After Pelier.
Lucas: "What's on the agenda next? That is, what is the uber plan?"
Calais: "Next the country probably falls into civil war, with the Crown Prince -"
Paris murmured, "Louis. And the crown princess is Katherine."
Calais continued undaunted, "and the Hierophant on one side, and William and Silverlocke on the other. What that means for us as individuals is unclear. We probably have some opportunity for training, plus there's research to be done regarding Temperance, the next card."
Lucas: "Calais - please determine the card count for me, since you keep claiming I have more than I think I do."
Calais: " I think Lucas should have 7. We got enough to make 2 apiece during the spiders and giants runs (book-stealing orcs, spiders, giant-ring orcs). Then we got 3 each from the Duke. And now we've gotten 2 each from Prince William."
Paris started thinking to herself, 'On a practical front, before I can do much more serious fighting, I suspect that I'm going to need new armor. At least in part. The leather bits died with the Dread. And while the chest plate is a bit dinged, one of those shoulder pieces let 8 body through so it likely needs a bit of repair. It'll have to be in Westmore.' Her thoughts skipped.
'I guess I should spend a bit of time trying to build up my strength, if I want to be really effective and comfortable in heavier armor.' Her thoughts skipped again.
'And ... I'd like to spend some more time with Ewen.' Paris felt herself starting to blush. Luckily no one was really looking at her.
Paris, of course, personally needs to continue integrating RG and Serious. I don't actually see a clear path. At their age, she and Ewen are bound to try to explore their relationship -- they're too young and it's too exciting not to continue. Clearly though they need to outgrow it, too.
.
Trying to get her thoughts under control, Paris switched subjects: 'I have no idea yet what I will do now that I'm a knight. The examples I've seen are (1) war knights (Dungeon, the First and 3rd Heavy Horse), (2) job knights (Chivar, duGryphon, Eastgate), (3) retired knights (apparently, Avenal, deLacey(?)) and (4) special forces (Silverlocke, William). It is not clear where I fit although from the sound of it, (she remembered - almost with a sense of awe - the cavalrymen at her knighting ceremony) I could easily join a war unit and probably drop out of adventuring. That just doesn't sound right. I wonder if William counts me as 'special forces'? But that means he must spend time determining what I should be doing. I do rather want to be more involved in William's plans, she thought wistfully. If he wants to really make something of his Order.... On the other hand he's going to be so busy ... and not particularly happy.'
'In the long run, though, it seems clear that the political situation - like Calais has described -- is going to get nastier and nastier, with more and more of the people we care for getting hurt, until going to the Mirror, enduring Judgement, and recreating the World will be the Party's highest priority. (How's that for walking determinedly towards an unproven deduction?) Thus we should be hunting for Temperance so to have sufficient information not to remake the World poorly.'
She thought further, 'Oh, clearly I am special forces. The Sword has all kinds of special significance ... and it would be a waste to have it locked up with the Council. William pretty much has to send me out into the world ... though I wonder if he has a great idea about what I am to do? He is making a huge number of life-or-death decisions and it has got to be a terrible strain. Already I can see the worry lines and hear the effort he makes to get up and say what needs to be said, order what needs to be ordered, and avoid thinking about all it has costs him personally.' Paris felt an intense pang of empathy and pity. 'I must try to figure out on my own what to do with myself. That is a gift I could give my Prince.'
Rhori spoke up, "Well, I really don't know what happens next. I can easily see people heading in 4 or more directions depending on a lot of things. Me - I - feel *NO* urge - or need- to bring the next X gods to Torat. I just want to head for the 'key place' and use the keys (and when that gets vetoed he will be happy to wait around till the gods are brought here by others as we keep hearing is possible). If anybody has any real plans or wants or needs, I would like to hear them. I'm kinda 'leaderless' at the moment."
Paris thought to herself, 'And all I can think of is to find Temperance. Should have talked to the Keeper more. Calais figures the library at Westmore will help. I suppose we could go ask the Magician for a book if the library doesn't. Yes, the Magician's books are 'the past' -- but that's what we've had to go on in a few other cases.'
'A place to look might be Rhori's city of captive humans. That might need to be looked into now that the orcs are disorganized. Not that Temperance is necessarily there, but one could make a case for it having had IN-temperance there for rather a long time.'
Meanwhile, various people speculated amongst themselves that the Party will go three ways -- Paris following William, Rhori with Silverlocke, others away...
Paris, thinking to herself, 'Well, I've had trouble figuring how they can have it both ways: how it can be William and Martin vs. Louis and Hierophant if William and Martin go separate ways. Point of fact, if Martin thinks it's more important to regain his standing in his Order and find another lion (one possible 'separate way') then I don't think there would be civil war. William has always known that his brother Louis would inherit the throne. If Martin won't be king, then William has no leg to stand on in opposing Louis' kingship. William always knew he'd be second fiddle. At best. She smiled affectionately to herself. But he'll always be 'best' to me.'
