Farseer Falling

Chapter VII

"You do understand that if these people find out, they will lay blame for this invasion at your feet?" Caius spoke after a long period of silence had fallen between them. The Ultramarine had clearly taken some serious time to mull over what Nuadan had told him, and he would frankly have been less surprised if the man had simply cleaved his head from his shoulders for whatever perceived sleight he had seen in the root of this entire debacle being over an artifact of Aeldari make.

"And are you?" Nuadan decided to pose the question carefully and gauge the Marine's reaction. He was hoping not, but occasionally, things definitely did not go according to plan.

"No, but if we move quickly, they won't find out." Caius rose, unfurling his great height with the clanking of his power armor. "We rest for a few hours and then make for the outskirts of the town. With luck, we can intercept these interlopers before they make it close. We need to keep the people as calm as possible. Panic helps no one." His quick and measured response took the Farseer by surprise. He had been expecting some form of accusatory reprisal at best, but Caius' reply was level-headed. He figured he perhaps should have expected something like that from an Ultramarine. Out of all of the chapters he had encountered, they tended to be the least likely to launch a crusade against his people at any given moment. Caius frowned and rolled his helmet in his hands, clearly still lost in thought for a moment before he turned to Nuadan again, "Do you know what it might be?"

Nuadan rose after him, robe falling again down his back and knees as he furrowed his brow. "Allows the eyes to read... A translator? Perhaps... The details are foggy, and something powerful is hiding them.

"That is... troubling," Caius tested the last word before he said it as the frown on his face deepened. "Regardless, we have a single option, and that single option requires that we face this problem head-on. I trust that I have your support?"

"You do, of course," Nuadan nodded as Caius returned the gesture, tucking his helmet back onto a hook on his belt and rolling his shoulders.

"Then rest. We have much to prepare for tomorrow."

Caius left him alone by the edge of the field, stamping back off to return reluctantly to the festivities. He doubted that besides Kaira and Hela that anyone would pay his absence much mind, so he settled back down and sat back on his haunches, eyes drifting off over the waving sea of grains laid out in a seemingly endless plain before him. He sometimes wondered if the world where he was born looked anything like this, beautiful as it was, and if his father had spent much time working fields this same way. Life on the Craftworld was much more secure and regimented, and he could never deny that there was a small part of himself that quietly yearned for his days as an Outcast alongside the Corsairs, or when he spent time hopping from one world to another and seeing the wide array of sights spread out across the seemingly interminable galaxy. That little urge had always been there, scratching at the back of his mind like an itch ever since he was young. However, his place on the Paths was as a Farseer, and he was content with that. After all, his Path had led him there, so there was some small semblance of generosity in the way that had chosen him.

He closed his eyes as a cool evening breeze fell over the fields, making the almost ripened grain stalks to whisper in the wind, their seeds creating gentle rustling sounds that blended in with the whisper of the leaves of the tree boughs. He felt his long hair blow back and gently tap his back as the wind moved it and the stray strands of his black hair that fell about his face, relishing in the feather light touch of it against his skin and the feeling of it seeping between the plates of his armor. He loved the feeling more than he could say. If nothing else, that alone was worth fighting for.

He glanced back over his shoulder and caught sight of Hela playing with a few other children as Kaira sat alone nearby, laughing as her daughter sprinted wildly about, shouting something he couldn't quite make out from where he sat. Another smile came unbidden to his lips. Maybe someday, he told himself as he finally decided to rise and join them, his people would have the luxury of feeling so freely.