Good Luck [Taelian]

[Lux]

22 Ash 4621

Lux admired birds. He appreciated their work ethic, their propensity for storytelling, and their connection to the sky. More importantly, he occasionally wished he could become a bird, if only to get high enough to mark the precise curve of a river, or the sharp jut of a cliff. It didn't rightly matter; there was not enough room on the page of his journal to mark such tiny details in just a sketch. Still, he wondered what it would be like to free himself from the ground, to take wing, to reach through the clouds and the sky, through the icy grasp of space, to take hold of a star.

Curiously, Lux had yet to meet anyone else on his path. He followed a road, for the most part, when it made sense, but he just as often wandered off the beaten path at the behest of Stix and the stars. Sometimes another route just felt better, and he took it. It did not help that he was traveling at night and sleeping during the day. The glow of the moon and the stars in the sky were a more comfortable companion than the sun.

As he could tell, his journey had led him south from the mountains, but it gradually wound around. He had taken to the road this time, and found with particular delight that a great deal of wildflowers sprung up along a hill that it curved around. He walked to the apex of the hill and planted himself down, a pencil and journal already in his hands. He plucked a small fistful of specimens and lay them on the page to sketch and notate before he pressed them between the pages, oblivious to his surroundings as soon as pencil hit paper.

[Taelian Edevane]

"Come here, little bird."

The small, immolated Noradac chirped, as the wind blew away the edges of the flame that sprawled across its form, shifting into soot-like smoke as it traveled along the currents. Perching on the Sil'norai's wrist, which he extended outward and brought nearer to his complexion, the small Caru's deep orange stare met his own teal one. "Tyrnac made you a handsome bugger, didn't he?" Stroking along the feathers of the Spirit, the man smiled faintly. His hand remained untouched by the flame, impermeable to the heat. Strangely, the creature nuzzled into his touch, exploring it despite the many distinctions between a Caru and an actual bird. Either that instinct existed within, or had been implanted as a life-like deception. He did not know, but for a lonely man wandering Daravin's Southern Marches, he could not find himself caring either.

He was just glad to be near Arlain again. It had been some time. Last time he'd traveled the Empire of Rust, Taelian was a boy to the man he was now. He had learned a great deal. In many ways, he had become the person he'd always hoped to be.

Staring down towards the Caru, the man's smile lingered as thoughts filtered through his head. He remembered the first time he had met Renfier, at least three hundred miles east of where he stood. The Badlands. The Raiders. It should have come as no surprise to him that he would love the confines of his ancestral home. It was where, according to the elders he had been raised to adhere to, he belonged. Yet, somehow, he was. So distant was this place to the history of his kind. More than a thousand years removed. Despite that, even now, it felt like home.

A sudden, stinging pain. The Caru bit him, clamping down on his finger with its beak.

"Agh!" he yelled. "Sodding--"

Turning its head, the Irothar gestured its Summoner towards a sudden marching of hooves. Dispersing dirt and debris covered his peripheral, as he quickly turned to face the marching of a cabal of warriors. Halamire. Judging how they were decorated, two of them were Valran, six either mundane or unskilled magical cavalry. All eight of them rode chocolate-colored horses, cladded in armor along their back; heavy cavalry. The horses were large, likely Necromantically augmented. A race created for the Empire's Knights to ride. Taelian bit his lower lip, contemplating for a moment; evade, confront, or allow them to find him. Before long, he was certain that they would.

That was until his eyes caught another figure further out. The galloping headed quickly towards the inexplicable shape. As it rapidly approached, a rifle trained on him, one of the Valran - clad in intricate, golden plate - training the end of his barrel on the isolated Moroi.

"Get up," he immediately commanded, voice filtering through the confines of his helmet. His accent was thick; Gentevarese, if the Moroi could remotely distinguish it from any other human dialect or vernacular. "You are confronted with the Korrivant Halamire of the Lady Ash, Treveyn Brilan Ald of Couronne. Reveal evidence of your citizenship immediately."

[Lux]

He had no name for the flowers, nor colors or paints to depict them. Scarcely could he focus on anything but the scratch of pencil as he drew his observations in circular Kornaan. A single circle filled with infintisimely smaller circles was enough for him to notate the time of day and total distance he had traveled when he found them. He knew how to write in Common, but it was a lengthy language that took up so much space for so little information.

Lux did not look up until he heard the voice. Really, he hadn't even noticed he was being spoken to until he assumed the man was halfway through his sentence. The accent did not assist the fact that the Moroi had absolutely no idea what the string of words meant. The journal was closed and set on the ground along with the rest of his gear he had shed, and inadvertently, he followed the first instruction and stood up. His tail twitched behind him like a curious cat's.

