Sylican morning

[Ebiris]

"Oh I like those, it was the half-formed bit that bothered me," Marie adds in cheerfully. "She's fine now anyway, can't even tell her apart from the real thing!"

"I'm glad to hear that Marie," Alicia says mildly before focusing on what actually matters. "Well the first instance was with Syala, you remember?" she asks her wife. "We were talking about the offer to relocate Sylica to Elysium when we become more powerful deities. It... I'm sure it was the realm itself, not anything from outside. It resonated and flowed through us. This place that always challenges us..." she says that more softly, echoing Syala's words. "I felt my wits sharpen afterwards as well, an expansion of consciousness."

[Anastasia]

Syala nods, "I thought the same, it would fit. It's also possible it was and what happened with Latha was another altogether." She sits back, "Antenora, what does your finely honed sense of logic tell us?"

To this Antenora merely shrugs. "In truth, I don't think we can discern that. What limits a being like Zaphkiel has can only be guessed at in the most broad terms. It's entirely possible Zaphkiel was able to act through Sylica or motivate it to act.  The only ones I can think of are that he cannot settle the question of good vs evil through his own fiat or to do so would cause effects as to make it undesirable, that he cannot destroy Shar or that it would likewise be undesirable in consequence, and with Ao this is entirely possible, and that he is not required to directly act, but instead act indirectly. He has no moral imperative to solve evil himself, nor perhaps any at all beyond his own sense of right and wrong."

"Which means...?" Jessica lets that hang rather gently.

"It means that as long as Zaphkiel is a factor in our estimations, we can't conclusive prove anything beyond what facts about him we can reasonably deduce from his actions and lack thereof, and understanding he may do things none of us are ever aware of. Ask a mortal farmer why no one cured his wife's fatal illness, even after he prayed to whom he worships and he could not tell you why his prayer went unanswered. Yet ask whom he prayed to and the answer is readily apparent. Like that, Zaphkiel's ultimate motives, goals and reasonings are unknown to us, as are his limitations."

[Ebiris]

Alicia listens along to Antenora until she comes to her conclusion. "There's another thing," she says, going through her memory of what just happened with Latha. "I almost lost it in the feeling of connecting to Latha, but I swear I heard 'these are my blessing'. Hmm..." she looks out over Syala's garden. "Triel was a servant of Zaphkiel when he made the furnace that would one day become our Sylica. That could be enough for a connection to go through, for Celestia to influence our realm."

She looks back to her companions, nodding to Jessica, "I'd intended to visit Celestia to learn more about Chronias's uncommonly bright radiance. We saw that just now but of course we were occupied with Zariel. It may be worth making a proper visit outside of the House of the Triad to ask one of our friends there about what's happening."

[Anastasia]

"This is strange," Syala hums, "Hold on, I'm going to ask Seira if anything like that happened to her."

"It could be," Latha says, gaze matching yours. "Perhaps we can find answers in Jovar? There the light of Chronias should be dazzling."

[Ebiris]

Marie nudges Antenora with her elbow while Alicia and Latha trade looks and wait for Syala to report back with anything she learns from Seira.

[Anastasia]

Antenora tilts her head back and up, "Yes, dear?"

[Ebiris]

Marie makes an unbelievably put upon face. "Alicia can Antenora go with you to Celestia as well? She'd really like to go!" she then simpers at her master.

"Oh, of course," Alicia looks over to the pair. "I was going to ask anyway, I know how much you like it there Antenora," she says pleasantly.

[Anastasia]

"Excellent," Antenora's smile grows, puffing up a bit to blow back Marie's bangs. "And since you were so helpful with that, afterwards I can take you to Mechanus as a reward. Wouldn't that be fun?"

[Ebiris]

"Is this what they mean when they say no good deed goes unpunished?" Marie asks, crossing her arms over her apron-covered chest.

[Anastasia]

"Nonsense," Antenora chuckles, "Alicia, Latha, I think Marie could use some time listening to the harmonies of the gears. Sitting still in deep meditation, listening to every song of them."

Latha merely glances at Marie, "Well..." she begins, drawing it out.

[Ebiris]

"Hey Jessica, didn't you say there was something strange going on with the Seldarine in Arvandor?" Marie asks, not even deigning to look at Antenora for that one. "Maybe we ought to send out an envoy to investigate that instead. It'd let Antenora be more useful instead of just taking a pleasure cruise in Celestia."

"Hmm..." Alicia hums at that in consideration, stretching out the tension... "But no, we have enough going on with this thing and finding a way to heal and then redeem Zariel. The Seldarine can announce what's happened in their own time."

[Anastasia]

"Yeah, Seira's had it happen to her," Syala announces, interrupting. "Hold on."

Attention turns to Syala, Antenora straightening up. "I do agree, we only have so many things and the Seldarine are friends. If we must know, we can ask them or Queen Morwel, she may know."

[Ebiris]

Alicia and Marie both refrain from further teasing of Antenora as they wait to hear more from Syala.

[Anastasia]

"Donald's the first time it's happened, but Seira's hypothesizing that it'll happen to other people she's close to. It would match what we know," Syala admits.

[Ebiris]

"Hmm. Something to watch out for," Alicia says, having a sip of her tea as she considers it. "Well regardless I'd rather stay safely in Sylica for the rest of today since those fights drained much of my strength, so we'll see about visiting Celestia in the morning."

"Your avatar's fresh, so if you're staying here why not send her out to do something?" Marie suggests, pulling out a piece of parchment from under her apron and studying it. Then she pauses and takes out a pair of spectacles from the same place and perches them above her cute little nose before she officiously studies the parchment. "Syala didn't you want to send your avatars to Lifasa to fly the flag together? You could do that."