Roads to Everywhere [Nayru/Mila]

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

Nayru still wasn't sure how she felt about ships. Most people with a brain would have decided in one or five trips, but here she was, 300 years later, still unable to make a bloody decision for herself.

Well, it wasn't like she didn't know at all. There were things Nayru did like about the rickety floating tombs. She kinda liked the salt-scented air. The sense that you (and the other hundred people on board) were the only things to exist in all the world, surrounded in every direction by the endless sea. And she did like swimming. Something apparently most humans didn't even know how to do, which still amazed her. I twas fun, pretty easy, and something everyone should try at least sometime in their life!

On the flip side, it also smelled like the gangrenous ass of a dying fisherman cursed with the plague, there was no off button or way to cancel the trip if you decided you wanted to be anywhere NOT on the damn boat, and the subtle rocking set off her careful balance in ways that confused and enraged her - used to her constant minor corrections and almost obsessive need to always be able to control her movement, Nayru did NOT take kindly to having so much trouble actually doing so. At one point she had tried to take it as a challenge - a way to train her balance even better - but the simple fact of the sea's arbitrary nature meant that was an errand destined to end in failure. Sure, she balanced just fine by human standards, able to walk 'like a natural' according to some, but inside she knew just how much like a drunken buffoon she felt like all the way and quite frankly it just tilted her.

But she was forced to... walk nonetheless, regardless of her feelings on the matter, by her intent; while she had managed to interact with Gar rather pleasantly already, at least by the standards of her and pirates - which wasn't saying much - she hadn't checked in on the other survivor of their exciting little foray into the darkness of Elibe; the honorable... mage... who apparently really liked fainting in fights.

It did occur to Nayru, standing outside of the door where supposedly the mage had been mostly holed up in her cabin for the entire trip so far, that it would be nice to know a little more about the emerald magus than 'faints a lot' and 'is pretty' before going in there and trying to have a heartwarming conversation about life, the universe, and holy fuckles you're a dragon???!!?

The dragon shrugged, too frustrated by the balance thing to actually care much by this point, and knocked on the door with the approximate grace of a dragon trying to break down a castle gate. Well, she WAS only using human strength, but she'd like to see anyone who had a problem with it deal with constantly varying strength that required precise control of one's own life force to reinforce and enhance your own body, which was one of only two bodies that were both 100% you, and could grant anything from human strength to the ability to actually punch through a castle wall.

Feeling slightly sorry for herself and still a smidgin annoyed, Nayru grimaced, rearranged her features into some semblance of a smile, and opened her mouth - something she usually regretted immediately. "Yo, uh, Mila, right? You uh... alive in there?"

[Mila]

Gods above! Mila absolutely hated traveling by ship. She had nothing against Gar, his boat, or his crew, but she wanted nothing more than to get off of the oversized patchwork of logs. She wanted the to feel land and grass under her feet. Her initial reaction to boarding was a mild one. The sage was dead tired from the fight with the Cyclops, and all of the trauma that came with it. She did not even care, what little nook she found herself in. But, when she woke up, that was a different story. Her initial quarters were below deck, with no window, no view of the sky, stars, or sea. And that freaked her the hell out, to the point where she ran up to the top of the deck terrified of the dark. She refused to set foot below deck until some changes were made. She camped out on deck for hours until she was given a room with a porthole. A room she suspected was once a sort of storage. That only helped to mitigate some of her anxieties. The next wave of mental torment came when her body came to realize they were on a boat.

The constant rocking back and forth made it impossible for her to get any sort of academic work done. Food and drink were difficult to keep down. She'd try to drown her sorrows in a book only to find herself getting motion sickness after a short time. She couldn't document anything of what she had seen or done on Eturia until they hit dry land. Or if by some miracle the sea would remain still for fifteen minutes. That's not to say she didn't try. What little bits she could write before nausea kicked in were a bunch of chicken scratch letters. Her only ventures above deck involved emptying her bucket of fluids and refilling a separate bucket with fresh water.

The worst of it came at night. The events of the island and sudden implications of her location meant the return of nightmares and insomnia. Two things she wished didn't go hand in hand but here she was dealing with that too. In other situations, she would cure herself through tea and activity. Sometimes a nightly romp with a good friend or someone she trusted. She decided she'd not be doing ANY of that while on the boat. She was already pathetic enough as it is, she needed to keep some of her dignity intact. The only thing she could manage to do in this situation was huddled into a tiny ball in the corner of the room and pray for the end of this horrible ride. The only thing she suspected she should be grateful for was that her monthly cycle hadn't hit her yet. But, she suspected that wouldn't be the case for very long. Misery loves company after all, and what better company to have then mother nature, to further torture her in this salt laced hell.

