Session 8 covered 28 Coldrise, 1714 PSF. The party left the Sisters' farm with Hecate’s gifts, told a widow in Silverthorn that her husband was dead without telling her how, and reached Crick's Bend for dinner at the Kemble farm.
Synopsis
Morning at the Farm
Iva went up to the house to say goodbye to Anthusa Toguri, who was in the kitchen making scrambled eggs with Freya. Anthusa’s attention went straight to her despite the new face, and she crossed the kitchen without a word and wrapped her in a hug.12 Iva said she hoped her mother would be all right there. Anthusa said she had survived worse than a few chickens and a little hay, and was far more worried about Iva, who had never before had to give up an identity she had lived in so thoroughly.345 Told that Iva had had a bad dream, she said Freya had told her about the ritual and the danger. “I can’t pretend I’m not worried for you, but I’m very proud of you,” she said. Helping people was something she could tell about Iva early on, and Iva answered that her mother had taught her how to help.67
Hecate came into the barn with a wildly multicolored scarf wound around one arm, so garish it could not have gone with any outfit, and very well woven. She held it out to Rhysaene: she had wanted a scarf, so Hecate had woven one.8910 The moment Rhysaene took it, the scarf rippled like water and turned to deep blue silk, embroidered in silver white with doves and the trails of wind behind them, and at its center two doves against a golden sun, one flying up and one flying down. “It will take on any appearance you like. Just think it and it will be.”11121314
In her other hand Hecate had a very large, wide-brimmed witch’s hat, a midnight blue that was almost black, with a silver buckle on its band and a white raven feather through it, and crescent moons and eyes picked out in a lighter blue.151617 Luma took it without a word and jammed it straight onto her head. The inside fit her head, and the outside stayed enormous.1819 Hecate said she had made it as requested, a little parting gift for all of their help.20 She confirmed that Anthusa would have the coven’s full protection, and that Temerity had already been given her single anvil the night before.2122
Hecate told Hazel again that what they had talked about the night before was not entirely Hazel’s own fault, and in part Hecate’s. Hazel and her friends had helped the coven do something it might not have done without them, and their help let the coven go on living in as much peace as is possible this close to the edge of the Sorrow. She expected Hazel to do even greater things.232425 “I don’t plan on disappointing you, Headmistress,” said Hazel.26 Hecate said she would not expect her to, and sent her off with “may the Shattered Mother watch over you”. Hazel said it back.2728
The morning was overcast and a little foggy, but lighter than the day before. The weight they had felt out there without noticing it was gone, and they noticed the sun through the clouds, the thinner fog and more birds singing.2930 “I hope this shows that not all magic invites sorrow,” Hazel said, looking at Temerity. “Hopefully,” said Temerity.3132
At breakfast Freya and Anthusa brought fresh bread out of the oven, with scrambled eggs.33 Hazel asked Freya for curative reagents, and was given enough to make two healing potions.3435 Iva asked Freya for a bread recipe. Freya produced a quill nobody saw her reach for, and wrote out the ingredients and method for a plain loaf.3637 Hazel observed that Iva would find better recipes in Argentum, and Iva asked what she was supposed to do if she needed bread before then.3839 Over breakfast Luma identified the hat and attuned to it, and found it laced with a subtle magic that reminded her of the farm.40
Temerity left her copper coin on the kitchen table on the way out, where it would be easy to find, and Luma, thinking breakfast had to be paid for, left an anvil beside it.414243 It was just below freezing, but warm around Luma, who carried her ink lava lantern.4445
The Road South
