The Second Star to the Right
Jigano Silversmith
the Sage
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#1
Some questions had answers within the Atheneum's hallowed halls, but others were like orphans, their answers lost to fire, or mildew, or the ravages of time... if they had ever existed at all.

Some gods were more likely to care about history and the potential answers it held than others, though. The Voice might have been one... but Jigano was wary of drawing her attention any more than he already had. His prayers to Ludo were usually of a more present or future nature, dealing with spirits and souls both living and dead, and he still had a healthy respect for Frey, though his fear had lessened with Rory's touch. Nor was he sure that Frey would care about the question he had in mind.

No, the white raven fluttered down like a ghost to the Shrine in the Glade he still thought of as a sanctuary, after a quick flight around to make sure there were no others nearby. He was a nervous bird as he alighted on a glowstone, just beginning to glimmer in the gloaming, and he took the time to breathe deeply, settling himself with meditation exercises before he hopped down to drop the single, perfect white stargazer lily he had brought on the altar.

Bouncing back, he flipped his wings to settle them, preening his feathers one last time to make himself look presentable before he bowed his head, chirring softly as he began his prayer.

Safrin, Lady of Stars, I would ask your help. I fear that I alone will not be enough to protect my friends in the days to come... and I would seek your guidance, if you are listening.


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#2
"I am always listening." Safrin mused from somewhere not quite corporeal, but still somehow close. A warm breeze reminiscent of spring glades and the earthy scent of rain sweeps gently though, ruffling through the pale feathers of the raven. Through what might best be described as a curtain in the fabric of reality, Safrin simply appears, slipping from one plane to the next.

Starlit beauty and soft smiles, the goddess looks warmly at the avian creature. "Where once you may indeed have had the strength to do just that, this world as you know is a far cry from the one that raised you." This too, the bard surely knew. "What is it you need?"
Jigano Silversmith
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers Soul Shepherd
Portal Guardian
Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int:
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#3
The appearance of a god, a true manifestation of at least a sliver of the divine - as much as his mortal mind could comprehend of it, at least - would never cease to be a miracle to the Oracle. He spread his wings, bobbing his head in a deep bow to the goddess of the stars as her arrival sent a teasing zephyr through his feathers, bringing the scents of spring and renewal to soothe his worries for a moment.

When he raised his head again, cocking it to either side to drink in Safrin's beauty, he chirred a welcome to the goddess. For her and her kin he did not mind being in so small a body and looking up. There was a rightness to it that suited him, even as her words reassured him that all that he had been was not entirely unknown here.

But though he opened his beak as if to speak, he closed it again almost immediately, feeling a trace of shame at the mortal pettiness of his original prayer. He had told Deimos that he would ask the old gods for guidance in protecting themselves from dark magics, but now that one stood before him he wondered if the power plays of mortals really mattered that much, in the grand scheme of things. There was, however, something else he was just as responsible for, a promise that all the books in the Atheneum had been unable to answer.

I... am sorry, Safrin, he apologized, feathers ruffled as he ducked his head in embarrassment. There is a great deal happening, and danger both within and without these days. I do not know which should be of greater priority but... I have seen the sickness in the Greatwood, he said at last, looking up at her cautiously from a bright blue eye. And that threatens more than just my human friends. It threatens the Fae as well, and from what I have learned from the Lady Arduinna, it began shortly after the barrier fell. The Lady of the Wood could not heal it magically, and it is spreading. I fear the blight is our fault for letting the barrier fall... either her doing, or that of something else we unwittingly released, he admitted. I know the Fae do not care for our feet in their forest, but if we could help them heal the woods, perhaps it will undo some of the damage we have caused.

Technically he didn't need to breathe while speaking mind to mind, but he paused to do so anyways, trying to gather his thoughts into a more coherent answer for what he needed. I have looked through the books in the Atheneum, and found no mention of such a magical Blight. The oldest Fae I know of did not recognize it either. So I now turn to you for guidance, Lady of the Stars... do you know what the cause of the sickness is, and how to heal it?


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#4
"There is no need to apologize." Safrin says with an enigmatic smile. The mention of Arduinna merely brings a small shrug from her shoulders; neither a confirmation or a denial of the validity of the fae's intel. She does however raise a brow at hearing him name her the lady of the wood, and at this she shakes her head. "Of course she can't. For all that Arduinna is, there is much more that she is not."

Reaching down to pluck a lily that was not there moments before, Safrin turned the bloom in her hands as startrails began to appear on the soft and pale petals. "The fae are a private people." She offered with a small shrug. "Helping them might indeed repair the relationship, though I do not think they will ever mirror the societies that you know."

