Same as It Ever Was (Part 20)

Navos nods gently to Telamon's words. "I remember," he says again. "There were many times where I was kind. But I do not remember how it felt when I was kind. I only remember that I was and that it was... for no logical or discernible purpose. Something foreign to me now."

Then he looks at Rune. There's an ache in his eyes then, so blue, so clear, like a summer's day. "I do not understand. This is what hurts me. I want to understand. I yearn to understand. I want to _know_." And so he takes the snacks offered to him.

He walks to the ravens, who are crying for him. They are crying for their father. Have they ever been fed by him? Have they ever been given his compassion? Does Zenith remember? Does Pothy remember? These are questions that don't get answered by the act of Navos feeding the birds, but...

He does.

A smile, so small, lights upon his face as the birds awkwardly eat the offered snacks. He feeds Apotheosis first. Then he feeds Zenith. An equal portion of everything.

For a moment, just a small moment--a breath and then it's gone--things feel... lighter, then heavier, then nothing again. The smile is gone from Navos's face, and he looks to Simony and the others. He seems to be about to ask another question when Nala's voice cuts through the space.

"Hey, umm..." Nala begins warily. "I still have... a journey to go on. I have a life to live. I have friends to save." She looks at the others. "I know that... for you, all of you wanted to teach the Raven compassion, but... I... I want to live. For real."

Navos pauses. "I will need additional practice," he says. "There are many ways forward. There are many futures that could be."

The Golden Fate then pauses. "There... is a way," she says. "I have seen two, in fact. Should all of you wish to continue with Nala on her journey... She, or one of the others in her party, may grow powerful enough to become a new servitor of Navos. The alternative..."

She looks at the group. "One of you must stay with Navos, forever, to advise him on Compassion."

There's no question for Telamon. While it might be for a greater good, the fact is that he has obligations. To those who are at home, and those who may yet be. And so the half-elf nods to Nala. "I will be coming with you, Nala. I do have something of a vested interest, after all." His eyes flick to Telanmo, and he smiles slightly. A thought crossing his face, but unvoiced.

But then he looks to Simony, his expression kind. No matter her decision, he'll support it. She's come so far, after all.

Like Telamon, Zeke's life is spoken for. He has Cuemoni to return to, and if he were to serve a good at request, it would have to be Daeus. Not Navos. He shakes his head slowly. "Thisss one can not." He looks at Nala. "Nor would I abandon Nala now. There isss much yet for her to do." That decided, Zeke returns his gaze to the Golden Fate.

While compassion is something Aryia has strived to learn, it's no where near the top of her skillset. And, well, being stuck with a god for eternity is as appealing as eating a bowl of nails for breakfast. Without any milk.

Similar to the other two, Aryia acts her choice- stepping towards Nala and the others. But her gaze does linger on Simony. Curious. A touch saddened. Proud. A mix of things. She remembers helping the librarian so early on, and seeing the gobber at this point now has Aryia a little maelstrom on the inside. But she doesn't show that. As much as her twisting, terrible poker face belies.

Simony expression grows placid, devoid of emotion, calm. A pool of water without any ripples. She looks from the Golden Fate, to Navos, and then to her friends. Companions she has travelled with. Fought beside, hurt beside, laughed with, cried with, a whole gamut of ... life.

"This is the worst choice I have had to ponder.", the Goblin says softly. "Not that either choice is a bad one, but... that I may only choose either." Her expression grows thoughtful, before the slightest hint of a wry smile is briefly seen.

"I would do both. Stay here, and also, go with the others to assist Nala in her quest."

"At least you want to understand. That is better than some people..." Rune doesn't elaborate further on the matter, but her eyes are downcast. Instead, she seeks solace by stepping closer to Harkashan, leaning slightly into her mate's side.

However, it is Nala's entreaty that draws Rune's attention, "It wouldn't be very compassionate of us to leave you behind to face this on your own, would it?" She asks, lifting her brows. "I'm with you, to whatever end we find."