She was curled up in the corner of her room. A blanket over her shoulders and she was hugging the hell out of a doll she carried with her. The doll's likeness was that of her brother but much more worn then the real thing. It was missing a button eye and it was faded in all places. But, this was the only thing she had at the moment that gave her a sense of comfort. Hugging her books when she was in full-scale fear mode only led to pain and bent in book covers. There was a thud at her door and the voice of a woman on the other end.

Ah yes, the demi-god lightning lady from the island. At least that's what Mila had mentally classified her as. Nayru right.. The sage stared at the door for a moment before reluctantly pulling herself up from the corner and opening the door. She opened it enough to have it get caught by the chain lock. But, enough to see Nayru through the crack between the door and the wall. Looks like she's alone. She had to check to make sure. She knew she was still on a boat with mostly men.

"Unfortunately, yes. Hang on." She closed the door again. The sage undid the lock and pulled the door open again.

"Come on in."

Her supply room consisted simple cot, a porthole, her buckets, a lantern, and a small stool. Truly, this room was the epitome of fanciness upon any boat.

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

Well gee, try not to sound too happy to see me, Nayru... thought but didn't say on account of not wanting to burn that bridge quite that quickly. People didn't always react well to her particular flavor of flippant sarcasm. Especially not when grouchy. Or PMSey. She didn't know Mila from Hargus so it was hard to tell and trying to sniff blood in a situation like this seemed kinda really super f**k**g creepy even to her muscle-for-a-brain.

But the green lady DID let her in so Nayru swallowed her rapier wit and managed a small smile as she ushered herself into the boudoir of Medb herself, or at least, uh, a small mostly-empty room in a ship. Eh, she'd seen worse. Hard to get much worse than a lady in a blanket looking like she was dying to death from inhaling deathfog, but... well, it was PROBABLY possible anyway. Jeeze. She actually felt kinda bad for being so snarky about it, even in her head. Did Mila just, like, live sick or something? That had to be rough.

But that WAS, kind of, sort of, why she was here. "Sorry to intrude," she managed with some semblance of politeness and normal people talk-speeching, closing the door behind her in hopes of respecting Mila's apparent desire for privacy. It was - kind of funny. She had gotten so comfortable spending time with people like Veigue and Remus that it was almost kind of weird to meet new people again. Hm. "Just wanted to see how you were doing after that fight," the dragon continued with about as much subtlety and deception as the average bull in a china shop. "I see you're... holding up," she added awkwardly, glancing around the room without any particularly excellent jokes or wisecracks to follow up with and kinda expecting the green mage to shoo her out immediately.

[Mila]

The sage took a small step back to let Nayru in. She appreciated the fact that the woman closed and locked the door behind her. It gave Mila a chance to sit down on the stool. The stool was under the window and she felt slightly comfortable with that fact.

"You aren't intruding." She clarified. She waved her hand over towards the cot as a gesture for her to sit down.

"Apologies. I don't have any tea to offer." Mila drank all of her tea in a nervous fit sometime between the second and third day of being on the boat.

"I am just peachy." She spoke, her voice dripping with sarcasm. She then shook her head and apologized.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't be lashing out at you. It's.. just been rough." Mila knew she looked really pathetic. She grasped the doll again and held it close.

"The island had all my worst fears rolled into one convenient package. Tremors, Earthquakes, thunderbolts, lightning.. it's all so very very frightening." She shook her head a bit at the unintentional rhyme.

"Er.. No offense." It wasn't Nayru's fault that Mila was afraid of thunder and to an extent lightning. But, she figured she should apologize for it anyway.

"Plus, it was all on Eturia, the unfriendliest place on earth. The entire.. experience.. left me with some mental repercussions. And this.. ship.. with all it's rocking.. It.. makes me sick."She explained then let out a deep sigh. Ironically, the cyclops itself didn't quite make it on her list of fears. She was fine with tall, dark, and ugly tearing up the forest in every which way.

"I miss sleep." She looked down at the floor with a bit of a somber expression. Then she perked her head back up.

"How about you? Are you alright?" You look alright. Is Gar alright? I should probably check up on that at some point.

