Fable - Ask With Eyes Unclouded

[Seluria Estel'Narqua]

Seluria tilted her head ever so slightly at the far-away look in Roland's eyes. Her mouth thinning to a line for a moment in concern, the Seer hums gently and dips her head to the man, turning to follow Josai. Roland, thankfully, did not need to worry about walking at the moment, as the star-lit beast beneath him shadowed the pale maiden. "We are seeking a particular type of people that you have come across in the recent past, Master Roland. The Trinemorro; you may know them for their distinct three-eyed gaze. We wished to know if there was anything you could tell us about your encounter with them."

Josai Roland Grayson

 

[Josai]

Josai smiled. "It was during the Festival,"

All around them, the waters of their shared dream shifted. Like silt at the bottom of a pond, turned to curling cloud by the touch of an intrepid hand, set to stir the mire.

Shapes, like people took form in their surroundings. The mirrored world of the waking beneath them, harder to see, as was the glassy black surface they had tread upon. But the bright silk, as if woven by starlight, still trailed behind Josai, gentle and deceptively delicate.

Muffled at first. Sounds began to bounce around them. Like echoes come across the wide span of a calm lake.

Laughter. Conversation. Music and cheer. It all came more and more clear, with each careful step Josai took across the murk of memory.

"It was said, that you gave chase, to your darling companion,"

A small shape scurried between the half formed figures of silt-born faces. A small shape with quick little paws and a proud little tail.

Roland Grayson Seluria Estel'Narqua

 

[Roland Grayson]

The women's words felt muffled to him somehow. It was as if people standing outside of a pond where trying to speak to him while under its surface. They were a little muted and sometimes he had trouble making things out. Likely still him adjusting. Those born with magic were like those born naturally gifted at swimming. They forgot how much more time it took for a rock to learn to float.

But he began to think back. Festival. Chasing Princess. Three-eyes....

A frown formed on his face. Familiar. Too familiar. A memory was on the edge of his mind but like a leaf it just swirled around his hand as he tried to catch it too quick. He knew what they were on about. Something was there. Something....

"Right. The three eyed beauty. She caught Princess for me. Said some friendly words then left. Nothing of note. Barely remember the encounter. Was more focused on Princess at the time."

Not much for them. Might have been more. The memory was still swirling about just less on the edge and closer to the center now.

Josai Seluria Estel'Narqua

 

[Seluria Estel'Narqua]

"...perhaps there was a trace left on Princess?" Seluria murmurs, her head tilting quizzically as she watched Roland's body language for a long moment, glancing to her companion. "Such a strong font of the Loch, subtle or not, might leave some kind of evidence... almost akin to the trails we weave." she gestures to the tether wriggling about in the air behind Josai like a wisp of smoke, hanging in perpetual existence rather than dissipating.

A gentle flick of the hand- and the image changes. A figure holding a small shape in its arms- a thin stream of vivid color wavering after them as they walked away, fading...

"...but has it been too long...?" she murmured softly, troubled at the concept.

 

[Josai]

"That is the theory," Josai agreed with Seluria. For the Loch was a thing made of mysteries, its currents formed by the whims of all who dreamed and hoped, feared and anguished. A plane called by many names, in many tongues.

If they, mere humans, could leave traces of light behind them to follow back to their waking minds, and the conscious world, who was to say other beings could not bend that same light. Could not play with those same powers, in a different way.

The little shape, that could only be princess, dazzled with the feint light of distant stars, as if their shine peered through the billowed curls of darkened clouds that sailed across midnight sky. The Princess of the Loch leapt up, and into the arms of the three eyed woman, who stood before them all, clear as they.

"Well, if it isn't our leal knight," she said with a coy smile that curled her lips. "I knew your loyalty to your little sovereign would bring you here,"

The spectral Princess gave a loud mew, and dissipated from their shared vision, like so much silt stirred by the currents. So too did the crowd and the music, until it was only the four of them, amidst a sea of star laden murk.

"Welcome," the three eyed woman said.

Josai stood wide eyed, a blue pulse rippled out from beneath her, and stirred her billowing blue gown. A feeling of awe. Wonder. A hint of fear. "You... are speaking to us,"

The woman gave a gentle nod. "Is that so surprising, Syr Josai?" her three eyes came shut. "I am of the Trine sighted, the Seer Folk," her eyes came open once more, blue as star fire, and her trinocular gaze seemed to fix upon Seluria, and her smile remained, placid as tranquil waters. "I see the latest fashion trends have finally adopted Trinian sensibilities," a small laugh, and her dark dress rippled with the currents of the dream waters.

