Homoventures Chapter 4, Part 20

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Summary

Justen and Xan have a chance to talk to the Fire Djinn, Epher in depth about Orelius and the fate of some angels.

Session

Session date: November 18, 2014

Diablotin date: Spring 2275

<Xandhil> :I have an idea for a wish...
<Justen> :oh?
<Xandhil> I think I know what I want to wish for - but as, uh, a non wish request - wold you be willing to stay and talk some? We have so many questions...
<Xandhil> :To speak and understand any language. For both of us.
<Xandhil> :Is that silly?
<Justen> :no, I don't think so. there've been a lot of times when you have to translate for me, and it's got to be frustrating...
<Epher> I could talk.
* Epher agrees
<Justen> :Besides, it's your wish - if it would be useful for you, you should go for it
<Xandhil> thank you
<Xandhil> :Okay!
<Xandhil> Then - I wish that Justen and I be able to understand, and express ourselves fluently, in any form of any language.
* Epher nods
<Epher> Very well.
<Xandhil> thank you!
* Xandhil looks really excited.
* Epher makes a sort of 'it was nothing' hand gesture
<Xandhil> i don't know where to start.... I guess - what should we call you?
<Epher> You can refer to me as Epher - it was my name for long enough.
<Epher> And you are... Justen and Xandhil?
<Xandhil> yes
<Epher> May I ask who you are, more than that?
<Xandhil> I think that's fair...
<Xandhil> it relates to something I wanted to ask you, anyway
* Epher nods
<Xandhil> My dad... the parent that bore me, anyway
<Xandhil> He was an Angel - a very young one - when Am was destroyed
* Epher listens
<Xandhil> his name was Arektherem
<Xandhil> ...did you know him?
* Epher thinks
<Epher> I do remember the name... I'm afraid not much beyond that. But he survived?
* Epher says, given that... you exist
* Xandhil nods
<Xandhil> Like you, he had to become soemthing else
* Epher nods
<Xandhil> Emkathon gave him a chance to become something new, when she awoke
<Epher> It is good to hear that some others also found a way out.
<Xandhil> :|
<Xandhil> I don't think he is very proud of his choice, but he was young
<Xandhil> anyway
<Xandhil> he chose to stay with my father
<Xandhil> and - uh - I am sure he would love to talk to you
<Epher> And now he has a chance for something else?
<Epher> Like I do.
<Xandhil> yes
* Xandhil smiles
<Epher> I would like to speak with him as well.
<Xandhil> he lives in Diablotin...
<Epher> Where is that?
<Xandhil> far to the east @_@
<Xandhil> The world hs changed a lot
<Epher> I am starting to understand that...
<Xandhil> I am curious about what it was like in your time...
<Epher> So... you have angelic blood
<Xandhil> Not just Am, but in the time of Orelius
* Epher looks over to Justen
<Epher> You... you, I gather, are similar, but... not entirely so.
* Xandhil holds Justen's hand
<Xandhil> :You don't have to tell him >.>
<Justen> :I know... but maybe there are things he can tell me
<Xandhil> :okay
<Justen> Kavreshar is my father.
* Justen says quietly
<Epher> o_O
<Justen> I was raised in a regular human family... I had never actually spoken to him before just a few days ago.
<Xandhil> well... not directly anyway
<Justen> yes...
<Justen> not so that he spoke back
<Epher> Fascinating...
<Epher> When we - when the members of the Court of Stars - say that we are their children, we are not ... not in the way that mortals mean it.
* Xandhil nods
<Epher> They created us with their union, but there was not the... the physical involvement?
* Epher gestures vaguely
* Xandhil nods
<Justen> Well, as far as I know, there was for me.
<Justen> Granted, I wasn't there, but...
* Epher nods
<Xandhil> he had a human mother, anyway
* Epher looks somewhat surprised
<Justen> .. she didn't survive.
* Justen says, assuming that's his question
<Epher> ah...
<Xandhil> :|
* Epher looks like he has a lot of questions
<Epher> You asked about those days... about the time before the Binding?
* Epher says to you, Xan
<Xandhil> uh- yes, I think
<Xandhil> what do you mean by the Binding?
<Epher> The fall of Serpent
<Xandhil> yes
<Epher> What did you wish to know?
<Xandhil> oh wow - where do I start @_@
<Xandhil> We know some....
<Xandhil> we uh.... we rescued the Arch guardian
<Xandhil> from Am
<Epher> Rescued?
<Epher> I know little about what happened there, except that it was destroyed
<Xandhil> :|
<Xandhil> Kavreshar....was very angry
<Xandhil> he destroyed the whole place with fire. There's nothig there but a ...sea of glass
<Epher> :/
<Xandhil> But Sirris... I guess he got blamed somehow, though I hardly think that was just :p
<Xandhil> Kavreshar transformed him into a sort of.... serpent/man... guardian for the broken well
<Xandhil> and chained him there, and left him
<Epher> And you freed him?
* Justen nods