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

Man. She was joking about it and all but Mila looked like a god damn dumpster fire on two legs. Uh. Not - in a bad way. Not that there was a GOOD way to word that, in retrospect. But the mage seriously looked like she had seen better days and better moods to say the least. Actually, the dragon was pretty sure that Mila had enjoyed the cyclops battle more than this. Which wasn't saying much, given the unconsciousness... thing. "Don't worry about it," she stated, carefully keeping her tone neutral with a hint of upbeat amusement to it. Not exactly difficult for the eternal jokester but a touch more calculated than usual this time, trying to push down her own concern a little, in hopes of lightening Mila's mood. "Drinking much of anything on a pirate ship is risky business anyways. Salt water is probably safer. Ish." She grinned, hoping that had been half as funny as it was in her head.

"And I'll uh, keep the lightning thing in... mind," she added off beat a few moments later, her forced humor dying screaming as she wilted a little. "Sorry about that. Didn't know." And she hadn't Nayru wasn't sure if she would have done it much differently if she had, though. She didn't have the strength to just casually murder a cyclops with her bare hands. Maybe bear hands.

"Etruria, though..." The dragon trailed off, looking past Mila, past the walls of the room and the spray of the waves, past the present entirely. Into a past she remembered all too well. "It wasn't always liked that. I used to love the place. Some of the best libraries in Elibe. Well. By-" she halted. 'human standards' didn't sound exactly the friendliest and nicest thing she'd ever said. "-Modern standards, anyways." Yeah, that was a lot less negative sounding, right? Didn't have the undercurrent of 'lol shitty human libraries' going on underneath. She shook her head. "I'm about ready to be well away from that place too. Should ask Gar if the ship can fly so we can get moving faster eh?"

[Mila]

"Don't drink the salt water." She smiled softly.

"Something my grandfather would always say. That man lived into his seventies so I'm sure he was on to something." He was gone now, but she still missed him. She missed her whole damn family now that she thought about it. Her last letter to them was months ago and she didn't exactly get a response back from them.

"It's quite alright. No way you could have known about the lightning and thunder thing. We did just meet on the island. I'm honestly surprised I managed to fight as hard as I did, considering all that happened." She rested her chin on her hand.

"I swear I'm a lot more composed when not on total trauma island or on a big floating log in the ocean." I really shouldn't call it that. She had to watch what she said about the boat. Gar was doing her a favor. She needed to be nice.

"Yeah. I know what you mean. I'm from Eturia. Studied in one of Delfia's little branch academies and I've got family waiting for me. At least.. I hope I still do. I managed to slip away before Kraft invoked his full wrath upon the country. Not that there was any real travel ban in place back then.. but.. now.. I.. just have to hope they are still alright." Eturia was a god damned mess now. She knew that much. But, hey at least she knew Nayru liked to read. And that was a plus in Mila's book.

"Gods no. I do not want to know if this ship flies. I've flown once. Back in Bern. I was forced to ride on a wyvern to hunt some gargoyles. It wasn't pleasant." She thought back to Bern and to Ilheod. She remembered the wyvern she had to kill because the gargoyles had clawed and poisoned it. She remembered Yorick and Xigshaw's former owner. How the hell did that cyclops get a hold of that axe anyway.

"I'll take my chances with the boat on still on the sea thank you very much." She was feeling a bit better. Ok. So.. how to ease into the.. whole.. thunder beast thing.

"So.. if.. my memory is right. You.. uh.. fight monsters too." Smooth.

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

"You know, I still remember thinking the idea of seawater being bad for you was bupkiss. I mean, you drink water, right? When I first saw the ocean, first thing I try is drinking it." Nayru's face twisted at the memory. "Yeah... I wasn't a smart kid. Salt beats water. Your gramps was right. Wish I'd listened to my authority figures a little better." Something that seemed to be a common refrain lately. She had learned nonetheless, perhaps, but the journey could have been so much easier if she solved more problems with methods that didn't involve headbutting them.

Born in Etruria, huh? That was interesting. Mila... KINDA seemed like it, in that sort of ephemeral way that (some) Etrurians had of managing to look fabulous as a natural state of being, though the curled up ball of green and barf was maybe not quite the most splendid figure of St. Elimine herself the world had ever seen. Even Nayru was smart enough to keep that to herself, though. It was always interesting seeing how people referred to, related to, their homelands. Some took pride in it. Others were ashamed of their birth. A third group claimed they just didn't care. But one's origins shaped them whether they liked it or not, for good or ill, and... well, Nayru had enough experience with watching her homes fall to blade, tooth, and flame that she could empathize well enough even if Arcadia itself hadn't (yet) been pillaged.

