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 Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2016 8:51 am
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"We had no idea," Adanna responded, a muted sour look on her face at the admission, "Another discovery owed to visions and a bit of logical guesswork. But I have no doubts about what she was- what she is."
Adeyemi, contrary to his unhappy sister, was almost smiling as they discussed their mother. He didn't mind that they had been tricked, if you could call it that. They couldn't change who their mother was, he didn't mind that. Unfortunately, that didn't mean there were only good things to come of it.
"She disappeared shortly after first contact with the Nergui," he said helpfully, "She may have known they might be looking for her, or hoping to find someone like her, I suppose."
Agni-pariksha listened with a dumbfounded expression on her face. It was a lot to take in in so short a time: that gods, of a sort, existed, that they were hunted by the Nergui for being false, that they could hide amongst regular mortals and produce regular looking offspring. There was nothing remarkable about either sibling, they looked like lions, not demi-gods.
"So.. this whole mess.. is because of the gods?"
Two secular prides.. and one had been destroyed by god-hunters, while unknowingly harboring a god, and the Firekin had inherited that mess. Was it only because the Hongshan came to the desert? Were they of interest because they revered no gods, as Alamea suggested? Or could there be gods hiding within their ranks, as well?
Finally, she glanced to Tapana.
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Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2016 3:40 pm
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Oh, ho ho! Well, it seemed that their visions had dredged up some of their own unknown past, too. Tapana was willing to bet that they'd been a little shocked to find out the truth of their mother.
Still, this gave them yet something else to mull over. Their mother, a goddess, had been living unknown within the Hongshan and had taken off when the Nergui had shown up. Given the Nergui stance on gods, she could understand why. They'd not have shown her mercy if they'd uncovered her secret - though Tapana still could not believe any number of mortals could kill a god.
"Your mother ran when the Nergui showed up. Whether it was to save her own skin or to try and save the pride by removing herself from the equation is unknown - or so I assume." She paused, pondering a moment, "do you think, perhaps, she might aid us against the Nergui? And even if she would, do we have a hope in finding her?"
Finar-Si, after all, had not made her appearance known for many years. If a god or goddess did not want to be found - in Tapana's experience - they would not be."
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Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2016 10:09 pm
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Agni scowled when Tapana refused to look her way and went running with the idea of a god being close enough to be of use to them- she'd been wondering the same thing, though maybe not quite jumping there for whatever goddess happened to bear these two lions. She tried to remember if her father or Nawvlee had said anything about the character of their mother, but it had been primarily restricted to their father and the siblings.
More importantly, before they started going off in this goddamn direction, they had to talk this s**t out between themselves and not in front of a couple relative strangers they were trusting an awful lot right off.
She was far out of her element now, though, and it was taking a great deal of self-control not to start cursing her way through trying to make sense of the goddamn bullshit that was being laid out before them. Her tail waved behind her erratically, matching her irritated expression.
Adanna and Adeyemi were both startled by the question about recruiting their mother to help in the fight against the Nergui. They exchanged a look and Adanna shrugged at the regents, focusing on Tapana when Agni-pariksha's fading patience was obvious.
"We've never discussed trying to find her, assuming if she didn't want to be found then she wouldn't be," she said.
"I've tried," Adeyemi confessed suddenly, looking stoic as ever but finally contributing, "Recurring dreams, they started after we realized what she was. Still have 'em, actually. It's always sand, even before we got here. But I'm sure I saw her, even if it didn't look like her."
Dreams were strange things on their own, sometimes you just understood something about what you saw without thinking about it, controlled it without meaning to. He supposed that was what happened to him. He didn't lie when he said he had no practice and little control, but he wasn't going to remind them by adding that this was completely accidental on his part.
Most of his dreams had been rather sandy lately, actually.
Sand. That was going to help them?
"OK, this s**t has to stop here," she said suddenly in her best near-diplomatic voice, "We have a lot to discuss before we start thinking on what comes next."
This time she stepped forward so she was a bit ahead of Tapana and looked over at her pointedly- unless the other regent wanted to be obvious about it, there was no avoiding eye contact this time.
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Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 2:19 am
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If Tapana had known that she'd be sat here talking about seers and gods only a few short weeks into her time as regent, she wouldn't have believed it. She'd have laughed and thought that it was too good to be true. And yet, here she was doing exactly that.
She listened, the cogs whirring in her mind, trying to decide whether it was worth the risks it could pose. Whether perhaps it was better not to rely on this unnatural force. And yet the idea was so tantalizing that the warnings were easily washed away under her desire to learn more. What if they were the regents who brought back a faith that had been so lost by the masses?
And then, Agni-pariksha put an end to the conversation and Tapana realised, quite suddenly, that she had gotten ahead of herself. Sobered, she met the other regent's gaze with as much strength as she could muster and gave her a nod. These two had certainly given them a lot to think about, but planning did not need to involve them. Still, Tapana wondered whether their mother might be Finar-Si herself. Their strong colouration and all these visions of sand.
The prospect was...invigorating.
"We do," she admitted, "very well, you're both dismissed for now."
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Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 1:13 pm
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Adeyemi nodded when Tapana dismissed them and waited for his sister to rise before turning away to go. The regents had to talk, Adanna would no doubt want to talk to him about this all too.. and whether he wanted to or not, he was thinking about all the possibilities now, too. It was going to be a long, thoughtful day.
Adanna gave a more respectful nod to each regent when dismissed, getting back onto her feet and offering a small smile.
"We're ready to help however we can," she said, and turned to follow Adeyemi. He was right, she was going to want to talk to him- to press him about his dreams, to speculate whether Mother would be willing to help or worthwhile to try to find.
Agni-pariksha was relieved when Tapana slowed down and agreed with her that they needed to talk about this, but she held in a sigh until the siblings left. She muttered a string of violent curses once they were out of earshot.
There was a lot to talk about.
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