these simple words

There is love inside this madness
We are walking on the moon

The Observatory was busier than Sohalia had expected for the middle of the day, but she supposed that with the Greatwood being the place to be this season, it was only natural for the home of the skyport to be bustling. She made her way through the crowds with a small bundle in her arms, dodging visitors both disembarking and preparing to return home. 

Fortunately, the shrine was removed from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the observatory. Soh climbed her way up to it, carrying her burden, and was pleased to find that she was able to pray in solitude. 

Not that she expected an answer. She’d prayed to Safrin countless times and been met only with silence. She wasn’t sure that this would prove to be any different. 

Still, she had to try.

Her offering today was a bundle of day lilies in a beautiful, golden pot engraved with the sun and stars. She sat it on the shrine and knelt, clasping her hands in her lap. ”Vi, I know everyone is hunting for your roses, and I’m just one person ins sea of many. But if I could do anything to earn a rose from you, please - please just name it.”

—-

Soh is requesting a quest for a Vi’s Rose! If she fails her roll, please use MP!

Though I don't believe in magic
I believe in me and you

Sohalia

Who can say what causes the God of Life to put down his newspaper to peep down at the shrines all over Caido and make his selection? Perhaps Sohalia is destined for more greatness than she gives herself credit, or maybe things really are as strange and random as they seem. Regardless, as she sets down her offering and makes her plea, as removed as the shrine might be to the rest of the Observatory, even the faintest whisper of other voices and movement will seem to halt completely, as if time itself has stopped.

Appearing without pomp or circumstance, Vi is the wash of sunlight through the windows, the dewdrop falling from one of the lily petals, the drumbeat of the Luminary's heart in her chest. His presence makes the air itself seem easier to breathe, and yet the weight in his dark gaze is something ancient and fathomless.

"One so young does not often look for such heavy responsibilities," he says, his voice the timbre of a mountain's roots, his tone one of infinite patience and loaded expectation. "The light inside you has dimmed since your first forays into leadership. But it has not yet gone out, has it?"

---

As the roll failed, Rayo has spent 3000MP for Sohalia to thread with Vi!

VI

Table by Sky!

There is love inside this madness
We are walking on the moon

Vi’s appearance, when it came, was heralded by the sunlight streaming through the windows, a drop of dew on a lily petal, and the very beating of Sohalia’s heart. She sensed his presence before she saw him, and the awe she felt blossomed like a living thing in her chest. This was no Safrin, or Frey, or Ludo. As impressive as they were, this was a deity that was larger, his expectations of her heavier, and with that came a wash of understanding that this quest, if it was granted, was not one that she could afford to fail.

Sohalia swallowed hard. ”I’d like to think that some light remains,” she responded softly, meeting the ancient gaze that pierced her through. She wasn’t always sure, but this was not the first time she’d been asked about her ever-present warmth. Somehow, against all odds, she struggled to hold onto all that was good in the world - and if Vi had noticed, then surely that meant that it was working.

Though I don't believe in magic
I believe in me and you

Sohalia

"I would like to think so too," Vi agrees, letting the silence stretch out between them for a few moments, as if to allow the dust of this occasion to settle, to give Sohalia a chance to simply breathe and to be in this little pocket of eternity. Stepping towards the lilies she has brought, the God of Life brushes his fingers across the engraved vase, setting the sun and stars patterning it to glowing, and something about the flowers suggests that they will bloom for perhaps longer than expected once this meeting has ended.

"My roses are one of my most precious gifts to this world, and to the one waiting beyond it," he continues, lifting dark eyes to settle once more on her face. "What would you do with one should you earn it, Sohalia Lumaris?" Would she cure a person of an ailment, cleanse an area of the void? Keep it for herself?

VI

Table by Sky!

There is love inside this madness
We are walking on the moon

Silence fell, and for a moment, it was all that Soh could do to take in the magnitude of what was happening, of what she was trying to do. She had called to Vi, and he had answered. It was awe-inspiring, to say the least, and as she sat in a comfortable silence with the god of life, a seed of hope sprouted in her chest.

Vi brushed a finger against the engraved vase, and its engraving started to glow. Soh looked at it with delight. ”Incredible,” she breathed, eyes on the flowers that now seemed like more.

His question was not entirely unexpected, and Soh answered readily enough. ”I would use it to cure someone of infection,” she said, by the Family, being the silent, unsaid addition. ”It’s challenging to watch people I care about struggle, and being able to do so little to help. This is something I can try to do.” She was suddenly nervous. Perhaps Vi wouldn’t grant her a rose, or even a quest to earn one. Would she be sent back to the Greatwood to keep hunting and hoping?

Though I don't believe in magic
I believe in me and you

Sohalia

Sohalia's awe does not earn the same pride or affectionate smiles from Vi as it might from his herald, or from any of the other gods, but the light within the vase does shine a little brighter, casting their constellations and other shapes to dancing on the walls of the shrine all around. "To cure someone," he repeats. "...Even though there are larger workings at play where it might be of use? You would bring relief to the one, even while the many are at risk?"

Frowning, as if able to see right through Sohalia and her motivations, for a beat or two, the silence hangs in the air once again, much heavier this time, much more intimate. And then, slowly and purposefully, Vi takes a seat on the step of the shrine beside the vase. "Life is precious," he says quietly. "All life, no matter how large or small, no matter how unimportant some may believe it to be."

The God of Life nods.

"I will grow you a rose, Sohalia Lumaris. If you prove you are deserving of one."

---

Sohalia has received a quest from Vi! She will become worthy of one of Vi's Roses by:

1. Doing a selfless deed.
2. Creating life. (e.g. planting a seed and tending to it until it sprouts, but if you want to get pregnant instead, that's... also fine?)
3. Protecting something/someone.
4. Collecting soil from the Greatwood.

VI

Table by Sky!

There is love inside this madness
We are walking on the moon

Had it been someone else, Sohalia might have argued that even one life was worth saving, that everyone was something to someone. Father, mother, brother, sister, husband, wife, friend... the list was endless, but everyone, no matter how seemingly insignificant, was worth saving. Had to be worth saving.

But this was the God of Life himself, and so she simply nodded. "Yes," she said honestly. He probably saw all of her reasoning anyway, her soul laid bare before him so that he might judge her worthy.

And in the end, the God of Life nodded, and he gave her the chance to prove herself so.

"Thank you, Vi!" Soh said, her relief clear on her pretty face. "I won't let you down."

fin

Though I don't believe in magic
I believe in me and you

Sohalia