"Seems you did learn quite a bit along the way," the dragon began a little cautiously, not quite sure whether to emphasize the branch academy or... whatever Mila had done since then. "Not many - people" - humans, she had been about to say - "can use magic of that caliber. The stalagmite looking' move was pretty cool. Tall dark and ugly didn't see that coming 'til it took out his kidneys. ...Do cyclops have kidneys? I..." She trailed off, momentarily forgetting Mila's existence, trying to think if she had ever read much about cyclops biology back at Arcadia. Nothing came to mind. "Huh. I shoulda checked before leaving, that would've been some gnarly ass science."

Eh. Live and learn. Going by how Elibe seemed to be rocking these days, she'd get another chance in ten minutes or so, maybe sooner. She could be patient that long at least.

Somewhat grateful for another subject, the dragon jumped on the mention of monsters as a genuine grin crept to her face unbidden. It wasn't necessarily the most pretty and pleasant subject, but it was a positive one as far as she was concerned, something both fun and beneficial to Elibe. The way she saw it, you could do a LOT worse for a living. "I've done a bit of most everything, but monster hunting sure seems to be a growth industry these days if you know what I'm saying, hah hah." That wasn't actually funny was it? "Never would have thought I'd started to like fighting or have to fight a bunch of big ugly douchebags on a regular basis, but eh, beats the hell out of sitting here feeling sorry for myself while Elibe burns. I'd read about most of these things before, but never thought I'd get to see one, much less the whole damn menagerie. Learned the hard way. Baels don't f**k around."

[Mila]

Mila smiled a bit at Nayru's comment about seawater. She wouldn't say it now, but there was a day in both little Mila and Duma's lives where they regretted drinking the salt water. And then their dad traumatized them more with freshwater and streams by stating it's where the fish poop. Both of them only drink water that they've boiled or requested hot from pubs after that. "To kill the poop" as her inner child would say.

"Intelligence is earned, not given." She spoke. That was another one of grandpa's quotes. He usually said it right before any of his children did anything particularly stupid. Mila felt her face get hot at Nayru's compliment. The reddish blush of embarrassment could be seen particularly well within her pale face.

"Th-Thank you. I-I've practiced a ton." Gah. Stop stuttering. She cleared her throat.

"Moving that big hunk of earth wasn't easy. But, I'm glad it worked out and no one else got skewered in the process. As for the internal waste systems of giant one-eyed monsters... I.. don't think I wanna think about that now." She shook her head slightly as she could feel the bubbles in her stomach well up.

"Though, I can confirm, Doog's poop. Stepped in a few times. So.. I'm sure.. they have some.. Urp." Mila covered her mouth. The burp was nasty and acidic. A warning sign that barf had the potential to come soon.

"Excuse me." She took a deep breath in and relaxed.

"Well it's nice to meet someone else in the business. Especially.. uh.. with your gifts. Not too often I get to see such raw power at work for the not monsters. I only recently learned that these monsters might have existed in the ancient past. But, I dismissed them off as fairy tales. Until I saw them for myself." Mila perked up at the word Bael. Out of all of the monsters that had returned from the realm of fairy tales, the big bad spider was secretly her favorite. Spiders, while creepy critters, were integral parts of the food chain. Mila learned to love the regular versions of spiders when she saw one of them trap, and eat a big ol'mosquito.

"Yeah. Baels don't mess around. Saw one in Vinland that was the size of a duplex barn. My companions and some Taguel's helped to take it out. I was soo ready to dissect it, bring it back to Elibe, and research its dead body. A discovery like that probably would have put my name in some really fancy research books. Until the Taguels decided to carve it up for food and parts." Mila left out the part where a rival group of taguel appeared and were about ready to rip all their throats out. She left out the part where she saved Donny by making him fall into a hole. Or, how the Falcon Taguel had pet doogs.

"Not sure why they started reappearing en mass all of a sudden. But, I hope to figure that out one day. Got to have a dream right?"

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

Hmm... cute blush. Nayru's inner troll was tempted to try to evoke more, but the memory of Lynessa doing that to her was a pretty good reminder that karma existed and would come back to violently murder her someday, so she refrained. For now.

...She also tried not to think too hard about the waste systems of.... giant one eyed monsters... live for five hundred years and change, and she still couldn't tell if Mila was actually that naive or just casually tossed around double entendres like they were going out of style.

The more serious note of the reality of monsters was a bit sobering nonetheless. Nayru had perhaps been blessed in that she could read about them just fine in the Archives, but growing up never seeing them sure gave it a fairy tale feel to it - until she had first seen them again in Sacae, fought the broodmother alongside Aerious, and nearly gotten herself killed multiple times in that fight alone. To say nothing of her adventures ever since. Tuscanan backwoods Bael brigades notwithstanding. She still had to go back and deal with those. Problems for another day.