---

Roland Grayson Seluria Estel'Narqua

 

[Roland Grayson]

The pair of female knights began speaking about their magic again. It was the sort of flow common with scholars. He was no fool, not generally at least, but he also knew next to nothing on the subject either. It was taking everything he had to fight off the current always seeming to wish to whisk him off into what felt like an endless void of directionless drowning. So he just sat there and waited while they spoke.

That was he did until a little Princess popped into the place in the arms of a familiar figure.

Roland's sense of immediate danger instantly signaled a need for survival. Magic was foreign and unfamiliar. Anchored as he was the man was of flesh. Blood and steel were his tools and trade. All of this was not. Yet his very core told him to be cautious. Cautious and ready to for his safe harbor to be upended at any moment.

Despite how the man felt, a smile crossed his lips for the three-eyed woman in response to her.

"Always a pleasure to be reunited with a celestial beauty. If you wanted my attention and time all you needed to do was ask." The shift in their surroundings had not gone unnoticed. His expression grew darker and more serious during the very brief pause before he added, "No need to drag Princess into it."

That last statement was meant for all those present. He didn't know what might happen with all this magic business but he wanted Princess left out of it. She was just a cat. An innocent. To drag one into these sort of dangerous affairs was one of the gravest of sins.

His expression lightened up but remained just as serious. "So ladies, what is all this about?"

Seluria Estel'Narqua Josai

 

[Seluria Estel'Narqua]

Seluria was not often caught unawares. And the Trinian was one of these rare moments. Her mouth opened slightly to respond to Josai, only for the "compliment" from the newcomer to leave the Seer turning a delicate pink in coloration, her silken garments coiling just a little tighter about her frame, and then spinning back in the opposite direction.

As many questions as stars burned in the sky were set to buzzing in her head. Who was this woman that they had sought? How had she known they were coming? How had she known Josai's- and assumedly everyone's names?

Nay, of course she knew. Whereas she was the genuine article, Seluria was but a lost relic of a people that could barely even begin to mimic their natural capabilities. The feeling of being so diminished was an odd one.

But disruption fed off disruption, it seemed, and she felt the ripples of Roland's own unease and heard unspoken words and thoughts tossed aside as he carved out his own path in Fate. The spectral beast that carried him shook its head, mane shedding starlight, and stilled. Yet, its tailtip twitched, the lion reflecting the emotions of its rider.

"We were looking for her." she finally decides upon, choosing a more blunt method of speech for Roland's sake and sidestepping the mention of Princess- there wasn't going to be any benefit to going down the spindling path of trying to explain illusory images to someone so on edge at the moment lest it cause unintended provocation. And so, with that said, and opening her hand to gesture lightly toward the three-eyed maiden, Seluria spoke the first of many questions crowding her thoughts.

"Before we speak further, perhaps introductions would be in order. I am Seluria Estel'Narqua of the Knights of Anathaeum, though I suspect you know of this. What is your name, miss?" she asks, her voice a quiet ripple over a vast ocean in the Loch.

Josai
Roland Grayson

 

[Josai]

The three eyed woman smiled at them all, seemingly at once. Her luminous gaze, aglow with all the light it seemed to drink.

"Fear not, leal knight," she said, her head turning toward Roland. "Your Princess is safe, and was never in any danger," she smiled gently and bowed her head. "We Trinians hold great cats in high esteem," she rose, and heard Seluria's announcement. Gave another nod.

Josai cleared her throat, and nod in agreement, glad to have the Star Seer there amidst the sea of dreams.

Amidst all the strangeness of their quest, she realized, it helped to have one so used to walking within such currents beside her.

"Josai of Lluvia, Knight of Anathaeum," the spear witch added.

Whether Roland Grayson of Vinvale gave his name or title, the Three Eyed Seer would let her gaze close gentle, "You may call me Perremina, Seer of the Trinemorro," her eyes came open once more, bright and brilliant as stars. "Peri, for short," she teased. But her smile vanished, as quickly as it had come.

"I wish that I could have been more direct, but as you may know, The Everwatcher looms thick within the darkness of the Loch, whilst his agents work across the lands. As such," she turned her gaze to the abyss about them, the glittering swirl of shapeless possibility that was the Loch, and saw the trails of those Astral Beasts that did move amidst the aphotic expanse. "Precautions need be taken," she confessed.

Josai nod. Stiff lipped, and brow furrowed. She liked little of what she heard, but it needed be said. It needed be known.

"The Sightless hunt me and my ilk," she confessed with some sorrow. "Wish to take from us our flesh and blood, to be used in their perverse rituals. As they do the Star Seer folk, who've long aided us in our journey, and fight against the Everwatcher," she returned her eyes toward the knights, and settled her gaze onto Roland.

