Chapter 95:

Chapter 95: Teaching children is a priest's greatest joy.




By the Decree of Asuryan, mortals and divine cannot openly interact with one another and this has been the case for a very long time, but it does not mean that we are not still linked to one another.

Eldar and our Divinity are linked in a way that cannot be denied or broken, for we need one another even as we do not understand each other. The Divine find the changing natures of Mortals hilarious and entertaining and Mortals find the might of Divinity impressive and it was quite saddening for both parties when we cannot interact.

Our Gods have duties they need to perform as decreed by the Old Ones and Asuryan's decree is not a good enough reason to be lazy. But as the Divine cannot openly interact with Mortals, a workaround had to be found, and that workaround was the Divinity can perform their duties still, but they have to be sneaky when they do it so that the Mortals don't catch them.

The disciples of Morathi have naturally turned this limitation into an advantage, and did so with the contempt for limits and common sense the woman we emulate had carved deep into the Eldar soul and the gods learned from us to do the same so that they don't lose out on the fun.

Each Disciple of Morathi carves out a small part of our emotional spectrum, dedicating that sliver of who and what we are entirely to Divinity and barring ourselves from experiencing it. In return the Gods can decide if they want to keep said emotions or do their job of actually regulating said emotion in specific at all, as us carving it from our psyche means we can no longer claim said emotion as ours. It was originally meant as a way to check for their influence, but now it turned as a way to keep in touch as it was too useful not to use it like that.

The senior priests of Hoeth have carved out the one emotion we most rarely use, The Desire to offer Mercy, and thus each time we experience it we know that it is not us that feel it, but the Divine who have decided that their duties in regulating our emotions means, we have to feel the Desire to offer Mercy at a specific time. All other priestly orders have a similar emotion they've carved out of themselves to help them better commune with the Gods and take orders and requests with.

The senior priests of Cegorach carved out Shame from their souls, those of Khaine the Desire to Create, those of Lileath the Desire to be Awake and those of Asuryan Hesitation and so on and we use this process to go around the Divine Edict of Separation.

That doesn't mean that it's only us that the gods can interact in this way with, as my cute little Navigator still hasn't learned. It only means that we're the best at spotting it, for the Divine will use our emotions like an Orchestra to subtly influence us towards a given end and us being able to know when that happens for certain makes it easier to spot the other times when they're doing it and are being sneaky about it.

It is not an ideal way of manipulating someone as the Eldar can always just not do that as we are very good at ignoring the things we can't be bothered with. But us not realizing its happening, because a few millions of years of perfecting a skill can make one very good at it, means that the Gods have gotten very skilled at getting what they want.

They will manipulate our instincts, our emotions, give us 'hunches' and make guesses feel right to get us to do what they want in a subtle enough way that we don't even notice when we dance to their tune after they've managed to get their hooks deeply enough in our psyche.

The only ones immune to this are children, for they are under the protection of their parents, and parents have the curious ability of synchronizing their souls with that of their children. I don't know how it works, only that the preternatural sense of the well being of one's children most other species have is greatly enhanced in Eldar.

Like most other things.

This makes Eldar parents hyper-vigilant of any psychic influence on their children, and things they would not notice affect them becomes glaringly obvious to an Eldar parent when it afflicts their children. There is even some specialization among the genders, as fathers are more sensitive to direct danger to their children and mothers are highly sensitive to all other types of influence, but both parents' bonds to their children allow them to notice when the gods decide to do things they shouldn't to their children, at least while they are minors.

Even I can feel it and I have not met most of my children. I can feel when my eldest sons are trying to fight it out with their psychic might, I can feel it when my youngest four children entered the presence of my royal wife and can guess that she has realized what her psychic might does to us by now as her sister-wife and subordinate-wives have told her exactly what they are feeling when their children are in her presence.

It's been one year since any of my children have seen their royal mother, including her own son which meant she realized just how much Eldar Royalty affects us. She'll have to find a way around that on her own as my siblings can't help her with that. They wouldn't even if they knew how, as it's up to Royalty to figure out how to raise their children and for priests to serve as tools for it as we can't do the thinking for them.

