Episode 03 | Ascending Deity

Sæa:     I love what you did with your hair. You look wild- Oh. Your jewelry makes nice sounds. Is that a music shell?

Raka:    It’s just a silly magic-project a friend from university imposed on me. No music, I’m afraid.

Sæa:     Aww… hearing some music again would’ve been nice. It’s been a while since we had musicians visit us, and the ditties our staff sing are… bland to say the very least.

Raka:    Evens out the spicy food they cook.

Sæa:     True that.

Raka:    My throat is still burning.

Sæa:     Drink more wine.

Raka:    For what it’s worth…

Sæa:     Why did it make that noise?

Raka:    The shell? Er, it does that when it activates. Now it is connected to another one like it in the university of Kærûn … My college is probably listening to us right now.

Sæa:     Oh? Is that possible?

Raka:    I… I really don’t know, he told me it is… but creating magic-technology is entirely his field of study, not mine.

Sæa:     What’s it good for?

Raka:    It can sense nearby spirits and will warn me with that sound. Then transfers any sound around me to my college… for analytic purposes, I believe.

Sæa:     Does that mean there are spirits nearby? Should we tell my mother to be on guard?

Raka:    No, there’s no threat. I can sense spirits, myself, I don’t really need this toy for that. There’s nothing within a 70 tail-long radius around us.

Sæa:     Your tail, or my tail?

Raka:    A Faraksha standard tail, of course.

Sæa:     Of course.

Raka:    To be honest, I don’t know what reach this thing has. Or if it really does what he told me it does. It’s much more likely Auril just needed an excuse to listen in on me and turned it on manually. Couldn’t prove it, though.

Sæa:     So his name is Auril, hm?
Hello, Auril. Did ya want to listen in on Raka and me enjoying ourselves?

Raka:    Don’t encourage him…

Sæa:     Should I describe to you what we’re doing right now?

Raka:    Just ignore it.

Sæa:     Aww… but I heard it is so hard in cities to find someone to have fun with. Maybe he needs something to cheer him up?

Raka:    HE sure does.

Sæa:     Then indulge him a little. You consider him a friend, don’t you?

Raka:    I don’t find him interesting enough and he knows that.

Sæa:     Aww… What a shame for him. Hmm… What Rontar is he?

Raka:    He’s… not a Rontar, he’s not from here. He’s a Dezaarêus, from Ælmir.

Sæa:     Ah.

Raka:    You probably haven’t heard of them, they don’t usually come this far south.

Sæa:     Is he good looking?

Raka:    I don’t know what you consider good looking.

Sæa:     YOU are good looking.

Raka:    Well then I can ensure you that he looks nothing like me.

Sæa:     Oh well. Hmm… I ran out of wine…

Raka:    What? Your housekeeper only just brought us a full decanter.

Sæa:     Yea… But it’s soo far away…

Raka:    I’ll fill it up for you.

Sæa:     Thank you!… You know… Pour yourself another cup as well!

Raka:    No… I think I’ve had enough for tonight.

Sæa:     The night’s still young, love. The moon is shining bright and the weather’s pleasant. We could still go out on a hunt.

Raka:    I don’t do night hunts anymore, sorry.

Sæa:     A shame.

Raka:    Here.

Sæa:     Thank you. I was hoping that would help loosen you up a little.

Raka:    You think I’m uptight?

Sæa:     You are. Why would you pass on a nice warm cup this early otherwise?

Raka:    I have a lot of work to do tomorrow, I can’t afford a hangover.

Sæa:     You’ve only had two cups and you’re hardly tipsy. You’re a Miru right? I heard your Rontar can stomach a lot of wine.

Raka:    Alright. One more for me, then.

Sæa:     Good girl. Better to drink it while it’s still warm.

Raka:    Warm? This stuff is steaming! Guess I’m too used to University rules. No intoxicants past the 11^th bell, or the 26^th hour.

Sæa:     University life seems to be engrained in you. You even brought your work to bed.

Raka:    My work?

Sæa:     This thing.

Raka:    You’re right… When I’m at university… the amount of work I have to do can become quite suffocating, you know? Sometimes I wish I could just drop it all… Do freelance work, you know? Outside of university. I mean, I still enjoy fixing tangleweaves, that’s not the issue…  doing it as a delegated patcher are the only times I get to have some freedom, some space from university life, you know. I’d still like to continue doing that… making rune-charms for villagers and make sure the Aetherweb is kept in balance, that sort of thing, you know.

Sæa:     Then why don’t you?

