Jiji Kiku

GAME: Telamon casts Greater Teleport. Caster Level: 20 DC: 28

Greenflower is a village in the middle of the Alexandros countryside, and the people are clearly anticipating their harvest season. Children are laughing and darting around the adults that aren't off in the fields, hard at work setting up what appears to be a miniature harvest festival, building stalls that might one day house games or things to eat. The sun is shining. The sky is blue. Life is grand.

Until an archmage, a Warden, and an assassin appear in the middle of the village.

"Hold your damn horses!" one woman hollers, hopping up from the stand she's working on hammering together. Everyone--adult and child alike--stops what they're doing, and the woman storms over to the trio that has just appeared in her village. "You got til the count of ten to tell me what the Hells it is you're doing out here, doing all your magic teleportation and disturbin' this here fine settlement."

Not that she's visibly armed, but Cor'ethil looks a little perturbed nonetheless, laughing nervously. "Ahhh. Archmage? Care to... ummm, handle it?" He then gives Karasu a meaningful look.

For some reason, Telamon had insisted on bringing a basket with him. Inspection of the basket had revealed a quantity of fresh berries, clearly just plucked off the bush (regardless of what the season might be). As the trio 'pops' into existence in the middle of the village, Telamon hmphs. "I was aiming for the outskirts. Ah well."

Then he turns his gaze on the woman, and smiles broadly. "Well, I'm not here to cause trouble, ma'am. I am called Telamon Lupecyll-Atlon, and I am escorting two of my good friends here. We're looking for someone -- no, there's no trouble. It's just we think this person might know something about my good friend Karasu's troubles." Here he pats Karasu's shoulder comradely. "And this is Cor'ethil Cari'thana, a Warden of Gilead. If I was up to no good, I certainly wouldn't try it with a paladin standing next to me."

Now to sweeten the deal. "I did bring a gift, as is expected of your festival. Raspberries and blackberries, to be shared out among the children." His eyes twinkle. "I also brought a few bottles of libations to be shared among the adults."

GAME: Telamon rolls talky: aliased to diplomacy+5: (2)+36+5: 43

Karasu tenses subtly under Telamon's touch, but he manages a faint smile to the people of the village and then bows respectfully. "We come seeking an ancestor of mine, please forgive our disruption." He straightens, his dark eyes roaming over the villagers. "Might I ask, has anyone from Xian come through here recently?"

The woman blinks a couple of times at Telamon. She actually straightens up her back a little bit. "Well," she says. "Those are some mighty fine gifts you brought. And from such mighty fine young men."

"I'm a hundred and twelve?" Corey offers, knowing the number will boggle her mind a bit--which it does. Humans don't live that long unless they're particularly lucky and/or stubborn. "But yes, please, do you know if you've seen someone who--"

"You mean the lout that's been sitting in my house eating all the chicken that I can fry?" the woman asks with a sigh. "You can have him if you want him. We like travelers round these parts, but he's been eatin' me out of house and home. He said, 'Luella, your cookin' is the best thing from here to the other side of the Tornmawr!' That Ki-koo fella never seems like he gets enough to eat."

She looks at Karasu. "Say. You kind of look like him. He your brother or something?"

Telamon just... kind of blinks at that. "He's been... what?" Telamon visibly seems to shift gears a bit. "Well, let me work on him. He -can't- be any worse than some of my houseguests. You've not lived till you've seen a goblin happily scarfing down stacks of pancakes, and I was just happy Tanith visited in the winter, so I could store the fish outside in the snow."

Politely, Tel hands over his basket to Luella. "I'll get the wine out in a bit. No point in just pulling it out here, ma'am." At her comment, Tel flicks a glance at Karasu before hmms. "Distant relation, we think. It's complicated. I admit, I thought I'd have to go a bit... further from Alexandria before we found him." A pause, and he looks to Corey. "I wonder if he's been looking for Karasu as well?"

"That seems outlandish. Why would he be looking for me?" Karasu looks at Telamon in a mixture of confusion and a trace of amusement. "Come, let us distract him from this poor woman's cooking. Perhaps we can lure him back to the city somehow." Fried chicken? Karasu isn't going to ask. Not yet.

"If you can get him out of my house, I'd thank you til my throat was hoarse and my face was red," Luella replies, motioning for the men to come follow her. "Let me take you to my house. He's a great babysitter--he's been entertaining my kids while I've been helping everyone set up."