Civilian Eldar may be less conscious than priests of this link, but it is just as strong in all Eldar whether they are aware of it or not, and if one were to do improper things to one's children then that would cause any Eldar parent to notice and turn murderous and hunt whatever caused it on instinct if done in specific ways. Ways that I was quite proficient in.

As such it took little to make the parents of the four failed delinquents that turned from would-be thieves into young gentlemen and valorous warriors escorting a priest through the station. As they did that I sang to them of all of their failures and forced them to march in formation around me as I explored the park and had them tell me how the plants are named vocally while psychically I gave them the dressing down of a lifetime.

I critiqued the way they walked, the way they held a weapon, the way they spoke and carried themselves and even the way they dressed for an entire hour. It's the last one that affected them the most, as they actually liked the way they were dressed, and while it is very cute, cyan blue is not what thieves should be wearing.

Their terror and shame is so great, all I needed was to quench it slightly with my psychic might and I could feel the shift in the song of the station. Their parents' paranoia and murderous desire spiked to such an extent priests from another system could probably feel it.

Two bundles of nerves and anger were heading towards me as their instinct guided them when their minds were taken from them. I doubt they even knew fully what they were doing or why, as all they knew was that their children were in danger and whoever put them there needed to die.

"Your parents are coming young warriors." I informed them.

"A-all four of them holy one?" The leader of the brave band of warriors asked.

His braveness was so great it was only my powers keeping him and his brothers from pissing themselves in fear. Truly the mightiest warriors the Eldar have ever known fighting our mightiest enemies.

"Only two I am afraid, a woman and a man. Why would there be four of them?" I replied.

"Errm cause we got two moms and two dads?" The youngest of them said.

I tilted my head at that, how is that supposed to work? Eldar families are generally speaking one spouse of a gender and an indeterminate number of spouses of the other. Having multiple people of both genders just makes everything weirder as social obligations get tangled into weird knots.

"Elaborate please." I asked curiously.

It was a minor matter but I had nothing better to learn today so I might as well figure out how families work outside of the Empire and Craftworlders don't count as they're weird by all standards.

"Errm, our mothers and fathers are two pairs of siblings, two pairs of brothers and sisters and they married each other's siblings. Two of them always stay on station and two leave and we thought they returned." The leader said.

All four of them were resting on the ground after I gave their bodies a light training session with the blades I made them. When they could stand up, they looked like the dashing warriors I knew they could be. They just need to change from those cyan blue clothes into something more appropriate for valiant warriors and they would be adorable and no longer just funny.

I chuckled. That made sense and judging from what I am feeling when I look at their songs and genes, each has a different mother and two fathers.

"How cute." I observed

The two bundles of nerves and fury were getting closer now, and their children were getting more restless and I allowed the six to connect to one another.

"Be respectful and dignified boys. You have embarked on the path of the honorable warrior and must act like it!" I instructed sternly.

The boys did as warriors are to do and completely ignored the words of a villain as their songs turned desperate for their parents whose song turned more confused the more the boys presumably cried about what I have done to them.

'These boys will make for fine and stalwart warriors' I thought in amusement.

They already do as brave heroes are wont to do and soon they might actually be able to pick up a sword without me there to force them to. These boys didn't even know how to hold a sword before I taught them and it made me wonder just what were their parents teaching them? Teaching eldar children to hold a sword is as important as teaching them to read and write and these boys couldn't even hold one right!

Just what are people outside of the Empire teaching their children? The boys seem well-raised and they even have two pairs of parents to look after them, but they didn't know how to wield a weapon which was unthinkable in the Empire. Them not knowing how to use a ranged weapon could be excused as not everyone can be bothered to learn how to use them, but a sword is something else!

Even if they are not warriors, everyone should know how to use a sword!

