Spiritbearers: Revival

[Ria Hawk]

Ree glanced up at Kiel.  She sized him up, then shrugged.  "Surely."  She got up, and the two of them wandered out of earshot.  Alminor didn't even bother cautioning her anymore.  If Kiel proved dangerous, he'd regret it, and if not, there was no point in turning down his request.  "What?"

[CaptainPenguin]

Lekkme stared into the fire, which crackled like self-loathing, daring him to give in completely to the Water God.

"I am wearing on you, my servant." Rahab said, as if to cement those thoughts into place.
"Bequiet yourself," said Lekkme, mind-voice tired, like a groan, "I have no patience for you this day."

His eyes began to water as he looked unblinkingly into the flames. The moisture was not tears. He had no tears left to shed.
His muscles leapt with random twitchings as he stood, hood pulled over his amphibian head, and turned solemnly toward the west, away from the sun.
He was still for a very long while, as the others went about their business. Then, he began to walk.

[Kassil]

Kiel glanced back at the group, confirming that they were out of earshot, and then turned his attention fully to Ree. "To be blunt - You've already seen what some of the gods are doing to the others in this little gathering - Lekkme over there, mutated into a fishman and stripped of most of his humanity. Uriel - surely you saw him start to help when Lekkme had his fit, last night, and then pull back like he was stung. Tera, over there - she's practically being forced into it, by the looks of things."

He paused, and fixed Ree with a questioning look. "Has your deity told you why all the gods were locked away, Fire-bearer?" His had, to be sure, along with phantasmal images of that distant past - ravaged by divine war, until the gods had been sealed away and left to rot.

[Ria Hawk]

"First of all, he's not my diety.  I believe in no gods.  If Alminor and others like him want to call themselves gods, that is their business.  But yes.  Alminor told me of their idiotic war.  He didn't really care to, but I don't get into something unaware if I can help it.  I can understand why they'd want out; being what I am, I myself have a horror of being locked up."  Ree looked back at the others.  "But I am quickly losing all respect I might have concievably had for these people."  She scowled.  "I've seen entirely too much of their like in the past."

[Kassil]

"Did he tell you how much damage they caused? I'd say there's god reason for them to be locked away - the petty squabblings over command and power of nobility, elevated to a level that can ruin the world in the petty strugglings." Kiel sighed. "Most, I think, have not changed - however, the one I bear, Tieran, didn't ask me to aid him in freeing himself - he asked me to aid him in preventing the others from escaping. It seems that at least one of them has repented his ways - unfortunately, the only way to stop most from freeing the one who chose them is to kill them."

Kiel again squarely looks Ree in the eye. "I don't want to try to kill anyone I don't have to, Ree. I don't want to kill anyone at all, partly because I hate to kill and partly because I know I'll end up dead because of it. You said yourself you're losing any respect for them. If they're set free, it won't just be a double handful of divine powers locked away - it'll be entire countrysides laid waste."

"Help me find a way to stop it. Please."

[Ria Hawk]

Ree was silent for a moment.  Finally, she said, "They'd have hanged me without Alminor's intervention.  I gave him my word that I would help him.  It's not that I won't break my word, it's that I won't do it without a d**n good reason.  But I'll not do anything that will bring great harm.  That is all I can do.  Now, if what you say is true, then I'll end up helping you in the end.  If it's not, then one of us is quite likely to kill the other.  Please understand.  I have heard people make similar arguments, and in the end, they were only trying to gain an advantage.  I've had... what you might call run-ins with nobles, and I can't help but think everything might be a trick.  Particularly when there's a lot at stake."
You are very wise, child.
Silently, she replied, You know by now that I mean what I say.  Right now, I'm helping you.  But if I find out that what he says is true, you will find that I'm your worst enemy.  There is no way that I'll allow someone with a similar mindset to my father get in a position of power.  But I make those decisions alone.
... I see.

