Open The Docks Sibling Sojourn

[Tal'Rakan]

Rakan entered the room he was guided to. While he wasn't expecting regal welcome, that was reserved for when the Phoenixes would come anyway, he still felt displeased with it being rather rudimentary. However the clerk did their best in bringing some refreshments which was appreciated.

Before speaking again, out of curiosity, he got himself a wafer and took a bite of it. It was sweet but barely so. Not that Rakan minded it much but he came from the land that grew sugar among other things. So ke decided to flex his position a bit. So he pulled a small box he took with samples of the various goods he brought and took out a banana preserved in chocolate.

He then cut himself a slice and offered some to the Fennec while speaking up again. "I prroukhht khifts form my land to assure of my good intentions. Should you want some please ask, we have plenty more." He grinned. It was both kind but also a humble way of showing off your wealth.

"I wish to know... Who is it that I will speak to? I do not fully understand if I am to be seen by a hikh priest or some other official of yours. In any case I am ready prut I may lack some answers that are reserved for other castes." The Lynx explained while his ears peaked from the plumed crown he wore, eager to listen and learn.

 

[Paphnutia "Nutty" Gowdie]

Nutty's eyes widened at the assortment of gifts and goods. "Fascinating," she breathed, scrambling onto the table and, on all fours, approaching the box, chin nearly flat with the table. "The iconography on this vessel is post-Tatanalan-That-Never-Was! The Phoenix, Burning Red and Blue, Reborn in Two, the Never-Dead. The Inverted Temple, wherein the walls contain the sky. This," they proclaimed, looking up at the lynx, his questions not sinking in, "is a valuable artifact! Truly you are generous to bring it to us." She sniffed at the contents before adding, "The banana also is a very nice touch."

They sat back on the table, crossing her legs strangely, footpaws both above their knees and pads facing the ceiling, and accepted the slice of the banana. This she chewed on thoughtfully as they considered his question. "By your parlance," she decided, "I would be known as an elder priest, a keeper of tales of the gods. It is my life's work to collect stories of things that are greater than us. I interpret the tales of the old ones for our Lady of Whispers, as you might call her, who is one of the five high priests, as you would call them, in service to our Empress, who carries the aspect of the Golden Solar Fox. Her role is to bring silence to discord, so that the harmony may hold sway. My role is to know the things that must not be said." They nibbled at the chocolate coating before inquiring, "Does that explain sufficiently?"

 

[Tal'Rakan]

Tal'Rakan went silent hearing this Fennec. It was very very difficult for him not to lash out at the sacrilegious words he just heard. Only the fact he was here de facto with no legal status as a diplomat made him keep it together. His short tail and ears were however greatly showing his displeasure, his muscles tensed as if he was ready to pounce.

"I see..." He managed through clenched teeth, taking in her latter words about the local hierarchy. An explanation that was certainly useful. "It does khive me some insikhht I needed." He then pointed at the box. "If your role is to keep the tales of the khods. You should know this represents the two livinkh divines. Not one Phoenix prut two who came to our land to lead us." He corrected the most offending issue he took to the heart. How would one with such title know so little!

But thinking ahead he noted that a box that was made just for the purpose of serving as a small gift caused so much attention. It was pretty yet it wasn't even made of gold and obsidian. Rakan cooled off by thinking about it and as a result got to speak again.

"I do prelieve the priests that came with me will explain more aprout our faith. I am just a first claw of the Phoenixes, Tlamatki iuiistemeh. Tell me, veneraprle priest, what do you know aprout my Dieties and how do they play into your preliefs." He needed to know those, if they had some reverence, even if they had not the best idea, intent mattered a lot.

 

[Paphnutia "Nutty" Gowdie]

Nutty seemed to have entirely missed the offense she caused, instead intrigued by the explanation of the phoenix lore that Tal'Rakan provided. "Intriguing," they murmured, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Definitely post-Tatanalan if by then the Phoenix was two. Will have to catalogue this very carefully."

They shook herself out of their reverie as the lynx moved on to other questions. She blinked in surprise at his question of 'belief'. "Oh, I don't think that anyone in this land actually believes in anything," they remarked. "They're a bunch of skeptics, which actually serves us quite well. You see, it's much more useful to have beasts who believe in nothing milling about in a great gray morass of amoral malcontent. If beasts actually believed that the Empress was a deity, we'd have all sorts of problems on our paws - stray belief everywhere, breakaway cults on every street, fanaticism running rampant - and oh, the things that could slip into the world through those cracks. No, other than a few cultural touchstones such as Vulpuz, most beasts here believe in no one, and that works best for us. It means those of us who do believe can all stay on the same page."

Shifting a little closer, she leaned in and lowered their voice. "Between you and me, though, those of us in the know are very interested in all of the Unknown Ones, your Phoenix(es) included." How she managed to state the parentheses verbally was unfathomable and impossible to replicate. "It sounds like your kingdom may be the new Eighth Manse, wherein the sky reflects the earth and the sea dwells among the trees. That is very important data that I will have to record." She scrambled for a quill and a sheet of parchment kept in a small box on the desk, having to hold the quill with both paws to scrape it over the parchment as she stood atop it to keep it flat. "Would you describe the aura of your land as more cerulean or teal?"

