Chapter Text
Muffled voices...chatter?
Darkness...
A hard surface against his back...
That...wasn't right.
Raven blinked his eyes open, the glare of sunlight on a white stone building bright and sending a pang of a headache through his skull.
He was...in an alleyway. It was clean (thankfully) and hidden between two buildings, the walls a pale stone he didn't recognize and the floor a dark blue tile he definitely didn't recognize. Plus, he heard...running water in the background?
With a groan, he climbed to his feet, one hand supporting him against the wall and the other pressing a palm into his temple.
Last thing he remembered was walking through the Quoi woods to Zaphias since Deidon Hold was closed down again. It had been a bright normal day with a surprisingly small amount of monsters nearby as he walked under the trees when...his foot found air.
And now he was here. "Goddamn it...where am I?"
Slowly, he creeped towards the gate at the end of the alley and stepped onto the main road, the noise and light and crowd and moist air all hitting him at once. And all he could say about the city that surrounded him was...magnificent.
All around him was water, running through aqueducts between the platforms that buildings sat on, burbling in the ornate fountains that perched on walls or presented themselves in the middle of plazas, and roaring in distant waterfalls that seemed to envelope the entire city in a grand presentation of power. It was like Heliord but turned up to the nines and for a moment, just one, he wondered if Heliord had managed a renovation in the week that he'd last been there.
But more than magnificent, this city was...strange. He looked around and recognized no faces, spotted no familiar landmarks. For the first time in a long, long time, Raven felt genuinely lost as he spun in place in an effort to take it all in.
The whole street rang with sound. The ever present crash of waves and waterfalls were barely a murmur compared to the din of bustling streets. There were people at every storefront chatting, benches and parks littered with children joyously screaming, and even the sound of some strings and singing coming from somewhere nearby.
Somewhere very nearby, in fact, as a second later the music was smashed into a discordant crash .
Suddenly, Feste the Entertainer - who had been busy entertaining - had been careened into by a man who seemed to think that walking backwards was in fashion. And purple. He wore lots of purple.
"And suddenly they heard a crash!" There was a rapid twang of strings in low keys to follow the announcement. Feste's voice rose in a rather dramatic fashion as if in the midst of a story rather than a song. "Lo and behold, a stranger! New to our wondrous land, the people cried. Let us greet him with song and dance!"
Oh, Goddess above, Raven thought, the people here are on shrooms, aren't they?
He donned a polite smile and waved. "Uh, hi, I was wonderin' if ya could tell me where I am?"
Feste beamed at the confusion on the man's face, following it up with a few bright notes on the lute they held. "Oh stranger, do you not know our humble home? The people asked. Your stumbling feet have carried you all the way to Grand Chokmah!"
"Grand...choke-wha?" Okay, Raven understood most of what this…person had said. The supposed people whom were ‘asking’ notwithstanding. He scratched the back of his head and said, "Well, I less stumbled and more fell but, ya know...heyyyyyyy." Finger guns, two of 'em, and plus a click of his tongue. "I'm guessin' there's a festival or somethin', yeah? I...got no idea what's goin' on."
"Fell right into Grand Chokmah and Feste the glorious Entertainer!"
Feste recounted the tale with a graceful (if overdramatic) bow. They had absolutely no intention of letting up their act for this stranger, after all. Especially not when he had such a precious baffled expression. "But stranger, where have you fallen from? Perhaps from the drink? The sweet kiss of grapes or warm embrace of hops and barley?"
"No such luck, sadly," Raven said with a shrug, a little more comfortable with the exchange this time. "Just fell outta the Quoi Woods, which makes it all the more confusin' t’ wind up in such a… grand city like this."
At that, Feste paused, a few idle notes playing at their fingers as their expression shifted from cheer to confusion to curiosity and they tipped their head from side to side in thought. "From where, you say?"
"The Quoi Woods. Ya know, the ones close to Zaphias?" he repeated, resting his hand on his hilt to get more comfortable as he admired the performer's fingerwork on the lute. And then he smirked, donned a spooky voice, and waggled his fingers."' Beware the Cursed Quoi Woods ' and all that, ya know?"
Feste raised an eyebrow, notes on the lute growing high and twangy with intrigue. They did appreciate the spooky fingers. A good sign of a good person, in their opinion, using spooky fingers to talk about something spooky. "Dear fellow, have you forgotten the name of our own Theor Forest? That deep dark abyss beyond the well-traveled road may indeed be called cursed, but coy?"
Raven snickered. "Not unless it's got a Zaphias under it and a Halure above it, nah. And I definitely don't know 'bout any Chokmah's, much less grand ones, much less any other sorta '-mah'. Uh, maybe if ya give me a map, that'll help?"
Alright, yeah, that was enough of that, Feste decided. This conversation was interesting enough without the word play. They tipped their head again and suddenly slung the lute over their shoulder before reaching for their (smaller, portable) Bag of Tricks.
"Yeah, you're saying a lot of words I don't know," they said in a normal tone. "And you definitely don't smell like the bar. Let me see..." they dug in the bag for a second before pulling out a well folded map. "Here we go. Maybe you're thinking local names of some places? I've never heard them before but.." they shrugged and splayed out the map.
Raven's surprised smile at the sudden change of tone quickly quirked into a crooked frown and a squinched brow of confusion. He, uh, couldn’t read jack shit of this.
"Okayyyy......." He sighed and cleared his throat. "You sure this ain't, like...a map from the Gerios civilization or somethin'? Cuz if so, I got a friend that'd love to see it...just...uh, yeah, when didja get this map?"
"The what?" Feste's eyebrows knit together, and they paused for a moment, rather than answer the question, slowly frowning further. "This map is new. Well, relatively. Got it about a year ago so that it'd be up to date for Yulia City and Akzeriuth. You know, that whole world changing event, voices in the sky big whoop? The whole reason we don't have the Score anymore?"
"I donno what kinda score you've been keepin' but the only big sky thing I've seen lately is the Adephagos and we took care of that giant ass starfish last month," Raven said, slowly devolving into utter confusion.
"Wow, yeah, no, we don't have any sky starfish going on," Feste said. "Have you been visiting Mushroom Road by any chance?"
"Wouldn't even know where to find it," Raven shrugged. Besides, he learned his lesson with the Giggleshroom. His stomach hurt just thinking about how long he'd been stuck laughing. "How the hell do y' not know about..."
A terrible thought dawned in Raven.
He hurriedly looked back at the map, an undercurrent of distress wiring his nerves. "Yeah, I don't...recognize any of these cities. The geography is all wrong, and ya don't even know about the Cataclysm, so-" he huffed, one hand mussing his bangs away from his forehead "-shit, maybe I am on something. What the hell is goin' on?"
Feste felt their heart squeeze as a terrible thought of their own came to mind. Watching the panic rise on his face, the sudden drop of terror and the way he held onto the map like it was a lifeline... They took a slow breath before speaking again.
Their voice softened. Quietly and gently they said, "What is your name, friend?"
"Raven." He swallowed hard and tried to see the person past all the face paint. "And yours?"
"Right now I'm Feste the Entertainer," they said, still gentle. "But my other name is Feora." They figured that he wouldn't know the implications of that, anyway given what they thought they knew... "Raven, do you remember your childhood? A parent of some sort? Years ago?"
A bitter snort. "Yeah, sure do. Even in my old age, I ain't forgotten that yet. But no use lookin' for 'em, if that's where you're goin' with that."
