Peony Min (blackmagicks) wrote in emillion, @ 2014-08-11 21:14:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, !log, !npc: octavia limahl, peony min |
Who: Peony and Octavia the MG Librarian
What: An interview
Where: The Mages’ Guild tower
When: Backdated to July 14th
Rating: Tame
Status: Complete
While she had spoken with one of the councilors briefly over the network some time before now, Octavia had mostly attempted to keep herself hidden away as much as possible. She had come out of the coma alive, and as unbroken as one could possibly expect to be after being in a coma, it didn’t mean that recovery wasn’t long and challenging. Physical therapy had taken a priority for some time, and the White Mages had been quite kind to her regardless of the murmurs and rumors that seemed to whirl about as when limped through the halls, it didn’t mean that things were easy. The librarian had debated picking up a cane of some sort, but at her age had a terrible time actually bringing herself to physically relying on something like that… Quite yet. Perhaps it was vanity that drove her away from using some sort of walking assistance but… Regardless, now was the meeting with the councilors, which she was assured would have a great many questions for her. The conversation with her mother - the librarian she’d taken over for not long before now - had left her with less than stellar hopes for the outcome of what was about to occur, but… It was a burden she had agreed to bear when she took this role upon herself months ago. Taking in a deep breath, an attempt to calm her frayed nerves, Octavia politely, lightly, knocked against the door of the room they’d agreed to meet in. Hopefully, - for sake of her leg - they wouldn’t leave her waiting here for long. The voice came immediately from the other side of the door: “Come in.” The conference room, when the door was opened, was shown to contain not the entirety of the guild leadership but only one person. Peony sat at the table, her hands folded on its surface, looking not so different, in the end, from her visitor -- a modestly dressed woman with the shadows of exhaustion visible on her face, though she wore a pleasant expression despite that fact. “Good afternoon, Octavia. I hope you are feeling better. Thank you for agreeing to this meeting,” Peony said softly, gesturing to the soft chair that she had had brought into the conference room specifically for this purpose. “Please, sit. It is just me today.” They had discussed this amongst themselves, but in the end there was much to do and not enough hands to do it. Toku and Merrion had chosen to put their trust in her with this crucial task, and she hoped only that she would not disappoint. "Good afternoon, Councilor." Came the polite and quiet greeting in return. The offered chair was moved to with an internal relief slipping across her features at being able to remove the weight from her leg as she sat. "I am, thank you. I hope you are too?" Though this small talk was nice, it held a certain calming quality to it as Octavia folded her hands in her lap, it obviously would soon need to end. As much as this talk was something she'd always hoped she'd never have, and always dreaded even the thought of, it was now her duty to carry out what she had agreed to do. "You had wished to see me?" “Yes,” Peony replied. That the overtures of polite conversation would have to be cut somewhat short did not distress her; in this, time was of the essence. If her guest was ready to speak of more important matters, Peony was glad to move the conversation in the direction they both knew it would have to go. “First, I would like to say that I am glad you have made a recovery,” she said. “I was in the library at the time of the attack.” The other woman had taken severe damage, and Peony had thought her to be dead when she had fled under Guy’s protection. “It is that day about which I wish to speak now.” Not surprising, of course. Likely not a very comfortable topic for Octavia, either, but that simply could not be helped. “You activated an alarm system about which the council knew nothing,” Peony continued, her voice still calm, almost soothing, in contrast to her words. “You spoke words which we still do not fully understand.” Although it had been clear to her, later, that the earth shakes was a clear reference to Vivian’s beast -- knowledge which she and the other councilors had lacked, knowledge for which the entire guild was now being villainized by the populace. “Many believe all mages responsible for what transpired that day,” she continued, a bit sadly. “I would say that although we were not complicit, our ignorance was what allowed such a thing to happen.” If they had known… “I hope that you may be willing to enlighten me. Please. In times like these, knowledge is crucial, and you seem to possess a measure of it that the rest of us lack.” "Thank you." A slight bowing of her head would be offered to the councilor at the offered words. Octavia remained quiet while miss Min continued to speak, not something at extensive length, but long enough for her to begin to understand where the other woman was beginning to come from in this instance. Allowing a bit of silence to assure that all words were out in that moment the librarian would then begin to speak. "What I do was decided upon hundreds of years before me. If you find this troublesome, I fear the only one who may rightfully address your concerns died long ago." Pausing the hand on top in her lap tightened a bit around the one below it. "It was believed that Vivian was of strong enough mind and soul to handle the monster she housed by those who selected her before, I am filled with sorrow to know those of my mother's generation clearly chose