A Faraway Victory

[Anastasia]

"That's interesting," Calley says, "I hope you're right. I don't think it's fair how all the oldest and biggest get to be the strongest. It's not fair adults get to decide everything, too."

[Ebiris]

"So long as they do their jobs well, we should respect them. If they fail, they can be supplanted by fresh perspectives, as happened with Kelemvor and Helm." Alicia reasons, before smiling. "And just remember, you'll spend far more of your life as an adult than you did as a child. One day you might find yourself on the other side of this conversation."

[Anastasia]

"I don't know. Adults seem sadder than children," Calley says, "Isn't that right?"

[Ebiris]

"That's how it should be. We adults have to shoulder our responsibilities so children needn't worry about anything. Even if we're not always successful, that's the ideal," Alicia says.

[Anastasia]

"That's wrong. People should be happy. Andrea's happy and she's an adult," Calley says, sounding unimpressed. "If paradise gives you a chance to be a child again as the reward to heal, then aren't adults doing something wrong?"

[Ebiris]

Actually from the empathic link Alicia's getting very little happiness and a whole lot of confusion from poor Andrea right now.

"But just as with mortals, that carefree childhood requires careful work on the part of others to be sustainable. And don't let Andrea's childish appearance fool you either - she's working hard herself to help Latha here, taking on responsibilities of her own to make Sylica run smoothly and learning what she can to take greater responsibilities in the future. My old familiar Marie is a courre just like Andrea, and even now she's visiting Dweomerheart, petitioning Mystra to be given a more mature form so she can work harder for everyone else."

[Anastasia]

"But if it's paradise, then how come everyone isn't children and things run themselves?" Calley questions right back, as pure, 100% confusion is felt from Andrea. "It's paradise, isn't it supposed to be perfect?"

[Ebiris]

"Ahh, perfection, that's an interesting word you used there Calley," she says. "There was once an archangel who believed he knew what perfection was, that perfect was he. He built the furnace that I and Syala later remade into Sylica. Now he resides in hell, ruling a realm he surely still considers perfect that you or I would recoil from. But it's not just grand differences between heaven and hell that disputes what perfection is. Everyone has their own ideas.

"Some people are quite happy to spend days and years and centuries in contemplation, in play, in creation. Others want more, they want a purpose. They want to contemplate over some grand question which will change everything. They want to build something that has a use. In a world where everything is already catered to, these people stagnate and feel worthless, despair sets in. Even when the day comes when all the forces of Hell and the Abyss and Shar and everything else that's bad in Creation have been profoundly defeated forever, on a day where my sword and spells have nothing to be raised against... well, I'd only be able to relax and play for a little while before I got bored."

She smiles now. "That's the greatest blessing of childhood. Everything's new, every day a new discovery, a new chance to learn. As you get older you stop seeing as much mystery in the world around you, you learn the answers. And so you need to reach further for things to fill your days with meaning. You need to find a purpose."

[Anastasia]

"A meaning...?" Calley trails off, "Mom looked for one, didn't she? She never found it until it was too late. Was that why Mom did what she did, why she never liked me?" A slight hesitation in Calley's voice at that, "Why she kept running away from me?"

[Ebiris]

Oh no! She didn't intend to take the conversation that way! "I don't know your mother's heart Calley, I'm sorry," she crouches down and gently pulls him towards her for a hug, though she's not insistent if he tries to shy away. "Not every adult is ready to be a parent as well. Some of us are still childish in ways."

[Anastasia]

Calley returns the hug, not saying anything else right away.

Andrea's confusion is still at the maximum.

[Ebiris]

Alicia holds Calley up until the point where he starts getting fidgety. Her own son never got to that age but she has enough experience with Jessica's children to know how it goes. "Andrea," she says, letting the boy go. "Why don't you show Calley some of your favourite places, and he can tell you about how things are in Balmuria? You two should have some fun and take your minds off things for a bit."

[Anastasia]

"Okay!" Andrea hops up to it, the two going off at that. Latha comes over once they're gone.

"What a strange thing," she says, "So like a child, yet so like something far more."

[Ebiris]

"Indeed," Alicia says. "But... I think you're right. After he's spent time with Andrea, I'll ask him about staying here, and we can go discuss things with his grandmother if he's amenable."

[Anastasia]

"I wish I wasn't," Latha mentions. "...I only pray he's not involved in all of what's coming. I fear it's too likely with 21 in the mix of this. If she turned her child into a weapon, need or not, I will see her punished for it."