"So he's good with children," Cor'ethil observes thoughtfully, following Luella. "I mean... If I were an old kitsune with descendants across the land, I would want to find them and make sure they're all right."

Thankfully, the village is a small place. It's a short walk to Luella's house. It's also clear that nobody in the village has bothered with a lock, because there's not one on the door, and Luella just opens it. "Ki-koo, you got visitors--oh, you put my babies down for a nap? Bless ya, Ki-koo."

She pulls her head out and ushers the trio of men inside, leading them to another room in her small house--where a man sits in a rocking chair by a fireplace. He looks remarkably similar to Karasu. Slender build, dark hair, dark eyes, even similar facial features... But that's where the similarities end. The man has a very large robe in the style of Karasu's people, made from a very fine deep-red silk that tumbles down to the floor, and he's posed in a rather casual way. Most startling of all is the smile of sheer pleasure that's on his face as he looks at Karasu.

And then he opens his mouth.

"Howdy, y'all! My name is Kiku-no-musoku, but that's a mouthful, so you can call me Kiku." That's an accent that sounds more at home in the mouth of one of Luella's neighbors than it does in Kiku's mouth. "Real happy you brought my great-great-great-great..."

Kiku screws his mouth up in thought. "Let's not do the whole thing, I could hurt myself. Great-grandson, to come visit me while I'm out on my personal, never ending odyssey of all the things this fine world has to offer. How d'ya do?"

When people ask Telamon why he still adventures, he likes to say, 'Because the world hasn't run short of surprises yet'. This is no exception.

He slowly blinks at the introduction, before nodding, offering a genial smile. "A pleasure, Kiku. I am called Telamon Lupecyll-Atlon. This is Cor'ethil Cari'thana," he gestures to Corey politely. "And this is your... well, you recognize him well enough. This is Karasu."

The sorcerer ambles over to the fireplace, inspecting it a moment, before turning his starry gaze on Kiku. "I admit I'm surprised to find you here. I had half expected that I would have to travel to Xian to do so."

For a moment, Karasu is almost surprised to find someone who is so very similar in many respects to himself. Though he had braced himself to expect it, it is still remarkable to see someone so similar when they are so far apart in time and linage. Without thinking he bows respectfully to the kitsune and then... Kiku speaks.

Karasu looks at the other man and there's an expression on his face that Wuya recognizes even if no one else does. The raven on Karasu's shoulder shifts uncomfortably as a result. The one-time assassin no longer has any emotion on his face at all after a moment and he stares at Kiku. "He was traveling." He says as though this is an answer to some question. "We should leave him to his travels."

The man from Xian steps backwards then, clearly intending to leave already.

GAME: Telamon rolls detectBS: aliased to sense motive: (19)+29: 48
GAME: Karasu rolls Bluff: (14)+20: 34
GAME: Corey rolls Sense Motive: (5)+2: 7

"Karasu--" Cor'ethil begins, going to put his hand onto Karasu's shoulder. "Hold on, please? We came all this way here."

"Hold on, now." Kiku rises from his chair. "Is it the way I talk? I'm just talkin' the way they talk around here. To be polite. Also, because I think it's a fun way to talk. Real colorful language they got." The man clears his throat, before adopting the style of speaking used often in the Noble Quarter of Alexandria among the upper-class. "I can speak in many accents. No... You think this is a joke, isn't it?"

Hardly a breath later, Kiku's eyes suddenly turn a brilliant gold. Red markings dart along his cheeks, resembling whiskers, and two white ears pop out of the top of his head. "I'd offer to show you magic, but--" Here he switches back to the countryside accent. "It's not real nice to enchant people who are just tryin' to live their lives. Not enough room in this room for my tails, neither."

Telamon's eyes snap to Karasu, and there's a flash of irritation there. "If I'd spent as much time on the road as Kiku has, I'd probably change my accent too." He offers Kiku a tight grin. "Though my yrch-speak is pretty good. Got me into trouble a time or two."

Tel smirks faintly. "I think the people here got enough magic with me accidentally popping into the town square. My fault; I was aiming for the outskirts. But we didn't come here to chat, sir." He pauses, looking at Corey and Karasu again, before plunging ahead. "I'm going to say a name. I don't know if you know it or not, but it's important, because -he- thought it was the utmost importance to keep you separated from Karasu."

