Interlude Four:

Interlude Four


"My sweet baby boy, Glorachaus Croga, this is to be your name from now, for you are the son of a wise man and the grandson of a man whose sword is sharp." My mother sang as she bestowed upon me my new name.

And so I yearned to make myself be worthy of that name as I wasn't worthy of my past name. It has been many years since then and many more until I will become an adult, but that does not mean that I can get away with no learning how to wield a blade. Not that I ever thought to do so.

A horizontal cut hit where I was as my teacher showed no mercy as always and I dodged it on my sword and used it to gain some space.

"Your technique is annoying boy." My teacher declared as her blade was raised and pointed in my general direction.

Her bone white armor and red hair were as untouched as they always were unlike my messy blond hair and scratched up armor, armor which until we started this bout was as pristine as hers.

"Mobility is key teacher, you taught me this! Am I to tell the rest of the clan that the Mighty Rionala Arana goes back on her teaching when they inconvenience her?" I cheekily asked back.

I knew better than to try to engage for any measure of time with her in bladework. She was more capable than me and my only chance was quick bursts of speed to maybe get a cut in.

"The son of a medicine maker has no right being this cheeky!" She said as she gracefully leaped towards me.

I did not have much time to think so I did what came naturally and my sword drifted to the right in the same ways I learned in my past life just before it ended.

My teacher leaped where I was on but instead of landing on her feet she landed on her sword and used it to throw herself at me faster than I could see, but not faster than my reflexes could react as the sword's tip rose in a block.

The Impact was sudden and violent and my teacher threw me off my great-sword and I prepared my smaller one for my last stand. A sword came and I deflected it with all my might as I knelt and prepared to rise. My Ascent was met with a sword at my neck much to my surprise.

I looked to the side to see my old blade that my Teacher threw at me as she stood upon her sword.

"I lose." I admitted.

"That you do cousin." She declared boastfully.

She jumped off the sword with ease much to my envy. It took me years to recreate the technique of my old killer and I hoped I could use it to surprise my teacher and then she went and learned to do it as she saw me use it.

She offered her hand to me and I took it with a half serious grumble.

"Seeing you learn a technique it took me a year to learn in less than a day is disheartening cousin." I said as she helped me rise.

"Don't be, I already used a similar one on my armor to assist with my mobility. Changing it to fit my sword was a novel experience, but it was merely using something I was already familiar with in a novel way." She admitted.

"Now that's just cheating." I laughed.

"If you are not cheating then you are not trying." She mused.

The words that could have only come from a priest's clan, despite it's Matriarch being a Mighty warrior and her husband a former Sword in the Shadows.

My second life was one of humility, only in comparison to our surroundings, for this world was far, far better ran and industrious than even Lammor's Domain, which despite it being run by the least pleasant individual to have ever become a Prince in its history, had access to the largest amount of infrastructure and people that despite hating the man could find fulfillment in their lives when they weren't in his presence.

Even that domain paled in comparison to the Domain of Sil Orgauss, it had more infrastructure, more warriors, more opportunities and its princess could manipulate her people with such ease that people often times forgot that her husband was the most martially accomplished individual on this planet up until the princess decided that something needed to die and Siach Chrey stopped being the man that would tell my cousins and I war stories and became the Monster that kept systems up at night in fear.

"Yes. Mother will also leave for the Man Among Men's senior in a few days, will you be coming with us?" I asked.

Mother told me that she is to go find the senior of Ulthuan and deliver him to a beating on orders from her father and that she will take all that want to go with her as well as go visit her mother as well before turning back and she wanted as many of father's clan to come with her.

My cousin and teacher shook her head at my words.

"No, I am busy teaching the fools that want to go find wives and husbands on craftworlds how to make medicine and other useful trades to impress them with. I can't exactly just leave everything and leave them unattended, there's at least a few fools that will just go find themselves a mariner husband before I can teach them something useful." She denied.

Thankfully I already had a response already planned for.

"We'll be going to a craftworld first before visiting my grandmother, maybe you could just take them with you to have them see that what you teach them is useful?" I offered.

That made her think for a bit.

"What craftworld?" She asked.

"Anaen, are you familiar with it?"

She pursed her lips.

