The Scroll of Exalted Ponies

“No – how about I heal it real quick, then my friends can fly it down to the market district and stable it? They can wait for me there while I talk with Taimyo Linseed” Speaker suggested, shocked to hear such a brutal suggestion from a Lookshyan officer – he had expected curiosity at how it flew…

The dragonblooded Kazei shot Speaker a clear look of both disgust and disbelief – one clear enough that even Speaker picked up on it fairly quickly. Not wanting to take any chances, Speaker rushed back to Han and quickly used his instant diagnosis charm to get a read on the yeddim: It had been struck twice by a concussive essence cannon shot, and once by a lightning ballista. The essence cannon had mostly just bruised the animal, its thick hide and fur having absorbed most of the impact of the blast. The real damage was from the searing hot lightning, which had burnt a jagged pattern across the side of the yeddim – still, it was nothing that a swift and exorbitant expenditure of essence via medical charms couldn’t fix… even though Speaker had never in his life really worked as a yeddim veterinarian.

If the Chuzei was impressed by this, she certainly didn’t show it. With an aloof sneerf she barked: “Rice Pudding, get up on that thing and guide them to the yeddim stables in the trade district – stay with them and send a messenger back to me once you’ve found a place to wait while Speaker here talks with the Taimyo”

Thus Speaker was escorted away to one of the smaller Aviary lifts, while Cash, Sunrise and a somewhat terrified wood-aspected unicorn stallion who looked so very green, both visually with regards to his behavior as a junior officer. The screaming once Cash sped off towards the trade district also didn’t help.

“Is the scale of Gunzosha really necessary?” Speaker asked as the lift platform decended downwards. The iridescent force-field around the platform made slight shadows dance across everyone as the unicorn mare and her aide, another unicorn of lower rank and the two dozen heavily armored mortal ponies accompanying them all remained silent.

From his many years of service to the seventh legion Speaker knew damn well that being stonewalled by senior officers while you were being escorted to an even more senior officer, especially while under armed guard, was rarely a good sign. Sure, he wasn’t in chains or anything, but at the same time he was a retired officer – a chuzei just like the young unicorn that had been ordered to accompany Cash and Sunrise on Han – so being treated like a common criminal did not sit well with Speaker: “Is someone going to tell me what the purpose of my meeting with Taimyo Linseed is?”

“Be silent anathema” the unicorn officer sneered, looking very much as if she was more than ready to order Speaker roughed up for daring to ask questions.

With the a-word having been dropped, Speaker quickly figured what the issue was. The irony of him having reassured his friends not five minutes ago that they weren’t going to be judged simply for being Solars was not lost on him – Cash might even have found it funny, though Speaker sure didn’t: “I will not! I served the legion for over twenty years! I fought at Mishaka, Darangin, Puyo – more places than I can even remember – and I’ve kept good officers like you alive at each of them so you will treat me a bloody retired seventh legion medic and chuzei or so help me I will haul you in front a justice directorate disciplinary committee!”

It was unclear whether the unicorn was merely amused of Speaker’s old pony ranting, or if she was genuinely convinced that Speaker was suddenly worth treating like a retired officer who had earned the right to be treated with respect – Cash could probably have spotted what it was – but the mare nodded ever slightly and smirked: “The Taimyo wants to evaluate you personally, to see if you still are who you claim to be, or if you are anathema. She probably…”

Speaker gave the unicorn a curious and slightly concerned looked as she hesitated for a moment before continuing: “The legion wants to know if you’re a threat or not”

With a pleased sigh Speaker relaxed a bit, the lift platform coming to a rest at the ground level. The walk to the legion administrative headquarters in the aptly named district of the legion was short, but before leaving the old city district Speaker noticed that they were passing by the teocala of Tu Yu, the temple of the old god of Deheleshen: “Permission to pay my respects to the old city gather before we leave the district?”

The teocala, itself an old name that had long since lost its actual meaning, was a grand pyramid structure clad in perfectly smooth alabaster. It had a massive ground level entrance, and a large balcony level that spanned all the way around the pyramid about four fifth up its height, beneath which was a three story high band of bright blue first age glyphs, artfully arranged to spell out prayers to heaven and praise to Tu Yu. This was the home of the old god, as well as the ceremonial center of Lookshy, where foreign dignitaries were often met for official talks – and it looked the part.

