Tal'Duan

Meditating in her cabin of this airship was not as productive as her home. The Lacquered cherry wood and burning incense were too different for her to find the proper head space.

Even the simple room she'd asked for was gaudy. Gold inlay spoke of riches turned to sloth, rot and ruin. It turned her stomach. Still, she tried to meditate daily. Staying in tune with Fate was a dedication one could not slack.

Tal'Duan ground her teeth as her sharp perception felt the airship slow. Damn pilot! I did not pay so unfated much to be coddled in every way that doesn't matter! While the business of getting me to the destination is shirked.

Throwing open the door to her cabin Tal'Duan stalked up the hall. A servant ducked into a side cubby and pretended to prepare an iced drink. It spoke poorly of the cultivators of the Western Sect Empire in her mind. No one should expect justice to be so badly misaimed. Wrath was only worth entertaining when aimed at the offending party.

Ignoring the weak, she stalked to the main deck, feeling the predator fox of her bloodline thrum like a base cord. Each window of the hall offering light from the dark heavens, which tickled latent instincts.

On the main deck, the crew was hard at work shifting large bundles of crates held in cargo netting of arm thick rope. This work was not typical of the last several days of travel. Something was happening.

Gripping the railing of an open balcony. Tal'Duan stared up into the night sky at the full globe taking centerpiece in the dark heavens. A moment spent vulnerable to collect herself. But only a moment. There was a reason some distrusted the cultivators who could afford airship travel. Even with her power, it wouldn't do well to show weakness, to invite trouble.

Senses about her, she approached a cargo worker. Dressed in coveralls and a fur-lined leather jacket common to the sky workers, he didn't notice Tal'Duan's approach.

"Ahem," She spoke delicately, careful not to upset the commoner.

"Oy, feed me a rope an-" He stopped before completing the crude saying. "My apologies. Is there anything I help you with?"

"Yes, I was told this is a straight shot to the east wildlands. Why are we slowing down?" Tal' Duan asked.

The grease stains on the man's face stood out as he paled. "We're nearly on top of our last stop. I apologize for any misunderstanding, but we don't go to the Great Divide. No airship does. The Night Stalker takes transgressions on its skies far too seriously."

Tal'Duan thought back to her conversation where she paid her fare. The ticket salesman had said the destination was on the doorstep of the wildlands. Apparently, that was relative.

"How far out is this from the true border of the Great Divide?" She asked.

"'Bout, twenty five miles or so," He shrugged. "I don't know for sure. I can ask a steward for a map if you'd like?"

The hope in his eyes that she'd leave him be was clear as moonlight.

"That won't be necessary. Inform your clerk that the Emissary of Fate has departed," She spoke the last over her shoulder as she stepped to the balcony again.

Jumping over the railing, she dove towards the hamlet. Robes whipped behind her as the dark heavens watched her decent.

She remembered this part of her training. Being thrown from a flying platform. The Grand Master had winked before throwing Bal first. Tal'Duan was too busy laughing to see her turn had arrived. Tal'Duan frowned as the once fond memory soured by her last moments with her once great master.

All the more reason to be ruthless when I find the perpetrators against Fate. Her angry thoughts did nothing to the red hot knot of doubt that writhed in her guts.

Furrowing her brow, she performed an unattuned Fatecasting. The burden of feeling out the future was always higher the further away a view was from the attunement. Having spent decades with her sight on times months out, she was well versed with this challenge.

As her cognition split into two, the glacial fall became merely slow. Half of her mind watched what was yet to happen. Spending a drop of her bloodline power, she merged with the shafts of moonlight sent down from the dark heavens. Gracefully materializing on the ground, she was safe and whole.

No teleportation locks pointed to minimal defenses. This really was the back end of nowhere. Tal'Duan had known that there wasn't much risk of war here, but one would think with the monsters of the Great Divide, they would keep a certain level of alertness.

Speeding along her future casting to make sure no guards would show up and attempt to fine her for teleporting in. There was nothing to be concerned over. A child dressed like a beggar and hiding a healthy leg would offer her to rent a room. She watched herself getting advice from the local folk nursing their drinks at the tavern.

This town was smaller than an authentic border town. It existed almost exclusively as a port for airships and a node in the roadways of land traffic. Outside of some minor tourism, this was just a memory of travel that would fade with time.

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Ending her Fatecasting, she spent a drop of her bloodline power and appeared on the road outside the city's exit. None of the conversations happened in truth. Likely no local was any the wiser to her presence.

It had to be a gift from Fate that she arrived at night, she decided. Bathed in moonlight, the element of her core and her bloodline Tal'Duan could cast her power with little cost. Wrapped in strands of pale light, her speed across the roads exceeded double the physical limit of running.

After being cooped up in the airship, she had to stretch her legs. At least that is what she told herself. Tal'Duan didn't want to open the door to any other causes of her restlessness.

The trip to her destination was uneventful and took a bit under twenty minutes. A lot of time to think through her plans and perform Fatecastings sufficient to navigate the city with familiarity.

Breachholt was a fortress city. Reinforced walls cut a strip of the skyline away with their bulk. Towers connected to a shield array stabbed higher than the walls did. Between the peaks of each belfry, a soap bubble film effect scattered the light of the moon and stars. No doubt a barrier worthy of a proper city.

Slowing to a run and then a jog, Tal'Duan hailed the guards.