However, she knows one who very well might take the God up on such an offer, and there is a worry in her eyes for that as she looks towards Simony, along with the others. She opens her mouth as if to say something, but the Goblin speaks for herself so Rune falls quiet. Thoughtful.

Harkashan slowly crosses his arms, as he watches Simony - listens to Simony - offer herself to the God of Time. He knows how the two Ravens have led their lives, so if Simony could change things for the better, that certainly would be good. But at the same time, he realizes... he could not make that decision himself.

For all of his adoration for the Deathsinging Dragon, he could not break away from mortal life and travel alongside it. Not while Rune remains at his side, certainly. He has too much binding him to the Material Plane. It's something that may be hard to read on his expression, but there's a lot going on in those typical Sith-makar micro-expressions that are tougher to read.

Navos looks at Simony. "You would stay and advise me on Compassion, once your quest is complete?" he asks. "Know that this is a choice you cannot undo."

The Golden Fate is astonished. She looks at Simony. "Temperance," she says softly. "This is... generous. Especially for one of your kind, among the shortest-lived of the mortal peoples. You would trade a life well-lived in its brightness and briefness for an eternity of teaching?"

"Some are called to service." Navos continues to study Simony. The staff hovers away from his hand, and he uncurls his hands from the interiors of the large sleeves of his robe. They are crooked things, possibly the only part of him that looks like they're approaching their proper age. "It is commendable. To be forever engaged in teaching is the apex that I can ask of my followers, as a teacher is also forever engaged in learning. I would be able to permit you to finish this quest."

Then he kneels down to Simony's height, holding out that hand, ever-blue eyes burning as he looks at Simony. "Should you accept, I will grant you a gift to take with you on the rest of your journey before you return to me."

Telamon does not interfere, or interrupt. This is Simony's moment, more than anything else. There's a smile on his face, though -- remembering how far Simony has come, how much she has endured. And so he folds his hands behind his back, though there's a suspicious brightness in his eyes.

Such an answer from Simony, a third way, elicits a relieved yet sad sigh from Aryia. Finding your own way to do something, now that's something the mute was quite proud of. But with Navos praising her? In such a clear cut manner? Aryia's brows shoot up, burning the moment into her mind as she lifts her shades. No, those aren't tears at the edges of her eyes. Nope. Sniffle.

Zeke also doesn't interfere, preferring to leave the choice to Simony. This is her god after all, and it's an honor to serve the gods in whatever capacity that one can do so. Serving as a god's teacher is a deep honor, and while it is one he can not accept, it is one he can not deny another.

Like the others, Rune does not speak in that moment, knowing that ultimately this is Simony's choice. However, that doesn't mean that she isn't showing her emotions far more-so than the rogue is known to do. It seems that she is fighting herself not to step in and try to change her friend's mind. She forces her eyes shut, fiddling with her necklace.

Harkashan, indeed like all others there, tries not to show anything to Simony in that moment, except for one thing. A soft 'smile' -- in as far as Sith-makar have the ability to smile. Not so much encouragement, as the promise that they're behind her, no matter what she chooses.

Her own answer appears to surprise even herself, but as she takes in the expressions of her friends, the Goblin grows more certain of herself.

"When I became a Temperance...", she says to the Golden Fate, "I was being called to a higher purpose. I turned my love of books from a caged, sheltered life, into greater meaning. How can I refuse my own deity, knowing first hand of His pain? Were we standing in the Monastery with this choice being asked of His entire flock of adherents, monks and priests, I am certain there would be fistfights. Cooler heads would suggest the oldest and wisest to take the honour. But how could I walk away, here and now? Also, I have seen signs of Animus' possible return. If such a thing happens, Navos would have to deal that... I would not leave him to feel the full impact of compassion's return alone. It is the highest honour of my short life, and I accept it fully."

Then she manages to look absolutely mortified as Navos kneels. Her cheeks colour a deep red, and she is trying really hard to maintain an even temperament.

"Oh! Holy Raven-Keeper. Please, you do not need to lower yourself to me." A little hand reaches out, to clasp the offered hand. "Being at your side is reward enough."