Seeing the old banners and colors of Deheleshen, his colors, intermingling with the many banners of Lookshy’s allies – past and present – brought tears to Speakers eyes, so much so that without a thought Speaker did what he had always done when he visited his old friend: With a calm motion Speaker grasped his singing staff from elsewhere and struck the thin end of the gnarled wood-grained white-jade staff at the ground. The seismic resonance from the blow made every bell and wind-chime spring to life, ringing out a beautiful tune.

“How did you…” the unicorn began, snapping Speaker into reality. He quickly swung his singing staff back elsewhere, reminding himself that the seventh legion would likely confiscate his staff in a split second if they caught him with it within the city – this was standard protocol for magical artifacts that could serve the legion in a vital capacity…. And the ability to bring down castle walls in seconds, or jut out bridges in minutes, had near infinite strategic and tactical potential.

“Same way I did that” Speaker sheepishly grinned ,wondering where Tu Yu was… he usually always appeared when the music played.
His unicorn escort was about to inquire further into the nature of Speaker’s staff-trick when suddenly a whirl of dust rose from the ground, Tu Yu appearing in it: This god was tall – much taller than any pony – at least a head higher, with aristocratic features that gave the old god an undeniable air of sage wisdom and worthiness of reverence. His supernaturally dusty robes were of the finest silken robes – through fashion-wise they were horribly out of date, with a mix of bright colors and patterns that clashed in ways that were difficult to imagine to have ever been in vogue.

“Who summons…” the old god spoke, his yellowed and snaggle-toothed grin and curiosity and bemusement quickly fading into one of shock and… tears?

Speaker, the unicorn officer next to him, her officer and the two dozen heavy infranty-ponies behind them looked on in mild confusion as Tu Yu, the city god of Deheleshen, broke into tears like a senile old pony who’d just been told that he was getting soup for dinner instead of rice and steamed veggies… it was pitiful.

Rushing to the aid of the god, Speaker helped the much larger pony up: “Are you ok?”

Rising up with supernatural speed, the balding god who’s beard seemed frayed and tattered suddenly grabbed Speaker – hard: “Yes, yes I am quite good – and with you I will be even better! Yes!”

The mad grin of the god, who’se gaze was like that of a wounded predator looking at a fat meal that would see it grow strong and whole again, frightened Speaker is ways he had no worthwhile words for. Wresting himself free and distance himself from Tu Yu, the god stumbled after him, crawling after Speaker while howling: “You were good to me… not like the others… you must be good to me again! Make things like they were!”

Tu Yu began a mad tirade about things that Speaker needed to do, fix, replace, rebuild, tear down, grow, paint, dance, brew… it turned into an incoherent ramble, the god half-crying over things lost, and cackling madly over how good things would be once things were ‘back to normal’.
“We’re leaving – now” the unicorn officer quickly stated, Speaker following suit.

The sound of Tu Yu’s bawling faded as the noises of the city outside drowned the mad god out – but the memory of Tu Yu’s behavior would haunt Speaker for quite some time.

Leaving the old city and crossing one of the minor residential districts that surrounded the old city, Speaker and his escorts entered into… Deheleshens old business district. Oh sure, the seventh legion’s operations directorate had its headquarters here, plus all the other directorates had their ancillary offices there, but they were all housed in buildings clearly not intended for such use. For example he faded facade of the Sunflower Hotel was still as it had been over a thousand years ago, with its alabaster and gold still shining, though pretty much everything else with it was faded and sun-bleached into a grey and worn mess. Suffice to say that it was rather obvious what parts of the buildings where dragonblooded retrofits, and which were original first age creations.

The Operations Directorate offices were in the backroom what was very clearly the the ‘Tivi Sava Loan Commission’ – the big orange sign was still on the top of building, though few of the ponies that worked in the district could likely read the old realm script that encircled the sign. It was inside this building that Speaker was led, through a few hallways, up two floors, down another hallway, then he was searched for weapons – a futile exercise due to his elsewhere storage ability, but Speaker didn’t tell the soldiers doing the search that… mainly because he didn’t want to see Gift picked disassembled and used for spare parts, or his singing staff relegated to toppling castle walls or strategic bridge-building to enable quick troop movements.

