A Light in the Darkness

[IamLEAM1983]

"In a sense, yes," noted the Augur, gesturing as he talked. "Your alchemists attributed one angel or personification for each element and assumed that all of the world was made of an infinite combination of four basic constituents. I'm aware that things are progressing to the point where scholars in the Levant are beginning to grasp just how complex this... chemistry truly is. In a very real sense, some surface-dwellers are catching up. This bodes well for your own people, Meris - science benefits everyone, from the fisherman to the artist."

He briefly hooked a finger around her chin, not to pull her closer to his face but to have her look directly down at his basin. Its surface had turned murky, but not out of a sudden outburst of modesty: He'd given the water the colour of slate and an extremely dense consistency, almost like jelly. Dipping a finger in this new mixture, he essentially used it as a whiteboard. Lines were sketched out, connected to odd symbols that didn't seem to carry the Black Script's noxious influence, but that still would be alien to the roane.

"This," he said, "is water. Currently, your alchemists would tell you water simply is - that is stands as some sort of intrinsic fluid or force of Creation that cannot be wholly transformed. To be more precise, your Water Throne governs the affects and effects of water - and not so much its composition. If he did, drinking freshwater would be an unimaginably powerful act, akin to connecting directly to a ley line's protecting spirit. Everyone does, and I haven't seen everyone bursting into white flames and turning into liches," he noted, still smirking.

"One part of hydrogen - the volatile substance I mentioned earlier - and two parts oxygen. This is why fish are able to extract air directly out of the water, at least in part. Your White God has carefully shaped these creatures so that they may... breathe water and avoid drowning. He saw fit to have you remain a land-locked species, however. Your home's crags and caves are simply too convenient an opportunity for survival, which could have fostered a marriage between a body made for swimming and lungs made for the surface."

He also backtracked. "Er - our young tend to play puzzles with basic blocks of pure elements they have learned to coalesce. One friend draws a complex element, the others have to assemble it as fast as they can. It is frowned upon when simple minerals and gases are created, but conjured objects are always confiscated. Especially toys."

The Augur gave her a wistful smile. "I remember working for months, as a boy, in an attempt to find the perfect words to conjure a rubber ball into being. I had my toy for all of two days before it was taken from me."

[TennyoCeres84]

The long-haired roane's eyebrows knitted together in frustrated confusion. "Why? Toys help ye tae learn. Is it simply 'cause o' th' fact ye made it? That's rather absurd. Ye create buildin's, clothin', jewelry, an' all kinds o' other t'ings all th' time! What difference daes it make ye made it when ye're young?" she blurted, baffled.

[IamLEAM1983]

The Squid lifted his hands powerlessly. "As I have said, my Prelates follow Their word zealously. To create is not to destroy or to defile. You must understand that many amongst our numbers will never wield the power I do, and many more will never leave their district, much less this cavern. Fear and hatred were written in place to shackle them in ignorance, and they have come to love the taste of it. The Others revel in their misunderstanding of everything about the world beyond Dalarath, leaving science and wisdom to but a select few."

He gestured to the basins. "All that I've shown you, Meris. Why do you think I stand here today? How did my lineage prosper, if not by keeping others in the dark? This is precisely why I hoped someone like you would heal me and help me."

The Augur briefly looked around, as if searching for something to focus on. Not finding it, he returned to her and slowly made a fist, shaking it as if it stood in for an object. "I want this rubber ball back," he said. 'Metaphorically speaking, at least. Not for myself, either - but for all of us."

[TennyoCeres84]

Meris opened her mouth to say something, appearing a little helpless, and sighed silently. She settled with embracing the Void Weaver and wrapped her arms around as much of his wide girth as possible.

[IamLEAM1983]

While the brim of his basin made things a little difficult, he couldn't keep himself from letting out a soft cry of pleased surprise. A hand came up to her shoulders and returned the hug with some restraint, even though he did apply a bit of pressure. As he did, awkward chuckles took him.

"Well, erm - thank you very much for this most assuredly not standard demonstration of affection from one who is technically a slave to her master. Excuse me while my stomach momentarily drops and I wonder if anyone has seen us..."