Forty minutes out, Iva told the others about her dream: a big void, black ooze crawling up her until it was hard to breathe, and the other Iva’s voice saying she did not want to be alone, the way the man had before he stabbed her.4647 Temerity put an arm around her and said she had been through a lot the day before, that the dream was understandable, and that she was safe now.4849 Hazel remarked, with a teasing smile, that it was a shame Iva’s Warden identity was burned, since she might want to take up that being blessed by the Silver Flame business.50 Then she told Iva to keep the dream in mind, but that dreams can be trickeries of the mind: some believe they offer a portent, and they can equally be feelings not yet confronted. She patted Iva on the back.51 Rhysaene took out her lyre and played something soothing as they walked.52
Silverthorn
Silverthorn turned out to be eight to ten houses standing close together on the river rather than the road, with a worn dirt path running south to meet it.53 The fog had mostly lifted and the place was quiet. People were doing chores in their own yards, in decent moods if not cheerful ones. The coven’s wards now protected them, though they did not know it.54
Hazel knew an old hound in one of the yards, and got down to scratch behind his ears. His name is Old Orf, and has been since he was young, because his owner, a very old farmer himself, judged early that the dog would look older than he was.555657 The owner called from his porch, from under a straw hat dusted with wheat, to ask whether Hazel was bothering his dang dog again. It had been a while since he had seen her around Silverthorn.585960 Hazel said her friend wanted to map the area, and he took Luma for one of “them artographers”, since there was not much art around there. Luma decided she liked the title, and he told her to map away.61626364 There was a bridge about three miles north-east up the river, he added, which did not go anywhere except north of the river and out of the Vale by the old road.656667
He asked whether Hazel had seen Old Doug, since Margaret had been looking for him for a couple of days.68 Hazel cannot lie, and she skirted the answer: that was no good, she said, especially not this far north.6970 He waited for more, and when none came he went back to chewing his toothpick.71 Hazel remarked that it was nice the fog had cleared, and he said it had been bothering him for days, and that maybe Doug had got lost in it.7273
He took Rhysaene in with some delight. “Oh my goodness, you’re not riding a horse,” he said, and then, “By the flame, you’re tall.”7475 Rhysaene trotted in front of Hazel to draw his attention. He had lived out there sixty-some years, he said, born there like his father. When Rhysaene called him a stunner, he said it had been a good number of harvests since anyone told him so, and that he would not refuse a compliment that nice from a woman so much taller than him, and tipped his straw hat to her.76777879
Rhysaene carried Luma on her back so she could map from a height.80 From up there Luma saw a house a couple of hundred feet apart from the rest, and a woman pacing back and forth on its porch.81
The Letter
Iva had not realized that the man they had fought was the missing farmer. She had taken the stories of people turning into Sorrowsworn for propaganda.828384 Everyone has heard that those who succumb to the Sorrow become Sorrowsworn, but it is virtually unheard of to see it, and dealing with them is the work of the Inquisition’s Purifiers.85 Hazel may have heard Hecate mention meeting one in Hazel’s youth, and Luma had grown up with fears of one wandering into Erhadell from the mountain pass nearby, but neither had ever seen one before.8687
The party concluded that the woman on the porch was the missing man’s wife, and that they had no honest way to know he was dead.8889 Hazel argued that they had to let her believe he had gone into the woods, got lost and died of the cold, and was visibly upset while she said it.90 Rhysaene said that if she had lost someone, she would want to know. Hazel said that all the truth would invite was suspicion and questions.9192 Rhysaene suggested a letter, and Luma said she could forge a seal. Temerity took it up: a letter from the Light Wardens would put the woman’s mind to rest, and be far less suspicious than an anonymous note.93949596
They wrote it as a notice from the Order of the Lantern, regretting to inform her that Douglas Fletcher had been found dead in the woods not far from Silverthorn, with wounds that meant the body had to be purified, so that nobody would come looking for it.979899 They signed it from the Order at a watchtower rather than from any one Warden. Silverwatch is the nearest, and Thornwatch was where the three Wardens had come from, which would put a truth in the lie.100101102103 Iva knew the Order’s seal, and Luma forged it well enough that the woman could not have caught it.104105106
