I will crawl like a sinner to be at your feet

Loathe the way they light candles in Rome,
But love the sweet air of the votives

Koa has never before contemplated praying to Vi. His one encounter with the great god had been both inspiring and terrifying; he'd thought he would be quite content spending the rest of his life out of Life's attention, serving and protecting rather than tempting fate. But if there was ever a time to test his luck he supposes it is now, with the world fading and his sister infected and his entire life unmoored. What does he have to lose, after all?

All he has left is his pride, and even that is somewhat tarnished, having seen better days.

Unsure what one brings to entice a Greater God, Koa opts for seedling in a hand-crafted pot. Silver-barked with near-black leaves, the shopkeeper he'd bartered it from had told him it it was a cutting from a special tree, one that had nearly faced extinction during the First Blight. 'A testament to life,' the wiry fae had staunchly assured him, and who was Koa to contradict? He's never known shit about plants to begin with, and without Mateo he is wholly adrift.

He sets the small plant on the shrine reverently, then takes a step back. He'd contemplated coming in the daytime, but dusk feels better, somehow; Koa is comforted by the thought that maybe Safrin is watching, too. Maybe the herald will vouch for him, encourage her parent to treat him with pity? Or maybe she will be the one to appear?

He'd much prefer that, really, were his sister's wellness not on the line.

Clearing his throat, Koa drops to a kneel and begins his invocation. "Lord Vi, Father of Life and Lover of Death, I ask you for your aid. My sister is infected, and I... I don't know how to save her. Not without your Grace. I know I am but a lowly soldier, but if you could find the time to help me, I would accept any task."

He pauses a minute, fidgeting with the seam of his pant leg, unsure what else to say. All that is left to wait, he supposes. To sit and wait and pray.

-------------------------

Koa for Vi/Saffy! And if he fails to roll for either I'd like to use my level 3 item quest reward, please!

Hurt and grieve but don't suffer alone;
Engage with the pain as a motive

Safrin

Safrin did not arrive in a blaze of celestial grandeur, nor did the sky tremble at her presence. Instead, the air simply grew heavier with quiet expectation, the faintest shimmer of starlight settling in the space around the shrine. A breeze, warm and fragrant with the scent of night-blooming flowers, teased at the edges of Koa’s hair before the goddess finally made herself known.

She stood before him with effortless poise, her expression unreadable, lips curved into something that might have been amusement or detachment—it was hard to tell. "Sorry, just little old me" she purred, arching a brow. There was no true malice in her words, but there was something cool in the way her gaze flickered over him, assessing. Perhaps she had expected better. Perhaps she was merely entertained by his misguided prayer. Either way, she made no effort to mask her amusement as she reached out, running a single finger along the rim of the carefully chosen pot. "A lovely offering, though" she mused, the silver bark gleaming faintly beneath her touch.

Vi was distant, far removed from the daily struggles of mortals. But she? She was here. And for all her apparent aloofness, Safrin would not have come if she didn’t care. Tilting her head, she finally let her gaze settle on Koa fully, the distant amusement in her expression softening by a fraction.

"I'm afraid you do know what to do," Safrin offers gently. "Halo's springs need to be rebuilt, or a flower needs to be found."

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Loathe the way they light candles in Rome,
But love the sweet air of the votives

Vi does not come, but Safrin does, tinging what brief disappointment Koa might have felt with the dawn flush of relief. Koa's handsome face tilts toward her like a sunflower, the starlight shimmer of her arrival reflected in his copper eyes. "I am always honored to see you, My Lady," the boy murmurs, not rising from his position on one knee. There's something off, an unusual distance he never would have anticipated being bothered by, but one now keenly felt; the Dragoon frowns when she turns away, briefly jealous of the ivory finger that graces the pot instead of his cheek.

Which is incredibly presumptuous, I know, but humility not always one of Koa's strengths.