And with that, Telamon says quietly, "Akimitsu Sori."

Karasu's dark, cold eyes meet the golden gaze of the kitsune before him. "It is not the way you speak." His voice is empty, like the edge of a grave. Wuya makes a worried whirring noise which Karasu ignores. "I do not need to see magic nor any other thing from you. You have an odyssey to return to."

His eyes flicker toward Telamon because of the other man's irritation. "Sori was wrong. Or lying." His posture says that he is relaxed, but Telamon knows how to read someone well enough to know that Karasu is far from relaxed. He is ready to defend himself at a moments notice. As if the mere mention of that name might cause harm. Or perhaps it is Telamon's irritation?

"Ah." It's the only sound that leaves Kiku for a moment, until he looks at Karasu. He's still smiling. "No, I understand now. Okay, let me get down to the nitty-gritty, then."

Kiku's smile suddenly drops. The look on his face is as grim as they have come. "I have been hunting Akimitsu Sori for his crimes against the deity that I serve and the good of mortalkind for years," he says. "He never stays long enough in Vardama's halls to be rendered with final judgment. And I keep an eye on every single one of my descendants. The moment Raiden was killed, I wept tears that drowned a garden in their fury. Sori has made it very, very difficult for me to reunite with you. I had to pretend to be going about on a fool's idyllic long-term vacation for his people to drop their guard. And while I _do_ enjoy babysitting random women's children... It's not why I came here."

Cor'ethil raises a brow. "So... You... Planned this?" he says. "Telamon finding you in the dream? Us coming here to the middle of nowhere?"

"Yes," Kiku replies, smiling again. He looks so cheerful now. "Do you understand, Karasu? _You_ are the odyssey. You and your brother. I have arranged this moment so that I could give you my aid. Sori must die for everything he has done."

GAME: Telamon rolls Perception: (19)+33: 52
GAME: Corey rolls Perception: (19)+21: 40
GAME: Karasu rolls Perception: (16)+18: 34

"Ni'essa is the goddess of dreams and prophecy, but she is not the -only- source of such insights," Telamon reminds Corey and Karasu. "A... friend once told me that sometimes the trick was to arrange things, to ensure an outcome that worked in your favor. It might involve managing a great many things, so your plans can come to fruition." He strokes his cheek, eyeing Kiku with interest.

"That brings us to the question, Kiku. How would your meeting with Karasu ensure this is any different? Sori has been killed -again-, but when I drew his shade from the Halls to question him he was confident he would return." His lips curl into an angry scowl. "As bad as trying to purge a fiend, that one."

Even now, Karasu has no emotion to offer his ancestor. No smile. No understanding. If any emotion might have been said to touch him at all it might be the lack of understanding. Confusion. "Why?" The word falls like a stone into the path of a pool, but it creates no ripples in its wake. The pool is a void and there is nothing in Karasu but a reflection of those golden eyes that look at him with such warmth. Reflecting, but never feeling. "Why would you care?"

Then a pause and something that Kiku says seems to sink into Karasu. "Because of the deity you serve?" This is at least something that Karasu can understand, even if it does not in any way endear the other man to him. Telamon's questions however are perhaps more pertinent than his own, and he doesn't try to talk over the other man.

Kiku shakes his head. He walks closer to Karasu, even holding out his hand for Wuya to land on. "Because I love you," he says. "Which I know, it doesn't make sense. You don't know me, and I have watched you from afar... But all of the children and descendants I've had, I've loved every one of them. I wanted all of them to do well. And in you, Karasu... I see the capacity to do more. To _be_ more."

He smiles warmly at Karasu. "I know you've never had a parent who loved you the way you ought to be. For that, I'm sorry. Even the fact I arrived far too late to do anything about your upbringing is a shame on my part. However... there is a way forward. There is _always_ a way forward."

"You're a servitor of Tarien," Cor'ethil says finally, staring at Kiku like he's seeing a celestial of his own god in the flesh. (Not quite, but meeting any servitor is a feat and a half.) "Karasu said that a kitsune that lives a long life has powerful magic, but..."

