[She frowns, curling her fingers into a loose fist and bringing it to rest against her chin as she keeps her gaze focused downwards.]
But I cannot bring myself to begrudge him his beliefs. I know that he was not always what he became. You told me, yourself— but I could see it even before then.
[And later on, she'd met the real Hythlodaeus, had the opportunity to communicate with his very soul, though she doesn't care to impress the finality of his fate upon him any more than she already has.]
It was clear you care a great deal about him— about your people, as well, and that he remembered you in such a way... he really is rather sentimental.
He'll not thank you for that observation, but you're not wrong. But I think it one of his better traits. [ He pauses to think for a moment, giving a soft hum. ] And now that you've seen him before this great tragedy... what are your thoughts? Have they changed?
If anything, my heart breaks for him all the more.
[She finally turns his gaze back towards him, somber.]
I understand more than ever what it is he fought for— he loves this world and the people in it, the same as I do my own. I could never agree with his methods, but my heart aches all the same.
[ Emet-Selch's methods... Hythlodaeus can imagine how those could have gotten out of hand without anyone else to temper him. They've spent so many eons as a sounding board for each other - Azem, too. Any one of them would have gone into this crippled without the others.
He gives a soft sigh, shaking his head. ] He would not have been his best, but he would have fought all the same. As you would, I assume. Me... I doubt I would have had the forbearance to last nearly as long as either of you.
There's little else left to us, I suspect. [ He makes a face at that, because he hates having to say that. It feels far too much like giving up. ] Unless we can find a different path, although I know how carefully we must tread, for your sake.
[ A pause, as he stretches his hands out beside him in a shrug. ] It sounds a complicated mess all around. But it doesn't sit right with me not to at least try.
[She looks to him, questioning, her brow slightly furrowed.]
I know it is a great deal to ask— but I have no choice but to get to the bottom of this. If you would rather keep your distance from this situation, I would certainly understand.
[To say the least. Really, that's putting it mildly.]
And I wouldn't sell yourself so short. You've been nothing but a generous friend to me, each time we've met— that you've served as my escort in this place despite not knowing who or what I truly was only speaks of your character even more highly.
[ The smile he gives her is soft and crooked, but there is fond affection in his gaze. ]
You remind me so much of her. How could I not? Just as I would do all I could to offer her assistance in her time of need, so too will I offer the same to you. Whatever I may do to aid you - to aid all of us, isn't it? I will give it my all.
I have so many I scarce know where to start. [ He gives a wry chuckle, shaking his head. ] It doesn't help that I don't know which are safe to ask and which are not.
I'm finding everything about you terribly interesting, though.
[ There's a twitch of his lips, a crooked lilt to his grin. It's not a lie - from the moment he'd encountered her, she'd been nothing but fascinating to him. ]
[That is all she can ever be— which is to say she doesn't consider herself to be all that interesting on her own, but his intent expression says he feels otherwise.]
Some years ago, our star suffered a calamity— one of many it has seen, but the only one in my lifetime. It was only through the deeds of heroes willing to put their lives on the line that it survived, but it changed the way I looked at the world. I lost my mother during all of that, but she had always done her very best to help others, even encouraging me to become a conjurer when she thought I had talent for it so that I could do the same in my own way.
[Her smile falters, just a little.]
With her gone, I first thought to take over her apothecary and continue helping the locals as she always had, but Gridania has no shortage of healers. I thought I could do something more if I left home. Needless to say, I never expected it would take me down the path it did. I never thought myself to be anyone of consequence. I didn't want to become a hero— only to do my part. Heal those who were under-served, or who didn't have the luxury of being able to seek out aid for themselves.
[ It sounds like something Azem would say. He smiles slightly at that, humming softly to himself. ]\
You may not have intended to make such an impact, but I can see why you did. Even if that wasn't why you did it, I'm sure you left many lives changed for the better in your wake. They were fortunate.