Raka:    Because I crave the knowledge the university has to offer. I dread missing out on news about the Aetherweb or stepping into a situation that has not yet been studied or documented. The weave changes all the time, the gods continuously add new methods to weave it in different ways, you know. Sometimes, long forgotten weaving methods are rediscovered and are incorporated in modern weaving techniques or are refined and gain popularity. I wouldn’t want to wander around Zäa just to suddenly find my knowledge dated.

Sæa:     You should help Auril develop this shell then. With long-distance communication you could be kept up to date on anything, couldn’t you?

Raka:    Hmm… You’re onto something there.
I haven’t considered that.

Sæa:     If you and your friend get that shell to work as a communicator, you could come visit me here sometimes.

Raka:    I would like that…

Sæa:     We do have need for a shaman or spiritualist in this area. I quite like you.

Raka:    Oh… thank you.

Sæa:     Were you ever part of a household?

Raka:    Yes…

Sæa:     You could join mine, once I inherit it.

Raka:    I was main heir to my mother’s household. But I never had an interest in becoming a mistress, so I left.

Sæa:     Brave! I’m also the main heir, but… I couldn’t stand to leave the household and the entire village hanging.

Raka:    Trust me, one leader is as good as the next. They’ll find someone to replace you. They managed to in my mother’s household.

Sæa:     Maybe so, but that’s just passing the responsibility on to the next person. You know, I’d love to receive a higher education like you. Attending a school or even a university has always been my dream. Staying here, reading is all I can do. And I’ve been through the entire village library trice already. I envy you for taking that step – I’m certainly not looking forward to spending the rest of my life commandeering a handful of staff members around.

Raka:    I understand that… I didn’t look forward to that either. I didn’t really get along with my mothers staff. I mean, the men in my mother’s staff were diligent and well behaved, but… We had absolutely nothing in common. When I wanted to talk natural sciences, all they could talk about was their work in the fields and their crafts. And most of our maids didn’t care for education at all.

Sæa:     Urg, yes I hear you. Let’s not talk about that anymore. I’ll have the rest of my life to deal with them.
Say, what are your plans beyond university?

Raka:    What do you mean?

Sæa:     I mean, you’ve achieved being able to study as much as you want, free of the responsibilities of a household. Any plans beyond that?

Raka:    Well… I do have a plan beyond that but…

Sæa:     What is it?

Raka:    It’s… you might consider it silly…

Sæa:     Hey, I just admitted that I’d love to become like you. If your desires for the future are silly, wouldn’t that make mine silly as well?

Raka:    No, of course not.

Sæa:     So what is it?

Raka:    I want to make a name for myself, become the greatest patcher in zäan history. I want to be recognized by the fourteen themselves.

Sæa:     By the Gods? But why do you need their recognition if you can have the adoration of people like me?

Raka:    Because anyone affected by tangleweaves, even those that aren’t aware of it, are dependent on a Patchers work. They NEED our service because it is something none of them could do yourselves.
They don’t adore or respect us because we do good work, not that any commoner would know the difference between a hole patched well or badly anyway. They adore us only because we do NECESSARY work. Work that they couldn’t do themselves.

Sæa:     Yet we adore you all the same.

Raka:    Of course, but… see, gods have the tendency to acknowledge those that do things that benefits other mortals. Like inventing the wheel, or using agriculture to our benefit, or learning to speak… all those are efforts that have been acknowledged by the gods already. They knew about those things already, of course, but they it would never have occurred to them to teach them to mortals. Maybe it amuses them when mortals manage to master a subject and use it in way that benefits them. The mortals, I mean. Tangleweaves are no different. And whether the subject is a mundane matter, or a matter of magic makes no difference. When people who can use the aetherweb cast too much magic without proper balancing, tangleweaves are the results. But understanding what the cause for tangelweaves is has only really been grasped in the last two generations or so. And the knowledge to fix tangleweaves has really only been studied in the last generation. The gods have made it so that excessive use of the web would make it rip, but they never bothered teaching us how to fix it. We can’t survive in a world with a broken Aetherweb, and the gods knew mortals would learn how to fix it eventually. Our methods aren’t perfect yet, but… patching requires those who fix it to give up a lot. I’m sure the gods are aware of this and will acknowledge those who commit the most of themselves to the cause of fixing the tangleweave.

Sæa:     So you think they see patching holes as an act of charity?

Raka:    To some degree maybe. Patchers do things that benefit all people affected by tangleweaves. Earning the recognition of gods is just a matter of how well we do it.

Sæa:     What makes you think the gods even care if you mend the holes at all? For all we know, they might just be using the weave to study the behavior of people. Maybe the gods just tore a hole into the weave to see what mortals do with it?