Thoughtfully the deity listened, her cosmic gaze alighting softly on the raven as he composed the narrative of his thoughts. "It is indeed new. You will not find mention of it in books or the long-archives of memory. The cause? I have my suspicions given the timeline, but I am not sure that it matters. Based on the rate of growth the Greatwood will not last more than a year if it is not dealt with. The source is inconsequential at this point."
Jigano Silversmith
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers Soul Shepherd
Portal Guardian
Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int:
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#5
He had heard of Arduinna approached with respect, and with fear before, but those had all been mortal concerns. It made sense that the gods were less concerned with even powerful mortals, though that was no reason for him to be less impressed - or less wary - of the Wild Fae.

He ducked his head, a little bob of apology as Safrin offered little tidbits of information on the Fae, but seemed... unimpressed? Bored? with his questions and reasoning. In truth he did not know how to approach this glittering goddess, following always before in Amalia's footsteps. He had come to her now with hope that, as before, she would share knowledge with those who prayed to her for it. Vi was the god of life, and she was his right hand... or so he had thought. Surely a god of life would care about a blight on that life in the Greatwood?

Or... had he misunderstood?

So if you do not recognize it, either... is there no way to stop its spread? To protect the Greatwood? he asked, subdued and uneasy as he shifted from foot to foot, looking from the star-brushed lily in her hand to the offering left untouched upon the altar. His own gift was such a washed out, drab blossom in comparison, as delicate and easily bruised as his pride these days, it felt like. At least, that you know of? Between Zariah and the fallout from her grab for power and this disease infecting the first place they had been allowed to learn of outside the barrier, it felt like many of the good things he had finally found were beginning to crumble, and he reached desperately for any flicker of light and hope he could use to bolster his own courage against the coming dark.


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#6
"Your thoughts betray you bard." Safrin said with an amused smile. "Do not think you know my motives and priorities simply because you know my name. What I am."

Raising a brow and plucking one of the petals from the plant she held, the goddess shook her head. "I didn't say that. Everything is new at some point, that does not mean it is without hope. That being said, death is the inevitable conclusion to life. All woods, great or not, eventually fall to dust." Safrin said with a shrug. "But it is as you have said; this is quite likely because of the actions of mortals. The fall of the barrier, the releasing of the Voice. What is it you would like me to do, now that you and your kind have done all of this?"
Jigano Silversmith
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers Soul Shepherd
Portal Guardian
Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int:
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#7
He hunched down a little further in his feathers, thoroughly chastised as an unmusical croak escaped his beak. My apologies, he said softly in the silence, not knowing what else to say. She was a goddess, and unknowable, but it was in his nature to try and know, to chain clues and facts and tidbits together to come up with ideas. They weren't always right - more often than not they weren't, truth be told - but he could no more stop himself from doing it than a fish could stop breathing water.

Still, this aloof deity, who spoke so casually of the death of the woods within a year, was an altogether different face of the being he had met with Amalia in Flowerbirth. Jigano watched her playing with her flower, removing a single petal, and he chirred again, deep in his throat, a rattling sound of dismay as she seemed to distance herself from all that had happened, all hints dropped and assistance given in darker times. Her question was a good one: he had come hoping for answers, for something to help protect his friends from Zariah's dark magics... but then he had feared offending her and had asked instead for a cure for the blight of the Greatwood. What would he have her do, if he could only ask it?

I... I had hoped you would know of a cure for the disease, he spoke simply for once, a cold knot forming in his stomach. If you wish to punish those of us who caused this, I could understand that. You know how those within the barrier chafed at the imprisonment, better than anyone. That there are consequences for what happened... that is only to be expected. He finally looked up at her again, straightening his small avian body as best he could. But the Greatwood and the Fae should not be punished for our sins. I would like you to help them, please. Help them heal their home, so they do not suffer for our mistakes.


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#8
"I do not know a cure for the disease, because we do not understand what it is. Not even Frey knows." Her counterparts name was said with a surprising amount of disdain, but quickly her features smoothed into a marbled expression once again.

"Punish? Why would I do that?" Safrin mused, head gently tilting to the side as yet another petal was plucked and dropped to the ground. Still, the bard continued to speak of punishments that somehow seemed to suggest an obligation on the part of the deity. "The blight is a result of your actions, Jigano. You, as humans." She said gently. "The death is a forest, even one as wonderous as the Greatwood is inevitable. You have sped along the process with your actions, but everything dies in time. Why should I help? And I do not mean me specifically with regards to helping you, specifically. But why, when you have broken your things and wounded your neighbours, do you turn to a god to whom you have offered no allegiance, to fix your mistakes?"
Jigano Silversmith
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers Soul Shepherd
Portal Guardian
Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int:
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#9
That he would not need to speak to Frey was a relief, he couldn't help but admit to himself. He knew Phoebe had already offered to do so, and he was glad she felt close enough to the nature god to be the one to try.