Feste froze, frowning. "You... do?" Well, there goes that theory. "So you're not a replica. ...You remember your whole life? Really? Then how could..."
"I got as much of an idea as you," he said with a helpless shake of his head. "Maybe less actually. Heh, yeah, definitely less...unless..." Phaeroh did once make that weird time dimension portal slip thing but he was Efreet now so he probably wasn't in the portal making business...and there was all that weird stuff in the Labyrinth of Memories but...hm. "Yeah, those wouldn't work...I've got no idea."
Feste waited a moment, tapping their chin before they shook their head suddenly. "Here, look. How about this: See that bar over there?" They pointed behind Raven to where there was a lovely little outdoor bar set up, and several empty seats. "Let me get out of costume, and then I'll join you there and sort this out, okay? ‘Bout 30 minutes?"
"Uh." He cleared the nervous tremble out of his throat. "Okay. And could'ja point me in the direction of the inn? Just in case."
Feste nodded and pointed in the direction of the alleyway he had come from. "Through that gate and to the left. But wait- do you have any gald?"
"Yeah, I got some," he said, being careful not to gesture to where he kept it hidden. But, considering the strangeness of the situation and how foreign everything was, he wasn't sure his coin would count for much. A gold coin embossed with an old emperor on one side and the sword stair on the other might not account for much if there wasn't any Zaphias for it to represent.
"Well, thank Yulia for that, at least," they said, nodding. Then, they gave the man their brightest smile. It was their whole job, after all, to put frightened hearts at ease, so they smiled and wagged a finger in his direction. "Alright. I'll be back in half an hour, Raven, so don't go panicking without me, okay?"
"A-alrighty, can do." He gave a small wave and started walking towards the bar, flashing a small smile over his shoulder. "I can make sure t' keep all my panic tucked away 'til ya get back so we can freak out together, heh. See ya in a bit."
Feste beamed at him and nodded before prancing off to do exactly as they said, and they pondered as they did.
Raven seemingly knew nothing - just like Luke had before... - but he didn't have the lack of memory expected of a replica. The longer Feste thought about it, the more that they thought he must have been from some small, remote island or village who had just somehow gone... unnoticed through all of this? Yeah. That made sense. They shook their head of its nonsense and continued with their task.
As promised, thirty minutes later a new person slid into a seat near Raven. Their long, wayward blonde hair was now free from its jingly hat, and rather than a jester's wear, they had on a simple pair of breeches and a loose, airy white shirt.
"Greetings, stranger," they said in their Feste voice. "How like you our local fare? Is the air not as sweet as a summer's breeze?"
Startled, Raven peeked over the edge of the glass of water he'd been drinking, then snorted.
"Wh-whoa," he chuckled, cleaning up the water he'd accidentally splashed with a napkin, "you sure hid a lotta hair under that hat. Y'clean up pretty well."
Feora huffed, crossing their arms and sticking out their lips in a pout. "I like to think that Feste the Entertainer looks plenty clean!" they protested loftily.
The last remnants of Raven's chuckle trailed away and he faced them proper, leaning an elbow against the bar as he appraised them. "So, are ya Feste or Feora right now? I know names can be complicated so I figured I'd ask."
They chuckled lightly, waving a hand. "Sweet of you. This here is Feora. Feste is just my stage name, really. It's a bit more well known in performing circles than my real name." Then, they put their chin in their hand and looked at him closely. "So you, Raven, where are you from exactly?"
"Depends on who ya ask," Raven said, but that wasn't a helpful answer so let's try again. "I usually stick around Dahngrest though, a guildsman for Altosk. Do y'all have guilds here?"
Feora's eyebrows raised as his answer quickly confirmed that words were not going to be helpful here. "Some of the crafters in Sheridan are in guilds based on their specialty, but..."
It didn't sound like the kind of thing that Raven was talking about. So, Feora turned to their Bag of Tricks (the proper one) and pulled out a map once again, laying it across the table in front of them and gesturing to it. "Where are you from?"
And once again, Raven looked it over and shook his head. "Sorry, darlin', none of these town names look familiar. This continent right here-" he pointed at the Rugnican continent "-looks pretty similar to Illycia but it's missin' an entire mountain range and the rivers are a bit off."
But that still did nothing to solve the situation...if only he could show Feora what his world-
"Ah!" Raven smacked his forehead in realization and pulled out his own map, the old paper crinkling from years of use. "That's right, I got a map too. Here, take a gander and see if anythin' rings a bell. Maybe I'm, heh, lost in time or somethin' like that."
Wouldn't be the first time he'd had time shenanigans happen to him...but he really did hope it'd be the last.
Feora shook their head, frowning and leaning over the new map. What they saw only made them frown further. "This is... not right." They slid the map closer to them. "That's..This is where you’re saying you're from? I've never seen anything like this. Or read any of these names. What…even is this script?"
“Oh, whoopie,” Raven sighed, blowing a raspberry. “I guess the place where I came from just...doesn't exist anymore. And I don’t even get a common language in return." And wasn't that just a swell realization. Great, that's twice now that he's woken up with his friends, family, and home seemingly just gone. A wisp of a laugh escaped his lips and he pressed a hand to his head. "Shit...maybe I'm just havin' a fever dream or somethin'. Just a really...really crazy realistic fever dream."
"You know, I can see how you would think that after crashing into a clown first thing in the morning," Feora said, tone dry as they stared at the maps next to each other. They frowned again and shook their head. "Here, how about this. Walk me through what happened just before you got here? Oh, and here's 'here', by the way." They pointed to their own map. "We're in Grand Chokmah, capital of the Malkuth Empire and ruled over by Emperor Peony Upala Malkuth the Ninth."
It was a small consolation, at least, to know where the hell he was seemingly oriented on the map Feora had presented him. That was something. Didn't help it feel real but it was...yeah, it was something at least.
"Well, lemme think...I began my grand journey here-" he pointed to Halure "-then, having learned of a mission of vital importance, headed to the capital of the empire, here-" he pointed to Zaphias then held up a finger to emphasize his next point "-but havin' learned of the Great Lord of the Plains doin' it's same old terrorizing of Deidon Hold, decided to go the long way round and just went through the Quoi Woods. I was walkin' through there when I fell down a...hole I think? And woke up in that alley."
"You... fell in a hole in the forest and ended up... in the middle of Grand Chokmah?" Feora repeated, looking at him with confusion plainly writ on their face. "Sounds fake."
"Again, now ya can understand my confusion here," he said, emphasizing with a gesture and a tap on the wood counter.
"Yeah, yeah I'd say I can," Feora agreed. "You don't remember a thing between? Nobody came up and drugged you or something?"
Immediate denial; that's what Raven wished he could do. He wanted to say that it was impossible, that he would have heard someone sneaking up on him, that there wouldn't be anyone dumb enough to attack Altosk's second in command. But the more he thought about it...
There could be a motive. Maybe news on the rock in his chest got out and some sick fuck got curious. Or maybe it was just resentment, plain and simple, for his or Schwann's betrayal, or even because of the blastia conversion. Or, if he really thought about it, maybe everything he'd ever known was...really...just all a fiction. His whole life, and all the people he's ever known...even his new little family...heh, damn, wouldn't that be a horrifying possibility. If he had been drugged then anything could have happened and there wouldn't be much he'd put past the capabilities of the kinds of people he was acquainted with. And there'd be no reason for him to believe he'd even remember it.