"...You know... I did too. I mean, I knew they had existed once, long ago. But the idea that I would ever see one, much less a full resurgence? Never seriously considered it. I first saw one... perhaps seven, eight years ago now, in Sacae, and even then I thought it must be a fluke. How far Elibe has fallen since then is almost unimaginable." At least, it would be hard to imagine if it wasn't real, staring her in the face on an almost daily basis. Every country suffered from the beasts, good men and women slaughtered before the army, or mercenaries, or bounty hunters could come to help. The massive chimera she had butchered in Bern. The Arum she had fought in Sacae and Bern, and the passing stories of others in Lycia that she had never discovered the veracity of. A story that only grew worse despite the best efforts of men and dragons alike.

It wasn't much of a laughing matter, really. But Nayru could ill hide a lopsided smile at Mila's volved topic of conversation. "The one I fought in Sacae was the largest Bael I've ever seen... and the first monster. It and its brood. ...I ought to check the site again sometime soon to ensure they are all truly dead," she continued, mostly thinking out loud to herself. It certainly wasn't her first fight ever, but had been the first where she had been so clearly, utterly outmatched.

"My travels in Vinland were mercifully free of Baels. Though I think I would have preferred them over some of the obnoxious-" The dragon caught herself before launching into a tirade about how all lamia should be genocided on a level that could make the Scouring look like child's play. "It was an... experience."

That it was.

The last comment was an interesting one though. The source of the creatures. The reason behind the madness. Whatever dark god, maddned dark mage, or ancient enemy sought to drown Elibe in a sea of shadow.

"...And what would you do with that information, Mila? If it was something you couldn't change. A decision that had been made long ago. If there was nothing left to do but fight. Would you still want to know?"

[Mila]

"Eight years.. that's a bit before the fall of Ostia or roughly around the same time. Maybe? Hmm.. I wonder if the fall was the catalyst that accelerated their revival or if they have always been there in the shadows." So many questions. Very Little Clues. Mila found herself staring at the wooden floors for a moment. Minorly lost in thought, until the floor started moving. And that was the cue Mila needed to pick her head back up before the wibbly-wobbly floors made her throw up.

"Obnoxious? Sounds like you had a bad tour guide. Ha, at least you had one! Try wandering that wilderness without one." The trip to Vinland was something. Perhaps she should pay a visit to the island again sometime. And do some more research on their native monsters again. The sage already knew those monsters were vastly different than the ones that currently infested Elibe.

"After some research, I've theorized that the Vinland monsters and the Elibe ones are different species. I'm certain they must have had some sort of common ancestor in the past but something happened in time to differentiate them. The Vinland monsters feel more natural. Like they belong to the world instead of being pumped full of evil energy." She shrugged.

"I need like a ton more evidence of that before I can publish that sort of information. But hey, it's a start." Mila sighed softly. She thought a bit about Nayru's question. She looked up at the demi-goddess and nodded. The sage knew her answer.

"I'd write it all down. I'd write it all down and find a way to have it distributed to the four corners of the world. I know my time in this world is really limited. Like, hell, I'm pretty sure the three of us cheated death on the island. Gods, I've been in so many situations where I could have died.. or been sold off to slavery." She shook her head.

"If it weren't for my companions, my friends, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation right now. If there was nothing left to do but fight.. then I'll fight.. I'll fight and record it. I know the "monster problem" is not something that is going to be solved in my lifetime. But, If I record it.. then maybe.. someone in the future.. someone who has access to better resources.. maybe better weapons.. magic.. an army. Maybe they could use what I wrote.. and have a fighting chance."

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

Things would be a lot easier if she knew all the details. 'Yes Mila, X caused the monster resurgence, here are things Y and Z we can do to stop it within 3 months or your money back.' Nice and simple. Bonus for being the archetypal wise and ancient dragon oracle who knew everything, right? Unfortunately, while age and wisdom could be correlated to a limited degree, it only took one visit to Arcadia and a few conversations with millennium-plus old dragons to know that didn't imply causation. Old people could be REALLY fuckin' stupid. And while Nayru didn't really think of herself as old, by Mila's standards she would probably be. Man. She was never really gonna get used to that.

"Yes... Vinland's creatures are more - natural. Similar to the ancient monsters I have read about. Dangerous, yes, but natural parts of the world. Not the twisted, genocidal creatures that now plague Elibe." That was something she had noticed as well, from her fights alongside Zahhak to her wildlife exploration adventure with Remus and (ugh) Lafiel. But Nayru was little better prepared to answer it than Mila was, it seemed. Perhaps if there was a way to revert Elibe's monsters to their ancient counterparts it could be found on Vinland, but in the shorter term fire and steel seemed to work a lot better than polite requests to 'please stop killing us, thanks.'