" I have learned that a band of Star Seers, shelter a young Trinian, across te Iuk-'u Delta, and their aim is to find refuge from all the horrors around them," She looked to Josai, and Selluria in turn. "I can help you find them, help you pull them from the clutches of our foe," she seemed to look to Roland once more, "if you swear to keep them safe from this cruel and uncaring world,"

---

Seluria Estel'Narqua Roland Grayson

 

[Seluria Estel'Narqua]

The Star seer's eyes widened behind her mask, and her frame stilled as she listened to Perremina and her tale. And not just a tale of her people, but of Seluria's. The pale woman's lips parted, then closed, then parted again- and then closed get again as she processed this.

She wasn't the only one. There were more.

They were hunted.

An uneasy ripple, quickly contained, flowed in the loch around her. She couldn't think clearly- everything felt hot. A building pressure vibrated and railed against its chains, pounding somewhere in her skull. Seluria almost flinched, before she realized it was coming from within herself. She looked down at her hand and found it white-knuckled tight about her staff.

Anger. This was anger she was feeling.

Beware to never lash out in the loch, Little Light. For the song of anger flows hundreds of leagues father than joy or sorrow. The voice of her mentor rang in her head, and the Star Seer breathed deep for a moment, trembling as she corralled this rare emotion to somewhere more productive.

"It shall be done." she responded, looking upon Peri in a new light. Now she was not just a stranger, but someone who perhaps knew about the Star Seers more than Seluria's own fragmented pieces.

Josai Roland Grayson

 

[Josai]

Josai echoed her sworn sister. "To the utmost of our ability,"

The three eyed woman nod at their confirmation, looked to Roland, a soft smile crested across her pert lips. "Well, it would seem this one is spent," a tut of her tongue, a wave of her hand, and the specter of the man vanished, like so much billowing silt spread by the currents of deep water's flow.

Josai's eyes widened, but she said nothing. Felt the connection to their shared dream wane, shift, hold steady, if only thinner by a margin.

Peri looked back to the two Knights of Anathaeum, settling on Seluria. "But I sense your convictions true, leal knights, and will place what faith I can in you," she presented to them an upturned palm, and her three eyes came closed. Within the cup of her hand was born a star. It burned bright with the in and out of her breath. Pulsed with the beat of her heart.

The Trinemorro's eyes opened wide, and with but a gentle shift of her hand, the unfurling of fingers, and the push of her arm, the little star drift toward Seluria, like a gentle winged wisp, hoping to be caught.

"Look to the night sky, and this star will guide you, Selurai Estel'Narqua, to yours and mine kin,"

Peri's eyes turned to regard the darkness of the abyss beyond the light of their specters. Beyond the light of the star-lit beasts that guided them.

"You must go now," she said with abyssal calm. Her eyes turned back to the two Sworn of Anathaeum. "We will see each other again, I do not doubt,"

And with another shift of her hand, but a gentle twist of her wrist, and joining of middle finger and thumb, their binds to the Loch would wane.

---

Though panic would hold Josai's heart, she would wake from the dream within the room she and Seluria had sealed off with charcoal and runes.

All three in the room would wake within breaths of each other. Princess the cat, perfectly fine, if not perhaps a bit miffed in that way of cats.

Josai would catch her breath, and force herself to stand, though her head spun and her balance teetered. She grabbed up her spear, and her hat, and fixed the wide brim steepled hat upon her crown, looked to her sister knight, then to Roland.

"We must away, as swift as we can," she said to whoever could listen, though her words were meant for Seluria alone. Her balance steadied now. "There is much work to be done," she pressed, and began to undo the runic work she and Seluria had traced to aid in their dive into the realm of dreams.

---

Seluria Estel'Narqua Roland Grayson

 

[Seluria Estel'Narqua]

The Seer watched with a burning gaze behind the cool, icy exterior of her mask, only fractionally moving down to take in the mote drifting toward her.

Pale hands opened, and thin fingers carefully caught and cradled the mote of starlight, the Seer's head dipping once in a nod.

And then- darkness. A disorienting numbness and ache that quickly settled as Seluria gained her bearings. She had slipped down into a kneeling position upon entering the Loch, and her legs stung with pins and needles as she carefully righted herself, exhaling and looking to her companion. An uneasy prickle climbed the back of her neck, and she remembered the empty darkness that yawned at them in the dream.

"Aye. The sooner, the better. We do not have time anymore." She murmured, her head turning slightly to face in Roland's direction. "I doubt that you were sensed, but it may be prudent to come with us, Ser Roland." She states. "However I would not blame you if you found much confliction in your heart over these matters. We did rather abruptly drag you into it."