The Way Ahead

“Who am I?” Edwin was taken aback, “Who are you? And where have you been? I’ve been here for probably a week. Have you just been asleep or something?”

The nymph glared at Edwin suspiciously, eyes narrowing as she presumably Identified him. Well then, he’d return the favor.

Enchanting Hydromantic Tender-Muse

So she had an actual Class, then. Interesting. He wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, but it seemed significant.

“An… Alchemist? I didn’t… huh. Curious…” Her voice was soothing and soft, and Edwin had to wrench his brain into order to avoid being lulled into complacency. It didn’t even feel like a Skill, or did it? Was he just that bad at paying attention to people when they talked? He hoped not, “Not a supplicant, then?”

“Uh, no. I suppose not. I was just trying to clean up after a hunt, I didn’t know you were in there, my fair lady.” Surprise notwithstanding, manners never hurt, “You surprised me is all. I am Edwin.”

She shifted her posture in a way that was probably significant but was lost on Edwin. Was she trying to be more formal as well? She was standing straighter now, feet lightly touching the surface of the now-still pond, “Ah yes. Naturally. As is only natural. My presence is naturally quite surprising to those who may not have been anticipating my presence. Your apology is accepted. What brings you, supplicant Edwin, to my spring in these fine woods?” She looked around at the clearing, assessing the surroundings.

Edwin had to choke back a smile. He may be nearly completely oblivious to virtually all nonverbal cues, but nearly wasn’t completely, and he knew all too well the signs of someone desperately bluffing their way through a conversation in the vague hope they’d figure out what was going on midway through. His overall fear of the nymph fell a fair bit, and while he still was somewhat wary of her, he couldn’t resist the urge to have a bit of fun with her, “Why is it not obvious, my lady? The same reason all of those who came before me have sought your presence. Have you truly forgotten the past so quickly?”

There was a brief, delicious moment of absolute panic on the Muse’s face as she attempted to stammer a reply, “N-no. Of course not, I would never…” her eyes narrowed and she glared at Edwin, though without any real malice, “You! You would play such a joke upon one as fine as I?”

Edwin couldn’t quite hold it in, and he started chuckling. That got a slight twitch on the corner of the fey’s mouth, which only made him start laughing even more. Fortunately, it seemed it was a twitch of amusement rather than annoyance, and she didn’t strike him on the spot. He recovered quickly, composing himself before he got too carried away with his laughter, “I’m sorry. I just… understand how you feel, all too well,” he gave a momentary bow- he nearly extended his hand to shake but that didn’t seem like a good idea given the sorts of stories about lake-dwellers drowning careless people- and looked the nymph in the eye, “My name is Edwin. I came out here, into the Verdant, as a chance to find some freedom in the wilds, escape those who would do me harm, and to hone my capabilities. And you are?”

It was a bit of a risk, treating an in all likelihood very capricious and powerful individual as something approaching a peer, but he was on dry land and there was no way he’d be sticking around here if he’d have to deal with someone who demanded excessive levels of respect and supplication. If she did want him to treat her like a local god or something, well… Better to get it out of the way early than to put even more time into his work, only to be forced to abandon it. Still, it seemed to pay off, as she didn’t immediately blast him with water or anything.

“I’m… Inion,” she eventually offered, “And you said that this is the Verdant? On Joriah?”

“…Yes? Did you expect to be elsewhere?”

She shook her head in partial exasperation, “I merely did not expect such a drastic change from the last time I was awake. Do you happen to know how many years have passed?”

“Lady Inion, I haven’t even the faintest clue as to how to even begin to find that out.”

“Fair… fair.” She sat down on the surface of the water and indicated Edwin should do the same. He mentally shrugged and took a seat on a relatively smooth stone next to him, “What year is it currently?”

Edwin hopelessly shrugged, “I don’t know, actually. I’m not local, just passing through.”

“I see. Do the Connacht still hold sway? Did the Vossali conquer them?” she inquired, and got only a blank stare in response each time, “I see. What kingdom holds the Rhothos, then?” Huh. That was the first time a name had been translated. Well, not counting the coins, at least, though did those really count?