Navos smiles. Just like in that brief moment, where he'd smiled feeding the birds, it's an expression that truly makes him look forever youthful like the way a smile does on anyone. "I must meet you halfway," he says. "It is only respectful."

As Simony takes his hand... Her world goes black.

...

Once upon a time, there was a little albino goblin, a daughter made different and thus treated differently. Sheltered, lonely, outcast for her visual difference, the goblin girl left her home in search of understanding--both for herself and others.

Simony sees herself from a different time and different place. For someone so young, she sees her first horrible cruelty: a body of a man, dead by the road, a man with black hair and blue eyes. He lays staring at the sky, the glassy gaze of the dead settled deeply into his features. A rock by his head, as well as the dried crimson from the wound that killed him, tell almost the entire story. Who killed him? For what purpose?

Simony steps out to get closer, but from the sky lands a beautiful sight: a white raven with blue eyes. It's the skinniest bird Simony's ever seen. She swears that he makes crying sounds like a person as he shuffles closer to the corpse, and Simony realizes this creature is going to do what ravens do in the wild: eat corpses.

"Wait!" Simony cries, approaching the bird, and she offers some dried meat--the last of it that she has on her, but the bird's distressed noises are too much to bear. The bird accepts the snack gratefully.

To her surprise, the bird speaks. He has a name. It's Pothy. He explains that the man was his master, the latest in a line of inheritors, except he is dead, and there is no one left to take him on. Simony resolves to be his caretaker.

...

And so Simony enters the service of Navos. She grows stronger by the day. She cares for Pothy, who has filled out quite nicely for a magic bird. She promises that, in the event of her death, she'll make sure he's cared for by the Temple of Navos that she serves, and this makes Pothy strangely sad, but he declines to answer. Why? Simony never knows.

Not until the day that he tells her, "My brother has awakened, and he is going to end the world."

So Simony embarked on a journey for Rune. She was going to get there in time. She was going to stop Pothy's brother--

And then... nothing. Nothing at all. Until it was something again, and then Simony was overcome by a great and terrible wailing. Something had happened, hadn't it? Nothing and yet something... all... at once...

...

...

...

Simony's crying as she's holding Navos's hand. Yet the group watches as a white raven forms on Simony's shoulder.

Apotheosis stares at Navos. "You and I need to have a good and long chat later," he says. "Because none of this is acceptable."

"I know." Navos nods soberly before looking at Simony. "So it is done."

When Simony takes Navos's hand, Telamon isn't really sure what to expect. Fireworks? A halo? A disembodied choir? For all his experiences this sort of thing is still new to him. He senses none of what disturbs Simony, but what -does- disturb him is the sudden appearance of Pothy -- the bird that he calls his 'little brother' affectionately.

"...Pothy, tell me you didn't leave Lana by herself, damn it," is all the sorcerer can say. Telamon knows there's a lot of timey-wimey stuff going on, but this feels like they're pushing their luck.

Aryia blinks at the sudden appearance of Pothy. Squints. Is this the punt-threatened one or the unthreatened version. Is it even the same Pothy? Or is there two. Or one? What is even an entity, across a god of time? The historian can write it any way he wants. So Pothy exists in multiple...-

She rubs her temples.

Zeke blinks at the sudden arrival of Pothy on Simony's shoulder. He tilts his head quizzically. "That issss odd." He looks at Telamon. "He wasss not here before... Wasss he?" Maybe the bird had been invisible.

The sudden sound of a familiar voice is what has Rune opening her eyes again, looking confused at the sight of Pothy perched upon Simony's shoulder. However, he is the least of her concerns at the moment. "Are you... okay, Simony?" She asks, her concern for her friend evident in her expression. Whatever happened, she is woefully unaware.

And so, another Pothy arrives, along with the tears on the pale Goblin's cheeks. "This is likely a different Pothy from that one." Harkashan mentions to Telamon, as he bows his head to the small thing. He kind of wants to give her a hug right about now.

