Chapter Nineteen: The Fate of the Tribe of the Kobolds of the Silver Sun!

[Kaerri]

This creates an instant frenzy as every kobold from chief to teeny stampedes or gets carried straight for the pool's edge. The Grand Pool has plenty of room for every single being to have a spot, but darned if the kobolds are going to be the last and get cold food. Think about it! When was the last time any of these poor folks besides Nitwit had warm food? Nitwit meets up with their chief and you can hear him gabbing.

Kaerri doesn't join the frenzy, instead waiting while all the kobolds have claimed their place. They deserve some nice food after all they've been through, and she can wait. Or even eat cold food, she thinks to herself with a grin, if it comes to that. Won't hurt her a bit. Luna has already volunteered (and gone) to tell those outside, so the half-elf just stands out of the way for now. But as she waits, her attention is drawn elsewhere, to another small-statured person in the room.

"The staff", he says without regards to the other words that have just been spoken. Some of those, he caught. Others escaped his ears, or at least his mind. But regardless, none are of much importance, compared to the vision he just witnessed.

"The staff", he repeats, and kneels down in front of the orb, making sure that he has the attention of those in their far-away place. "Watch it closely. I've seen it on a bridge of ice; between our world and its demise. Who holds it... might decide someday whether the balance of power tips one way - or the other. And... just like I've seen it, the enemy has done the same. And seen me, too. Watch the staff closely."

For a moment, he pauses. "And those who wield it - be wary of the raging inferno of flames. One day, it might engulf you - and devour you, unless you are prepared."

He suddenly coughs - as if only now realizing that his throat was dry all along. And then , towards no one in particular in the room, he adds: "I'll take the cold meal, then. I believe there are questions."

Kaerri looks from Aldrin to the crystal ball. "Shalin, this is Aldrin," she says somewhat belatedly, though (last I heard) she can't currently see the gray-elven sorcerer on the other side of the magical connection. "Aldrin, the elf there is Shalin Riversbane. He's destroyed a bridge of ice, something like you describe, with a staff like the one he's working on now." The seer's last sentence proves accurate indeed, as she adds, "Was that what you saw? Or are you seeing what's going to happen with the new staff there?"

Me? I never asked for the hand I was dealt. All I do is drift along, trying to use what I was blessed with for good."

"That's all any of us can do, really," Kaerri nods.

 

[Psychie]

Oreleth takes a moment to look at the halfling and raises an eyebrow. "You certainly have an interesting way of starting a conversation. I am hardly a learned scholar to know what you are talking about, but I do remember that there was another attempt by the goddess to establish a bridge between worlds that was thwarted. Does that have any bearing on what we are dealing with now?"

 

[Silanon]

"I do not know. These sudden visions... they rarely give answers. Mostly, they help to ask the right questions. Perhaps there is a connection between back then, and now. All I know for certain is that it matters - there is meaning to it, whether I understand it or not."

For a moment, he ponders, then looks up towards Kaerri. "The staff... looked just like the one I just saw, in your friend's hands. Did the old one simply look alike? Or did I see the future of the new one? I could not tell. I suppose the easiest way to know is to ask whether he already faced the flames." A look at the magical orb rechecks whether the elf happens to be within sight; the scene changed between before the vision, and after.

"As for the things we do - it always feels like there should be more one can do. Things one might have been able to notice, in hindsight. But I suppose that if there's something out there - something watching me from beyond that vision - then I am doing something right. Still, I wonder who might have observed me, just now. Did they intrude in my vision? Or I in theirs? Or were we meant to notice each other, just now?"

He takes a deep breath. "I'm rambling. As I said, more questions than answers."

 

[Kaerri]

For a moment, he ponders, then looks up towards Kaerri. "The staff... looked just like the one I just saw, in your friend's hands. Did the old one simply look alike? Or did I see the future of the new one? I could not tell. I suppose the easiest way to know is to ask whether he already faced the flames." A look at the magical orb rechecks whether the elf happens to be within sight; the scene changed between before the vision, and after.

"I don't know what it looked like," Kaerri admitted, "nor, for that matter, what the new one will look like when it's finished. I can say, though, that he brought the flames with it. But also that's what the new one's designed to do. A storm of flame, to destroy an evil goddess's bridge of ice, in both cases."