That Safrin had no divine answer for the blight was just as far in the opposite direction of relief, though, worrisome in a way he had not expected. Not that gods always had all the answers but, well... There was comfort in sometimes thinking that they did, even if they didn't always hand them out in the way one expected.

The chastisement continued, his every word digging himself deeper until he wished he could crawl in a hole. Ludo sometimes frightened him, but Safrin made him feel small. Not merely humble or in awe of her presence, or at least not only that. He had never before felt so unworthy when offering prayers, and he crouched as low as he could get on his perch. I do not want you to punish anyone, he tried to explain. That is why I asked... Asked for people not to be punished, though he had been willing to bear up beneath such, if there was a price to be paid for a cure to the blight. He looked helplessly at the ground, at the fallen petals that seemed to out of place at the feet of Vi's daughter. Were there any right words left?

Perhaps there weren't... but there were honest ones. Truth had ever been his sharpest weapon and strongest shield.

It would be the hill he died on, he knew. For a moment of wistful distraction he wondered if Rory would light a lantern for him, and what color it would be.

I cannot say what a god should or shouldn't do, he spoke softly, subdued, but slowly straightening, raising his head once more. I came to you because you are Vi's chosen one, a daughter of Life, and I thought... I hoped... that Life would seek to repair the harm done to it. You're right, that I have not given my allegiance to any god, and that you have no reason to help me, specifically. I barely know you, except for the light you allowed Amalia to share with me. But it was not humans alone who brought that barrier down. Hints and clues and godly gifts cleared the way and led us into that cursed Spire. Humans made a final choice, yes, but you and Ludo helped in your own small ways. So if we have broken things and wounded neighbors, we are not alone in that. And just as we made those mistakes together, so I ask - I beg - that we fix them together.

He paused but briefly, cocking his head at her as he both feared her retribution and braced to take it. And if I have not given my allegiance to the Old Gods before, then I do so now. Mort and Vi and Rae, Ludo, you... and Frey as well. If the blight is of the Voice, then I wish no part of her.


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#10
"I did not ask if you wanted me to, I asked why you even thought I would?" Safrin replied, her stare the long-patience of galaxies and dying stars.

As Jigan spoke, another petal dropped from the flower. Safrin took a breath and held it, her eyes fixed on the inward constellation within the bloom she had created, before her cosmic gaze moved back to the raven. "Life leads to death. It is that harmony that keeps this world in check. As for Amalia? She has been a constant presence in the depths of her piety her entire life. Is it truly so surprising to you that she, devoted to this world and what it stands for with a lifetime of tears and bruises and silent nights behinds her, would receive a different reception from me?"

Softly the god shook her head. "Whatever aid Ludo and I lent was in service of keeping you all safe. It was humanity that brought down the barrier regardless of where the tools came from." Safrin said, not accepting the slight shifting of blame the bard was trying to render.

Tilting her head at Jigano's first step towards communion, Safrin narrowed her eyes. "Do you say so of your own will? Or simply as an act against the Voice? This is no false dichotomy Jigano. You are free to navigate this world without your fealty in either camp."
Jigano Silversmith
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers Soul Shepherd
Portal Guardian
Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int:
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#11
Because where there is blame there is usually punishment, the raven answered the goddess soberly. Whether in wrapping generations of people in a barrier while their world dies around them, or in the withdrawing of favor. Not all punishment was corporal, after all, or blatantly overt.

Life naturally leads to death, he agreed, fighting the urge to shiver again, knowing he would puff out like a snowball bush in full bloom if he did. But... this isn't natural. That's why I came. And I didn't mean-- He bit back his protest, beak clicking a few times as he paused, uncertain how to explain when a goddess who could see inside his thoughts still didn't understand him. He hadn't been surprised at all that Amalia had been greeted so warmly - that was his point. He wasn't jealous or envious, no matter what darkness the goddess seemed to think of him. He had been grateful that he had been allowed to share in Amalia's joy. He still was, for his sister's happiness meant a great deal to him. He had meant only that he had never spoken with the goddess one-on-one before, knew of her only through the filter of others. How could he swear allegiance to someone he didn't know? It wouldn't be true allegiance if he did; he would be swearing to a shadow, a dream, not a truth.

How quick she was to judge him... but then, wasn't that what gods did? At least, the ones he had once known.

And she also denied her part in what had befallen the barrier, adamant in her purity, righteous in her innocence.

An uncomfortable sliver of his soul wondered if a mortal and a deity could really be so alike, or if that was as blasphemous a thought here as it had been back in the world from whence he came. Not home... not anymore. But that world had shaped him, and he would not deny it.