The tears come unbidden, and there's probably several embarrassing gasps, cries and moans as Simony (re)experiences her (not) life. The loneliness of the (admittedly) gilded cage, the trepidation of forging out into the world on their own, with their meager possessions and meager lived knowledge of the world. It is obvious when it comes to the point where her's and NotSimony's life diverges. "... what?"

It takes her a few moments to adjust, to understand what she has just witnessed and what it means. Then the moment of existential crisis, the darkness that swallows her whole, robbing her of all sensation, tearing at her very being, her soul, all the things that make her HER.

Then she gasps as she's snapped back to the now now, like coming up for breath after nearly drowning in a pool that barely laps at your ankles.

She stares wide-eyed at Apotheosis on her shoulder. A blink.

"I appear to be at least two Simony's at the same time. Potentially more, assuming there are other pocket worlds similar to this one." This bothers her less than she'd imagine. She looks to Rune, and lifts up a wee hand, to wobble it back and forth. "Clarity has a price." A glance to Zeke. "It is a matter of Time. When you can manipulate Time, then you are always there and not there. If ... that makes sense?"

Her fingers wiggle and sign, "You look how I feel. The harder I try to focus on ... all this, the worse it seems to get."

She glances to Telamon, and then Harkashan. "Quite possibly, however... it is quite possible that there are is only one Pothy, and one Zenith. Just existing at multiple points in Time. They do not exist where, but when."

"Don't worry. I'm not _your_ Pothy." Apotheosis remarks to Telamon, confirming Harkashan's suspicions. "I do know who you're talking about, though, but _only_ because, like Mony here, I've lived through the apocalypse." He nuzzles his beak comfortingly into Simony's face. "Weird how having your existence suddenly ended and then started up again like nothing's wrong gives you an understanding of how the world works, right?"

The Golden Fate nods wearily. "The Simony you all know has been merged with the Simony of this world," she says, before looking to Navos. "Do you intend to do this with the other timelines you have created?"

"In due time." Navos responds gently. "I see no reason to grant knowledge of unnecessary timelines now. They will only confuse and disorient, especially the more experimental ones. In order to accomplish the task at hand, I have armed Simony only with what she needed to know."

Simony. That's the first time Navos has said her name. He stands up back to his full height. "I will take my birds now," he says, gesturing to the Pothy and Zenith who are mere bird-babies. "I have tasks to return to. I look forward to your conclusions and findings."

Telamon exhales slowly, reaching up to rub the bridge of his nose. "Alright. Good. We... we should move on. After all, the Lore Master has His work to do, just like we do."

He offers Simony a smile, something to focus on. "You know, Simony, when I talked about us being 'the hands of the gods' I didn't expect it would become literal. And yet, here we are." He straightens up, absently tugging his tunic to make sure it's straight. A glance to Nala. "Let's go rescue Hark and Rune's counterparts. I really do loathe the Corpse-Eater, and if I had a more... vicious bent, I guess I'd be looking forward to killing him again."

"Thisss one wassss not pressent for the death of the lassst one." Zeke replies carefully. "Yet hisss name invokesss unpleasssantnesssss. Thisss one hasss heard enough to help you end hisss presssensce. Thisss one isss glad that Sssimony can aid usss further." He nods low to Navos as the deity prepares to depart, and prepares himself to go as well.

The realization of what happened to Simony gets a look of momentary concern, and then a slow exhale of breath. "If it helps at all... you get more used to it over time. At least that's what my mother has told me." Rune doesn't elaborate further, perhaps not wanting to bring that up in front of Navos. Someone who may very well have little compassion at the moment, for someone having lived through such a thing. Just the thought is enough to have her casting a wary look towards the God when he mentions merging other timelines.

"Yeah. I'm... with Telamon here. Let's do what we can to help our counterparts and to help Nala figure out what is going on with this world of her's." That, and action lets her dwell less on the fact that one of her friends just sacrificed themselves to a God. The Goblin may still be alive, but there's an ache of loss there, regardless.