But what he said, with a delayed blink back to the present and a short laugh was "Heh, well, there ain't a bridge to cross that gap of life, nah. I was just goin' on an evenin' stroll, takin' in the nature and enjoyin' the tranquility of life. You can have a lotta epiphanies in the forest, ya know."
Feora watched him carefully, the little shifts in expression as he thought, and the way his eyes became lost in a distant past the further into his own head he had gotten. This man was either the best actor Feora had ever seen, or he had seen some real dark shit.
But they raised their eyebrows and gave a chuckle to match his. "Well, there's only one thing to do for it, then!" they decided, standing and giving another overdramatic bow. They put on their story-telling voice, beaming. "Oh, mysterious stranger, you must see these wondrous new lands before you, for perhaps within them you might find your way home!"
"Hey, like an adventure!" Raven said, quickly putting on a bright grin. "Damn, what luck! Ain't every day an ol' man like me gets ta explore whole new worlds! Gonna have some brand new eyes on me an' everything. Of course-" he tapped his chin as he thought "-that'd mean I'd have ta get myself a guide of sorts."
"What luck, then, that Feste the Entertainer is due for a world tour," Feora said, nodding wisely.
It had been a year after all. Maybe more? The thought felt like a stone in Feora's chest, but it was one they would resolutely ignore.
They looked Raven over again, noting the dagger at his waist. "I take it you can fight? Always good in case we find some angry monsters or bandits."
"Yeah, I got a few tricks," said Raven, casually leaning back on the counter. "You sure you really wanna be my tour guide, though? Seems like an awful lot ta do for a stranger ya met 45 minutes ago."
"What's life without adventure?" Feora asked, grinning. (And they would never turn down the chance to get away from those old grumpy Council members.) "Besides, I've been in one place too long, and if I just let you go off on your own then I'll never know what happened and that would be torture ."
"Ooh, ya plannin' on writin' an epic on me?" he said with an easy smirk. "'Cuz if so, you definitely chose the right guy. I'm pret-ty great, if I do say so myself."
Feora laughed outright. "Oh, good, good, you'll have plenty of time to impress me, then. Make it interesting enough and in a few years all the kids in Auldrant might know your name!"
"Gonna regain my fans across the world lickity split." With a decisive nod, it was...decided, apparently, that he would be traveling with this fella! But, uh, what's next? "Sooo, you got any idea on where we should head for first? If we're stayin' here for now I wouldn't mind gettin' a feel for the city."
"It's like you've read my mind," Feora said cheerily. "I think a day in Grand Chokmah is just the thing to get us started, then you can stay in the inn for a night and tomorrow morning we'll be all set." They grinned then, and pushed their map towards him. "You, however, are the one who gets to choose our route!"
As they spoke, they now pointed to various locations. "We could travel by sea to start and make our way to Keterburg and Daath, far across the sea. Islands, you know. Perhaps even Yulia City! Or we could brave the spooky--" they had to do spooky fingers for that-- "Theor Forest, and then have our pick between traveling to Chesedonia on the border, or stopping in Good Ol' Saint Binah!"
"Well, I'll be damned!" Raven had no idea what any of those names meant.
Before deciding, however, he pulled out one of his gald out of nowhere, clasped between two fingers, and asked "By the way, just wanna make sure my coin will work here. How's it look to you?"
Feora leaned forward, squinted, and then frowned. "Oh, that's weird looking alright. What is that?"
"Gald."
"Is it?" Feora sucked on their teeth, and then pulled out a coin of their own. "This is Gald. It's the same shape and size but... hm, I don't know those symbols at all."
Gald creation was regulated by Daath, using the fires of Mt. Zaleho. It was once for the ease of trade while Kimlasca and Malkuth were at war, but it also solidified Daath's standing as an important figurehead - on top of owning the Score. Whatever the coin Raven had had a star on it, rather than the intricate lines of Daathic symbols.
"Yeah, go figure," he sighed. "Guess I'll have ta find a way to make some gald first, then."
"Could always be my sidekick," Feora said, sounding rather pleased at the idea. "But in the meantime, don't worry about it too much. It'll work out!" Really, they hadn't had to worry over money for the past year at all. They were more than happy to share that wealth, since they didn't exactly know what to do with all of it anyway. The royal coffers were too full!
"Yeah, pshhh, it'll be fine." With that subject handwaved away and the internal determination to find some way to pull his weight, he held out his hand for Feora to shake. "It'll be a deal then. Pleasure doin' business with ya, miss....ter...? Feora."
"Pleasure doing business with you, Raven!" Feora practically bubbled in joy at his response. He really kept taking the punches without complaint, huh? Feora could only imagine how much the others would tear him apart if...
"Well then!" They clapped their hands together and gathered up their things. "What do you like to do? Anything you'd like to see first?"
"Hm, welllll, there's always the question of the local cuisine, but I'm always up for a bit of socializin' if ya got ideas but, more than that-" he tugged at his jacket "-how's this compared to the local fashion?"
Feora looked at him, vaguely amused. "It's very purple," they pointed out. Clearly that was its selling point.
"The better ta attract attention to my handsome face," he said automatically.
"To overshadow it, maybe," Feora retorted. "Why look at a face when you have a face full of purple?"
"Aw, you wound me," he pouted, resting a hand over his poor, aching heart. "Alas, looks like even in a place of mystery and intrigue I can't escape the elder abuse. Guess what they say about the Goddesses strongest warriors bein' given the biggest challenges was true after all."
Goddesses? Hm. Feora would have to log whatever that was away for later. Maybe he meant Yulia and her disciples? How strange. But for now...
"Elder abuse?" Feora looked him up and down and laughed. "Hardly. Give it twenty years and then maybe we can start complaining about joint pain."
"Already there, sorry to say," he mourned woefully. "You fight long enough and you'll get there someday too, kid."
Feora laughed outright once again, putting their hands on their hips. "Maybe you just need a better stretching regimen," they teased, lifting their chin. "Anyway, let's get some lunch, shall we? I doubt you'll be surprised to hear that we have some of the freshest fish in the world in Grand Chokmah."
And that, that of all things, got the biggest smile out of Raven yet. "Well, shit, don't keep me in suspense! Let's get some food!"
Feora grinned and let out a cheer. "Alright! Let us be off, my strange friend!"
And then they were! Feora spun around and led the way into the markets, explaining all sorts of knickknacks along the way. Old auction houses turned banks, banks turned jewelry shops and all sorts of things like that, and through it all they were happy to answer questions if they came up.
After taking a small trip to the local pawn shop to schmooze and sell his 'rare golden coins' for gald and buying himself a nice hat, Raven grinned and nudged Feora with an elbow. "So, what's your story, stranger? Anythin' of note I should know about Feste and Feora before we begin our grand journey?"
"Hmmm, well there is quite a bit to my story, I suppose," they hummed. Though whether they wanted him to know was an entirely different story. They had gotten quite sick of the bowing and "your highness"ing in the palace, and certainly didn't want to go around saying they were part of the team that had saved the world a year ago. They liked to brag, but not quite like that. They could always tell him other things!
"Feste is known to be part of the Black Dream Circus Troupe, which is the greatest performing circus out there, if I do say so myself. As for Feora... well, I've got some connections I suppose. Through the circus of course, and other types. You meet a lot of people when you travel for a living, and make a lot of friends when you make people laugh for a living."