"Yes, there's a woman there who managed to nearly kill a Mask of Khaine in a single strike and taught it to sing, I was hoping to meet her and find out how she did such a thing and hopefully spar with her."

I heard something like that, a hero Tagasta I think she was called.

"Then we can kill multiple rats with a single slash cousin and have you both help your other pupils, come and meet some extended family and meet someone interesting." I replied, my voice ecstatic.

If she comes with me then that means more sword lessons from a master sword-mistress and more time spent with family, which in this life unlike my old one was always a good time.

"I will go tell mother, she always told me she wants me to go exploring more like everyone else." She said as she confirmed that she will come.

"And I'll tell my mother that we'll have some extra guests!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I Walked across infinite plains of Green Dreams and vast yellow forests of Song and Saw all around me.

I saw the seed of a small tree fall into the fertile dream of a Divine and considered its existence. I Saw it grow under the shade of its parent, I saw it get its first leaf as it endured the harsh and baleful sun. It was nurtured by the blue waters of Mercy and grew mightier still than that which its own parent had achieved and now said tree was talking at me.

"Farseer Lammor." The Hero said as it approached me from behind.

"The tree stands Mighty still I See, and yet it still seeks counsel on how and when to bend." I replied.

Her song was the symphony of a river as it approached a waterfall, calm on the surface but ever closer to the Fall where the Gravity of Propriety would lose its hold if only for a few heartbeats.

"Please drop the allegories farseer, I know you dislike using them unlike the Seers." The tree demanded as it turned into a warrior woman dressed in golden armor.

Her weapon however was far more striking, for it was a sniper rifle that glowed with pure white light that marked it as the Carver of Smiles which Protects the Innocent. It was the same weapon that nearly killed Bessar Agail, a True Priest of the Pantheon and a creature that even the Divine were weary of and despite it's humble origins as just another rifle, the Bonesingers sung its story into existence and turned an otherwise unremarkable weapon into one fit for a hero, and there was only one hero in my new home.

"Taraithe Tagaste, why do you come to bother me during my meditations? Have you reconsidered my offer of marriage?" I asked.

I already knew the answer. To ask for her hand in marriage was a useful way of avoiding suspicion as to my motives here by the rulers of this craftworld, a reason to my own followers as to why we picked this location to stay on as opposed to any other and a genuine offer of marriage.

I've seen how our children would look and act if we were to marry just as I've seen what would happen if I were to use my farseeing abilities to make it happen. Using them for anything related to building a family always ends in screams and sorrow no matter how sweet the love would be until that point.

No it is better if she says yes on her own terms, than to bother trying to trick her like that as craftworlders do not appreciate certain kinds of trickery in the domain of love

"No, the answer remains no farseer." She replied tiredly.

I was hardly the only suitor for her hand and she was tired of all of them as she was married and had little interest in more husbands or sister-wives. I can respect that conviction at least and it was for that reason that after the initial rejection despite still wishing for it to happen I never opened up the conversations in which we talked of it.

"Then why have you come for me hero? I was enjoying my meditative walk through the park." I asked.

Despite not looking at her as I continued walking I could feel her squinting her eyes.

"You are a farseer, you know why." She accused.

Her quickly changing emotions were amusing still and brought a smile to my face.

"Despite what you might think of farseers we do not intricately plan ahead each and every interaction with others. I was here during my Meditations to relax, it is difficult to relax if I've plotted and planned for the entire day and each and every interaction. I know as much about what will happen today as you do, probably even less as I was not planning for this meeting." I replied.

It was truth. Every single day since my debt to my Mistress was repaid I considered the words she told me as she was raising me when the snake tailed woman said that 'The most pleasant day is the one when I do not know what will happen, for I have little to worry in those days.'

I have tested her words extensively and found them to be true, and due to this on my days of rest I am as blind of the Weave of Fate as anyone else.

"I am not lying or misdirection you Taraithe Tagaste, I truly have no clue what you want from me, but if you want to have a conversation where I know each and every one of your replies and all of your current worries then we can talk again in a few days once my sabbatical ends." I continued as I tried to stave off the rot of skepticism.

My mistress always told me that she found skepticism to taste bitter, but I found that it smelled sickly sweet, as if it was something that was once pleasant but decayed in such a way that the rot did not fully set in and yet it remained ever present.

