Day 724
Our formal banquet passes without incident - courtiers are well-behaved and amenable to friendship with my Empire. We are all thrilled to see that one of Jia Fun's grandsons was rescued by Liliales in the swamp, which is an easy beginning to our allyship.
Day 725
We are also given a tour of one of the colleges where bards learn to use their music and performance to influence others. The lessons are comprehensive and include a healthy dose of ethics, thankfully.
Liliales' little friend ("Bird Brain" to his "Lily Pad") also accompanies us to music shops where we learn lots about their methods for enchantment and share notes about what I've done with my instrument.
That night, Bran arrives in the Dreaming looking worn out. Mireen's blindness to fate is bordering on the level one would expect from a curse, and she is a walking disaster. Thalien might have parked her somewhere inconsequential to wait it out, but Bran is still trying to figure her out.
Since we last spoke, he has also been to see Nucifera. She won't speak to him anymore, and both he and Thalien think it is because she was never looking to take him as a student. Instead, she was waiting for Thalien, as he was so close to being lost and becoming a tool of fate itself - just like her. It might be centuries before another potential student comes near her, and I hope that the world will work out into a place where she can just let go. With me working to shelter elves and all of us moving against the Collective, what ill be left for her to spin against?
Do you really need a Fatespinner anymore?
My heart doesn't race at all - the thought of him leaving is simply not present in this question. Instead, it is a question about what he should be. With my unobservable and extremely influential fate, he wonders if his role should be more about helping others make decisions instead of tugging at fate around me. The things I needed from Thalien, the tugging and pulling and sight, is not what I need anymore.
Their group has linked up with a group of Qilin from the Spingbok Refuge and are being given a ride towards us. I have to laugh at the coincidence. And with Thalien and Bran both potentially moving away from fatespinning, I can be more reassured that coincidences exist.
After meeting Sean Baker, Bran also wonders if maybe he and Hella have some elf ancestor way back. Or perhaps the Zephyr magic in them is broken in some way that allows them to be more versatile, like how I had to remove the Zephyr work from Dawn. Or maybe they are part demon, I laugh.
This reminds me to tell him about the demon attacks. He'll investigate Qing Bai and see if we can learn more. Maybe send some influential visions.
It will be 14 - 20 days until they reach the mountain and we can see one another again.
Days 726 - 737
Uneventful travel on the river. Now that we are within the Fire Bird Empire, there are plenty of Fire Birds, including some phoenixes. The river is also more patrolled and enforced than we've previously seen, and we are stopped several times to be informed of rules. Most interestingly are the rules about fire, which must be permitted to burn naturally as a way of birthing spirits and allowing birds to heal or rebirth. This cultural attitude makes sense here, but we all have a small laugh at the idea that there will be no help for a ship that has caught fire unintentionally.
When we eventually arrive at their capital city, it is both enormous and blazing with light. Even in the dreary winter weather, it's hard on the elvish eye. At this point, we have our first encounter with a phoenix - Han, inquiring about the intelligent spirit we have on board. As we close ranks around Qishali, Han asks if she is a water or storm spirit as those are not permitted. When he sees that a fae claims her as a partner and that she is a lightning spirit, he says that she is welcome but will need some protection as not all spirits are free or welcome here. It is a brief encounter, and when he flies off, we are all left with the sense that we will not stay here long.
Master Lo disembarks here, with well wishes and a promise to eventually come North to see our Outlands and places of learning. His parting with Aestien is tearful, and I am glad they have had one another for so long.
Within the city we observe a sun bird and a fae of wrath battling in the streets - setting fires and wreaking havoc. When an official finally arrives to manage things, the sun bird is easily cowed but the fae still seems to intimidate the official. People here are evidently so wary of fae that no one even tries to interfere with Qishali.
When we finally return to the ship, there is a young-looking phoenix waiting for us. Presumably this is a rebirthed bird, as he feels like he is just under a millennia old even though he looks like a teenager. This is Jia Hara, the guide sent for us by Master Lo. Evidently he is trying to spend some time out of town to avoid his grandson's dating drama. The young man has been dating two women from influential families that have been warring for some time, and there is now a mess that the family expects their patriarch to solve
As we travel with Jia Hara, we learn that phoenix rebirth often comes with forgetting swathes of time. He describes it like molting and shedding relatively unimportant memories but retaining the important people and the sense of who he is. I find this disturbing, but he seems perfectly at peace with it. The cultural difference between this and how our fae sleep and gain new memories is enormous, and we are in good humour about exchanging these stories.
Crows, he tells us, are somewhat cursed. Golden Crows are the greatest fire birds but they are born randomly to regular crows. Their 'goldenness' does not carry true even if two Golden Crows have a child. He has many questions about Yneir but I am poorly equipped to answer most of them. At the very least, Jia Hara says he can introduce us to a friend of his who is a Vermillion Bird elder.
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