“Uh, no kingdom. The Lirasian Empire rules the Rhothos, and I think the entire continent other than what’s inside the Verdant.” He hazarded, hoping that it wouldn’t upset her too much, “Did you… enjoy the Connacht’s presence?”

Inion raised her hands and raised and lowered them in inverse unison, one going up as the other went down. It took a moment before he realized she was imitating scales, “Somewhat. They knew how to treat me properly-” she shot a glance at Edwin, who merely chuckled, “But they similarly insisted on always holding festivals and rituals in my pond, and always insisted on blood sacrifices no matter how much I told them I didn’t want it. Leaves a foul taste in my waters. The Lirasian Empire, though…” she thought for a moment, “Oh! Whatsisname Liras! That bird-guy, whatever they’re called.”

“Avior?” Edwin hazarded.

“Ya, them! Back before I fell asleep, all the druids were trying to do some ritual to fight off Conqueror something-Liras, Kares, Arras, Sarris, uhh….”

“Do you mean Xares?”

“That’s the one! Xares Liras, some pompous featherbeak, wanting to expand the reach of his kingdom onto Korizan,” there was that name-translation again, “but last I heard we were supposedly holding him off or something. I may have some very faint memories about being asked to help with something like that, but… no, I don’t remember. How long has he been in charge?”

“Some two thousand years, from what I’ve heard.”

“Two millennia? Really?” for a moment, Edwin thought Inion might freak out, and was preparing to have to fight her, when, “Oh, thank the gods. That means Athirne should have returned by now. Curse that man.”

“Returned? Returned where? What did he do?”

“I… don’t think I can tell you that, but he didn’t do anything too bad, we just… didn’t get along?”

Inion was apparently a terrible liar, but Edwin didn’t want to pry into what he presumed was some form of relationship history, “So then… You were asleep for two thousand years and I woke you up somehow?”

She shrugged, “Ya, I guess so.” She flipped upside down, so she was laying on her back while maintaining eye contact with Edwin. Her leaf-woven outfit wasn’t perfectly concealing, so Edwin awkwardly looked off to the side slightly. It wasn’t lost on Inion, though, and a playful grin crossed her face, “What’s the matter? Don’t like what you see?”

“Could we… talk about something else? Like, anything else?”

“Aww, but what better way to get to know each other? Back in my day, I’ll have you know, we-”

“I have at least two more shovels full of guts from my deer, and there’s plenty of room in your pond if you feel like continuing that sentence.”

Inion shuddered, cutting off whatever she was about to say and started pouting slightly, “You’re no fun.”

“Look, could you at least lay on your front or something so I can look at you without feeling awkward?” He returned his gaze to the nymph, who had thankfully obliged with his request, “Thanks. Not that I can’t appreciate it, just… context. Also, I’ve heard way too many stories about water nymphs to really trust you yet.”

She rolled her eyes at him, pretending to sag with sadness, “I’m insulted! But fine. I’ll play along… for now.” She said suggestively, then switched to a more bouncy tone of voice, one which reminded Edwin more of a burbling book than a serene pond, “But I’ve apparently been asleep for ages. Tell me what’s going on in the world! Even the druids never really told me anything.”

“Well… there’s a big empire, conquered like half the planet, the Rhothos river is flooding,”

“Oh! I love springtime. So much free reign!” she traced a finger along the surface of her pond, then stopped, hesitating, “Weird… Something’s stopping me from feeling past… just a moment, you don’t mind?”

Before Edwin could say anything, the nymph turned into water, splashing back into her little pool. He started to get up, but Inion returned before he could fully rise. This time, instead of all the drama from before, she just surfaced as though ascending from a dive, breaking through the water before returning to her lounging position atop its surface, “There’s some barrier right at the trees,” she pouted, “Doesn’t let me past. That wasn’t there before. Also, the trees are so far back. It’s all so tiny.” When Edwin didn’t provide whatever response she was apparently expecting, she dismissed him with a wave of her hand, “Humans,” to which Edwin could only mutely shrug as he sat back down.

“So what about you? I presume you’re some kind of fey or nature spirit, a nymph of some kind?” he didn’t know what the proper words would be, but thank heavens for Polyglot, taking care of that sort of thing. He idly wondered what language it was that Inion spoke. Was it some fey language or just really old human speech? Whatever the case, she must have had a Skill similar to it herself for her speech to come out so decidedly non-accented.

