Exalted: Dreams of Exaltation - Prelude: Meeting

[Krul]

As Mei-Ying tried to see if these strange looking snake like folks could understand her, Saiya and his daughter stepped out on the opposite side of the clearing. The folks between them became somewhat agitated, but apparently didn't know the language Mei-Ying was speaking... though to Saiya is seemed like a very bastardized version of Old Realm... he couldn't make out but a word or two.

At the moment, the little girl looked up at her father a moment, then back at the gathered individuals. "Forgotten the language too, daddy?" She said in well enunciated Old Realm.

Click to reveal..

Old Realm and Low Realm are close enough that they share some words in common, they are different enough that it's very difficult to get what someone is saying, but close enough that some bits and pieces are the similar, like french and spanish, for example.

[SalmonMax]

Mei-Ying was startled to hear the language of the Old Realm from the little girl, but quick to pounce on any kind of communication in common. She quickly called out in like language, "You there! Hello!" She waved.

"My name is Mei-Ying...I'm a scholar traveling to the lands south of here. Do you live nearby? Is there a village or settlement you could show me to? I've been in the wilderness for quite some time now."

[Seiya]

Seiya hesitated. "Somewhat Daiya." He proceeded to address Mei-Ying "We are abit off track ourselves, as we travel to An-Teng. You are welcome to accompany us."

Seiya was not the largest of men, but he cut an imposing figure, and looked at the snake-men, assessing them for a potential threat.

[Krul]

While Seiya responded to Mei-Ying, the little girl began to speak with the three men in the clearing, though neither of the exalts could understand a word. They seemed a touch agitated, but after a few moments, they calmed down, and spoke back with her for a bit.

"Daddy, they say there is a strange group advancing from the south, that the scouts have seen, and that is about a week or two in position from here, that way." She paused a moment, then spoke with them again for a bit. "They also look wierd, and have goggles over their eyes?" She seemed a touch confused.

[SalmonMax]

"Goggles...that doesn't sound like anyone I've ever heard of in this region."

Mei-Ying opened her mouth to say something else when her eyes fixed on the man's bow. For an instant she froze in that posture, eyes wide, mouth just opening...then she started hurrying towards him, jabbing a finger at the enormous gilt bow as she came.

"Sir! Your...that bow you have! Where did you find it, if I may ask? Was it to the south? Ruins? Old tombs? Please, I'm a scholar, I need to know!"

[Seiya]

Something told him that lying was not the best path, but neither was the whole truth, yet. "A Tomb yes, a ways from here."

He smiled "It is a good bow, and has served me well in our travels."

[Krul]

While the two them, Mei-Ying and Seiya spoke with one another, the girl began to speak to the three men who were in the clearing, and looking on a bit confused, but appreciating the young child's attempts to speak with them, despite her accent.

The massive six foot Orichalcum and redwood bow on his back had draw some attention from the local warriors as well, as it made them think he wasn't quite human.

Then she reached up and tugged on her father's shirt, once he was done speaking. "Daddy, they say they'll take us to their village if we want to go, and speak with their priest, and the war chief, who know more of the men to the south."

[Seiya]

"Thank You Daiya. Tell them we accept their generous hospitality."

He looked to Mei-Ying. "I trust that will be alright with you as well?"

[SalmonMax]

She managed to wrench her eyes off the bow and back to Seiya. Thoughts of the tomb he'd found the artifact in danced in her head. It had to be First Age, which meant it might be close to...or even part of...the reason she'd risked this journey to begin with.

If he was going to the village, she had to as well.

"Yes, of course. That will be fine. This tomb you spoke of...which way was it? About how far? Were there other structures there as well?"

Something occurred to her then, and she eyed Seiya more closely.

"You can't actually USE that bow, can you?"

[Seiya]

"Of course I can. I used it earlier to get us some breakfast." A part of him wished to add that using the bow was just natural to him, that he remembered doing so often, against things far more than game. He remembered some unspeakable horror, and how he'd slain it with the bow, with a simple perfect shot.

Another part warned him that admitting as much to someone he didn't know likely wasn't the best idea. "I can show you to it later, after we get back on track."

[SalmonMax]

"Back on track," Mei-Ying repeated numbly as she processed this most unexpected news.

He's another chosen of the Sun, like me! But wait, there are other beings who can wield Essence besides divine exalted. He could even be a Dragon-blood...wait, no, that bow is Sun's Tears, orichalcum. It would have belonged to a Solar in the First Age. And he found it in a tomb...perhaps guided there by memories like mine on his way to An-Teng...