"I can't hear what you're saying boys, but I know when people don't do what I am saying they should be doing. But that's fine too I suppose, as not listening to the words of a villain is all fine and good for valorous warriors to do, however please try to at the very least pretend you're doing it, as it makes them lower their guard for when you're ready to stab them in the back. Also if your parents think they are being stealthy I can assure them that they are wrong. I'm sure there's people from the next system that can hear them trying to sneak around." I said kindly.

Said parents did not appreciate the advice as they looked at me from behind foliage in preparation to their attempt at increasing the numbers of holes in my body, which was kind of them but I did not need more holes in my body. I can make more if needed be.

I sighed dramatically in my best attempt at pretending to be disappointed.

"It seems your parents are here young boys, stand up, salute them properly then go meet them. I'll let you have your reunion before I talk to them." I instructed.

The boys proceeded to ignore me, but at least they had the decency to not crawl or run on all fours as they rushed behind me, albeit it was a near thing. Cries and shouts of relief echoed behind me as parents reunited with their children. At least the children did not forget their weapons, those are very important after all.

I took the time to prepare some tea from my thermos and three… make that two cups as it seems one of them left with the boys and the other is now moving slowly behind me. Good thing I was near a tea rock made for travelers to talk at. The thing was weathered and smooth from millennia of use and will most likely be used for much more still.

"Sit, I have to shame you for raising idiots." I instructed.

The part-time pirate's song was tired as he sat in front of me. His song weaved a story of great deeds, of plunder and glory among cold stars and of valiance and plunder gained with one's own hands and skill. He also sang the story of a father that rested now as he did his time with his children in a shift with the rest of his family.

The man's murderlust carried him here, but now that it's gone it left him slightly dizzy and tired. Not enough to show on his body naturally, but as he didn't know to hide his song it was easy to spot.

I was quite envious of his life and his achievements in getting a loving family, children and the chance to be a pirate. Truly, some men had all the luck and those like me have to go be bothered by nosy divines and million years in the making schemes and nonsense.

His blue eyes met mine as he drank from his cup of tea, it was a local blend meant to serve the same purpose coffee served for men. I was still undecided as to the taste, but I was told it is a customary drink to serve to someone you had a cordial meeting with.

"What did the fools do?" The man grumbled.

He was rough, by Eldar standards at least. Green eyes, a bald head, a wiry frame and scars met me as I looked at him. The man didn't look much like a pirate, but like a pit fighter in the colosseum and lower arenas which was an interesting look to cultivate.

"They tried to mug me and were so bad at it I decided that they would do better as honorable warriors than scoundrels. So far it seems that a single lesson made them more competent at being honorable warriors than decades of trying to emulate scoundrels." I replied jovially.

The man looked even more miserable, as if his sons being called honorable was an insult, but he could not act on it, for he felt danger.

Eldar pirates learn to gauge their chances when dealing with possible prey as for a pirate, prey can at any time turn into a predator and to all his senses I felt like a predator of his kind, which was true in a sense. The Armada does love to prey on pirates and whoever manages to escape our purges when we bother with them will suddenly find themselves with a job they can't say no to, because we're not letting any pirate escape from us one way or another when we get to hunting. And if any pirates think surviving a Wyld Hunt is difficult then they saw nothing, for Impressments are far more thorough and merciless.

He took another sip of the drink as I took my first and our cordial conversation started in full.

"I… thank you for your measured response sir." He said calmly as he bit back a retort.

"Their attempt to mug me was a novel experience as I have not been mugged before in any of my lives and the idea that the sons of pirates would try to mug a military officer was too hilarious to not let happen and see where that goes. You should have taught them to do it better as they were quite bad at it, bad enough that I had to start teaching them how to be honorable warriors to wash away the shame."

That made him to growl.

"Don't, my children are my own to teach." He all but hissed at me.

He and his sister were perfectly willing to ignore their instincts when it came to saving their children as is appropriate for parents to do, but now that their children were far away from the obvious source of danger reality reasserted on their minds and they turned far more cautious. That caution however only lasted while their children are safe, as the moment they aren't then they no longer care for theirs.

How lovely. I also love the fact the man has a spine, so few low-lives seem to possess one that isn't vestigial.

