38.3 Standing Watch

General Summary

Day 565

As we move away from the Crystal Spires, the coastline gets rockier and cliff-like until we are travelling high above the water surrounded by mist. We follow the edge closely until Trillium nearly tumbles off and we take a brief pause to design some safety measures. Kaide whips up the wind to blow the mist away from us and Liliales and I work on casting out shadows that would let a falling elf step back onto the cliff easily. Qing Chen wonders aloud if we ought to just move inland and I dismiss the idea out of hand. I like the coast, I'm sure Kaide likes the coast. Nearly all of us can fly and we are all extremely magically talented - we'll be fine.   That evening when we settle down for camp Kaide and I find ourselves examining the cliff curiously - it looks like it was simply sheared off by magic of some kind. I can still feel arcane remnants lingering around it. The group of students leave Trillium and Jaeril guarding the camp and fly out to look at the cliffs from a distance as Magdalena challenges us to figure out what happened to them (referring to Qing Chen as 'runt', I note).   Near our camp there is an enormous depression in the side of the cliff as though something impacted it, though the site is oblong instead of round. At the edges there are little pockmarks of magic but none in the centre... Kaide thinks perhaps some sort of enormous sea beast might have been involved, I think perhaps there was a shield or ward around something that shattered and spread as it impacted.   Further out in the ocean Magdalena shows us a rocky area with an empty border around it - perhaps something was throwing boulders from here? At our teacher's direction we spread out to search for anything that isn't "rock or water".  

That leaves a lot of options...what are we looking for?

  Qing Chen is not settling into this apprenticeship easily. I point out that "not rock or water" implies that we are looking for anything that doesn't belong here. Knowing what belongs and what doesn't is an important skill, I remind Liliales as he wonders aloud if seaweed counts as "not rock or water". Sure enough I find something that doesn't belong: An enormous tree, root ball and all, lodged within the rocks. It's dead but carries a familiar lingering magic...not Grove magic but...Songwood. But this tree is so much larger than anything we might expect to see growing in salty coastal conditions. As we find more trees it becomes clear that they once stood atop the cliffs.   Now there are birds nesting in the dead canopy and Magdalena eyes me before asking if we have to relocate the birds before moving any of the trees. She palms off the task onto Qing Chen (who does an admirable job moving each nest to a suitable location in the cliffs). Eventually the trees are safe and she flings them up to the cliff and reconstructs what they once were: A log cabin.   Whoever inhabited it would have been on good enough terms with the trolls to have songwood brought here to build it into this structure, which Magdalena describes as a 'remnant fortress'. She is light on details about how actually lived aside from knowing that they were a people who was waiting for something because of a prophecy that made them watch the sea until something blinded them. Whether it was the sea beasts flinging boulders of their own accord or something directing them, all of the watchers were wiped out.   Nearby Kaide finds a weathered stone obelisk with a language I've never seen before...but it feels like Bran. Not just fate and making-of-things but Bran. I have to say...sea-watchers from a thousand years ago...I would be watching for humans to cross over. I wonder if they had a prophecy about that and what it meant. Sinking deeper into the magic around the obelisk I see why it feels like Bran - it has the same dormant strand of human-like Zephyr magic that he has and never uses.   Between the group of us we are able to restore some of the lost text (Qing Chen has remarkable magic for this) and I send it to Amytri, who replies within a few hours with amazement about us having found something in old Otrok.  

Whan th' whitæ sailſ cometh senede warnende acrosſ th' lanede th' scatterede children ophe th' 6 līke slaughtē̆r bī sworede a'd staff fleæ from th' wesÞ a'd th' seæ inlēten them finede nōn-ọ̄ther buÞ anientishments watch for th' sailſ a'd senede warnende!

  It is...clear enough. Sending warning to others that humans are arriving... But pieces of it are unclear in the way I hate with prophecies - slaughter? Of whom? "Anientishments"? is such a nearly comprehensible word that it is exactly the sort of thing a sane person would misread in a prophecy. Not that it matters. Humans have come, warning was not sent, whatever has happened has happened. It is no urgent mystery.  

Days 566 - 567

Another day of uneventful travel passes before we find ourselves looking out at white sails on the sea - trade ships and great cross-sea galleons but also pleasure crafts. Eventually we come to the city they must have come from: A human city built into the cliffs. Buildings jut out from any flat surface and many are connected by rope bridges. The entire thing gleams bright white in the sunlight and as we get closer I can see rooftop gardens adorned with greenery and lemon trees that perfume the air with a sharp, almost familiar scent.   We are greeted by a few barely armoured guards who give us a remarkable greeting:  

If you're seeking shade, you'll find it. If you're looking for a place to sing, songs are welcome!

  This is the Lost Cove, home of the Free People. All people are responsible for their own fate, destiny, and words. He offers us entrance for a few silver, along with a guidebook that explains some finer points of the city. Within the bounds of the city there seems to be evidence of thriving trade (ingredients from all over), free dwarves, and even a few trolls. It does not take long for us to find an elf (with scars around his neck) who beckons us to join him in his home. He introduces himself as Shene and says his inn always has lodgings for oathkeepers.   Inside he begins preparing a meal for us and comments that he has already heard of us, since anytime anyone powerful moves about word eventually gets here.  

What's a wizard like you doing running an inn?

  Magdalena asks, bluntly, and he laughs as he goes to fetch more ingredients from the pantry. Kaide and I both shush her, pointing out that we are not supposed to make our spies uncomfortable like that. Fortunately he is good-natured when he returns (presumably I am a safe figure to our spies) and is happy to tell us more about the city:

• The city is young, barely a century old.
• It originates from a nation of rulerless people across the sea.
• Despite the lawlessness there are still people in charge of certain things, a harbourmaster for example.
• Generally people pay fees to service providers but no taxes are centrally collected.
• All trade is permitted here, save for slaves.
• While slaving is not technically permitted, it is also not cracked down upon.
• A small elvish navy has formed to ensure that no elves are shipped overseas as cargo.
• These elvish pirates rescued Shene, and have done a very good job so far.
• He heard of us from Dendra specifically.
• It seems like he quite likes Dendra...

That evening in my room I find that it is quite well arranged to be a safe place for an elf who might show up here with nothing. Clothes, money, small comforts of home - all present in the tidy space where I imagine other elves have sheltered before figuring out what to do next.