I'm not so naive as to believe that the only changes I've made have been for the better, but I do hope for the majority to be so.
[Nothing, of course, is ever so black and white, and she has made more than her share of mistakes— and faced plenty of consequences for doing so.]
It's been an interesting road, to say the least. I can't say I ever imagined myself visiting a place like this upon leaving Gridania— the only world I knew was my own.
A far way from home indeed. Is it very different, your Etheirys?
[ It's hard to imagine, what the sundered world she knows as home could be like. He wonders what it would feel like, look like. Would he be able to feel the difference, were he to see it firsthand?
Could she feel a difference, stepping back into the realm she'd once traversed in its unsundered form? ]
Quite, though some things are much the same. The trees, the sky— most of the creatures here in Elpis, I recognize from my own travels, though they are known by different names in my time.
[It is different, but still easy to see how their worlds are connected, even if she hadn't already known.]
The atmosphere here is...
[She pauses as she considers how to word it.]
The aether feels more dense. Full. I've never had anything for comparison, in that regard.
[ That gives him more answers than he'd expected and his expression brightens with curiosity for a moment as he considers that. ANd the fact of how aware of it she is. ]
I find it hard to imagine otherwise, but I suspect it's just as strange to you. How the very air around you can feel changed. But I would wager it's comforting, too, to find something familiar in this place.
[ He sighs softly, his gaze going distant for a moment. ] It's good to know that not everything was lost.
I would apologize, but I'm more relieved there is enough of you there for Emet-Selch to have made corporeal. [ He chuckles, shaking his head. ] Had anyone else wandered past you this morning...
[ He stops. Shakes his head. There were scant few who could see the shades and colors of a soul. If he and Emet-Selch had not passed by this morning, she would have gone completely unnoticed. UNknown. Unseen. Unheard.
That might be a bigger tragedy yet, considering the warnings she had brought with her. He's even more grateful, now, that he insisted Emet-Selch lend some of his own in exchange. ]
It sounds fascinating, though. Would that I could witness it myself, to see how different they could be.
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I wonder how many he had, in the end... What he would have done differently, had he the wisdom of hindsight.
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[She frowns, curling her fingers into a loose fist and bringing it to rest against her chin as she keeps her gaze focused downwards.]
But I cannot bring myself to begrudge him his beliefs. I know that he was not always what he became. You told me, yourself— but I could see it even before then.
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I did.
[And later on, she'd met the real Hythlodaeus, had the opportunity to communicate with his very soul, though she doesn't care to impress the finality of his fate upon him any more than she already has.]
It was clear you care a great deal about him— about your people, as well, and that he remembered you in such a way... he really is rather sentimental.
[It's a compliment.]
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He'll not thank you for that observation, but you're not wrong. But I think it one of his better traits. [ He pauses to think for a moment, giving a soft hum. ] And now that you've seen him before this great tragedy... what are your thoughts? Have they changed?
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[She finally turns his gaze back towards him, somber.]
I understand more than ever what it is he fought for— he loves this world and the people in it, the same as I do my own. I could never agree with his methods, but my heart aches all the same.
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He gives a soft sigh, shaking his head. ] He would not have been his best, but he would have fought all the same. As you would, I assume. Me... I doubt I would have had the forbearance to last nearly as long as either of you.
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[That she had to deliver news of their own fate had made her heart beyond heavy, a feeling she should be used to by now, but fears she never will be.]
I've no doubt that you would follow your heart, as well, regardless of how difficult it might be.
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[ A pause, as he stretches his hands out beside him in a shrug. ] It sounds a complicated mess all around. But it doesn't sit right with me not to at least try.
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[She looks to him, questioning, her brow slightly furrowed.]
I know it is a great deal to ask— but I have no choice but to get to the bottom of this. If you would rather keep your distance from this situation, I would certainly understand.
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[ His lips quirk crookedly at that, but he inclines his head in agreement all the same. ]
Yes, you have my aid, for what little it's worth. Although I can't promise to be much help in the grand scheme of things.
