Carpe Noctem

His illness had interrupted his grand plans to heed the Tulmhainar's final suggestion and lead a group to end the danger of the plants in the Spire's basement. They had gone ahead without him, a situation he both understood and yet found incredibly frustrating, the twisting tendrils of shadow in his soul hissing anger into his veins at the slightest opportunity. True, he had let them all down. True, they had every reason to chose not to follow him, now or in the future...

But still, it galled.

He needed to go down again, to see what had been wrought... but the corruption in his blood had left him cautious of the consequences of his actions. The portal in the basement was a temptation, and one he regretted sharing with those he had intended to lead down there now. With the Blight loose among humans, he did not think it wise to go much farther than they already had. Not until they had found a cure - and, just as importantly, the cause, to make sure it wouldn't follow them out of their gods-given cage.

But was there more than just a portal in the Spire? There had been a Tulmhainar, after all. What else might lie within it? The plants might not have been the cause of the blight, but that didn't mean all hope was lost. Ludo had said that they would watch the bard, and perhaps inadvertently given him fresh courage to fight both his own illness, and for the souls of those within the Hollowed Grounds. He could not simply give up and wait to die - or change.

He had asked Samuel to meet him here, on this chilly Leafchange evening, hurrying to the shelter the Spire offered from a blustering wind and an approaching autumn storm. Not quite Loreseeker business - not, while Amalia still led the Guild - but one friend asking another for help on a mission of exploration. Jigano ducked into the open doorway, pushing his hood back to let Isuma burrow out from underneath his hair. He ignored the way his hands shook, almost used to their palsied tremble by now. In one hand he carried a white lantern, with a flame that seemed to burn without fuel, and in the other he leaned on a staff, an affectation from his Silversmith disguise that he had kept when his fever had left him weak. His strength had mostly returned, but he found the smooth wood comforting when he could no longer be certain of his aim with his rapier. A rope and his usual bag of medical supplies and waterskin completed his preparations. He didn't expect them to do much besides walking and poking about... but it didn't hurt to be prepared when the place they'd be poking about had once housed and imprisoned a goddess, and killed at least two men before them.

"Sam?" he called out, looking around in case the redhead had made it to the Spire before he had.

Sam had been both happy and anxious to see Jigano, unsure of where they stood after the conversation they had had at Remi and Ronin's wedding. But his friend had spoken to him normally and he decided he was happy to let it go, if only to avoid yet another argument about The Voice. Perhaps it was just one of those things he wasn't going to mention to some friends, as sad as the thought made him. He had been surprised when Jigano had asked him to go to the Spire. The place was irreparably attached to The Voice and a dangerous one too; he had come to associate Jigano more with afternoons spent sipping tea, chatting, maybe going out to take the odd note on something. Though, he supposed they had met through an adventure, that was perhaps fictional but it had felt real. Approaching the Spire, a thick coat on to protect against the winds that grew colder with each moment, he looked up at it's height. An oppressive structure, for sure. Something about it made him swallow down fear, even though he had been in there and survived. Shaking his head he carried on, forcing himself to take steps in one at a time. He walked in behind Jigano just as he called out. "Hello. I'm here! And...oh." Sam stopped, looking Jigano up and down. "Are you sure you want to do this? You look a little...sickly, if you don't mind my saying. Do you feel alright?" Samuel He took a step but then felt tired He said, I'll rest a little while But when he tried to walk again He wasn't a child

Sam's friendship had remained a steady light when so many others had flickered from the storm of his mistakes. He treasured the afternoons and evenings he spent tucked in the bookshop or at his friend's house, discussing lines of poetry in old books or dissecting the motivations of characters in the adventure tales that were better read than experienced. Zariah's Queenship had interrupted much of that camaraderie, and the Voice's machinations towards his friends had raised protective hackles on the fox's back, angry that she might be using Sam as a pawn or a tool. He had let those fears out at the wedding when it became clear how drastically the bookmaker had changed in recent months, but he regretted scaring his friend, hurting his feelings when the gentle redhead was only trying to help. The goddess he wanted to please was not, Jigano strongly suspected, worthy of that adoration, but he could do nothing about it now.

Yet.

And until the Blight had been burned out, root and branch, from the Greatwood and Hollowed Grounds, he could only split his attention so many directions.