She blinked. "Wait, back on track to An-Teng? You said you were going to An-Teng? To the north?"

[Seiya]

"Yes, though I admit my sense of direction hasn't been the same for some time now." He smiled.

"Still getting to aid a fellow traveler is always a boon, so it isn't such a bad thing I'd say."

He looked to Daiya and nodded. "My Daughter, Daiya."

[SalmonMax]

Mei-Ying nodded at Daiya, then said urgently to Seiya, "You can't go to An-Teng. It's a satrap of the Realm! The City of the Steel Lotus is little more than a playground for the Dragon-blooded! Whatever you're looking for, you must seek it elsewhere. They would call a Hunt the second they saw that weapon."

She tilted her head as she studied him. "Don't you know? What you are? Who you are?"

[Seiya]

"No, I don't."

He looked at her and nodded. "I remember bits and snippets of things from before, but the life I've lived, I have no reccollection of. Of Daiya, of anything before a few weeks ago, it's all blank."

"I just feel and know things, and Daiya has helped me."

[SalmonMax]

Once again Mei Ying's eyes strayed to the little girl, then back to Seiya.

"You can't remember your own daughter?" she asked in disbelief. "Why not? What happened to you?"

[Seiya]

"Our Caravan was attacked, I was injured but rose to fight again, and sent two of them away after a short battle, they called me something, it began with an "A"..." He knew the word, but not the context. Daiya had been rather closelipped on the subject.

[SalmonMax]

Mei-Ying's eyes darted to the scaly men, and she drew closer and lowered her voice. They might not know the speech of the Realm, but that one word was easily taught, and even those who did not abide by the Philosophy could be bought by promised rewards.

"Anathema," she finished for Seiya softly. "Yes...that is why An-Teng is a bad place for you to go. The Dragonblooded who rule the Realm hunt our kind down without mercy, and there are many in that province. Why were you planning to go there?"

[Seiya]

"That was where we were going initially, seemed like a good idea to finish our journey."

He looked at her. "Meeting you was a good thing then, I'd prefer to avoid putting my daughter in danger."

[SalmonMax]

Mei-ying smiled a confused, polite smile. "That's not really an answer, but I suppose your reasons for going are your own. If you're changing your plans now though, perhaps you'd be willing to show me that tomb? After we rest at these people's village, of course."

She gave the 'snake men' a gracious smile.

[Seiya]

"I can show it to you."

He smiled. "Why are you so interested in it, if I might ask?"

The way she kept focused on it made him wonder why she was seeking his home. It had been a tomb but wasn't any longer.

[Krul]

The three men spoke to the little girl a bit more, and then they began to walk off in the direction of the village, even as Saiya and Mei-Ying spoke as they took up the rear. The men lead the way, with Daiya remaining somewhere in between the two groups, so that she could speak with either.

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Meanwhile, elsewhere, a yellowed eyed man looked in a pool and nodded to his associates, including several other unusual individuals. The journey and meeting has been arranged, as desired and as directed.

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As they continued for a bit longer, the girl turned around to look at the two of them. "Daddy, you never gave the lady your name."

[Seiya]

"It still does not feel like mine Daiya." he smiled and looked to Mei-Ying. "I am Seiya, it is nice to meet you. Sorry for not telling you earlier."

[SalmonMax]

"It's all right," Mei-Ying answered, waving the apology off with a hand. "Your condition seems serious though. Were you injured, or is this some kind of side effect of becoming..."

She paused, then came to a decision. "...what we are? You asked why I was interested in the tomb...that's why. I'm like you. I came here seeking old knowledge, and old powers from the age before this."

[Seiya]

"I was injured yes, but I rose to defend my family still, that's all I know for sure. Daiya has told me of before, but it's as if it were someone else, not me."

When she mentioned before, he nodded. "I can help there, with knowledge. daiya has told me what I do know, no one has for an Age."

[Krul]

As they continued allow the way, following the three hunters back to their village, the two exalts spoke for a time. However, as they talked, they got closer, and at last stepped out of the jungle into a village built for somewhere of about 300 to 400 people.. all of them showing some signs of a snake about them.

