XXII - Explanations

Fen departed early the next morning, making sure to keep herself busy as she alternated between climbing and levitating up the rocky slopes of the Ashlands. She focused all her thoughts on getting to the next precipice, stepping on a rock that would hold her weight, conserving her magicka so she could levitate over a particularly rough section of rock. She didn’t want her mind to stray to Julan, for she felt that if they did, she wouldn’t be able to continue. The fear of finding him dead was too great.

XXI - The Cavern of the Incarnate

Together, they pushed against the heavy stone doors. The doors opened this time, grating back to reveal darkness. As Fen and Julan stepped into the dim tunnel, the doors swung shut behind them and light flooded into the back of the room, leaving their part of the tunnel in gloom. Fen saw, at the end of a short passage, a large stone statue of a woman, sitting cross-legged with her head bent and her large, algae-covered hands cupped before her. Luminous mushrooms grew out of the walls around her, bathing her in a greenish light that felt warm and safe to Fen. They also lit up several dark, mummified bodies that were huddled along the walls around the statue, their features elven. Fen walked forward as if in a trance, overwhelmed by a sudden desire to see what the woman held out in front of her. Fen placed her hands on the forefingers of the statue, leaning close to see the small white object that was spinning slowly in midair there.

XX - Kogoruhn

“The ancestors and stars have given me clear signs,” Nibani Maesa sagely, inviting Fen and Julan to sit before her fire. “The lost prophecies leave no doubt – the Incarnate shall be an outlander.” Julan snorted slightly and Fen elbowed him sharply. Nibani Maesa either didn’t notice or ignored this, and went on. “You, blessed by Azura, must lift the seven curses of Dagoth Ur. Prophecy has shown the seven steps of the Nerevarine’s path, and I have been chosen as your guide for each step on that path. I will read the signs, and show you the way. It is time for you to walk the path of the Seven Visions, and pass the Seven Trials of the Seven Visions.” She folded her hands in her lap and studied Fen intently.

XIX - Shani (part 2)

Nibani Maesa had said to return when the moon had come and gone. Fen reasoned that this meant a month, and she and Julan spent most of Evening Star doing guild jobs for Skink-In-Tree’s-Shade and tracking down the remaining propylon indices for Folms Mirel in Caldera. A few of these ventures took them to Sixth House bases, which were easy to clear out, albeit physically and mentally draining for both of them.

XVIII - Shani (part 1)

Slipping these books into her bag, Fen slammed the chest shut and nearly sprinted outside. It was late in the afternoon and Julan would come looking for her soon, but she was too intent on finding answers to care. She cast water-walking on herself and jogged around the craggy islands to Tel Fyr, then retraced her steps back down to the Corprusarium. Vistha-Kai surveyed her critically.

XVII - Holamayan

Frostfall was only just beginning to rear its head as Fen and Julan stepped into Blatta Hateria’s long, blue-sailed sloop. It was dusk, and there was a heavy chill hanging in the air and atop the water. They settled themselves on the bench in the centre of the sloop, Fen hugging her arms to her sides for warmth, as Blatta untied the rope, coiled it up, and dropped it to the sloop’s floor. “It’s a long ride,” she said, sitting down and taking the tiller as they pushed away from Ebonheart. The sky overhead had quickly grown dark, and the water was peppered with the reflections of stars. “It’ll be nearly morning by the time we get there. Might as well take a bit of a kip.” The night darkened quickly and the air was sharp and cold away from the insulation of the city. Taking Blatta Hateria’s advice, Fen wrapped herself up in her cloak and laid down between two of the benches, lulled into sleep by the gentle rocking of the boat.

XVI - The Ministry of Truth

Fen sat down on a driftwood log before the campfire and stared out at the dark waves, watching them crash into the tall vertical stones rising up out of the water. If she closed her eyes and breathed in the salty sea smell, she could almost imagine that she was on the beach of the Padomaic Ocean, where she had traveled with her grandmother for outings as a child. She had loved the ocean – the way the dazzling water stretched out thousands and thousands of miles, fading into whiteness on the horizon, starkly different from where it crashed up against the cliffs of Ghorne and fell back in on itself in a frothy white spray. She and her grandmother would sit on the beach for hours, Fen trying to find a pattern in the way the waves moved while her grandmother stroked her hair and told her stories of the Dawn Era.