1 Soul Bound
1.2 Taking Control
1.2.1 An Icy Welcome
1.2.1.10 Pandora's amphora
Kafana: “Where are we headed, Dino?”
Dino: “To the orphanage, Suor Kafana.”
Kafana: “Then let’s go the fast way. Everybody, hold onto the boat, and keep your weight low.”
She turned to the gondolier: “Sir, please bring in your pole and sit down.”
He hesitated. {Sys, aura on, please.} He hastily sat.
She stood up, arms spread wide for balance, brought up her overlay map, then concentrated on the water. Not good enough. She closed her eyes, feeling for the water through her ring, imagining a cigarette boat planing along. She sang a prayer, throwing a bit of sea shanty into the rhythm, and felt Nicolo join in. *connection*
She addressed the deity Mor in her mind, with the same mental touch she would use with Nicolo. =Mor. Would you enjoy *image* ?=
The boat felt as steady as rock under her feet, but she could tell from the wind against her face that she was accelerating. She shook free her hair and leaned into it. =Wheee, this is fun. I love how wonderful the sea is. Thank you Mor!= she opened her eyes and projected her feelings to him, feeling safe in his arms.
Fishies: Hi. Hi. Flying fishie!
She felt the fish greet her in passing, familiar with her mental feel as though she were a topic of conversation in underwater circles. Two dolphins popped out of the water from either side and jumped over the boat, so close to her she could have touched them. They too chittered a greeting at her and she tried her best to respond
Kafana: beautiful jumping, guys
Dolphins: Come ¡swim¡ with us! We show you all the fun places!
The concept they conveyed wasn’t quite “swim”, though. It had other meanings layered into it, perhaps “be dolphin with us” or “join our chorus” would be closer?
Kafana: I’d love to, but I can’t today *sadness but hope for future*
She was getting better at constructing mental emoticons. Land was approaching.
{Sys, add to TODO list: Kafana to spend a day just swimming with the dolphins.}
[Skill “Perform while multitasking” has reached level 11.]
Less than 10 minutes after they’d started, they were standing back on shore 7 kilometers down the coast. She gravely offered the gondolier 4 ducato coins, enough for a gallon of ale. He took them, then looked at the monks. Reluctantly he returned 2 of the coins to her, before grabbing his pole and starting his long journey back.
Nicolo: “I can’t believe what I just saw.”
Kafana: “The boat trip? That was fun, wasn’t it?”
Nicolo: “What? Yeah, the trip was great, especially when we were racing the dolphins. But no, I meant the gondolier. He actually gave you money. That never happens. Those guys are experts at guessing how much someone has in their purse and charging just the right amount to make the passenger pay with a larger coin. In Torello we used the phrase as short on change as a gondolier, because even if you’ve just seen with your own eyes another passenger pay them, they’ll still lie and claim that they have no coins to give back to you.”
*ding* [Your reputation with the inhabitants of Arsenal has increased by 5.]
She grinned at Nicolo: “I make it a rule to always do six impossible things before breakfast, every day.” she looked pious. He stared incredulously at her.
She waited a beat, then added conspiratorially: “Some rules are made to be broken.”
They carried on bantering as they walked to the orphanage and her spirits were high as a kite by the time they arrived. A small voice of rationality in the back of her mind noted that this wasn’t natural either. Wellington and Hachiko were waiting for her.
Hachiko: “What am I to do? We take our eyes off you for a minute while you just go out to practice singing, and the next thing I hear you’re the new goddess of the seas and all the sailors are worshipping you. Alderney is threatening to drop an anvil on my head for missing recording it. Just because of you, I’m going to have to spend the next three years avoiding walking under trees.” He looked tragically at her.
Dino spoke up, sounding serious: “That will not help you. Ms Alderney is the demon of the night. I have fought against her. As dark as shadow, as swift as the wind, she strikes like a viper and her blows are like a mountain collapsing upon you.”
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Hachiko addressed Kafana: “Then I might as well enjoy the trees while I can. My only hope is to earn my way back into her good graces by sticking to your side like glue until you have served the gelato, at which point I can hand over to Omobono.”
Kafana: “Is that really necessary?”
Hachiko: “It isn’t just for Alderney, or even for those who see this reality through my eyes. I’m personally curious. I want to understand what the past few days have been like for you; what has led you to do the things that you have done. Only then can I speak with passion and accuracy in a voice that is authentic to my true self.”
She smiled and cocked her head. “Do you really want to know? It isn’t all pretty, but I can show you, for your own personal curiosity, if you guarantee that you won’t broadcast it.”
Hachiko: “You can show me? Yes, yes I would like that very much.”
Wellington: “I’ve the costume that Vessel-Alderney has sewn for you. You got here faster than expected. The troops from house Landi are due to arrive in 22 minutes time. If you wish to trust Hachiko, I have heard nothing about him online that leads me to think he will break his word.”
Hachiko bowed to Wellington: “Thank you, Wellington-san. I will strive to live up to your expectations.”