"How touching, but why haven't you taught them how to wield a blade yet? I know that people from outside the Empire do things differently, but teaching children to wield a sword is foundational to their development and they are already in their twenties and halfway through their childhood."

That made him squint his eyes at me, did I say something wrong? Even if civilians for some ungodly reasons weren't teaching their children how to stab and cut things, he's a pirate, he should be teaching his children how to fight.

"Childhood lasts for one hundred years outside of the Empire, martial training starts at fifty, as the first fifty years of life are dedicated solely to learning their histories, how to read and write and how to do other things. We also want them to learn how to be bonesingers as well as pirates as it pays better and not waste their time guarding idiots and nobles like most 'honorable' warriors do." The much, older man said.

Now that's just hilarious and I chuckled at it slightly. Eldar outside the Empire matured more slowly and lived less somehow. Truly, the people outside the Empire are doing things backwards.

"Fair enough, but I do demand compensation for sparing your children from the result of their failed attempt at a mugging."

He nodded at that, now I was speaking his language.

"Yes, you earned that, what do you want?"

"One of my younger sisters is gathering a crew for her mission and Calling as she's joined a slave-liberator cult. Your boys once they become adults are to join her crew for two hundred years and the rest of your family can join them too if you want." I said.

I saw his face darken the more I spoke and offered them the chance to join up with them as well.

"Why would I do that? Also slave-liberators? You spoke of respectability and that's the least respectable thing you can do and still be 'honorable'. He replied.

Huh, his hearing is better than I expected . He also all but spit the word honorable out, so there's some bad blood there I should probably not touch.

"Slaves have no possessions and slavers don't deserve theirs, for they keep others from having anything. People also tend to cheer on those that repossess their properties and lives as slavers truly don't deserve them. Also don't worry about numbers, there's plenty of valorous souls that think the same as we and that have seen this to be truth, including many craftworlders, princes and even royalty. That's why many decided to join in after all, as few actually care about the slaves unfortunately." I countered smoothly.

It was true even if I implied otherwise, for few in this galaxy cared for slaves and their plight, least of all eldar. What many Eldar and Eldar men in specifically cared for was a reason to beat the shit out of you and take anything of value you might have, and if the princes and royalty have decreed that slavers are truly such vile people that don't deserve their property, then even pirates will turn into pillars of the community and separate the trash from that which they shouldn't have and be cheered for it.

His eyes widened and he smiled widely. It's one thing to steal from fools, it's another to steal from fools that don't deserve what they have, and having others cheer you while doing it? The cheers of others are almost as sweet as the promise of loot to the heart of an eldar man and the man in front of me was as much a man as someone outside of the Empire could be.

Give Eldar pirates a rich target to steal from and be cheered for it by others and they'll be your best friends.

"They truly don't need such, friend… ?"

"Bessar Agail, priest and suffering older brother to four mischievous younger siblings." I said and extended my hand in a salute.

The man met it and gave it a true and deep shake.

"Solas Tuaina, liberator of riches from those that do not deserve them and father to four fools." He said with a smile.

I laughed heartily at that. Things always go down better when people operate on the same wavelength.

"Glad to see a fellow valorous soul on this wretched station my friend and I apologize for scaring your boys like that, if I knew their father was a valorous soul I would have been rougher on them for being so bad at being like their father!"

My smile was as genuine as it was sleazy and the man in front of me matched it as he spoke.

"Don't worry friend, I'll make sure to be as rough as the boys need for bringing me and the rest of their parents such shame. I promise you that our clan will hear of your proposal and that regardless of whether or not they see valor in it or not my sons will not shame me again and will pay their penance."

We both laughed at that, I truly loved it when things went smoothly.

"Good, now do you want us to talk more somewhere more private or here is good?" I asked.

His greed was tempered by his caution now. A single friendly conversation is not enough to decide all this and so we would need to have more lengthy negotiations somewhere more private.

"My clan holds a few warehouses on the station, I'm sure we can find one we can talk in."

"Then let us finish our drink and go there."

