Pantheon

Into the Unknown

Moa drifts through the central marketplace of ITU, nearly as familiar as her own ITJ. She's in her usual humanoid form, but shrunk down to look like a nine-year-old. Probably she should change it again. It wouldn't draw much attention normally on a temple, but now...

She misses the times when this place would be filled with people and beautiful, delicious cultural exchange. Now it's so quiet and still you can actually hear yourself talk, and then the echo if you're loud enough. Less people are leaving their home Realms to travel, and those who live as wandering merchants are growing lonely. Moa can feel their stillness and their wrongness, a deep, sick ache in the pit of her stomach growing into a tumor.

There's so much open space. So much of the market is made up of homemade stalls or booths, or even just patches of floor to spread your wares around in, only now hardly any of that space is occupied. There's no flags or clothes or jewels. There's only stillness and long flat floors, and no colors or life to fill it.

She thought visiting the market would make her feel better. It always does. She'd been desperately hoping it would. Now she doesn't know why she bothered in the first place.

One of the few merchants catches her eye, and his face lights up as he waves to Moa. But Moa turns away, stiffly, almost like flinching. That merchant should never be so happy to see one person. She can't be here anymore.

Is Aur done talking to Radiya yet? Moa disappears, and reappears as a small, scaled creature on Aur's shoulder in Radiya's private chambers. Aur's hand, attention still fixed on the priestess, reaches up absently to pet her.

"...not strange to not pick up any Called children, or to have decreases in the number of new Called, but for there to be none since before the Blight began - !" Radiya is pacing, agitated like she never is. It's scary to Moa to see the old woman's normally soft and patient face all angles and hard edges, and her sticky toes clings tighter to Aur. Radiya turns suddenly to Aur, almost confrontational. Her voice is hard and tight. "This is all your will, I know, and I cannot presume to know your mind – but this is harming us, and if it continues, our way of living and the temple itself will be in danger!"

Aur licks her lips, darting a glance at Moa. "I hear you," she says, more slowly than usual. "And I see what you're saying. You know I care about the temple, right? Like, you guys are my first human priority. Just – you're right, you don't know our minds, because you can't. And you know that, too."

"Yes, Auricant. Of course. After all, that is why mystery is so holy."

"And so cool, yeah. But it means I can't really help here. So, can you just, keep trusting that we hear you? We hear you, and it's okay."

Radiya looks relieved. "Yes, Auricant."

"How's the rest of the temple doing?"

"Well, they're worried, of course. A lot of them miss the marketplace, and parts of the temple keep breaking. We repair them with our magic, but it's still no comparison to your divine source. Most of them are coping well enough, though..." Radiya sucks in an exasperated breath. "Except, unfortunately...Thesselaine," she mumbles, half to herself.

"Who?"

"Oh – forgive me for bringing up such a small matter – Thesselaine, the inventor? They're eighteen, from Shyrn, they came to us as an infant after interfering chaotically with Shyrn's magical infrastructure? Many of your Called take a while to adjust to our, blessedly disorganized, way of life, but they've never quite acclimated in all this time...They're quite fixated on finding a...a reason for all of this. It's rather foolish."

"No."

Moa frowns a lizardy frown. Aur's voice sounds...strange. Upset. Confused??

"No," says Aur, "I mean...who?"

Radiya is taken aback. "Auricant, you remember all that you Call."

Aur, staring out into space, nods sharply. "Yeah. Yep. I do. I, uh, I didn't."

Okay. Wow. Moa wants to double take, to take Aur by the shoulders and demand if she's absolutely sure she means what she said. But Aur never, ever says anything she's not absolutely sure of.

"You didn't..." Radiya knows what Aur said, but doesn't want to believe it. "Didn't...what?"

Aur sucks a deep breath in between her teeth. "Call Thesselaine."