Spring 4th, 513 AV – The City of Nyka
As she stood in the center of Nyka – if not, by the Nykan mentality, the heart of it – she found the memories that had lain dormant in the corners of her mind for years were already beginning to whisper to her. It was almost as if simply passing through the gates of the city had activated parts of her brain she had compartmentalized many seasons ago now, it seemed too fortuitous to be true really. She had expected to have to learn everything from the beginning, as she had done so before, however she was being provided with the shortcuts to circle around the basics and get to the focus of what she desired – influence, power and control. They were difficult concepts to try and hold over the Nykans, dangerously so she knew all too well. She could feel the eyes of the citizens upon her at every turn, weighing her and hating her with every glance, or if not hating her then not deigning to care about her.
How does one, from such a position, secure a pathway to the heights? she wondered as she flicked her emerald gaze up to the lofty heights of the Celestial Seat, the palace from which four of the most powerful beings in the realm of Sylira were weighted upon with devotion and awe.
“Or that is what people are led to think, perhaps” she muttered to herself as she shifted her gaze to sweep across what she could see of the Celestial Square.
It was small in comparison to the other four quarters of the city, but it was nominally neutral ground and so relatively safe for foreigners to live – in fact the only place they could really live, The Safe Haven Hostel, was pretty much the heart of the Celestial Square. It was where the more flavorsome of people could be met, from a Nykan perspective, and ironically drew a vast number of watchers and conversationalists despite the dislike for the outside flesh. The Fourth Day Market was on the other side, she knew, though she could not see it due to the bulk of the Celestial Palace and the Palace of the Supplicants. Now, there was the real reason she had begun to view the idea of Alvina rule with suspicion bordering upon the paranoid, even after her first handful of days in Nyka in 506 AV. If they were so sure of their control then why would they ritually bore themselves with hundreds of pity stories per day? They were Gods, or might as well have been, they could do what they liked.
But no, instead they sit in sufferance for people they have never met and they probably care little for. Something smells fishy about that to me, and it’s not just the whiff of the damned market. I’ll bet the Monks hold the real power, probably keep the Alvina on a short leash considering their numbers and proximity. Have to hand it to them though, what a way to control a city! Perhaps I should learn a little from them she mused as she walked past the Hall of the Robes, further reinforcing her ideas subliminally.
In the course of her musings she made a full circuit of the Celestial Square until she was satisfied that she had familiarized herself with all of the locations there, their distances apart and the general bustle that emanated from each one – or lack thereof. She turned past The Great Infirmary and decided to walk through the Southern Quarter first.
Let us start with the Order of the Bountiful Wheat, perhaps they can nourish my mind by virtue of existing. At the very least it will give me time to try and formulate some form of a plan, present some opportunities… she told herself as she paced her way slowly towards The Lover’s Bridge.