He was glad that Rance took a seat without it being suggested. Somehow 'you might want to sit down for this' never really prepared anyone for the soul-shaking truth. Oh, when they were human to begin with it hardly bore mentioning, but for those like him, and Caiside, and Cera, and now Rance... It was like having one of the pillars of reality pulled out from underneath them.
Jigano could see his guest's discomfort and unhappiness, but he had yet to find a way to soften the blow. He could have left it, he supposed... and if Rance hadn't followed up on his deliberate phrasing earlier he would have. A question deserved an answer, however, and this wasn't a truth that could be hidden forever, not when the man would eventually learn of it one way or another, either through his own familiarity with his body or from another.
Blue eyes met blue, and the bard nodded slowly. "The Voice," he confirmed. "She was once a mortal human woman, that much we know. Somehow she acquired enough power, enough magic, enough technology and knowledge... enough to ascend to godhood in her own right. She's a... tinkerer. A twister of other's creations." He sighed, turning to pour the tea into two sturdy mugs. "Suffice to say, the Old Gods of this place didn't much care for that. They locked her and her followers in that 'dome,' a barrier built of the Voice's own strength and turned against her. So... when she couldn't break the prison of her own making, and when her followers weren't enough to do it in her stead, she sought help... elsewhere."
He served the tea, along with a small plate of scones and fresh apples beside late-season berries and a single, slightly bruised pear. "Not that any of us knew it when we first arrived. All we knew was that we were trapped, and our friends among the Naturals were trapped, and it didn't seem fair to 'punish' the descendants of those who had supported her when most of them were innocent." And how very wrong things had all gone from there, but that was perhaps more history lesson than the raven man needed at the moment. "What of the gods of your world? Did they take an active role, or were they more taken on faith? Or did you have any at all?" Not everyone did, strange as the thought still was to the man who had been an Oracle and channeled divine magic at will, once upon a time.
Jigano could see his guest's discomfort and unhappiness, but he had yet to find a way to soften the blow. He could have left it, he supposed... and if Rance hadn't followed up on his deliberate phrasing earlier he would have. A question deserved an answer, however, and this wasn't a truth that could be hidden forever, not when the man would eventually learn of it one way or another, either through his own familiarity with his body or from another.
Blue eyes met blue, and the bard nodded slowly. "The Voice," he confirmed. "She was once a mortal human woman, that much we know. Somehow she acquired enough power, enough magic, enough technology and knowledge... enough to ascend to godhood in her own right. She's a... tinkerer. A twister of other's creations." He sighed, turning to pour the tea into two sturdy mugs. "Suffice to say, the Old Gods of this place didn't much care for that. They locked her and her followers in that 'dome,' a barrier built of the Voice's own strength and turned against her. So... when she couldn't break the prison of her own making, and when her followers weren't enough to do it in her stead, she sought help... elsewhere."
He served the tea, along with a small plate of scones and fresh apples beside late-season berries and a single, slightly bruised pear. "Not that any of us knew it when we first arrived. All we knew was that we were trapped, and our friends among the Naturals were trapped, and it didn't seem fair to 'punish' the descendants of those who had supported her when most of them were innocent." And how very wrong things had all gone from there, but that was perhaps more history lesson than the raven man needed at the moment. "What of the gods of your world? Did they take an active role, or were they more taken on faith? Or did you have any at all?" Not everyone did, strange as the thought still was to the man who had been an Oracle and channeled divine magic at will, once upon a time.
