Quote:
Originally Posted by TGLS
Having grown bored with exploring the Villa and its grounds after many a lazy afternoon, Halcyone is wandering around looking for a visitor to talk to (though occasionally she gets distracted by an odd looking bauble she missed the first three times through the room). Usually her bubbly enthusiasm and seemingly endless torrent of questioning doesn't bother people too much, though sometimes she gets a bit carried away.
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The best place to find strangers to talk to is the garden: indeed, that seems to be the garden's primary purpose. The Garden has a strange rule to enforce civility: one may only speak if a bird is on their shoulder, arm, or back. Or something approximating a bird. The area swarms with birds, and they seem to try and match who they sit on. Halcyone often attracts some of the more unusual creatures. Today its a quadcopter with four thin mechanical legs for perching.
Halycon is talking to a former battlesuit trooper with a raven on his shoulder about some aquatic squid-like aliens he encountered during his service through his galaxy when Corco finds her. He bounces up to the pair with a snow-white falcon on his shoulder.
"Halycon, I have something to talk with you about for just a little. No, Gerriack, I haven't heard anything. I promise to tell you exactly when I hear something. Be Patient. Enjoy the garden. It will come."
Corco leads Halycon through the villa, near the quarters where the family lives. They are all bustling about doing something, carrying things to and fro. He rounds a corner, and you see a vaguely Chinese shop build into the side of the villa. Its stocked with tapestries, sculptures, paintings, vases, and other bric abrac, presumably for sale. A small Asian woman is in the center, forming a pot out of clay.
"Pang Zhen! I have your hero! tell her about your prophesy."
The woman regards Halcyon with piercing eyes. Then she slowly closes them and intones:
The emperor is the foundation of the world
Yet the emperor's foundation is cracked
Find the emperor, and you will find naught but the crack
Find the first crack, and you will find the the true emperor
For the emperor is a servant, but who serves the emperor?
"Could you please tell the hero world is this prophesy related to?"
"The five worlds of Maximus, of course"
"Thank you sweetie. Come Halcyon, we have work to do."
As they walk to the library, Corco talks about the situation. "Maximus is a very strong Skerry. One emperor for nine hundred years. keeps the place safe. I never have to worry about demons there. They wouldn't know how to kill Maximus. He's lent us troops on occasion. good guy. Or at least he was 400 years ago."
"There is trouble on his worlds. A rebellion. A big rebellion. Most strange for Maximus. I would not interfere with his affairs normally, but... Ok, I might interfere anyways, but the prophesy! something is wrong! I need you to fix it. Stop the war. Find the crack, or the true emperor, or whatever that woman means."
"You can do this, yes?"
They arrive at the library. Corco points Halycon to a section on the maximus skerry, crisp newly printed books with gorgeous color plates talking about the five worlds, the four soldier breeds, and the legion of undead heroes led by emperor Maximus. The worlds are just a little low-tech for Halycon, with space technology and power armor, but no atomic weapons, and what she would call delayed computer development.