Her train of logic continued, 'So -- to have civil war, William and Martin must stay together, or at least partnered. The politicking will all happen at the Council. The armies loyal to William and Martin are already assembled; it's not as though they need to split up and secretly assemble their distant friends. It's possible that after hostilities have started, Martin will prove a good enough general that he can afford to let William go and politic for him in some of the 'undecided' areas. Dungeon, for instance, might be undecided; its count a partisan of the old king, its Baron already practised in coordinating with William, but neither sure of Martin.'
'The odd thing will be William trying to not be the one to decide where Martin should go and what he should do. Right now William is clearly the better general. If it weren't that he's probably still considered 'young' and a bit of a 'playboy' from Before the Change, he might well command almost as great respect amongst the armies as Silverlocke does simply for his conduct over the last 6 months.'
Calais, remembering the conversations with the Hanged Man, thought back to the discussion with the Hanged Man. He spoke aloud. "The Hanged Man said a couple of things that should encourage us to work on bringing the other gods to Torat. Indeed, one of his comments seems to say it is required, while another comment strongly recommends we talk to one of them in particular before using the keys." He recited: "Will all the Gods be in Torat when the Choice is made? "The Choice can only be made once all the Gods are in Torat."
He continued reciting, "Will Mia ever learn to create new spells? No. Why not? You should ask the Blue Goddess (the Goddess of Magic) that one. That really is something you should understand before you make a choice."
Quietly, Paris commented to Calais, "Perhaps we need to get Rhori to tell us as much as he can remember about the city where the orcs held humans captive. That's one of the few places we know about that seems to have been seriously effected by the Change and yet none of us have been there. Only -- if I recall right -- Silver -- that is, Prince Martin has been in there.
Unfortunately we did not ask the Keeper enough questions -- particularly about where we'd be finding the other gods. That is one sort of question where the fact that we have Choice probably wouldn't have mattered. The Gods -- save for Death, perhaps -- seem to have Places. Wonder if the Magician could give us a book about those places...."
Lucas: "So, is going to the 'key place' and using the keys a goal? Should we make a plan for it? And don't worry, the rest of the universe will keep functioning without us! Is 'making the Choice' the goal? Should we make a plan for that?"
Paris: "Going to the Mirror (the 'key place' because it takes the Key of Man and the Key of Nature to gain access without causing damage -- and I have one, Rhori the other -- and making an educated and acceptable Choice about what the World should be IS very definitely my goal. "
Lucas: "And that Choice and goal is?"
Paris: "The Choice -- judging by what we learned from Leo and from Sir Juda seems to be almost anything up to and including remaking the World, the Pantheon of Gods, the Tarot and -- depending on what you think it is -- the Universe. "
Anton: "Can we choose to bring our parents back?"
Calais: "An excellent question, and one we should consider asking when we get a chance to talk to whichever card corresponds to the Red God of Dying. (We didn't really have much opportunity to talk to Death.)"
Paris: "The goal is to gain enough understanding about our potential choices that we can make a good Choice. I believe that we must use the encounters with the remaining Tarot to gain that understanding. As has been told us many times: Understanding is Key.
Some of us have seen the evidence -- Sir Juda in the Trials of Justice - of what happens when Nature and Man do not work together on this goal and when understanding and good judgement are not exercised thereto as well. As long as the Mirror remains broken and in-flux, I believe the World will suffer. Those who learn enough from the Major Arcana will achieve the Understanding necessary to fix that and bring wholeness to the World." She looked sober, "I have been assured by Prince William that Our Group is further along in that goal than any of the other adventuring groups trying to find the Major Arcana. "
Lucas: "What other groups?"
Paris: "The other adventurer groups that have quested and been rewarded by the Prince and the Duke. I know no specific group; just that they exist."
Anton: "Which is considerably more than the rest of us have known!"
Rhori, with some hesitation: "Actually this has come up (VERY vaguely) several times...?"
Anton: "That there are other adventurers, yes. Even that they are being rewarded by the Duke. But that they are also encountering Major Tarot? When? And that this is some sort of a race? Not anytime I can think of."
Rhori: "I think that it has been a n-, a neb- , a fuzzy thing on if others are meeting the Big Guys and if there's a race. It seems like we have been the first to meet all of the Major Arcana but it is possible that others have met them after us. Probably... 'cause we have told the Duke where we met them, especially the Magician. The whole race thing is something I haven't really thought about and now that you bring it up it is very odd that we know *nothing* (well maybe Paris knows) about the other groups."
Lucas: "We knew there were other adventurers, i.e. looking for books for the Duke (and the adventurer guild things), and for rubies the size of your fist, etc. But no mention has ever been made of anyone meeting any of the Arcana, except maybe the Fool, and he shows up everywhere?"
Paris: "Everyone with access to the Duke's library has access to our knowledge of how and where we have met the Major Arcana, as friend Lucas knows. Our reports to the Duke have been transcribed and are stored there along with the reports of all the other adventurers who report in to the Duke. Was it not Anton's and Alexis' research into some of those other adventurers' activities that gave us the clues needed to reach the Spider Castle and the Gap in the Teeth of the World?