[CaptainPenguin]

Lekkme walked. And walked. And walked.
And when he decided that he was a suitable distance away from the fire, he dropped to his knees. The milky lids slid again over his eyes, and he began to mumble in a strange tongue. The dirt beneath him sank and darkened, became sodden with water. His clothing dripped with moisture and hang heavily upon his fleshless frame.
An orb of water, clear and pure, appeared between his spread hands. The orb began to glow and vibrate, and then shot off to the north, leaving a blue streak in the air. The streak faded from normal sight, but he when he shifted to spectral vision, the water-orb's trail remained a vibrant azure.
He began to return to the camp with the information he had gathered.

[Kassil]

Kiel nods, once. "I see - and I understand. Thank you, at the least, for not dismissing what I've said out of hand, the way I'm sure some would."

Be wary, lad. The water-bearer is off by himself, doing something - and we've yet to come across the ones who have direct reason to hate both you and I - the ones who try at every twist to defy the laws of time, set down before even we existed...

Kiel nods, both to Ree and in recognition of Tieran's words. More than that, he nodded in regonition of Ree's words - Tieran himself might be trying to play him for a fool, to ensure his own freedom and to destroy all the others...

Kiel silently determined that if this ended up seeming to be true, he'd slay himself first.

[Exit]

Drayen noticed the fire bearer and the time bearer slip away for a moment, even as the water bearer did the same by himself.  He sighed.

You've made me quite paranoid, Ckeli.  Not only do I not trust anyone around me, but they seem to be plotting together.

Then lay your own plans, fool!  Remember, water is quite dangerous but the fire-bearer may prove useful, recanting my eariler words.  Fire had a tidy alliance with me in the days of the war.  You might be wise in renewing that.

Maybe.

Drayen stood, wanting to leave, but unwilling to be the first to strike camp.  Instead he turned to Dei, the wind bearer.

OOC: Thanks Hawk.  'S kinda confusing.
"So how is it that you came about to be a bearer?  Was it a willing choice?"

[Ria Hawk]

(OOC: Dei is the wind bearer, not lightning.  We're all rather pissed at lightning right now.)

[Andimia]

Pay attantion to your travelling companions! Candidus scoffed.

Tera looked up from her sword to see some people pairing off and talking, maybe conspiring.
you're just trying to make me paranoid. she thought to her god. Then she caught the sight of something bright out of the corner of her eye, and she turned just in time to see the shining wolf dart away. And you're trying to drive me mad. she thought as she tightened her jaw, trying to control her anger. Tera turned her attention back towards vigorously cleaning up the hilt of her sword.


OOC: we're in a forest, right? I just want to make sure before I start describing things of that sort.

[Kassil]

With Ree having given a lukewarm response, Kiel turns to see who else might be able to be swayed to reason - perhaps closer to the temple, he could unfold time's weavings enough to let the others see the past, as Tieran had shown him the blackened lands and lifeless waters that had filled great stretches of the world at the war's bitter conclusion.

Tera, perhaps. Quietly, Kiel padded across the grasses towards the young woman with the charred sword. "Would you like some aid with that? I can bring it back to before it landed in the fire, if you want."

[Andimia]

"Thank you, but it's really not that bad, it's just dirty." trying her hardest to be nice as she finished wiping her sword clean. It seemed everything irritated her, and then was amplified to irritate her again tenfold. Clenching her teeth, she thought that she would explode, but had no clue why she was so angry. Why are you doing this to me? she pleaded with her god.
This is not something of my doing, I don't know why you're like this.
Tera looked down and put her hand against her forehead as if in great pain. Her mind was beating itself, with confusion, anger, fear, rage. All at once she though she would scream, but she gritted her teeth and held it in. She remembered having this feeling before, back in the city, before her spirit had come to her.
For once you speak the truth to me.

[Andimia]

ooc: are we gonna continue this too?

ic: The fact that her spirit was right angered her even more. Feeling like she would lose it, Tera got up and started walking away from everybody, sword in hand, until she was out of sight.