ScrollAndSwordCircle/TheBigSecret
The Sifu's Manse
Osprey climbs up the last of the steps to the mountaintop Manse of Gia's sifu. Cool wind ruffles his hair and cloak; a thousand steps below, clouds billow. Breathing deeply in the rarefied atmosphere, the Easterner makes his way to the training grounds where he expects to find Gia.
Gia is stretching in the corner of the workout area, looking somewhat breathless and extremely pleased with herself. She sees Osprey and grins, leaping to her feet. "Hello, Brother Osprey. What are you doing here?"
Osprey sits down on the spiraling trunk of a wind-twisted dwarf pine. "I heard from Master Haddad that your training was almost complete; he said you were a credit to your sifu." Osprey half-smiles. "I came to congratulate you."
Gia blushes slightly. "That's quite nice of you. Actually, I completed my study of the Air Dragon just today! It's quite fortuitous that you came when you did, or else you'd have climbed all those stairs for nothing," she says, grinning.
Osprey rises and falls in beside her as she walks back towards the gate. The hollow pillars of the Manse give off flutelike tones as the wind blows through them. "I am glad that I did not tarry, then; it is good to see you. Much has happened while you were studying."
"It's good to see you, as well. I felt bad running off when we have a Deathlord to deal with, but I didn't want to face the future unprepared. What have I missed?"
Osprey fills her in as they descend the stairway back down the mountain, relating the story of the demon, the ghost, and the events surrounding them. "We now have some small bit of information to work from, at least. I am still very troubled, though; I feel there is some piece of the puzzle which yet eludes us."
Gia chews on the corner of her lip thoughtfully. "The answer will come, I'm sure. In the meantime.." she smiles ruefully. "There's no worse feeling than knowing you're working without seeing the whole picture."
Osprey gives her a pensive look. "The way back to your home passes by the Forbidding Manse of Ivy," he notes, seemingly apropos of nothing. "If you have no pressing obligations, perhaps we could walk through the Garden of Secrets. I have heard that many of its rarest flowers blossom at this time of year."
Gia raises her eyebrows and pauses. "Whisper is being well cared for in my absence. Yes, I think I'd like that very much."
Osprey nods, managing to deftly avoid meeting her inquisitive eyes.
"Well, I may not be in a hurry, but I think I've had enough of a workout for quite some time." A fluffy cloud detatches itself from the turquoise sky and floats next to the staircase. "After you, my friend."
The cloud bobs slightly as Osprey steps onto it. After he and Gia have settled themselves, it wafts off toward the Forbidding Manse of Ivy, whose dark walls can be seen looming in the distance.
The Garden of Secrets
For a while, the only sound is that of the wind whipping past. Osprey breaks the silence. "As it turns out, our new colleague, Hollow Moth, also comes from Lookshy."
Gia smiles politely. "Really? I thought there was something I liked about her. She seems nice. Less standoffish than most Endings I know."
"Brother Malic and I are beginning to seem like the odd men out."
Gia laughed. "Well, I prefer you and Malic as you and Malic. The world will not suffer from less men like Arkadi."
"He is rather abrasive." Osprey's tone is neutral, but Gia can detect a slight note of disapproval which others might miss.
"He reminds me of my mother," Gia states flatly.
"That is unfortunate."
"For both of them." She glances down at the rapidly approaching ground. "Looks like we're here."
The cloud descends toward the curving, geometric patterns of the Garden of Secrets. The large hedge maze, with its numerous carp ponds and secluded bowers, stretches over at least several acres.
Gia quirks a small smile. "Think we'll be able to find our way out?"
Figures can be seen in the garden, but like faint stars, only seem to be there when one is not looking directly at them. The cloud touches down in a small, circular extension of the maze.
"Brother Malic did once claim that he was lost in the garden for several weeks at a time."
Gia chuckles. "And thanks to the garden's power, if anyone helped him, he couldn't remember who to thank. How impolite."
"Of course, he also claimed that the people who saw him at the Manse of Guenhwyfar of the Iris Petals during those weeks were either under a glamour, or bald-faced liars trying to impugne his upstanding character." Osprey steps off the cloud.
Gia laughs loudly. "He would never go there, just as his Terrestrial pet is merely a charity case."
Osprey grimaces. "I question the... wisdom... of sweeping up newly-Exalted women and spiriting them off to one's Manse as servants."
"Malic is a good man, I think, but I would hesitate to call him a wise man, so it's good he has wise friends like us." She folds her arms and regards Osprey with curiousity. "Friends wise enough to know when one is up for some leaf-peeping, and when one has heavier things on their mind."
