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 Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 9:53 pm
"That can't be good," Mikhail decided with a frown. Whether it was connected to Chaos Chaos was impossible to tell, but the possiblity was disturbing, and made even more so by Tzao-Hyung's observation. "Why do you think Lethe would want to free Chaos?"
The angel had only met her very briefly - maybe Tzao knew her better? While he waited for an answer, he flipped the page to scan over Silver's story.
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Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 10:10 pm
Tzao thought carefully before answering. "She has a great respect for Airi," he answered at last, "addresses her as 'Lady' and the like." That was not very much evidence, of course, but taken in context with her wish for Chaos - such a particular name, why would it be that she'd want? - and her own personality....
"I would not be distressed to be wrong," Tzao conceded after several more moments. "But I do not think that I am. I do not see it in any of the older Fa'e, so if there is any Fa'e that wishes to bring out Chaos, it must be one of the younger ones. And if it is one of the younger ones, of those I have met, I would expect it to be Lethe." It was incomplete still, Tzao knew. The logic was missing from his intuition yet, but the answer was there, he could feel it....
"But you said that you had met Airi. If there had been no Fa'e that she felt would be willing to free Chaos, she would have to be working very hard indeed to persuade any of the Fa'e she speaks to to her side. When she spoke to you, did she do this?" Tzao was suddenly intent. "If not, then there must be a Fa'e that she believes will do the task for her, when the time comes."
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Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 10:32 pm
Mikhail accepted Tzao's answer with a nod. Not concrete evidence, but enough to warrant suspicion. Enough to remember to keep an eye on Lethe.
"She didn't have a chance," he answered. There didn't seem to be anything particular interesting about Silver's document at first glance. Not the way there had been about Dusty's and Lethe's. "I met Morty before I met her, and I confronted her about what he said. She knows I won't help her. I'll do what I can to stop her, if she ever tries."
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Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 10:41 pm
"Fortunately, that ought to be a day far off," Tzao commented. When last he'd met Lethe, she'd still been a child - and from what he gathered, that had been the case for a very, very long time. It was little wonder she'd been wishing for the chaos to instill change. The River seemed to be stuck, and Tzao couldn't help but suspect that it wasn't entirely her fault.
"Mikhail - how many years old are you, may I ask?" The Taotie questioned suddenly.
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Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 10:46 pm
Fortunately indeed. If the possible candidates for releasing Chaos were the younger Fa'e, then they had time to...prepare, somehow. To be more powerful than the ones who might release Chaos. Time to tell others what was going on...
"Almost six," he answered after a moment, a bit surprised by the question.
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Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 11:15 pm
Tzao nodded, as though having confirmed his own suspicions. "Many of the other Fa'e from other worlds are as old, I expect. Did you realize, that is as old as the oldest of the Fa'e on Gaia?" His Guardian had taught him that particular fact, and it contributed heavily to his forming theories. It was difficult for Tzao to express what he was thinking, everything was so complex in his mind now - but they were words that ought to be spoken aloud, so that their truth could be tested. And with Mikhail's obvious desire to keep other Fa'e from growing to free Chaos, it was very important for the angel to hear him out.
"You've only recently grown, and I do not know of any of the other newcomers that have. The way that Fa'e mature and gain power is peculiar. Simply wanting it," as Lethe seemed to, as so many other among the young Fa'e seemed to, "is not enough for it to happen. There are clearly factors which help Fa'e to grow, because they were denied to the Fa'e that were not on Gaia, which was how they came to be younger than the Fa'e who were here. If those could be found then that day might be made truly far, or, if someone who wished to free Chaos were to uncover it... it might come faster than we could anticipate."
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Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 11:43 pm
"Yes," he said, nodding. "Airi said that we were the first." Even as they say here, discussing their suspicions of her...he shook it off. Creator or no, some things were unconscionable.
What Tzao said next was disturbing. He'd realized, of course, that he had been slow to grow, and had attributed it to his being raised elsewhere. Never, however, had the idea of somehow speeding growth occurred to him. "I thought it had to do with knowing what we are, who we are. We seem to grow when things...happen. How could that be sped up?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 12:21 am
"When I was young," Tzao mused, "I grew very quickly. I spent most of my time in training, either strengthening my discipline or learning about what I was. When I was learning these things, truly focusing my spirit, was when I progressed most quickly. Then, I learned all that I could find of my past life, and I acquired enough discipline to steady myself at my lows. And I stopped growing then. I was the same for many years." The Taotie paused here, and his eyes widened -- epiphany! "I understand now that that was why Mari finally told me of the other Fa'e. Because she thought that if I reconnected with my own kind, I would learn what I needed to continue on my path." It made such sense!