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[To say the least. Really, that's putting it mildly.]
And I wouldn't sell yourself so short. You've been nothing but a generous friend to me, each time we've met— that you've served as my escort in this place despite not knowing who or what I truly was only speaks of your character even more highly.
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You remind me so much of her. How could I not? Just as I would do all I could to offer her assistance in her time of need, so too will I offer the same to you. Whatever I may do to aid you - to aid all of us, isn't it? I will give it my all.
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[She smiles warmly, and in that moment, she seems a true echo of her predecessor.]
If you have any other questions, I will do my best to answer them.
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[She had hardly asked Elidibus for a list before coming here— it would have been an impossible task, she imagines.]
With as much as I've told you already, I rather think I've broken all the rules already.
[But that was about what brought her here, and that isn't what he wants to know. Apparently, he wanted to hear about her.]
Let's see... perhaps about why I became an adventurer? That seems innocent enough, though I don't think it's terribly interesting, either.
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[ There's a twitch of his lips, a crooked lilt to his grin. It's not a lie - from the moment he'd encountered her, she'd been nothing but fascinating to him. ]
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[That is all she can ever be— which is to say she doesn't consider herself to be all that interesting on her own, but his intent expression says he feels otherwise.]
Some years ago, our star suffered a calamity— one of many it has seen, but the only one in my lifetime. It was only through the deeds of heroes willing to put their lives on the line that it survived, but it changed the way I looked at the world. I lost my mother during all of that, but she had always done her very best to help others, even encouraging me to become a conjurer when she thought I had talent for it so that I could do the same in my own way.
[Her smile falters, just a little.]
With her gone, I first thought to take over her apothecary and continue helping the locals as she always had, but Gridania has no shortage of healers. I thought I could do something more if I left home. Needless to say, I never expected it would take me down the path it did. I never thought myself to be anyone of consequence. I didn't want to become a hero— only to do my part. Heal those who were under-served, or who didn't have the luxury of being able to seek out aid for themselves.
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You may not have intended to make such an impact, but I can see why you did. Even if that wasn't why you did it, I'm sure you left many lives changed for the better in your wake. They were fortunate.
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[Nothing, of course, is ever so black and white, and she has made more than her share of mistakes— and faced plenty of consequences for doing so.]
It's been an interesting road, to say the least. I can't say I ever imagined myself visiting a place like this upon leaving Gridania— the only world I knew was my own.
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[ It's hard to imagine, what the sundered world she knows as home could be like. He wonders what it would feel like, look like. Would he be able to feel the difference, were he to see it firsthand?
Could she feel a difference, stepping back into the realm she'd once traversed in its unsundered form? ]
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[It is different, but still easy to see how their worlds are connected, even if she hadn't already known.]
The atmosphere here is...
[She pauses as she considers how to word it.]
The aether feels more dense. Full. I've never had anything for comparison, in that regard.
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I find it hard to imagine otherwise, but I suspect it's just as strange to you. How the very air around you can feel changed. But I would wager it's comforting, too, to find something familiar in this place.
[ He sighs softly, his gaze going distant for a moment. ] It's good to know that not everything was lost.
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[Her smile turns a bit wry, quirking to one side, but she nods in agreement— he's quite right, not everything was lost.]
The world, sundered though it may be, still holds fragments of what once was. One just has to know where to look.
[She can't help but think of the ruined structures beneath the waves of the Tempest, even before she had seen Emet-Selch's replica of Amaurot itself.]
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[ He stops. Shakes his head. There were scant few who could see the shades and colors of a soul. If he and Emet-Selch had not passed by this morning, she would have gone completely unnoticed. UNknown. Unseen. Unheard.
That might be a bigger tragedy yet, considering the warnings she had brought with her. He's even more grateful, now, that he insisted Emet-Selch lend some of his own in exchange. ]
It sounds fascinating, though. Would that I could witness it myself, to see how different they could be.
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