Jigano smiled as Sam arrived, and turned to greet his friend while Isuma chirruped a hello of her own. "I don't mind," he chuckled ruefully. "It's true enough. But I'm hardly an invalid, and hopefully we won't find anything too troublesome tonight. After the tumult of that first night when the barrier fell, and then following Amalia down to free the Tulmhainar... well, we haven't really had a chance to do much looking around just to see what's here. It's worth seeing what we might have missed in all the rushing up and down, don't you think? Perhaps we'll find some books or histories from the time before the barrier was created." Perhaps that, or other things... it was hard to know what to expect just yet.

He gestured into the stairwell, where the stairs spiraled around the hole that Safrin had made in her bid to reach the Tulmhainar. "I'll let you choose our first path. Up, or down?"

Sam waved to Isuma then listened to Jigano, concern clear in the way his brows furrowed, but he did not tell Jigano to go home and rest. If he insisted he was well...perhaps it was because it was what Sam wanted to believe (not Jigano too, not like Ronin, it couldn't happen), but he wasn't going to argue too much. "It does sound promising. I suppose when people were here previously they were not looking out for books." He considered the options he was given, tapping his chin with his finger. Did he want to go up, to floors he'd already seen and survived? Or down, to unknown things? The old Sam, the one who would not have come to the Spire in the first place, would have picked Up immediately. But...he found himself actually curious about what lurked beneath them and even confident he might be able to defend himself. "Let's go down. I haven't seen it down there. I'll go first." Again, something he could not imagine saying months ago, but he did want to protect Jigano if he was ill - even if as he put it, he was 'hardly an invalid'. Slowly, Sam began to walk down the stairs, fingers lightly tracing the wall as he walked to steady himself. Samuel He took a step but then felt tired He said, I'll rest a little while But when he tried to walk again He wasn't a child

He was relieved that Sam didn't push him to go lie down. No amount of rest was going to fix what afflicted him, and so long as he had strength (and patience, his temper growing increasingly fierce and unpredictable) he wanted to live what life he had left. Hopefully with fewer regrets than he had already accumulated. "Our short-sightedness," Jigano agreed ruefully. "I wish we'd had time to explore it slowly the first time... but ah well. If we could turn back the clock there are many things I would change." He offered his friend a lopsided smile and asked his question, giving Sam the choice of facing the unknown, or facing painful memories. At his friend's decision he nodded, curiosity burning bright to see how things had changed since his last visit.

"Alright. But if we start running into the poison that was here before, let's turn around. I don't want either of us getting a lungful of that stuff." Did Sam still have lungs? Either way, it had hurt Lucas badly and Jigano had no desire to see his friend suffer similar harm.

He was surprised when the bookmaker took the lead, but not as much as he would have been a season ago. He'd always known that Sam was brave, as far back as their first meeting when the fearful redhead had given him the protective feather. Watching him grow into the stronger, more confident person he was slowly becoming was a pleasure and a gift, and Jigano smiled at his friend's back - no longer so narrow as it had once been. Isuma chirped encouragement to them both, leaving the bard's shoulder to perch on Sam's instead and peering down the spiral stairs with eager curiosity at this place her companion had been twice without her.

Though no poison rose to meet them, the walls of the Spire were cracked and wounded, the once-smooth surface of the stone rough with fissures and fractures in the black substance. The further they descended the worse the damage grew, dust on the ground and floating in the air amidst fallen rocks upon the steps that they had to pick their way around. There were no breaks in the walls, no openings to other floors or doorways, but once they neared the bottom of the Spire a jumble of rubble blocked the way into the underground chamber. Isuma hopped forward to perch on a shattered block of stone that stood nearly head-high, turning back to peep curiously at the two men who followed. There was no visible way through the debris without shifting it, but it looked unstable...

"This is... different," the bard said dryly, peering over Sam's shoulder. "It had fallen in the last time I was here, but the Fae had made a tunnel through the rubble so we could reach the chamber beyond. Now... I don't know." He eyed it dubiously, then looked to the bookmaker with an arched brow. "What do you think? We could start trying to shift things carefully and see if we can make a way through. Or we could try heading up and see if we missed anything on the upper levels first? I'd hate to ask Remi to come back here again... if he'd even listen to me," he added, lips quirking into a pained, humorless smile.

