[Temple of Ionu] Your Fate and Mine [Sanngii]

[Ifran]

80th Summer, 511 A.V. The statuesque Eypharian stood in front of the Temple of the Deity of Illusion, who he had come to learn about, to serve. On stage, he strove to create something real out of unreal stuff, to tell the truth with lies. Theater, he told people, was life without masks. This troubled most, or made them laugh. Surely the self-possessed scion of the North Wind had misspoken, had made a mistake. Lesser people enjoyed seeing their betters stumble, fall, and find ruin. But some saw through the mere words to the truth he spoke. Those were the dangerous ones. The temple itself had all the fading grandeur of the greater part of Ahnatep, a city that was as much crumbling ruin as thriving metropolis. His people sat on the divide between past and present, past and future, but with so many hands, they could juggle ideas too. There had to be a key to unlock this puzzle. Most gods needed their attention drawn before they worked with mortals, and something told him the fact that his race had divine origins would not be enough. Truth or illusion. Some claimed they were mutually exclusive, but not Ifran. The two could coexist. The two should coexist. Perhaps he would gain a deeper understanding of how this might work while living and striving here in Alvadas. Perhaps he should debate this with a priest or priestess...

[Sanngii]

A young man dressed in simple white clothing wandered through the city of Alvadas. While obviously wandering without a clear destination, he seemed oddly content to be wheeled about by chance in the illusory paths of the city. Some called it reckless, others simply believed it strange. The man himself? His thoughts: Fate shall guide me. And perhaps it did. He found himself at the famed temple of the city. Ecstatic, he entered, to see what could be learned here. Sometimes, a mask could tell you more about the "truth" than what most accepted to be the face of "truth"... and in any case, knowledge was knowledge.

[Ifran]

The Eypharian wore dark blue linen pants and a cloak, not enough money at the moment for clothes to accommodate his six arms. To those unfamiliar with his race, he might have seemed a fanciful statue, but he was real as anything was real in Alvadas, sculpted in flesh or in marble. He watched as a young man in white entered the Temple, then followed, entering those hallowed halls. "Hmm," he said, humming thoughtfully, the noise coming out of him almost as a habit, the singer exploring the acoustics of whatever space in which he found himself. There was the young man in white again, a Drykas perhaps, through whose territory he had passed with Aru on their way to the port at Riverfall.

[Sanngii]

The young seeker of knowledge noticed that someone seemed to keep ending up where he ended up, recognizable by a rather pleasant hum. Sanngii watched from the corner of his eye, and noticed, with amazement, that it was an Ephyrian. This was the young Drykas's first encounter of this six-armed race, and was a bit stunning. This Ephyrian was the source of the pleasant hum, yet didn't wear clothes that accomadated his six arms. In fact, the man appeared to be almost an amazing fanciful work of the Goddes of Illusion herself, a mobile, singing, six-armed statue. Were Sanngii unaware of the fact that Ephyrians existed, he would have simply accepted this solution, but things were what they were... or were they?

Sanngii was'nt yet sure that this was not some force of illusion playing with him. Perhaps Auristics was called for to read the being, though if the Goddess herself had made this illusion, as his still-young and slightly overactive mind suspected, perhaps she had extended an aura that made it seem real as well. No, interaction was called for to get this particular bit of knowledge.

Even the thought of new knowledge made Sanngii salivate mentally. Learning was amazing. He silently thanked fate for granting him the chance to learn, as he always did, while he walked towards the Ephyrian to speak with him.

[Ifran]

He was too large to be a tuning fork, but still he rang. No pipe to his lips, but people followed him. It was not new for people to come up to him, strangers with their eyes wide open and full of his strangeness. He observed the boy calmly, neither smiling nor frowning at him, but quiet and watchful. Aru was not with him, so he was the only person he could depend on. The boy didn't seem a threat, but seemings were tricky things in Ionu's city. He said nothing, did no acknowledge the boy other than to watch him with dark blue eyes. Waiting; he could have waited in stillness for an hour, his muscles trained to dance with steel, but also to sit in readiness.

[Sanngii]

"Ephyrian," began Sanngii, "I am a simple seeker of knowledge. I would know more of you, your lands, your people. Anything you will share, I will take gladly. I know; it is an odd request from a stranger."

Sanngii inclined his head, saying, "I give my thanks in advance if you share your knowledge, and if you don't, my thanks for allowing me to speak to you at all."

[Ifran]

The boy had humility. Ifran liked that. He favored the boy with a smile like the sun cresting the desert horizon, golden and glorious. Six arms moved with dance-like precision into an elaborate gesture that gave the impression of extreme etiquette, though he inclined his head rather than bowed, one hand on his heart, another on his hip, another spread wide -- and that was only half his arms! "Eypharian," he corrected gently, "and you would not be a stranger if I knew your name and your story. Perhaps we can both share. Lhex put the both of us here at the same time; there must be something to it." The god of fate paid little direct heed to human affairs, they said, but one could chalk just about anything up to his whims. It wasn't like he was going to come down and correct a person. "I am Ifran of the House of the North Winds, but most recently of the Crooked Playhouse. A simple seeker of skill and wisdom. For now."

[Sanngii]

"Interesting," said Sanngii. "I will gladly share, though I have so far only a small amount of knowledge. Perhaps we should find a place to sit? I find the sharing of knowledge to go better while both participants are sitting comfortably with a beverage suited to the temperature."

[Ifran]

"Pray lead the way," he suggested; having spent a limited amount of time in Alvadas, whose streets shifted under the feet of its citizens, he knew that there were plenty of places he had yet to find, and perhaps this Drykas boy might lead him there. Somehow he was sure that of all the edifices Alvadas had to offer, Ionu's temple would be the easiest to find, its master the master of the entire city and the people who lived there. But fate, such as it was, didn't always allow for a second meeting with a person. They were less permanent than buildings in most cases.

[Sanngii]

"Come, though you may find my method of navigating Alvadas... tedious. I firmly believe that fate shall guide my feet through this city to where I need to be." said Sanngii, heading for the exit.

His new six armed companion followed him out the door. As they began to walk through the city, it was obvious Sanngii was simply wandering, guided by the merest whim.

On their way, Sanngii asked, still walking, "Do you have any qualms about wizardry? Auristics in particular."