Peace of mind

Alexis sat leaning against the walls of the ancient cavern. Her thoughts had already been drifting to how to proceed with her search, but she stopped herself.

The hammer head was complacent and it seemed she had her headspace to herself for a change. She should make use of that and take a step back. There might be some things worth contemplating in the absence of the relentless compulsion to chase Fosia’s relic.

For example: Why was she being left in peace all of sudden? There were several reasons she could think of.

The simplest of them was that, well… Fosia or whoever it was harassing her didn’t really know how to proceed, either. While, apparently, within his own realm the hammer head could be located - how did that part get back to Fang, by the way? - they had to look for a map of all things to get an idea where the shaft might be. So Fosia seemed to have no means to find it.

Then there was the quite enticing possibility that maybe he couldn’t push her all the time. Fosia by all accounts was defeated and nearly forgotten. His power likely very limited. And she was deep in the territory of other maybe / maybe not enemy deities.

Of course he could always just be a dick that couldn’t make up his mind and loved to be unhelpful and obscure on purpose. Who knew.

Alexis had a selfish preference for option two. Because whatever kinship she might feel with the mountain deity was steadily overwritten by resentment for pretty much taking over her life and pushing her around like a rag doll.
She had not truly challenged his hold on her yet, she realized. With the chance of Islana being here, Gra’akast had been her destination anyway. Also she did still feel indebted to Tar for saving her life. And lastly she couldn’t deny all of this, all these secrets and mysteries held a surprising fascination for her that was all her and not Fosia’s influence.
But maybe she should finally fight the pull.

Maybe she needed to.

Because with what she had learned so far she would have to question wether the hammer wasn’t better off staying in pieces.
The Brotherhood needed it, too. To, as far as she could fathom, undo what was depicted on these very walls. So could it not be the better option to get that hammer head as far away from here as possible, to prevent this?

But that was the crux, wasn’t it? Should it be prevented?

Alexis pulled up her legs and rested her arms on her knees, eyes just looking ahead, gaze directed inward.

Needless to say, she had no love for the Brotherhood’s methods. And it was easy to just declare them evil and be done with the evaluation process. Unfortunately things very rarely were that clean cut. People had reasons to do what they did. And wether she, personally, liked those reasons or not, it might be important to consider if they had a point.
And that was what she simply didn’t know.

An eternity ago the natural order had been severely shaken up by the supposed imprisonment of the Third. Who? Why? What were the consequences? All of that she had no idea about. So she also didn’t know what bringing back Ziarae would entail.

And that, ironically enough, meant, in the end, she would seek out those other obelisks. Of her own volition.

Because even she could tell whatever was going on here was… big. And wether she wanted it or not, she would have some kind of part in it. If she wanted to have any say in what that part would be, she needed to know more. The other obelisks might hold some of the answers, even if it wasn’t a clue to the shaft’s location.

So, how was she going to do this?
How could she find the other two?

She smiled a little, remembering she might actually know someone who could help her with that. Izil had generously invited her to come visit his camp before he moved on west. She was going to take him up on that offer. The well-traveled noble surely would be able to give her some pointers. And until then, there were some travel preparations of her own to be made.