wrong." It was a hard fact to swallow, and made her worried for whoever else may house a monster much like that even if she knew not who they were. "I am uncertain precisely what it is you look for to obtain councilor. Do you wish for the answers that Vivian also sought? Or a rehashing of a legend that many have begun to doubt existed even if it houses all the truth in our world." “I find many aspects of this troublesome,” Peony mused, having considered the words, “but perhaps you ought to start at the beginning. The legend,” which, by the way Octavia spoke, would be less fictional than publicly assumed, “and then, perhaps, you can tell me about your…. tradition.” She paused before adding, quietly, “And then, I think we should discuss Vivian’s… selection.” A chilling choice of words. Who had chosen her for her burden? Where was the beast now? It had driven Vivian mad; who was at its mercy now? There were so many questions. For now, however, she expected it would be best to simply listen. “The legend of the four warriors who faced against a great evil over a thousand years ago, and the shards they took with them holds more fact than fiction.” Octavia’s gaze didn't waver, and her hands remained folded politely in her lap. “The founders decided it was best for each of them to take a shard of the crystal, and assure their shards protection, without telling the other guild leaders where it would belong. Vadril Rhavanni, having knowledge of what the shard could do as it was witnessed firsthand, decided it best to be kept close, but for knowledge of its actual location, and abilities to never be disclosed to any leader of the Mage’s guild in order to assure that no one with questionable aspirations could attempt to exploit the power of the shard for their own diabolical wants. In making that decision, Vadril felt that the shard could only be entrusted to my family, and in doing so, created a tradition within my bloodline of our continued allegiance to the Mage’s guild for the past thousand years. My family has protected the shard entrusted to Vadril, and by extension the Mage’s guild this entire time.” With all of that said, Octavia paused waiting to see if Councilor Min would like for her to continue, though she had a feeling there may be at least a few questions for her answer first. Again, peony listened quietly, thinking hard. Many might have dismissed such talk as fanciful ramblings at best, but she had an open mind, and she had been in the library. Vivian had screamed for the shard. “Do you mean to tell me,” she said slowly, “that you are in possession of one of the shards of legend?” And if the heroes had become the founders, as legend and history both suggested… “And that the other guilds hold two more? Or have they been lost? Where is the fourth? I wonder if anyone knows,” she mused, almost to herself. It was easier to see this as a puzzle while she collected the information this woman was willing to share. “Vivian knew about the shard, then.” And she had believed it real. With all that was happening in Emillion… Peony tended to think that the belief may well be justified. “Why? Because of the beast?” “I mean to tell you that I am one of the sole living creatures in possession of the knowledge of where the shard entrusted to the Mage’s guild is.” There was a pause as Peony asked her next question, and Octavia paused, clearly pensive. “I do not know the details of how each guild handled their respective shards, but from what I am aware of, they should be in possession of one each, yes. There is not exactly…. Cross guild communication regarding where objects that can… change the very way our world works… Are stored. When dealing with things like this, the fewer number of Humes involved, generally the better.” Though the question of the fourth caused pause. “I do not believe anyone aside from the fourth warrior who left before the founding of the city could possibly know that.” A beat before she hesitantly tacked on. “But wherever it may have gone, I do hope it is a place no Hume can ever venture regardless of how powerful they ever become.” Though, the last question was… A puzzle all of its own on how to respond. “That is a complicated question to answer Ms. Min.” Another beat fell as she considered the situation they were now in. “I suspect it was at least in part linked to the beast, but being the Sage, she also knew that the guild had access to greater magicks than you or I would ever be capable of casting. If she knew it to be the shard, or if she thought it something else, I know not entirely, but…” A pause. “She did know that there was a powerful weapon hidden, but belonging to the guild, and that my family were its keepers. That much I believe had never been hidden from her in case someone, or something, came after us. Even keepers sometimes are in need of protection too.” “Interesting,” Peony said. “I will discuss this all with the current Sage and remaining Councilor, of course,” she added. “I tend to agree that secrecy is the better course of action in this instance, although if matters continue as they have been, I wonder if the truth will not come out sooner or later.” If the shard was linked to the beast, and the other beasts were fighting a battle which they claimed concerned humes not at all (casualties were not in their lexicon, perhaps, or hume lives were simply considered expendable), it only seemed logical to assume as much. “I will not ask where the shard is,” she continued. That would be for Toku to decide, in the end. “I will ask if you are willing to share the truth of what it can do -- if you are aware of more than legend.” She hoped that the answer to this, at least, would be yes. If it was indeed a weapon of immense power, more powerful than the