"I do. Nine tails." Kiku smiles, not looking away from Karasu. "And for all of that magic, I cannot do it alone. I believe Akimitsu Sori is working with fiends, in fact, Mister Telamon. He has a very dedicated cabal that will resurrect him every time he dies. But true resurrections are expensive. Not many people have that kind of wealth just laying around... Unless you're in the pocket of a fiend, of course."

Telamon heaves a sigh. "It would not surprise me. Sori's schemes would benefit fiends, and if he was useful enough... they would arrange for his resurrection. Expensive, as you say... but it could be done."

He turns to Karasu and Corey. "We are the hands of the gods on Ea," he says with quiet conviction. "Sometimes, it falls to us to help right a wrong. And any friend of the Laughing Sparrow, the Coyote, well... Ni'essa tasks me with doing good works here, and elsewhere. I cannot refuse."

Of all the answers that Kiku could have offered, love is the one that Karasu is least capable of understanding. To love someone who you've never met? He looks at the hand offered to him, but he does not take it. Wuya does though, hopping to Kiku's hand in a motion of trust that makes Karasu jerk like he's been struck. Displeasure flashes through his eyes briefly and he meets that golden gaze solidly. "Why are you sorry? You have loved all your descendants have you not? That must have included my father or mother whom sent me to Sori. The great, long line of Himura's whom have served the Lords for ages."

He steps back from Kiku, not wanting to touch the kitsune. His discomfort with the other's closeness is obvious to any. "The Archmage is willing to aid you. I am certain that Cor'ethil will as well. He serves one of the gods after all." As though his own power does not in part come from Vardama, but he looks at Wuya and there's a distance between the two that has never existed before.

"Karasu..." Wuya whispers the name and winces on Kiku's wrist when Karasu only steps further away.

Before Kiku can respond, it's Cor'ethil who steps forward to close the distance, taking Karasu's hand. "Remember when you told me that you cannot comprehend my love for you?" he asks. "Just two days ago, you said it. And I told you that you don't _have_ to understand it. Just because you don't understand it doesn't mean that it's bad, or that you shouldn't trust it. Because you accept me every single day. And I'm so happy when you do. I'm so happy when you choose me."

"I meant in the broad sense," Kiku replies, petting Wuya on his fluffy little head. "I loved many of my children. My grandchildren. And much of the line that followed. But your parents... I do not love them. I do not mourn for them. Their actions have seen them damned to a harsh punishment of Vardama's choosing. They deserved to be slain. Just as Akimitsu Sori does."

Cor'ethil nods a little. His silver eyes are bright things as he says, "The reason we're all here right now is because _I_ love you. Because Kiku loves you. Because I asked Archmage Lupecyll-Atlon to aid me, and... I think he understands, based on how much I know he loves his own wife, what it means to help someone you love. We're all here because of love. We're all here to help. And you don't have to understand..."

He squeezes Karasu's hand. "But I'd like it if you'd let us in."

Telamon nods slowly, in agreement with Corey. "You ask why would Kiku care, or myself? I would offer this: why shouldn't we? Kiku loves his descendants, clearly, including you. This is not a transaction -- that's not what love is, or doing the right thing."

His eyes, deep and dark and starry, regard Karasu. "There are powers and dominions you have no knowledge of, Karasu Himura. Creatures so far from your reckoning you would not know where to begin. And yet... they care, because they know the vast reaches of reality can be cold and terrible. That it is better to be the spark, the bright light in the dark. Perhaps that confuses you, but it elates me. Because the world, the universe, is always a little brighter that way."

Karasu looks at Cor'ethil, trying as always to understand him. Like trying to understand a language that is so different to the one he was raised speaking that it is incomprehensible. "You are right." He says to Corey, to Telamon. "I do not understand it, but I have learned that I do not need to understand a thing for it to be true.”

The one-time assassin looks at his ancestor. “I killed them, every member of my family which existed save for Raiden. I made myself a creature of the dark in every regard and forsook my honor. I ran and thought that there would be no life for me, but Vardama offered me a path. A way back to my honor. I thought Raiden would kill me, that his blade and his hate would purify my sins, but he died when I fled. I was not there to shield him and Sori ended his life.”

Karasu’s dark eyes fall on Wuya. “Vardama gave him a second chance at life, but now… I do not know what path lies before me. I have killed all of those that bear your blood in the Himura line. I do not understand how this could make you love me, how abandoning honor could make you care.” Just as he does not understand how once long ago choosing not to kill someone who did not exist had won him a place in Cor’ethil’s heart.

