Onward with war

[Corwin]

"I'm not going into any details just yet, but he intends to test myself and a few others. I'd be honored to have any of you at my side, though given how events turned out I think it's best if Amaryl helped represent the Cauldron in this." Seira returns Sanzha's smile. "Ah, and you don't need to wait on my return to ascend, so don't worry about that. It'll be a pleasant surprise."

[Anastasia]

Lady Sanzha giggles, "My, my, what an invitation."

[Corwin]

"I do try. And since I've asked this inappropriate question before and we got rudely interrupted, any reason beyond nostalgia that you haven't moved closer to the heavens's view on things?"

Despite ruling over one with likeminded friends, Seira doesn't have to say.

[Anastasia]

Lady Sanzha smiles at this, "Why, is there a reason you haven't moved closer to my view on things?"

After a beat or two she considers and adds, "What is strength, Seira? We marid see strength as the flowing freedom of water. Water gives life, grows crops and sustains all. Yet water can also be a tempest that drowns and washes away what is precious."

[Corwin]

"It's not about what it is, for me," Seira muses. "More like... given that water can nurture or harm, what is it that you want it to do more? If you had to choose your favorite, not to the exclusion of all else, but just to like something more, would you be equally fine with a tempest that drowns people and the water that is sustenance for life?"

[Anastasia]

To this Lady Sanzha shakes her head, "Both are parts of Water, Seira. I am Water. You are Good. Water holds both Princes of Elemental Good and Elemental Evil. Do you understand? I was the Padisha of the Marid, of all the currents and flows of my people."

A pause, the two of you exchanging a look. Lady Sanzha rises, eyes closed as water swirls around her. At first a gentle stream around her, little more than rain droplets moving. Then it speeds up, becoming a tempest of floods around her before ceasing. "Have you ever heard of the madalani?"

[Corwin]

"I have academic knowledge, as you'd expect. But I haven't seen one in practice... or is that about to change?"

[Anastasia]

"I know many things, Seira. Not all of my secrets are old and worthless." It's all she says, a smile as she turns to go. Though she does hesitate a moment, "Be careful and don't die."

[Corwin]

"I'll do my best!"

[Corwin]

Stuff I'm waiting on:
Oraga's return, Kascha's return, information from prisoners Marianne and Lyris managed to take (we might send Valar's forces after their masters!), forces from Morwel, forces from Lathander, information about Earth from the Great Xorn to pass on to my friends there and to Yan-C-Bin.

Stuff I want Elle, Lagann and Honeydip to do:
Go to the Balmuria Prime while Elle loads up on the portal network spells, Honeydip helps with defensive temple designs and training ideas while Lagann helps make those defenses a reality and adds his knowledge of architecture, traps and machinery.
I also want Elle to handle approaching the favorable mortal governments on the Prime to smooth things over, promise our continued support and see if there's anything we can do better. And, of course, a slight reorganization to bring Ranbar and Laurenal in closer cooperation for efficiency and what not, so that next attack they'll be able to spot it quicker and respond in strength without my direct intervention.

Stuff I want Donald, Agathaiel and Kascha (once she returns) to do:
Recruit various Aurora potentials that can either help give us information for strikes on Fire or Earth or those interested in freeing slaves from shitty slavers. Hanna was okay with giving us that information, so we should be covered. Starting with the valkyries should be nice.

[Anastasia]

We'll cover the immediate interrogation of Marianne and Lyris's prisoners if you like, since we're basically waiting on Alicia here and Eb's late.  Unless you'd rather wait or do something else quick first.

[Corwin]

Let's cover that, sure.

[Anastasia]

Actually there's Eb, so let's do that now and get that rolling. We'll come back to this as needed.

Soon enough Alicia arrives and...

Go ahead, Seira.

[Corwin]

"Thank you for coming!" Seira greets Alicia and her sister. "Jessica, it's lovely to see you. I'm terribly sorry, but would you mind waiting a few minutes while I discuss something with Alicia in private? It's about certain secrets that don't belong to me."

[Ebiris]

Alicia nods to Jessica. "I mostly brought her along because travelling alone can be dangerous even for us. Especially for us, even," she says to Seira.