You do know what to do. A lump rises in Koa's throat; he tries to swallow the knot of it, though disappointment dances briefly across his face. Dropping his head, the boy frowns. It's a hard truth, and one he cannot circumvent. "I have been looking," the soldier admits, "But the flowers seem unnaturally shy." Rising up from the observatory floor, he dares to lift his eyes to Safrin, offering a desperate, beseeching smile. "Would you help me find one, My Lady?"

Hurt and grieve but don't suffer alone;
Engage with the pain as a motive

Safrin

Safrin’s eyes lingered on him—on the way he stayed kneeling longer than necessary, on the way his voice wavered with longing and desperation. That familiar hunger, the desire to be seen, to be chosen. Her expression did not soften, but it did sharpen, the aloof curve of her lips giving way to something more contemplative.

"Shy?" she repeated, her voice velvet-smooth and laced with dry amusement. "Or simply elusive to those who expect them to bloom at their feet?" She tilted her head slightly, moonlight catching along the curve of her jaw, her gaze unwavering as it pinned Koa in place. "They are rare for a reason, Koa. Sacred. You do not stumble across sacredness just because you want to." Even so, something in his voice—some crack beneath the pride, some thread of sincerity wrapped in the bravado—kept her from turning away entirely.

With deliberate grace, Safrin stepped closer, the space between them vanishing like mist under the morning light. She reached out, fingers cool and soft as she cupped his jaw, her thumb brushing the edge of his cheekbone. "If only I could," she murmured, the corner of her mouth curving again, though this time there was a flicker of warmth beneath it. "But Vi has made them rare for a reason. It is not for me to show you the way." It was why he'd called to the God of Life in the first place, she knew.

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Loathe the way they light candles in Rome,
But love the sweet air of the votives

Safrin's tone remains cold and distant, casting a pallor of isolation through each cell of Koa's being. Beneath the shields he tries to maintain, a hollow ache echoes against his bones; he can feel the absence of her affection, her approval, as keen and dark as the self-doubt that plagues is thoughts these days. To have disappointed his friends, his family, even his city - this he's been able to handle.

But the idea of having let down his goddess? That feels too much to bear.

And then her fingers brush against him, and oh, Koa could cry. Without thinking he leans into the contact, eyes fluttering briefly closed, basking in the sensation of her skin upon his cheek. "I understand," he whispers, resigned and accepting; it aches, but it is all he can expect.

Tilting his face toward the goddess, Koa gazes down into her eyes, desperate to find some warmth and acceptance within those cosmic depths. "I've felt so adrift, Safrin," the young man confesses, licking nervously at his lips. "I used to know what my place was in the world, but now..." Homeless, loveless, apart from his family - Koa was not meant for this level of self-direction, and it wears upon him terribly. "All I ever wanted was to make a difference, y'know? I know I'm just a mortal, but if there was some way I could be stronger - something that would take the burden off of you, and the demigods, and everyone else."

A new ring, perhaps, that would block out some of the Family's power - or at the very least something that would let him injure their creatures. There are few things he'd enjoy more than to effectively punch some void monstrosity in the face.

Hurt and grieve but don't suffer alone;
Engage with the pain as a motive

Safrin

Safrin's expression flickered—just barely. A ripple, subtle and brief, like the first star breaking through the veil of dusk. She did not withdraw her hand, even as his cheek leaned gratefully into her touch. Her fingers stilled, holding him there, as if weighing the broken edges of the boy she had once found so promising.

"You are not just a mortal," she said softly, though there was no comfort in the words. There was expectation. Pressure. Heat forged in the center of stars. "You are mine." Her thumb brushed faintly against his cheekbone again, slower this time, thoughtful. "And that means you do not drift. Even when the path is unclear, even when the world turns away."

Her hand finally lowered, but not coldly. As her fingers left his skin, a warm, subtle pressure lingered in their place—a gift not of magic, but of meaning. "You want strength?" she mused, almost to herself, stepping slowly around him, orbiting now like the moon around a tethered world. " I will give you something no shadow can touch." Her voice dropped, low and dangerous and divine. "And when you hurt them, they will know it was me who sent you."