"Fascinating," came out in Kornaan, even before he could realize the gravity of the situation. They were clad in armor, he surmised, but it was unlike any make he had seen, and the man before him looked as foreignly dressed as he must have looked to them.

"Citizenship?" he said in a Common rusty and thick with alien accent. His first encounter, still early into his travels, and he was being threatened with a weapon and asked questions he didn't understand. Not even the Krish had been so brutal so quickly. "I don't think..." He looked back at his belongings, Stix perched upon the bag for only a moment before he took wing and landed on Lux's shoulder. He reached a hand up to scritch the bird.

"I don't have that." Lux was not entirely ignorant; he knew that they were in Daravin, and he could surmise that the warriors that found him were not simply bandits. His eyes flicked skyward, and then to the long shadows that the men and their truly massive horses created. He must have been drawing for half an hour at least, which meant only an hour was left of daylight. "But I can be on my way and bother you no further...?"

[Taelian Edevane]

The response from the Korrivant was immediate: contempt. Even though their faces were concealed by their cladded golden armor, it was obvious and distinct as their posture slightly shifted, as if negativity was fermenting from them and leaking into the air. The arquebus trained tighter, closer. The Chevalier drew it to his eyes, staring down the barrel. At any moment, a life could be taken. He knew that. Perhaps he even wanted it.

"What in God's will is that thing, anyway?" one Korrivant asked.

"Don't know," said the rifleman.

Silence, for a moment. They contemplated. In that time, another noise filled in the void; a sudden, shrill whistling that brimmed within the air, as a faint palette of shades flung from their right and rematerialized. The emergence only billowed out a wailing sound, as if the air had been clawed by a jagged knife. From the point of his Blink's emergence stood a tall man, wearing high quality attire. A black and silver silk-brocade vest, velvety slacks, contrasted with sandals for his wanderings. He eyed the men up and down, as they did the same to him, quickly readjusting their formation and training a second gun towards his chest.

That moment of silence continued. A wait.

"You are of the Pact-Covenant?" asked one of them. The emblem attached to his collar, half ivory and half black, spoke of his allegiance. In truth, he was surprised that the Valran was aware.

"Yes," the Knight-Argent replied. "As Treveyn Ald is aware, I have been sent her as an envoy to discuss negotiations between Lorien and Couronne in the face of the closure of the Rien Civil War. You have heard of my arrival, then?"

"We know all ongoings of Couronne. We are its shield," one lower-ranking Halamire spoke, a Korrivant turning back to glare at him in reprimand.

"Wonderful. Then please do not harass my valet. He, too, was allowed to come here under Lady Ald's invitation. We were merely separated for a moment. I ask little of you but that we are allowed to continue towards Amoren," he said, eyeing back-and-forth between the two Chevaliers.

One nodded, as the crowd of soldiers quickly began to disperse, their horses galloping away. They knew better than to meddle in Lady Ash's affairs, it appeared.

"Gods," Taelian cursed beneath his breath. Rubbing between his temples for a moment, the fiery Noradac rejoined him, taking perch at the ends of his fingers before eyeing the Moroi's crow. "This is not a place to have a scenic journey. This is the Empire of Rust. What the hells are you even doing here?"

[Lux]

Lux watched events transpire far more quickly than he could understand, and he heard words and phrases that he had no meaning for. Pact-Covenant. Treveyn Ald. Amoren. Whatever the case, it seemed to satisfy the hostile, armored men, and they left as quickly as they had come. He had to crane his neck to even get a look at the tall man. His tail twitched back and forth for a moment as he stood in silence, contemplating the question. And then he spun around and began to pick up his pack, his journal, his pencil.

"My apologies." Lux was taking notes as he stood, not yet looking at the man. Avoid the gold-armored soldiers and their large horses. "I didn't know I wasn't supposed to be here. What's Amoren? Is that a city that you're headed to? How do you spell it? How far is it, in what direction? What's your name? Are you traveling alone?"

To trade a hostile encounter for a neutral one was still considered a win in his mind. Abruptly, he closed his journal and tucked the pencil into a loop sewn to the cover, sliding it into a small pouch strapped to his belt. "I'm here because I have chosen to be. I did not think that I would meet people just by waking earlier than sunset, and here I've been traveling by night because it's easier to navigate..." He paused and stared at the sky. Soon it would be dark and the stars would be out again.