Osprey gestures to the path leading deeper into the maze. "Let us walk."
She nods and walks alongside him. "I will say, however, that you were right about the beautiful greenery."
The two Sidereals make their way deeper into the maze, passing over a series of small bridges, into a section where cleverly-shaped trees arch over the pathway. Osprey turns down a side path; after several curves, it dead-ends into an enclosed bower. Sunlight dapples the ground and flowers; a slim birch tree stands in the center of the clearing, its boughs spreading out to meet the low canopy.
Gia smiles in surprise. "It seems you know this place better than I do, my friend."
Osprey sits down on one of the worn, mossy jade benches which are placed in such a way as to evoke forgotten ruins. "I do come here, from time to time. The nature of this place makes it easy to be alone with one's thoughts."
Gia sits next to him. "And do your thoughts desire company today?"
Osprey unslings the daiklave from his back, and rests the massive weapon across his lap. The chiaroscuro light glimmers off the silver sigils worked into the matte-black sheath.
"The events of these recent days have greatly troubled me," Osprey smiles somewhat ruefully, "as I am sure you have heard me say dozens of times. Even more so than the strange omens surrounding the Deathlords' servants, and their baleful astrology, the fact that they were able to reach into Yu-Shan itself to assassinate our comrades with such apparent ease."
Gia half-smiles. "It's good that you say it. I think our circle has a very.. dark.. sense of humor. It's good to be reminded of the seriousness of our situation."
"I fear that more of us may fall before this is brought to an end." Osprey looks grim. "Sacrifices must always be made, of course, and I would willingly lay down my life for you or brother Malic. But there are promises I have made, and which I do not wish to see broken."
All traces of mirth fly from Gia's face. "You shouldn't talk like this. I refuse to let anything happen to you. We'll be fine." Her face looks less sure than her words.
Osprey looks down at the sword on his lap. "There are secrets which I do not wish to die with me." Grasping the weapon's long hilt, he unsheathes a foot of blade. Light splinters off the faceted glass edge, and runs liquid along orichalcum inlay.
Gia is more or less at a loss for words, and decides not to talk him out of telling her things she's been curious about since they first met.
As soon as the first inch of the daiklave leaves the sheath, a terrible keening fills the bower. The sword is singing, and its song is one of anguish and loss, setting teeth and heart alike on edge.
Gia shifts uncomfortably, cringing at the blade and its grief.
Osprey tenses the arm holding the hilt, almost as if he is fighting to keep the daiklave from leaping from its scabbard. With his other hand, he reaches down and grasps the exposed blade.
Gia winces, hating to see her friend hurt. "What are you doing?"
He slides his palm quickly along the edge; as soon as his blood touches the blade, its song changes, losing some of its anger. Holding the scabbard with his wounded hand, he re-sheaths the sword; the paper ward affixed to the hilt flutters in a nonexistent breeze, but the song stops. Osprey sets the weapon aside, lying it on the ground.
"The blade is filled with anger and sorrow; only blood can give it even temporary peace."
Gia looks at the sheathed daiklaive uneasily. "That's quite the burden you carry."
Osprey doesn't bother dressing his hand; the cut quickly stops bleeding. He turns to look at Gia. "You have heard the story behind it?" His tone indicates that he would consider it unusual if she had not.
"Only what everyone knows."
Osprey nods.
"I'm guessing there is something more to the story."
"It belongs to a Solar Anathema, a woman named Fieldmouse. It belonged to her in a previous life as well, in the First Age. Then, it was a weapon against the Fair Folk; it sang songs of such beauty that it held them entranced. It could not protect its mistress from the Purge. It was buried in her tomb, left alone for centuries with its loss and self-recrimination. That is why its song is as you hear now." Osprey shifts slightly on the bench. His eyes are far away.
Gia clears her throat. "Belonged, you mean."
"I learned this from its mistress in this Age; she had opened her own tomb and retrieved it." He pauses. "This was some years before we met. I was still relatively young in my power; my master had sent me to investigate the Anathema whose bandits were troubling Greyfalls. There was apparently a great deal of bureaucratic interference from the Gold Faction; I was cut off from support, but managed to infiltrate the gang despite that. When I returned to Heaven, I brought the woman's sword with me, its anguished song proof that it had once again lost its mistress."
Osprey pauses.
"It had indeed lost her, but not to death. She still lives, and the blade grieves all the more for knowing that."
Gia is stunned.
"How.. If you didn't kill her, then how were you able to get the weapon?"
