[Hosted on Koaratos 19, 5119 (7/19/19) by Lylia Rashere]

Lylia says, "It appears I am not quite starting on time. But that brings me to exactly where I wish to be..."

Lylia says, "Let us think on time. We are intimately familiar with it and consider it a steady-state process, one we rarely even question."

Lylia says, "We know, for example, what we mean when we refer to 'yesterday' and 'the day after next Feastday.' These are fixed points for us."

Lylia says, "Time flows in one direction, ever forward, from our perspective. Our future is the horizon line before us, and our memories are left behind us like footprints in damp sand."

Lylia says, "In other valences, this is not necessarily so. One of the most well-known, or even infamous for those familiar with Shieltine's Ward and the proscription upon breaking it, is Lorae'tyr."

Lylia continues, "For the inhabitants of Lorae'tyr, including the Igaesha that float through its amber skies, time is not a constant flow like a river's stream. It is erratic, full of eddies and currents that are unpredictable and may even defy the overall flow of it altogether."

Lylia says, "Therein is its power to foretell futures in this valence, say many Igaeshian readers."

Lylia says, "Some readers like to say that our footprints follow behind us, but for the Igaesha, they also forge a path ahead."

Lylia leans forward.

Lylia carefully places an empty slender glass metal-edged vial on the floor.

Lylia says, "Divination - or as it is called at home with its boots off, fortune-telling - is an art many cultures practice, and the Faendryl are no exception. Much as other cultures read tea leaves or entrails, Igaeshian readers read portents in a different medium."

Lylia says, "Smoke, or more accurately, the vapors left upon specially treated glass within an Igaeshian vial."

Lylia says, "Igaesha, being only barely corporeal, cannot be held long within other valences. Certain Faendryl sorcerers, however, have been able to create vials that entrap them for a brief time."

Lylia says, "These vials hold their captives only briefly, and it is when they inevitably escape them that the divination process begins, for the vanishing Igaesha leaves traces of its passage."

Lylia says, "Consider the vial before you."

Lylia says, "You may note that this looks a bit like a stylized hourglass, and that is an apt comparison in more ways than one."

Lylia says, "Consider a sort of...metaphorical hourglass. In the top are all the decisions you have made, every piece of your past that could influence your future."

Lylia says, "In the vessel below would be the events yet to come, gathering in an ever-widening cone, each piling atop the others and cascading in seemingly random ways."

(Lylia gestures as she talks, clearly warming to her subject.)

* Avior drops dead at your feet!

Lylia explains, "Its waist would be a single point that we call the present, the eternal 'now' where the past becomes the future."

Avior's body decays into compost.

Cruxophim affably muses, "Well then."

(Lylia opens her mouth to speak and then shuts it again.)

Lylia gives a sigh of exasperation.

Zolis deeply says, "A thousand pardons."

Cruxophim slowly ventures, "That wasn't me."

Lord Zolis just climbed up a white marble stairway.

Lylia coolly asks, "Shall I finish when we are done killing one another?"

Evician says, "I didnt do it either."

Drakkler deeply exclaims, "What in the name of Lumnis just happened?!"

Speaking to Cruxophim, you say, "I fear it was."

Nadier says, "Your first will be all the more memorable for dying because of it."

Speaking quietly to Dwi, Chemaine says, "Saw that."

Speaking to Xanthium, Ysharra says, "I don't think he can help it."

Speaking sincerely to Lylia, Cruxophim apologizes, "Sorry, dear."

(Lylia rests her hands on her hips and gazes into the middle distance with a long-suffering look on her face.)

Melikor asks, "Anyone else dropping dead before we continue?"

Dwi mutters something about elf-games.

Thrassus says, "Hopefully not."

Speaking quietly to Melikor, Chemaine says, "Maybe."

Evician says, "Hadnt planned on it."

Speaking to Thrassus, Xanthium says, "The powers that be might exact a heavy price for the divination."

Lylia mildly says, "Now, then. The ever-present now. A timeless construct."

Speaking slowly to Lylia, Cruxophim wonders, "Did you see that coming, perchance?"

Lylia explains, "Igaesha, some readers believe, are outside this 'hourglass,' able to view it from outside itself. We do not know whether they do so consciously or not, but some believe that traces of that extrinsic view remain."

Lylia says, "Now, a word about the nature of the fixed future versus acts of will. Volition is paramount to us as a people; 'our discipline rules all worlds,' you will recall."

Lylia smiles quietly to herself.

Speaking quietly to Dwi, Chemaine says, "I was wondering too."

Lylia asks, "That does not comport well with fortune-telling, does it?"

