TenThousandBrokenDreams/Session07

Mother Cypress speaks:

"Hello, my little sparrows. It is a fine night, a night for tales and stories. What tale would you hear tonight? Would you hear the tale of Aljami of Paragon, who freed an ifrit from a jar that he found in the desert; of how the ifrit granted him three boons for his service, and how he misused the gifts that were bestowed upon him? Or would you learn the tale of Kiri the White, the youngest of the Sun’s children, and how she escaped the slaughter of her brothers and sisters by a twist of fate; of how she fled into the uttermost East, and what she found there? Or would you hear more of the tale of the Solar Exalted, and the end of the Second Age?

"Then gather round; come closer, my children, and spread ears like elephants; and I shall tell you more of the tale of the Sun’s bright children, of how they met the lord of Tul Tuin in the Tower of the Winds, and of what happened after."

Tepet Aekino felt all eyes upon him as he strode past knots of courtiers to kneel before his cousin, Ledaal Vir, who ruled in this place. Vir bid him rise, and the two greeted each other warmly. After an initial exchange of pleasantries, Aekino stated that the business that brought him to Tul Tuin touched upon matters of some import that had best be discussed discreetly. Vir then ended his public audience for the day and led Aekino to a small, richly appointed parlor for a private conversation.

Thorwald, who had remained standing guard outside the audience chamber, tried to find and follow Aekino when the door opened and the courtiers spilled out to go their own scheming ways, but Aekino had already gone. He thought then to remain there until Aekino returned, but a courtier managed, with much difficulty, to return to his quarters. Thorwald waited there for a time upon a balcony that overlooked the river. As he sat there, sharpening his swords, an airy spirit descended from the skies to speak with him.

The spirit, one Fourth Breeze by name, did obeisance and proclaimed that Thorwald was his master of old, naming him “Blessed Wind” and showing every sign of joy at his return. But the northman would have none of it. He refused to admit any familiarity with the spirit, for all that it claimed to have known him in other flesh, and would have no truck with it. At the last, rebuffed on all fronts, the spirit turned away and vanished into the air.

In the city beneath, Li and Zera met across the street from their inn, having successfully fled the city watch after thrashing Darien Tal and his bodyguards. There they discussed their plans, and agreed that Zera would remain in the city to gather information while Li rejoined the others at the Tower of Winds. And as Li made her own way back up the sloping city streets, she passed through the market, where a young girl of Western blood hastened to speak with her.

The girl, a slave, sought only to speak with one of her own people in her own tongue; but her owner arrived a moment later and seized her arm, apologizing to Li for the disturbance. Disturbed, Li said she was pleased to speak with one from her own land, and asked that the girl be spared punishment for this. While the man grinned and agreed, they all knew that this would make no difference, and in fact the girl might be punished all the more harshly for the embarrassment her master had suffered. With a heavy heart, Li made her way back up to the Tower.

While these things were coming to pass, Aekino sat in the presence of Ledaal Vir, sipping fine liquor and telling his host of the fall of Thorns - carefully editing out the matter of his own Exaltation, of course. He went on to inform his host of the death of their cousin, Ledaal Amaya, aboard the Dayshield’s Daughter. Vir questioned his guest on both matters, and when he asked whether Aekino had traveled under an assumed name, it became clear that Vir had his own sources of information regarding their visit. Aekino then yielded up the moonsilver orb that had slain Amaya, followed by the jade message tube and the astrological charts that Zera had purloined from Amaya’s cabin.

Aekino held his breath as his host opened the tube and perused the contents, for he feared that the astrologers of House Ledaal might have predicted and written of his status as Anathema. But the suddenly dour Vir said only that four Demon Princes would come to his city, and that he hoped that Aekino would remain within the tower for his own protection. He asked only that Aekino would meet with his counselors so that they might scribe a record of the events of Thorns, and asked that they might meet for dinner that evening for more pleasant conversation. Aekino, for his part, agreed with these requests with good grace.

Vir then dismissed his cousin so that he might write certain missives to his fellow Ledaal on the Blessed Isle. Aekino returned to his chambers, slowly realizing that the Demon Princes that the Ledaal astrologers had written of might not be deathknights such as he had seen in Thorns, but rather he and his companions. He settled down then to enjoy the comforts of the palace, bathing and having his nails done, and eventually speaking with Thorwald and the recently returned Li as to recent events. He shared his discussion with Vir, while Li filled them in on Darien Tal’s aggressive pursuit of grievances and those things he had learned from Zera. It is worth noting that Thorwald did not speak of his encounter with the spirit Fourth Breeze at all.