Silverthorn has no mayor, no elder and no church to take the news to: people fend for themselves, and if something strange happened they would most likely send someone to Hecate.107108 So Iva borrowed Temerity’s tabard, took her own Warden’s lantern, went off somewhere secluded, and came back as a sad-looking young man who might have drawn the short straw for the errand.109110111
Margaret Fletcher stopped pacing. She looked at the lantern, the tabard and the face, and asked what she could do for him, as though pretending she did not already know why a Warden would be there.112113 Iva handed over the letter without a word, said she was sorry, and turned to walk away.114 “Really?” said Margaret.115 Iva said she did not know the circumstances, but she knew what had happened, and was truly sorry for her loss. She stood looking away, to give her some privacy.116117 Margaret broke the seal and read the letter. “Doug’s dead,” she said, twice.118119 She asked what had happened, why he had been purified and where he was, and Iva said only that other Wardens had found him past the town limits and reported that he had been purified.120121 Margaret read it again. She had hoped he wasn’t, she said, but when he did not come home…. She thanked Iva and told her she could go.122 “If you need anything, let the Light Wardens know,” said Iva, and saluted.123 Margaret did not answer. She fell to her knees and wept.124
The Walk to Crick’s Bend
They left Silverthorn mid-morning and came down to the Old Road, which runs along the Woodrun River, heading for Crick’s Bend.125 On the open road each of them had plenty to turn over. Rhysaene had never wanted to end up out here, but was all right with it, and was thinking about Circe’s broken heart and about painting Temerity.126 Luma kept going back over the night, and had to erase parts of her map of Silverthorn where she had pressed too hard.127128 Iva was quietly panicking, but thought it better that Margaret knew, and was glad to have people to share her thoughts with.129 Temerity was anxious to talk to Wellby Emberthumb, worried whether the ritual had only moved the Sorrow somewhere else at some other cost, and worried about what might follow them back to Argentum.130 Hazel was thinking over what Hecate had said, and that putting faith in companionship is a boon that will also bring great suffering.131132 Around noon the clouds broke and the sky turned blue.133
Hazel asked what everyone planned to do back in Argentum. Luma had a job to go back to, and Temerity was waiting to hear from the Dragoons of Bahamut and staying at the barracks meanwhile.134135136 Iva had not thought that far ahead, and had been told not to make plans without the group.137 Both her homes were gone, she said.138 Hazel went quiet for a minute, and then said that when she asked Hecate to let her stay on in Argentum, she forgot the rest of them had lives to return to.139140
“I’m not going to fucking leave you. Do you want to stay with me?” Rhysaene said. Hazel had a place already, so Rhysaene offered the room to Iva instead, and Iva accepted.141142143144 Hazel said she hoped they would stay in correspondence when they got back. Luma asked whether that made them pen pals, and pointed out that they could all see where each other was on her maps anyway.145146147 Hazel could not keep one of the maps where she was staying. Her sisters share their aims but are not a monolith, she said, and her sister in Argentum knows the dangers of magic that finds people’s locations and distrusts it.148149150 Asked what she knew about Circe, Hazel said she knew no more than they had gathered from meeting her, that Circe works to keep it that way, and that the only person who knows much about her is the Headmistress, and not all of it even then.151152153 Circe had been around since before Hazel joined the coven, and she looks only a year or two older than Hazel.154155
The walk took eleven hours, and they came into Crick’s Bend around seven in the evening.156157
Dinner at the Kemble Farm
