10.1 Laid to Rest

General Summary

Day 93

The three worlds in which we’ve fought together-but-apart are merging in this place, bringing together the damage and healing into one space. It is slow but steady.   Kadia is here, in the small human body, and she reveals a book that she has brought with her from Ava. It is Trachus’ journal, and likely contains whatever useful information there is to know about the trolls’ forest fire.   She is still delicate, having returned from the spirit world.   “I have a people again…” she murmurs, “I won’t be alone…” but still, the fear is there. She is afraid of standing apart from the other Osyr given all she has experienced without them, and the body she now holds.   For now, we turn our attention to our remaining tasks in the city. We need something to repair the gates in Deldrin and Kadia tells us that we could use some of the shoreline magic. Humans use lighthouses to warn ships off of dangerous shores. The Osyr use magical anchors that give off floating lights over the rocky shoals. Some of these remain, and if we can transport their magic anchors safely, they can be used for repairs.   So we make our way slowly to the shore again, peacefully instead of fighting through hordes of fiery hounds. There are enormous columns of water rising from the ground and Kadia tells us these were once gardens for ocean plants, created by Osyr and elven wizards. These are things we will have to create again!   Kadia points out a statue to us: A smiling Osyr playing two instruments at once. His name is Qi’rin and he was a talented musician, she tells us. Before he died he asked the fae to help him preserve his music, and they did. The faint sound of song floats in the air around the statue. Camellia softens at this.   “It seems there are no heroes and no villains,” she muses. All the stories she has heard of the great darkness that the trolls and fae struggled against…how can she hate the Osyr for burning the groves when the fae burned this city? I have to agree…it all seems cyclical to the point that there is no end and no beginning from where we stand - just a way forward.   I find it hard to hold this thought in parallel with my feelings on the Collective. A thousand years in the future, will a loyal Collective member hug one of the Empress’ children and speak of how there were never any heroes or villains? Will anyone remember my family lying near death because the other side chose to twist peaceful negotiations into a treacherous attack? It’s the sort of future that can be avoided either by losing or by winning so completely that there is no one left to reflect on it in a thousand years. I’m not ready to be a dagger that questions the final strike; not just yet.   We pass by a dancing hall as well, with statues of Osyr in motion with flying robes around them. Kadia recalls watching shows here, and an artist she loved who loved telling her about the art.   We get to the shore just as the sun is beginning to sink. Once again, we leave Bran and Alder behind as the rest of us swim and fly out to the anchors in the ocean. Beneath us, I can see the remains of a city that was built here, not overswept by a creeping tide. There are temples and structures and fish but no large predators, presumably due to still-standing magical wards.   We clamber out of the waves onto one of the anchors and find seven pearls arranged in a precise magical circle. We’ll need a case to carry them and maintain their orientation. I sketch up some plans for such a case and Camellia flies back to shore to enlist Bran’s help, leaving me, Hella, and Kadia dripping wet on the stone steps, watching the sun fall across the horizon. It’s beautiful, and Hella snuggles close as we enjoy the painted waves.   A few hours later Camellia flies back with a needlessly beautiful driftwood case, joined with wave-shaped joints and beautifully finished. I’m amused and just a little frustrated at how long it took him. I’m weary and a little sad to have left Thalien and Lyssa, and it feels strange to see Kadia coming home to a teacher and the promise of her people alive and well again. It is not the same, and I am ashamed of the jealousy I feel given everything she has suffered and done. Still, I want to leave.   We collect two sets of the pearls and then return to shore in the early morning to find Bran asleep and Alder tending the fire. When we wake Bran to return to our camp, I hear Kadia quietly thank him for taking so long to build the box and give her more time on the water. Another wave of shame hits me. I’m glad she has Hella for this because clearly I am not the right person to understand and be there for her right now.  

Day 94

It is late afternoon before we wake again, and Kadia is preparing a delicious-smelling seafood stew. She assures us that she has removed the poisonous fins and that the dish is now safe to eat…and Camellia confirms this with some magic. It is delicious!   And then…we return to the sea. Kadia and Camellia, together, lay to rest the remains of the six Osyr entrusted to me by Ikshafael. They sing together, in a way that must not have been heard in centuries - a fae and an Osyr voice joined in a funeral rite. The waves light up with bioluminescence as we release them home again.   And Kadia and Hella sleep peacefully.