In the quiet of the evening, the lone trill of that nightly bird echoed far and wide. Once, twice... and then it quieted. Maea wondered if it had simply retired for the night, or if something had made it quiet. Some prowling shadow with sharp claws and a hunger to sate, perhaps. She missed the song, as she patiently waited for Jigano to decide. It made the darkness feel more solemn, less friendly somehow. Her feet were wet with dew, the tattered skirts of the dress sagging against the legs and chilling them. Even in this early LongHeat evening the air was cool, and if not for her shawl she would have shuddered. As it was, she thanked Ludo again for the gift, and sought solace in the light of the lantern Jigano held. The pale glow steadied her, gave her courage as she sought to gather her fragmented memories.
"It would, at that" she sighed, "though to be honest I can't tell how important it is anymore. But... well. I'll let you decide that for yourself. It concerns you more than me, after all."
Easing herself down to sit on the stone, clueless about the purpose it had once served, she pulled restless fingers through the white tresses and looked out over the fields. Her eyes went distant, as though looking at something that wasn't quite there.
"Do you remember what the Voice said, before the barrier fell, about how she -or the Core, I don't recall the specifics - brought you all here? Reaching out through the void, to worlds beyond this one, to have you aid her in breaking free. I dreamed about it. When I was ill, before I disappeared. Only... I'm not so sure it was a dream." She plucked lint off the skirt, and rolled it between her fingers.
"In the dream - or vision, call it what you like - I saw when she did it. How she did it. There's a... building? creation? inside the Spire. Something that she made, from metal and tubes and complicated pieces. It was assembled together over many years. Centuries. It reaches out, plucks information, and gathers it together again over here. Only... only it's not... it's not that she takes a whole person and moves them from one place to another. Instead..."
It was clear Maea had trouble describing what she had seen. But beyond that, it was even more difficult to reveal the truth of what she'd realized, because she had no idea how Jigano would take it. How any of the Outlanders would feel about it, if they knew. But now that she had begun to speak, she couldn't stop. The words kept coming, rolling over a tongue that felt more numb with each syllable. Faster, with every racing heartbeat.
"Instead, she copies it. Like translating a text onto a new piece of parchment, making a second version. And... the process is still happening. Still the assembled pieces keep reaching out, making new copies, placing them here."
Solemn eyes rose to the Lorekeeper's face, apology and dread and so many questions mingling as she summarized what she was trying to tell him.
"You are a copy, Jigano. Of yourself. As are all the other Outlanders who have ever arrived on Caido."
"It would, at that" she sighed, "though to be honest I can't tell how important it is anymore. But... well. I'll let you decide that for yourself. It concerns you more than me, after all."
Easing herself down to sit on the stone, clueless about the purpose it had once served, she pulled restless fingers through the white tresses and looked out over the fields. Her eyes went distant, as though looking at something that wasn't quite there.
"Do you remember what the Voice said, before the barrier fell, about how she -or the Core, I don't recall the specifics - brought you all here? Reaching out through the void, to worlds beyond this one, to have you aid her in breaking free. I dreamed about it. When I was ill, before I disappeared. Only... I'm not so sure it was a dream." She plucked lint off the skirt, and rolled it between her fingers.
"In the dream - or vision, call it what you like - I saw when she did it. How she did it. There's a... building? creation? inside the Spire. Something that she made, from metal and tubes and complicated pieces. It was assembled together over many years. Centuries. It reaches out, plucks information, and gathers it together again over here. Only... only it's not... it's not that she takes a whole person and moves them from one place to another. Instead..."
It was clear Maea had trouble describing what she had seen. But beyond that, it was even more difficult to reveal the truth of what she'd realized, because she had no idea how Jigano would take it. How any of the Outlanders would feel about it, if they knew. But now that she had begun to speak, she couldn't stop. The words kept coming, rolling over a tongue that felt more numb with each syllable. Faster, with every racing heartbeat.
"Instead, she copies it. Like translating a text onto a new piece of parchment, making a second version. And... the process is still happening. Still the assembled pieces keep reaching out, making new copies, placing them here."
Solemn eyes rose to the Lorekeeper's face, apology and dread and so many questions mingling as she summarized what she was trying to tell him.
"You are a copy, Jigano. Of yourself. As are all the other Outlanders who have ever arrived on Caido."
