Salvus and homeward

[Jack Rothwell]

Tamina had more than a little trouble following the dialogue between the three women when it began. It was hardly surprising, given her level of discomfort riding the unnatural contraption that bucked and hissed like some great metal Dropla. Her attention had come completely off the rails, however, at the mention of Paedagogusi, followed by the names of Elven Gods, and a few other things she'd found impossible to pronounce.

If the women had looked in her direction at that moment they would've seen the humanoid crouched in the corner with an unhappy expression on her face, turning the words over in a mutter, and trying not look at her distressing surroundings.

[Drusia]

Sister Rose took a deep breath in turn. "Bluntly, I didn't want to mention it while Tim was around. I think you can imagine all the ways that might have gone wrong..."

I blink. "Oh. That would do it, I suppose." Although, it isn't as if Rose and I haven't had a few private conversations... now and then... when we weren't distracted by something else.... Fine.

"Anyway," I say, brushing a few stray hairs away from my eyes, "You never answered my other question. How many... 'fairy creatures' did you actually see at once?"

-- Desiree

[Graybeard]

"Just one," Sister Rose answered, "and it was weird." She summarized the encounter with the fairy Sasha Mitchel (Doyel? Ravanel?) had somehow captured shortly after the death of Father Egbert. "Lillith seemed to think she was either one of the Paedagogusi, or at least Paedagogusi-like. Luminosita knows, she had -- powers." She repeated the description of how the fairy had dealt with Harker (who certainly had it coming). "She said her name was 'Compassion'. Mean anything to you?"

Therese thought for a minute. "Compassion... hmmm ... that would translate as either a straight cognate in the language of Refuge-Nouveau, or as 'pitié'. None of the Five Great Mothers have names anywhere near that." She raised an eyebrow in Desiree's direction.

[Drusia]

"Just one," Sister Rose answered, "and it was weird." She summarized the encounter with the fairy Sasha Mitchel (Doyel? Ravanel?) had somehow captured shortly after the death of Father Egbert. "Lillith seemed to think she was either one of the Paedagogusi, or at least Paedagogusi-like. Luminosita knows, she had -- powers." She repeated the description of how the fairy had dealt with Harker (who certainly had it coming). "She said her name was 'Compassion'. Mean anything to you?"
Therese thought for a minute. "Compassion... hmmm ... that would translate as either a straight cognate in the language of Refuge-Nouveau, or as 'pitié'. None of the Five Great Mothers have names anywhere near that." She raised an eyebrow in Desiree's direction.

I bite my lip, thinking. "My mother did some research on the Paedagogusi when time allowed. They've been gone for over ten thousand years, so its hard to find anyone who actually remembers them, and the elves didn't write down much about them specifiacally, just their teachings. I am... my mother did believe she learned their proper names, though. Assuming that her source remembered correctly."

I pause, making sure I remember correctly. "Coquette, who taught of beauty and how to craft it. Copulation, who taught biology and husbandry. Continuity, who taught language and logic. Concussion, who taught combat techniques and medicine. And Chicanery, who taught sublty and law."

I pause again, and then add "I've never heard of a Paedagogusi called Compassion. Which is too bad, as compassion is a lesson that it would have behooved the ancient elves to learn. So either she wasn't a Paedagogusi... or..." I swallow. "Or Anilis and Senilis have created a new Paedagogusi to teach the lesson they forgot to empart." As incredible as that idea is, it is also wonderfully hopeful. I wonder if Rose remembers how to find it.

-- Desiree

[Graybeard]

[OOC: The idea of Kawaii teaching "beauty and how to craft it" is one of the funniest things I've read here in ages -- but the notion of Concussion teaching "combat techniques and medicine" is even better. Let's see where this goes...]

Therese's eyes grew wider and wider as Desiree spoke, and finally, when Desiree got to the part about "a new Paedagogusi," she could barely contain her own excitement. She fought it down and nodded as thoughtfully as she could manage. "It's possible," she said softly. "By the Fi-- by all that's holy, it's possible. The names match those the Mothers have in our language. Coquette, same word, same meaning from the sound of it. Continne, Chicanne, Copulant, they're all just as you say them. The only one that's a little different is Commotion, but that has a secondary meaning that is close enough to 'concussion.' And if you're right... it would be incredibly important to our own temple, too... incredibly important... I wonder..."

She paused for just a few seconds, which was long enough for Sister Rose to get distracted by Tamina's ill-ease. ("Tammy, what's wrong?" Rose asked the kobold. "You don't look happy at the way this is all going.") Thus diverted, Rose didn't hear the question that Therese asked next, which would have given her a great deal of disquietude of her own if she'd heard it.

"Desiree," she said, "if Rose knows where to find this 'Compassion,' would you go with me to investigate?"

[Jack Rothwell]

Tamina looked over at Rose during her inquiry with flicking ears and an apologetic smile.

"Feels wrong in here." She said, flinching at another jet of steam escaping the unnatural contraption. "It's loud and hissy and uncomfortable and smells funny. We gonna be here talking 'bout fairy things for long?"

[Drusia]

Therese's eyes grew wider and wider as Desiree spoke, and finally, when Desiree got to the part about "a new Paedagogusi," she could barely contain her own excitement. "It's possible," she said softly. "By the Fi-- by all that's holy, it's possible. The names match those the Mothers have in our language. Coquette, same word, same meaning from the sound of it. Continne, Chicanne, Copulant, they're all just as you say them. The only one that's a little different is Commotion, but that has a secondary meaning that is close enough to 'concussion.' And if you're right... it would be incredibly important to our own temple, too... incredibly important... I wonder..."