The emotion did not fit the heroic woman.
Around us children continued to play and enjoy life. One pink haired girl's kite broke as its thin string could not take in the false winds created specifically for it and with a flex of my mind I brought it down into her arms so that she may repair it and not need to run after it in distress.

"Thank you Mister!" She shouted and waved at me despite having no way to know that was me.

With some luck the girl will embark upon the same path I have, just as her future self hopes she will. Interesting woman, insane and willing to talk to me in the past despite me having never been there in her present, but none could deny that she wasn't pleasant to be around, or that she didn't know plenty of cooking recipes I happily stole from her and promised that I will teach to her younger self if she decides to become a farseer.

I waved back at the very polite child and future peer.

"Another duel happened and I defeated them easily." She declared.

This again? How many times has she come to me for this? I never bothered to keep count but it must have been more than five, I think this is the tenth.

Definitely not the twentieth, but my instincts told me we'll reach there one day.

"No Taraithe, nobody is mocking you behind your back by throwing off the duels." I replied with a sigh.

"I am not that good farseer, especially not in a duel." She growled.

This woman has no understanding of her own story.

"Taraithe, you story echoes across the Empire and your status as a hero is well earned, you are meant to be capable enough of dealing with the odd duelist coming after you to prove themselves." I said evenly.

It was a half-truth at best, but if I started telling her of how the Empire's Songs empower her as our people's Legend of her settles in her and empowers it then it wouldn't work as well.

Our people's own Empowerment works best when the one on the receiving end is not fully aware of how it's working. If they become aware then it stops working as well, or worse they start getting cocky and might lose certain parts of it.

The woman growled at my words.

"What will it take to get a proper answer?" She asked angrily.

Her steps fell on the leaves and grass harshly now, where before they did so softly. I felt some of the watchers stare at me in disapproval for it as she created dissonance in the atmosphere.

"On this question, there's no more direct answer I can and will give, on others that depends entirely on what you want to know." I answered serenely.

"Why can't you just give a straight answer?" She asked frustrated.

She did not expect an honest answer now either, which made it the perfect time to provide one.

"Because the answers you seek will harm you more than Ignorance. There are things that it is best that you do not know of, as knowing too much can harm you. I should know, I learned this the hard way." I answered bitterly as I mirrored my own Mistresses answer to me so long ago.

I wished to be like her, to know all that she did and look where that got me. If I knew how miserable life would be once I let my Obsession take hold and let me see into the Future and the Past I would not have bothered. Now I stay, forever barred from leaving my pleasant jail except for when I am to be delivered to be beaten by my junior who lives the life I craved and is surrounded by those that love him and not people that look at him expecting deceit and lies.

The woman whom I had not looked at today sighed. The last thing I want to see is her cutting eyes that threatened to blind me on my days of peace.

The hero remained silent for a few minutes as we continued my walk across the park as I sought to find the old feeling of peace Taraithe Tagasta pulled me out of.

"Suil wishes to hear more of your stories. She asked when you are coming to visit." She revealed.

"Using little Nimmea's desire to meet me as leverage? For shame, especially as it won't help you even if I do choose to cooperate." I scoffed.

I really wasn't in the mood for this sort of games, not now at least.

"No, I do not care to bring my family into this sort of political games. My youngest daughter enjoys your presence and stories, the offer to come meet her remains open and you continue to remain welcome in my home as long as you speak nothing of your desire to marry me." She continued sternly.

It seems I've hit a soft spot.

I smiled at that, that sounded like her, always willing to run away from danger and the unknown, but the moment she feels that her family is threatened that's where she instinctively thrives and seeks to be. It got her to attack a Senior Priest without even thinking and it lets her avoid annoying people when she doesn't want to see her.

"I'll come tell her a story one of these days." I agreed warmly.

"Just make sure you come during your sabbatical. She likes you more when you don't act like a farseer." She ordered.

It wasn't structured as such, it wasn't intoned as such but I knew an order when I heard it as I've given plenty like it.

"I will." I replied simply and the woman left.

I liked visiting children like this too, as when I allow myself to See the future, all I can see is their adult forms and how useful they might be. I would rather see their smiles as I regale them with stories of my youth, not constantly thinking as to how they might be useful to my plans.

