"Loren," Jigano said dryly, "just a few days ago we were fighting with flowers with teeth. We've spent most of this season trying to shove semi-sentient muck out of people's houses. In Longheat there are grasshoppers that go around setting fires that will kill them, too, if they get caught in them. Not everything makes sense when there are active deities that enjoy saying "but what if I just did this...?" to things." He grinned ruefully at his friend. "For all we know, Rae or Frey made them as a way to cheer themselves up after a hard decade and the Squirrels ended up migrating to the Labyrinth later on their own." Or any other implausible tale they cared to dream up. Still, perhaps Frey would know... if anyone wanted to waste such a question on a conversation with a deity.
"I am curious about which little bird, now," Jigano said with a resigned sigh. Still, the cat was out of the bag, and even though he'd been trying to keep a low profile about it, he had agreed to let Remi warn the Ascended about them. He'd just, for some reason, hadn't expected the alchemist to use their names so freely.
The question was a good one, but one Jigano could only answer with a shrug. "Honestly? No idea. The gods sort of just.. handed the problem over to us without much guidance," he admitted with a faint grimace. Though, interestingly, all he had to do now was let his eyes drift shut a moment and focus on one of his fellow Guardians to get a vague sense of where they were in relation to him. If one of them got into trouble or went missing, that would be a damned useful trick. He opened his eyes again quickly before he walked into the hedge, giving a nod of agreement to Loren's point. "No, I don't think it was their original purpose. The original purpose probably was well-intentioned enough. But the portals were spread across Caido, so when they were all up and running travel was likely a lot more convenient. And once they existed and after the war began, it would have been all too easy to turn them to that purpose." And that was the problem now, wasn't it? However innocently the Ascended might have begun, even if one gave them the entirety of the benefit of the doubt, war had been a result of their ambitions. And the Voice's actions since had done little to assuage fears that she didn't intend to continue where she had left off three hundred years ago, after a few centuries of simmering in resentment.
But an opening soon appeared in the wall to their right. They could see the path deadending straight ahead, so turning made the most sense, but as they came up to it the hedges rustled and moved shifting together to close off the path. A similar sound from behind them revealed a new opening - this time to their left. Jigano looked to Loren with a raised brow that silently asked the question: Well? What next?
"I am curious about which little bird, now," Jigano said with a resigned sigh. Still, the cat was out of the bag, and even though he'd been trying to keep a low profile about it, he had agreed to let Remi warn the Ascended about them. He'd just, for some reason, hadn't expected the alchemist to use their names so freely.
The question was a good one, but one Jigano could only answer with a shrug. "Honestly? No idea. The gods sort of just.. handed the problem over to us without much guidance," he admitted with a faint grimace. Though, interestingly, all he had to do now was let his eyes drift shut a moment and focus on one of his fellow Guardians to get a vague sense of where they were in relation to him. If one of them got into trouble or went missing, that would be a damned useful trick. He opened his eyes again quickly before he walked into the hedge, giving a nod of agreement to Loren's point. "No, I don't think it was their original purpose. The original purpose probably was well-intentioned enough. But the portals were spread across Caido, so when they were all up and running travel was likely a lot more convenient. And once they existed and after the war began, it would have been all too easy to turn them to that purpose." And that was the problem now, wasn't it? However innocently the Ascended might have begun, even if one gave them the entirety of the benefit of the doubt, war had been a result of their ambitions. And the Voice's actions since had done little to assuage fears that she didn't intend to continue where she had left off three hundred years ago, after a few centuries of simmering in resentment.
But an opening soon appeared in the wall to their right. They could see the path deadending straight ahead, so turning made the most sense, but as they came up to it the hedges rustled and moved shifting together to close off the path. A similar sound from behind them revealed a new opening - this time to their left. Jigano looked to Loren with a raised brow that silently asked the question: Well? What next?