“You’re pretty well informed for a human. Have you met another naiad before?”

“No, just… stories, essentially. Probably more false than they’re true, honestly.” Right, naiad. Not nymph, those were tree-bound, “And naiad? Is that because you’re water-bound?”

Inion did the scale-weighing thing again, “Kinda. Nymphs are bound to living things, but naiads are more like kami, we bind to objects, most commonly- what do you mean, warning? What did I- oh, right. Well, I didn’t need that anyway? It’ll be fiiiine.”

“Wait, a warning? From what? The System?”

“Ya... we can’t talk about some stuff while we’re… nope, can’t talk about that either. Just, knowledge that shouldn’t be known here. The System is very picky about that. It’s a pity, too, because I miss… nope, that would be a warning too. Okay, my turn to say we change topics!”

So, there was something that fey weren’t able to talk about? It included wherever they ‘returned’ to, mentioning that naiads bound to objects was off limits? Could fey just not talk about themselves or their home? Well, time to test that.

“So… fey?”

“Ya! Fey!” she sagged, “Not a lot I can tell you there, though, unless… you already know it?”

Well, that seemed to both be partial confirmation-

No. Bad Edwin. That doesn’t tell you anything new, just agrees what you already observed. No black swan fallacy here.

-but also a great way to put him on the spot. Darn it, he though he was done with quizzes! Okay, think. Fey in mythology and fantasy, regarding naiads- But those were Greek!- shut up, brain, and other stuff, “Are you from some place that’s like Joriah, but really extreme and full of wild animals and other fey? That humans can sort of visit, but return different in some way? Then naiads bind to objects, like rivers or rocks or winds?”

“Nah, weatherbound are called Sylphs. You do seem to know about Arcadia, though…” Inion seemed to be waiting for something with bated breath, only breathing a sigh of relief after more than a few seconds had passed, “Nice. Anyway, ya! Arcadia is where we’re from, and we get to Joriah through… ways. Do you know what those ways are?” Edwin shook his head, “Ah, no matter. Anyway, place of a buncha life, we sometimes come here, some bind to trees and bushes and other silly stuff, others pick waters and stones, all that good stuff. Okay, my turn! How’d you get to be an Alchemist? First one of those I’ve seen.”

“Really?”

“Ya. Closest they came that I saw was Herbalist, and even those were low-grade stuff.”

“Wait, how do you know what an alchemist is if you’ve never seen one before?”

“…S’a secret,” she mumbled.

Edwin raised an eyebrow, but decided not to pursue the matter. It probably wouldn’t affect him, “Well, I guess technology has progressed a lot in two thousand years. I just was… offered the Path, evolved my Improvisation into Alchemy.”

“Riiiight. Forgot about that. Curious that it’d pick Improvisation though and just give basic Alchemy.”

“Anyway, Physical Alchemist path, Alchemy Skill, here I am. Hmmm…. You mentioned Herbalist? I don’t suppose I might be able to get some help gathering up some herbs for that sort of thing? That’s actually why I came to the Verdant instead of some other secluded place, I wanted to benefit from the magical plants. I don’t know what I might be able to provide in return, but there’s probably something.” A mischievous smile crept across Inion’s face, and after a second, Edwin realized what she was thinking, “No. Not that.”

The naiad stuck her tongue out at him, then seemed to genuinely consider it for a moment, “Ah, sure. It’ll be good to stretch my legs a bit, see what’s changed, all that stuff.”

“Wait, you don’t want anything in exchange?”

She shrugged, “Naaahhh. You mortals can be cute to watch scurry around, trying to figure out new stuff. Tossing your little plants in a cauldron and try singing at it to cure a fever. It’s adorable. So long as I get to watch, it’s totally worth it. Deal?”

“…Why do I feel like this is a bad idea?”

“Because alchemy is an awful idea to begin with! Do you know what the mortality rate is for alchemists?”

“I’m going to hazard a guess that it’s not as high as for people who readily make innocent-sounding deals with fey.”

“…Touché.”