The man nodded at that then proceeded to take his sweet time drinking his tea. It seems his clan now knows what's going on and are making preparations and discussing things among themselves.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To be an information broker does not mean that you acquire each and every single shred of information that you come across, despite what others might think. It merely means that you like secrets so much you started peddling in them to learn more.
And the secret about secrets is that there's a nigh infinite amount of them in the universe, so many that none, except perhaps the Divine, can hope to know even a fraction of them and so we each choose to focus on a specific type of secret as our obsession and gather others as currency to exchange for that which we seek.

People like Camaus Silverblade specialize in things that hide just beneath the surface, things that seem obvious but that which people act ignorant of for they are just outside their grasp and the man is addicted to the feeling of learning of obvious things that people are ignorant of. This gives him a wide breath of shallow knowledge on most things one could learn outside of the Empire and has made him many friends as he could give one a wide scope of information and knowledge of where they may dive deeper.

I specialize in knowledge of the Empire, of its conflicts and how they affect those outside of the Empire and every shred of knowledge I learned told me a single thing. Every single Imperial with even a shred of power is invariably mad in some way or form and are perfectly happy to turn their madness on one another in apocalyptic wars for any possible reason one could think of.

Not even the Phoenix Throne's attempts at curtailing religion to remove the reasons one would normally go to war for seemed to work, if anything they made the problem worse and now the wars keep on building up towards something.

People more often than not come to me in an attempt to find out what, and none believe me when I tell them that it's the birth of a New Divine, because for some reason the Divine tricked the Eldar into thinking that they are not real.

Now as I walk towards the warehouse a member of the Armada is using for the Impressment of one of the local pirate clans into a cult I realize that it would be nice to talk to someone that believes me when I tell them that the Divines are plotting something.

Priests tend to believe you when you tell them that, but nobody trusts the priests. The more experienced they get the less trustworthy and sane they become and the man in front of me are according to what I managed to piece together one of the most Senior priests of the Pantheon.

"You have not been welcomed here Shadowmask." One of the burly pirates with a long mane of frizelled red hair said as I approached the entrance.

Why he decided to meet with me there is beyond me, but here I had to come to meet him. I have five more hours until the Ultimatum expires and I die after all, and it would not do to be tardy. The man is harsher on you for being late than not showing up at all.

"Bessar Agail has requested my presence for a consultation and so I came. If you wish to stop me, then you can handle the fallout." I explained without using the man's name.

The man frowned at the hostility, as to not use the name of one you do talk to when you know it is not considered a friendly sign, but my hands are tied as to how I can behave.

Priests do not like it when you use names in their presence unless the individual introduced themselves during the conversation. They claim it draws the attention of the Divine and Misfortune on those whose names you speak.

"What got into your pants and died?" The man muttered.

"The gods, now if you would stop wasting time counting flowers and let me in?" I barked back.

I did not have time to entertain the fool, I had a meeting to get to and survive.

The man muttered something I could not be bothered to hear and let me walk through the door.

The warehouse at least matched my reports. It was a utilitarian thing of smooth curves and wide spaces and it was filled with various blue and white crates filled with too many goods to bother knowing them all.

Finding the man I sought was fast at the very least, for one merely had to follow the cheers of the crowd.

"Drink, drink, drink!" Echoed through the warehouse.

I walked towards the noisy gathering and saw the priest drinking centuries old pirates under the table. The Pirates swayed from one end of their seats to the next as the priest drank a bottle of what I recognized as Cassek, a potent drink from which a single glass could brink down all but the most tenacious of drinkers and the man was drinking the equivalent of dozens of such drinks by emptying an entire bottle.

There were three other bottles near him, one that was empty and another which had had the equivalent of four glasses of wine taken from them, glasses that were half empty as the men could barely hold to their seats after half a glass.

"Bah, soft-bellies the lot of you. Nobody trusts priests when we tell them things, you didn't trust me when I told you I can outdrink you all, and you can't even match me 4-to-1. And you call yourselves pirates? Hah, the standards fell too much outside of the Empire." The man shouted cheerfully.