The outer office of Taimyo Karal Linseed, the commander of the Seventh Legion’s first field force, and Speaker’s former commanding officer, was not as sparsely decorated as the hallways of the Operations Directorate – indeed, between paintings of famous Lookshyan leaders, including one of Linseed in dress formals, and a nice drape featuring the elemental dragons and a display case with several trophies taken in battle there was a kind of youthful exuberance to the place… never mind that Linseed was in fact older than Speaker himself – though not by much – but by unicorn standards she was still young.

At first his officer escort had gone into the Taimyo’s officer to report – no doubt to tell of the things Speaker had done so far, and to give her own personal impressions of him. Speaker hoped that she would not let any religious prejduces color her evaluation of him… of course, the mere fact that any kind of evaluation was necessary proved that the general staff didn’t know if they could trust Solars or not – so things weren’t exactly off to the best start.

As the unicorn officer left and motioned for Speaker to enter she only said “Speak only when spoken to” – but Speaker gave her a very disaprooving glare, akin to how he had looked in the aviary lift, prompting her to say: “…or take your chances – your choice”

As the unicorn mare marched off Speaker sighed. The fact that she never told him her name bothered him – it was simply polite among officers to introduce one-self, even if meeting under less than ideal circumstances. Cash would probably have reasoned that it was so Speaker couldn’t retaliate against the unicorn mare if things went bad during the evaluation and Speaker needed someone to punish - but it wasn’t in Speaker’s nature to think of such things.

Entering Taimyo Karal Linseed’s office proper, Speaker bowed and saluted his old commanding officer: “Bright Machine Speaker, formerly Heart Speaker, reporting – and congratulations on your promotion”

The mare sitting behind the stone-topped desk shot Speaker a look that Cash and Sullen Hoof would likely have enjoyed analyzing. What Speaker saw was a superior officer who didn’t look happy, which wasn’t entirely wrong, but it certainly wasn’t the whole story either. Out from under a short but bushy black mane, under a suit of lamellar armor that was clearly nothing short of a masterpiece which was over an orange coat, two slitted red eyes peered out: “Close the door”

Speaker suddenly found himself wishing that he had cleaned himself off properly after leaving the underworld. His old red and faded first field force uniform had ectoplasmic stains from the ghosts he had destroyed at Deep Rot… and he had always been taught that it was usually a good idea to dress up properly if you were facing a proper dressing down.

Walking over in front of her desk and standing at attention, Speaker waited for the Taimyo to say something.

Linseed took her time. The fact that Speaker seemed anxious pleased her – what his escort had told her had made Linseed think that Speaker had become more hotheaded… and she didn’t remember Heart Speaker as ever having been hotheaded: “I have read some interesting reports mentioning you and your friends – care to explain?”

Waiting with baited breath, Speaker knew better than to just start talking when asked such a question – it was a common Lookshyan officer trick, when dealing with green recruits, civilians or inexperienced officers: Linseed was supposed to wait a few seconds, and then specify what those reports were about, then ask to what she really wanted to know – this was basic officer knowlegde… it occurred to Speaker that Linseed was perhaps testing him to see if he still remembered that information? It would stand to reason that if he was indeed a demon inhabiting a pony host, then that demon might not know these things.

“The elephant in the room is obviously the accusations of you having revealed yourself as a Solar anathema, but there’s also reports of activity from Nexus, the northern reaches of the hundred kingdoms and most recently you and a group of Solar anathema staking claim to some land around a demesne north of Great Forks” Karal Linseed noted, floating out a stack of scrolls from her desk. The red glow that enveloped her horn and the scrolls sparkled and sparked, as if threatening to set the very scrolls on fire, but Speaker knew that such was but a trick of the eye when seeing fire aspected essence expressed and used.

Nodding, Speaker motioned for Linseed to get to her point. The Taimyo nodded in turn, smiling over the impression that Speaker indeed did seem to remember the proper protocol: “I want to know exactly what happened to you, what you’re up to, and how in the sweat name of Heshiesh you repaired a warstrider just by knocking on its head?”