Mila's answer was somewhat unexpected. Neither good nor bad, simply - unexpected. It almost felt defeatist, in a way that was hard to pin down. The mage neither gave up nor spoke of certainties and requirements. She wished to share information, even across generations, yet did not seem to think it could be solved in this lifetime. Whether she was correct or not was irrelevant, it was the logic she used that had inspired the question initially and now intrigued Nayru further.

"Elibe has all of those things already. Your kind have proven themselves capable of a great deal when properly united," yeah just a minor little skirmish called the f**k**g Scouring, "and even today the military might of Etruria or Bern alone could potentially stem the tide, to say nothing of the continent working as one. And yet - they do not. Too busy killing each other for pride and religion, even in the face of this threat. Do you believe there is so little hope of unification now that this problem should, or even can, be shunted to future generations?"

That was what bothered her about the mage's answer, Nayru decided. It wasn't that Mila thought it was impossible. It was more that she had so thoroughly written off this generation that the idea of a solution hardly even seemed plausible. And perhaps she was right. Nayru knew all too well how many times her youthful idealism had been dashed, until she had thought she had risen above it - by growing old and jaded. Not much of an improvement when you looked at it that way, really. But having seen so many monuments, read so many accounts, explored so many ruins, relics of the past - proof of what humans and dragons could do when they acted as one - to say nothing of the incredible humans she had met in the modern age, like Remus, Veigue, and Elly - that she had always retained hope that despite their race's failures, they still stood on the brink of greatness yet undiscovered.[/b]

[Mila]

What do I believe? The question sat in the sage's mind for a moment. She wished she had a straightforward and satisfactory answer. Nayru was right. Humanity had the ability to do the impossible when united towards a common goal. People had the ability to think, feel, create, destroy... hoo.. boy did people love to destroy things. People destroy nature to make room for farmland. They destroy relationships for the sake of making new ones. Old man Samuel would state a proverb that stuck with her to this day. Humanity was built upon a legacy of destruction and uneasy truces. I mean, there's a whole play dedicated to backstabbing an ancient leader twelve times! And it was based off a real event in our antiquity. She stared hard at the floor for a while. Can people even put aside their petty differences to deal with the inevitable threat? She knew that she couldn't answer that. The fundamental nature of humanity is ever changing and up for debate. But, she had to give Nayru some sort of answer. And while she knew this answer was one that contrasts her usually bright and cheery attitude, it was her answer none the less. The answer that was built upon what she had seen and figured out through her travels in the world. She picked her head back up.

"I.. I know that people are too busy killing each other for their own personal gain. At least.. the leaders of the lands are. Eturia is too busy with their war campaign to really pay any attention to the threat of monsters. They execute those who practice dark magic, magic, that is a crucial part of the inner workings of those monsters. The magic that could be used to understand the problem! But, no, it's too 'evil' and must be 'cleansed.'" She spoke that last bit with a tone of annoyance. She paused for a moment then continued.

"Ilia from my current understanding.. is getting demolished by Etruria's crusade. Sacae unified to fight against them and it's a stalemate. Bern is recovering from its own war and Lycia is in a state of political pieces. I have.. no idea what's going on with Nabata. But, my point is, If the bigwigs of all of the respective nations are too busy with their own agenda... I don't think.. unification is possible." She took a deep breath.

"I want to be hopeful. I want to believe...that there's a chance. I really do. But, the researcher in me says.. have to be realistic. I have to face the facts. The bureaucracy of it all is complicated... Time-consuming. I think by the time we hit the point where the leaders of the nations actually set aside their differences, rally the people, and band together.. It will be too late." That sounds really depressing.

"But, that won't stop me. I'll keep fighting and figure out this monster threat the only way I know how, through magic and documentation. And, If the leaders don't want to do anything about the problem.. then it's up to the people. I've seen soldier and commoner take up a weapon and fight together in reponse to the monsters." Her mind recalled her adventures with Donny, Perun, and Drei. She remembered Sacae and the birth of the angle of death against the doogs. She remembered Yorick and Illheod and their fight against the gargoyles.

"Maybe, I can be proven wrong." She shuffled a bit in her seat. She took another deep breath then looked up at Nayru.

"...Okay. I wanna address the elephant in the room. You said 'your kind'... Considering the events on the island. I am right to assume you aren't 'my kind'. So.. uhm.. what are you?"