Jeers met his words and they were accompanied by one of the chairs losing an occupant to the floor.

My eyes narrowed as I considered the situation. He drank enough to kill multiple Eldar and wasn't even tipsy. The empty bottle was gently put near the others.

"I have been told that such is the case with most things, except sanity that is, there it seems that the standards of the Empire have slipped." I interjected.

The gathered pirates turned to be as if bitten and turned their weaponson me on instinct despite knowing I was meant to be here.

"Glad to see you could arrive Shadowmask. Put your weapons down friends, I asked for a meeting with the information broker and she's come here a bit earlier than I expected." The creature said as it cheerfully turned to me

The pirates obeyed with amusement as they did not even notice that they already obeyed him.

He kidnapped one of their children and in hours the entire clan welcomed him as if he was always one of them and it made me wonder if the man wasn't actually a pirate as well.

His black robes and bone-white armor did not lend themselves to the pirate look and from what I have read the man wasn't that charismatic so there's been some strange developments happening while I prepared.

"Holy one, you asked for my services." I replied as I approached the table.

"Yes, sit, sit. One of my friends has recently vacated their post and it would not do to let guests standing." He said and motioned for me to sit.

He acted as if he already owned the Warehouse and the pirates just met his words with a smile.

I obeyed with a smile that mirrored his soft one.

" What is it that you would like to know, and do you want some privacy as we talk?"

He shook his hand in denial at that.

"No, nothing I wish to ask you is sensitive. Friends, would you mind giving her something to drink as well? Something light." He replied.

"Naturally Bessar." One of the woman said as she poured me some water.

How rude.

"Thank you." I said.

I took a few sips of water and put it down.

"I don't need much from you Shadowmask, just to tell me how news of my identity started to spread around so fast that even the those outside of the Empire know my identity and what you can safely tell me of the clan of Brisea Amada."

"A scribe of Asuryan leaked the information in exchange for a joke nobody knows." I answered.

That surprised him and he muttered something in a language I did not know then sighed. The pirates were confused as they did not understanding what that meant as pirates are far too ignorant for their own good.

"Very well, that tells me all I need to know on that topic, and the other?"

"The clan of Brisea Amada contacted me today in order to learn more of you and have proposed that if you ask that question to talk with them directly as to avoid misunderstandings. They did also wish that I ask you if you are related to a man called Lammah Airgid."

That took me him aback. The pirates looked at one another in confusion. They've never heard of that name before.

"They know of my father?"

That made the gathered pirates pay close attention, and even those that pretended they didn't care before stopped doing anything but paying attention. Whatever raised this man is not something to be ignored.

"If you mean the priest of the twins then yes. From what they've told me they've recently managed to put up enough information together that they believe there is a decent chance the two of you are connected and as they owe him some favors they wish to ask you what do you want to leave them be."

To say they owe his father some favors is an understatement as the man all but built them the foundation of their culture after saving them from a purge at the uncaring hands of Psy-Automata and did such a good job of it nobody could find them until now 30.000 years later.

That made him thoughtful and his face turned from his old jovial self to a blank slate devoid of life or emotion.

"Inform them that I am willing to meet if they are, also let me handle your payment. Here is knowledge of an interesting song I was told you would be interested in." He said as he pulled out a crystal from his pouch and threw it in the air.

I caught it and looked at it curiously. Dream crystals are the favored means of storing information in the Song Worlds which are the oldest Eldar worlds in existence. This is the third such crystal I've seen in my life and the other two were empty.

"I will arrange the meeting." I informed him and left the table and headed towards the exit.

I will also be arranging for my departure as far and as fast away as I can. Now that leaving is no longer a death sentence I don't want to be anywhere near where that man frequents.

Some exodite world on the other end of the galaxy sounds lovely and I am sure that caring for giant lizards can't be that hard. Even if it is, being alive to do it is its own reward.

AN:

Solas Tuaina→ Solas Tuaisceartach na Beárna= Northern Light of the Void