"Sounds like a pretty fun life you're livin', then," Raven said cheerfully, playing with the edge of his new hat as they walked down the street, still discreetly admiring the city and analyzing the people. "Must get a lotta freedom with that kinda job, huh? What gotcha to the circus of all things?"
Feora added a little bounce to their step at being able to talk about their family. "I met them when I was a kid! Well, teenager I suppose." Almost Ion's age if.. "In Saint Binah. I was.. well, living rough for a while. Alone and starving, and here comes this huge parade of color and music and laughing. It was.." Feora couldn't help but smile, and spun in place to supplant the actual joy they felt at the memory with a bit of comedic drama, "It was magical. So I snuck in and tagged along! Basically everyone there knew what it was like to be hungry so.. I think they let me pretend I was being sneaky for a while before inviting me over."
"They sound like pretty good people," Raven said, thinking over the experiences Karol had told him about in times past, both sympathetically and acknowledging. He had mixed feelings on calling a child strong for dealing with starvation and homelessness when, in truth, their lives were probably mostly fear and desperation to live when they should have been taken care of but, well...he could at least say he didn't think he could have survived nearly as long as Feora had if he'd been in that situation as a kid. That sure as hell took grit, and that sure as hell would shape a person growing up. He smiled, small and wry. "How many other kids were there with ya? They really must've been doin' well for themselves to take care of y'all."
Feora shrugged. "There's a lot of us, of all ages, really. Around that time there were three other kids my age, and a few younger. They picked up a lot of strays along the way, like me." Then, with a huge grin, they said, "There's 400 of us, now!"
"Four-" A sputter, a gape, "Four hundred? Did I hear that right?"
"Four hundred!" Feora repeated merrily. "We're practically our own village! That's why I'm not always performing with them. Don't need 400 performers all at once!"
"No shit!" he said, voice cracking a bit. "How the hell do y'all take care of all those people?"
"Me? It's not just me," Feora said, shrugging. "I mean.. most of us travel and perform on our own, too. We get money from shows and share it with each other. A lot of us can fight, too, so some take on bounties and stuff. Back then it was a much smaller group, so we travelled together and worked together to pass around the hat."
"Huh...like a lil, family based Dahngrest," Raven murmured. After one thoughtful smile-filled second, Raven snapped and pointed. "Y'all really did build something incredible, ya know. Where I come from it'd be next to impossible ta organize something like that unless ya had the Don. Especially with that much money and that many people."
"The Don?" Feora tipped their head and raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, Don Whitehorse," he said with a grin. Nevermind the fact that his chest still ached when he said his name, he was tellin' a story here. "He was the biggest man alive, the strongest man on the continent!" he said, waving his hands around. "That guy managed to wrangle all the guilds in Dahngrest ta join forces and form a Union that could be strong enough to stand against the Empire, free of the Empire's rules so they could make their own laws, decide their own life! 'Course, that's just the romanticized version of events."
Feora had stopped walking, and looked at Raven with stars in their eyes. They loved a good story, and they so rarely were on the listening side! "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," they said, holding up a finger wisely before beaming again. "He raised an army? All by himself?"
"Well, he did have a couple'a comrades..." Patty, namely, but that was one situation he couldn't go into without explaining a whole schlew of things he neither wanted to explain nor had the patience to. "But, yeah, pretty much. Or, at least, that's what I've been able ta gather. Happened 50 years ago, before my time, and I didn't get the chance to ask him about it."
"Wow.." Feora whispered. "And you knew him? Like personally?" They bounced a little. "All the heroes in my stories are long gone, or never existed! It must be so cool to know one for real!"
"Heh, yeah...he helped me out a lot." His smile wavered, just for a moment, but put itself back together immediately after. "'Course, that was his whole schtick. Helpin' people, even if he tried ta rationalize it by sayin' he was just gainin' future allies or somethin'."
Feora giggled a bit. "The nicest people always try to hide it, in my experience. Noir is like that, too."
"Heh, ain't that the truth. Tell ya what, if I ever figure out what the hell happened to me, I'll introduce ya to some real heroes I know," he said with a small nudge. "I'm talkin' save the world type heroes, the real deal."
Feora beamed once again. "Oh, good! I always need more stories to tell, and it sounds like you have tons." But the mention of saving the world made them pause again. Could it really be just a miscommunication? Strange, incorrect maps and different names, but maybe the same..?
"That I do!" Raven beamed, still oblivious to Feora's thoughts. "Glad ta know ya recognize talent when ya see it! That said, I can't exactly just start blabberin' story after story, now can I? Gotta keep some of my mysterious charm. So...how about one or two a day? Can be my way of repayin' ya 'til we figure out what ta do with me."
Feora grinned at that and nodded, holding out a hand. "I'll take that deal. A good story is worth more than money."
"Couldn't have said it better myself!" He bobbed their hands together once then kept walking. "But, ya know, that means lunch is on you today! I've already given ya one and a half stories which means I'm just spillin' gold for ya here!"
Feora laughed at that and nodded. "You're absolutely right," they agreed. "You get a feast courtesy of the Great Feste the Entertainer. Oh, and here we are! This is one of my favorite restaurants." They gestured to the side, showing off an equally white and blue building to all the others, however this one had beautiful mosaics adorning its walls of undersea creatures. There were already several people dining at tables placed along a garden to the side.
Raven observed the place with a low whistle. There was even a goddamn fountain in the middle of the restaurants shrubbery, its depiction of a mermaid most prominent. "Heh, startin' to feel like I'm underdressed for a place like this," he said but started walking in anyway. "Yeah, definitely gotta get some clothes after this. Ain't gonna go on a journey of self discovery with only one outfit on my back."
Feora waved a hand. "These guys have fed me as Feste before," they said. "They don't care what you look like as long as you pay!" And with that, they were shortly seated in that very garden with some menus in hand. For how pretty the garden was, the food itself did not seem to be fine dining. There were full, hearty meals at other tables, and the menu boasted moderate prices.
"Sounds like my kinda place then," Raven said, briefly looking over the menu before remembering he didn't recognize the characters used to make the words from his experience with the map earlier, much less recognize the difference between numbers and letters in this language. Hm. Well, shit. He set the menu down. "So, anythin' in particular ya recommend here?" he asked, facing the menu towards Feora and pointing to a random item on the menu. "How's this dish here?"
"Hm? Acquired taste to most," Feora said, giving it a glance. "You've never had sashimi?"
"Nah, I have. I just figured I'd ask since there's a big range of quality when it comes ta sashimi," he said, looking back over the parchment and distractedly analyzing the parchment as he looked over the characters that apparently made up 'sashimi' in this language. Funny, it was written in 7 characters, just like Tercian. May as well continue the experiment. "Any specific fish you recommend for their sashimi? And what about this dish, how's it hold up?" he asked, pointing to another random item.
"The ahi tuna are thriving right now, I heard," Feora said, shrugging. "The pescatore isn't bad, but tomatoes aren't in season right now. So it's a no if you're picky. Are you picky? I wouldn't expect that out of a scrappy looking guy like you."
"Scrappy, ya say?" Raven chuckled.
"Definitely scrappy," Feora agreed, though their quick response was somewhat ruined by the smirk they failed to hold back. "Certainly not fine-dining type."