And then, very gently, with a tilt of her head that spoke more fondness than she had let show until now: "You’ve never disappointed me, Koa. You’ve just forgotten how to burn."

---

Koa has been given a quest!

He must

1. Experience something heavier than expected (interpretation up to you)
2. Complete a training thread while physically weighed down
3. Complete a thread where he uses gravity to his advantage
4. Complete a thread where gravity is a disadvantage

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Loathe the way they light candles in Rome,
But love the sweet air of the votives

"Yes, my lady." Like a vespertine flower Koa blooms, bolstered by the strength of Safrin's expectation more than any comforting words, any platitudes or empty reassurance she might have offered instead. A soldier through and through, the young man does best beneath the banner of a cause. It's something he's been missing sorely, the reason he's been so adrift.

But for her? For his goddess Koa can again find his center. He will. He must.

The low spoken promise of a way to strike back sends a shiver of anticipation dancing down the young man's spine. A clenched fist thumps against his chest; he bows down, reverent and obedient, the impassioned, resolute soldier he had nearly forgotten he could be. "I will fight in your name, Lady Safrin; nothing could possibly honor me more." He keeps his head bowed as she finishes her inspection, only glancing back toward the goddess when she speaks again.

The flash of white teeth shines against bronze skin; Koa's mouth curves in a boyish, eager smile, almost as bright as the ones he had offered back when his world was small and safe. "I won't forget again," he promises fiercely - and then, in an outburst of brazen ardor, he reaches for her hand, pressing the barest, most reverent kiss upon her sacred fingers. "Thank you, Safrin, for being my anchor. If there is anything else I can do for you, Lady - anything else I should know, to better face our enemies - then I am yours to command."

------

Using my Critical plot information prize to get some of that tasty lore.

Hurt and grieve but don't suffer alone;
Engage with the pain as a motive

Safrin

The moment his lips brushed her fingers, starlight pulsed beneath Safrin’s skin — subtle but immediate, like the breath of a sun caught between eclipses. She didn’t pull away. Instead, her hand lingered for a moment longer in his grasp, her expression inscrutable but no longer cold.

"You want to face the enemy with clarity?" she murmured, her voice quiet but thick with purpose. "Then see." With a wave of her hand, the shrine dimmed. Candles guttered into stillness. And before them, suspended in the air like a frozen constellation, a rough map of Starfall began to form.

Made of starlight and shadows, the island pulsed with slow, ghostly light — jagged coastlines, twisting ridges, and a cratered interior that swirled like smoke. Safrin stepped beside him, eyes locked on the projection. "Here," she said, her fingertip hovering over the shoreline. "This is where Remi, Ronin, Sunjata, and Deimos placed a flower. Their work has held — the void cannot get near it."

But then she swept her hand inward.

The projection tilted, peeled back like layers of a dream — showing tunnels beneath the island. "Beneath the surface, the terrain shifts," she said. "Poisoned flora. Void-twisted beasts. Caverns filled with death." As she spoke, shadowy shapes of wings and jaws flickered in and out of view, rising and falling like echoes.

"And deeper still..." The stars rearranged, tightening, becoming narrow coils — claustrophobic tunnels, winding like the path of something ancient and serpentine. "Tunnels carved by something certainly not of this world."

Then, a sudden bloom of light — an underground lake, strange and black, steam hissing from it in pulses. "The Arclight runs beneath the island of course," she murmured. "But here it is corrupted — turned to vapour, cloaking the caverns in poisoned mist. There are things in the water, Koa. Not dragons. Not beasts. Things that should not be."

And then, finally, a hush.

A new chamber shimmered into view — an antechamber, carefully constructed, with void symbols etched into the stone. Safrin’s expression cooled. "This is where it begins to change," she said softly. "This place was shaped. Built. Birthed."

Her voice dropped as the map expanded one last time, revealing a central, pulsing chamber, slick and strange, the starlight flickering uncomfortably around its shape. "They are growing something," Safrin said, eyes narrowing. "The god many of you saw in your dreams." She let the image hang in the air between them for a moment, letting it burn itself into Koa’s mind before turning her gaze back to him.