Juniper Kemble answered the door and was glad to see Temerity. They were lucky the family had waited to eat, she said.158159 She knew Hazel from her stay with Emberthumb a while back.160 Hazel said she had not known Juniper was one of the Kembles Temerity had spoken so much about. Juniper lit up and asked whether Tem had been talking about her, and Hazel said she never had.161162163 Temerity stammered that they had been very busy and apologized.164 Juniper had assumed the others were teasing Temerity, the way she might play around with her brothers. Once she understood they were not, her manner changed. She said of course, it made sense, it was no problem, and told them to come in, without her earlier exuberance.165166 On the porch Hazel asked Temerity whether she had caused a problem. “I can never read Juniper,” Temerity said. Hazel undertook to tell her if she found anything out, and watched Juniper for the rest of the night.167168169
Juniper cleared a chair away at the end of the big table so that Rhysaene could eat there, and told her that Rhys was a pretty name.170171 Emberthumb was already there, on a chair that brought him up to everyone else’s height.171172 Henry Kemble came out with a honey and cider glazed haunch of pork on a pewter platter, with roasted parsnips and apples around it, and began to carve. “Hello, hello. Welcome to my home. I’m Henry, Henry Kemble. This is my wife, Maurine, to whom you all owe your undying gratitude for this spread of delicious food.”173174175 Maurine Kemble looked at Rhysaene and said, “Oh my word, you’re quite something, aren’t you?” and asked what would make her comfortable, since she could not sit in a chair. At Rhysaene’s word, she laid down a rug.176177178 She introduced her sons, from their late twenties down to nineteen: Darrel, David, Duke, Trever and Troy.178179 The Kembles do not say grace, as few but the most devout do, and it has never bothered Emberthumb.180181
Hazel asked how long they had known Temerity. About seven years, Juniper said: Temerity had been a shy child living with Father Emberthumb, and had come into her own and become a big part of their lives.182183184 Henry said she always helped around the farm, which was more than he could say for some of his own, and glared at Trever. “I help now, don’t I?” said Trever, and Henry allowed that he had been doing well that year.185 Eliza Kemble was not there. She had left that morning, Maurine said, and had promised to be back for dinner.186187 Luma mentioned that Eliza had tried to sell her a mapping license, and Maurine said it was bad enough when she scammed Temerity and the boys, but strangers, she would not have it.188189 David said he was far too smart to be scammed by his sister now, having fallen for it one too many times. Iva told him he did look far too smart for it, and he smiled and looked down at his plate.190191192
Asked whether Temerity had always been so determined, Juniper cut in ahead of Henry. As long as she had known her, Temerity had been headstrong and determined, and knew what she wanted, and would do anything to get it. Hazel could tell she meant it.193194195 David added, “Yeah, our Tem had a higher calling. Called to serve the flame like no one ever before,” and said he was proud of her.196 The family had known for years about Temerity’s return from death. Juniper told the table how, when they were younger, Temerity had fought off a band of bandits to save her life, and died doing it.197198199 “Oh, you were the bandit girl,” said Luma, and Juniper turned a death glare on Temerity. Luma’s attempt to claim Temerity told the story all the time did not convince anyone: once was enough, Juniper said, given that Temerity had acted as if she had never mentioned them.200201202203 Temerity said none of the Kembles owed her anything, and that she was grateful they had let her become part of their family.204205
Hazel raised her glass: “Here’s hoping that you will all make do without them.” There was an awkward pause, and Henry raised his glass first. They would do the best they could, he said. They missed Temerity, but knew she was doing good things out there, and would do great things. “To Temerity.”206207208 Juniper was the last to raise her glass.209