It was difficult for Speaker not to laugh, for his relief at hearing these questions was immense. First off he flared his caste mark, then he looked around the room and spotted an old broken sword hanging on the wall. The sword was inscribed with artful old realm glyphs that read “The heart-water drinker of Chumyo Nefvarin” – at this point Speaker dared not look up at Linseed, for with the realization that he had just taken one of the blades of the very founder of Lookshy, Chumyo Nefvarin Gilshalos, the brilliant unicorn commander who led the seventh legion during the Balloran crusade and defended the city successfully from the never-ending tide of changeling attacks for several years… and this was his broken sword.

Taking a deep breath, Speaker took a step back and spun up his crafting and repair charms. With the essence of the sun Speaker formed new steel where there had once been, the broken blade seemingly growing tendrils of light that weaved together and became the blade that it had been over seven hundred years ago. It was pathetically easy for Speaker, for as a Solar of the Twilight Caste he was a peerless paragon of artifice in all its forms.

Floating the new fully restored blade down onto Linseed’s table, Speaker looked up – seeing the Taimyo confused and astounded: “To answer all of your questions: Yes I am a Solar, in fact I am the reincarnation of the Solar Bright Machine Speaker, who’s name and memories I have inherited, the original founder of Deheleshen. My intentions are to restore my lands to their former glory, and I intend to do so in the same way I just did with this blade – which was the same way I fixed the vibro-crystal feeds on that warstrider”

It was a little known fact that Chumyo Nefvarin’s blade was a weapon wrought of unknown first age alloys, which had made repair and restoration of the blade utterly impossible. It had been given to the office of the Taimyo of the first field force five centuries earlier, as a reminder of the fact that while Lookshy had many potent weapons of the first age, then it did not always have the means to repair them.

By Taimyo Linseed’s logic, Speaker had just done the impossible – with no new materials needed to make repairs, only golden essence no less.
It took Speaker a good moment or two to realize that Linseed was utterly dumbfounded, at which point he pulled up a chair and asked: “Do you want to know what other things I’ve been up to since I exalted?”

Steeling her mind with a charm to regain her composure, Linseed floated the now restored blade back up on the wall it had hung on, then pulled out a magical auto-dictation quill that began to scribble down everything Speaker and Linseed said with golden ink and bright red ink it seemed to produce itself respectively.

“Before we begin – the rest of you, return to the staging ground and wait there for debriefing” Linseed commanded.

Speaker was, to put it mildly, startled as eight Lookshyan unicorn rangers in what looked like half-plated magical robes. They left silently, and without a word. The legends surrounding the impossible feats that Lookshyan rangers had supposedly performed throughout history were… well… legendary – and Speaker hadn’t had inkling that there had been eight of them in the office. Looking around it became even weirder: The office wasn’t even that big…

“Speaker, talk to me” Linseed said with a bemused look. It seemed to please her in no small amount that she had managed to get the drop of Speaker in the way.

It was no lie that Speaker wasn’t as good a storyteller as Sunrise or Shimmer, nor was he as good as Cash at making all his deeds sound equally heroic – but he told his tale as an honest soldier recounting his deeds to a superior officer, and for this Linseed seemed honestly impressed and thankful, though it was also clear to Linseed that Speaker was omitting certain things (Namely the circle’s trip to Denansdor, or his possession of a singing staff) but she seemed perfectly willing to accept that Speaker withheld certain things. Lookshyan battle manual was clear on this topic: It was only a fool of a general who revealed all his activities to even his allies – one should always have a few tricks in reserve.

As the magical pen finally came to rest, Linseed only had one other thing to ask about, a topic that caught Speaker quite off guard: “Right then. Now, while I am satisfied with your explanation of your actions so far, there was one thing you didn’t mention: Your attempted murder of Prince Bien River Parter”

That was not a name that Speaker had thought of for quite a while, though considering River Parter’s Lookshyan mother and her familial relations to Gens Yushoto, then it really shouldn’t have surprised him that the incident was ultimately reported to Lookshy.