The crux is, that he knows in his heart that he should not still be alive. His pain, is that his life is one devoid of the honor that had been the main focal point of his training and his life before. A life that should not exist.

Kiku smiles at Karasu then. He has Wuya, and he's petting Wuya still, but then the hand petting the raven falls away, extending instead into an outstretched hand. "Honor is a concept some of your ancestors invented. It was originally to protect the family, to keep everyone safe, to keep people together... But then it was used like a vice against others. Cruelty came disguised as the teachings of honor. Let me tell you what I know."

The kitsune's eyes flash golden with a pulse of magic, and the symbol of Tarien forms in his hand, floating above it like the divine symbol that it is. "Vardama has given you your second chance. It is by _her_ principles that you should live, yes, it is true. Raiden here--Wuya--is also told he would lead you to your death, yes? So here it is, then. Your death."

"What--" Cor'ethil begins defensively, but Kiku makes a 'tut-tut' noise at him.

"Please, let me speak. With death comes rebirth, Karasu." Kiku holds his hand out even closer to his descendant. "If you accept, your heart will stop. You will die. But you will live again, breathe in air again, your heart beating again. This power will be yours if you want it. It is your inheritance, and... You're ready for it."

Telamon stiffens, his hands moving apart from each other. Suddenly the casual, even indolent mien Telamon wears so easily... falls off him with terrifying speed. But as Kiku explains, the archmage stares coldly. "Is it -necessary- for him to die?" His voice has a snap to it. "Drama is one thing, but I do not believe Karasu's sins, no matter how great, merit such a fate -- even if temporary. Sometimes cauterization is called for, to expunge an infection."

"Just as the trees return in spring, they do not need to die to be reborn. Why would -Tarien- demand this? If this is a joke, it is in poor taste."

Karasu however, feels relief even as the others feel outrage and concern. "Not Tarien, Archmage. Vardama." He looks at the other man. "She told me once that she would call me home. I have been waiting for that call for what feels like a lifetime." Here he looks at Cor'ethil. Takes the other man's hand. He is speechless, unable to find the words to comfort his heart at a time like this. He lifts the hand to his lips and then, to his surprise Wuya speaks.

"I think it is time Karasu, to lay your burden down." His voice is soft and childlike, but it holds a weight to it that is not that of a child. Raiden will never grow up. Never age. Wuya is who he is now, given the gift of wisdom in years he would not have had otherwise; and now it is offered to Karasu as well.

Karasu releases Cor'ethil's hand and takes Kiku's instead, and there is light. A great nebulous dark flame that burns Karasu without burning. Within one might catch a glimpse of ears, a tail where none should be. All swallowed into the breathless, beatless moment of death.

Kiku smiles benevolently at Karasu, and with one word that falls from his lips but is not heard, he breathes life in a rush of divine power. He reaches forward to help catch Karasu, although Cor'ethil is certainly doing the bulk of the work, and then he sighs (still smiling) as he looks at Telamon. "Sorry, Archmage. I didn't mean to upset you. Just... My boy was carrying around a wish of death, and a prophecy of death. Death's all he's ever known. And yes, he _is_ a touch dramatic."

His smile is more impish as he admits, "Sometimes we have to use very unconventional means to convince people to live. You could call it trickery. I call it, as they say around here, Coyote's Laugh. With a little collaboration from the Harpist, of course." He reaches up (Karasu is a little taller than he is) and pats Karasu on the head as the light burns away. "Come on, wakey-wakey."

"Karasu?" Cor'ethil asks gently, holding the other man. His concern is evident in his furrowed brows.

After a long moment, Telamon lowers his hands, the starlight in his eyes still glimmering. "Perhaps, but it strikes me as akin to trying to cure an addict by giving him -more- of what he's addicted to." He exhales sharply, a brief puff of chill mist that fades.

The sorcerer turns his eyes to Karasu, but he continues. "I've been there too, you know. If briefly. Dead. I don't remember any of it, really -- probably for the best. But that doesn't mean I want anyone else to experience it -- or their loved ones."

Karasu rouses to Cor'ethil's call more like a sleeper might than like a man who has been dead for any length of time. He smiles almost instinctively at the sight of the worry on Corey's face, lifting a hand to touch the other man's face and managing to find his own feet. He feels at once refreshed and exhausted, his fingers cradling Cor'ethil's face. "I am well."