Eliza came in late, a girl of seventeen with her hair cut short and untamed, dressed practically, with a little bag at her side. Her gaze lingered on Temerity, and she stopped dead at the sight of Luma.209210211 She sat down next to Luma. “Hi, I’m Eliza. You look like the kind of gal who knows how to take a joke. I hope.”212213 She whispered to Luma that she had never meant to take her gold, and had been about to reveal the prank, and was entirely unconvincing. Luma said she knew it was a joke.214215 Trever, of all of them, asked where she had been, since dinner had been due half an hour before. She said she had been out with Beth and Ash and lost track of time, and asked them not to make a thing of it.216217 Maurine closed the subject and told her to get a plate. Eliza took water and a hunk of bread and said nothing.218219220
David asked Iva what she did for a living. She said she had just come off a farm and was heading to the city to look for work, and he called it real brave of her.220221222 Emberthumb asked Temerity how the trip north had gone, and she answered from behind her mug that it was good, and that Luma had mapped a lot of Silverthorn. Emberthumb said he used to pore over old maps, and might have one or two old surveyor maps of the bend, and invited Luma to the church to see them.223224225226 Eliza sat quiet and nervous, and looked away when Temerity tried to catch her eye.227228
Hazel had spent the meal watching Juniper and Temerity, and at last asked Juniper why she had seemed upset when told that Temerity had not talked about her. Juniper said she had not been upset, and was obviously lying.229230231 Then Eliza said, out of nowhere, that June had been in love with Temerity since Temerity saved her life.232 Juniper went beet red. Nobody at the table was surprised. They were put off only by Eliza saying it out loud, Emberthumb looked sorry for the two of them, and Maurine stared daggers at Eliza.233234235
Hazel spoke to Temerity across the table: “It was taught to me recently the importance of affection and companionship. It surprises me that someone like you would deny someone like Juniper.”236 Juniper stammered that they had agreed they were really good friends and that was all they needed to be, and nobody believed her.237 “We’re just friends,” Temerity said. “Are you?” said Hazel. Temerity asked to speak to her privately.238239240 As they got up, only Temerity and Hazel noticed Eliza slip around the corner and up the stairs.241
The Porch
On the front porch Temerity asked Hazel why she was pressing so hard. Hazel was confused: Temerity had told her to, since they had agreed before going in that Hazel would help find out why Juniper was upset.242243 Temerity said it was complicated, and that even if it could happen, it would be the worst thing for Juniper, because Temerity could not be there for her. When Hazel said Juniper could move to Argentum, Temerity said she might have to go outside the Vale, which was her ultimate goal. She knew in her heart that she was destined for something Juniper could not follow her to.244245246247 She asked Hazel to let the topic drop, and Hazel said very well, that she had thought she was doing her a favor. Temerity said she appreciated the thought, but there was more to it.248249250
Temerity brought Juniper out to the porch and apologized for her friend.251252 Juniper said the friend had been forward, then said she was the one who was sorry, and that she hated Temerity being put on the spot like that.253 Asked whether she was all right, she said she had promised she would be, hadn’t she? Asked whether she really was, she said she did not know: it was one thing when it went unspoken and they both danced around it, and another to have it put front and center.254255256
I don’t hate that you left, Tem, but I don’t understand why we couldn’t. I mean, I thought. You really don’t feel that way about me?
Temerity said it was complicated. Juniper answered that she had known Temerity longer than her new friends had, and that the danger and the leaving might be a reason but were not the reason, and they both knew it.257258259
We tell you over and over you’re a part of this family. We tell you over and over you’re welcome. We mean that. You aren’t some, I don’t even know what you think of yourself that you think you don’t deserve my affection. But you do. You’re not refusing because you’re worried you’ll have to leave one day and something bad might happen. You’re refusing because you don’t think you deserve it. And that’s just who you are. Even under the bravery and the willingness to help, you don’t think you deserve anything from anyone. And it makes me sad.