---

Koa's plot critical plot info has revealed that there are 4 levels to Starfall before reaching the "god".

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Loathe the way they light candles in Rome,
But love the sweet air of the votives

Well Koa, you asked for info: and here's a proper dump.

Silently Koa watches and listens as Safrin conjures up a map, spinning a tale of terrible beauty and corruption far deeper than he could have dreamed. Rapt and attentive, the young soldier pushes every ounce of his intellect toward committing the information to memory, his fingers tracing lines over his thighs, his lips moving wordlessly to repeat some of the pieces and phrases he senses are most important. Though he may not be the smartest cookie in the jar, Koa's always been a good student; years of drills beneath his parents and commanders have given him a skill for rote memorization that he now employs to its fullest effect.

Only when the final piece is revealed does Koa's composure break; he inhales a sharp, deep gasp at the revelation of a new god. Koa has spent his life in Stormbreak; he lost his mother in the war. The Voice had been a boogeyman and then a very real monster who haunted his childhood.

The idea of a recurrence is too terrifying for words.

"Thank you, Safrin, I-- I need to write this down." Practically buzzing with the weight of all he's been told, Koa looks around himself, half expecting a notebook and pencil to magically appear. "I'll make sure this information gets to the people who will be going to Starfall." Which he doubts would include him, with the little he has to offer, but damn if he isn't going to volunteer.

A thought occurs to him, and he tilts his head back toward the goddess. "If... I, or someone else calls for you there - or for any of the gods - would you be able to come?" Does channeling work in the sacred spaces of a foreign deity? Or would they truly be alone?

Hurt and grieve but don't suffer alone;
Engage with the pain as a motive

Safrin

Safrin did not interrupt as Koa committed her words to memory. She watched him with quiet intensity, the model of Starfall flickering gently in the air between them—glittering lines of stardust and darkness casting fractured reflections across his cheeks. The sharp intake of his breath at the vision of what waited in Starfall—the truth of what was being grown—sparked a brief flicker of grim satisfaction in her eyes. That he understood was good.

When he turned to her again, so full of urgency and motion, Safrin simply lifted her hand, the star-forged model collapsing in on itself and vanishing like a constellation swallowed by dawn. "Write it down," she agreed softly, nodding once. "Make sure they know. The further they go, the less time they’ll have to think. Let them plan while they still can."

At his question, her expression darkened just slightly, not with anger, but with uncertainty—the kind that rarely touched her features. "I don’t know," she admitted, her voice dipping low. "Starfall is unlike anything in Caido. The void there is deeper than I’ve ever felt." Her gaze flicked past him briefly, as though watching the last remnants of a long-lost memory dissolve in the dark.

"But I will listen." Her gaze snapped back to him, sharp and resolute now. "If you call for me, I will do everything I can to answer."

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Loathe the way they light candles in Rome,
But love the sweet air of the votives

To have a divine being say 'I don't know' is never particularly reassuring, and Koa has to swallow a bubble of fear at this response. There is a temptation to reach out and embrace Safrin, to wrap his arms around her and shield her from the dark - but of course that is a foolish thought, presumptuous and brazen, and he keeps his arms held at his sides, hands curled into fists. The Void, the Family - they cannot be allowed to continue unchecked and wild, and in this moment more than any other Koa is determined to throw himself into the cause of their downfall however he can, even if that is simply through the communication of the knowledge he has gleaned.

"I hope it does not come to that," he tells her now, sincere. "And that you don't have to face that darkness again. But I feel better, knowing that you're watching - better than I have for a long time. Thank you, Safrin. For everything." Perhaps it wasn't what he'd initially prated for. Certainly he is no closer to a cure for Noe, now. But the fire in his heart tells him that this is what he needed, and he will take that purpose forward with him, will try to do his best to make a small difference in the world.

But first, he has some shit to write down, before it escapes from his brain.

[fin]

Hurt and grieve but don't suffer alone;
Engage with the pain as a motive