“I did no such thing. He was about to order his samurai to rob a merchant who refused to give over his wares for free when I and the merchant both exalted as Solars. River Parter ordered us killed, we defended ourselves. During the fight I could have killed him, but I did not” Speaker claimed, Linseed’s furrowed brow showing how she didn’t seem entirely convinced.

Pulling out a scroll with a copy of the incident report, Linseed skimmed it briefly: “It is well known that River Parter is a zealous immaculate believer. The Bien lands are close enough to the coast for realm monks and preachers to pass through it regularly – this has been factored into our evaluaton of the report, and while I am personally incline to believe you, then there are many in Lookshy who would not, so I cannot simply dismiss this”

Speaker watched wearily as Linseed put down the scroll and gave him a sly look: “There is a way to settle this though…”

His mind racing, Speaker tried his best to recall what the standard procedure for this kind of accusations was. Military tribunal? A hearing by the general staff? Attempted murder of a unicorn was about as serious as crimes got in Lookshy, of course this had not happened in Lookshy – and the seventh legion knew well enough to not bother trying to impose its laws outside of its sovereign territories.

Seeing Speaker’s look of confused desperation, Linseed raised a hoof and gestured in a friendly maner for Speaker to calm himself: “Easy now – Bien River Parter is currently studying here in Lookshy, taking brush-up courses to get into the Academy of Terrestrial Governance here”
“Oh… so you’re suggesting we just go ask him?” the solar said mixed in with a sigh of relief.

Linseed shook her head a bit from side to side: “Well, no – I was thinking more along the lines of having him brought here. You’re not cleared to leave this place until we’re done here”

At this point it occurred to Speaker that River Parter would no doubt stick to his story that Speaker had tried to murder him in broad daylight – and Lookshy had a long and undeniable history of siding with unicorns when it was a matter of word against word: “Am I allowed to have any witnesses speak on my behalf?”

“Well, this isn’t an official hearing… and it happened well out of Lookshyan jurisdiction – this is only for your evaluation, but who do you have in mind? We’ve talked with the ponies of the town it happened in, they all confirm River Parter’s story” Linseed noted.

Rolling his eyes, Speaker sighed: “Of course they would – no, I was thinking the merchant that River Parter was robbing when I exalted”

The Taimyo found this to be acceptable, but noted that until that merchant could arrive in Lookshy, then Speaker would have to remain in protective custody – basically imprisoned for intents and purposes.

“Oh that won’t be necessary – that merchant, that was the pony who helmet the yeddim we flew in on” Speaker pointed out, suddenly feeling rather good about his chances.

The idea that there were more Solars running around Lookshy without proper supervision, or the intelligence and security directorates having been notified, sent chills down Linseed’s spine. When Speaker noted that his escort whose name he never got sent a unicorn officer by the name of Rice Pudding with them, Linseed became at ease once more.

“Alright, wait here while I go message Rice Pudding and send someone to fetch your friend – don’t touch anything… or fix anything” Linseed said, getting up and walking out the door.

It took a surprisingly short amount of time before Cash and Karal Linseed stepped into the office. Apparently Cash had been picked up in one of Lookshy’s Chariots of Infinite Heavens – Speaker recalled such a thing as basically being a nice wheel-less chariot that flew via a blue-jade essence drive, the precursor to the sky chariots that were later developed following the genesis of the Pegasus ponies… but such musings on the ancient origins of this would have to be for another day.

Cash looked quite amused, Linseed less so, when they stepped into Linseed’s office. River Parter, evidently a year older and looking like a growth spurt had hit the adolescent unicorn, was even less pleased… infact, he was down right terrified when he saw Speaker: “Wha- what’s he doing here? He tried to kill me!?”

Wisely choosing to let Linseed and Cash do most of the talk, Speaker figured that River Parter would be confessing in short order via Cash’s subtler hypnosis charms, making all this end mercifully quickly. True enough, Cash barely needed to introduce himself before Speaker’s essence sight saw hidden words and commands worm their way into River Parter’s mind while the magical quill once again wrote down everything said, evidently using thick and shimmering black ink for River Parter’s statements.