It is true enough, he feels whole, better than he can remember feeling for some time. He nods respectfully to Telamon and then with his fingers still clasped to Cor'ethils skin he offers a bow to Kiku. "I owe you my respect honored ancestor. Please forgive my earlier rudeness." Wuya gives a little hop and flies gladly back to Karasu's shoulder to give him a little raven-snuggle.

Kiku nods a little in Telamon's direction. "Trust me--if there were another way I could have done it, I would have, but... This was the best considering the circumstances." He gives Telamon a deep bow of respect--unusual, considering Kiku is a servitor of a deity, but it's clear he respects Telamon. "If it helps... I'm certain you would have reacted the same way that lovely Eluna would have reacted to her brother doing this sort of thing to wriggle out of prophecy. I'll take responsibility for anything bad that happens."

"You mean Eluna's less-responsible brother," says the warden of Gilead. Cor'ethil smiles as he's touched by his beloved. "Important to distinguish the two."

"Yeah-yeah," Kiku says with a grin and a little wave of his hand in Cor'ethil's direction. "Karasu! You have new edicts to live your life by. You will live your life now on in pursuit of happiness, peace, and love! You will try to do the right thing, even if you have to cause a little mischief or mayhem to do it. And..."

Kiku folds his arms, looking very triumphant. "You will call me Jiji."

"Jiji?" Cor'ethil asks, looking at Karasu. "Isn't that what a very young child calls their grandfather where you're from?"

With Karasu rousing finally, Telamon lets out a breath he wasn't aware he was holding. Even with a divine servant, returning someone from the Halls can be... troublesome. He looks over the man as well, his starry eyes calm now again, contemplative. "Welcome back, Karasu. May your second life be happier -- I won't say peaceful, because that's just our lot as adventurers."

Straightening, he looks back to Kiku finally. "I'm no stranger to that sort of thing. I just prefer to do things with less... heartache. There's enough sadness in the world that I don't want to add to it." His lips quirk. "If I have to bend a few rules along the way to ensure that, well..." He shrugs lightly, and grins. "Ni'essa knows me well. She knows I don't do things lightly, or out of cruelty or for gain. In a way, I am a dreamer too -- dreaming of a better tomorrow."

Karasu lowers his voice to Corey. "I probably am like a very young child to him." Still, it pains him in some small way to call the ancestor of his bloodline a name that a child might use. Perhaps he should consider it penance. "I am grateful... Jiji."

He has never used the term before. His grandfathers - both of them - had been gone before he could meet them. He lifts his head and then smiles a small thin smile that is wholly dark in its making. "And it would make me most happy to see Akimitsu Sori *dead*."

Kiku smiles brightly at Telamon. "You and I think a lot alike!" he says. "You just happened to catch me at one of my most serious moments. I don't go around harming people of my bloodline all willy-nilly, you know. Hopefully, what you saw today doesn't leak into your dreams tonight." Although there's a knowing bit to his smile, like he suspects Telamon has had control of his dreams for quite a while now. Telamon is, after all, one of Eluna's favored.

The remark Karasu makes about being happy to see Akimitsu Sori dead puts a wholly unexpected smile on Cor'ethil's face. "Karasu," he breathes out in almost a relieved sigh. "You're... emoting. And expressing yourself, and..."

He loved Karasu from before--the Karasu who was broken down into near-emotional numbness, but found some solace in him--but he's so, so happy at this progress. All it took was some magic from an unexpected source and Karasu's willingness to change. "I'm so happy," Cor'ethil says, hugging Karasu all the tighter to him and kissing his cheek.

"Save it for the wedding, you crazy kids." Kiku grins, before looking at Telamon. "So... You wanna tag-team a scrying to find if Akimitsu's been freshly scooped up back into the material plane? Or maybe we can try and figure out where it's most likely that he'll be brought back? Either one works for me."

Telamon shakes his head. "My dreams are my own, and have been for some time. With the company I keep, and the goddess I serve... well, they're sources for insight, rather than confusion or worse." He looks on at Corey and Karasu's reunion, and grins. "Sometimes, a little more happiness is all I want to see."