"Now now, don'tcha think that's stereotypin' a bit there, Feora? If the lack o' fine dinin' is the qualifier for bein' called scrappy then what do ya call most of the population?" he said, waving their assertions away with a careless hand as he kept talking, not really thinking much about what he said as he kept blabbering. "There's definitely more ta bein' scrappy than cuisine. Besides, the only thing really 'fine' about fine dinin' is how small the forks and plates ya can use are. It's all really inefficient."
Feora laughed at him, setting down the menu and leaning back in their chair. "Okay, but am I wrong? I'm gonna guess you're not that picky, though the stubble and droopy clothes and the whole 'stumbling out of an alleyway' thing really solidify the scrappy persona. If there's more to being scrappy, you've got it."
"Oh, there's a lot more ta the world of bein' scrappy than just that, Feora darlin'. But enough of that-" he tapped their menu "-whatcha havin'?"
"The strawberry salad!" Feora pointed at the menu and grinned. "It's a secret gem, so long as you don't mind mixing sweet and savory."
"Eugh." Raven pulled a face, then considered. "Well, ain't my usual prerogative but sounds like it could be good. I'll stick with the sashimi myself, though. And, hey, after we get our food ya think you'd be down for answerin' a few more questions?"
Feora hummed and tipped their head from side to side before their Feste voice spoke once again. "Oh stranger, you can ask, but what does it make you if you turn to a fool for answers?" But they huffed a laugh and smiled more genuinely afterwards. "Sure. No problem."
"Great, 'cuz I got a lot of 'em," Raven admitted, blowing his cheeks out with a puff of air. "Besides, no better place for a fool to find answers than from another fool. Or...somethin'. I dunno, I'm just real curious about how y'all run the place."
"Food first," Feora insisted, nodding and tapping the menu. "Whatever's going on has gotta have you stressed, and being stressed on an empty stomach is no good."
"Well, if that's what such a beautiful-...person? Person." He nodded resolutely to himself "- wants, then I ain't gonna stop it."
Feora raised their chin, smirking, "Why, thank you for saying so, stranger! I would say the same of you but you just crawled out of an alleyway." Teasing aside, it wasn't long before their orders were placed and the food arrived. Feora was more than happy to dig in and watch Raven go for his first bite before they said: "So, can't read, huh?"
Raven choked on a slice of salmon. After a cough, a brief pounding of his chest with a fist, and a clearing of his throat, he looked back at 'em. "Shit, you got some eyes on ya! I can read, just not whatever...this is," he said with a vague wave. "If ya give me a pen and paper I can show off the alphabet I use. It's a lot less curly so...hell, with me here maybe it'll catch on with y'all locals or somethin'."
Feora failed to hold back their smirk as they watched him struggle. They liked to think Jade would have approved of that maneuver. "A whole new alphabet huh? Sounds like a game," they hummed, but they turned to their Bag of Tricks to rifle around for a paper and pencil.
"Oh, yeah, and I'm a great player," Raven said absentmindedly as he received the objects and began to lower his pencil. Then he stopped. He looked up. "Just...gotta make sure. Ya know the abc's, right?"
Feora nodded and hummed in agreement since they had just shoved a massive bite of their salad into their mouth. Elegance and grace this one.
"Alright so-" He began humming the song as he wrote each respective letter "A, B, C, D, E, F, G..." And so on and so forth until he got to the end, after which he also wrote out the numbers. He jabbed at the completed marks with the pencil. "And that is what I'm used ta seein'. And I'm a great speller too; could even ask me how ta spell supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and I'd get it right first try."
Feora snorted at his joke and tapped the paper. "You've got two extra letters there, buddy. Run me by ‘V’ and ‘G’ again?" Their brows knit together as they scanned the page and then pulled it closer. The marks looked far sharper than any they had seen. Certainly not anything based in ancient Ispanian, but could an alphabet from some smaller dialect in the Dawn Age really have survived so long unheard of?
"This-" one mark "-and this-" two marks, and he opened his hands to display. "Ta da! Proven literacy. I can read like a real boy and everythin'."
Feora snorted again. "You can read a pretend language, maybe," they retorted. "Besides, that doesn't answer my question at all! What is a 'V' and a 'G'? I've never heard of 'em. Here, give me that." They took the pencil from him, writing the fonic alphabet underneath the letters (checking for these mysterious Vs and Gs again)
Raven stared at them for a beat, suddenly looking tired, and he dragged a hand down his face. "Oh man, how ta explain this...sorry, it ain't you, I'm just thinkin'...where's Estelle when ya need her?" Only then did Raven notice the letters Feora was writing. He considered them, absentmindedly taking the pencil from Feora as he said "Uh, well, 'G' makes a guh sound, like garden, and 'v' makes a vvvv sound, like violet. I...can explain the exceptions later." He started writing out his name using the letters Feora had drawn and slid the paper back over to them. "So, this would be my name 'R-A-V-E-N,' Raven."
"Oh," Feora looked at the name closely. They then tapped on 'J'. "This sometimes makes that sound. It just depends on the word. But this one..." They reached over and spelled out Raven's name, and then said it out loud. "R-A-B-E-N. Raven. Who's Estelle?"
"It's a 'v', not a-" He cut himself off with a wave of his hand and resumed eating. "Nevermind. And she's a...friend? Of mine. It's kinda complicated but I've known her since she was a wee lass and now-" he sniffed, faux tearfully "-now she's all grown up, thinkin' about movin' into a tree ta become a writer."
Feora paused and stared at him. "Moving into a tree? Now you're really just trying to mess with me."
He held up his hands, the perfect picture of innocence. "Hey, it's all true. We got a city based around it. It's called Halure and it's great ta visit in the spring time for the blossoms."
"Right.." Feora frowned, and stared at the paper again. Once again, a word they had never heard before, and letters they had never heard before, apparently. Not only that, but the description of the town sounded nothing like... "Oh! Saint Binah!" They snapped their fingers. "Giant tree, right?"
Raven squinted at them. "What? Nah, Halure. Though Halure has a giant tree too...but so does Kiev Moc so..." He shrugged. "Pretty sure giant trees ain't as rare as we think in the world."
"What? Two giant trees?" Feora shook their head. "Saint Binah's is famous. They say it protects the town and makes their flowers bloom. It's why St. Binah is the main producer of medicines."
"...Ya know what, that does sound like Halure," Raven conceded, squinting even more.
Feora almost felt relieved to hear that, and they beamed. "Well, you know what? It sounds like we have our destination! We'll get your head turned around in no time at all!"
"Heyy, look at that! Gonna be seein' life from a whole new perspective then, huh?" he grinned, eating another piece of fish. "Ain't every day I get ta screw my head on right. Here's to the road ahead!"
Feora chuckled and nodded, happily picking a strawberry out of their dish. "To the road ahead," they agreed. "Now, you said you had some questions?"
"Oh, yeah! That's right! So!" He clapped, rubbed his hands together, and gestured to everything around him. "How the hell do y'all power all these fountains?"
"Oh, the aqueducts?" Feora grinned. They knew this one! It was their favorite part of Grand Chokmah. "Well, they used to be run by fonic artes, but those have been getting weaker since the Planet Storm was stopped, so Count Gailardia Galan has been helping us switch over to fon machines. He built one that's not even powered on fonstones! It apparently runs using the power of the ocean waves or.. something like that. The waterfalls become fortress protections for war, but hopefully we won't see any of that for a long time now."
