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Message: <blockquote data-quote="spyscribe" data-source="post: 2063992" data-attributes="member: 5808">Part the One-HundredthIn which: The Goddess Speaks.It isn’t Master Genichi who answers Thatch’s question.  It’s Eva.  “Alirria.  She spoke to me.”Eva blinks the clear the last drops of water from her eyes, and in the instant they close, the memories come flooding back.  It felt like she was floating on her back.  Enveloped by a warm sensation…###Above her, a light shimmers, as if seen through the surface of water.  She isn’t sure what happened. There was a burning in her lungs, the horrid sensation of breathing in water, and then… everything went black. All she feels now is a horrible sense of disappointment.  She was just trying to help.  Just trying to help, and now… Suddenly, a voice speaks, warm and kind.  It reminds her of another voice that spoke to her once somewhere, so far away it feels like a dream.      “What brings you here, child?” the voice asks.    “I’m not sure,” she responds.  “I was just trying to help, but they didn’t believe me.”    “What tale did you tell that they did not believe?” the voice asks.     Eva relates as best she can what has brought her to the monastery.    “Do not fear.  They will believe you now, for you speak truly.  The question is whether you will accept the task that will be laid before you.”    “What task?”    “My servant will ask you to take the sacred relics that he guards from his keeping to the City of the Cauldron of the Lord’s Fury.  I have other children there who will see to their safekeeping.”    “Where is this city?”     “It is on your way.  You will come there in the course of the quest to which you are already committed.”    “How will I know your children?”     “You will know them.  And they will know you, for you bear my touch upon you.”  A warm feeling spreads upon Eva’s forehead.  And as it does so, she suddenly feels cold behind her, as if icy fingers from the darkness were gripping her.    “Back off, bitch.  This one is mine,” says a new voice, a harsh whisper. Eva shudders. She has heard that voice before.    “For now,” the first voice says, “but it is within her to be the river that flows in two channels at once.”    “No,” hisses the second.  “She will be the wind, which blows only in one direction.”    “But the wind is fickle,” the first replies, and Eva feels as if its eyes are upon her, “and may change its course at any time.  However, for the moment, do not the goals of her sistren and my children here align?”    The second voice does not reply.  Eva feels the icy fingers pull back from her body, and all is warm again.    The first voice continues.  “Do you swear then to fulfill the task my servant will set before you?”    “I will try my best,” Eva responds.    “That is all anyone can ask,” the voice says.  “You and your companions should know this task is but a birthing pain for your greatest trial, which is still far off.  For it has not yet begun to begin.”    With that, the light grows brighter and brighter…    …and she was back in the shrine at the monastery, water heaving out of her lungs.###As Eva dries off, Master Genichi explains the monk’s secret to the party.  “—since long before the days of the Sovereignty, the Vale of the Holy Spring has been a holy site for the goddess Alirria.  When the Sovereigns came, long ago, the residents of the Abbey outwardly conformed to the state orthodoxy that the site was now holy to Kettenek, but, in secret, they maintained their true faith, passing down traditions from generation to generation.”  He looks over at Hatsumi and Satsuki.  “As we have to this day.“When they broke Komatsu, the Inquisitors must have discovered our secret, and thank the goddess you have come to our aid.  She believes that your mission is important, and you must take her relics away from here, to her followers in The City of Cauldron of the Lord’s Sleeping Fury.”“But what about you?” Kiara asks.“I will send the children ahead to warn the other monks not to return here after the pilgrimage.  They will be able to make their escape through the mountains.”“What about you?”  Reyu is gentle, but insistent.Master Genichi smiles and shakes his head.  “I am an old man, I would only slow you down.”Satsuki runs to her grandfather.  “No!”  The old man draws her into his arms, gently shushing her.Lira is confused.  “Surely with the relics safe and the others warned, you have no reason to stay?”The old man’s gaze never wavers.  “I am an old man.  I will be here, to meet the Inquisitors.”</blockquote>

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