"Without hope, what reason for trying anything new?" he asked back, voice quiet. "Magically uprooting them might indeed be possible. Remi's earth magic might allow for that. Telekinesis might work as well. I'll pass that along to the others."
He watched Deimos speak of a terror that he had been there for. He had not faced the explosion, but the mountain had not faced the vines that tried to pull them into the earth, or the fierce gravity that had snapped Delah's leg. The insects might well still be there, but that's why he was going, in spite of having no useful magic. "I cannot do it alone," he said simply. "If I could, I would not risk anyone else. But I can't. Vai knows the dangers as well as you and I do. Remi does not, but he has been told, and he saw the state Ronin was in when he returned. Rory..." Here the bard faltered, voice catching for a moment. He met Deimos's eyes squarely, worry in them but also resolve. "I am scared to death of him going down there again, yes. But when he heard what I was planning he wouldn't let me go alone. And even if those plants aren't the source of the blight, even if all we do is kill enough of them to clear the poison from the air... still, it will be worth doing if that is what is needed to open the path to the portal."
He considered Deimos for a moment, that warrior who seethed and simmered beneath a countenance so often cold, who never spoke three words when one would do. Deimos, who would follow Amalia to the gates of Hell, who watched and waited, but who Jigano had rarely seen do without the baker's involvement, the impetus of something she wanted, or something that had been done to her. What was this world to a man such as him? A home? Or simply a place to wait between, made tolerable by the presence of a woman he had fallen in love with? Kiada had told him something of Deimos' past, but the bard found that there was still much he didn't understand about the mountain he sometimes thought was his friend, and sometimes... sometimes he didn't know what Deimos thought. It seemed they were at odds as often as they worked in tandem.
"I am going to protect them as best I can," he said, voice still soft. "From the insects, and anything else that tries to attack them while they handle the plants. I am aware of my inadequacies, but I also trust them to know when to retreat. Vai and Rory aren't fools; they've both left the basement before when the poison became too much for them. I'll drag Remi out myself if I have to, but now that he has Ronin and Aoife to return to I think he'll take better care of himself. And it might take two or three attempts to clear the place, yes." He shook his head, a wry smile working its way back in spite of his weariness with the world. "I think we need to find out if that portal is still there, and if we can use it to find a refuge from Zariah. I think that the longer we take, the more chance we have of being discovered, and losing whatever advantage might be gained from it. There is no guarantee that it will still be there, or that it will still work as the book described... but from what the Tulmhainar said, I am willing to bet my life on it, and to ask others to risk themselves as well. If you have a better plan, I'm willing to listen. And if you were willing to come with us, to protect them from what we know is a dangerous and risky undertaking? I would welcome your presence." Jigano looked Deimos over carefully, his smile falling away. "But after the last time... no, Deimos, I don't feel like I can just ask you to join us. How the hell am I supposed to ask a friend still reeling from that experience to face it again so soon?" For Vai had taken his request with calm competence and agreement that the task needed doing, and Rory with a grim sort of determination that Jigano suspected hid fear, but which the farmer pushed past with stubborn will. Deimos, though, had come out of that Spire scarred more deeply than any of them except Amalia, and Jigano didn't know what combination of space, time, and challenge would help the taciturn man overcome it.
He watched Deimos speak of a terror that he had been there for. He had not faced the explosion, but the mountain had not faced the vines that tried to pull them into the earth, or the fierce gravity that had snapped Delah's leg. The insects might well still be there, but that's why he was going, in spite of having no useful magic. "I cannot do it alone," he said simply. "If I could, I would not risk anyone else. But I can't. Vai knows the dangers as well as you and I do. Remi does not, but he has been told, and he saw the state Ronin was in when he returned. Rory..." Here the bard faltered, voice catching for a moment. He met Deimos's eyes squarely, worry in them but also resolve. "I am scared to death of him going down there again, yes. But when he heard what I was planning he wouldn't let me go alone. And even if those plants aren't the source of the blight, even if all we do is kill enough of them to clear the poison from the air... still, it will be worth doing if that is what is needed to open the path to the portal."
He considered Deimos for a moment, that warrior who seethed and simmered beneath a countenance so often cold, who never spoke three words when one would do. Deimos, who would follow Amalia to the gates of Hell, who watched and waited, but who Jigano had rarely seen do without the baker's involvement, the impetus of something she wanted, or something that had been done to her. What was this world to a man such as him? A home? Or simply a place to wait between, made tolerable by the presence of a woman he had fallen in love with? Kiada had told him something of Deimos' past, but the bard found that there was still much he didn't understand about the mountain he sometimes thought was his friend, and sometimes... sometimes he didn't know what Deimos thought. It seemed they were at odds as often as they worked in tandem.
"I am going to protect them as best I can," he said, voice still soft. "From the insects, and anything else that tries to attack them while they handle the plants. I am aware of my inadequacies, but I also trust them to know when to retreat. Vai and Rory aren't fools; they've both left the basement before when the poison became too much for them. I'll drag Remi out myself if I have to, but now that he has Ronin and Aoife to return to I think he'll take better care of himself. And it might take two or three attempts to clear the place, yes." He shook his head, a wry smile working its way back in spite of his weariness with the world. "I think we need to find out if that portal is still there, and if we can use it to find a refuge from Zariah. I think that the longer we take, the more chance we have of being discovered, and losing whatever advantage might be gained from it. There is no guarantee that it will still be there, or that it will still work as the book described... but from what the Tulmhainar said, I am willing to bet my life on it, and to ask others to risk themselves as well. If you have a better plan, I'm willing to listen. And if you were willing to come with us, to protect them from what we know is a dangerous and risky undertaking? I would welcome your presence." Jigano looked Deimos over carefully, his smile falling away. "But after the last time... no, Deimos, I don't feel like I can just ask you to join us. How the hell am I supposed to ask a friend still reeling from that experience to face it again so soon?" For Vai had taken his request with calm competence and agreement that the task needed doing, and Rory with a grim sort of determination that Jigano suspected hid fear, but which the farmer pushed past with stubborn will. Deimos, though, had come out of that Spire scarred more deeply than any of them except Amalia, and Jigano didn't know what combination of space, time, and challenge would help the taciturn man overcome it.
