“Welcome to the Sun Temple.” Hethila chuckled. “This is 8000 years dedicated work by our acolytes. To fully become a Sunblessed a Candidate must spend years working to improve our Temple.” She looked at a particular carving with Pride. “I spent 10 years carving that mosaic.”
She stopped talking abruptly as the door opened. The figure inside was… utterly inhuman. His wings were black, as were his eyes. Both were ran through with cracks of glowing orange light. Both give off a low level, but constant heat. They flickered and burned slowly.
When he spoke it was with a voice that seemed to resonate throughout the hall. “Hethila” he said with a nod. “This must be Karl, come in.” He turned on a heel, and entered his office. The conditions here were far more spartan. The furniture was purely functional, however the back wall had a partial carving on it. This carving seemed to depict a coronation of some sort, many important members of the Armada gathered around a throne, with a vague figure etched in it.
The man spoke again. “My name is Thalur, I am leader of the Sun Temple. We have a job for you.” He spoke quite to the point, not a word wasted.
Thalur picked up from his desk a sealed scroll. “This target is exceptionally elusive. Direct action will only lead to another failure. Hethila has spoken highly of you, I trust you won’t let me down.” He hands Karl the scroll.
The clear blue sky contains a few wandering clouds. Besides that not much has changed on the deck from the last time Mako was there.
Karl swallowed. Thalur’s appearance was quite unexpected, given how Hethila looked. Also, the heat radiating from her superior made him wonder how the scroll wasn’t igniting. After a short pause, he forced himself to take the scroll, his hands shaking a little despite his best efforts to control the movement.
“I will do my best to accomplish your will,” he said, bowing to Thalur. Karl backed up slightly as he straightened, his hands now sweaty with relief.
Thalur nodded. “We’re embedding you on a ship. The crew will have no idea of your identity. To them you’ll be just another hired hand.” Thalur pauses. “It’s worth noting that a substantial reward awaits that crew. If you assist them in completing their mission, not only will it maintain your cover. I’ll personally see to it you get the reward from that endeavor as well.”
He takes a breath. “Your mission however is priority one. If you manage to complete this, we will keep you on as a Permanent Agent.”
Inside the cabin, Mariner gives an exasperated sigh. He sets down his whetstone and stands to open the door. Ensuring his faceplate is securely shut he opens the door. “what is it.”
“Fine. I had played cards with some of the other sailors, and this spread happened.” Mako shows Mariner the drawing.
“Apparently, in all of the sailors time playing these card games, they haven’t seen such a card spread.”
Mariner cocks his head to the side quizzically. “It appears the King is a focal point. The cards surrounding are players. I have never heard of an augury reading from a deck before. Strange”
Mariner blinked slowly. “What exactly is that supposed to mean? I am Mariner. Mariner is me.” He seemed to be getting slightly angry. Unconsciously he spread his feet as the boat began rocking. Waves pushing the ship into a gentle roll
“How exactly do you want me to answer? Do you want me to tell you I’m a warrior? A killer? A traitor?” There was no mistaking it, Mariner was angry. “You come to me with asinine questions, and you expect me to reveal everything about myself to you? Who do you think you are?” Mariner stands up straight. He looks down at his longsword, fist clenched about the handle. Instead however he slams the door in Mako’s face.
Tharos walked back to his cabin. On the way he had to pause and adjust his gait, due to an increase in ship roll. “Odd, that came out of nowhere” he muttered. Tharos stepped into his cabin and almost immediately collapsed on his rack.
Mariner sat on his rack attempting to calm down. You’re better than this. You can’t lose control of yourself like that. He thought to himself. Opening his face plate, Mariner took a large bite of some hardtack. At least the food is good
The ship sailed onward through the night. After the slight waves had abated, the sailing was mostly smooth. The ship made an impressive pace, and as the sun came up the surrounding environment was completely changed.
At the stern of the boat, eyes fixed on an island in the distance, was Mariner. He stood with his hands together on the handle of his sword, point into the deck. Gaze unbroken.
With no indication of emotion from Alexis, Dolphus had returned to his cabin and spent a tumultuous night. At first he had tried to sleep, but thoughts of the meeting and its flawed execution came back to haunt him. The usual bouts with regret over having ever come, but then he wouldn’t have found her, she deserves better than to have him give up, how could he not give up if he didn’t have a spine, the typical back-and-forth fluff.
Then, exhaustion had gripped its strong hand around his eyes, and Dolphus plummeted into the tumultuous dream referenced above. Every attempt at sleep beyond that point was met with dreams either more startling or more insulting to his intelligence - mostly the latter - so by the time the first streaks of blue were beginning to color the sky he was on deck, mostly standing about in a tired daze.
Only after the fifth honored dead had coughed loudly to get him to move so a large, fully-corporeal object could be carried from one location to another did Dolphus realize he was kind of in the way of the goings-on wherever he stood, so he nestled down in the corner and mouthed portions of literature he had bothered to remember in order to pass the time.
Dolphus wasn’t quite sure when Mariner had arrived to take his post. His eyes closed at one point, and he hadn’t dared actually sleep lest his overactive imagination take hold, but the golden glow of the morning hours broke upon a Dolphus with eyes so soundly shut an assumption that he was fast asleep would not be far from the truth.
Mako walked onto the deck,his legs thumping like stones upon water, with massive bags under his eyes, and his hands shaking. “Nightmare.” Mako said quietly, sitting down near the edge of the deck.
Mako turned to Dolphus. “You had a nightmare too?”
A very slight murmur of a reply came from the small form of Dolphus, with his knees drawn up to his chest and his head leaning against the side. His finger twitched as he subconsciously turned the page of a book in his mind, still actively recalling literary portions he was forced to memorize.