She would not let Temerity decide what people deserve from her any more, she said. She had thought she could be strong and do what Temerity asked of her, and she could not.260261262 Temerity said it was not fair to her. “I get to decide that, not you,” Juniper said.263264 She said Temerity could not protect her from being sad or hurt, and then trailed off, leaving the rest unsaid.265266 Thinking back, Temerity understood the crossed-out section of Juniper’s last letter.267
Temerity froze. Every word about her feeling undeserving had gone through her armor.268269 She apologized for putting Juniper in the position of holding it in for so long, and for not allowing her the agency she has, and then said she could not do this.270271272 Juniper said she knew. She was not naive enough to think Temerity would change her mind, and knew it was too much to ask of her. She had only wanted her to see that she deserved it, and to stop hiding from how she felt, even when it hurt.273274275 She would still be there when Temerity kicked the Sorrow’s ass, she said, which got a laugh.276277
Temerity said that Juniper had always said she knew what she wanted, and that she didn’t, and the week had shown that more plainly than she could have imagined.278279 She did not want Juniper waiting on her. Juniper deserved someone who would make her happy.280 Juniper said they had not just had a conversation about Temerity deciding what was best for her, only for Temerity to start deciding it another way.281 Temerity conceded it. She said she would not pursue her, and would still write and hoped to be written to, but that for both their sakes she thought it best to say that she did not want a relationship with her.282283284 “No, the words ‘I don’t want a relationship with you’ are pretty clear, Tem,” Juniper said. “I guess I read it wrong after all.”285286 She had only wanted Temerity to know that she could have that kind of relationship with someone, that she did deserve it, since she was the best person Juniper knew. Maybe Temerity would find it with someone someday.287288
Temerity asked whether it would be inappropriate to hug her. “Why are you always like that?” Juniper said, and hugged her.289290 She said she looked forward to the next letter and hoped Temerity did not mind if she just went to bed, and went upstairs.291292 Temerity stood on the porch looking at the sky, then slapped her own face and went back in.293
Emberthumb told the party they could go over to the church whenever they were ready.294 Hazel said she feared they had overstayed their welcome, and Maurine would not hear it. She apologized for the commotion and said friends of their Temerity were welcome anytime.295296 “Your family’s real sweet, Temerity,” Rhysaene said, and Temerity agreed that they had been very kind to her over the years.297298 Hazel asked that her regards and her apology be passed to Juniper.299
Walking to the church, Hazel told Temerity that the only times she seemed happy in their company were when she was here or thinking about coming here. Even Hazel did not carry that much affection for her own home.300301 Temerity said it was all she had ever known: Hazel was more herself in the wilderness, and this was Temerity’s wilderness.302 Hazel said that confused her. She was going back to Argentum with them, but saw herself returning to the wilderness in the far future, since she could not see herself being happy in the city all the time. It did not seem good, she said, to deny yourself the things that make you happy, and then she let it go.303304305 Emberthumb told her that if she got to Bec’s shop early enough, she could have as many laminated pastries as she could pay for.306307
Maps and Histories
At the church Emberthumb offered them the hearth inside or the tents he had set up outside. Rhysaene and Hazel took the tents, Hazel preferring the stars.308309310311 He took Luma past the dais to his desk and shelves, and went through several leather scroll cases before finding the two he wanted.312 The first is a surveyor’s map sixty-nine years old, showing the river and some large trees and nothing else, made before any of Crick’s Bend existed, with the mark of a small surveying company out of Argentum.313314315 The second, from nine years later, shows the mill, the houses at the center of town and the circle, copied from the first by hand, with planning marks where the church would go, and is signed W. Emberthumb.316317318 It was his own work, Emberthumb said: he could not afford to hire a surveying company when he was starting out on the church. The Ashford family had funded most of the survey.319320321 The maps told Luma that Crick’s Bend was built on ground nobody had used before. Other places in the Vale are built on the ruins of older ones, but Crick’s Bend and Silverthorn are not among them.322323324
