52.7 You and I Remember

General Summary

Day 1079

By the time the Osyr are warmed to waking temperature again, the humans of the city have grown so fond of the novelty of dragons in the lake that there is serious discussion of making the Dragon Waking festival a yearly event. Oblivion is excitedly talking about bringing a dragon here each year to nap in the water and be ceremoniously woken when Black Tourmaline points out that it’s her city and of course she will stay here and be ‘the dragon’ for a good many years.   Poor Shelor receives only a shrug from me when she turns to ask what Black Tourmaline means by ‘hers’. Black Tourmaline and the other three guardians kept the city safe for centuries, and I can hardly believe that Shelor thought she would just…leave. Any city under the protection of a dragon gets to simply avoid any problems smaller than dragons, which I would think is a strong argument for keeping a local dragon very happy and welcome.   The rest of the day is spent in the library, with Shelor asking me to keep an eye out for Dedrafel. My young cousin has apparently been frightening away all the other researchers and no one knows why. When we arrive at the steps, the enormous doors swing open smoothly at my presence, welcoming me home again. Within the Imperial levels, the current Archivist greets us - the eldest Osyr I have ever seen! She introduces herself as Qial, and while I can’t imagine she has physical limitations of a flesh-and-blood body, she still leans heavily on her staff with both hands. After pointing Ausha and I towards Dedrafel, she leads Cousin Soo and the kids deeper to deal with the infestation.   As we continue down the hallway towards the Empress’ chamber, the darkness grows more oppressive and heavy around us, almost as though we are swimming through dark water. Eventually we reach a room guarded by a very calm, laid-back man who reminds me a lot of Alder when he is on watch. His uniform is that of an Imperial guard - something modern that I have not seen on this side of the Barrier. It is crisp, clean, and the elf himself is fairly young. He kneels smoothly and greets us as Imperator and Sovereign Princess.  

You’re here for my wayward charge?

  I laugh at this - the young man (Wisteria) is clearly well put together and set to guarding my little cousin. He lets us through the door and I’m greeted by the sight of a tired-looking Dedrafel, clothed in newly made robes patterned with Osyr runes in a very traditional style.   The desk is strewn with books and engineering diagrams and notes involving tidal energy - motion, water, cold, darkness, and some draconic influences…very much like Abyss, whose magic I touched when I inspected Trillium. Now I can understand both the flavour of darkness in the hallway, and why other researchers might be running from him. If I were not a dragon myself, I might be scared myself.   The work he is doing under Kaide’s direction is about using a funnel to draw all the toxins in the inland sea to a single point and crush them, freeze them into a solid form that can be extracted. But the sea is not deep enough to create the cold and pressure that they need, so he is trying to create a single spot where things flow down and are crushed.   He’s not working directly with Abyss’ magic, but he’s working with books written by Hadal (Abyss’ sibling) and he is much relieved to have my help deciphering the dragon texts. After a once over, I conclude that the ideas are not necessarily complex, but Hadal’s writing style is so arrogant and pretentious that he uses many large words to communicate even a simple concept. He goes on at length about the ‘deep mysteries of the depths’, and my eyes nearly roll out of my head. A sea only goes so deep. The night sky goes on forever. Regardless - the contents are interesting and useful to Dedrafel and his…teacher?   He admits that after taking his first Archivist exams, he simply kept taking tests as they became available. When he reached the end, I can imagine his surprise as the Empress manifested to administer his final test and raise him to the rank of Shadow Archivist, a keeper of restricted knowledge. And he is not just an Archivist now, but her personal apprentice!  

I…I forgot she was a wizard…

  Apparently Kaide has told him that he can’t embarrass her next to Tira and Hella, so he has five years to catch up to Hella. I’m just delighted to hear that our senior sister has found an apprentice, and perhaps Ausha will feel ready to take one on as well.   When I point out that his aura is frightening away other researchers, Dedrafel tries to wave it off as inconsequential since no one comes this deep into the library anyway. But much like his poor eating habits and lack of bathing last time, I admonish him for not taking care of it anyway. It is simply poor academic hygiene to not compartmentalize your research materials - no one wants to be around someone giving off the magical stench of a hunting deep-sea creature. And to make my point, I let just an ounce of my own draconic aura seep out…and Dedrafel promptly faints in fear. When he wakes, he tells me that I’ve made my point clear and he will work on being better about his aura. By the time Ausha and I depart to visit with Kaide, he at least feels like a shark at rest, and not marauding hungry monster.   The Empress’ chamber is dark and welcoming as always - a lush green garden blanketed by the night sky. Wherever Kaide is in the Empire, it takes her a while to reach us and Ausha and I enjoy wandering around the gardens together while we wait. When she finally arrives, our senior sister sweeps both of us into a many-armed hug before stepping back to take the measure of us.  

You’ve taken on No Moon’s legacy…and it suits you. And you - you feel whole.

  Amidst our happy reconnection are more mundane updates - Teacher and Qing Chen are back in the Empire, though Qing Chen made a pass at Catena and is now hiking back from the jungle where she dropped him off.   She’s very pleased with her new apprentice, but we all agree that he is more book-smart than adventure-smart, and will need to face some new challenges in order to progress the way Hella has. My recommendation is to send him to the Domain, to learn from dwarves and to support the war effort there. Anyone facing off against dwarves will rapidly have to become action-oriented.   And perhaps now, Ausha will be thinking of taking on a student as well. My mind goes to Rina, the elf-human who I sent to be trained back home, but Ausha has said she’s curious where Spindle has gotten to…she wants to teach someone more about creating, and she and Spindle might find commonality in loss and finding new paths.   We continue to talk about the next steps for my family and the Empire at large. With new crossing points in the Barrier, it will be time for some elves to finally return home, and that will surely mean others will want to come in this direction to experience the Outlands. And Kaide wants to come see the awoken Osyr and the Crystal Spires…and offers to preside over Liliales’ wedding so that I can be there as a mother and not an officiant.   Before all of that, though, she needs to physically heal from the scars she has sustained since the War of Fire. I have spent many months idly thinking about how to best address her wounds, ever since Magdalena suggested that her senior apprentice might one day be ready to ask for healing. 
So it is with much enthusiasm that I share my thoughts with Kaide: I think we can manipulate the structure of her bond with the elvish people and concentrate the broad racial healing we’ve experienced onto her as our tree. I feel like I have come into my own as a healer, being able to plot out a method for healing war wounds from a thousand years ago.