What May Come of Dreams

Voah straightened herself a bit from the slight slouch she had gone into from nodding. There it was. That hint of magik. Possibly Oneiromancy, an intrusive magik that could touch dreams.

It was possible for Diarah to have information of something she shouldn't, for instance, she could have spies watching and listening at her tent. She could have the keenest insight and intuit these things from conversations. She could also be a harmless, faux diviner, who spouted vague nonsense to make a coin off of a fool. For all Voah knew, she talked in her sleep as her father did a fair bit of that himself. Either way, things would not go down like Hunter thought. Voah was not interested in slaying each magic user one by one or waging an all out war. It was in her nature to understand more. She desired to know the extent and pervasiveness of it in their society. Who taught the practice and could it be stopped at the source without committing a mass genocide. There were other ways she had read about, rituals and runes that could stop the use of magik. Maybe she could tattoo a repentant witch under oath and penalty of death should they ever default.

For now she responded, "Dreams haunt many."

The woman named Diarah nodded. "And you haunt ours..." she said kneeling in front of Voah two arm lengths away. "The tribes have dreamt of you Voah Sahnsuur, daughter of many gods." The space in the tent appeared to shrink until only that between the two women existed. "Your coming will change the land. And the People."

Her body tingled with nervous tension as Diarah spoke the words.

"For the good of all... I hope." she replied. Was the room shrinking or her mind hyper-focusing on the woman? Voah didn't know and tried to shake it off.
"But... How can you know this?"

"Much rests on your shoulders..." she held our her hand palm up towards the Arbiter. "Erewhon whispers your name." Voah blinked. The woman's lips appeared to be moving strangely. As if the shape of her mouth did not match the words coming out.

Destiny had brought Voah to this land across the sea and to this moment. "Then you know what I must do."

She shook her head. "The future is like the sand in the desert wind. Ever shifting." her hand still reaching out to Voah.

Diarah seemed to be extending her hand in invitation, Voah hesitantly accepted.

The native woman held Voah's hand delicately. Slowly and in a literately non-threatening way, she pulled a long bone pin from her hair. She held the Arbiter's gaze as she slowly pricked the skin of her index finger and moved to take Voah bleeding finger into her mouth. Voah felt the woman's wet tongue swirl around her finger and felt a small pressure as she seemed to be sucking some blood into her mouth.

Immediately, Voah took in a breath and had to fight herself from recoiling in defense and disgust but as the woman took her finger into her mouth, it was somewhat soothing, almost motherly, and yet simultaneously arousing. She tried to form words but was utterly speechless. "Pillars." she finally found herself whispering. "Guide me."

Dariah pulled back slowly, a small sliver of spit hunt between her red lips and Voah's white finger. She lifted her head towards the ceiling of the tent. Her eyes rolled backwards in their sockets.

"Nomad... Orphan... Child of Many... Tool... Judge... Slayer... " she whispers softly. So softly that Voah can hardly hear. But with each word an imagine flashed in her mind. Roaming the lands with her parents, her mother's brutal murder, the five pillars and the faces of many who have fallen under her sword. Both women shiver and shake as if connected in ways most beings will never experience. With a loud intake of breath Dariah looks back at Voah and retreats to sit next to the tribe leader.
"You spill the sacred blood of Erewhon." she tells you more in shock than in fear.
Daaul looks at Voah and at Dariah. And you are not sure he understood what has passed between the two of you.

The sacred blood of Erewhon? She didn't like the sound of that. It wasn't the way she saw things at all.

"Not sacred blood..." She corrected. "Heretics... I judge the heretics who use Magik. And I try to ensure they have a chance to change their ways before I smite them." She meant this last part as a warning.

Diarah and Duaal looked at one another. The man grasped his spear once again. Voah could see they didn't understand the meaning of some of her words but the threat was clear. "Your coming will change the land, daughter of many gods." the young woman told you once again. "Or the land will change you..." and just like that Voah felt her audience was over.

It was her lifelong journey to smite the wielders of magic and here she was thinking how unfair it would be to bring down the sword of Vastad against a people who knew nothing of the Pillars, nor the Inquisition and the banning of magic. It was banned with good reason, of course, at least from her understanding of both history and personal experiences. The heretics she met were of those with knowledge of the past and were practicing in deliberate defiance of the Gods.

The woman was right. It was a heavy weight on her shoulders and hers to bear. She was a lone Arbiter in a new land. Voah's eyes never left them as she stood and nodded farewell. Then when she was sure they would allow her to leave, she kicked her sword up and caught it.

Just before exiting, she turned to them, “We will meet again… For good or ill.”