Lylia says, "It is, many believe, only one possible future, the most likely course events will take if the questioner does nothing to avert this fate."

Lylia continues, "In other words, if you are told of the chasm yawning before you, you can still choose not to walk into it - but changing your course may still be a challenge, one that many believe an Igaeshian reader or smoke seer can help them overcome."

Lylia asks, "Are there any questions so far?"

Lylia surveys the area.

(Xanthium absently strokes the mouthpiece, before placing it on her lips, moving her hands down the scale of the instrument silently, watching Lylia.)

Silima offers, "There are many futures in the weft of the weave."

Dwi raises her hand.

Lylia says, "Yes! Yes, just so. Another elegant metaphor."

Lylia nods at Dwi.

Speaking heartily to Lylia, Dwi asks, "How do ye say dat agin?"

Speaking to Lylia, Xanthium asks, "How precise can they be, Madame Mayor?"

Lylia asks, "Which thing is that?"

Dwi heartily asks, "Ignutsians?"

Speaking quietly to Cruxophim, Chemaine says, "Your future looks kind of grim based on how your evening has gone so far."

Speaking to Xanthium, Lylia says, "In the hands of a skilled reader, some believe it is quite accurate, and they have been used to predict the course of Patriarchal procession."

Speaking ominously to Chemaine, Cruxophim purrs, "I'll be doing this for a long, long time to come... or at least as long as it matters, don't worry."

Lylia smiles and enunciates clearly, "Ee-gai-shee-ann."

Xanthium whispers aloud, "Ee-gai-shee-ann."

Lylia says, "So, let us turn to the vial itself. The practical nature of an esoteric art."

Dwi quietly says, "Eye ball shhee nans."

Speaking quietly to Dwi, Chemaine says, "Well done."

Lylia says, "The symbols that readers see and use in their divinations are too numerous to list in their entirety, although some of the most common do appear in documents recently translated into the Common tongue."

Lylia murmurs, "I may have done some of that translation myself, in fact."

Lylia gently smooths the skirts of her gown, coaxing away the wrinkles and restoring the naturally elegant drape of the silk.

Speaking to Avior, Lylia says, "Welcome back."

Lylia continues, "As with other divination methods, some symbols are practically universal: fire, swords, coins, all familiar to nearly every culture."

Avior softly says, "What is an evening without some deaths."

Lylia says, "Others are unique to Faendryl perspectives. One that charms me in particular is the symbol known as the Pearls, which has a divinatory meaning of cooperation if well-favored and wastefulness if ill-favored."

Lylia says, "The meaning here is clearer if you think of the expressions 'pearls of wisdom' ... and 'pearls before swine.'."

Lylia says, "Each vial is divided into nine arcs, each of which governs a different aspect of the future. They are, in order: Mind; body; familial ties; rule and governance; romance and marriage; scholarship and profesion; wealth, magical understanding; and knowledge of the valences."

Speaking to Avior, Nadier says, "Your first should be most memorable for having died yourself from the doing of it."

Lylia deadpans, "Keep up. There is a quiz after."

Lylia picks up an empty slender glass metal-edged vial.

Lylia says, "Now, the process of hosting the demon itself..."

Lylia says, "This is the greater challenge, and the part that requires a thorough knowledge of demonology."

Speaking quietly to Evician, Chemaine asks, "Is he gonna jump outta you or what?"

Lylia traces an arcane sigil in the air while incanting, resulting in the opening of a small rift in space beside her. Her eyes glow momentarily as a cloud of pale slate grey mist comes hurtling out of the rift.

As Lylia chants a single, harsh command, the mist is immediately funneled straight into her metal-edged vial. She traces a finger around the top of her metal-edged vial in a very specific pattern, and as she completes the motion, you hear a loud *POP*, the vial now magically sealed shut.

Lylia smiles widely, her expression tinged with just the slightest sign of relief.

Lylia explains, "The demons are not constrained for any length of time, by the way, and may disperse almost at will."

Lylia softly says, "They are not, in fact, imprisoned."

Lylia says, "The glassy walls are, if anything, a canvas on which they paint their visions of a future."

Lylia says, "To choose someone whose fortune is to be read, you point the vial at the querent."

Lylia surveys the area.

Thrassus leans on his staff.

Lylia shifts her eyes to Thrassus.

Speaking to Thrassus, Lylia says, "You will do."

Speaking quietly to Dwi, Chemaine says, "The querent, whatever that is."

Xanthium says, "A person with a question."

Chemaine quietly says, "Target perhaps."

Thrassus raises an eyebrow.

Speaking softly to Lylia, Avior says, "A un-constrained demon seems it might be a little on the risky side."

(Drakkler looks relieved.)

Lylia says, "Yes. A person with a question. Thrassus has graciously volunteered."

Speaking to Avior, Xanthium says, "They...aren't like other demons, as I understand it. At least, from what Pops here tells me."

Thrassus says, "It will be a rather simple one, to be honest."

Lylia smiles radiantly at Thrassus. It's clear that this is not an offer she expects to be refused.

Speaking to Melikor, Ysharra repeats, "Pops?"

Lylia says, "Wonderful."

Speaking to Thrassus, Lylia asks, "Would you like to make that question broadly known?"

Lylia says, "If so, you may say it aloud."

Melikor says, "The demons you see here today, they are mostly harmless."

Speaking to Ysharra, Melikor says, "Yes, I'm old."

Speaking to Melikor, Ysharra says, "I do not think that is meant to imply age."

Thrassus asks, "What lies in store for the Landing during the coming three months?"

Speaking to Thrassus, Lylia exclaims, "An excellent question!"

Chemaine quietly says, "Indeed a good question."

Nadier says, "Blood and smoke."

Speaking to Ysharra, Melikor says, "I know."

Lylia whispers something to the Igaesha in her metal-edged vial. It momentarily pauses in its floating, then resumes its movements.

Lylia carefully places a slender glass metal-edged vial encapsulating a pale slate grey mist Igaesha on the floor.

Lylia says, "Now, if you wish, you may all read the vellum and see how the vial has changed."

Speaking to Melikor, Xanthium says, "Don't forget. I like you better than my sister does. It's important."

Elegant script runs across the top part of the metal-edged vial's vellum, detailing the following information:

Igaeshian Reading

~~~

Reading To Be Performed For: Thrassus

Summoner: Lylia

Designated Reader: Lylia. If the Igaesha is put into a suspended state, this may be amended.

Requested Focus: What lies in store for the Landing over the next three months?

Speaking to Xanthium, Melikor asks, "Wait, your sister doesn't like me?"

Speaking to Melikor, Xanthium says, "I'm just saying."

Lylia says, "We may have to wait days or even a week or more for the Igaesha to leave its glassy home."

Drakkler deeply asks, "Wait, it will take a day or maybe a week or more for an answer?"

Thrassus says, "Hopefully it won't be too late by then."

Thrassus snickers.

Speaking to Lylia, Evician asks, "Got a comfy chair in there and some books to read?"

Lylia says, "Yes. In the case of particularly large or portentous questions, some readers have been known to wait a year or more."

Lylia reminds, "We are a long-lived race."

Chemaine quietly says, "That's like asking what the weather will be like and hearing go outside."

Silima quietly murmurs, "Curious."

Speaking to Thrassus, Ysharra says, "Maybe too late for us, the way things are going. But something will survive to greet the smoke, I imagine."

Speaking to Lylia, Thrassus says, "Indeed, a week is nothing."

Chemaine quietly says, "Nay even remotely helpful."

Lylia says, "It is more akin to asking whether a volcano will erupt in a decade's time and devastate a land."

Nadier says, "Blood and smoke. With a rook upon a pike."

Speaking to Cruxophim, Ysharra asks, "No one knows how to end you, do they?"

Silima asks, "So, one would not want to use this if they are looking for a more-- immediate answer? It should be a rather broad query in terms of divination?"

Nadier says, "I do not know. Just what came to my mind."

Speaking to Nadier, Thrassus says, "Now that sounds interesting indeed."

Speaking to Silima, Lylia says, "Good question. For a more immediate answer to a more localized question, many diviners use smoke seeing."

Speaking to Lylia, Silima says, "I see."

Speaking to Lylia, Silima says, "I'm rather interested in that as well."

Lylia says, "Would anyone like a closer look at the vial now? I shall pass it around."

Lylia admits, "I know far less of smoke seeing than of Igaeshian reading."

Lylia offers Silima a slender glass metal-edged vial encapsulating a pale slate grey mist Igaesha.

Lylia says, "Pass the vial around, if you please."

Speaking to Silima, Xanthium says, "When you are done, of course."

Chemaine quietly says, "I read the vellum."

Xanthium accepts Silima's metal-edged vial.

Silima sheepishly apologizes, "It is rather facsinating."

Xanthium asks, "Anyone else want a look at the vial and te demon?"

Melikor accepts Xanthium's metal-edged vial.

Speaking quietly to Xanthium, Chemaine says, "Nay thanks."

Lylia asks, "While we are passing it about, are there any further questions?"

Cruxophim accepts Melikor's metal-edged vial.

Cruxophim absently ventures, "Who else?"

Speaking to Lylia, Xanthium asks, "Do you think the origins of summoning are why it's a mostly Faendryl gift?"

Thrassus accepts Cruxophim's metal-edged vial.

Speaking to Lylia, Xanthium says, "I know others can learn, but..."

Speaking to Lylia, Silima asks, "I imagine this is much easier for someone who can summon demons. Are there cases of those who don't who read proficiently?"

Speaking to Lylia, Xanthium asks, "And why women?"

(Thrassus turns the vial around a few times, grinning to himself as he watches the smoke inside shift.)

Lylia says, "I believe both of you have a similar question."

Silima says, "I.. don't belive so."

Lylia says, "The answer to that is that while a sorceress who is adept enough may cleanse and refill a vial, others may learn to read them. Now, whether those readings will be accurate..."

Drakkler deeply says, "In the name of Twilight Hall and the pursuit of magical knowledge, I shall now do something reckless."

Drakkler makes a quick gesture while calling upon the powers of the elements...

(Lylia gives an eloquent and wordless shrug, allowing her wrap to slip from her shoulder for a moment.)

Drakkler gestures at a slender glass metal-edged vial encapsulating a pale slate grey mist Igaesha.

Melikor looks thoughtfully at Drakkler.

Lylia gazes with interest at Drakkler.

Drakkler deeply says, "Okay, I have learned nothing from that."

Speaking slowly to Lylia, Cruxophim ventures, "Can I eat it?"

Speaking to Cruxophim, Lylia says, "No."

Ysharra says, "Truth comes in a myriad of verses."

Lylia says, "It is one of my best vials."

Lylia put a glass silver-edged vial encapsulating a pale silver murk Igaesha in her wrap.

Cruxophim begs, pointing at his mouth as his stomach rumbles.

Speaking to Nadier, Lylia asks, "Yes?"

Nadier asks, "What would a bard learn if they sung to it?"

Drakkler deeply says, "I tried to detect its magic but couldn't make sense of it."

Chemaine quietly says, "Oh, excuse me."

Lylia says, "Wonderful question! I would welcome any bard to sing as they please to one."

Lylia says, "Igaesha are rather placid beings. Or at least, unconcerned."

Lylia removes a monogrammed brass-hinged cabinet from in her wrap.

Speaking to her metal-edged vial, Cerridween says, "Ah you are an interesting thing. So very unlike the spirits I converse with and yet just as fleeting."

Lylia twirls the rotating shelf in her cabinet so that it spins to an entirely different front-center slot.

Cerridween asks, "Would anyone else like to view the vial?"

Nadier accepts Cerridween's metal-edged vial.

Ysharra says, "I still wonder if the time shifts on Lorae'tyr result in their ability."

Ysharra says, "And if that's why they don't seem as...aggressive, afraid- as the abyran."

Lylia says, "I had hoped to have at least one vial prepared, but alas, even with a week and longer to do so, no demon has fled its vial."

Lylia accepts Nadier's metal-edged vial.

Lylia bows to Nadier.

Chemaine quietly says, "That's a good thing methinks."

Chemaine quietly says, "Nay need anymor demons running about."

Lylia says, "When they leave, they merely return to Lorae'tyr. Harmless, really."

Lylia offhandedly says, "Aside from the acid."

Lylia says, "I can, though, talk about a past reading."

