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* Bluestar is sitting at his desk in his office, the window curtains open to let the light in. The massive oaken desk has very few papers and items on it, most of it an empty expanse. He is making notes in a precise, tiny script in a large book. There is an overturned endtable on the floor behind him that has a hatchet embedded in its top. * Tyl stomps into the school. She is wearing her work clothes, which are torn and stained, and she looks to be in a state of High Peeve. Students who catch a glimpse of her scatter like pigeons. She doesn't even seem to notice, but heads straight for her office, muttering under her breath. * Bluestar looks up from his work and sits his quill back in the inkwell. "Well." He goes to his door and slides the bolt home, locking it from the inside. He concentrates and slowly fades away to a smudged, indistinct outline, and proceeds to walk rapidly in a straight line from his office to Tyl's, passing through walls, students and empty space with the same lack of acknowledgement. * Tyl flops into her desk chair and buries her face in the ruins of her hands with a long sigh. * Bluestar is at Tyl's door and has half-stepped through it before he pauses, steps back, resolidifies, and knocks on Tyl's door. * Tyl doesn't even look up. "No." * Bluestar opens the door and enters. "No what?" He closes the door behind him. <Tyl> Oh. Hullo, Jalavier. I'm practicing. I should have done it earlier. <Bluestar> Practicing? You? Really, this voyage of yours has had quite the effect on you. You used to hate... to.... Tyl'Gainia, what has happened to your hands? * Tyl looks up finally. She sighs. "I'm practicing saying 'No'. Later, I might even add 'go to hell' on the end of it. Anything to avoid going on another one of these crusades." She looks at her hand. "Oh, that. A squid bit me." * Bluestar flickers and is at Tyl's side, half-kneeling, holding her hand in his. * Tyl blinks. "New trick in your bag, Jalavier?" <Bluestar> Didn't they-- wasn't there anyone who-- why don't we get this looked at before the day is out. I've made some contacts, am owed some favors, it'll be quickly done, done well. <Bluestar> Senior thesis, involving short-range teleportation, related to dimension door and some other discipline. It's quite good. Got him a B+. I'll show it to you later. * Tyl sorts his questions out slowly. "It was offered. I turned it down. I wouldn't want to be grateful to those... wretched examples of deific... " She trails off, at a loss for words. "I wouldn't let them heal me. I think I'd have rather died." * Bluestar scrutinizes Tyl. "How much sleep have you been getting?" <Tyl> Enough to not be hysterical. But not enough. War has a way of doing that to you. <Bluestar> ::nodding curtly:: We'll make sure no one disturbs you tonight or tomorrow. Now, tell me what happened. * Tyl opens her mouth, considers what she wants to say and closes it again. She takes several deep breaths and tries again. "We went to kill a god. Yb. Did you ever meet her?" <Bluestar> No, I never had the displeasure. No one ever explained very well why she was never smothered her in her sleep. <Tyl> ::snorts:: Aren't you blessed, then. She... I can't even explain what she was. The home of the embodiment of the potential god of chaos? I don't know... <Bluestar> How convoluted. I wasn't aware there was a god of chaos. I'll have to brush up on my deific hierarchies. <Tyl> ::waves her uninjured hand absently:: Different plane. Different rules. Thank all *our* gods that you don't live there. What a benighted, blighted place. <Bluestar> I *thought* you were out of range. So, if she's a god, or a potential god, or the tenement for a potential god, what in the Nine Hells was she acting as a living plague upon *this* city. Cwalindia's been after me to move somewhere safer, as many times as rains of pink frogs and sides of beef fell on the city. <Tyl> ::shrugs:: I guess she was bored. It seems to have been her primary motivation. I don't really understand it, most of what we did. It was so hard to see past all the death. At least she returned to her own plane before that happened. Millions and millions of dead, Jalavier. You can't even *imagine*... ::she covers her face again:: * Bluestar gently rests his hand on the back of Tyl's head. "As you say, I can't. Fortunate that she had left by then." <Tyl> ::shudders:: The other gods there, most were just content to sit it out, or try and save just their people. They wouldn't act *together* to try and *stop* her. And that's what Bai was doing. Stopping her. I... like to think we were some help to him. <Bluestar> She's dead, then? You've returned, the conquering hero? <Tyl> Well, yes and no. ::she teeters her hand back and forth in a so-so gesture:: Bai... did something to make the god-part of her and the elf-part of her separate. Then he killed the god part. The rest of her is still alive. She seems... better. About a smart as a dim candle and flaky as last year's soap, but sane. Whole. * Bluestar quirks an eyebrow. "Was this necessary? It doesn't sound quite sound. Given a mad dog that has previously attacked and killed, even if I'm told that it's cured now, and all better, I'd be hard pressed to keep from... some risks aren't allowed to wander about." <Tyl> ::shrugs listlessly:: It