<Xandhil> yes
<Xandhil> that wasn't what any of thought would happen
<Xandhil> but yes
<Xandhil> He lives in Diablotin now, too
* Epher nods
<Xandhil> (WHat any of us thought...)
<Xandhil> it was a very long time to be left alone
<Xandhil> . o O (we're lucky he isn't completely insane >.>)
<Epher> yes... it can be terrible
<Xandhil> was it like that for you, before we released you?
<Epher> I was not fully aware, I think, of how long was passing
<Epher> it was like being in a daze
* Xandhil nods
<Epher> A very long daze.
<Xandhil> ...what did happen with Orelius?
<Xandhil> We've heard a few conflictinng stories
* Epher sighs slightly
<Epher> It was a difficult time.
<Epher> Much conflict, struggle
* Xandhil nods
<Epher> Some of us - of the djinn - chose to ally with one side or another, although it was not our fight, because we saw advantages in one faction being victorious
<Epher> Some, less fortunate, were compelled into service.
<Epher> As you've seen, that is a ... liability that comes with the territory.
* Xandhil nods
<Xandhil> ...did all the Djinn come from the court of stars?
<Epher> No, not all
* Epher considers how to explain it better
<Epher> They were - still are, in some sense - spirits of the elements.
<Epher> When we joined with them, they became... elevated. More aware. More powerful.
* Xandhil nods
<Xandhil> all of them?
<Epher> You are aware of elementals?
<Xandhil> yes
<Epher> Many of them, even the great ones, are primal - not mindless, but they do not think ahead, they do not plan, they do not see beyond the moment before them
* Xandhil nods
<Epher> Before us, the djinn were like that.
<Epher> Strong, but not mindful. They could shelter us, perhaps because they didn't know any better.
<Epher> In return, they learned from us.
* Xandhil tries to think about how that woudl work, but suspects it is not somttyhing that can be explained really @_@
* Xandhil nods
<Xandhil> was it just you four, then?
<Epher> At first there were more of us... Twelve, all together. Three perished, that I know of... The others, I hope may still be out there - I intend to seek them out, if I can.
<Xandhil> huh
<Xandhil> I wish you luck...
<Epher> Thank you.
<Epher> I understand that it may take a long time, if it is even possible...
* Xandhil nods
<Xandhil> I think you have the time, at least
<Epher> Yes, that's true
* Epher looks sort of pensive
<Epher> Also the time to see how much things have changed
<Xandhil> it's an interesting world these days's that's for sure...
<Justen> Definitely.
* Epher nods
<Xandhil> ahh, but I keep getting distracted!
* Epher gives a slight smile at that
<Xandhil> there is just so much!
<Xandhil> we came out here to learn about this place
* Xandhil gestures in the direction of the tomb
<Xandhil> it would really just be unfortunate not to fond out more from someoen who was there...
<Xandhil> did you four join with Orelius willingly?
* Epher considers how to answer that
<Epher> I was willing to serve him. I believed that he would be the best choice to bring some kind of stability to these lands.
* Xandhil nods
<Epher> I convinced the others that it would be for the best
<Epher> Perhaps not... entirely successfully >.>
<Xandhil> :|
<Xandhil> Nizar?
<Epher> yes
<Epher> He betrayed Orelius, leading to his death on the battlefield.
<Epher> And when we sought to bind him, he trapped us as well.
<Xandhil> :|
<Xandhil> ...how?
<Epher> The words of our own oaths were turned against us
<Xandhil> :|
<Epher> Our vow to remain with Orelius was not ended by his death
<Xandhil> ahh
<Xandhil> how did Nizar betray him?
<Epher> He whispered his promises, lies, in the ear of Orelius's wife, Livadhia.
* Xandhil commits the name to memory
<Xandhil> that is similar to something we'd heard
<Epher> She was the daughter of the leader of another faction, the Ravens. Her mother having been defeated, she turned to Orelius for protection.
<Xandhil> although it sort of ... lumped you all together
* Xandhil nods
<Epher> But she was never loyal to him... she worked against him in secret, conspiring
<Epher> Nizar fostered her lies and her treachery.
<Epher> I would not say he corrupted her, since she was already corrupt
<Xandhil> how do you mean? Other than that she wasn't loyal... was there something more?
<Epher> I do not know what lay within her soul. She was touched by some darkness, something malevolent. Her tribe had a reputation for dark magics, and no doubt she took part in them.
* Epher seems to really not like her, so who knows... take it with a grain of salt? >.>
* Xandhil nods slowly...
<Xandhil> ....did the totems of the tribe - were they involved in the war in heaven?
<Xandhil> Did they have power, like the seven gods?
<Xandhil> I guess you might not know...
<Epher> They had such power once. But there were casualties in the war, on both sides.