"Who were those people?" And, with his head turned to look at the man in the face, "Thank you for your help. If it's not too much trouble, can I come with you to Amoren?" He reached into the pouch again and retreived the journal, flipping through the pages for his preliminary cartographical sketches and the star-maps that accompanied them, all annotated in Kornaan. "I've been stuck in the mountains for so long, but I am Moroi. We're meant to wander."

[Taelian Edevane]

The Sil'norai narrowed his eyes for a moment as he stared down at the other, gaze flickering back-and-forth between him and his pencil, journal, and belongings. He was taking notes; a rude gesture, but more notably, an oblivious one. He reminded the Knight of Wylen in that regard; always focused on his thoughts, everyone else an ambient, background apparition in his mind.

When he did properly regard him, his words came with a flurry of questions. Firing one after another, the man's lips curled as they rebounded off of him, clearing his throat.

"I am alone, yes," he said, before pausing a moment. Craning his own head to look towards his Noradac companion, he smiled softly as the Caru regarded him. "Save for this fellow. An Irothar. He's been keeping me company."

Facing back towards the other, he eyed him curiously as he settled his belongings away. Taelian noted his tail, then, and his horns. His tattoos. They reminded him of those... charts he had seen in Eloise's study. She, more than anyone he had ever known, had an interest in the astral. It made sense, after all. She was the one who had taught him Resonance; the ability that allowed for one to explore far beyond the pastures of their home. She would've liked whatever his markings were meant to represent, he thought.

Their eyes met, and Taelian nodded abruptly. He was not a man of excellent social graces, more attuned to the stoic gestures of Knighthood. At most times quiet, discerning, but honorable. Polite.

"...You are welcome," he responded. The Caru sprung from his fingers, its talons releasing as it flew out towards the atmosphere. Within moments, the bird vanished in a withering smoke, and Taelian returned his hand to his side. He allowed the other to continue speaking. Come with you to Amoren.

It was a bold request. One he might've instinctively denied, if not for the red-colored man's final words.

I am Moroi.

That was what he was. He had heard of them, mentioned in passing, unsurprisingly by Eloise. She had always wanted to meet them, but did not know how to find their enclave. She told him stories of how they had come to their world... fictitious or not.

"Moroi," he repeated. "I have heard of your kind. You are from the Outlands, yes?" A sigh escaped his lips. He couldn't deny his intrigue. Even if only to gather a story to share with the Umpire. "To answer your question, those men were Halamire. Soldiers under the service of the Entente--err, the Lords of this land. We are lucky they were aware of my delegation. If not, conflict was likely. They are brutal."

Taelian remembered Renfier, again. The one he'd met that had been anything but. The man only wanted to marry him, but... their time together had been fond. Seeing the cogs of the Empire turn from within had, in that time, been enlightening. Renfier was the only reason he had survived this land.

He supposed it was time to return the favor.

"I am Taelian Venger, Knight-Argent of Lorien. I'm... a wanderer myself, really. And I'd be... remiss to let another like me die. So -- you may come. Amoren's a few hundred miles south. We can head towards Arlain, like I am doing, and take a ship... or we can walk the remainder of the journey. What's your purpose for wishing to go, though? That city is not safe for outsiders. This entire nation is not."

[Lux]

"I am Lux Ki-Bahraz. We are from the Outlands, yes! I was born on Tarkus, the world of the Krish, for the small time we had spent there. But we fled to Atharen, to here, and I grew up in the mountains. Many of us have stayed there. The world is terrifying to them. The last planet, the one I was born on, killed even more, after we lost so many on Kornos." He swallowed. It was history to him, but it was life for the rest of his family, and much of the Moroi who had survived. He replaced the journal in its pouch. "Where do I go that is safe, then? Do I hide in the mountains and cower?"

His tail swished again, and he pointed in the direction of his home, from where he had come. "We have lived there for 23 years. I have lived there for 23 years. The world is still alien to me, foreign to me. My parents barely speak Common, and they don't know the history of this place or its customs. It's the only home I know, and I know nothing about it. This is no way to live. My purpose to go is simply because you are. I don't want to take the chance that the next strangers I meet will be friendly."

Lux reached to Stix on his shoulder, the bird perched with his head cocked. "This is Stix, by the by. Wait, did you say a ship, like a—" He paused, and realized it was very unlikely to be the same sort of ship he had learned of. But, buried in his memories, he had learned of another meaning. A ship that floated on water, a boat, whatever that meant. "I've not seen a ship before, but I am good at walking. A few hundred miles south?"

