Sneaking into Avernus

[Anastasia]

"If you can waken her to speak for herself," Tyr says, solemnly. "She is wounded deeply, profoundly."

[Ebiris]

"I confess that was another reason for us to come here, in case specialist aid was needed. But we're not helpless in that regard. Empress Sulia, can you have a proper look at her now we're safely away from Hell?" she asks their companion.

[Corwin]

"I must have misunderstood you, because it sounds cruel under the circumstance," Seira says with an uneasy mix of respect and concern. "Zariel is not in condition for this. Even if her fate was to be imprisoned in Celestia, I don't expect for undue suffering to be visited upon her. Certainly not here! Won't you take my word as guarantee for her own, until she is well enough to awaken and speak herself?"

[Anastasia]

"Yes, let her at least not suffer, not even this is..." Sulia comes forward, resting a hand on Zariel's body - and another appears over hears. A gnarled, broken hand, a broken-bodied man there. The two share a momentary look, Sulia's face reddening along with Ilmater's pained, twisted face.

[Ebiris]

Alicia discreetly averts her eyes as Sulia and Ilmater share a tender moment.

[Corwin]

"It happens to the best of us," Seira mutters, resisting the urge to shuffle in place. "But please, don't let it keep you from trying again."

[Anastasia]

For a moment two pairs of eyes meet and then Empress Sulia merely says, "By all means, Ilmater," she murmurs.

In a broken, rasping voice, soft-spoken, "I can dull her pain, but she would need remarkable steps to ever recover from this state. She used the last of the divinity she had to save her life, but only just managed it."

With his strong and yet bloodied arms, Ilmater takes Zariel in his arms, like a baby carried by a parent. Her expression smooths over at that, "Sulia, Alicia, Seira. Walk with me," he says, starting to wander away, in a shuffling, limping gait.

[Ebiris]

"Wait here Latha, please," Alicia asks before she follows Ilmater, just a step behind on his left and matching his pace.

[Corwin]

Seira nods to Donald and after a long look at Tyr, follows suit. Her mind reaches out to Amaryl, and she relays, 'We got out, all of us. Mission is a success. We're currently on Celestia, so let Elle know not to worry.' At her avatar's prompting, she adds mischievously, 'And please check if anything nice got plane shifted near the entrance.'

[Anastasia]

"Of course," Latha says, letting it go at that.

Donald returns the nod and waits.

'I'm relieved to hear it,' Amaryl sends back. 'I'll let everyone know. Oh, Emily dropped by to pick something up from her room, she sends her love.'

Sulia follows at Ilmater's side, the four of you walking. In a step the bustle of before is gone, as you walk amid a forest now. It is sun-dappled and peaceful, bird song a constant refrain.

"Zariel is trapped because she needs her soul restored, but it cannot be restored so long as her divine nature is damaged. Her divine nature cannot be restored, because her soul is damaged. To repair both requires repairing both of them at the same time, together."

As Ilmater walks, his body breaks. Sores appear and heal, bones snap and mend, cuts bleed and seal, burns blister and fade. Despite his shambling walk, none of this stops him and he carries Zariel without the slightest shaking of his arms. Empress Sulia lays a hand on Ilmater's shoulder, expression pained.

[Ebiris]

Alicia of course feels admiration for Ilmater's stoicness and willingness to endure the pain of others so they won't have to. They took advantage of it once before when Saul laboured under that Balor's curse as well, and she hopes she can repay his efforts somehow.

"I know that Zariel was the foremost among Torm's champions before. Is her divinity wholly from her time as Lord of Avernus, or did she possess the spark before?" she asks. Quasi-powers are a thing after all.

[Anastasia]

Ilmater and Sulia share a look, long and inconclusive. Nothing is said, but Sulia's hand stays where it is.

"No, but only because of Ao's judgment," Ilmater shakes his head, voice cracking with his bones, shivering with frostburn. Hunks of him vanish only to regrow in an instant, "There are many worthy quasi powers or even demi powers who will never have the chance. Zariel was one. Many are not willing to risk eternity as a hunefer should Ao rule against them. Your recent elevations are because the risk and the inevitable losses are unavoidable, so that we may oppose Shar more fully. Alicia, Mystra would have long mourned were you condemned to that fate. To invest in one so far, to grow close to them, to support them and to see them condemned, beyond the aid of any? That is a pain that wounds not the body, but the soul."

Looking up, towards the ever-present light of Chronias, "Before the Incarnation of Law vanished, it was different. Rarer as Creation was far more youthful and growing, but far more likely to succeed. Should one Incarnation reject, another could be appealed to for mercy or a reversal of the judgment. It was seen as a temporary chastisement, one that would be reversed in good time by another Incarnation. But as the Incarnations grow ever more distant and the Incarnation of Law has left us, it only Ao's judgment left."

"A cold, cruel judgment," Sulia declares, voice firm. "I would have rather suffered oblivion than become a hunefer."

"Ao's judgment is not all bad. Ao allowed you to rise," Ilmater's pained expression manages the faintest smile. Sulia's own expression softens at that.

[Ebiris]

"Then there's things like the child of Malcanthet and Talos, the Neverborn..." Alicia says, face twisting in disgust. "But we're digressing..." she too looks up at Chronias and her expression smooths out. "So we're still left with the issue of how to heal Zariel's soul and her divinity. I know magic can't touch on matters of the divine, so it won't be a matter of finding the right spell, will it?"

[Corwin]

"I tried to do what I could," Seira voices. "It was a first of a kind situation for me, so I tried to stabilize her divine spark and soul with an elemental harmony ritual, supported with healing magic. I can manage a small amount of it, after all. But I only managed to stop the bleeding and help Zariel regrow an arm, and even then I suspect that was mostly her own effort. Is there anything to be done now? It hasn't been that long, and I can take us to the exact spot on Astral where it happened. Perhaps between all of us, we could manage something?" She frowns, adding, "The only other idea I had was to contact her soul directly through a souped-up derivative of Dream. And it still seems likelier to work than appealing our case to an Incarnation."

[Corwin]

Snapping her fingers, Seira asks, "Hey, how about a quick and dirty fix? Say one of us makes Zariel a proxy? Would that jump-start the divine spark in her?"