Coquette, Continne, Chicanne, Copulant, and Commotion are the names of the Great Mothers?

That means... I was right. I was righter than I realized. The Paedagogusi must have gone to teach the humans as they once taught the elves. Anilis and Senilis would only send them to do that if the humans were as important to them as the elves.

Humans really are the gods attempt to correct the mistakes they made with elves.

Which means that the gods wanted half elves to be born. I was right. I was fucking right! Which means... which means that the new Paedagogusi, Compassion, must exist to teach the elves to stop killing us. If we can find her, if we can get her to my mother, she can take her to the elves. She might be able to end the attacks on half-elves forever!

This might be the most important thing any half-elf has ever done. Ever.

"Desiree," she said, "if Rose knows where to find this 'Compassion,' would you go with me to investigate?"

"Yes!" I say. In my excitement, I throw my arms around her and kiss Therese firmly. I pull back long enough to say "of course I will!" I should probably actually ask Rose how to get there, but instead I kiss Therese some more.

-- Desiree

OOC: I love Desiree's wacky assumptions. ^^

Also, the logic on the Paedagogusi...
Concussion taught battle technique and healing because she likes to hit people (combat) and she wears a nurse outfit (healing). Yes, the nurse outfit was my entire justification for that.
As for Kawaii teaching beauty - I have this image in my head of her giving makeup and fashion tips. "This would look SO CUTE on you!"

[Graybeard]

"It's loud and hissy and uncomfortable and smells funny. We gonna be here talking 'bout fairy things for long?"

Poor thing, thought Sister Rose. Her people aren't technological at all, so this must be quite the shock to her. Of course, it would a jolt to many of my own people as well...

"Well, we're not exactly 'here'," she answered. "We're on the road, heading for Salvus. Look out the window." The scenery was passing by at a rate that she found mildly dizzying herself, and if she hadn't experienced faster movement during low-and-fast airship flight, she wouldn't have liked it either. "If I understand correctly, we'll make a stop in an hour or two at a city, or an underground complex or something, inhabited by a race called the 'Ghob'. Marson says they're reclusive but basically harmless as long as we don't bother them. We'll let him do his trading, but maybe we can get out and stretch our legs a little."

She turned back to Desiree and Therese, wondering just what the "of course I will!" was all about.

[OOC: Opinions wanted here. The search for "Compassion" could very easily become another full-blown thread complex if people want it to. (Rose won't be participating; she'll be going off with Argus to Live Happily Ever After as soon as this caravan gets back to Veracia, although she has some significant loose ends to tie up that might get done in fanfic. Therese, however, is still available, and due for some development.) If that's what people want, we'll make it so, but I thought I'd detected interest in drawing this incredibly long-running series of threads to a close. So what are people's preferences? I think there's still fun to be had, and if that's what people want, Rose's responses to Desiree and Therese will set it up to happen; I've thought a little about how it could work. But it's you-all's call(s).]

[Jack Rothwell]

OOC My availability's finally getting better for this, but I'm kind of stuck in a creative slump atm, call it post-holiday malaise (or possibly something less wankerish). I'm just finding it hard to get motivated lately between work, scrounging for acting work, hitting the bloody gym to help get said acting work, and working up to filing my bloody self-employment bloody tax bloody return before the end of the month.

My grievances are aired, I feel better . To the point, I'm at a place where I can try to pitch in if people want to fork off in another direction, but I don't know how much help I'd be./OOC

Tamina felt a little reassured by Rose's consoling tone, if not the prospect of stopping at some point in the hopefully not too distant future. Her grip on the ironwork relaxed by a couple of pounds as she peered out the window and tried to fix her attention on the passing countryside. The sight was a great deal better than the confines of she'd mentally nicknamed the 'Iron Dropla'. The kobold briefly considered the possibility of clambering out and trying to keep up with the contraption using her magic... but unless the Ghob settlement was a few hundred yards away that wasn't really an option.

"Marson say anything else about the Ghobs?" She queried, still staring rigidly out the window. "They anything like the Killikah? Or the Elfy-peoples? Or..." She shivered. "Trolls?"

[Graybeard]

"Marson say anything else about the Ghobs?" She queried, still staring rigidly out the window. "They anything like the Killikah? Or the Elfy-peoples? Or..." She shivered. "Trolls?"

Sister Rose tried to remember what Dess Marson had said to her and Argus, and what she'd learned in the Heretic Knowledge Vault, trying to keep it straight. In theory, she was probably supposed to not talk about anything she'd seen in the Vault ... which hadn't stopped her from doing so earlier in the trip, for example, when the subject of the Paedagogusi had come up, as it was doing again. Oh, the hell with it.

"He didn't say much," she told Tamina, half an ear still listening to Therese and Desiree. "They're generally humanoid, a bit smaller than we are, and they're adapted to living underground, because of their vision. They can't be out in the sun very long, and even a bright moonlit night, as tonight is going to be, is painful for them, although I understand we'll be long gone before night falls. They live in an actual underground city. Most of us aren't going in there at all, just Marson and maybe Argus."

Their ride hit a rare, mild bump in the road as she continued. "Oh, that reminds me. Their cities tend to be under extinct volcanoes, where they can tap into some of the leftover heat. We must be getting close, you can see the terrain here is starting to look more like there's a volcano nearby." It was true; the convoy had started to climb out of the wastes of the lowlands into a more rugged (and vegetated), hilly region. A few small volcanic cones dotted the horizon.

"One other thing about them," Rose said. "They ... don't like elves any more than Desiree's people do. Many of the same reasons: the elves hunt them down so they can 'correct mistakes' their gods made." She glanced at Desiree and Therese, who seemed lost in their own universe of love for the moment.