One step forward and many to go

[Anastasia]

"It's gotten worse in the past days," Oberuth admits, "The tempo has been silent for two decades, and now it's become more." He closes his eyes again and rests back, "Events are moving. That much is not in doubt."

[Corwin]

That's... not a yes? Not a no, either. She'll just table it.

"I brought it up since it occurs to me that Ajan might be a good resource for both points of interest," Seira voices. "He might know about Io, and he did display exceptional power. True, he's chained down, but given who he is the jailer of, he would not be an ordinary dragon."

[Ebiris]

"Ajan's far from normal, that's a good catch," Alicia agrees.

[Corwin]

"As for Balmuria itself, it might be good to look in on Marianne discreetly," Seira muses. "If Celestia tells us others are ready to step up, perhaps some of them merely have the potential for great and terrible things, not already standing on the same stage."

[Anastasia]

"I can ask him," Oberuth says, "I accept regardless...just..." He sits back, eyes shut. "Let me rest a few minutes."

[Corwin]

"Kascha was telling us about those beds back on Aurora, in the hospital," Seira drawls, glancing over at Amaryl. "Do you think we could ask to make use of one, if only to see if it's a good stopgap measure?"

[Ebiris]

"Oh, I hadn't thought of her," Alicia perks up. "Yes. There's Sylian, whoever Io has empowered... I was thinking Sylvie for the last. But she used to work with Marianne too, didn't she? So there's a link there."

[Anastasia]

"I'll see to it," Amaryl rises, glancing over. "Let him sleep." she adds, then goes off.

[Corwin]

"There is indeed," Seira agrees. With the matter resolved, she says, "Hey, Alicia, something else came up earlier. Remember my message about Chan? Seems like our intelligence was right, and Chan is ready to push Yan-C-Bin further. Not quite a decisive battle for the fate of Air, but she did ask for my help in knocking over his Raven Fortress of Solitude. I told her that you and Sulia might be interested." Grinning, she asks, "Is there interest? We can go in a couple days with no problem, her original schedule was weeks from now."

[Ebiris]

"I'd be happy to help with that, I'll bring Antenora along if you and Chan feel it needs that level of strength brought to bear," Alicia agrees. "We could do that with Sulia before we properly start looking into proxies for dealing with Zariel."

"I can visit Balmuria and look in on Marianne if you want," Marie volunteers. "Be nice to see the old place again."

[Corwin]

"I was thinking the same thing," Seira tells Marie. "Perhaps we could go together, if our schedules allow it?"

But the important decision concerns Air, and she says, "I don't really think it needs that much strength, but we could use more practice in fighting together. Getting used to each other's strengths and weaknesses and all that. Plus if Yan-C-Bin shows up to defend it, I'm not waiting on Chan. We'll have a shot at taking him out this way."

[Ebiris]

"Yeah, I'd like that!" Marie smiles back at Seira. "We ought to hang out more together Seira, have some fun back in the old Balmuria. Eat some fish!"

Alicia closes her eyes a moment before deciding to let it slide. Marie was saying recently how she missed the seafood there. "Well, you can also check in on Sylvie's son while you're there. We had reports from Jessica's last visit that he'd suddenly acquired tremendous skill in arcane and martial fields. There could be greedy eyes on him," she suggests. "And anyway, if Chan thinks this Raven Fortress requires a goddess to assault, it must be defended by more than just common elementals."

[Corwin]

"An army of ridiculously powerful and huge ravens on top of the elementals. Chan likely realized the same thing we had, that instead of throwing an army of her own at it, we would be enough."

[Ebiris]

"I wonder how they got ravens that big. Do you think they might just be rocs with black feathers?" Marie guesses.

"I'd be more worried of a roc than a giant raven anyway. Ravens aren't the most fearsome sort of birds you can get in a fight with," Alicia says. "But yes I suppose it matches the name and theme of the place properly."

[Corwin]

"I'll do some research on the subject, but they seemed dragon-sized and probably really nasty for ordinary people," Seira allows. "Alicia here, however, could probably grow up enough to stomp on the castle altogether, so the ravens are manageable. And I'll try my combat dragon form. You haven't actually seen it yet, now that I think about it. I've fully empowered it with divine power by now, so it'd be the first fight in it."