"I think that's true for everyone...last time I was here I didn't want to stay very long." While everyone else had been staring at The Core, he had run away, desperate to get out. Had he even seen if there had been books...? His memories of the day were in smudges and flickers, seconds of red and panic. The mention of poison caused him some alarm, but he had already come here, so he continued on. Perhaps, now that the Spire had already been investigated once, it was disarmed now, the traps used up; or at least he hoped so. He stepped carefully, slowly; as they walked down the dark stairway he reflected on their friendship too, on how he was glad that he had a friend he could feel comfortable with, safe even in this kind of place. That he knew Jigano would not rush him along or make fun of him if he expressed anxieties. He was about to turn and say so when they reached something other than more stairs and Jigano spoke. "I could...try and lift the stones." Sam ventured, walking forwards and trying a few. "...I don't think Remi would want to help me either, at the moment. Do you think we have more chance of finding something valuable in here? If you do, I can probably..." He looked over the rubble and tried to assess his own ability. "...yes, I think I could clear it, given time." Samuel He took a step but then felt tired He said, I'll rest a little while But when he tried to walk again He wasn't a child

"This is not a place that inspires comfort," Jigano agreed, trying to keep his tone light, but there was an underlying hint of grimness to it. Too many had died here, too many had been hurt, in body and spirit, for it to be comfortable place. They made their way down the spiraling stairs at their own pace, neither rushed nor headlong but instead cautiously and taking their time. For once there was no emergency, no hurrying feet or race to rescue trapped gods or ancient spirits. They could run their fingers over the walls, painstakingly seeking seams or locks or things that would indicate doors.

But nothing was to be found along the stairwell. Not until they reached the rubble did it become interesting, and then the puzzle was one of logic rather than discovery. Again he gave his friend the choice, and Sam's words caught him by surprise, a pale brow arching. "He's fallen out with you as well?" the bard asked, curiosity and sympathy in his expression, though he felt mostly resignation deep within. "I... honestly, I don't know all of what we might find in there," he admitted slowly. "The last time I was in there, a Tulmhainar died, and Safrin fell within and faded until we thought she might have died, too. There were poisonous plants that I had been trying to get together an expedition to clear out, but... they went without me, while I was sick." Shunned and mistrusted, there were few enough now who would follow him, and it made his remaining friendships all the dearer. He shook his head, finding a lopsided smile for his bookmaker friend.

"There might be something interesting in there still. We had little enough chance to properly explore it last time, with the poison limiting our vision and our time, and the Tulmhainar taking up our attention. But getting through here..." He frowned at the rubble, expression slipping towards a scowl as he rested a hand lightly against a large chunk of stone. "I'm afraid if we start shifting things too quickly, we'll just make the collapse worse. If we had a way to shore up as we went, then maybe..." He remembered the lessons of the tunnel dug from Amalia's basement, but again his thoughts circled back to magic as a solution. Remi's earth magic, or his creation magic. Or Deimos's. Neither likely to offer their help even if he begged, or even speak to him, and Jigano sighed. "There's a chance we could get hurt," he warned soberly. "A very good chance. I might be willing to take it for myself, but I don't want to risk you, not when we could end up trapped in fallen rubble. If you don't want to risk it, we can try going up instead, and only come back here if there's nowhere left to go."

"It seems Remi often falls out with me, though it does not last very long usually." Sam reflected. Not that he didn't usually deserve it. "But this time...it might be difficult to fix." He moved a few more rocks, only really lifting the ones on the outer layer of the collapse. As Jigano began to speak of his concerns, Sam nodded and put the rock he was holding down, looked up to the ceiling. "Alright. Let's go up, then. I...do not really remember clearly what there was, up there." Gently he held out a hand to Jigano, hovering just over his arm. "Will you be okay? Climbing all the way up there?" He did not want to treat his friend like he was too delicate, but he didn't want to exhaust him either. Assuming Jigano could at least manage the walk up to the door he let the other man go first this time, with the thought in the back of his mind that if things suddenly got worse, if he fell back Sam could catch him. As they walked, he asked: "Why is Remi not pleased with you?" Samuel He took a step but then felt tired He said, I'll rest a little while But when he tried to walk again He wasn't a child

Once Jigano might have smiled and said something along the lines of 'lovers' quarrels' but that time was seasons past now, and he only gave a regretful shake of his head, remembering their own emotional words at the wedding. "I would listen, if it would help you to share what happened," he said gently instead. "But I don't mean to pry if you'd rather keep it private." Curious as ten cats he could be, but some things were difficult to talk about, and if Sam didn't want to share the problems between himself and his alchemist friend, Jigano would try not to push that line.

