A Faraway Victory

[Ebiris]

"We'll do what we can to spare him. There's room enough in Sylica for a child to grow up peacefully even with all our crusading and war," Alicia says.

[Anastasia]

A slight nod to that as...

Next move?

[Ebiris]

Wait a bit for either Jessica to get back or Calley and Andrea to finish, whichever comes first.

[Anastasia]

Calley and Andrea continue playing for an hour or two, finally wandering into Liberton for snacks at Jessica's. It's here you find them, standing to the side amid the business, nibbling on pastries.

Go ahead.

[Ebiris]

Alicia's avatar joins them, a pastry of her own in hand. "I always liked the Balmuria version of elf bread," she says, having a bite. "Even if I know it's nothing like the real thing, it's still tasty. So how do you like Sylica, Calley?"

[Anastasia]

"It's okay," Calley says, "People want to be happy here, but it's not for a child like me. It's for grown ups. Grown ups who did things like my Mom, isn't it? That's your ideal. But it's also for families and children, because that's Syala's ideal. Are you the body and Syala the soul?"

[Ebiris]

"It's not quite that simple. Syala like violence and heroics, and I like families and children as well. We're not two halves of one whole, we're our own existences that overlap," she explains. He's not really wrong that it's not for him, though neither is all the power and knowledge Sylvie foisted onto him. She pauses a moment to finish her elf bread, crumbs and sugar-dust vanishing, "Are you ready to go home now?"

[Anastasia]

"I am," Calley agrees, "Are you going to send me there?"

[Ebiris]

"I'll come with you," she says. "I'd like to have a chat with your grandmother and Whimsical Sweets. About making sure you're kept safe and no one takes advantage of you." Honestly what he said about Sylica not being for him was correct, it's not right for her to try and sequester him and his remaining family here, even under the guise of safety. But she can arrange some extra  help around Balmuria in looking out for him.

[Anastasia]

Calley takes your hand, "You can teleport out of your demiplane? When will you make it a real plane?"

[Ebiris]

"Later," she answers with a little smile, taking his hand. "Andrea, you can go back to Latha now, I'm sure she has things for you to do," she says to the courre, leading Calley out of the bakery and around the corner before she opens a gate to take them to the garden of Calley's home on the prime.

[Anastasia]

It's a rather nice garden, it even has a hedge maze. No one's immediately around, but Calley yawns and floats up. "C'mon, it's fun to go in the windows."

[Ebiris]

"I've gone through a few windows in my time, though they usually didn't survive it," Alicia mentions, recalling a fight against an assassin devil back in Kelara. Nonetheless she flies up after Calley to follow him.

[Anastasia]

Up to the third floor, a peek in. Anna's pacing back adn forth here - and Calley waves, getting her to look and startle. A hand to her chest as she exhales, opening the window. "Calley!" She says, "Where did you go off a...a..." She stares at you several moments, before stepping back and bowing deeply. "My apologies, Saint Alicia."

[Ebiris]

Reminder I sent Dawnhope here to tell Anna where Calley is after he showed up. (Dawnhope should also probably still be kicking around since I never retrieved her)