At Kiku's invitation, he nods. "He may be taking steps. If I was in his boots I'd have some form of ward against divination up as soon as I was drawing air again. Lest someone like me drop in on him with a special delivery." The half-elf ostentatiously cracks his knuckles, adopting an expression he once saw on Aryia's face.

"That being said, we really should see if he's been pulled back to Ea. I've been considering the problem ever since I questioned his shade. We -could- trap him -- there are spells to do that. Can't die if you're in stasis in the depths of the planes, after all."

"Whatever his end," Karasu says, holding Cor'ethil's hand and allowing himself to be held, though he adjusts his stance somewhat so that he could draw a weapon if he needed to. (He is not after all an entirely new person or something.) "We should determine if he is alive again as he said. Though those means I leave to those more skilled in the arts arcane."

"Arcane?" Kiku recoils a little in a mock manner. "No, I'm leaving _that_ up to the archmage. Divine magic's my game. Speaking of which..."

He looks at Telamon. "Actually, I could commune with Tarien to find out easily if Sori's been returned. You can ask up to twenty questions. And if you don't have twenty questions, you could always ask the big man upstairs if he likes fried chicken, or any other burning question you've always wanted to ask our most supreme canid--"

Kiku then suddenly thrusts his face into the crook of one of his very long sleeves and exclaims hurriedly, "COUGH-Caracoroth's-a-smelly-wolf-COUGH," before he pulls his arm away. "Deal?"

"Did you just... pretend to cough by saying the word cough?" Cor'ethil asks, raising a brow. He looks at Telamon. "It might be wise to take him up on the offer. Then we could use some other magic to try and get a visual reading on where he is, if we can narrow down a location for him by using the Commune."

Telamon covers his mouth to hide his smile, before visibly composing himself. "Don't be silly. Everyone knows Tarien prefers -poached- eggs." He keeps a straight face even when he says that. "But in any case, let me offer the hospitality of Leca'fi Amdamu if we perform a communing. It's safer there, and poor Luella is getting worn out."

"In any case..." Suddenly Telamon trails off, and he holds up his hand. He tilts his head to the side, as if hearing something. He nods. A small smile. He holds up his hand again, "Hold on. Lana's calling." His eyes are focused on nothing, as he purses his lips. Then he smiles again. "Sorry. She wanted to know where I was, and asked if I could pick up some fresh produce if I got the chance. Where was I? Ah, yes, commune, the castle. It's also warded against scrying, so they won't be able to track us there for the moment."

Karasu nods, and looks at Kiku. "Jiji, would you come with us to Alexandria? Perhaps give the Archmage a chance to gather resources for his wife and then come with us to his dream-palace?" He offers the man a slight smile. "Perhaps we can have a meal together." He has the strangest craving for something fried.

"Ahhh! I've heard of Leca'fi Amdamu," Kiku exclaims happily, clapping his hands together. "I didn't know you had the run of the place these days. Sounds like a plan. Let's not keep your lady waiting a moment longer!"

He goes to turn back to the door of the room they're in, stating, "I know a place in Alexandria that made great fried chicken! ... Twenty years ago. Hopefully they're still there. If not, I have backups. Also from twenty years ago, but still backups--"

As Kiku opens the door, he blinks, seeing a little child, maybe three years old, who peers up at Kiku with big blue eyes. She sniffles. "Ki-koo, you weavin'?"

"Aww." Kiku's eyes begin to wobble with tears. It is a very stark contrast to Karasu, who would have been hard-pressed to cry anything besides, perhaps, crocodile tears. He also adopts the Alexandros countryside accent again. "Now don't you cry, Kari, or I'll cry. I'll come back and see y'all some day again, y'hear?"

The kitsune--whose ears, golden eyes, and facial markings don't even seem to bother the little girl--leans down to hug the little one. "Now run along and be a big girl. Help ya mama. And remember--love an' peace!"

"Luv an' peas," the little girl says, smiling as she waddles away, back into the house.

Corey looks like he might cry himself, but then Kiku turns around and gives Corey a smile. "We better git--oh, sorry, get out of here before Luella finds out I left her a tidy little sum of gold for all the chicken I ate, and to make sure her kits grow up nice and well, all under her pillow. People get weird about getting gifted money."

The Warden of Gilead studies Kiku for a moment before he says, "You're not bad for a Tarienite." And then Cor'ethil smiles.

The quartet depart Greenflower with a flash of magic, off to the next step of their adventure.

-End