When Cash had finished giving his testimony, which all confirmed Speaker’s retelling of the events, the young unicorn stepped up in his magisterial school uniform, trying to look all kinds of high and mighty: “And for the record, I am Bien River Parter, son of the venerable and wise Daimyo Bien Plumtree Root of House Bien, Lord of the Bien lands in the hundred kingdoms. Verily, on the day in question last year I was investigating the rumor that a merchant had a merchant had arrived in one of the smaller towns near the family castle. I had set out with a dozen of my most loyal and sycophantic samurai, and we were in the process of intimidating the merchant – the pony to my left here – into hoofing over all of his wares, less he disrespect me and thus be executed. The mercenaries he had along for the trip didn’t seem keen on letting that happen, and a fight seemed sure to break out, but then the old fool and the merchant both revealed themselves to be anathema – as described in the immaculate texts - so of course I ordered their immediate execution. Furthermore I should add that I never liked Heart Speaker, for my mother – the sister of Yushoto Rice Biscuit of the Seventh Legion – had hired him on multiple occations to act as my tutor on topics such as math, medicine and history, all topics I too this day find highly irrelevant for a prince to learn – such things are for servants and clerks to know – so I had at the time been looking for an excuse to kill Speaker for years for boring me with such things, even if it was at my mother’s bidding. This of course doesn’t mean that I did anything wrong – the immaculate texts are clear on anathema, they must die”

Both Linseed and Speaker just blinked as River Parter ended his little confession. The Taimyo quickly told both Speaker and Cash to go outside and wait in the front office until called back in, though it didn’t take many seconds after the door closed on them before Cash lit out a somewhat restrained giggle: “So, was that good enough?”

“I don’t… what did you do to him? Did you know that River Parter was in Lookshy?” Speaker asked, looking all kinds of terrified.

“I just put a few ideas into his head – like lying is bad, telling the truth is good, and that Lookshy couldn’t punish him for his actions anyway, plus the idea that he might even stand to gain some brownie-points with some of the younger gens Amilar scions if word spread that he tried to kill a couple of Solars purely out of religious hatred” Cash said nonchalantly, sounding ever so sure in the righteousness of his own actions.
Despairing, Speaker sat down on the floor: “You do realize that mind-controlling unicorns in front of a member of the general staff will get the both of us executed?”

“Oh please. The moment I saw Linseed and River Parter together I knew exactly what she expected and what I should do – please don’t underestimate the power of my charms of social observation. First of all Linseed was giving River Parter distrusting looks, which told me that she knew he would lie and that she expected her suspicions to be confirmed via some kind of lie-detecting thing she has on her…” Cash began, adding that the unicorn that had come with him, Sunrise and sleeping Shimmer on the yeddim had taken the three to a tavern near the yeddim stables to calm his nerves, which had apparently also resulted in the same unicorn turning into a drunking chatterbox who had told Cash and Sunrise all kinds of fun things, including that it had recently become fashionable among the younger scions of gens (the old realm term Lookshy stilled used for noble house) Amilar to be one-up each other with religious fervor, mainly focused on realm-style immaculate teachings.

Speaker wasn’t entirely sure if he was all that pleased by having been saved by the power of gossip, but at least River Parter had been dealt with: “So if Linseed is questioning River Parter on why he came clean, what will he say now?”

“Don’t care. The hypnosis will make him rationalize his sudden desire to be truthful – maybe he’ll say that seeing the two of us he thought he might as well come clean, putting his past behind him, though I think he’ll go with the idea of wanting to promote himself as the immaculate zealot he really is, instead of pretending to Lookshy that he isn’t” Cash explained with a devil-may-care tone as he twirled around and sat down on a chair.

Speaker shook his head and sat down as well. While the two waited Cash chatted with Linseed’s secretary, an old shrew of a mare who’s need for glasses Speaker quickly did away with – and in exchange Cash swore the secretary not to tell of anything she had heard Cash and Speaker say to each other previously.