It made life feel less like a prison.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'What just happened?' Our Queen asked as felt the same disturbance we did.

We were in her throne room as she felt a disturbance in the song of Existence.

"Bessar died again." Aesan grumbled.

"Whoever did it will regret it." Marsa continued.

"He's very angry, they might have interrupted one of his monologues, or worse a lesson." Guraith finished.

The three of us had just finished presenting her the ritual she asked of that she wished to use to call Bessar back to her and make sure he's safe as he travels.

The Queen stood coiled on her throne cushion, her dark tail coiled snugly beneath her as she regally stood as the supporting pillar of an entire civilization. That pillar now looked uncertain as she wondered how she should feel at the death of her husband. On one hand she knew it would not stick, but on the other her heart knew that she should mourn him, even if her mind knew that the emotions was unnecessary.

The woman who was made mighty when she was just about to become a sacrifice becoming madly in love with the man who saved her was not quite a cliché, not in this era at least, but it was close and our sister-in-law and her sister-wife were classic examples of this, even if only one of them was present still.

The other woman was busy overseeing the fortifications done that keep the newly renamed World of Clashing Waves separated from the rest of the galaxy as it prepared to serve as a back-up plan if all else failed and brother's attempts to fix the Morons in Periphery fails.

"What killed him?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

There's been three things that have been able to come close to killing Bessar, and only one that succeeded it until now.

"Cegorach decided to play a prank on him, I pity the Lord of Fools for it." Marsa answered.

All three of Us/I could feel Bessar's anger through our bond as it seemed that our brother faced Cegorach's duplicitous nature at an inopportune time.

'Or was done in a particularly poor fashion.' Aeasan offered another possibility.

That was a possibility, but an unlikely one, for Cegorach was nothing if not good at pretending to be helpful. If he finally decided to break his Mask of Helpfulness and engage in Treachery then it would have been for a good reason and done expertly. To do otherwise could mean many things, none of them good.

'He hasn't turned into a farseer?' Marsa asked.

That was the only thing that was possible for Bessar to have done that would have elicited that sort of reaction.

"No." Guraith answered and that was that.

Bessar didn't betray his oaths and that was the only thing he could or would have done that would have caused Cegorach to directly act against him, assuming it was him that did so.

"How quickly can the ritual be completed to bring him here?" Our Queen asked again.

"As soon as the tenth God's Spire is finished and properly sanctified they will serve as appropriate assistants for the ritual centered around the Refurbished White Tower." Aesan answered.

The queen looked amused at the answer as she considered her next words.

"It is almost funny to consider a small five stories tower to be the central piece of a ritual to summon a priest and the towers so tall that they leave the atmosphere as mere assistants."

"One is the last temple to a dead god , the others are merely objects made in supplication to them. One is naturally more potent in attracting a senior priest of the same god." Marsa replied with a laugh.

The other two parts of her snickered shortly after.

"Good, my husband will no longer have to wander the stars, but be able to stay with his family as we await for the galaxy to turn."

The ritual would call him here across time and space and would normally be inescapable as no matter what would happen, something would have to come to the Queen especially as it will be her that does it.

"It would be a pleasant sight, to see our brother again our royal sister." Guraith offered.

Indeed, because if Bessar can't find a way to get out of the Divine Trap and royal meddling he fell into then we'll surely laugh at him for failing in his mission before hugging him and introducing him to his nephews.

If that was enough to put one of the Damned of Hoeth in a position they did not want to be, we would have long since stopped existing.

Our Royal Sister is about to find that the hard way, but she should have known better than to marry our Older Brother if she thought this sort of thing was enough to keep him anywhere but where he needed to be.

"That it would be, how long until everything is ready?"

"Ten years until the last of the sanctifications are done and the stars are in an useful enough configuration. It would have been better if we could wait for 4821 years for the most useful alignment, but that's too much time to bother with." I said with three voices who spoke as one.

AN: Glorachaus Croga= Glórach agus Cróga → Wise and Valorous

Suil Nimmea= Súil Nimhe→ Keen eyes.

No the POV's in the interlude do not happen at the same time or in chronological order.