text / un: starkov

[peasant]

the good news first: rhys and i found the princess of kilnan in the castle and woke her. she's with us right now. the castle was designed to protect her against her mother's soldiers trying to force her back home, which is why it's been so tricky. it's meant to alert remi — her uncle, and the wizard we came looking for — to any unwanted guests, which would be us.

the reason he hasn't come to greet us is that he's asleep. aureliah — the princess — should be able to talk her uncle down before he throws us all out into the mud. he's trapped behind an entrance sam's group found, but aureliah should be able to unseal its magic.

i think more of us should be there when it's opened, just in case something goes wrong with the orb.

the bad news: the orb's name is phyllie. remi made a deal with her and fed his own arcane energy to her in exchange for curing a curse that was placed on aureliah and her mother, but something went wrong during remi's bargain and that energy was transferred from the orb to aureliah instead. that's the reason she has her uncle's magic, and why her mother is so eager to use her daughter as a weapon against kilnan's neighboring countries.

the queen thinks kilnan will be better protected if she can force her daughter to learn war magic. it sounds like remi has been searching through dimensions to find the "right world" (for him and aureliah to hide? we don't know what he meant) but the orb has been draining him of his energy.

from what aureliah said, he feeds "phyllie" monthly. the princess and i think that's the price he's chosen to pay for keeping the curse at bay.

the worst news: i don't know what will happen if we break the bargain remi has made, but i'm sure it can't possibly be anything good. aureliah's life force was given to her by the orb, and the wizard who cast the curse in the first place was killed in the war. so that's a dead end, but maybe someone has a better solution we can offer remi once he's awake.

[ as per this npc thread! feel free to threadjack and hop around threads here to your hearts' content. ♥ ]

Comments

[peasant]

you don't know that. we don't know all of our options yet.

the life of an innocent child isn't an acceptable loss, either.
i'm not doing it to gain the orb, but i wouldn't expect you to understand that.

[cruelyethuman]

How many ways must I tell you, that losing you is not an option.

There is an entire station full of people, it can be someone else but you. It is not either the child or you, it can be anyone else. There are plenty of powerful wizard and witches in this group.

[peasant]

i am just as powerful as they are.
how many ways must i tell you it has to be me?

[cruelyethuman]

I know exactly how powerful you are, Alina. I never forgot. I remember everything about you.

You want it to be you. Why?

[peasant]

because i don't trust any of them to do it for the right reasons.
and because i made a promise. i plan on keeping it.

[cruelyethuman]

Not even Rhysand.

Who did you make this promise to, since you have little problem with breaking promises you made in the past.

[peasant]

he doesn't count. rhys would make that deal to protect me from making it first.
oh, that's rich coming from you. don't talk to me about broken promises.

[cruelyethuman]

Of course, he counts. So would a lot of other people. You are important, just as we all are.
I kept every promise I ever made you, Alina.

[peasant]

i'm not sending rhys to make a deal in my place.
oh, sure you did. you just made sure to keep your promises as vague as possible so you could twist their meaning into something that suited you when the time came.

[cruelyethuman]

From your words, it would seem that you do not need to send him. He would do it all on his own, if he knew what you were planning to do.

I'm sure it suits you to think that. My promises were genuine, yours on the other hand- well, we both know how little you meant them, despite how easily you made them.

[peasant]

i know what you're trying to do. it won't work.

promises tend to get thrown out the window once you're enslaved by the person you made them to.
the only person you should be blaming for that is yourself.

[cruelyethuman]

What am I trying to do?

You ran away, Alina. Knowing that you were the only hope our people had, and you ran away. But perhaps the children of Ravka were not as innocent as the child you're trying to save now.

[peasant]

baiting me. baiting rhys into trying to take my place. you're not going to accomplish anything.

i didn't run from them. i ran from you.
all this talk about not giving myself over to the orb because it's a corrupt and perverse power that wants to use me to suit its own needs. are you sure you didn't just look in the mirror?

[cruelyethuman]

I'm trying to stop you from throwing your life away.

Why? Why did you run, Alina? What did my mother tell you that was so horrible that living in the forest was the better choice?

If that is what you think - then think of it as speaking from experience. Giving yourself to this would be a mistake.

[peasant]

you're trying to get involved in something that's none of your business.

why don't we start with all of the dead children that are YOUR fault? i know exactly where those creatures in the fold came from, aleksander. ravka's blood is on your hands. don't put that on me.

at least it's my choice this time.

[cruelyethuman]

It's your life.

I know what I did, and I have spent 400 years trying to find a way to make it better. I know this better than anyone, even you, what my creation has done to the world and I have bled for it, burned for it and I have almost died to bring it down.

But when I finally found a way, you ran away without a word. I thought you were dead, or dying or being put at the stake somewhere. I imagined Shu labs with you in them, but you simply ran away?

[peasant]

you're right. it's MY life. meaning you don't get to tell me what to do with it.

i saw you slaughter people for it, too.
if you were so sorry for it, you wouldn't shift the blame for your sins onto me.
and you certainly wouldn't have thought to use it as a weapon. to use ME as a weapon.

this act of yours is getting quite tired, aleksander. haven't you exhausted yourself pretending to care yet?

[cruelyethuman]

If you're thinking about doing something with it that will greatly affect all of us, yes. I do get a say. We all do, because you're claiming to do it for all of us. The princess gets a say most of all, would she want you to sacrifice yourself for her?

They wanted to murder you, they already murdered Marie and tried to kill other Grisha. They had trade deals with Fjerda, Grisha for weapons.
You were the one to turn your back on your own people, Alina, not me. I did what I had to, to protect them. Even if it meant losing you.

You speak my name so carelessly. You are blind, but you will see. I just hope you see it before it's too late.

[peasant]

then losing me again shouldn't bother you.
seeing as how willing you were to sacrifice me the first time.

[cruelyethuman]

You will run to a place that I cannot follow. It would bother me greatly.

Where are you?

[peasant]

you should be relieved. i won't be around to ruin such important plans.
why do you want to know?

[cruelyethuman]

Alina- there is no plan without you.

I want to help.

[peasant]

right. there's no pawn for you to use without me.

and you need to know where i am to do that?
i'm in the castle.

[ isn't she hilarious. ]

[cruelyethuman]

You are the one using yourself as a pawn right now, not me.

Yes, I need to know that. Which room?

[peasant]

the whole point of a pawn is that it's used by someone else, staryy kozel.

hm. a hallway. with a staircase.
🤷‍♀️