 

[Tal'Rakan]

Rakan had to consider their words for a very long moment. A nation that lives without belief? Yet one where those at adequate ranks firmly follow and explore not just their truths but also ones belonging to others. It felt wierd... very wierd. The truth of Phoenixes was sacred exactly because it was the truth. This beast words suggested that their nation refused the truth. Tal'Rakan was unable to comprehend it fully.

Thus he decided to not think about it anymore. The priests he brought will manage that. Instead he considered their question.

"Teal. Setototl plumakhe is likhter prlue and they are the one who's aura nurtures and protects. Pretween the two colours you khave it is the only choice. Tletototl plumakhe is fiery red. As one who prrinkhs passion and resolve. The plums of my crown and coat come from them, you can see for yourself their aura holy one."

Rakan sometimes considered if he would make for a good priest. It wasn't his duty nor was he part of this caste, but he was born a serf and elevated to the first general. It wasn't impossible to be more than your birth caste implied. You just had to prove it before the holy.

"Why does the aura matter to you? And why you called Phoenixes the Unknown? They are well known as some walk around us, while others fly across the skies at every moment of our lives." He asked inquisitively. Knowing was after all half the battle. He wanted to understood this little fox more to know what to expect of the priests of those lands.

 

[Paphnutia "Nutty" Gowdie]

Nutty carefully jotted down her notes, though exactly what language they were writing it in was difficult to determine; the symbols used didn't look like Vulpinsulan. "Fascinating," she mused, though that was the only such sentiment they expressed.

The little fennec paused at Tal'Rakan's questions, considering for a moment before resuming her writing. "Well," they remarked, "the aura was mostly confirmation of the establishment of the manse based on the lore that survived the unmaking of Tatanalan-That-Never-Was. It was possible that this was a new Sixth Manse, but we're pretty sure that's in Hanshima, so we just needed to confirm the hypothesis. As for the Unknown Ones, I'll admit that the title can be a bit of a misnomer. It's less that they aren't known and more that they either cannot or should not be fully known. I mean, the Empress herself is one of the aspects of an Unknown One, and there are facets of her that are best left unexplored. Your Phoenixes, it seems, are dualistic aspects of another Unknown One about which our understanding is admittedly quite limited, so all of this new information is quite valuable. From the sound of it, they have numerous minor aspects attendant in their manse, which is consistent with what is etched upon the Mirror of a Million Feathers. Not that I've read it myself, of course," she added. "If I had, I would be quite insane right now."

 

[Tal'Rakan]

Rakan snorted. He wasn't one to judge but Nutty sounded... quite nutty to him. Nonetheless it wasn't diplomatic to say it out loud. He only understood a gist of what they said so after one big gulp of this drink called rum, he took out from the box of gifts one cigar to make this more bearable. Too much information was making his head hurt.

After using a piece of flint and his own claw to lit the cigar, he took a long swig from it before speaking up again with a twitch of his nose but slightly more relaxed posture. "To my understandinkh of your words, you claim the Phoenixes aren't truly divine? I assure you, speakinkh to them in person, proth are livinkh incarnations of khodhood, limited only pry their mortal forms they took to khuide us!"

He wasn't really mad now, this fennec wasn't against or dismissive of his gods, simply misinformed from what he heard so far.

Offering a cigar to them Rakan continued to speak. "You are rikht however, Phoenixes are esoteric and even the hikhhest of the priests may not fully comprehend their will. prut no mortal is capaprle of it! It's their actions that show us their wisdom and stratekhy preyond any mind."

 

[Paphnutia "Nutty" Gowdie]

Paphnutia's eyes widened at the lynx's words, and she hastened to clarify. "Oh, no no no no no. Well, maybe," she amended. "The question of what is divine is really dependent upon your definition, and the distinctions within that, and whether or not they apply to the Unknown Ones, is hotly debated even within our organization. There are those who insist that divinities are separate entities from the Unknown Ones, while I maintain that any such distinction is meaningless.

"The point being," she continued, "your Phoenixes are aspects of the Phoenix in the same way that our Empress, like the Emperors before her, is an aspect of the Solar Fox. Think of it as if you were a bug on the ground," she stated. "If you saw the paw and leg of a beast on the ground, you would interpret it as its own entity, right? It would seem incredibly large. And, if you saw a similar paw and leg nearby, you would assume that it was a separate, but similar, entity. The idea that they could meet and join together to be one entity on a level that you cannot see would be, for many beings, beyond comprehension. That is how the Unknown Ones operate: they exist on a level where they are many and one at the same time. Studying that duality is part of my life's work."

She accepted the cigar, examining it carefully. "I don't smoke myself," she admitted, "but might I be permitted to keep this for further examination? The properties of the leaves within may be illuminating."