They might find themselves back in the basement, amidst the rubble and fallen stones again soon, but for the moment the path of least resistance led upwards, and Jigano nodded with a bit of relief. They had all gone running up to the top of the Spire before 108 had freed the Core and nothing had stopped them then, so it seemed like it would be somewhat safer... if the instability at the base of the Spire didn't cause problems higher up. "Perhaps there is nothing there now, but it doesn't hurt to check," he quipped with a wan smile. Sam's offer of support was endearing and, with the tremble that had settled into his bones and the chill of his skin the bard found himself willing to accept, giving his friend a grateful nod. "We'll go slow anyways, so we can check the walls for anything we might have missed before. No need to exhaust ourselves." Or at least, exhaust himself. Sam would likely be fine, with night providing the strength and vitality that gave Ascendeds such an edge in the dark.

Their path back up was faster, since they had already checked this section of the obelisk. Once they reached the ground, however, Jigano slowed, taking his time to examine the stone (?) of the walls as they climbed at a more sedate pace. "Mmm. I suppose you were still out of town for a bit when Edy took over as Queen," he mused, wincing away from the memories of that too-recent time. "There was a group of people who had been forming a resistance to Zariah's rule. Naturals and Outlanders alike had been hoping to set Ronin up as a leader in opposition to her. But then she disappeared and left Edy in charge... something Edy wasn't crazy about." His voice caught on the memory of his friend, devoured in the blink of an eye. "She... I went to see her, about having my arrest warrant removed but instead... she wanted to make me king alongside her." He swallowed hard, for that was the last time he had seen her alive when they had been bantering and friendly, even if it had been tinged with wariness on his part. "I accepted, asking that Ronin join us. I thought..." he trailed off, shaking his head as his fingers traced over the black substance of the Spire. "It doesn't matter now. Something went wrong when Edy went to ask Ronin to join us. Word got out that I had been made king, and everyone was... 'pissed' is too mild a word. They treated me like a traitor, and when I tried to abdicate and give the crown to Ronin outright, they only got angrier." Bitterness tinged his voice, and a simmering anger that was uncharacteristic for the bard. "Remi... didn't say it aloud, but his eyes spoke volumes. He and I have never been friends. But now..." Jigano sighed, shaking his head. "I just... I don't know what to do, Sam," he admitted more softly. "Everyone thinks I made a mistake. A big one. And if I knew then what I know now, of course I wouldn't make the same decisions. But at the time I didn't know. I made the best decision I could with the information that I had. And no one sees that. All they want to do is yell at me and tell me how they would have handled it better."

It felt good to get the words out to someone who hadn't been there, though he still stole a cautious glance at his friend, worried that Sam might judge him, too, for trying to help his friends when all he achieved in the end was harsh words and wounded feelings.

"...He was upset about the Blight, same as everybody is at the moment." Sam said, going no further than that. Remi had basically had the same argument with him as Jigano, just..more heated. Bringing it up would likely start up the conversation again, and he did not have the energy. Not when it was weighing so heavily on his own mind, what was real or true. He politely did not point out that Jigano would be the only one getting exhausted. Sometimes, that felt weird to him still; physical fitness and strength were not things he associated with himself, even years after Ascended, for before the last year he had never had much call to use them. As they walked up he listened. He had known Edy had been Queen, but he was still confused about just how that had come to be - there had been one terrifying Queen when he'd left, then two alright Queens and a King when he'd come back; he was not experienced in monarchy but he wasn't sure that was how it worked. He was even more confused when Jigano continued (the question 'you were going to marry Edy?!?!' surfacing for a moment, before he noticed marriage did not seem to be a part of this contract). Turning to speak, there was no judgement in his eyes; Sam did not particularly mind who was on the throne (now that they had one) as long as they left him to his business. "I'm sure eventually they'll forgive you and see you were trying to do the best thing, Jigano. You always do. You're a good man, and they know that." He sighed. "It's just...a chaotic, emotional time, isn't it?" Samuel He took a step but then felt tired He said, I'll rest a little while But when he tried to walk again He wasn't a child

"Yes, with Ronin being... yes, I can understand that," Jigano murmured sympathetically, feeling the frisson of annoyance beneath his skin, that dark, burning restlessness that wanted to snap at the Ascended for turning a blind eye to the Voice's machinations instead of seeking answers from her. Sympathy for Sam and Remi both trickled thinly over the top of the irrational anger, but he held it in check for now, turning his attention instead to recounting a short, sanitized tale of the bard who was briefly king. It didn't exactly help him keep his temper, but it changed the focus of the simmering rage to people who weren't currently with him.