He showed her the rest of the shelves: books he had found insightful or engaging or fun, histories of the Silver Vale, two rows of religious texts marked with a silver flame, and notebooks holding every sermon he has written in sixty years.325 Luma asked to read the oldest of the histories, which reaches back about two hundred years. Emberthumb said the book itself was not that old, but probably written some forty years ago, and one of the only ones to go back that far, since information that old is hard to come by.326327328 It covers the political climate of Argentum and the Vale over that span, including a period seldom talked about except in hushed tones, and close to Luma’s own history: what has come to be known as the Elder Exodus.329330331 Luma was most curious about the author, since the author’s research might lead her further.332 Emberthumb let her read it, and said she could copy out the parts other books do not cover.333
First Luma went to find Temerity, and offered to sneak into Eliza’s room and hide one of her tracking maps on her. Temerity considered it, then said she would rather find Eliza early in the morning and talk to her, since the map would only make things worse.334335336 Luma went back to the book and spent her evening reading.337338
What Purification Means
Temerity found Emberthumb getting ready for bed and sat cross-legged on the floor of his room, where she always sat as a child, and asked the question from her letter: what happens with purification.339340341
Emberthumb said he did not have an answer. Purification is a function of the church but not of the holy texts, so his reading had turned up nothing he had not already told her. His understanding was that the corruption of arcane magic created the Sorrow in the first place, through the Starfall, and that purification is therefore the Synod of the Silver Flame’s tool for excising that corruption where it cannot be prevented by other means. He would like to think it both necessary and as merciful as possible, but he did not know more.342343344345 Temerity said she had expected an answer like that. Asking in Argentum had got her a spread of stories, some far more harrowing than others, and nothing concrete, at least nothing they would tell a recruit.346347348
He reached for gardening, his hobby outside the church: weeds seem innocuous, but left in a garden they will snuff out every other plant. It would deeply pain him to learn that purification was a code word for killing. He found the idea detestable, and had to believe the followers of the flame had found a better answer than that.349350351352 Temerity said she understood the metaphor about weeds, but this had been a child. Emberthumb corrected her: in his metaphor the magic was the weed, not the people.353354355
Temerity told him all of it: the festival, the plan to smuggle a child out of the city, the lamp meant as a distraction, the explosion, being set to find the man responsible and finding him with the child and with someone more dangerous who would not let them leave unless the child went free. She could not bring herself to arrest him, she said, and asked whether she had done the right thing.356357358359360361362 Emberthumb listened to all of it, upset by what he heard, and took a long moment after she stopped. He would never blame her for erring on the side of protecting a child she thought was in danger, he said. He could not believe that purification just meant the murder of children, and could not fault her for not knowing what he could not teach her. She had a responsibility, he said, to find out what purification means.363364365366367
Then, with some nervousness, he told her something he had kept to himself for many years. She knew he had watched her come back to life in silver fire. He had known she was blessed long before that, and only learned how far it went when she stood back up after dying for someone she loved.367368369370 He told her how he had found her on his doorstep.370
When you appeared on my doorstep, you were not left by any wayward soul who I could detect. Not a footprint left behind on wet ground that evening. And a strange light hung in the sky overhead, when I came out that day and found you in your little basket. And a voice rang out at the back of my mind: “This is my child. They carry my blessing. They are chosen to wield the light. Guide them, protect them, and they will save this sorrowful world.”
He hoped she was wrong about purification being so evil, he said, but he trusted her to make the right choice, and if she found out otherwise, he knew she would change course. She was drawn to do the right thing, that was how he had raised her, and she was blessed with and by the light to fight the darkness. “You’re a good kid, Temerity, you always have been.”371372373374 Temerity answered with the dream she had on her last visit, the voice out of the silver flame telling her to seek the flame and be the light, and said she thought it was the same voice that spoke to him. He said it certainly sounded like it.375376377378 She thanked him, said she would try to find out more about purification and tell him if she could, and that she had needed to get it off her chest to someone she trusted. He said she could talk to him about anything, anytime. He could not promise to have all the answers, but he would do everything he could to help.379380 Temerity knelt to hug him rather than picking him up, and he patted her arm, as far around her as he could reach.381382
