"The Flame and the Flood?" he checked with a lopsided grin for the delightful poetry of it. Gods most fortunate but he could have a field day with names like that to work with in a good ballad. All the more reason to hope that Lusea was found soon - and in one piece - so he could see about putting the pair's romance to a bit of music.
"You'd probably know her by her starwhale companion," Jigano said with a softer smile. A tilt of his head and a brush of his mind reaching out to Isuma and discovering her cheerful mind sound asleep, curled up with her new friend on the roof above them. "Or her wonderful baking. She's called the Shield of Safrin, but for such a mighty title she's quite humble and earnest." And as anxious and judgmental in her own way as he could be, truth to tell, but for all the pain she caused him he still loved her dearly.
"I'm glad she missed it," he murmured fervently, wishing he had been lucky enough to have nothing to do with the mess that had been Zariah's attempted reign of terror. "But it's good that you brought a useful skill with you," he teased with a crooked grin at the habit of ignoring such monarchs.
He nodded solemnly at Sunjata's description of rulership. "We haven't really... had a ruler who trusted the people around them to help hold things up," he decided slowly, feeling a pleasant tingle in the tips of his fingers. "Zariah had Edy but that was it. Ronin never got around to asking anyone to help out before he get hit with the blight, he just relied on Wessex," he said the name with a bit of a growl as the alcohol loosened his tongue. "And she doesn't seem to trust anyone besides her fellow Ascended. And she probably knows that if she makes a ruling party all of them, the Naturals would revolt." And wouldn't that be a gods-awful mess?
The bard nodded in satisfaction at the deal they struck, though he wondered if either of them would have much luck. Still, every bit helped, and wheels were starting to turn in that white head, pondering names and skills and talents that could come in useful... if the right words were dropped in the right ear.
"You'd probably know her by her starwhale companion," Jigano said with a softer smile. A tilt of his head and a brush of his mind reaching out to Isuma and discovering her cheerful mind sound asleep, curled up with her new friend on the roof above them. "Or her wonderful baking. She's called the Shield of Safrin, but for such a mighty title she's quite humble and earnest." And as anxious and judgmental in her own way as he could be, truth to tell, but for all the pain she caused him he still loved her dearly.
"I'm glad she missed it," he murmured fervently, wishing he had been lucky enough to have nothing to do with the mess that had been Zariah's attempted reign of terror. "But it's good that you brought a useful skill with you," he teased with a crooked grin at the habit of ignoring such monarchs.
He nodded solemnly at Sunjata's description of rulership. "We haven't really... had a ruler who trusted the people around them to help hold things up," he decided slowly, feeling a pleasant tingle in the tips of his fingers. "Zariah had Edy but that was it. Ronin never got around to asking anyone to help out before he get hit with the blight, he just relied on Wessex," he said the name with a bit of a growl as the alcohol loosened his tongue. "And she doesn't seem to trust anyone besides her fellow Ascended. And she probably knows that if she makes a ruling party all of them, the Naturals would revolt." And wouldn't that be a gods-awful mess?
The bard nodded in satisfaction at the deal they struck, though he wondered if either of them would have much luck. Still, every bit helped, and wheels were starting to turn in that white head, pondering names and skills and talents that could come in useful... if the right words were dropped in the right ear.