beasts that now plagued the city… “And I am still very interested in the matter of Vivian’s selection as host for the earth-elemental. What do you know of that?” “From all I have been told a single shard is powerful. It can give the user increased magical capabilities, make them stronger, faster, more durable, but it is not a single shard that is of the greatest concern. When all shards unite to create the crystal once more, it will give a Hume the power to control, or if they so chose destroy, all of Ivalice.” And the fact that such a secret had been kept from so many for so long… “The beasts of power like the one which Vivian housed, and the shards must be kept separate. There is no telling what can, or will happen when the two meet. I know not of the beasts’ origin, but I know that I was told if madness took Vivian from us and into the throes of the beast, then the only option I would have left would be to give my life to assure they remained separate at all costs.” Octavia paused, silent for a moment. “Vivian was considered strong enough, stable enough to withstand the mental beatings, the internal torture a creature like that could inflict I have been told. Those beasts, parasites, want only one thing, and I think we both saw in the end what that was.” “It was one of your relations that chose Vivian, then?” Peony asked, just to clarify. “Do you know of others that are similarly contained in the city at this time?” They had always assumed these creatures came from outside, but… “And I am to assume, then, that as a parasitic being, that creature has chosen for itself a new host?” “No, it was not.” A pause. “The Sage before Vivian chose her, and I know of no others, but that does not mean that they do not exist.” A burden that was passed through generations, and not one she ever would have wanted any Hume to bear. “I do not know a concrete answer to your question, but with the vagueness of knowledge I have been given I feel that would be safe to assume.” In fact, Peony had already considered as much to be true, so in this one thing at least, she was unsurprised. It did not keep her from worry, however. Matters were dire indeed. “How long has the Mages’ Guild held the beast before we lost it?” she asked after a moment. A dangerous loss, this. Had any of the others been escapees from other guildmasters? How many powerful people in this city were keeping such deadly secrets? “I apologize if this feels like an interrogation,” the councilor added. Although her tone was gentle, her questions were pointed. It was indeed an interrogation of a sort. “We are woefully underprepared for what is happening to this city now.” And no matter how hard she tried, happenings were always one step ahead of her efforts to solve the puzzle. “If there is anything else you know, however irrelevant it may seem, I hope you will share it now.” “From my understanding, a thousand years. The information is vague so I can not promise that number to be entirely correct.” At the Councilors apology, a sympathetic smile rose across Octavia’s face. “I knew some day there would be a chance that my position would be faced with this. It is not something you need to apologize for. I only wish we didn’t need to be having this conversation after such a dire set of circumstances had already started to unfold.” The librarian paused, quiet for a moment, woeful in a way. “If the beasts are aware of the shards, and have some inkling of where they need to look, which it appears they do from the encounter I had with the Sage, I deeply fear for what else may be to come for not only Emillion, but the world.” Swallowing, she wetted her lips. “They will not stop until they have what they want, or are destroyed if history and legend speak any truth to what we now have found for ourselves.” “And is it possible to destroy them?” Now here, at last, was something immediately actionable. “As I understand it, we have not successfully eradicated even one. They are hidden now, not gone -- but if there is something that can be done to destroy the creatures, I will be the first to pledge myself to the cause.” “I wish I had an answer for you that would make even the most remote amount of sense.” The weak, weary smile remained. “I have spent my life trying to find a solution to the exact idea you present, and yet find myself still empty handed of a concrete solution with all those years passed.” Pausing she couldn’t help the pensive look that overcame her. “I believe there must be a way, because there seem not to be as many of the monsters now popping up, but…” A sorrow became obvious. “That also could be a foolish hope that will only be further dissuaded with a matter of time.” “I will take even an answer that does not make sense; at this time, such a puzzle would be better than the nothing we have.” Peony paused, then offered, “Perhaps you would be willing to write down for me all the things you know which pertain to this? Aside from the location of the shard, of course; I will not ask for that.” No, it would not be her decision to make, nor her question to ask. The weak and weary smile remained. “Of course, Councilor.” A pause. “I know not if it will provide any sort of substantial leads for the solution of what’s at hand, but… I will assist how I can.” A glance was given about the room for a moment. “If you would give me a bit of time to collect everything together, I will have anything I can deem of worth to you as soon as possible.” “Certainly. Take what time you need -- with the understanding, of course, that this is a matter of urgency. But then, I think you know this as well as I.” And hopefully, once she brought this to the Sage, they could all be allies in this battle. One way or another, they could not afford to lose. |