And, there ya go, that's exactly the sort of answer Raven had been looking for and he pointed, energetically, at Feora. "That! That, ok, that's the thing! So y'all do have magic! And it's powered by....fons? Tell me more about that!"
Feora's eyes widened and they raised an eyebrow. "Artes aren't magic," they said. "Neither are fonons. They're just..." Well, that was difficult to answer. Still a study. Science? "They're science," they decided. "Kinda. I dunno." Jeez, this guy really was like a replica. He knew nothing! "Fonons are in everything. They're what we're all made of, what the world is made of, and it's how we cast artes."
"That- that's fine, that's kinda what I know too," Raven said with a dismissive wave. "Only difference is I call it Aer, a-e-r, and also last time we used technology that used aer it kinda...did some funny shit."
"Miasma?" Feora asked, nodding like they expected that. "That's from the Dawn Age technology, but we figured that out a while ago so we're phasing out all that stuff. I think. I dunno, I'm not really into fonology."
"Y-yeah." But it was strange, Raven couldn't help but feel. Miasma, Dawn Age technology, Fonons, all three of those were so similar to what he was used to and yet they were called different things.
Perhaps his subconscious knew this stuff but had, in whatever thing had happened to him, named them something else, just like whatever memories he currently had....ugh, he really didn't like thinking about that. He was already fucked up enough to be adding more weird ass psychological manipulation to the mix. He shook his head, dismissing the premise of something terrible having happened to him, and sighed. As ironic as it was, he might have to rely on the rock in his chest to be the proof that he was who he said he was and remembered to be.
And, what's more...didn't hurt to dig a little bit further! "So all that sounds familiar, gotta admit," he said with a casual shrug, "but do y'all still use crystal cores in y'alls tech? Or have y'all moved past that too?"
"Fonstones? Usually, but those are different from the power cores that the Dawn Age used. I think," Feora said. "I... couldn't really tell you what they are. I only barely followed what was going on during the change. We don't read the Score anymore, but those fonstones still exist. Here, let me..." They pulled up their Bag of Tricks again and rifled around for a little small shard. It looked almost like glass, and when it shimmered there were clear signs of some sort of script.
Raven hummed as he rubbed his fingers over the small crystal. Smooth and sharp, just like one would expect. That and, as confirmed with a rap of the crystal on the wood, none too brittle. It was similar, so similar, to apatheia...except for the glowing script part. "You mentioned the score before," Raven said, looking at the sunlight filter through the stone as he held it above his eye. "Could'ja tell me what that is?"
"The Score used to tell the future of the world. Yulia Jue first read the Score in the Dawn Age and she inscribed it into seven fonstones and they were broken into pieces. You can see some of them in the sky." Feora gestured upwards, to where there was a ring of stones and dust in the sky. "We don't follow the Score anymore, though. Well, the governments don't. Some people still ask scorers for readings but they're not really accurate."
"Hm." Sounds like bullshit. "So y'all used those rocks ta tell the future?"
"Yeah," Feora nodded. "Using the seventh fonon. If you can use it, you can probably read that."
Ravens brows scrunched. "And, uh...what's a seventh fonon again?"
Feora resisted the urge to blink. They knew replicas knew nothing, but by Lorelai, this was hard. "It's... uh.." Feora frowned and tried to think of how to explain it. "It's... used to read the Score? And you can heal wounds with it."
"You...heal...the rock?" He was seriously dubious now. "Y'ain't pullin' my leg right now, are ya?"
"I dunno, I'm not a seventh fonist," Feora said. "They just kinda... do it?"
Raven stared and stared and stared and shrugged. "Well, alright then." Then he gathered the aer (aer?) around him and began to channel a light stream of blue-green energy (but what was that energy really?) through his fingertips and into the crystal. (What...what was that?) "Ah!" A flash of something hit him and the world around him felt too strange, too big, too bright, too...resonant? He flinched and dropped the crystal. "What the f-"
In his head rang words: "N.D. 2018. When duty calls, the lost heir shall return-" and then the crystal fell from his hands.
Feora's eyes went wide. "Did you...? You're a seventh fonist?"
"Who the hell is the lost heir?" he immediately shot back, rubbing the phantom sensation in his hands away as he uneasily stared at the shard.
Feora paused and blinked. Shit, they hadn't been expecting him to be able to read that. "They're uh.. the lost princess of Malkuth," they decided to say. "All of the Emperor's siblings were massacred in a bid for the throne several years ago. That Score says that the princess survived and would return to the palace in N.D. 2018."
"And what year is it now?" he asked, now rubbing his palms on his pants.
"N.D. 2019," Feora answered promptly.
"Huh." He looked at them, his thoughts and intentions unreadable, and then he looked back down at his food. "Tragic. Hope she made it back okay."
"Y-Yeah," Feora nodded. "She did, just like the Score said. It really only stopped being accurate last year."
Looks like I might've touched a nerve. Move along, move along, Raven thought to himself as he recalibrated his brain and eased on a reassuring smile. "Alright, well, thanks for answerin' my questions, Feora. I think I got a better idea about how this place runs now."
Feora gave him a grin and nodded. "Yeah, no problem, Raven. I'll do what I can to answer anything else, but I'm really not super knowledgeable on any of that. There are way better people you could talk to for info, honestly."
"Oho, is that so?" He leaned forward with a tomcat grin. "I love me a new source of info. C'mon, tell me, tell me, who are they? I gotta make me some new friends ta tide me over til I find my old ones, pronto!"
"Oh," Feora did not think before they spoke. Again. "Well, for fon machines and stuff there's someone in the city. Also fonology but..." Well, they hadn't seen anyone for almost a year. Almost like it had never happened. Sure, they lived in the palace, and sometimes Guy would stop by but he was most often busy in Sheridan, and Feora was quite sure they hadn't seen Jade at all. Would it be weird? To reach out without any obligation?
"Ah..." Raven smiled sympathetically. He recognized that hesitation; he'd seen the very same kind in his own face in the past month. World was saved, dust was settled, Flynn was trying to put the world back in order, and Raven was kinda both everywhere and nowhere doin' everythin' and nothin' to help out. He had no idea where his place was in that world. And...now he was here. "It's alright, I was just jokin'. Ya said before you wanted to go to...Saint Binah, right? For our first stop?"
"Yeah, that makes sense since it's like your... place," Feora had forgotten the name. They couldn't justify keeping that information from Raven, though, so they continued. "But if you don't know about fontech it also makes sense to talk to Guy about it, if he's free. Or we could go to Sheridan and find someone, but that's on the other side of the world."
"Is this guy nearby?"
"He might be," Feora said. "He might also be in Sheridan. He tends to jump back and forth. We could go check?"
Raven shrugged. "Yer the guide here. I ain't got a single idea about this place, but if ya think there's a kind of fontech that can mess with a person's memory of their entire life then it could be worth checkin' out."
Feora hummed. "I... don't know," they said. "There was something that could be related but also.. it doesn't quite match up." They were worried about this turning out to be nothing and they bugged the experts for nothing, but if it was replica related...
"Well, my world is your oyster. We'll figure out. All else fails, I just start a new life, get a job or somethin'. 'Til then, however-" he jabbed his chopsticks at them "-lets get some food in ya and then we can just take the day."
"Maybe you could join the circus," Feora teased him, stabbing more of their salad with a grin. "You're already dressed for it!"