"Well met, traveler," Undal called out. "Entry fee is thirty SE."

"Hello Undal," Tal'Duan's toothy grin showed her inhuman fangs. "The entry fee is twenty at night and five during the day. Lucky me that your fifty percent upcharge leaves you with the funds to cover good friends."

"Who you calling good friends?" Undal growled.

"Yes. Good friends of Perten Crown your guard captain. You don't need me to get him do you?" Tal'Daun stepped past the calculating man. She already knew that he would signal her through, only he didn't know it yet.

System energy as the prime currency! These lofty mongrels should know their place! Tal'Duan unclenched her fists and smoothed her robes. Not offering to take an Imperial Mark was an offense in the heartland, but this was at the edge of the benevolent umbrella cast by the Grand Palace. She reminded herself of her place in an almost foreign land.

The walls were thick enough that the tunnel under them held firm to the humid gloom of man and beast deprived of soap and water for too many days on the trail. Her sensitive nose dared to rebel, and Tal'Duan greeted Breachholt's two and three story buildings with a delicate sneeze.

Pushing forward through the half-filled streets, Tal'Duan bee-lined for her first priority. A hunters guildhall only a few roads down from the main street. Occupying a prime location for visits that wanted to stay below the radar and blend into the high traffic thoroughfare. A white bird was painted across both double doors.

Thankfully there was enough work to justify a day and night staff in this human hive of activity. Tal'Duan glanced at the name placard on the counter to make it seem like she'd read it.

"Charity? A child of virtue?" Slipping into the slightly higher pitch of gossip, Tal'Duan dropped the night clerk's guard.

Charity blushed, "My parents are fervent believers."

"Must have been a great home to grow up in," Tal'Duan spoke, and Charity smiled just as Fate laid out.

"Can you get Revelry for me, please?" This time she left her inhuman eyes mostly lidded. The effect was odd enough to cut through arguments.

In short order, a scruffy coal-haired man strode into the velvet waiting room. Still clipping his mismatched glove and bracer together, he yawned.

"Soooooo, what will it be?" Revelry asked.

"I'm going to save you some time so you can get back to sleep. I'm a wandering Oracle. We negotiated fiercely. You tried your best, but I already learned your bottom line," Tal'Duan pulled forth a list written moments ago. "Here are our agreed upon terms."

Sober in a moment, the theater of irresponsibility was cast aside. "What are we smuggling?"

"Nothing," Tal'Duan frowned at working with a smuggler. "But you are discreet and well versed in all manner of travel in the Great Divide. My target hides from me there."

"Why did we decide on Loumary being included?" Revelry pointed to a line.

"You said something about the seasons," Tal'Duan answered.

"Umm, that makes sense," Revelry sat beside her and passed an arm over her shoulder. "Tell you what, now that we've saved so much time, how about you and I-"

"Already had a look at it," Tal'Duan said apologetically. "Not worth my time, sorry." In truth, she was looking to rest. These simple minutes within the city were several hours of effort for her.

"Oof, I don't think I've ever been rejected so artfully," Revelry laughed. "Thanks for the memory."

"You're welcome. About that VIP room-"

When she was finally alone again. It was in a less gaudy display of wealth. Instead, the focus of expense balanced comfort, convenience, and utility. There was a reason almost everyone recommended the Pale Raven for deep Territory work. They were well connected and about their work before their looks.

Knowing she had all night to rest, Tal'Duan tried again to find the epicenter of this wound to Fate. Without a confluence of Fate to show her where to look, progress required a massive collection of data. In theory, an Oracle could find a single disturbance and track it back to the source, but that type of work was taxing. Tal'Duan didn't have the stamina to brute force it nor the skill to ease the burden.

So she would have to find out anything she could and return to the source. Traditional investigation would play a large part and gathering enough information would be another.

Reaching out into the wild lands, she felt out for events of overlapping Fates. A Vaxal waited under a leaf in Fate's old plan time spun out to take a few minutes. The new path had it jumping after a moth. Eventually snapping a branch and causing a hive of Charge Beetles to launch into the night.

Each event seemed to cause cascading ripples of new Fate. Each was so small. Only once ever had she ever heard of something this powerful. Fate was not weak. Most people could not rise above it. Even most leaders could have their destiny divined and their ruin planned by any Oracle who cared to try.

When Fate was damaged and choice to disregard Fate's perfect plan spread, it was weaker with each transformation. Fate would act to preserve its plan. A conservation of the history that should be. This response seemed weak. Even bugs and tiny rodents were ignoring Fate.

Her earlier visions were of the powerful monsters that refused to be domesticated, the apex predators of their Territory, and able to tear apart a party who only made a single error. They would be able to grasp the strained cloth of Fate and tear a hole through it. This was a calamity on a scale only seen once before in recorded history.

How? How could the Great Oracle have ever considered this burning of Fate best? Freeing Fate from its design as if the response to it being burdened into knots was less support.

Tal'Duan's righteous ire caught in her throat. Is this what I will die for?

The cold calculations that all cultivators developed drew her to the dangers arrayed before her. All histories agreed that every force defending Fate was bound together for the last calamity, and those that survived only had the power to force a negotiation.

I've killed for Fate. If I don't put my life on the line, I'd be nothing more than a murderer. Tal'Duan sat at the secretary desk the VIP room offered. With painstaking penwork, she wrote what may be her final letter.