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Akibel Mowar is on his way home from the blacksmith's when he spots it. People are shrieking and fleeing from it, which seems reasonable, as it's a fuckoff huge snake with a mirror for a face. A big mirror.
Kib can't so much flee. He can shriek - he can lurch in the direction of the nearest house and try the door - it's locked. He can amble briskly...
He can break into a run when the snake gains on him and fall flat on his face.
And he can get eaten up.
And it's too bright too bright too bright and he flings his arm over his eyes.
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secondchance
I find it objectionable, honestly, but am skirting the terms of my parole by saying this much.
secondchance
It does sound like the sort of thing one might object to. Can you even servantmake, the Elves can't.
Almost certainly not the way you do it; if whatever you're doing is noticeable to me I might be able to achieve it a different way. I might not. We are not omnipotent and I am currently far less than that.
secondchance
The easiest way to check is to see if you can make a shine... Kib looks around for a suitable light patch or shadow.
He stands back and watches.
secondchance
Kib eventually finds a small light and makes a shine and osanwës the action associated with tugging it out of place.
No, he says without even attempting it. Huh. Fascinating. I apologize for the interruption and would be delighted if more books could eventually be acquired.
Congratulations.
You have already set destiny aflutter and off course; that merits as much congratulations as the completion of your project.
Very unpleasant. Do you want me to show you?
It's winter. There's a forest that must be dense in the summer, when the trees are full of leaves, and now is barren. There's a cave-palace, where a harried young man wearing a stunningly bright gem on his elaborate crown is arguing with several people. They're speaking a language he does not speak, but the vision comes with a loose translation.
If they're bluffing -
Not bluffing, a woman says. I'm telling you they're not bluffing.
Then they will regret it.
And there are horses moving across the snowy ground, moving swiftly between the barren trees, and the riders have torches and light the trees afire as they go, and race across the ground towards the arguing people. The invaders are shooting everything that moves, and the arguing people learn of their approach in advance of it but not far in advance of it, and then they scramble for armor, scramble to seal off the gates of their city, and are not quite in time. The cave-city is large, and the invaders seem determined to kill their way through every room of it, looking for something, leaving the wounded or surrendering alone sometimes but not always. It is long and it is bloody and he can watch a hundred of the same scene carry out at the same time, the slow destruction of this city.
The invaders halt. Whatever they are looking for they have not found. The leader takes off his helmet, starts giving orders. Kib will recognize him.
If they're bluffing -
Not bluffing, a woman says. I'm telling you they're not bluffing.
Then they will regret it.
And there are horses moving across the snowy ground, moving swiftly between the barren trees, and the riders have torches and light the trees afire as they go, and race across the ground towards the arguing people. The invaders are shooting everything that moves, and the arguing people learn of their approach in advance of it but not far in advance of it, and then they scramble for armor, scramble to seal off the gates of their city, and are not quite in time. The cave-city is large, and the invaders seem determined to kill their way through every room of it, looking for something, leaving the wounded or surrendering alone sometimes but not always. It is long and it is bloody and he can watch a hundred of the same scene carry out at the same time, the slow destruction of this city.
The invaders halt. Whatever they are looking for they have not found. The leader takes off his helmet, starts giving orders. Kib will recognize him.
A refugee camp by the mouth of a river. Dense, crowded, humans and Elves in close quarters, everyone nervous. There's a warning, this time. They evacuate as many of the children as they can, they send off a boat to ask someone for aid, they scramble for improvised armor.
The invaders' armor is not improvised. They move like they are experienced. A hundred images at once, again. They are looking for one woman, a string of images suggests she was three when the last city fell, she survived its destruction, that's why they are finding her - and they do find her, on the edge of a cliff where the city meets the beach, clinging to a shining magical necklace and then, when they cut her guards down, leaping off with the necklace in her hands.
The invaders' armor is not improvised. They move like they are experienced. A hundred images at once, again. They are looking for one woman, a string of images suggests she was three when the last city fell, she survived its destruction, that's why they are finding her - and they do find her, on the edge of a cliff where the city meets the beach, clinging to a shining magical necklace and then, when they cut her guards down, leaping off with the necklace in her hands.
We don't get bits that we can change, he says, that's the rule. Anything that I could do anything about, anything my actions touch on, is obscured to me. I can't tell you there isn't context. I have a hard time imagining what context could possibly -
There was a preceding war between the first kingdom you witnessed and some Dwarves that Maitimo was friends with. That one was ugly and pointless too, I can send you more of it -
The necklace, again. Dwarves have forged it around the stunning gem in the center. They ask for payment. The King of the caves refuses them payment, calls them stunted animals. One of them stabs him. The King's wife - dies is the wrong word, but she dissolves, goes, ceases to be, and the city changes around her. The local Elves kill every Dwarf in sight. Two Dwarven survivors make it to the Dwarven city, a vengeful army marches back to the Elven caves. Sacks the city. This one he provides in less detail. When the Dwarves are returning home they are ambushed.
The necklace, again. Dwarves have forged it around the stunning gem in the center. They ask for payment. The King of the caves refuses them payment, calls them stunted animals. One of them stabs him. The King's wife - dies is the wrong word, but she dissolves, goes, ceases to be, and the city changes around her. The local Elves kill every Dwarf in sight. Two Dwarven survivors make it to the Dwarven city, a vengeful army marches back to the Elven caves. Sacks the city. This one he provides in less detail. When the Dwarves are returning home they are ambushed.
I am very interested in disrupting the course of fate. And you are not in the course of fate. And so here we are.
We have a lot of time. Little over a thousand years. There are other crimes much sooner but those I see less clearly.