On the Move

JP with Winteroak and White_Caribou

Koshnem and Shalia rose ahead of their war band, that now was blistered by the presence of the Black Robes as the man started to call them. The Odonine looked suspiciously on these newcomers but their leader had vouched for them and his word was law.

The War Chieftain had decide that he would use the Aghul for the raid into Aquilo while the other clans continued to enjoy the spoils of conquest. Soon they would be on the move again. To take part in the largest war seen in Arcadia in millennia. He looked at Shalia hoping they could be storming the city's walls deep in Winter.

"Tell me more about the new Sister Locust." He asked her in Odon. "A Helian reaching that position is strangely surprising. What do you make of the woman? Will she stayed the course? Have the stomach for what is coming?"

The witch was silently taking in the scenery as they moved, both of the war band and the landscape passing by when he spoke. Still basking in the comfort of its familiarity. Of home.

"I knew her as she was before and I know her now--a close bond, you might say. She has survived many hardships in her life for someone so young. Things that armored her, helped her survive, but she is not unfeeling in the aftermath. Like you, she wishes to spare some lives as opposed to killing all of them to use for labor and the like. But she still has her conscious mind alongside the Prophetess. Both know varying degrees of chaos and death, and hold the wisdom from all their lives lived. I say it is quite an unexpected, yet promising match."

It would have been a shame if all of dear Islana had been swallowed whole, forcing Shalia to stare into dead, empty eyes that were once a stark mirror. Being a cold-hearted brute would not suit the young woman. Thankfully, she was not that and the winter witch hoped war wouldn't change Islana drastically for the worst. The same went for herself, truthfully. Maybe winning the war would be cathartic for them both...or instead change them completely as people.

"You yourself did not expect a Helian woman to stand at your side," she switched her gaze to him with a proud smirk, "but I proved promising. We should believe in the Seer, too. She knows what is at stake better than anyone." Shalia answered with a nod, referencing the prophecy she once foretold.

Koshnem drank Shalia's council, listening to her every word as he had done so for most of the years they had known each other. Five years was a long time for the mountain folk of Fang, where many did not survive to see their 100 seasons. Her judgement always proved to be important to his final decisions. Her words about the new vessel, this strange new Sister Locust, were sound.
"It is said that as they age and the distance between their Final Trial grows, the newer host gets swallowed by its past lives." He said pondering the little he knew factually about the matter. "We will do well to maintain this bond you have with her for as long as possible." He added. "Although one cannot wonder why the Twins would choose a vessel that is an Helian."

He let the thought hover between the two and the comfortable silence stretch, something they were always comfortable with. Next they needed to discuss Aquilo.