Iomedae and Alfirin get relationship counseling
Permalink

Iomedae has not, in fact, had occasion to meet with the high priestess of Shelyn since the latter inherited her title. It was around when Arazni died, and they were on the one hand desperate for powerful allies but on the other very busy, and her assessment was that the high priestess of Shelyn was unlikely, if she'd made ninth circle without crusading, to suddenly take interest in it. Crusading is not really at the forefront of Shelyn's concerns. 

 


This, on the other hand, is. So here she is. She's in her ceremonial armor, which she dislikes the way one might dislike wearing someone else's skin but which is extraordinarily beautiful, and she bows deeply when introduced, and seats herself in a lovely chair in a lovely room in a world that is losing its battle with Evil and - tucks that thought aside, because it's not a good starting point for negotiations, to beeline straight for all of her differences with the faith of Shelyn. 

She needs their help.

 

 

She closes her eyes, and explains. The whole thing, though she has told very few people in this world the whole thing. She does not particularly fear being betrayed to Tar-Baphon by the church of Shelyn, and this is not really a situation that could stand half-explained for very long.

There is another world. In the other world, it's nine hundred years in the future. Aroden is dead, Hell briefly ruled the Western Empire, there were some other problems, they've been solved, it's a long story. 

Arazni was raised from the dead by Geb, nearly nine hundred years ago. She has spent all of those centuries ruling his country for him. 


She's not the same. She probably no longer wants to be the person Iomedae remembers. Iomedae doesn't know what she wants. They say she is the minor goddess of despair, and empowers Rovagug cultists. Iomedae could probably kill her; it's just a question of whether Geb's retaliation would cost Good too much.

Iomedae cannot fix her. Aroden can't easily fix her, even if Iomedae brings her back to the world in which he exists. Iomedae asked. At some point the question of what it means to rescue someone who has been turned into someone else is very philosophically complicated, and separately from that it's not the kind of thing that either of them are shaped to do, and they are both of them stretched impossibly thin with their world's present struggles. 

 

 

 

But - it's probably not as difficult as rescuing Zon-Kuthon, right. 

Total: 421
Posts Per Page:
Permalink

The high priestess is watching Iomedae thoughtfully. "Many impossible things are not as difficult as that."

Permalink

"I would be very grateful if you would ask if it's - the kind of thing She thinks can be done in principle, and the kind of thing She'd be willing to do, if we can beat the lich-Arazni in a fight and have the chance to throw some miracles at it."

Permalink

"We may not know how to do it yet. But that wouldn't mean it can't be done, just that we haven't yet seen how. I'll ask, but not - whether it's possible in principle, just whether the time is right to do it now. And if it's the latter, you should not give up."

Permalink

 

 

"If it cannot be done now then I am going to kill her instead, if I get authorization from the goddess Iomedae to act at all. Because it's not fair to make her wait on the possibility it could be done someday."

Permalink

"I understand how you would have arrived at that conclusion, though I'm worried that - embracing someone who has changed enormously requires some tolerance for the fact they will not be the same, that they will not be swiftly all right, that they cannot be whatever you once needed from them and may not live up to the stories you told yourself about them. I worry that approaching this with the intent to resort to killing if it looks discouraging will make it less likely to succeed.

 

- it's easier to be rescued by someone who won't give up on you than by someone who will. To put it more simply."

Permalink

" - I mean, obviously if the strategy that performs the best is to predictably not give up on her then I won't. In war that strategy performs poorly compared to knowing when to cut your losses, despite all of the emotional considerations around it being easier to fight if you know you can't back down and so on."

Permalink

"In love I am not sure that that is so."

Permalink

 

"I would not claim to be an expert, there."

Permalink

"I will put this question to my goddess, if you would like, because I can see that you love her, and I know what we all owe her, and because you are right that it is a matter Shelyn has contemplated more than any other."

Permalink

"I would appreciate that. Thank you."

Permalink

And she closes her eyes and begins to sing to herself. Unsurprisingly it is a beautiful song. Some attendants bring out the cinnamon and the burners and the wax, and the cry of the petition fills the room like something physical. Communing with Aroden isn't like this; but then, Aroden is still in the grand scheme of things a very small god. 

 

 

After ten minutes her eyes flutter open.

 

"Shelyn says that the thing you desire is not impossible, and that She would not be unwilling to do it."

Permalink

 

 

"Thank you," she says, feeling like she is shattering into a million pieces or really just like she is noticing that that happened a long time ago and now there is a prospect of putting them back together. 

Permalink

"She has a condition."

Permalink

"Yes?" Shelyn is a Good god. It hardly matters what it is; of course Iomedae will do it. 

Permalink

"She says that you and - another? She thought you'd know who - should go to relationship counseling. She'll recommend someone. From another planet, to mitigate confidentiality concerns."

Permalink

 

 

 

 

 


"I, uh, would have to. Talk to the other relevant party about that."

Permalink

"I understand."

Permalink

"What exactly is relationship counseling."

Permalink

"It is where, with a trained mediator present, you discuss your relationship with a person who you love, so that the two of you can arrive at a better understanding of each other, and love more accurately and therefore better."

Permalink

 

"That seems like a bad thing to do with someone if you don't want them to have to spend much time thinking about the fact you love them?"

Permalink

 

"There are moments where situations defy our comprehension and I can only defer to the will of my goddess." This isn't actually one of them, but she hasn't sworn any vows of candor herself.

Permalink

"I understand. Thank you."

 

 

 

Her teleporter is waiting to convey her back to Fort Lorrin.

Permalink

She waits until they're back in a private sanctum to ask, even though she can tell from Iomedae's face that - it's more complicated than 'it won't work'. She's just not sure how.

"I infer it can be done, but - the cost is high enough that you're not sure? What is it?"

Permalink

Oh nooooooo the fact Alfirin inferred that makes this worse. 

 

"Not - high, just - ridiculous," she manages after a moment. "And not entirely mine to pay."

Total: 421
Posts Per Page: