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Thymelixsen said that tomorrow we want to find a job for us all, and also someone who could sell his magic. We talked about the interview process. I reminded the others that we shouldn't say yes to any proposal until we'd all discussed it alone. And it would be good to take a job all together. Jack said that we should stay focused on getting to the edge and home again, as the Man in black and blue in his temple had said. After a bit more discussion, we went to sleep.
Or at least, to our own pursuits. I took some time to thank the Healer for protecting us so that we've gotten this far. The connection felt feeble, and will likely get worse as we travel farther, though if we travel back to the roots, any roots, I think it will be stronger, since anywhere in the roots is closer to home than here.
And then, to sleep. I curled up with Thymelixsen and Cor, whil May and Jack curled up together.
I woke up in the blue period, and realized that there were blankets, and a room that seemed more comfortable, the part where I'd been sleeping more bed-like. It seemed there was a radius of more-home-like around where any of us had slept. I remain impressed by the magic of this place.
May said she had been woken up by a kathel, Tam, who was one of the older third generation kathel, a dark blue one, who said he'd be watching to make sure no one would steal May's essence during the interviews. Which made me wonder: why May, particularly? Still, I'm glad someone's paying attention.
Cor said that we need to earn back our threads, and when we get back to whole, we should go to the edge, then home. That sounded quite reasonable to me.
Thymelixsen got ready, then we all went down to get food. Metakesh greeted us, bringing us to the dining room near the kitchen. It thought at us that it would be 10 gulwarn each for a standard meal, or 12 gulwarn each for a different one. We were all curious, and opted for the different meal. I'm very glad I did: I was served a late with orange and red crescents, that turned out to be bread like and meat like, respectively, and a spicy pie that turned out to be something like a raisin pie. Cor got a plate with three bones coming ou of what looked like a hunk of meat, but turned out to be more like dense fish. That was surrounded by blue baked apple-like spheres. May and Jack got plates with pancake-like golden disks (though more spicy and dense) and little mounds of orange that were rather like roasted marshmallows. As before, the food didn't appeal cross races.
While we were eating, Jack was suddenly on the other side of the table. It seemed like another Jack, though there weren't any obvious visual markers, like other May's silver cloak. There was time to find out that he had made a trip to the roots and had now been back three or four cycles, and was going to work for the Ults in the next cycle. He wasn't surprised by any of us being or not being there, just surprised that we were on the wrong side of the table, so it seems that he's either a near-future Jack in which we'd changed sides of the table, or a near mirror Jack. He was gone before we could find out more, though. When our Jack came back, he said that he hadn't been anywhere. Which makes us all wonder how our other self travel works.
It was getting to be time to start the interviews (later, 1827 told us that it is possible to learn to tell time more precisely from the place on the wheel in the cycle, which would be useful), and before we went down, Cor reminded us all that we shouldn't give information away. And then we headed to the meeting room. I thought of 1827 being there, and it felt like he was already there. Also there was Tam, the kathel May had talked to in the night. There was a table with some chairs, ready for people of different heights to sit at it. 1827 was at one end, and Tam to one side.
Tam asked if we were prepared, and Jack asked back if there were anything we needed to do, and what the procedure was. Tam described how people would come and go, and explained how he'd be a guardian. We would interview until we were done, and we could call people back, whether to accept the offer or to ask more questions. Jack asked why Tam needed to be here to guard us, and Tam said that he was not a first, so he needed to be here in space, though he could remember when he could see into the city from the ring of the firsts up above.
And then it was time for the interviews.
The first person to come in looked rather like a booted, coated, purple-top turnip, wearing a hat, and a curly, root-like mustache. It also wore a belt with two crossbow-like things. Its speech was like knocking sounds, which 1827 translated without difficulty. This was Steward Quomorree, here representing the Beautiful Rise, an Inyus midclass root craft (mid-size vessel taking crew to the roots). The steward said that the ship mostly gathers treasures and materials for trad, and the crew is mostly travelers like us. They go to roots that can be poisonous to crew members, but they identify to whom this is poisonous before entering. He said that it was dangerous but profitable work, and appreciated having won the lottery and seeing us first.
Jack asked whether the steward was asking for our services for one trip, or for a period of time with many trips. The steward said that they would want time to investigate the nature of our abilities, and to investigate the root area for treasures that would be useful with our abilities. Thymelixsen asked how long it would take to study the roots to find appropriate ones, and the steward said it didn't take long. Thymelixsen persisted, asking how many cycles, and the steward said that it would take a cycle for provisioning, three cycles to get to depth in the roots, then it depends on what they find, then they'd bring us back.
Jack asked how they would inject us into the roots, and the steward said that that was rootcraft. Also, we would be paid first for study, and mapping, and per cycle, and for our time in the roots, and the journey time back. Jack asked about how much for the root time, and the steward said it depended on what our abilities were. Jack asked if it were possible to be studied, then not work for the ship it we're not helpful. And the steward basically said, though very diplomatically, that no, all knowledge was useful, and everyone has abilities.
Thymelixsen asked if we'd work with other crew members on extractions, and the steward said it wasn't likely.
Cor asked what we would be paid for travel and for study. The steward said that the standard is 10 gulwarn/unit for travel (11 payable units in a cycle), and 300 gulwarn for study. Travel to the edge takes less than a few units, and we'd stop losing threads when we passed through the Veil, though we'd have to evads things while passing through, because of the war.
May asked if our threads would be supplemented for travel to the roots, and the steward said yes. I asked how they'd study us, whether it was more like the kathel looking at us more more like a doctor probing, and the steward said that there are medical devices for studying people from the roots.
Cor asked how clean the threads are that are used to top us up, and the steward said that their threads were legitimate, not repurposed, and were as clean as some threads gotten from some Ult.
Thyemlixsen asked whther on the ship they would provide translators, and the steward said that they have crew members who can translate. Cor asked whether we had to provide our own food and drink, and we would, due to our natures. The steward said we could keep anything we found in the root for sustenance, as long as we got them what was asked for.
And we were pretty much out of questions at that point, so we thanked the steward for taking the time to see us, and it left.
We talked a bit about the offer. I thought that it sounded like we'd be joining Inyus pirates, given how they were after stuff, and I was not alone in that thought. Though perhaps the Ult traders would also sound similar.
May asked 1827 if there were a way to find out about the reputation of employers, and it turns out that there are ways, but we'd have to trade for the information, and we'd have to trust the trader. Thymelixsen asked about certification, and 1827 said that some might have the insignia of Gont, and over time, we'd find houses that we trust, and are more in alignment with our values.
The second interview was with someone who was rather short, and had a small, mouselike face. He had rings on his fingers, and tools and pouches hanging from his belt. He walked quickly towards us, then pulled a metal thing from one of his pouches and put it on the side of his face fur. It spun, and spun, until his squeacking became speaking.
He introduced himself as Quindo-something (far too long to catch, especially from someone who spoke at least as quickly as Jack), a possibility engineer. Jack was curious about the translator, and Quindo told him that it was something he'd made for now, and then he'd tuned the possibilities until it worked. Quindo makes tools and crafts weapons, among other things, and does welll at it, so he can afford to do his experiments. He was excited to see so many of us from the same root, because that would give him five points of reference to one root, which would help tune in on the root. He explained further, saying that the reason he was here was that he had made a root alignment injector, and he needed a lot of entities to be able to tune in on one space-time.
Jack asked if this meant Quindo would inject us into the roots directly from here, and Quindo said yes, though even though it's against how things are designed. Thymelixsen asked how we would get back, and Quindo said that that was part of the experiment, but first there would be shorter, closer experiments. He'd pay for our time, whether waiting (15 gulwarn/unit) or being scanned (in a scanning chamber, whatever that is, at 400 gulwarn/unit). And then after studyg, there would be range tests, then aprtial association, and reassociation. There would be the chance to negotiate for prices, bult likely 600 gulwarn for local tests, and more for more distant ones.
Thyemlixsen asked if Quindo had lost any people yet, and he said no, but when May asked how many tests he'd done, he admitted it was not many.
Jack debated costs with Quindo, pointing out our costs for essence, as well as room and board, and so on. It went back and forth, and Quindo said that we should not demand so much. He said that he had contracts that involved essence acquisition, for instance, using gathered thread, which he could make cleaner by tuning the possibilities. Jack asked 1827 whether this were true, that reprocessed essence could be pure, and 1827 said it wasn't his area of expertise. So Jack asked Tam, who said taht even the purest thread has a touch of the kathel. Reprocessed essence dpeneds on the skill of the processor. Though there are those who clean essence and release it into the roots, as purifiers do. And anyone can look at the purity of threads.
Jack turned back to Quindo and said he would want to check Quindo's reprocessed threads.
At which point Thymelixsen got us back on track about the actual work, asking what would happen next afte rthe range tests. Quindo said he would send us into the roots, lose to home, or even home directly. Hrm.
We thanked Quindo for his time, and let him leave.
In talking about the offer, Thymelixsen said that the injector was not a good idea, and that though Quindo seems honest, it sounds like risky work (which, coming from him, makes me doubly wary). I also didn't want reprocessed threads, which should be going back to the roots, as purifiers do, sending wholly cleaned (if less) essence back to the roots.
The third interview was quite different.
Tam rose to fill one side of the room, shifting as if to prepare for something. Jack asked why, and Tam said it was time.
There was a swirl that seemed like the shadow of a murder of crows in the doorway, which then formed into a slender guant coated figure with deep eyes of all colors.
It looked at me, and I recognized him as the figure I'd seen and negotiated with in the shields, part of the All. It said to me that it remembered me, and I said I remembered too. It welcomed us to beyond the veil, and said that we were all here now, have had time to consider. And that we'd made many errors. Which Jack contradicted. It looked at him, and I think Jack didn't much like the experience.
Cor asked if it were the one that shot him, and it said that Cor did ti to himself.
Thymelixsen asked why Vosh let it in, and it said that we are all equal, that while it seems one apart, it is one while being All. It was here to get us past the deception.
Thymelixsen was being deliberately obtuse, I think, when he said that he wanted his thread back. It said it could draw us in and make us whole again.
Jack said he likes not knowing everying. And the All said that we were so corrupted, forgetting what we knew. It offered us return to the Alll, making it a pleasant journeyjourney, rather than a horrible end. And it said that we should understand what we are doing to ourselves, that we are killing our own bodies.
Cor said that everything ends, and it said that those were the words of the deceiver. And that it offered a vision of understanding. Jack asked if this were like a preview of the All, and it said it was a way to see. Jack didn't want to, and it said that it was part of his design, and clever design. Jack said that that's how we're made, to want to go back.
And soon after, we got it out of the room.
I thanked Tam for being there, while Thymelixsen said that Tam should have warned us. Tam said that he could protect, but not advise or warn. He did say that this was the third in the lottery, but the only reason it entered the lottery was because it knew us.
*sigh*
The fourth interview was with a large, cleanky beaing, rather like an enormous person wearing spiked armor of scintillating darkness, the size of Tam (or a small elephant). This was Warrior 4487, sent from teh void point.
Jack asked what that was, and the warrior told us that in the last significant attack (back in the time of the first generation of kathel), a tear had happened in the spiral wood, that let other things creep in. There was the opportunity for battle at that point, to fight with the All, at that edge, and to become great warriors, given enough time. Joining the battle would mean that our essence would be hardened, though we'd hold a core, and a shell around it that would be hardened, and we could grow around it.
Cor asked how we'd fight, and the warrior said that there was training at the void point. The point had been driven down to a smaller point through this generation, and with effort and new warriors, the void point could be destroyed, the fabric restored. The kathel remember it happening, before the fourth generation.
Cor asked if we'd have to fight until the battle was done, if we joined, and the warrior said yes. We would not be paid in bulwarn, but in hardening and in growth instead. In a hardened state, it would be easier to reach the edge, after our years of fighting.
Thymelixsen asked if we would be able to stay together, and the warrior said that if we joined, we'd be dispersed into the army, in whichever ways emphasized our strengths.
Thymelixsen asked what forms of magic were used, and the warrior said that all forms of magic were used.
Jack asked if many who went to the battle were now dead, and the warrior said that many who go to the battle have warrior spirits, so many of them live, though they are wary.
Thymelixsen asked how long it would take to learn what was needed, and the warrior said it would be a while, but we would be maintained.
I asked about whether there were Purifiers with the army, and the warrior said that they were in a different battle.
Thymelixsen asked what happends after hardening, and the warrior said that we'd start by fighting smaller corruptions, and advance as we learned to fight greater corruptions, getting closer as we gained skills. So it could be a long time.
Jack asked if beings age in the beyond, and 1827 said that we would not decay or cahnge as at the rate at home.
Cor asked 1827 if we managed to go back to the roots, whether it would be the same time as when we left. And 1827 replied that it is said that if one is complete, one goes back to the same time (though perhaps not the same place).
Thymelixsen asked the warrior what he wished he'd known as a recruit, which made the warrior pause for a couple of moments before saying that he had always been proud of his choice, though there were always some lost. He wished he'd focuse faster, learned faster. He had been arrogant, and the void point taught him much he didn't know.
Cor asked if, when the battle was over, the warrior had a root to return to, and he believes so.
And once he left the room, we started a debate about joining the army, much more seriously than the other offers had been considered. I still think that the army will be there, but it might make sense to do a trip or two with the Ult. Cor pointed out that it was good to be different, and none of us had seen us as fighters in the void point battle (though perhaps that just hasn't happened yet). Thymelixsen is intrigued by the magic, and Cor by the fighting. I do not want us to be separated into the army, and while healers are useful to armies, it is not what I most want to be doing here.
Or at least, to our own pursuits. I took some time to thank the Healer for protecting us so that we've gotten this far. The connection felt feeble, and will likely get worse as we travel farther, though if we travel back to the roots, any roots, I think it will be stronger, since anywhere in the roots is closer to home than here.
And then, to sleep. I curled up with Thymelixsen and Cor, whil May and Jack curled up together.
I woke up in the blue period, and realized that there were blankets, and a room that seemed more comfortable, the part where I'd been sleeping more bed-like. It seemed there was a radius of more-home-like around where any of us had slept. I remain impressed by the magic of this place.
May said she had been woken up by a kathel, Tam, who was one of the older third generation kathel, a dark blue one, who said he'd be watching to make sure no one would steal May's essence during the interviews. Which made me wonder: why May, particularly? Still, I'm glad someone's paying attention.
Cor said that we need to earn back our threads, and when we get back to whole, we should go to the edge, then home. That sounded quite reasonable to me.
Thymelixsen got ready, then we all went down to get food. Metakesh greeted us, bringing us to the dining room near the kitchen. It thought at us that it would be 10 gulwarn each for a standard meal, or 12 gulwarn each for a different one. We were all curious, and opted for the different meal. I'm very glad I did: I was served a late with orange and red crescents, that turned out to be bread like and meat like, respectively, and a spicy pie that turned out to be something like a raisin pie. Cor got a plate with three bones coming ou of what looked like a hunk of meat, but turned out to be more like dense fish. That was surrounded by blue baked apple-like spheres. May and Jack got plates with pancake-like golden disks (though more spicy and dense) and little mounds of orange that were rather like roasted marshmallows. As before, the food didn't appeal cross races.
While we were eating, Jack was suddenly on the other side of the table. It seemed like another Jack, though there weren't any obvious visual markers, like other May's silver cloak. There was time to find out that he had made a trip to the roots and had now been back three or four cycles, and was going to work for the Ults in the next cycle. He wasn't surprised by any of us being or not being there, just surprised that we were on the wrong side of the table, so it seems that he's either a near-future Jack in which we'd changed sides of the table, or a near mirror Jack. He was gone before we could find out more, though. When our Jack came back, he said that he hadn't been anywhere. Which makes us all wonder how our other self travel works.
It was getting to be time to start the interviews (later, 1827 told us that it is possible to learn to tell time more precisely from the place on the wheel in the cycle, which would be useful), and before we went down, Cor reminded us all that we shouldn't give information away. And then we headed to the meeting room. I thought of 1827 being there, and it felt like he was already there. Also there was Tam, the kathel May had talked to in the night. There was a table with some chairs, ready for people of different heights to sit at it. 1827 was at one end, and Tam to one side.
Tam asked if we were prepared, and Jack asked back if there were anything we needed to do, and what the procedure was. Tam described how people would come and go, and explained how he'd be a guardian. We would interview until we were done, and we could call people back, whether to accept the offer or to ask more questions. Jack asked why Tam needed to be here to guard us, and Tam said that he was not a first, so he needed to be here in space, though he could remember when he could see into the city from the ring of the firsts up above.
And then it was time for the interviews.
The first person to come in looked rather like a booted, coated, purple-top turnip, wearing a hat, and a curly, root-like mustache. It also wore a belt with two crossbow-like things. Its speech was like knocking sounds, which 1827 translated without difficulty. This was Steward Quomorree, here representing the Beautiful Rise, an Inyus midclass root craft (mid-size vessel taking crew to the roots). The steward said that the ship mostly gathers treasures and materials for trad, and the crew is mostly travelers like us. They go to roots that can be poisonous to crew members, but they identify to whom this is poisonous before entering. He said that it was dangerous but profitable work, and appreciated having won the lottery and seeing us first.
Jack asked whether the steward was asking for our services for one trip, or for a period of time with many trips. The steward said that they would want time to investigate the nature of our abilities, and to investigate the root area for treasures that would be useful with our abilities. Thymelixsen asked how long it would take to study the roots to find appropriate ones, and the steward said it didn't take long. Thymelixsen persisted, asking how many cycles, and the steward said that it would take a cycle for provisioning, three cycles to get to depth in the roots, then it depends on what they find, then they'd bring us back.
Jack asked how they would inject us into the roots, and the steward said that that was rootcraft. Also, we would be paid first for study, and mapping, and per cycle, and for our time in the roots, and the journey time back. Jack asked about how much for the root time, and the steward said it depended on what our abilities were. Jack asked if it were possible to be studied, then not work for the ship it we're not helpful. And the steward basically said, though very diplomatically, that no, all knowledge was useful, and everyone has abilities.
Thymelixsen asked if we'd work with other crew members on extractions, and the steward said it wasn't likely.
Cor asked what we would be paid for travel and for study. The steward said that the standard is 10 gulwarn/unit for travel (11 payable units in a cycle), and 300 gulwarn for study. Travel to the edge takes less than a few units, and we'd stop losing threads when we passed through the Veil, though we'd have to evads things while passing through, because of the war.
May asked if our threads would be supplemented for travel to the roots, and the steward said yes. I asked how they'd study us, whether it was more like the kathel looking at us more more like a doctor probing, and the steward said that there are medical devices for studying people from the roots.
Cor asked how clean the threads are that are used to top us up, and the steward said that their threads were legitimate, not repurposed, and were as clean as some threads gotten from some Ult.
Thyemlixsen asked whther on the ship they would provide translators, and the steward said that they have crew members who can translate. Cor asked whether we had to provide our own food and drink, and we would, due to our natures. The steward said we could keep anything we found in the root for sustenance, as long as we got them what was asked for.
And we were pretty much out of questions at that point, so we thanked the steward for taking the time to see us, and it left.
We talked a bit about the offer. I thought that it sounded like we'd be joining Inyus pirates, given how they were after stuff, and I was not alone in that thought. Though perhaps the Ult traders would also sound similar.
May asked 1827 if there were a way to find out about the reputation of employers, and it turns out that there are ways, but we'd have to trade for the information, and we'd have to trust the trader. Thymelixsen asked about certification, and 1827 said that some might have the insignia of Gont, and over time, we'd find houses that we trust, and are more in alignment with our values.
The second interview was with someone who was rather short, and had a small, mouselike face. He had rings on his fingers, and tools and pouches hanging from his belt. He walked quickly towards us, then pulled a metal thing from one of his pouches and put it on the side of his face fur. It spun, and spun, until his squeacking became speaking.
He introduced himself as Quindo-something (far too long to catch, especially from someone who spoke at least as quickly as Jack), a possibility engineer. Jack was curious about the translator, and Quindo told him that it was something he'd made for now, and then he'd tuned the possibilities until it worked. Quindo makes tools and crafts weapons, among other things, and does welll at it, so he can afford to do his experiments. He was excited to see so many of us from the same root, because that would give him five points of reference to one root, which would help tune in on the root. He explained further, saying that the reason he was here was that he had made a root alignment injector, and he needed a lot of entities to be able to tune in on one space-time.
Jack asked if this meant Quindo would inject us into the roots directly from here, and Quindo said yes, though even though it's against how things are designed. Thymelixsen asked how we would get back, and Quindo said that that was part of the experiment, but first there would be shorter, closer experiments. He'd pay for our time, whether waiting (15 gulwarn/unit) or being scanned (in a scanning chamber, whatever that is, at 400 gulwarn/unit). And then after studyg, there would be range tests, then aprtial association, and reassociation. There would be the chance to negotiate for prices, bult likely 600 gulwarn for local tests, and more for more distant ones.
Thyemlixsen asked if Quindo had lost any people yet, and he said no, but when May asked how many tests he'd done, he admitted it was not many.
Jack debated costs with Quindo, pointing out our costs for essence, as well as room and board, and so on. It went back and forth, and Quindo said that we should not demand so much. He said that he had contracts that involved essence acquisition, for instance, using gathered thread, which he could make cleaner by tuning the possibilities. Jack asked 1827 whether this were true, that reprocessed essence could be pure, and 1827 said it wasn't his area of expertise. So Jack asked Tam, who said taht even the purest thread has a touch of the kathel. Reprocessed essence dpeneds on the skill of the processor. Though there are those who clean essence and release it into the roots, as purifiers do. And anyone can look at the purity of threads.
Jack turned back to Quindo and said he would want to check Quindo's reprocessed threads.
At which point Thymelixsen got us back on track about the actual work, asking what would happen next afte rthe range tests. Quindo said he would send us into the roots, lose to home, or even home directly. Hrm.
We thanked Quindo for his time, and let him leave.
In talking about the offer, Thymelixsen said that the injector was not a good idea, and that though Quindo seems honest, it sounds like risky work (which, coming from him, makes me doubly wary). I also didn't want reprocessed threads, which should be going back to the roots, as purifiers do, sending wholly cleaned (if less) essence back to the roots.
The third interview was quite different.
Tam rose to fill one side of the room, shifting as if to prepare for something. Jack asked why, and Tam said it was time.
There was a swirl that seemed like the shadow of a murder of crows in the doorway, which then formed into a slender guant coated figure with deep eyes of all colors.
It looked at me, and I recognized him as the figure I'd seen and negotiated with in the shields, part of the All. It said to me that it remembered me, and I said I remembered too. It welcomed us to beyond the veil, and said that we were all here now, have had time to consider. And that we'd made many errors. Which Jack contradicted. It looked at him, and I think Jack didn't much like the experience.
Cor asked if it were the one that shot him, and it said that Cor did ti to himself.
Thymelixsen asked why Vosh let it in, and it said that we are all equal, that while it seems one apart, it is one while being All. It was here to get us past the deception.
Thymelixsen was being deliberately obtuse, I think, when he said that he wanted his thread back. It said it could draw us in and make us whole again.
Jack said he likes not knowing everying. And the All said that we were so corrupted, forgetting what we knew. It offered us return to the Alll, making it a pleasant journeyjourney, rather than a horrible end. And it said that we should understand what we are doing to ourselves, that we are killing our own bodies.
Cor said that everything ends, and it said that those were the words of the deceiver. And that it offered a vision of understanding. Jack asked if this were like a preview of the All, and it said it was a way to see. Jack didn't want to, and it said that it was part of his design, and clever design. Jack said that that's how we're made, to want to go back.
And soon after, we got it out of the room.
I thanked Tam for being there, while Thymelixsen said that Tam should have warned us. Tam said that he could protect, but not advise or warn. He did say that this was the third in the lottery, but the only reason it entered the lottery was because it knew us.
*sigh*
The fourth interview was with a large, cleanky beaing, rather like an enormous person wearing spiked armor of scintillating darkness, the size of Tam (or a small elephant). This was Warrior 4487, sent from teh void point.
Jack asked what that was, and the warrior told us that in the last significant attack (back in the time of the first generation of kathel), a tear had happened in the spiral wood, that let other things creep in. There was the opportunity for battle at that point, to fight with the All, at that edge, and to become great warriors, given enough time. Joining the battle would mean that our essence would be hardened, though we'd hold a core, and a shell around it that would be hardened, and we could grow around it.
Cor asked how we'd fight, and the warrior said that there was training at the void point. The point had been driven down to a smaller point through this generation, and with effort and new warriors, the void point could be destroyed, the fabric restored. The kathel remember it happening, before the fourth generation.
Cor asked if we'd have to fight until the battle was done, if we joined, and the warrior said yes. We would not be paid in bulwarn, but in hardening and in growth instead. In a hardened state, it would be easier to reach the edge, after our years of fighting.
Thymelixsen asked if we would be able to stay together, and the warrior said that if we joined, we'd be dispersed into the army, in whichever ways emphasized our strengths.
Thymelixsen asked what forms of magic were used, and the warrior said that all forms of magic were used.
Jack asked if many who went to the battle were now dead, and the warrior said that many who go to the battle have warrior spirits, so many of them live, though they are wary.
Thymelixsen asked how long it would take to learn what was needed, and the warrior said it would be a while, but we would be maintained.
I asked about whether there were Purifiers with the army, and the warrior said that they were in a different battle.
Thymelixsen asked what happends after hardening, and the warrior said that we'd start by fighting smaller corruptions, and advance as we learned to fight greater corruptions, getting closer as we gained skills. So it could be a long time.
Jack asked if beings age in the beyond, and 1827 said that we would not decay or cahnge as at the rate at home.
Cor asked 1827 if we managed to go back to the roots, whether it would be the same time as when we left. And 1827 replied that it is said that if one is complete, one goes back to the same time (though perhaps not the same place).
Thymelixsen asked the warrior what he wished he'd known as a recruit, which made the warrior pause for a couple of moments before saying that he had always been proud of his choice, though there were always some lost. He wished he'd focuse faster, learned faster. He had been arrogant, and the void point taught him much he didn't know.
Cor asked if, when the battle was over, the warrior had a root to return to, and he believes so.
And once he left the room, we started a debate about joining the army, much more seriously than the other offers had been considered. I still think that the army will be there, but it might make sense to do a trip or two with the Ult. Cor pointed out that it was good to be different, and none of us had seen us as fighters in the void point battle (though perhaps that just hasn't happened yet). Thymelixsen is intrigued by the magic, and Cor by the fighting. I do not want us to be separated into the army, and while healers are useful to armies, it is not what I most want to be doing here.