Rhysaene’s Dream
That night Rhysaene had a dream.383384
She was in the open fields of the Silver Vale before anyone had settled it, well before the Starfall and perhaps thousands of years ago. The land was thick with trees and wildflowers, with far more life than the Vale holds now. Centaurs were dancing through the fields and glades, and though she had not grown up knowing them, she felt they were her people.384385386387 Watching almost from outside, she saw it give way to walls and farmland. Dwarves dug out the ground, built a wall and cut a moat that redirected the river around it, and wars came and went in the blink of an eye. It felt like an ancient connection with the land, which she took to be the fey spirit within her.388389390391
Then the connection snapped, and a wave of deep crimson fire washed over the land and burned it away. In its place was luxury: a parlor with luxurious couches and plates of grapes, among beautiful men and women in scanty clothes feeding each other grapes.392393394 Rhysaene stood at the center of the room painting a beautiful silver-haired centaur lying on a couch, and the centaur was herself.395396397 The Rhysaene on the couch smiled, and a voice like honey, coming from her but not her own, said: “You can’t move until I’m done. You’re going to ruin it, love.”398399400
There was a crack and the door burst off its hinges. The people in the room screamed and ran into the halls, armored footsteps came in, and the other Rhysaene cowered on the couch.401402403 Someone tall, muscular and broad ran at Rhysaene, armored, with a shield in one hand and a hammer in the other.404 She dodged the first blow and the wall behind her cracked open. She caught the next swing, expecting it to be effortless, and her left hand cracked under it. She cut across her attacker’s eye with her long nails.405406407408 Her painted nails tore through a stone wall, and her attacker punched through the same kind of wall.409410
After another flash the room was dark, and she was looking through a red tint with her ears ringing. More footsteps came. An older man stood in the doorway beside the figure she had been fighting, talking with them, and patted them on the shoulder. The other Rhysaene still cowered on the couch, wounded in several places.411412413414415 With her bones broken and her lungs collapsed, Rhysaene crawled over to her and mouthed “I’m sorry”. She reached into her own chest, pulled out her heart and plunged it into the other Rhysaene, who vanished before Rhysaene blacked out.416417418419
Last she was pulled back to look down on Argentum from above, at the Cathedral of the Silver Flame with silver light spilling through its stained glass. She has never been to the cathedral, never felt the need to go, and in recent years has felt that going would be a terrible idea.420421422423 The light poured out of the cathedral, then went out, and then the cathedral exploded in a flash of blinding white that woke her.424425
Featured Characters
Player Characters
New
Returning
- Anthusa Toguri
- David Kemble
- Eliza Kemble
- Freya
- Hecate
- Henry Kemble
- Juniper Kemble
- Maurine Kemble
- Wellby Emberthumb
Mentioned
Quotations
- “I can’t pretend I’m not worried for you, but I’m very proud of you.” Anthusa Toguri to Iva.6
- “It will take on any appearance you like. Just think it and it will be.” Hecate, giving Rhysaene the Scarf of Many Fashions.14
- “Until the next time I see you, may the Shattered Mother watch over you.” Hecate to Hazel.27
- “I hope this shows that not all magic invites sorrow.” Hazel, to Temerity.31
- “By the flame, you’re tall.” An old farmer of Silverthorn, on Rhysaene.75
- “I’m not going to fucking leave you.” Rhysaene to Hazel.141
- “You’re refusing because you don’t think you deserve it.” Juniper Kemble to Temerity.261
- “I get to decide that, not you.” Juniper Kemble.264
- “Why are you always like that?” Juniper Kemble, asked whether a hug would be inappropriate.290
- “This is my child. They carry my blessing. They are chosen to wield the light.” The voice Wellby Emberthumb heard the night he found Temerity.426
Inventory
- The Scarf of Many Fashions, from Hecate to Rhysaene.
- The Hat of Witchery, from Hecate to Luma.
- Reagents enough for two healing potions, from Freya to Hazel.
- A bread recipe, from Freya to Iva.
- Temerity’s copper coin, left on the Sisters’ kitchen table, with one of Luma’s anvils beside it.
Speaking Time
| Speaker | Time | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Dungeon Master | 1:46:14 | 51% |
| Hazel | 33:52 | 16% |
| Temerity | 31:59 | 15% |
| Luma | 17:23 | 8% |
| Iva | 9:32 | 5% |
| Rhysaene | 8:07 | 4% |
| Unidentified | 0:22 | <1% |