He stared at the sky again. He couldn't see the stars, yet, but he knew they were there. "There is something my mother would always tell me, every time I left home, even just to climb the mountains. She would say May the sun watch you, may the moon hold you, and may the stars guide your way." He spoke it first in Kornaan, and then repeated it in Common.

"It's a well-wishing, a blessing, a reminder that where there is sky, there is home." He clasped his hands together. "This is exciting! I have never had anyone to tell about myself that did not already know." He gestured to his shirt, where the circular Kornaan was embroidered with sparkling thread. "It's what my father had sewn into my clothing before I left."

With that said, he started back down the hill, still talking, still bombarding Taelian with questions. "What is a Knight-Argent? That sounds important. Who is Treveyn Ald? Why has she invited you for negotiations?"

[Taelian Edevane]

Tarkus. He had, in truth, never heard the word before. Taelian knew of the existence of the Krish - how could he not - but they were never humanized enough for one to bother pondering the name of their world, or what they were there to do, or why they had wandered to the Outlands in the first place. He had heard, according to speculation, that they were originally from Atharen... but that, too, was an uncertainty.

The Moroi, though -- most doubted they even existed. A mage from Tilema had discovered them through Resonance according to Eloise, but minimal contact had been made. Speaking to this... Lux was like speaking to a relic. An artifact; unfound, until now. It was exciting, he could only admit. And strange.

"Your race hasn't been here even for as long as I've been alive," he remarked, peering off towards the sky, which grew brighter as they spoke. Each passing moment and the sun rose higher. "You're right to assume the next won't be friendly like me. Worse than that -- they're likely to kill or enslave you. Stick around me. I'll... make sure that doesn't happen."

Brave words. Honest ones, though. He wasn't about to let a bright-eyed wanderer from a group of people barely anyone even knew just... die to dysentery, or get sold to some fighting pit to be eaten by a mountain lion.

Taelian listened quietly as the other spoke, absorbing his mother's words with a faint smile upon his lips. His mother never said much. She died long before he was an adolescent, and mostly, she resented him and his father for the depths of drudgery they'd brought her to. He knew she loved them both, but... there was so much suffering in that land. Even thinking about it now brought a wave of discomfort through him, causing his thoughts to tense, his chest to garner this deep, sinking feeling.

"...Your clothes do look very nice, yes," he replied eventually, eyeing the Kornaan symbols near the outer trim of his shirt. He had never seen anything like them before. They had to have been rare -- which meant, valuable. Which meant Lux was a target not only for the Halamire, but for the peasants. Desperation did a lot to men.

Sighing, he steeled himself. He was taking on quite an obligation in letting the Moroi travel with him, but... he did not really mind. He had been lonely, wandering the savannah, the valley. As beautiful as the Elven homeland was, it was also very broad, and for so much of the stretch, empty of nothing but one's thoughts and the wind.

"The Argent Knighthood... we're the officers of Lorien's military. The keepers of order, commanders of the Hollows. I am a Knight for His Grace, Duke Matthias Alderset of the West End." He cleared his throat, and straightened his posture; as if he had to. As if he were meant to look more... Knightly while speaking about his title and role. In many ways his induction to the Knighthood had been a fraud. He didn't have the extensive mastery over Hollows that many of his peers did. He was, however, a powerful warrior and mage... and his service in fighting Kindred had been valuable. He knew that.

"As for Treveyn Ald," he paused, pondering for a moment, "...she's something like a Queen. Daravin is an Empire, formed of many Kingdoms. Five, to be precise: Ardon, Verdiven, Indories, Couronne, and Ostigen. The Emperor rules Ardon and considers the Treveyn of Verdiven his proxy. Indories, Couronne and Ostigen are much more independent. Treveyn... Brilan Ald is the ruler of Couronne. That makes her the third or fourth most influential figure in the Empire." After the Emperor and Pontifex, of course. And maybe Uriel Valent.

Glancing towards Stix, he frowned. A miniature Kindred.

"...As for why I'm here, it involves Lorien's civil war. In exchange for her aide in the conflict, Duchess Claudia Galbrecht and my Lord, Duke Matthias Alderset, are offering her great riches. One hundred and fifty thousand dranari farthings. What we lack is military manpower, which she has an abundance of, and while she does not lack in funds they could still benefit her greatly. She, also, has an abundance of soldiers--more than enough. A beneficial exchange."