Having done that, Cash got an idea: “You know, considering how you’ve kept saying that Lookshy is all about judging a pony by his deeds not his words, then I think a great way for us to win some solid favor would be to throw you at some old injured veterans. Fix them up, make Lookshy love us, then they’re sure to want to help us”

“That’s… look I would love to do that, but it would be to help ponies who need it, not to curry political favor. This isn’t anything from how we ran the hospital in Nexus or how Sunhill is supposed to work” Speaker protested, looking down right insulted at the idea of exploiting Lookshy’s wounded veterans like that.

Pouting, Cash rolled his eyes: “You really have a knack for wasting political capital, you know that? But fair enough… I’m sure we can find some other way of being useful here – Lookshy would probably love to have someone around who can swear bothersome warlords into actually obeying treaties”

A few moments later River Parter stomped out of Taimyo Linseed’s office. Cash and Speaker were discussing the apparent lack of security in or around the office, but River Parter’s blatantly obvious foul mood stole their attention.

The young unicorn stomped off, looking very angry, while Linseed called for Speaker and Cash to come into her office again.

“Ok you two…” Linseed began, sighing: “Bright Machine Speaker, these are your old papers of helotry, amended with your new name. As for you Cash Charmer, then I expect you to behave yourself while in Lookshy. Familiarize yourself with our laws and don’t break them. The general staff will convene later today – we will decide what to do with you there, which will likely require the presence of you and your circle, so do not leave Lookshy before this. Beyond that I have nothing more for you here – you will be escorted back to the market district when you leave here” Linseed quickly sounded off. It was almost as if she didn’t want either of the two Solars before her to actually say anything.

Ushered out of Linseed’s office, Speaker with a capped scroll-container out of bamboo with what amounted to the documentation that he was a legal native of Lookshy floating before him, while Cash was ‘merely’ carrying a big grin smeared across his face.

As they were escorted out of the district of the legion into the adjacent district of savants, Speaker asked what Cash found so funny. “Oh that’s simple – Linseed was pissed, probably from whatever River Parter had said – like, really furious – but she hid it will”

Speaker shook his head at Cash, praying that the Eclipse Caste wouldn’t get into too much trouble while in Lookshy – and that such trouble wouldn’t lead back to Speaker himself.

In the market district the two were released on their recognizance, with Cash quickly leading Speaker over to the watering hole near the massive yeddim stables. The place itself was a dive bar, indeed the smell inside very much seemed require that one take a deep breath before entering – though the number of pony laborers inside with stains of manure on their coats and work clothes quickly revealed the source of the vile aroma…

However, upon approaching Sunrise and very clearly drunk unicorn Rice Pudding the scent in the air was replaced by a pleased and faint odor of wild flowers – the effect of Rice Pudding using her elemental powers to clear the air. Presenting the scroll case to the rest of the circle – sans Shimmer, who had evidently been left on the howdah on Han to sleep – Speaker explained that he had been cleared of any misgivings, though he also noted that the general council would be talking about what to do about them later in the day: “…so I think it’s a bit early to make any plans for how to get help here – we should probably look for somewhere to stay for the night”

“Perhaps – but good Rice Pudding here has been telling me of your miraculous and instantaneous healing of our yeddim, and has a proposal to make” Sunrise said in a calm albeit tired voice, evidently not that pleased with her surroundings.

Rice Pudding perked up at the mention of his name, the young unicorn’s horn flaring with essence as green as the stalion’s thick but crew-cut mane. In the blink of an eye the unicorn went from swaying from side to side with drunken attempts to grab hold of his drink while letting out the occasional slurred and garbled nonsense, to sitting perfectly and addressing Speaker quite clearly: “Oh hey – you’re back, and you got your papers! Awesome, I figured she’d let you stay, with all the stuff that’s happened and all… but anyway, if you’re looking for a place to stay, then I might know a way you can lodge at the gens Yushoto mansion while you’re here in Lookshy”

The sudden lack of any signs of inebriation prompted a quick smile from Cash and Speaker raising an eyebrow before he realized that as an obviously wood-aspected unicorn, then Rice Pudding’s dragonblooded powers allowed him immunity of all organic poisons at will – alcohol included, though t that didn’t stop any of the Solars from listening intently to the young officer.

“Lord Bright Machine Speaker, what do you know of my gens matriarch, Yushoto Risotto?” Rice Pudding asked.