Raka:    (laughs) I highly doubt that. Do you happen to have the Yontraias Oyas in your village’s library?

Sæa:     The book of teachings? Of course, it’s one of my favorites!

Raka:    Then you might know the story of Eväi, who became the most adept rune-mender in history.

Sæa:     Wasn’t she a pioneer on the field of rune mastery?

Raka:    Yes, that’s her.

Sæa:     She was the first to document the names of the runes and their effects, right?

Raka:    She started off researching the breaking and mending of runes, but she discovered a whole lot more about them than was known about them in her time. Her knowledge was the basis for patching, and many of her methods are still in use today. Bottom line is, Eväi was recognized by the gods because of her discoveries and was made an immortal deity.

Sæa:     So is that what you want, then? You want to become a deity?

Raka:    Exactly.

Sæa:     You want to become immortal?

Raka:    No, not necessarily. That’s just a nice side-effect, really.
What I want is to learn the knowledge of spirits and Væron. They are wise beyond our understanding. But they don’t share their knowledge with mortals.

Sæa:     Who said spirits would share their knowledge with deities?

Raka:    One of them told me this.

Sæa:     THEY told you?

Raka:    Yes. You see… These markings on my face, they’re not just decorative. They help me better do my job as a patcher.

Sæa:     Is that what they are for? I had been wondering that…

Raka:    They allow me to hear and speak to spirit. I… know someone that has very close ties to a Væron. They told me that I just need to make enough “noise” for the gods to notice me. And for the many tangleweaves I’ve fixed in my life, I think I very much deserve to be recognized by them.

Sæa:     Speaking of noise… that wind outside is pretty loud…

Raka:    Wind?

Sæa:     That’s… unnatural.

Raka:    How is a little wind unnatural?

Sæa:     That’s not a little wind, it’s quite stormy.

Raka:    It doesn’t sound so strong to me…

Sæa:     Oh trust me. That’s just because the shutters are very sturdy. This house is closest to the Cliff face, it’s the most sheltered house here. The shutters shouldn’t rattle this much if a storm was howling outside.

Raka:    Can I open it?

Sæa:     If you can figure it out, but…

Raka:    No, I don’t think I can do it…

Sæa:     It needs some force. Here, let me. You push this thing up a bit and then  with a little force…

Raka:    Fiyar’ta!

Sæa:     O Fiyar’ta it’s cold!

Raka:    Snow?

Sæa:     How is it snowing, we’re not even halfway through autumn!

Raka:    Is snowfall unusual for this region?

Sæa:     For this time of year it is.

Raka:    Let me see… Could the wind have blown it down from the mountain?

Sæa:     Oh no. Not in mid-autumn. Not in this region. We’re facing north, we still get the warm winds from the Luri-region here.
I’m closing this again before we have to dump out the snow in shovels.

Raka:    Do you need help with that?

Sæa:     No, I’m fine.

Raka:    Okay… hold on, you got some snow in your hair.

Sæa:     Thank you. We’ve never had this much snow and wind during this time of year.

Raka:    Hmm… I wonder what caused this…

Sæa:     Could it be related to your work?

Raka:    Possibly, but I can’t hear any spirits nearby.

Sæa:     Is your shell still…

Raka:    Oh. Yes, I almost forgot about that. Hm… If I turn it off, there’s a chance it will turn back on if there is a spirit nearby after all.

Sæa:     Then you’ll know if it has a wider radius than your ears.

Raka:    Indeed, and that there is definitely something going on out there.

Sæa:     Worth a try.

Auril:   Ah, finally, the first activation through the presence of a spirit! Though… hm… I wonder what activated it the first time… Well, there’s no way to figure that out now… but… hmm… Note to self… Research enchantments for output protocols… I’m sure I’ve seen one used for rigged scribers before, the ones used to spy on… Well, disappointing that Raka still thinks that way of me – unfortunate that the windshell activated in that private moment, of course, but… Hmm, I suppose I could try adding… Try to find an enchantment that allows to switch between “All Disturbance-Activation” and “Spirit Presence-Only-Activation” mode for privacy… Not sure if this can be done, but better to keep it on the list for now… even if it’s just to satisfy Magistrate protocol… Hm? Oh! … Anyway, date of recording was the same like the last one.
Vocal enchantments were woven by Kessi Riliniki, Tanja Milojevic and Travis Vengroff.
Music-Shells provided by Fuimadane.
Audio-Enhancements by Sarah Buchynski.
Written and Produced by Kessi Riliniki. Anyway, next transmission is already being enchanted in the receptor, so onto the next one.