I had not thought the activities of the various adventuring groups as a race, per se. But, in some sense it is. Not that it is a race between groups. But it is a race to gain Understanding before too much damage has been done to our World by the current incompleteness between Tarot and Torat.
In another sense, one might think of it as a race to become the group who makes The Choice that will come at the end of meeting all the Major Arcana. If you believe that Fate was correct in choosing some of us to be set on the path of restoring Tarot to Torat on that very first awful night of Change, then you may believe that -- if we gain the Understanding of the Choices before us -- we are the best group to make that Choice. If we slack and allow others to do that task -- well, that is a Choice in itself and, I believe, we will have forfeited our right to that Final Choice.
Personally, I believe I owe too much to those who have died behind us and to those who have believed in and supported us, to sheer off now. We needed to be strong and endure much to come thus far. Now I hope we can become wise and caring -- to successfully reach the end of the 'race' Fate put before us." Now Paris stopped to breathe and look embarrassed at having made such a long speech.
Then, with a deep breath, Paris started again: "Further, I feel that the more quickly we can gain Understanding and reach this goal, the more quickly war can be quelled and the land restored to prosperity -- and the fewer the people who will die to the unrest we all see coming. Defeating the Chariot only stopped Conquest; it did not help restore the Mirror."
Lucas: "Understanding, with a 'U'?"
Paris: "Understanding with a 'U'!"
Lucas: "Currently there isn't unrest? It is coming?"
Paris: "Well, I think most people would disagree that there is no unrest. Most people don't yet know that the war with the Charioteer is over. That war counts as a great deal of unrest over the past 6 months.
In addition, now there are a great many fell and dark -- no longer organized -- but still out there and still preying on innocent humans. Most people would consider that unrest of a sort.
Lastly -- all of us could see the implications of the conclusion of the battle in the throne room. Unless we can somehow persuade all three of the royal brothers to come to a meeting of minds (and I fear that William and Louis will never, ever see even close to eye-to-eye) AND the High Priest to reach an amicable acceptance with the Rainbow Church, then civil unrest is inevitable. I believe that continuing the Quest of the Tarot is the only way to find a Good
Therefore I think my -- and our, if anyone else is willing - primary next step is to figure out where to hunt for Temperance, the next card in the Major Arcana. And then the Devil (although the Black Church implications are unsettling), the Star, the Moon, and the Sun. Judgement may or may not be waiting at the Mirror. The World seems likely to be waiting at the Mirror -- or just beyond it."
The others mulled over this proclamation. Paris stepped back to where she can speak confidentially to her brother.
Paris to Calais: "It occurs to me that we may have another bit of evidence now indicating that -- just perhaps -- the separation of the Black and White gods did, after all, occur when the Mirror broke and Torat was separated from Tarot.
We now know that White is Death and we believe that Black is the Devil. We've thought for a while that the Dark were minions of Black and the Devil. Given the story of the 'Fallen', coupled with the traditional association of the devil as one of the Fallen, it might not be too big a stretch to associate the falling of the Fell with something like the Devil.
Taking those as loose assumptions, consider what we learned from Sir Juda. (I really, really, really wish I had asked him exactly what his orders had been. He wouldn't have told me who gave them; but he might have been willing to give me the exact wording. *sigh*) Sir Juda and his ilk had been fighting for a long time against the Fell. They'd managed to get the upper hand and 'chase them back into their holes'. But, obviously, Sir Juda's superiors felt that it was only a temporary thing, 'cause he was given orders to access the Mirror and destroy the Tarot. What if the orders had included something like 'stop this long-time whole-sale death and destruction and banish the Fell'? Would that not have accomplished exactly what we have seen: the separation of Death and the Devil from the Colours of the Tarot?"
Rhroi came over to Paris, obviously still mulling her previous speeches. "Well, if we need to meet the rest of the Major Arcana, then I suppose we are stuck. Maybe we need to look for the right thing to do first though. We may meet gods doing that as well and I am a bit scared that we might have to make a choice and not know what is right."
Paris answered Rhori quietly, "I think your boss and mine are both going to be too busy and too unhappy for a while to worry about telling us what is right to do, Rhori. We can't stay here long; Pelier has no provisions. So, to my mind, the best thing we can do is to go back to Westmore. Repair our armor. Check the library for clues to Temperance. And either follow those clues wherever they lead -- or, if there are no clues, go to the Magician and ask him for a book that talks about where the gods have been found in the Past." She paused for a moment. "It is possible that we can visit Mia's church and ask for clues there. It is their gods we must find, after all." She looked up at the young giant. "If all else fails, then I want you to tell me all you can about the city where the orcs kept humans captive. It is one place much affected by the Change that we have not really investigated. Somewhere there will be a clue!"
Anton proclaimed: "I'm headed for the library to try to rescue the books, relics, etc. Anyone else interested in going along?"
Rhori, to the group at large: "I expect that Mia will want help saving the rainbow church artifacts and I am more than willing to help with that and other rescue missions for the next few days. But, actually, I DO have another plan of action. I am supposed to return the Kelly elf's stuff to his home, and I will plan on doing it soonish. Obviously not everyone is required to do this...."
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