Speaking to Lylia, Ysharra says, "But being what they are, perhaps they have no concept of time. So they are not as discombobulated."

Nadier says, "Thank you for a very interesting evening. I must leave now."

Speaking to Lylia, Ysharra asks, "The abyran, on the other hand, what if they go back...but not to where they left?"

Nadier says, "I enjoyed it greatly."

Nadier just went out.

Lylia says, "I do not question the comings and goings of abyran."

Lylia says, "I had recorded a reading for Silvean Rashere, my husband, some time ago. His was a most interesting one..."

Evician says, "Interesting fortune, for a interesting man."

Xanthium says, "You'll have to tell more than that."

(Lylia traces her finger over a sketch on the parchment. A pentacle is at the center of the page, a pair of glass walls sketched in around it. Flowing along the circle's path, complicated knotwork is displayed, both accentuating the simplicity of the pentacle's design as well as adding a touch of beauty its straightforward shape.)

Lylia turns over her silver-edged parchment.

(Lylia holds the parchment aloft so everyone can see it well.)

Lylia says, "This was the first time I have seen a Pentacle in more than a decade of readings. It is, of course, a most auspicious sign. Unlike many, it is not ill-favored in any context, being the very sigil of the Faendryl itself."

(Lylia brings the parchment a bit lower to allow everyone to see.)

Speaking to Lylia, Silima inquires, "Are there any written texts one could read on this subject?"

Lylia says, "This was the symbol at the center of his vial, along with an Hourglass. As you might expect, the meaning of that is clear enough. An Hourglass represents time. His was spanning the fourth and fifth Arc and was, it appeared to me, half-full."

Lylia explains, "If I were a more excitable sort, I would see this as a clear sign that Silvean, at nearly three hundred years of age, is halfway toward his ascension to the Patriarchy."

Lylia chuckles.

Lylia says, "But it is not, of course, that straightforward. Given the time scale and the nature of the question, I --"

Speaking quietly to Lylia, Chemaine says, "Thanks for the lovely lessons. Much appreciated."

Lylia says, "Ah, forgive me. I have droned on a bit."

Lylia says, "Be well."

Lylia smiles.

Melikor says, "Thank you for coming."

Evician says, "Good evening to you Mayor."

Ysharra says, "Indeed."

Speaking to Xanthium, Lylia says, "And no, 'droning' is not a bagpipe pun."

Speaking quietly to Cruxophim, Chemaine says, "And you."

Lylia winks.

Ysharra says, "We have a long, intriguing weekend planned. I hope you will return."

Speaking politely to Lylia, Silima inquires, "Are there any written texts one could read on this subject?"

Lylia says, "Given the nature of the original question, it is likelier that I predicted -- correctly, as it seems -- that Silvean had business in the far south, and that that business is directly Patriarchal in nature."

Lylia murmurs, "To say more would be telling."

Lylia says, "But it was personally and professionally illuminating to us both."

Lylia asks, "Forgive me. Did I miss a question?"

Ysharra says, "None of mine, that I can think on."

Silima glances at her fingers and steeples them together.

Lylia says, "Oh! Written texts."

Lylia says, "Yes."

Cruxophim raises his dark elven male portrait proudly, displaying it for you to see.

Standing valiantly in the foreground of the painting with his foot planted atop a deceased creature is the image of a dark elven man gazing across an open field, his clenched fist raised high above his head. Grey swirls are lightly sketched across an open black sky, and a full moon's faint outline is scarcely visible beneath the veil of ominous-looking clouds.

Cruxophim offers Avior a heroic dark elven male portrait.

Lylia says, "We have a copy of it in our library in the Spire. Ask me, and I shall tell you where to find it. It is rather tricky."

Speaking softly to Cruxophim, Avior says, "Thank you so very much."

Silima nods at Lylia.

Speaking affably to Avior, Cruxophim assures, "My pleasure."

Xanthium says, "The library is beautiful. Nice acoustics, too."

Xanthium says, "...uh. I only practice when it's empty."

Lylia says, "Any final questions? I believe I should not talk about time until the end of it."

Speaking softly to Cruxophim, Avior says, "I love it, it will commemorate my first raise and death from the same."

Cruxophim politely announces, "I must go and prepare for this evening, but have a fine evening all."

Speaking to Xanthium, Lylia says, "I have not forgotten you or your demon, by the way."

Avior softly says, "Alas, for me, we sail early so I must be off."

Speaking to Avior, Lylia says, "I am delighted you could be here."

Speaking softly to Lylia, Avior says, "Mayor, thank you for a wonderful evening."

Speaking graciously to Lylia, Silima asks, "Thank you for your demonstration. It was very interesting... perhaps, if you're willing-- you might come to Ta'Illistim and talk about it?"

Lylia replies, "It would delight me to do so."

Xanthium says, "I'll be back for tomorrow's presentations, Mother, Mayor, Pops."

Melikor gives a sidelong glance at Xanthium.

Melikor folds his arms over his chest.

Lylia looks like she was about to say something to Xanthium, but she hesitates, obviously having changed her mind.

Speaking to Lylia, Silima says, "I would very much like it to be something we could have a discussion about."

Lylia flatly repeats, "Pops."

Lylia smoothly says, "Perhaps that discussion could include something on the nature of demons and their summoning."

Speaking to Lylia, Silima says, "I am sure my father would very much agree."

Cerridween softly says, "I do appreciate you sharing the Igaesha vial with us. I have always been fascinated with the different arts for fortune telling."

Silima says, "He is a teacher of lore on various arts and practices of summoning. He focused a lot of his study on Tehir techniques."

Lylia says, "If there are no more questions, I should free you from any obligation to listen to me further."

Lylia says, "Thank you all for your time."

Speaking deeply to Lylia, Zolis says, "Thank you for your work and your lessons this evening, Lady."

Speaking to Silima, Lylia says, "I should be delighted to meet him, then."