It would be better if I were unbiased, he admitted. If I could stand between and stay neutral, to try and help broker what peace I could. At least, to stand between the mortals caught betwixt Old Gods and new. But... But that was no longer truth for him, was it? And hadn't been, since Maea had come to him telling of the Voice's cruel visions. He might have frowned, had he worn a human shape, but as a raven he could only let out a soft croak, thoughtful and uncertain.

How... he asked, the thought striking him with an almost painful clarity. How is it that I... that others... if the Voice was the one to bring us to this world, how is it that some of us are Attuned? That we received the blessing of the Old Gods in spite of her interference in our lives? There was a connection he was missing... a seed planted seasons before, perhaps. Or was that, too, just another illusion?


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#12
Softly the goddess shrugged. She would have preferred that the bard at least think her cold or fickle and base his judgement on that. Instead, it was far more boring. Where there is blame, there is usually punishment. "You speak of actions not done by me." Safrin said at last, her tone dismissive. She was not here to punish, but nor was she necessarily here to help, either. Safrin hadn't erected the barrier, and the goddess had received more punishment for its destruction than the bard would ever know.

"I did not say that life only ends because of natural means. More precisely what I meant was that death is the end of life, in every instance. In that sense, it is natural. Expected. But if it is unnatural, that is even more reason for us not to be involved. We have watched the spread of disease before. We knew what you were and what you were capable of when we created you."

"But?" She prompted, head tilted slightly to the side.

Raising a brow at this sudden change of direction, Safrin let another petal fall. "It is true she brought you, but she is not so powerful that she is capable of complete change. That is why there has never been an attuned made into an ascended before. You are, at your core, something distinct." The notion that it was the old gods interfering made something in Safrin's expression harden for a moment as she shook her head. "No. If she thought it would take an army of ascended, she would have organized that. But that was not what it took, ultimately. It only took one to open the door. The rest who ascended the tower and made it out alive? They were like you, like the accepted, like the abandoned. 300 years and it merely took the right ingredients—the right minds—at the right time."
Jigano Silversmith
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers Soul Shepherd
Portal Guardian
Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int:
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#13
Nor did I speak of punishments that might come from you alone. Not her nor Ludo nor Frey, in truth. He had spoken of 'you' in the plural, meaning the gods beyond her, those not currently present; but in his thoughts, as in his next sentence, he had grouped Safrin in with those trapped in the barrier, those who might be punished. He could not tell if she chose to misunderstand him deliberately, or if there was something else going on, some interference... or if he simply mattered so little - Outlander, outsider, always that, no matter where he went.

He bowed his head, knowing now, too, that he had no words to move her. And yet... she hadn't created him, by her own admission. Even if she was comparing the humans - as he was now, he supposed - to a disease. Wasn't that why he wasn't worthy? He had not been born here, created by these gods. There was a certain bitter irony there. Human enough to bear the sins of the Naturals who had been trapped within the barrier, but too Outlander to be forgiven... at least not by Safrin.

But...? But his best intentions tasted like ashes in his mouth, his proud stance faltered to a weary crouch, wings and tail drooping. As she spoke he knew that the Old Gods had not touched him as he came through the portal, finding something in him worth their attention, and so that hope died as well. He did not trust the Voice, could not support her or stay aloof any longer, but the Old Gods did not need the allegiance of one such as him, human and outlander, one who had failed to stop the fall of the Barrier, one who had caused calamity in his ignorance upon the Greatwood he had been learning to love, even if he would never be but a visitor there.

He could feel himself breaking beneath it all; the weight of the blight, the anger of the Fae, the pressure of Zariah's tyranny, his failure to protect his friends, his inability to find the words to sway the goddess. He was quietly grateful that birds could not cry, that their beaks were not made for expressiveness, so he remained at least outwardly impassive and stoic.

I cannot undo what has been done, or turn back time to make it so it never happened, he whispered at last. I am truly sorry that we failed you... failed you all. Is there nothing we can do - I can do - to ameliorate the damage? Or were they naught but a particularly troublesome disease, as Safrin had called them? Capable only of destruction on this world so far from what he knew, and the gods he had once protected.


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#14
Crossing her arms entirely not and letting the petals fall from her fingertips to the ground, Safrin fixed the bard with a stare. "Speak plainly Jigano. I do not have the time to wade through your mortal mind. You came to this shrine asking to speak with me, and then said if you were to punish, that you would understand. Do not try and mince the words that you have offered.

"As for failure? Fixing the damage? There are plenty of things that you can do."
Safrin added with an exasperated sigh. "Have you even bother trying to understand it? Have you studied it? Have you tried to speak with the fae? Or have you simply come here with your martyr complex as if this is somehow entirely up to you to fix, crumbling when nothing you have said has moved me to help.

This is a disease. They happen. It comes at the consequences of the choices made within the Hollowed Grounds to lower the barrier. It is a human problem. Find a human solution."


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