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

Nayru couldn't help but smile a little at Mila's vehement disagreement with the wasteful cruelty leveled at dark mages. It was rare that human magi spoke in favor of those of another discipline - light, dark, and anima mages tended to view those from the other two camps as being barbaric, lacking that special wisdom that was of course unique solely to their own discipline. Something... oddly similar to how dragons could act. Perhaps tribal rivalries were the one thing all races of the world could agree on. Cats and dogs, mages and shamans, the war must go on. Or not.

The mage certainly had a lot to say - thinking as she spoke, or perhaps vice versa. Nayru was just glad to see the woman thinking deeply about the question rather than brushing it aside; whether or not she agreed with what Mila said was essentially irrelevant, simply that the mage actually considered it. In truth, Nayru didn't know what the right answer was. She wasn't the leader she wished she was. She wasn't the hero she had dreamed of being as a kid. She wasn't a brilliant manipulator or fay enchantress. Having a few centuries to study books and witness tragedies gave her more perspective than most humans, perhaps, but no great insight into the human condition.

Simply that there was simply something broken in the world. A race ripping itself apart and inviting death to its door as darkness came to swallow this world whole. And she didn't know what to do to stop it. She couldn't just... punch everything that looked evil. They would need either a LOT of dragons or human help to pull it off. And with Arcadia dead set on avoiding external woes and humanity too busy killing each other to unite, it might have to be humans like Mila who found the solution, not her.

"Yes. People can accomplish a great deal together. Strength through unity; the individual and the whole existing because of each other. The question is only... if it will be in time. If humanity can set aside its differences to stop what is to come. When the stream becomes an ocean. I too hope it is so. Humanity can accomplish great... or terrible things when united. But that is easier said than done, and time is no longer our ally."

Well. That was only a little bit utterly depressing. Nayru sort of regretted opening her mouth at all, but she didn't exactly have a huge support group of people to discuss the end of the world with, and if she could at least convince a few people, maybe they could in turn coordinate more. She didn't know. But it had to be better than doing nothing at all.

Nayru looked away for a moment, not quite wanting to look at Mila for a moment as she wrestled with her own emotions. Not going on a berserk killing spree was definitely a step up, but actually DEALING with feelings wasn't much more fun for her. Though the mage's trailing question did certainly draw her interest and more than a bit of concern. Not anger or fear, exactly. She had already decided what her answer would be before she walked into the room. But it was interesting that Mila hadn't jumped to conclusions - or if she had, was trying to get confirmation of her guess without running the risk of being wrong? There were a few tendencies among intelligensia that Nayru had observed over the centuries and she was admittedly curious which Mila fell into.

"Geez, Mila, calling a girl an elephant isn't very flattering," she shot back with a wry smile. Obviously Mila hadn't ACTUALLY been calling her one but the wording was a little unfortunate and she couldn't resist the urge to have a little fun with it. "Tell you what. You tell me what you think, and why, and this elephant might just remember."

[Mila]

"Sometimes what the world of humanity needs is a swift kick in the nads." Another one of her grandpa's quotes. The sage really wished she could remember the second half of it. She wasn't sure what it was about Nayru's words that just made her remember it.

"I didn't actually mean that... oh.. never mind you understood the phrase." Mila responded then sighed to herself. A whole lot of this conversation had her thinking. Which was a nice contrast to just generally feeling terrible. But, now she had to critically think. And how to put those critical thoughts into words that didn't make her sound like a lunatic. She shifted around in her seat for a moment. The more she thought about it the less sense her initial theory of 'demi-god' made less sense. But, what other answers were there? Nayru was not a taguel. She could at least tell that much. Taguel have features. Ears, wings, tails! Nayru carried none of these on her. At least not right now. The sage tilted her head up and gave Nayru one more once over, just to confirm that she didn't see any animal features on her. She also didn't act like a taguel. Then again, her only two encounters with them have been, one trying to drive them away, and another barely tolerating their presence. Nayru didn't give off any real "I hate people" vibes.

"Well.. I.. have some theories." She leaned back in her chair.

"Two really. Both of them seem horribly far fetched but after the island. I'm starting to really reconsider what's fact and what's fiction. And if i'm wrong, please don't laugh." I'd hate that. She took another deep breath and let it out in a slow steady sigh.

"Hoo.. alright. So Theory one." She raised her index finger.

"You are a demi-god. A hybrid of humans or taguel and some sort of lightning deity. In myths demi-gods have great rarely understood powers. They do impossible feats. And end up making the lives of their nearby humans either better or worse. Shape shifting is a common power among them. Although any time a god messes in the affairs of mortals it.. usually ends up bad for the mortals. It almost always ends up horrible for the women." She looked around. The ship is still standing.

