Walking to Rosewater

[Anastasia]

Empress Sulia hugs you, gentle and loose. "I should come again," she agrees, still wearing your appearance.

Sharess rises as well, "It has been fun, but I'll leave you two twins to enjoy it. Or give Syala a birthday present."

Sulia reddens and then says, "Nonsense. One Alicia is all anyone could handle, cat."

The warm, sensual laughter of Sharess is heard as she walks out and departs, gone.

[Ebiris]

"Ever the minx," Alicia says as Sharess departs, amused. She stands up now herself that it's just the two of them, "I should return to Sylica anyway, there's still much to be done in the aftermath of what happened earlier, and other errands to worry about. I'll see you again soon, Sulia?"

[Anastasia]

With a shimmer Sulia is herself again. "Soon," she promises. "Give me warm regards to Syala, Antenora, Latha, Jessica and all of them.

[Ebiris]

"I will, they'll be happy for it," she smiles, stepping out of Evergold and taking no water with her, body bone dry once she steps on dry land. Her equipment reappears on her and she gives Sulia one last wave before opening a gate back to Sylica and stepping through.

She doesn't linger long though, while Alicia herself holds the fort back home (and passes on Sulia's warm regards) her avatar remains busy and takes a trip to Dweomerheart next so as to consult with Mystra on the day's events, Violet's magic, and Malcanthet's weakness.

[Anastasia]

You meet with Mystra beneath the night sky of Dweomerheart, magic auroras reaching high into the sky. A rainbow of colors, all watched from atop one of the many mage towers here. Mystra merely sits on thin air, her gaze on the spectacle above.

"Alicia," she calls, "Join me and speak your heart's content."

[Ebiris]

"Thank you," Alicia says, sitting next to Mystra on thin air, her posture similar. "There's a lot to talk about in terms of lore and magic, but I think first of all I just need to unburden myself a little. I thought I had a good plan and it was well executed, and yet everything was predicted and accounted for, made to work for Malcanthet and Violet's advantage. My strengths were made into a weakness, and though I overcame in the end, it doesn't change that I was unwittingly dancing to their tune. I felt used. Played."

[Anastasia]

Mystra merely nods at that, "I understand all too well." She continues to study the beauty above, a riot of colors and magic forever surging upwards. "To be understood, to be manipulated like that, to have your sense of control and purpose taken away to serve the needs of another; this grates and burns, both the ego and the soul. We all strive so very hard, and yet another made you a mere pawn in a greater plan."

A moment before Mystra taps her chest with two fingers, dead center. "Like the sour mix of fear and anger, leavened with the taste of bile in the back of your throat. We're supposed to be better than that."

[Ebiris]

"It was all for nothing anyway, I won in the end and got everything I came for. It was only a fleeting victory for Malcanthet, but it still mattered because at least in that moment I was nothing more than a cog in a mechanism working towards her purposes," she looks up at the mystical aurora as she ruminates on that. "I'd made my own analysis of her that I factored into my plans and it was completely wrong, while she read me like an open book. Neither victory nor defeat can take away from that, and you're right how it burns. Has it ever happened to you?" Now she looks at Mystra, the question perhaps impertinent but it's both a chance to learn from another's mistakes, and a way to gain comfort and solidarity in a pain shared.

[Anastasia]

"Yes." Mystra answers with a word, "My champion..." she trails off, a short silence of both of you lost in the mysteries of magic above. "At times we are all victims of such things. We are all smart and wise beyond compare, and gifted with countless eons of experiences. Yet in such contests there are still clean wins and losses, times where all the intelligence you have is trumped by another."

There's a pause here, "My greatest mistakes are when someone uses me to do something in the heat of the moment. My power is great within my limits, but I am not beyond doing foolish things in a moment of anger." Here a dry, unhappy chuckle is heard. "To slay one who had slaughtered my current mortal lover, who had desecrated my temples, who had finally made a mistake so my avatar could crush him. Little did I know he carried an artifact of righteousness on him, one that would only be destroyed if the Mother of Magic's own power destroyed it. In my wrath over this mortal's audacity, I sent a beam of silver fire on him without looking further. I worked right into his purposes."

A pause again, "It was a plan brilliant in its simplicity. Another of his cult had found the artifact but he himself never used magic to deal with it, never once did anything but speak mundane messages to a few trusted others about it. He only laid hands on it moments before facing me. He knew exactly what he was doing, and rightly guessed that in that moment, my desire to bring about justice and vengeance would overcome my better senses. A suicidal plan, a plan that cost him dearly, but served his master and gave him an unquestioned win. I was bested by a slightly more refined version of taunt the ogre."

[Ebiris]

Alicia listens to Mystra's story, recalling before her mention of mortal lovers. It's a strange thing to accept, hardly something that ever came up in church, but Mystra's said before how she likes to be reminded of her humanity.

She leans her side against Mystra's so they're touching now, their positions not quite right for a comforting hug but still it passes warmth and companionship between them.

"It was the same for the ritual earlier. They were too far away for me to see their magic with arcane sight until I made myself titanic, and by then I'd committed to the attack confident that what I considered chaff would be slain and shown the foolishness of standing on a battlefield of the gods. For both of us it was impetuousness and rushing that led to evil's victory. Taking a bit more time and deliberation makes the difference, doesn't it?"

[Anastasia]

There is no resistance. In fact, Mystra puts her arm around you. It's companionship, shared and offered freely. The fact that you're out of position is odd, yet it still works like it should, somehow.

"You understand that. This a lesson for you, a growing pain of your powers, your potential and your limits." Mystra says as she looks skyward. "So often thought defeats action, and has won before the actions are even taken."

[Ebiris]

"Action usually serves me well," Alicia nods, her arm going around Mystra's back in turn. "And it's so viscerally satisfying. But yes, lessons were learned, and deliberation needs its due."

They sit like that for a moment before she speaks again. "I remember I had concerns about gnomish spellgems. Magic and power earned without experience and pain. Violet's talent is a further refinement on the concept, but it's not the only one either. Sylvie passing her talents on to her son... how many other rare and secret magics are there that allow for such things?"

[Anastasia]

As the two of you hold one another, gazes up at the sky above, "There's enough. Even a common spell can manage a mimicry of it: Imbue With Spell Ability. Do you feel it's a mistake to use such powers, Alicia?"

[Ebiris]

"I suppose like all magic it depends? That's one I would often use on Marie so she could better serve me. A familiar itself gains power from the master that way. But such things are exchanges, temporary and revocable," she says. "I even picked up that talent specifically so I can designate temporary familiars which can greatly improve someone's defence and give them surprising skill at arms.

"Compared to being able to gift an entire squad of soldiers with an archmage's repertoire it isn't much. And if an archmage has to be captured and sacrificed to have their skill copied into others it turns such power into a threat for any with desirable abilities."

[Anastasia]

"Mm." A soft noise, "Have you bestowed on any of your faithful the ability to use a spell freely?" she asks, "It is not an uncommon reward."