Aekino went on to spend a few hours in the company of the astrologer Ikari and a couple of the palace scribes. The genial Ikari permitted Aekino to speak as he liked of his experiences in Thorns, with only the occasional question to draw out more detail on this subject or that. Eventually night fell, as it does with a certain regularity within the bounds of Creation. Li and Aekino finally prevailed upon Thorwald to bathe, and as that worthy finally partook of the dubious joys of hot water and soap, the call to dinner came. Leaving her swords in Thorwald’s care, Li dressed herself in servant’s garb. With Li present to act as his valet, Aekino descended to the small dining hall where he would have dinner with the prince

The dinner proved to be a family affair, for two of Vir’s grown children were present: Martin, who had glared at his father with some venom during the public audience earlier in the day, and his sister Tanith. Both flirted with the intensely attractive Aekino as various courses were served. In conversation, it came out that Martin was an experienced swordsman and soldier, while Tanith admitted to a certain familiarity with the magical arts.

Upon learning of the doom that came to Thorns, Martin urged that Aekino should depart at once for the Blessed Isle to bear word of the disaster... with Martin as bodyguard and aide-de-camp, of course, as this would provide opportunities both to see the Blessed Isle and to get into Aekino’s pants. Martin’s kin noted that this would be rather silly, and that Martin would be needed here in any case. The banter continued for a while over courses of mashed fruit and stuffed game birds, until another guest belatedly arrived, one whose presence angered and discomfited Martin and Tanith. This was Mari of Stonegarden, a dark-eyed Eastern woman, and consort to the prince.

After a bit more stilted conversation, in which Mari expressed interest in the astrological charts that Aekino had brought, Vir and Mari took their leave. Aekino lingered over dessert with Martin and Tanith, inviting both to visit him in his quarters later if they so chose. Satiated, the young Solar finally took his leave of his cousins and returned to his lodgings.

Something of a comedy of errors followed as Thorwald emerged from the bath to find that his clothes were missing! They had been taken away to be laundered, and while servant’s garb in his size had been provided for him, he wished to go down into the city to find Zera and refused to wear such garments where others might see him. When he stormed down half-naked into the servant’s quarters to reclaim his garments, they were still being washed, but he managed to procure ill-fitting street clothes from one of the northman servants instead. He also managed to get a suit of servant’s clothes in Zera’s size to help that worthy fellow sneak into the castle, though his ineptitude with manipulation showed true when his first attempt got him a dress. Eventually he made his way to meet Zera and convinced him to sneak back into the castle with him.

With the four children of the Sun reunited at last in Aekino’s chambers, they spoke freely for some time, sharing what they had learned. Zera spoke most of all, explaining what he knew about the region’s complex politics. He reminded them that Cessair, the queen of Tul Tuin, remained locked in a tower in a town just a day’s travel to the southeast, and added that he had heard of a city located three days to the north where the Queen’s daughter Idris still reigned, having split from the kingdom when Ledaal Vir took power. Zera proposed to travel there to seek counsel with Idris, keeping Thorwald at his side to guard him, and thereafter to travel to Iron Tower to speak with the Queen, while Aekino and Li remained behind to gain more information in the Tower of Winds and the city below. The others concurred, and so Zera and Thorwald took their leave, departing stealthily from the Tower of Winds.

Soon thereafter, a servant knocked at the door to deliver the promised chronicle of Tul Tuin’s history. As Aekino opened that book to read of the realm’s history and winkle out its secrets, Zera and Thorwald made their way down a darkened alleyway in the lower city. And as they walked through that shadowed place, a black bird flew overhead, its scales gleaming in the moonlight. Another bird followed, and another; and then, as our heroes turned a corner, a slim figure clad in dark armor emerged to confront them, the raitons circling overhead…

... and there Mother Cypress ended her tale, leaving the fate of our heroes for another night and another telling.

(Note: all PCs received 3 XP for this session. Aekino received an additional 2 XP for contributions. XP totals to date: Aekino 44, Li 47, Thorwald 44, Zera 40.)