She left Nicolo to Wellington to get into his own costume, and took Hachiko through to the quiet room where she’d healed Nicolo, asking the monks to guard their privacy.
Kafana: “This is best done sitting down. First I’ll sing some songs in preparation. Then I’ll hold your hands and enter your mind. Concentrate on remaining calm and inviting me in. We’ll have a little chat and then I’ll show you a series of memories. Don’t worry about how you react. I won’t broadcast anything, and will hold anything I accidently see in strict confidence. I’m ordering my tiara to turn off recording now. Please do the same.”
{Minion, please pause sending my live stream to the other Wombles until I emerge from Hachiko’s mind.}
Hachiko sat down, closed his eyes and held out his hands, then said in a calm voice: “I have done so, and I am as ready as I know how to be.”
She looked at him with mage sight. He seemed to be doing the sort of breathing exercise Bungo had done with the monks, and his mana circulated very smoothly. She took out her gem of Mind Healing and her Guardian’s pendant, and put on anything that gave boosts to air or order; then she sung herself a skill buff and offered up prayers to Lun and Cov that she could share only what they both wanted shared.
Kafana: “Ok, nearly ready. If you’re ok with it, I’m going to sing one final song, this time targeted on you, that will boost your ability to retain and understand the memories I’ll send to you. Is that ok?”
Hachiko: “This is fascinating. Yes, please. I want the full experience.”
She sang an intense learning buff, drawing upon her mana ring, and then held his hands and entered his mind. It felt like a garden, calm and orderly, very large and filled with pools of knowledge that could be dipped into, some surprisingly deep. She borrowed his paradigm.
Kafana: =Hello Hachiko. I like your mind. It feels restful, like a well tended garden. *image*=
Hachiko: =*surprise* Thank you.=
Kafana: =Can you show me an empty pool waiting for the waters of my memories?=
Hachiko: =*here*=
Kafana visualised herself carrying a glazed amphora with a picture of Pierrot playing with Nicolo on it, then poured it carefully into the pool. She laid the empty container down carefully next to the pool, not wanting to litter, and plucked another from the air, this time with a picture of herself looking down at The Immortals torturing Pierrot, with Bungo’s words about permadeath ringing in her ears. She laid it on its side and told it to pour itself, and while it was doing so produced a third: twisting on a chain looking down at her dead friends, feeling she’d screwed up. A fourth: alone in the dark, being tormented by Kullervo. A fifth, watching her Vessel speak up at the Mud Gate and how proud she was of her. A sixth: the strength, courage and loyalty of her Vessel, staying awake for days, leading the search for her, perfecting the locate spell to find Kafana, the feeling of togetherness and harmony. A seventh: Kullervo captured, how honoured she felt at her Vessel addressing her as “Self”, and achieving unity with her Vessel. An eighth, standing on the stage in front of a million devils, being told her plan was a wreck. A ninth: drawing upon the courage of her Self. A tenth: her gigantic form singing In the arms of an Angel, facing down an entire mother effing volcano. An eleventh: back in the Sanctum, gradually realising she was split from her Self, keening in loss being told she could never get that feeling back.
When that emptied, her tale told, she laid them like a row of cairns next to the pool. It looked incomplete, somehow. What was missing? Poor Hachiko, she should leave him something nice, as a reward for his quest for truth, not have the narrative end on a low point. She carefully constructed a twelfth amphora, as large as the rest put together and striped with all the colours of the world. Into it she fed the timelessness from when she’d first prayed to Cov, the kinaesthetic feel of her party when sharing senses, the taste of hot fire when forging a cure for the red death as a group, the smell of the ocean when one with Mor and the dolphins, the sound of singing in harmony with Nicolo and creating together something that was more than their parts. She poured mana of all colours into the amphora and sent into it as hard as she could with her mind =This is what is possible here. This is what I want for everybody. We can be as deities, larger than ourselves, not submerged and muddied but more uniquely individually ‘us’ than we were before. There is hope!=
As the mana went out of her, she felt a seed of something plant itself inside her. Maybe, in trying so hard to convince Hachiko there was still hope, she had partially convinced herself too? She set the Rainbow Amphora upright, next to the pool, and even imaged a small note attached to its neck with brown string: “Drink me.”
She left his mind and crept out of the room to get changed. Once in her new bardic clothes, she turned her stream back on, and went over to Wellington.
[Skill “Mind Magic” has reached level 13.]
Kafana: “Wellington, I think it would be a good idea for Hachiko to meet Vessel-Kafana. I’m going to flip out, but I’ll ask my tiara to bring me back in when you message it. Can you explain that to Vessel, and tell her Hachiko is reeling a bit from me sharing some memories with him, and he might have some questions. He was aware that there was context he wanted from me as relevant to his understanding, but he was unaware of how big a leap into the unknown he was about to take.”
Wellington looked surprised, but took it in his stride. “Sure. I’ll ask Vessel’s advice on when she wants you to take back over.”
*flip*