The two took the time then to finish their meals, and then Feora brought Raven to the noble's sector by the palace. Unfortunately for them, Guy wasn't there (though they were worried about bugging him, Feora was a little disappointed). His new butler informed them that he was in Sheridan on business.
So, Feora pointed out the palace and a few more tourist attractions before bringing Raven to the inn and promising to meet him first thing in the morning (just not too early!) Feora returned to the palace and informed Peony about their plans. They were excited to have an excuse to travel once again and get out of the palace. Still, this was a strange, strange situation
A strange, strange situation indeed. On the white tiled rooftops of Grand Chokmah, Raven pondered the past day in the light setting sun. Everything around him had been weird, slightly to the left of what he'd come to expect from the world. The clothes felt different, the food tasted different, and the flowers smelled different from what he was used to, and that wasn't even getting into the language, calendar, and magic the world now seemed to boast. Raven was adaptable, yeah, but even he...
He sighed where he perched on the rooftop of the inn and looked around for the next tallest building. It wasn't as easy for him to move like he used to, but whether that was because of his lack of fluency with the magic around him or just his age catching up to him, he couldn't tell. Either way, he could still sneak his way up a multi-story building and use it to overlook the massive city. In breadth, it compared to Zaphias, but in construction it compared to Heliord, if only in the massive semi-circular construction of waterfall walls. But the aqueducts...that was beyond anything Raven could have imagined being created by humankind. The closest he could compare it to was the sunken city that surrounded Zaude, with its hundreds of thousands of stone buildings that survived the millennia if only to preserve the beauty of its arrangement. Even if it could be witnessed from Ba'ul's back, it was a sight to behold...
...It had only been 12 hours since he had arrived in wherever this was and he already missed the things familiar to him. That feeling would only grow the more he explored the space around him and he recognized all the things foreign to him. But there was no plan for now. Just biding his time while he gathered information.
Speaking of...a possible point of interest. From his view atop his building he spotted a massive building nestled itself in the curvature of the waterfall wall and, before it, a huge garden. There was enough traffic activity that he could be convinced it might be open for the public. Might as well peddle around, see a few more sights. He didn't think he'd be going to sleep any time soon.
That was how Raven found himself walking through the gated gardens of the Royal Palace.
The gardens were carefully manicured with neat little paths between unique beds of flowers and bushes, and several mini displays of waterworks. Fountains were at the center point of every one of the displays, and for a few moments one could forget the roar of the waterfalls and waves to hear the gentle chime of a garden stream. A few guards patrolled in shifts, several maids made their way through the curving paths, but only two voices were strolling along with the ease of simply enjoying the architecture. One of them was familiar.
"So I'm gonna take him to Saint Binah to start," said Feora. "I don't want to bother Jade or Guy with this if it turns out to just be a bit of confusion."
"But what if he really is a replica? Jade would want to know," said an unfamiliar, deeper voice. Feora sighed.
"I know, I know, but he really doesn't seem like one. Kind of. Jade said that replicas are born without any knowledge or with a pre-programmed set of instructions. This guy has knowledge, it's just all... weird."
"What about memories?"
"He said he had those too, mentioned a friend by name, mentioned watching her grow up..."
The other voice hummed. "That's quite the dilemma you've found yourself with. Are you sure-"
What the-... Feora? With a low creep, Raven ducked behind a hedge and listened in, making sure no guards were nearby. Who is that they're talking to?
The man beside them had the same, light blonde hair. His skin was lighter than Feora's, and his outfit far more complex than their simple white shirt, but it did not look unmanageable. He was frowning in a way that looked remarkably similar to Feora's earlier thinking expressions. "Are you sure you don't want back-up? I'm sure they wouldn't mind. Guy and Jade especially love a mystery."
Feora shook their head. "I'm sure. They have more important things to do than help me investigate some guy. I don't want to-"
Something changed. A twig snapping or an unfamiliar step too hard, and Feora froze before throwing an arm out to the side to stop the man beside them. "Who's there?" they demanded, voice tight.
Eep! Raven froze, his hands flying to cover his mouth.
The two had stopped, waiting in silence with Feora's arm still outstretched.
"Identify yourself," Feora insisted to the open air. "Now. Before I call the guards." They swore they had heard something. They swore it, and with their history it was better safe than sorry. Even Peony looked alert.
"Uh." From behind a nearby bush a spiky head of dark hair popped out, followed by bright teal eyes and a very awkward Raven, who crawled out from behind the bush and waved hesitantly. "H-howdy, Feora, fancy seein' you here! I didn't know ya had a brother."
" You? " Feora's growl was almost foreign as they shoved Peony behind them and stood ready to fight. Hoping the man wouldn't notice, they began to draw in the first fonon around them to be used as soon as needed. "What are you doing here? How did you get in?"
Had Feora messed up? Had they somehow been used to lead an assassin right into Peony's home? Were they really so damn gullible?
Rapidly, Raven blinked as he unsteadily got to his feet and watched Feora's body for any sign of them attacking first. "I- sorry, I just kinda walked in," he said, trying to keep his voice calm and low but not without the shake of nervousness. "I can leave if you want me to. I'm not gonna...do anything."
"That your confused friend?" Peony asked from behind, suddenly sounding very at ease with the situation whereas Feora still stood guarded. He peeked over them curiously. Feora grimaced and pushed him back. "How did you get past the guards? Why are you here?"
"It looked like a pretty cool garden??" Raven said, his voice rising an octave as he shrugged his biggest shrug yet. "I don't know, honestly? I was just walkin' around...uh, nice ta meet ya, Feora's brother! I'm Raven. Sorry about the scare...you want me to leave? I can leave."
"Oh, no, no, you're just who I was hoping to see," Peony said, tone light as he lightly nudged them to the side. "Forgive my sibling. They get overprotective."
Feora puffed indignantly. "I get overprotective? Maybe you're too trusting!"
Peony waved their words away with a hand. "I'm not used to having to introduce myself, but since Feora's preoccupied... I am Emperor Peony Upala Malkuth the ninth." Feora instantly grimaced for an entirely different reason.
"Pleasure ta meetcha, Emperor Peony Upala Malkuth the...wait." 1 + 1 = 2 and if Feora is this guys sibling thennnnn... With a beam, Raven said "Oh, huh, so yer the lost princess, Feora!"
Feora groaned and put their head in their hands, ears quickly turning red.
"Hah, knew it," Peony said, half to himself. "May I introduce, then, since they didn't do it themself, my sibling Feora Atenas Malkuth the Second."
Raven snickered to himself. "How 'bout that. This'll be the second time I've befriended an imperial candidate for the throne who was tryin' ta hide it. Now now, Feora," he said, stepping a bit closer with the intent to pat their shoulder with a sympathetic hand, "it ain't nothin' ta be embarrassed about! Nobles hide their identities all the time!"
Feora shot him a glare. "I am not a noble, thank you very much," they muttered, only earning a laugh from Peony.
"Much to the disappointment of the Council, I might add," he said. "Now what's this about another candidate for the throne?"
"Oh, heh, well I don't think this'll be relevant to ya but have you ever heard of Zaphias?" Raven asked wryly.
"Not at all," Peony said, raising his eyebrows. "One of your nonsense words, I take it."
"He has a lot of those," Feora muttered. "But still, how the hell did you get in here? Where did you come from?"
"Now that, my dear Feora, is the question of the day," Raven said with a small bow, his smile strained by the subject even as he gestured to the side. "I came from over there aaaaand from there I shall return so you two can have yer lil chitchat. Goodbye."