didn't really seem fair, to just kill her. It's not like she asked for it to happen. I killed, once. Not knowing what I was doing, certainly not *meaning* to. ::she sighs:: And it didn't seem fair to Bai. He sacrificed so much to try and save her, I couldn't just let her *die*. <Bluestar> Ahhh.... so, you spoke false. You didn't go there to kill her. You went to free her from herself, for Bai's sake. Speaking of whom...? <Tyl> Oh, he made out like the bandit-king... got himself elevated to god-hood. I don't expect we'll see him much anymore. <Bluestar> Well. That was unexpected. A god? Really? Of what, I must ask? <Tyl> Humans, I think. The old god of the humans got killed in that last battle. And he wasn't the only one. I never... ::she closes her eyes:: I don't think I'll ever not see it. Horrible... <Bluestar> Humans. Really. That is quite a step up from whatever he was before. Whatever it was. I imagine the post comes with better quarters than a solitary room at the Meade Hall, to boot. <Tyl> I don't know. The gods there are so... how can they be gods at all, as powerless and uncompassionate as they are? I don't understand it at all. <Bluestar> From my readings, after the Time of Troubles, gods here had their power directly linked to the number and fervor of their worshippers. I imagine a completely different power justification exists there. A rather vicarious and capricious one from the sound of things. <Tyl> I don't know. I'm just so... damned glad to be home again. I thought... I've faced death before, it shouldn't terrify me so, but... not death like that... wasteful and meaningless and unmourned... <Bluestar> Will you be staying then, for a while? We've been covering your classes adequately, but the students miss the gentle hand of the headmistress, and grow sullen under more rigorous discipline. <Tyl> ::nods:: For a while... that's why I'm practicing saying "no." You must have taught me better than to go running off to save the world, even if it's not *my* world, but somewhere, I must have forgotten. <Bluestar> I think the lesson that has slipped your mind is not to discount or underestimate the value of self-interest and advancement in all endeavors. Selflessness may be noble, but living well is better, I've found. <Tyl> At least more comfortable... ::she laughs briefly:: Anything is better than sleeping fifty yards from the rotting body of the squid that ate your fingers. <Bluestar> Quite. Especially given the standard odor of the cephalopod. <Tyl> I'd forgotten how much I hate adventuring... I must be getting old... ::she laughs briefly:: <Bluestar> No no no... your memory is simply improving. Pattern recognition is quite important. <Tyl> ::snickers:: So... tell me, Revered Teacher, what has happened since I've been away? <Bluestar> Well, let's see. The entire Intro Psychometabolics class managed to depress their heart rates so far they all went into a coma. *That* provided a bit of excitement, let me tell you. Dupre had some battle of talents going on with some precognitive student over exam questions that he thinks we're all unaware of, but it's quite public. And I think our newest professor has managed to keep his pants tied shut for yet another semester. <Tyl> ::laughs:: Oh, good. I wasn't too sure of him... Or, for that matter, of Temire. Have you threatened to table anyone, recently? <Bluestar> Not as such, no. There was one discipline problem that was threatening to escalate a bit too far, so I called the ringleaders in, did a bit of frothing and took a hatchet to that ugly endtable I've had in my office for a year or so now. One fainted dead away, and I think the issue has resolved itself. * Tyl laughs again. "You get more milage out of a rumor than the rest of us do with facts..." <Bluestar> Fear versus love. They'll do things for you that I couldn't talk them into even considering. But they'll hold the line better for me. <Tyl> They just needed someone who didn't believe they were demon-spawn... ::looks at him:: As I did, when I was first out on my own. * Bluestar smiles briefly. "You needed me less than you think you did. But I appreciate the opportunity I've had to help you find your path." <Tyl> Oh, that reminds me... ::she reaches down and unbuckles her sword-belt:: I did actually manage to not lose this. ::she hands him his sword:: * Bluestar takes the sword back from Tyl and runs his fingers over the hilt. "I hope he served you well? I didn't have time to explain all the capabilities to you." <Tyl> He's definitely the reason the squid didn't eat more of me than it did. I've never liked marine animals. <Bluestar> How fortunate. And now you have even less reason to like them. I'll alert you if the sea elves come to visit this summer, so you can vacation on dry land until they leave. <Tyl> ::laughs, then yawns widely:: I'd really like a nice *quiet* summer... preferably with my idiot husband to unlose himself and come home. <Bluestar> Come. We'll get you your fingers back, and then I'll set Ingaliese up in your house with orders to deny entry to anyone who tries to wake you before sunset tomorrow. * Tyl stands up, then, with a deep breath, leans over to hug Bluestar fiercely. "I'm glad to see you again." * Bluestar returns the hug. "And I you, Most Favored Student." |
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