He supposed it wasn't wise to be spilling the details of their negotiations to a stranger, but it likely didn't matter. The peasants would come up with their own imagined terms and run with them, regardless. "...Anyway. Once we get to Amoren, you're going to get captured by a slaver the moment you leave my side. Moroi are rare, and therefore valuable. People always like their pleasure slaves distinctive and unique. Doesn't get more unique than you."

He took another glance at his horns... the bright, golden rings.

"You can stay at my apartment there. At least until you gather your footing. In exchange... I don't know. I'd love to learn more about the land you're from. I've not even heard of it; what it was like. Only that you came here at random."

[Lux]

"That seems like a very important task, then. They must trust and respect you a great deal." There were too many names that Lux did not have the context for, but he tried his best to follow along. "So war is common here?"

For a country to have such a hostile standing military, he already knew the answer. Politics was another realm beyond his knowledge. He had not lived on Kornos to quite understand how they had done it there, but with so few of them left now, it had turned mostly into survival and preservation. They all helped each other as family now, even through disagreements. Needless death was not just frowned upon, it was a devastating loss of culture they could not afford.

"Ah." Slavery must have been common, too, if he were already in such danger. If Lux were more suspicious, perhaps he would have considered the thought that this seemed too simple, too easy — that he found one of few people who had no intentions of capturing him. But the thought passed too quickly to be ruminated on. "I didn't really consider— well, of course, I'm not really unique in my home, but so sequestered away it was never a concern. I can see that I'm not very subtle." He sighed.

"Such hospitality! I see I will have to hide no matter what. And you're in luck! What knowledge I lack of this world I have learned of my home. Or," He paused and tapped a finger to his chin. "I mean, of where would have been my home before it was effectively destroyed. I...hm."

"I suppose...well, Amoren is far enough, we have plenty of time, I think. Kornos was a planet, but it was also a city. Before it was destroyed, the city encompassed the planet. As a whole, we had been pacifistic, but it doesn't seem like a facet of our culture we can keep." Already his descent into the rest of the world had been dangerous, and he knew he would have to learn to protect himself at some point.

[Taelian Edevane]

The man lightly laughed as Lux questioned whether war was 'common' in Daravin. Common was an understatement.

"The Empire of Rust -- or the Daravinic Empire -- is at war with every single nation on the planet. I am not overexaggerating, either. Ulendreaism demands that they conquer the world to herald the... cleansing. Or whatever it is that they call it." Exhale escaping his breath, the man placed his hands behind his back, clasping them together as he stood statuesque, his chest sinking forward slightly as he met Lux's eyes with a slight lean in his posture. "As a result, they are technically at war with us, too. The Borderlands are rife with Hollows and other Automatons skirmishing. It's pointless, though. Lorien is impossible to invade."

They had the most advanced architecture in the Northern Hemisphere, the strongest walls, a massive army of tens of millions of Hollows, an advanced fleet, a weapon capable of assassinating their generals from a thousand miles away without fail, and a barren and frigid land that would force armies to succumb to attrition and hypothermia en masse. Daravin postured for nothing. Apparently, Lady Ash understood that.

Taelian's eyes narrowed as the other spoke of his destroyed home. He understood the concept well, given the decimation of Sil-Elaine... though in Kornos' case... it didn't seem the Moroi found it habitable any longer. That must have been why they had come. To escape whatever fate encompassed their old home.

"Wait--a planet that is also a city? Encompassed..."

He blinked. That seemed impossible. How did they farm? Was there no nature? Now, he was the one who wanted to ask a thousand questions. What sort of technology would allow for such a thing -- was that the inevitable process of population's growth? Would their world be the same if the Bleeding had not come?

"I..." In lieu of responding with all of those inquiries, he pressed his lips together and stared, puzzled. "Okay. Well--you're right. Pacifism will no longer be possible, here. It will only be a matter of time before some nation discovers your presence, decides they wish to appropriate your homes and resources, and attempts to cull or subjugate you. That is the nature of this world."

Taelian loosed his fingers from behind him, before stepping forward and extending his hand to offer the Moroi a small box, brassy with a faint blue crystal glowing from within. Making sure the other took it within his grip, he nodded. "Here. This is a Transmission device, an artifact of Resonance. I have another one in my own bag. If we ever get separated on the journey, or after we arrive, and you need me... speak through the device, and I'll be able to hear you. Keep it safe, okay?"

Stepping back, he smiled faintly. "Kornos sounds like it was beautiful. I wish I might have been able to go, before it met its fate. Always wanted to see more, beyond all this. Sadly, though, there is too much here in Mornoth that I need to do."