"Considering that I have not been forced to bed you, or turned into a tree, or a fish, or zapped by lightning, either your not that or this isn't one of those myths." She took another breath.

"My second theory.. is... dragon? Though, my knowledge of the subject is horribly lacking. All I know of them comes from an old piece of wall that used to hang in one of Aqueila's halls. It was.. very withered. You could barely make out the outline of a winged beast that was felled by a holy light. But the people there treat it like some sort of holy art. And heaven help you if you touch it. She was being a bit dramatic with that last bit.

Plus, a few snippets of myths here and there. Shape shifting and massive power over the elements. None too different from demigods really. And then there was the Scouring. I know little of the actual Scouring other then it happened a thousand years ago and we got the eight heroes out of it. And Elimine was a huge hit in Eturia for reasons
I don't understand. Oh and that the eight divine weapons are real tangible things." She let out another sigh.

"I didn't exactly pay attention in history class. And if I did.. then the.." She shook her head. It's not the time to talk about that.

"Well.. I've forgotten most of it by now. So am I anywhere near the mark? Or do I have to rethink?"

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

"A demigod?" Nayru couldn't help but raise a brow, not insultingly but almost flattered that Mila had apparently been that impressed by her powers as to jump to that conclusion. Things... would probably be easier if she was actually a divine entity bearing the wisdom of the ages and the vision of a god, to be sure. Probably for the best that it wasn't true, though. Nayru's long flirtation with self-loathing was... somewhat better under control than it had been before she met Veigue, at least, but given her history she didn't think it was too unreasonable or unfair to think that she probably wouldn't do very well as a god. Or goddess. Too much room for bad decisions, and she didn't think she would deal very well with cultists or worshipers. Remus's hero worship was already hard enough to live up to.

Though it wasn't like Mila was entirely off the mark. Based solely on appearance and deed, the idea of a 'demigod' was simply that of a superhuman being. The long running concept that sufficiently advanced science was indistinguishable from magic, as well as the poorly understood limitations of human flesh - by that logic Athos himself actually was a god given he had accomplished feats even she could only dream of. It was interesting to think about, actually. Nayru understood... better than most dragons the reverence with which humans held the Scouring Heroes, not out of hatred of dragons, but viewing them as something akin to deities. The ultimate expression of humanity's ability. Understanding that had helped her separate the dragonslayers of old from the heroes of the Scouring - understanding that what had happened in the past was not necessarily the only measure of a man.

"...The limits of the human condition are a fascinating subject. By your description, the heroes of the Scouring would qualify far more than I. Beings so mighty, or at least capable of wielding weapons so mighty, that they could tear the world asunder. Bring the Ending Winter to Elibe, breaking and shattering the magic of the world itself beyond recognition. And yet we consider them human, simply the greatest - or at least the most terrifying - of humanity. Even the fire and earth you wielded went far beyond the ken of..." Nayru paused for a moment, doing her best to calculate an accurate number, but was unsatisfied with her ability to do so accurately. Estimation. Ugh. "-I doubt a tenth of one percent of humanity could do what you did back there. Mila. Perhaps even less than that. And yet you consider yourself human. And you are more grounded than many scholars and magi I have met in truth. What does that make you, then?"

The dragon shook her head, realizing a little belatedly that that could come off badly. "No insult intended. Simply an observation. In the time I have spent in this world, time and time again I have watched my beliefs and estimations shattered... sometimes by magi capable of feats I had not dreamed possible... sometimes by mere mortal men whose dedication to the blade and those they loved gave them the power to accomplish the impossible." Vandalf, Veigue's grandfather, whose desperate drive to save his wife had given him strength beyond that of a mere man, the courage and capability to face down ten and win. Veigue too. Granted, she had aided in awakening the blade of his lineage, but the strength of will needed to master it, the relentless training that had granted him the ability to move with speeds greater than her own, was all his. Remus didn't even have a deity or spirit going for him and he could still call down that enormous beam of magic he called Purge.

Her arms crossed beneath her breast, Nayru leaned against the wall, regarding her counterpart in thought for a few moments as she considered the rest of Mila's commentary. Not the most stable groundwork for an assertion - and she was surprised to hear the shapeshifting thing, that had seemed to be mostly lost to this generation of academia, apparently Etruria had more stored than even they knew. But not wrong either. It was sort of funny though, even after a few episodes of telling people it was still... awkward. Even knowing that Mila had already seen her transformation and didn't seem to mind that much. "Well... I don't have much going on in the wings department, as you probably noticed. But." She sighed. Fuckit yolo. "You're not wrong."