At least the bookmaker didn't join in with the judgment parade. He looked to Jigano with trust that caused the lorekeeper's heart to ache, cutting past the anger to drip a cooling salve upon the cracks in his heart. He found a smile for his friend, letting out a relieved breath. "Thank you," he said softly, then cleared his throat self-consciously and his smile turned back to its usual wry tilt. "Chaotic and emotional... yes, it very much is. Kings and Queens and Blights and Fae and Longnight just around the corner. I guess we're all on edge these days. But at least Zariah is gone, so that's one less worry to deal with - especially for two renegades like ourselves!" His smile shone a little brighter, but faded as they reached the first platform that Sam had braved once upon a Flowerbirth night, all those months ago.

The funny thing about looking for trouble, is that sometimes you can find it. As the staircase rounded another bend a door came into view, dark and oddly forboding in the light of Jigano's white lantern. He exchanged a cautious look with Sam and then approached it, testing it gently to see if it would open.

Locked.

"I don't suppose you brought any keys with you?" he said, more to keep the mood light than because he had any hope that their keys would fit. Nibbling his lip, the bard narrowed his gaze at the door, studying it and whatever mechanism kept it closed thoughtfully.

"Renegade? I've..never been called that before." Sam mused under his breath with a little laugh, turning to look away from Jigano and head up the stairs again. "So...are you still the King, then? Or were you actually able to put away the title? I hope you didn't want me to um, bow, or anything, but I suspect you probably wouldn't." He didn't seem the type to demand grovelling and finger kisses, though Sam had seen how a little power could change people before. The door, large and omnious before them, made Sam stop in his tracks, reaching out to press his hand against it. "No, no keys...but..." He knelt to study the lock, holding it his fingers and turning it this way and that. Had he not given his cube to his safehouse, he would have immediately used it to weigh the lock down and off, but without it...he wondered if he was strong enough. Holding on tight with both hands, he looked behind him. "Step back, I'll try to pull it off." As soon as Jigano was far away enough he tried with all his might to pull at the lock, hoping to simply force it off. Samuel He took a step but then felt tired He said, I'll rest a little while But when he tried to walk again He wasn't a child

Sam's strength is able to pull the handle off the door! Good job Sam! The door opens and....! ...it's about the size of a broom closet, with nothing inside.

The Spire was silent around them, and even whispers carried in that black stillness, lit only by the white lantern. "A renegade and a criminal, just like me, for not answering that damned draft," Jigano agreed, a bit more cheer in his voice. He regretted many of the consequences that had come from that personal rebellion, but not the act itself. He snorted at the tentative question, glancing back with amusement that held an equal portion of pain. "No, and good riddance. I was king for a few hours only... and even then, it was just a name. A meaningless title." He sighed, heart squeezing sharply at the memory of his final conversation with Edrei. "Edy might have named me king to help handle her workload, but... she never meant that I was her equal. I was a fool for thinking that she had. In the end I was just a scapegoat to make her rule look more legitimate, but by accepting the title and trying to help her, I ended up being so sharp that I cut myself. At least I was able to pass the crown on to Ronin, though, however reluctant he was to take it if it meant working with Edy. And... Wessex." He grimaced, brow furrowing deeply as his dislike of the Ascended woman colored his tone. "Edrei named her Queen while I was getting chewed out by the rebels. Now... well. Now it's Wessex and Ronin in charge, I suppose." At least they were making things better, not worse, which was more than he could say would have been the case if he had remained bearing the title.

The door was an interruption to the conversation, but not an unwelcome one. The bard had lost his lockpicks during his travel between Numeria and Caido, and had never gotten around to replacing them. He regretted that now as he started going through his medical bag to find his suturing needles, wondering if he could modify them into lockpicks. It would depend on how complex the locks were, and they might have to come back later...

Sam surprised him with his assertive warning, and Jigano shifted out of the way, watching with interest - and then amazement as the Ascended bookmaker exerted a superhuman strength to pull the lock off the door. "You've been working out!" he complimented, only partially joking as stepped forward and rested a tentative hand on his friend's shoulder, giving it a congratulatory squeeze. "Well done!" Peering into the room, however, revealed a very exciting plain, empty little closet, where the Core might once have kept the cleaning supplies used to polish the stairs.

Would the Spire really contain something so mundane? The bard frowned, stepping across the threshold with his lantern and running his fingers lightly over the walls, pressing just hard enough to try and move any looser pieces of stone. "I suppose... after three hundred years, things might have rotted away?" He said, but there was a dubious note in his voice. He stepped back to make space and gestured for Sam to try if he wanted to, frowning a little in disappointment that his friend's splendid display of strength had only revealed so small a chamber.