but with understanding, Zeke offers Seldan a cup of tea. The better to whet his appetite and wash the taste of incense from his mouth. "Thisss one merely wissshesss to be of assissstance. If you are hungry, the food awaitsss you."

Tea has a miraculous way of bringing one back to the here-and-now, and Seldan takes the cup with absent hands, sipping automatically - but as he does so, he seems to come more and more back to himself, until the usual steady gaze is again itself. "Thank you," he murmurs gratefully, taking another sip of the tea. "I would indeed eat, and it would please me to share a meal with you. I have - learned some things." He continues to sip at the tea, staring thoughtfully over the dying coals of the brazier and into the fire of the hearth. "First is that there can be no doubt that the orb is a blessing from the Dreamer herself, through Her servants." Reverence and awe tinges his tone, and he glances back towards a cabinet at the other side of the room.

"There are three such," he goes on, thoughtfully. "Granted to Her earliest champions, to make Her will clear to them when there is doubt. They are guides, lost when their holders were overwhelmed by the forces of evil, and stolen. They must be reclaimed."

Zeke hums low in his throat and nods. Slowly and methodically he rises to his feet, heading to the table. The food is warm now rather than hot, but not unpleasantly so. Zeke seems to consider a moment before picking up the plates and bringing them to Seldan rather than forcing the man to get up and come to the food. He returns then with the food, offering it and the necessary things for eating to the other man. "Thisss one isss glad to hear that it hass been determined to be a thing of Eluna'sss purpossse."

He settles down himself and seems to be in thought. "Have you any idea where the othersss might be found?"

Seldan turns himself to put his back to the fire, and not incidentally turn towards Zeke, before setting aside teacup to take plate and eating implements. "Not yet, but I may be able to learn more. The spell offers but glimpses of legends, and when seen, teach enough that I may learn more of the fate of the other two. They operate only for Her chosen, or, occasionally and at need, for those who further and love her causes."

"Interesssting." Zeke glances toward Seldan's brow where the orb has been seen a time or two floating. It is not there now, but his thoughts lie with it. "Thisss will make you a target for the forcesss of evil then, for they will ssurely want thiss thing back. And yet... Have you felt the need for sssuch guidance Sseldan?" He looks to the man then curiously.

"That is hardly an unusual thing, kin," Seldan's small smile holds a wealth of self-aware amusement. "Indeed am I already so, and have scarcely ceased to be so since my arrival in this city. As for whether I require such a thing -" He slows down, his eyes lowering, and he cuts and takes a bite of his dinner before answering. "It will warn me, do my actions displease Her, and at times does it dislike my thoughts. It has taken me some time, but I believe that I have come to understand."

The sith-makar chuffs in amusement as well and shakes his head. "Thisss one doessss wonder at timesss that the forcesss of evil do not come knocking on your door sso hunted by them you mussst be." He shakes his head again and he joins Seldan in trying the meal. In spite of its spice it is pleasing and he digs in with some gusto, proving that he must be quite hungry. "Thisss one isss curiousss, admittedly, but your thoughtsss are your own Sseldan, and even your goddessss musst undersstand thisss."

"Not idly do I wear armor at all times, save when I sleep." Again, that small smile, but there is less laughter there, this time, lowered eyes for a moment acknowledging a very real truth. Seldan sighs, his eyes lifting again. "So they are, and seldom enough do I share them. Oft am I more gracious than forthright, and I am at times loath to speak my mind, knowing that it is likely to be ill-received. So do I do less good than I might, perhaps, although seldom am I heeded when I do speak."

Zeke pauses in his eating to look at Seldan. To study the way his features drop and the acknowledgement there that he is hunted... seems to hurt more than he seems to suggest that it might. "Thisss one knowsss that thesse thingsss are true. Thisss one wisshess that thisss one could make you sssafer, or better lissstened to. All thisss one can do isss be here; a plasce for your mind to ressst and be lissstened to." He looks at his claws holding his plate. "Thisss one knowss that it isss not very much, but thisss one hopess that it might be enough."

There's something unsaid there, something softly unspoken.

Seldan looks up, ice-blue eyes seeking out the dark ones of the bluescale. "It is much, my friend, and more than you might guess. She stands by me, and you and Serene stand by me. Mal, when he can bear it. It shall be enough. Her Chosen have stood strong with less." He does not say what the fate of those Chosen was, but there is no need to do so. He takes another few bites of his dinner, leaving the words to hang for a few moments.

"It is in my mind that She would have me speak my mind, ill-received or no," he offers, hesitantly. "I ... in the hopes that someone shall heed me?" His tone says that he thinks that unlikely.

"We can but pray it isss ssso." Zeke offers with a small amount of hope in his words. "May the godsss open their earsss to othersss that they may hear othersss. And sso open our earsss alssso, ssso that we hear what we need to." It is a small if heartfelt prayer. "Thisss one thinksss however, that it isss wisssdom do you ssspeak your mind."

"If it be Her will that I do so..." Seldan begins hesitantly, eyes on the food in his lap. "Then shall I do it, though it bear no fruit." He pauses, to take another bite of his food, meditatively. "In truth do I weary of having my judgment questioned, or dismissed. It is well-intentioned," he adds, spreading a hand palm-down, "and thus do I bear it in silence."

Zeke huffs a little sigh and shakes his head. "Thisss one underssstandsss the impulsse to do ssso. Yet... You are..." He seems to struggle with his words here and finally sets what little food he has left aside to look at Seldan squarely. "Why? Why kin do you conssstantly doubt your-sseelf? You are mighty! You are wissse! You have the wisssdom of your kith at your hip and the wisssdom of your goddesss waiting to hover at your brow! Ssstill you doubt! Why?"

"And why should I not, when those two alone among all that surround me do not?" Seldan retorts in spite of himself. "In truth am I surrounded by the selfish and the egotistical. I do not wish to waste my breath sharing that which is of no meaning to such as they, for they care naught for me."

He immediately draws in a breath, and lets it out, clearly schooling his thoughts, and his tongue. "You speak wisdom, for they that are Her Chosen carry on when it seems without value to do so."

Zeke withdraws slightly, surprised by Seldan's vehemanance, but he does not falter in the face of it. "You are right. But... You mussst continue to try. If you give up... Then evil winsss." He looks at Seldan, full of faith. Not only in his god; in all the gods of light, but in Seldan as well. "Thisss one believess in you Sseldan."

"If even one perssson hasss faith in you... that might be enough..." He looks down.

"It shall have to suffice," Seldan says resolutely, drawing in a deep breath and releasing it. "At least, for now." He cuts off another chunk of chicken and chews thoughtfully. "That you do is much, and She does also. Let it be enough, for now." The plate is gradually emptying, at a pretty good clip. Spellcasting is taxing, and his dirty clothing suggests activities prior to that.

-End