Feora looked physically pained at being bowed to. Remarkably unimpressed as well.
"Ah, ah, ah," Peony held up a hand. "Come now, I wouldn't want to cut my time with such a mysterious man short. Besides, we were only talking about you. It's only fair you be present."
"I think it's only fair if ya think I'd wanna hear it but sure." He shifted his weight, rested his hand on his hilt, and inclined his head. "I can stick around for a bit longer. Tell me, what kinda nonsense do ya wanna hear from me?"
"I was particularly curious about this 'V' thing that Feora mentioned," Peony said.
Raven sighed, heavily. "You guys don't have different languages here? It's just a letter, just a sound. Used ta spell."
Peony laughed at the way the man drooped at the question. He could almost see why Jade did it. "I'm teasing, Raven," he said lightly. "Anyone can see you're exhausted. If you're not in a state to answer questions, why don't we wait for tomorrow? I'll arrange a meeting. I don't think we need to get the Council involved just yet."
"Please no," Feora agreed, sighing as well. "I fully intend to sneak off without telling them."
"And just what would Jade say, I wonder?" Peony hummed, and Feora stuck their tongue out at him.
Heh, yep. Definitely siblings, those two. As amusing as that was, however, Peony had said something more intriguing a second ago. "I'm with Feora on not gettin' the council involved," Raven said, raising a hand. "But, more importantly, who's this Jade guy?"
Feora felt something in their gut tighten. Reaching out to Guy was relatively easy. Even if Feora wasn't sure he would want to talk, Guy would at least be kind and polite as always. Jade though... they weren't exactly looking to finding out what Jade thought after a year with no direct communication. He had never liked them anyway (right?), which was a shame because as much as they hated it, Feora really liked Jade. Mostly.
Peony, however, only brightened. "Ah, Jade is a childhood friend of mine," he said cheerily. "Well, I say friend, but really he's quite the burden, isn't he, Feora? You're the one who traveled around the world with him, after all."
Feora's grin was slightly forced. "You learn how to deal with him after a while."
Peony shrugged, still smiling. "The bottom line is that he's the expert on fonology, particularly in the case of replicas, which you have some similarities to."
Oh, boy. Raven steeled himself for the answer then asked. "Like what? And what's a replica?"
Peony's expression turned serious. "Well... replicas are just that. A replica. Feora has told you about fonons, I expect?" Feora nodded and he continued. "As far as I understand, replicas are built using advanced artes and technology to match the way fonons are lined up in something else. It was used to create duplicates of items, though it was difficult and not cost-effective for most fonists. A replica can, in rare cases, also be a human."
Raven stared, his eyes narrowing almost imperceptibly. "So y'all can copy humans and you think I'm one of 'em?"
"I don't," Feora said. "Replicas have no memories of the person they're replicated from. Or of... well, really anything. They're newborns. You clearly have memories and knowledge, they're just strange."
"Even still, Jade would be the most likely person to be able to figure out who you are and what happened to you," Peony said. "He may be an asshole, but he's damn smart."
"But he's busy dealing with stabilizing the replicas we do have," Feora reminded Peony, half under their breath.
"Who created them?" Raven asked.
"The ones we have now?" Peony clarified, tipping his head. "Hm.. that's complicated, but it was likely either former Grand Maestro Mohs, or former Commandant Van Grants. Feora knows more about that than me."
Feora nodded, giving Raven a glance. He was tense, and his expression passive. From a guy who seemed to have so much character and smiles, they had a feeling he was not happy about this revelation. They took a slow breath and frowned, trying to figure out how to explain things in a way that wouldn't make it worse. "Do you remember I mentioned the whole 'world changing, voices in the sky, overthrowing the Score' bit? A lot of that whole pile of nonsense was based around the creation of replicas. In particular, a bunch of fuckers creating newborn humans to use as cannon fodder. We're still working to make sure that the replicas that were created are being raised and cared for as proper human beings."
"Ahh...I see." Raven turned away, his voice and hand shaking as he dragged a hand down his face and left it with a wry grin. "Y'all sure have one hell of a world goin' on here. Still, 'm glad to hear y'all are takin' care of them. That must be some damn hard work. There are a lotta people that'd rather exploit someone like that than protect 'em."
Feora's shoulders relaxed, and they looked at him more closely. He seemed... so miserable. "We're doing what we can," they assured him. "The Kingdom of Kimlasca Lanvaldear is working on it too, and we have several people inside Daath who are taking in refugees. It's not perfect, but it's getting better."
"That's all ya can ever do," Raven said with a sigh and a shrug and, from the way he said it, it sounded like he had experience with this kind of stuff. "Plus...this empire, a kingdom, and Daath...that's the religious power, right? With all three of y'all workin' together, y'all got it covered. I really gotta admire the peace you guys have made here."
"It was hard earned," Peony said soberly. "With a lot of sacrifices."
"But possible only because of good leaders," Raven said, inclining his head towards Peony. He noticed a moment later, however, that Feora...Feora had the look of something personal hurting. A hard earned peace with lots of sacrifices, huh...and perhaps some of those sacrifices had been close to Feora's heart. "They won't be forgotten," Raven said, strengthening his voice for Feora to hear. "The good times and the bad, they will be remembered. And the world will change so there won't be a need for such a sacrifice again. Right?"
Feora tensed slightly at the change in tone, and looked at Raven warily before swallowing the lump in their throat. "R-Right.."
"And as much as I appreciate the compliment, I would say most of the grunt work came from Kimlasca's princess. Also someone who would love to hear from Feora, I might add."
" Also someone busy running a whole damn nation," Feora muttered at him under their breath.
Raven looked between the two, his hum slowly turning singsong as he ran the mental calculations on how to best help his new best friend (because, of course they were) before clapping his hands suddenly. "I got a great idea! We should go visit your friends while we have our little trip!
"We can find out what's up with my shit and you can take care of some of them lonesome feelin's of yours, Feora! Easy peesy, lemon squeezy. Plus, like half of 'em might have ideas about what the hell is goin' on with me and even Kimlasca's princess could help by means of...I donno, orderin' Lost and Found posters for me or somethin', heh. So, yeah-" All too satisfied with himself, he held his chin in what he thought was charming, and asked "-how's that sound for a genius idea?"
Feora choked on air and their ears turned pink. "Some of them what? I don't-!"
Peony clapped his hands together and beamed rather like they often did. "Oh, it is certainly a genius plan, my good man," he said with a little wink as he put his hands on his hips. "Maybe you'll knock some sense into my darling sibling here. You've both got places to be which aren't here! So it's time to get some rest before your big adventure!"
"There ya have it, then! Go on, bestie!" said Raven, grinning widely as he began to push Feora towards the palace. "Time fer ol beddie byes with ya! Off ta hit the hay! Ya better saw enough logs ta deforest an entire acre for me by mornin' time else I'll be left with a sleepy guide! And we all know how that is!"
"What the- Raven stop, I get it! Will you-!" Feora struggled against him, batting his hands away and making lots of faces. "Jeez, it's like I've suddenly got two annoying brothers.."
Peony just grinned proudly at that, following the two in a languid pace.
And all Raven could do was cackle as he kept on pushin' along. "Y'gotta chill out, Feora! C'mon, now, sing it with me! Go to sleeeeeep, go to sleeeeep, go to sleeeep lil Fe-ooo-raaa!"