"She gave it to me," Osprey replies simply.
"She.. gave it to you."
Osprey nods. "I needed sufficiently impressive proof of her demise that no one would be sent to confirm it."
The trees rustle in a slight breeze, spots of light dancing across the two Exalted.
Gia pauses for a long moment. "Merciful Osprey." She lets out a surprising burst of laughter. "I guess there really is something to those name quests."
Osprey looks rueful.
"Do you keep in contact with her?"
Osprey shakes his head. "I believe she is somewhere near Gem, but I do not know exactly where, nor what name she is using now. In any event, when we parted, the feeling was that our next meeting would more than likely end in one of our deaths."
"That makes sense." She sighs and places a hand on Osprey's shoulder. "I'm glad you told me."
"Although I looked on her as a friend, I would have to be blind to ignore the fact that she is also a monster." Osprey looks at Gia, his unbound hair cascading down over one side of his face. "Shortly before I returned to Yu-Shan, and she fled for the South, a pair of Dragon-Blooded from Greyfalls tried to put an end to the Anathema threat. They failed."
"Two Terrestrials are no match for a Child of the Sun. It was their own arrogance that lead to their failure."
Osprey is stone-faced. "Fieldmouse did... terrible things... to them before they died." He shakes his head. "I wanted to believe that it was something else moving her hands, that she was possessed as the Immaculates teach. But I looked in her eyes, and all I saw was her.
"That was when I knew that we needed to part ways, and that when our ways brought us back together, it would be for an ending." Osprey's eyes are dark with some complex emotion. "Which brings us to the reason I am speaking to you of this."
Gia nods mutely.
Osprey draws a slow breath. "Should I fall, I would ask that you take the blade, the Transcendent Glory of the Dawn, and deliver it to Gem, into the hands of its rightful owner. Although it does not think like you and I, it knows pain, and I wish it to be at peace at least once more in this Age. I realize this is a great favor to ask, even of a friend.
"In return, I offer you a favor." He smiles. "A secret. At a time and place of your choosing, you may ask a question of your choosing, and I will answer it fully and truthfully."
Gia nods slowly. " Of course I will do as you ask. There are no great favors between friends like us." She smiles slightly. "But I've never been one to turn down secrets."
Osprey nods his head. "It makes me glad to hear you say that."
The chosen's face becomes a complete mask of mock-sobriety. "Of course, if you're going to ask something like this of me, it is only fair that you do your best not to get killed. If now you ran off and cut off your head, why, that would be cheating!"
Osprey chuckles, and leans forward, resting hands on knees.
"Fair enough, Gia." For once, he leaves off the honorific. Osprey rises, pausing to pick up the daiklave. "Shall we make our way back, then? I am sure Whisper is wondering where all his worshipers have been."
Gia laughs a little. "Yes, let's. I'm sure he will be even happier to see you than he is to see me."
The Journey Back
As they retrace their path through the twisty ways of the Garden of Secrets, Osprey speaks. "These recent events have made me think about the course of my life, as well as its possible end."
Osprey grimaces. "I was brought up to fight in others' stead, so that war could be avoided and lives could be saved. For a long time, I felt that was to be my duty here, as well. Unfortunately, others are not so reasonable as the people of my homeland. And there are only so many battles one man can fight." Osprey looks up at the sun-limned clouds.
Gia listens intently.
"When I am gone, I would like to be remembered as one who helped bring harmony to the world, and I do not think the sword will lead me to that." He pauses. "Not that I intend to become a pacifist. But my recent time among the Eastern tribes, wearing the name of a shaman, has made me think that perhaps I can better serve serenity by turning my hands to the auspicious design of fate, rather than the path of fist and blade."
"I think Venus is honored to have you as a servant, however you choose to serve." Gia smiles.
As they emerge back into the cloud-landing circle, he turns his head to look at his companion. "I feel that in order to best serve the Maiden of Serenity, I should learn more of her sister, who dwells in yon Forbidding Manse." He gestures at the ivy-covered walls which loom above the Garden of Secrets' western border.
"I can think of no better teacher than you. If you do not object, of course."
Gia smiles brightly. "I'd be honored. I mean, if you can trust me with your secrets, I see no reason not to share mine."
Osprey smiles. "Excellent." Turning his face skyward, he chants a short, sonorous prayer; a fluffy white fragment detaches from one of the cumulus overhead, and descends to the ground.
"After you, my friend."
Gia jumps onto the cloud and steadies herself before reaching out a hand to help Osprey aboard.
Osprey takes her hand, and the cloud flies off toward Gia's Manse.