Aryia shakes her head at Simony. "At times, it is better to not understand it and to just go with it," she replies, before staring dumbly at Navos's explanation. That is a thing that can happen. Okay. Take your own advice, Aryia. She takes a deep breath, and cracks her knuckles, seeing as Telamon is politely getting them out. "Don't worry, I'll make up plenty for you in that department." Have to process those complex emotions such as grief and loss somehow. <Handspeech/Tongues>

Harkashan takes in a deep breath, pretending for a moment he's not hearing what Navos is saying. He's not certain what would happen in the situation being described. There's only so much the mortal mind can handle after all. The idea of being two people at least isn't as unusual to a Sith'makar, due to their particular... touch with the essence of the world.

"Let's go." He rumbles, looking to the untaken door, and begins to move forwards.

Simony looks sad when she hears the Golden Fate's proclamation about merging. She glances at Navos a moment, her expression again going placid. "You and I are going to have a conversation about this. This merging has to stop." She looks to the Pothy on her shoulder. "I understand now. At least, I would like to think so. There has to be a better way..."

She offers Navos a deep bow. "I will submit a rather thorough review. Complete with illustrations, annotations, footers and headers."

Navos' librarian has joined the initiative.

Simony gathers herself, and takes a deep breath. Letting it out slowly, she looks to her companions. "Once more, dear friends, unto the breach once more. Let us savour the time we have, and if there are any bad feelings, any mixed emotions... well, Corpse-Eater is about to receive the most deserved beating of a lifetime.'

Navos leaves the way he came--a door that comes from nowhere into nowhere. The adventuring group files out of the sanctuary through the door that's identical to the one that they'd entered through, and...

Cavern. Once again, the group is back in the cavern. Exactly where they were. The door vanishes after the last one's out.

On Simony's shoulder, Pothy bats his little wings. "So. Just so you're aware, Mony. There's something... really bad up ahead. An aberration of some kind outside of this timeline and from some other one. I recommend preparing as much as you can, maybe even taking a rest if you need it first. It's kind of disturbing... and powerful."

Back in the cave. For all its familiarity, Telamon's expression is slightly sour. "Well, we're at least back on the road again... so to speak." He cracks his knuckles a bit ostentatiously, before glancing at Pothy and his words. "...Hm. I hate to stop here of all places... although I can probably open a portal to a magnificent mansion, and I know Harkashan will happily cater."

Tel rubs the back of his neck, before looking at Simony. "Considering some of the things I've seen crawl out of the corners of time and space, maybe stopping to catch our breath is a good idea."

The Goblin offers Navos a little wave, before she bows to the Golden Fate. "Thank you. For everything." Her gaze goes to Pothy, her head tilting slightly as she regards her new but old familiar. "That sounds pretty ominous. An aberration, you say. What else can you tell us? I would like to have as much advantage as we can have. We are all powerful in our own rights, and with careful preparation, we can magnify that power."

Simony nods in agreement with Telamon. "I concur and will defer to your judgement and experience. We shall take what rest we can here, meditate, and prepare."

"While I understand the need for caution, remember... our counterparts are also ahead of us, possibly dealing with whatever it is that our feathered friend here is warning us about." Rune offers by way of warning to the others. "The Golden Fate did say that they continue this cycle over and over again, and keep dying. So we may not have time for an extended rest."

Of course, Rune has a vested interest in what is going to happen to her and Harkashan's counterparts in this world, "But... if it is that dangerous, I defer to our casters as they're the ones that will be passing out the big magic." She pats her weapons at her sides. "This is about the best 'magic' I've got, and it's just stab things until they stop moving."

Aryia makes groundfall on cavern floor, only to stumble and lean against stone wall. "This mind fucking is rippingly exhausting," she gestures briefly as she fights off a headache. "Fine, we can take a breather. Can talk a plan over dinner. At least thlacos can sort out my skull and keep me still until then."

She thumbs towards Rune. "I've the same mind as her." The pugilist is totally not itching to get into a scrap. <Handspeech/Tongues>

"I can go now, or we can rest and I can make a meal for all of us." Harkashan remarks, crossing his arms as people talk of taking a rest and the dangers that lay beyond. "But if you can tell us more about what kind of being lays beyond, we could make more... prudent preparations."

-TBC