And yet... that had been over a year ago. Tzaol learned some things - especially how stagnant so many of his Fa'e friends were - but little had changed in his life, and he certainly had not grown. It was a quandary. "It must be like you said... but there's more to it than the information. It's the application of that information, you see? It must be! Internalization, and taking that to what we were somehow. There's a pathway to be opened...." The Taotie was babbling furiously, brow creased, trying to follow the logic to its natural end. There was a way, and he was so close to discovering it. Just a few more steps along the path, and he'd find it....
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Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 1:18 am
Mikhail listened to the taotie's musings quietly, with all his attention. The documents were forgotten for the moment. Tzao was right - that their growing was connected to learning more about their past selves, but also to their selves as Fa'e. They needed both, in some way or another. But could they possibly speed it along? Could they intentionally trigger their growing, somehow? It seemed impossible, but...if it were possible, they needed to know.
"But how? Sometimes there's something about it that's out of our control." The angel offered what little he knew. "When Seung grew, it was after she was kidnapped and taken to...her version of Heaven. After we rescued her."
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Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 12:03 pm
"But see! This is what I mean!" All serenity was vanished. The Taotie spoke with power and conviction, seeming nearly livid in his intensity. "The Fa'e here, they do not examine themselves. They do not, Mikhail, not in the way that I learned to do. Because this place does not give them reason to. And so danger like that is the only time they will be forced to think about what they are and face it - otherwise they live like humans, and do not remember that they are Fa'e until it is shown to them."
"What if Seung's ordeal was unnecessary to her growing, then? What if it could have been in her control the entire time, if she'd had the will and knowledge to take control of it? As I have always done!" Tzao was nearly triumphant now, certain that he'd come upon the key. "There is a way, I am certain. If we as a collective were willing to pursue ourselves instead of waiting for our pasts to come to them, then we would near an ideal. We would be able to reach new understandings of ourselves as Fa'e, and have others that were trained and ready to confront the challenges of the past life. We could eliminate the unpredictable dangers, before they claim a life; we could learn to face what we fear, because we can come to understand it. And," this was the key point, the one that Mikhail had impressed on him; Tzao's voice softened. "We would never be alone in facing them."
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Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 1:08 pm
Mikhail was honestly surprised by the sudden intensity in his fellow Fa'e. It was becoming clear that, beneath his politeness and calm, he was quite passionate about some things. Again, his words gave the angel much to think about - as if he needed more! He was going to have a lot of processing to do once they were finished.
His first reaction was to be defensive of Seung, but he stifled it carefully. Tzao was hardly being intentionally antagonistic; he was just making a point. "I see what you mean," he said after a moment, nodding. "I wonder, though, about the Fa'e who've become human, or half-human. Especially the latter."
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Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 1:31 pm
"That is a worthwhile question," Tzao was forced to admit - reluctantly, because it was one he honestly avoided asking himself. He had very different needs than many Fa'e, of course, and had grown in a very different environment from them. For him, it was difficult, if not impossible, to imagine following the human path. It would be a surrender to weakness, an attempt to escape what he was - and, there was a creeping fear that it would not eliminate what he was, but would instead render him defenseless against the all-consuming hunger. And so he regarded his human and half-human brethren with a sort of morbid curiosity, but thought little of them otherwise.
"I do not know many of them, though I remember Aylana." One of the very few Fa'e uninvolved, other than himself, that had come to join the struggle in the library. Human though she might be, she was worthy of note. "And Keir, of course. But otherwise...." The Taotie shrugged his shoulders. "I know little of the challenges of their lives, only that I see very few."
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Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 1:50 pm
"There's also Sati, Nozomi, and Kia. And whoever their...partners were." Distaste was obvious, not because they'd become half-human, but because of how they'd gone about it. Didn't anyone ever get married or at least plan these things? It was ridiculous. "And Seung's parents." He sounded a little less critical when he said it. After all, he didn't know if her parents were actually a couple or not. He hadn't asked, and no one had offered up the information.
As the conversation calmed, he resumed his examination of the documents. Tzao's was next, and it was...different. He looked up, curious. "What happened to yours?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 2:08 pm
The teenager pursed his lips. Where his thoughts should have been written down, of course, the pages were blank; only Edel's half of the transaction remained. "My nature," he replied stonily. "I do not detect by most means, and whatever magic was used to make these texts was no different than any others." Which, Tzao figured, was just as well. He would have been shy about letting others read how he'd reacted when he'd been turned away.
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Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 2:22 pm
"Oh." Mikhail accepted the explanation with a nod. There was something weird about every Fa'e - if not several somethings - and he'd become used to it by now.
Next was Sofi, then Naolin (ugh), and finally Seung. Should he read it? He couldn't decide. He hadn't hesitated with any of the others, but the mothfish was different. She was his best friend, the first friend he'd ever had. There was something especially weird about possibly reading her paper. Finally, he asked hesitantly, "Could I...have this one?"
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