Still, his tone hadn't been judgmental. He wasn't so much embarrassed as worried they might've been caught red-handed. He gently lowered her back into her basin, his hands lingering on her shoulders longer than strictly necessary. Upon confirming that they were still alone, he relaxed again. He coughed the last embers of his sudden stress away and leaned away from her, resting back against the rim of his basin. In doing so, he gave her another impish smile and maybe a few nonverbal cues to see if she wouldn't mind stepping in his tub and sitting across from him.

"This is something I absolutely love about you surface-dwellers," he then confided. "You touch one another. Here, touch is so burdened with context as to make it difficult to even brush against someone else in the streets!"

He laughed in a bit of a self-derisive tone and then lowered his voice again.

"How often does this happen between frie - that is, between colleagues? I've never known anything quite like this. Not even those handshakes of yours."

[TennyoCeres84]

The selkie scoffed in amusement and lifted herself up, hopping over the edge of the basin. She settled back against the back of his basin and shrugged, smiling. "It depends, really. On th' relationship an' occasion. Couples, at least wi' selkies, are pretty affectionate. They'll hug an' kiss on th' lips. That's distributed tae children as well, but kisses are meant fer th' cheek or forehead. A friend ye've no' seen in a long while? Ye'll hug an' talk. An embrace cin be used tae congratulate someone fer somet'ing. A birth, a marriage, wishes fer a safe trip, th' list gaes on..." she explained.

[IamLEAM1983]

He didn't seem to entirely believe it. "And you never insert veiled threats or disparaging outlooks? I've been given to understand that honesty isn't as widespread or as pitiful as we believe, but it seems hard to believe that some clutches - er, families - can coexist in relative harmony."

The Augur briefly looked away. "I do have a bit of a mean streak, to be perfectly honest. Even if he weren't such an obviously traitorous scum, I'd belittle my Chamberlain behind his back every single day. Always so wracked with ambition, eyeing me as if I were some sort of walking prize to collect, ever so convinced of his ability to outpace me in matters intellectual..."

The Squid shrugged. "I still am a Void Weaver, after all. Having someone to look down upon has its perks. I can scarcely imagine myself surrounded with people trying to be honest or at the very least respectable by your standards."

[TennyoCeres84]

"Well, people dae insult each other on th' surface, but it's generally meant fer someone who's done ye wrong. I'm only speakin' frae personal experience. My siblin's an' I would play jokes on each other, but ne'er anyt'ing really malicious. I'd ne'er hurt them; it gaes both ways," Meris explained, sighing thoughtfully. "Th' surface world's no' a field o' flowers, but it's no' terrible, either. I cin see that sort o' behavior happenin' among royalty, but we jus' try tae live our lives as best as we cin."

[IamLEAM1983]

We just try to live our lives as best we can.

That answer seemingly struck him. There was so little unbridled ambition in her way of life and so much objectivity! The idea of soldiering on for its own sake felt new to him, but it also struck a chord somewhere deep inside. A sense of impending danger tugged at him, and he was acutely aware of his duties as Augur. A brief moment of panic-induced lucidity grasped him and made him sink up to his chin in the water.

He couldn't believe what she was doing to his mind, to his sense of scope, to be honest - and he'd still have to use her.

He felt the deep urge to sink further down, escape this anguishing torrent of duty clashing with odd concepts that made his heart beat faster than ever before - but found himself doing something desperate, instead.

The Augur of Dalarath stood up, waddled his way through the water for the few steps that separated them, and hugged her back. As he did, he drew in a quivering breath.

"All this freedom," he said, his voice low. "All this talk of choice - it's frightening me..."

He didn't sound like a grown man in this instance. He sounded like a young adult who'd suddenly been thrust into a world he knew very little about.

[TennyoCeres84]

Speechless, Meris returned the hug and hoped everyone was asleep in the Augur's residence. She then managed to utter in a barely audible whisper, "It's fine tae be frightened. It's somet'ing new, but it's no' bad." She paused and recalled his words from earlier, "I t'ink this could be what ye learn frae me."