* Xandhil nods
<Epher> In any case, she and Nizar worked together to bring about Orelius's downfall. At the time when he needed aid most, Livadhia drew away his power - as well as Nizar.
<Xandhil> it seems liek the tribes that came down here fared less well, in that regard - all of the names of their gods had been lost, except Horse
* Xandhil nods, making an apologectic gesture, as he hadn't meant to interrupt with yet another distraction
<Epher> Horse, Raven, Fox, Stag, Boar...
* Xandhil nods
<Xandhil> I shouldn't say they were completely lost - but for the most part
* Epher nods
<Xandhil> even the worship of horse had been mostly stamped out
<Epher> The people here still called on them in my day, at least
<Epher> but now even that is gone?
<Xandhil> maybe not completely... I dont know
* Epher sighs
<Xandhil> Karala - the other woman who was with us, considers herself a pristess of horse, but her powers are very diffewrent from any other priest I've known
* Epher nods
<Xandhil> and most of the people who live here think she's a witch
<Epher> It should not make me so melancholy that those who drove me and my kin from the heavens have themselves fallen, I suppose.
<Epher> it is just another sign of how much I have to learn about this new age.
<Xandhil> there's a lot of new to learn in that regard
* Epher nods
<Xandhil> Serpent was only restored about 30 years ago st ill
<Justen> I mean, we don't understand it all either, and we grew up in it.
<Xandhil> I mean for everyone, yeah
<Epher> if I can find others like myself... perhaps they can help me understand.
* Xandhil nods
<Epher> it's not that I don't appreciate your aid
<Epher> I do, very much
* Epher smiles
* Justen smiles back
<Xandhil> I'm sure they'd understand a lot more though @_@
<Epher> without you, I would still be trapped there
<Justen> well... we're not big fans of people being trapped
* Justen says mildly
<Xandhil> yeah...
<Justen> You're going to go look for the others like yourself.. and you also wanted to come to Diablotin at some point?
<Epher> Yes, that was my intention. I'm not certain that there are others 'like myself' precisely, but I will try to find those I once knew, at least.
<Epher> I feel as though I've been given a new start.
<Epher> it's freeing, but also rather daunting.
* Justen nods
* Xandhil nods
<Xandhil> I think my dad felt very much the same
<Epher> I look forward to speaking with him one day.
<Justen> you can come visit us, we'll introduce you ;)
<Xandhil> defintely :D
* Justen says in his usual charming way
* Epher smirks back a bit at that
<Epher> I don't hand out wishes every time I visit, you know ;)
<Justen> What if they're not wishes so much as ... friendly requests?
<Xandhil> don't push your luck :p
* Epher chuckles
<Xandhil> but we would be - well, I would be at least - interested to hear about your travels
<Xandhil> old and new
<Epher> I would be delighted.
<Epher> Since we are friends ;)
* Epher says with a grin to Justen
* Justen smiles back
* Xandhil smiles at that as well
<Justen> :are you thinking what I'm thinking?
* Justen thinks at you, since he can ^-^
<Xandhil> :...Are you thinking about sex? Is that a stupid question? :p
<Justen> :mmmaybe?
* Justen says in answer to either question ;)
<Justen> :we could probably get him to stay longer ;)
* Justen teases
<Xandhil> :If you can get him to...
<Justen> :you doubt my powers? ^-^
<Xandhil> ;I guess well see...
* Epher glances back and forth at you two
<Epher> Enjoying your new skill, I take it?
<Justen> Definitely
<Xandhil> yes
<Epher> I won't pry into what you're discussing, but I assume it's me
<Justen> We were wondering if you might want to keep us company a little while longer... like, the rest of the night, say
<Epher> You want to keep talking?
<Justen> Maybe eventually... ^-^
* Epher chuckles
<Epher> I see some things haven't changed
<Justen> People were always trying to seduce you back in the day, too?
<Epher> It was not unknown... but they weren't usually quite so forward.
<Justen> What can I say, I'm a modern sort of guy.
* Xandhil smiles bemusedly
* Epher glances over to you
<Xandhil> I'm sure he thinks it is some sort of mission ;p
* Xandhil teases Justen
<Epher> And what about you?
* Epher asks a little more gently, maybe getting the idea you aren't quite as 'modern' and 'forward' ;)
<Xandhil> Well.... I'm definitely curious.
<Epher> you are driven by learning, I see
* Epher says with a smile
<Xandhil> I'd say that's pretty accurate
<Xandhil> for most things anyway.
<Justen> It's good to get his nose out of a book once in a while ;)
<Epher> Well, you came here - that's a good start.
<Xandhil> true...
<Xandhil> but it's just another kind of learning >.>
* Epher nods
<Epher> I'm interested in staying a while longer :)