text — un: starburst.

[valeas]

Not long after Yancai went back in time, I became convinced the two moons that steward the village were not real. I couldn't tell you where this feeling came from, beyond a connection I have to the celestial. 

I know I was not alone in my conviction.

It led Lan Wangji and myself to Storm's Sage — specifically, to a room that was filled with runes. It looked to me like it was once an observatory, except now it has a gaping hole in its ceiling that allows moonlight to shine down into a large bowl of water directly underneath it.

The magic exuding from the bowl did not register malicious to me, but it did seem constant, as though it could not and must not be interrupted. It also came with some fragments of memories, though they were disjointed and incoherent.

( To the best of her abilities, Emilia describes every fragment she was privy to. )

I realise how absurd this may sound, but it truly did feel as though the moon was in the room. In the water.

Comments

[somebadnews]

Does having them make the others easier to track down?

[ No idea where the heart ended up, but he keeps the tongue (and a finger) pretty close at hand. ]

[valeas]

( A finger, hm? )

The tracking spell I'm familiar with works when the caster is in possession of something that belongs to the target, if not its blood. But it only works for the target, not others in relation to them.

[somebadnews]

[ The finger that has no wards on it, because he knows where it came from and thus it's completely safe.

Speaking of though... he's heard stories about that heart. ]

In theory, you could find the owners of the ones we have?

[valeas]

I've never tried it in this lifetime.

( She ... knows he and Wrath talk, okay. So Emilia just kind of assumes he knows about her curse. )

We would need an authentic map of Akhuras first.

[somebadnews]

I took some books on geography and other citadels from Miang-Si's room. There might be something you can use in there.

[ Fully ransacked the place for anything useful. Who wants to bet if she notices? ]

[valeas]

I'd be happy to take a look.

You were not lying. They truly were cavalier about letting you into her room. I would have thought you teleported.

[somebadnews]

I didn't have to. They left me alone in her room while she was gone, and gave me money for Kathoo'lul when I left. It's a wonder she needs to sneak out with a staff like that.

I left the books with Allison to look over, but it's worth exploring if we find any others. If we're able to track who they belong to, it'll give us time to prepare.

[valeas]

I'll help her look them over, though I'm curious to her possessing them in the first place. ( Does she have the heart of a wanderer? Does she mean to leave yancai? Did she strike a deal with the huntress to that end?

Sigh.

Emilia considers something else. )

Is it like this in your world? The time traveling.

[somebadnews]

[ Don't get him started. ]

No. There are devices that can be used for time travel, but those are monitored pretty closely. There are protocols.

[ For all the issues he has with the Commission, they did have plenty of failsafes to keep something this catastrophic from happening. Which would be better if they weren't doing everything they could to make sure the apocalypse happen. ]

As far as I know, I'm the only one who can do it naturally, but even I couldn't make something like this happen. I can't predict what the consequences will be once we end it.

[valeas]

But you can surmise.

( Emilia wants to free the moon.

To do that, they might need to deal with the anchors the Huntress set in place. But she does care about consequence, especially if it might hurt innocent people. She doesn't know what to expect if she interrupts the ritual.

So it might be nice to have ... an idea of what could go wrong, even if she does not expect him to unquestionably know. )

[somebadnews]

Time will correct itself. Ordinarily when you change the past, you see ripples of it throughout the timeline. But the entire world isn't subjected to the loops, they're existing alongside time that's moving normally. If we go back far enough and stop it before it starts, theoretically those ripples could happen instantaneously until it merges with the original timeline.

I don't know what that looks like. If it'll age everyone that many years, or if they'll suddenly remember anything that occurred during that lost time. It could create a paradox and destroy itself, or it could be fine. Ideally we'd leave it before it occurs, but that really depends on how this plays out.

[valeas]

( A paradox.

Well, that just sounds about the worst. Emilia understands true desperation and fear, but what the ladies of the lake have created is a godsdamn disaster. She tries not to feel the moon's revulsion, but she does. Like an ache. A wrong to be righted. )

Timing.

( It all goes back to that. She blows out a frustrated breath. )

Do you believe it worth the risk?

[somebadnews]

We don't have a choice when it comes to stopping it. Too much is at stake. We might have a small window to get out after we do, but I couldn't tell you how much of one.

If we're able to find the source and prevent this from every occurring, it'll happen fast. It'd be better to get everyone out before we attempted anything, but I don't know that we'll have that option.

[valeas]

All right.

We'll take it a few steps at a time, quickly.

I know Wrath has his own vested interest in finding the anchors, as well. I'll go find Allison so we can go over Miang-Si's books some more, see if there's something we missed.

Should I find anything else, I'll let you know, and please do the same.

[somebadnews]

[ He appreciates that Emilia is taking the initiative. It's good to hear Wrath is on it, though he expected nothing less; he's aware of how he feels about the Huntress on top of everything else.

He's got another idea to get answers, but at this point they might be waiting until the next time jump. ]

I'll be in touch.