[Seiya]

Seiya beheld the Villagers and smiled. They had done him no wrong, and as such had the benefit of the doubt with him, they had after all offered their hospitality. "Daiya, found out if there's somewhere where we can rest and refresh ourselves please." He looked to Mei-Ying. "Unless you have other needs to be met.."

[SalmonMax]

"No, those are my needs too," Mei assured him. She gazed around the village, taking in the simple construction, and the strange snakelike features of its inhabitants. "So...Seiya, if I understand you, you're saying your memories have been...replaced somehow by memories of the age previous to the Realm?"

She glanced at him. The fate seemed terrible to her, and yet she couldn't quite contain a leap of her heart. If that was true, he would be a virtual cornucopia of knowledge. Far more reliable and complete than her own fragmented and mostly dormant 'memories.'

[Seiya]

He nodded. "That's the majority of it. I remember how to make things, how the defense grid works, the workings of great cathedrals, of skyships."

He moved closer. "I remember the Primordial War, and much more."

[Krul]

As her father asked she turned back to the three men and spoke with them for several moments while Seiya and Mei-Ying spoke for a while. His responses to her questions no doubt increasing Mei-Ying's excitement each time.

Then Daiya turned back to them. "Daddy, they say there is a place, but they need to present you to the Chief and the Shaman, first."

[Seiya]

"Very Well Daiya." He looked to Mei-Ying. "I actually don't have a good feeling about this..."

[SalmonMax]

His apprehensive words snap Mei-Ying out of her blissful fantasy of long hours by a fire, interviewing someone who was, effectively, from the First Age. Oh, it left his daughter without a father, but...imagine what could be accomplished with that knowledge in the right hands!

She blinked at him owlishly, then realized what he'd said. "You don't? Why not? They seem friendly enough, or at least not hostile."

[Seiya]

"Something just tells me to be on guard. I don't think it is going to be bad but still I wouldn't be a warrior if I did not stay prepared."

[SalmonMax]

Mei-Ying frowned. The snakes that walked as men might still be part of the Realm, even this far south. Monks taught the Immaculate Philosophy even in remote lands, to inculturate them so that, decades or centuries later, when the Realm looked to their territory they found welcome rather than costly and time-consuming pacification.

Had they been recognized? She doubted the bow would be enough. Orichalcum looked like gold to untrained eyes, and there was nothing else that would have marked them as Anathema. Still.

"Have your daughter stand between us," Mei suggested. "If it comes to fighting, that may be the only safe place."

[Seiya]

He nodded. "Daiya stand here between us."

Together the trio did as they were bid, following their hosts to the shaman and the Chief, awaiting to see if things would go well, or poorly for them here.

[Krul]

Soon enough, the Chief and the Shaman appeared, both of them appeared to be much more snake in appearance the others, their bodies green, hairless and covered in scales, and regarded with deeper respect by those with fewer such traits.

After a moment of speech between them, the Shaman addresses you directly. "The stars spoke of your coming, they say you are dangerous to us, but also necessary, that in you is both salvation, and destruction.. what do you say to this?"

[SalmonMax]

Mei-Ying cut her eyes towards Seiya. He was still a stranger to her, despite their similar circumstances. She could speak for herself, but unless she specified that was what she was doing, they'd assume that whoever spoke first, spoke for hem both.

Finally she looked back at the shaman and said, "I have no wish to inflict any kind of destruction on you. I came this way to seek knowledge. I'm no danger to anything that is not a danger to me." Then, grudgingly, she qualified, "Not intentionally at least."

[Seiya]

Seiya nodded and echoed her words. "I do no harm to those who do not harm me. I am simply a blacksmith, traveling with my Daughter."

He looked to them, the strength of his conviction obvious in his eyes.

[Krul]

The shaman looked between the two of them a moment, then down at the young girl standing between them, and he nodded slightly. He then turned and spoke to the chief for several moments, before turning back to them again.

"Very well, tonight, you are welcome among us, under the laws of hospitality, but tomorrow, you must move onward."

[SalmonMax]

Mei-Ying bowed her head and said, "Thank you for your hospitality."

She looked up at the shaman then and added, "This prophecy you quoted...does it say how we will be necessary, or dangerous? Obviously, we'd rather be on the salvation side than the destruction side. Is there any assistance you need, for example?"

[Seiya]

Seiya looked at the shaman, waiting to hear the answer. "I am a blacksmith by trsde, and should you have any needs my means can meet, I'd be happy to see to them." He nodded. "Thank you for your hospitality."