thebastion | Day 196 // Open

Entry tags:

Day 196 // Open

Who: Paarthurnax and folks
Open: Open
When: 196, in the evening
Where: By the river
What: Amongst the things from a land of mountains and frost: a pair of gloves meant for more than thieves. A creation of metal and steam and other things from a race that didn't need the Calamity to do themselves in. Glowing plants that chime.
Format: any
Warnings: Grampadragon is harmless (usually). No guarantees for the rest of the losers in the Bastion.

In the absence of the group that head to Sky Haven Temple, the Bastion has brought something to fruition for Paarthurnax. In the evening as the dragon returns, he circles about before landing by the riverside to inspect his new prizes.

The most notable is an enormous construct which shines in the light of the dimming sun. It almost seems to breathe in and out, but that's just the puff of steam which exit from it- a sign it's active if nothing else although it doesn't seem to move. Draped across one of its arms are a set of gloves, a dark contrast against the brilliant metal.

The last of his acquisitions would be the plants which now are growing along the river's edge and amongst the shore of the lake. It's harder to tell in the daytime, but as it grows darker, one can see the pale green glow they give off. It's one constant, however, is the faint chiming noise that becomes readily apparent to any who are near to it.

Paarthurnax seems pleased with it all, inspecting the Centurion carefully and brushing his nose against the plants.

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It is somehow not surprising to hear that even in other worlds, others similar to his kind have such a connection with fire. Ice, time, life- dovah controlled many things. Yet it always seems as if fire has been one of those which sang to them the most- the one word whose whisper was most persistent. It seems to be the same to others.

"Very good. Your masters have taught you well and true. Fire is change given form. It is power. Yet it is useless without action and choice. Motionless. Inert. When one gathers that power within their breath-" A nod to Zuko. "-or in their actions, it is something that must always be thought of. Fos fen hi ag? Fos fen hi lif? That is to say- what will you burn and what will you spare? My kin did not often think of such things. They thought all was to burn. I would have taught them otherwise, if they had listened."

She frowns thoughtfully. That kind of arrogance and disregard for balance is not something she would have expected from dragons. But the ones in her world were animals--intelligent ones, but still animals--and more in tune with the natural world. Paarthurnax's kind were different; they were people, and people are more fallible.

"My people became the same way... They thought they had all the power in the world, and that we were meant to use it to control the world. My father even wanted to destroy, and remake it.

"I had hoped to redeem my nation, before this."

Now this is a tale Paarthurnax has heard before. "Then we share similarities," he says gently, a huff of warm air being puffed out to the young girl. "My brother wanted similar... Although it would have been better for him to stay to his original purpose in life as world eater.

"Yet with him gone and others of my kind still thriving, I had been wanting to teach them better ways myself. Bring them at peace with the world even if the world would never be entirely at peace with them."

"Maybe it could have been, eventually. After all, I don't think there's a single person here who has a problem with you." They may not have spoken much before now, but Zuko has still gathered that Paarthurnax is one of the most respected members of the Bastion.

"I guess... they don't have many problems with me either." That one's a little harder for her to admit, but even the arguments she's had with people? They don't really compare to being thought of as an enemy or a traitor.

Paarthurnax gives a bow of his head, grateful. "I am thankful for that. I have not had a chance to speak to so many in quite some time. It is a chance I relish." That is not to say the Greybeards were not good company. They were good students and ultimately good people. However, it was still a self imposed exile. To see the Dragonborn back in Skyrim was the most that had happened to him in some time.

"This place, for all the sadness and loss it carries, is indeed one of new beginnings- of clean slates. There is no need for anyone to have issue with you, unless you bring it."

"I don't know about a clean slate," Zuko says with a shake of her head. "Maybe no one else knows who I've been, but I do. It's just... nice, if people don't have that in their minds when I meet them."

It isn't really the first time that no one's known her, but in Ba Sing Se and on Ember Island, she'd been too wrapped up in her own issues to care.

"That is true. Sometimes, no others remember our actions better than we ourselves do. I carry my own past with my always, and always shall." A low sigh. "All the more reason to be thankful."

"So you used to believe the same as your people?" Zuko guesses. It would make sense. "Can I ask what changed your mind?"

"I certainly cannot stop you from asking." It's not a refusal, however, and Paarthurnax begins to settle more against the ground of the Bastion. "However, it is somewhat a long tale. I would not wish to keep you, should you have other things you must attend to."

She shakes her head; this late in the day, there isn't much she needs to be doing with herself. Her evenings can be a little lonely, truth be told. "No. I've got the time to listen, if you don't mind telling it."

She wants to be sure, although she doesn't think he would offer if he minded.

"Then you may wish to settle down as well. It is something of a long tale..." That's why Paarthurnax has made himself comfortable, after all. He takes a moment to think. In Tamriel, it would have been easy enough to get into it, but here he wishes to make sure everything is clear.

"Of Gods- what did your world have or know of them?" That is a good place to start. The lineage of his kind is one of the most important parts of them.

Zuko moves a little farther from the Centurion then and settles herself down cross-legged in front of Paarthurnax. She frowns thoughtfully at his question, but unlike demons, at least she's heard of gods.

"My people didn't believe in any. There were the spirits; I guess some of them were thought of like gods."

Paarthurnax gives a nod. That is good enough for his purposes.

"In Taazokaan, there are nine Gods that are worshipped amongst many of the lands. They are known as the Nine Divines. Their ranks consist of Zenithar of Work and Commerce, Talos of War and Governance, Stendarr of Mercy and Justice, Mara the mother and goddess of love, Kynareth of Nature, Julianos of Wisdom and Logic, Dibella of Love and Beauty, Arkay of Life and Death..." After this long list of names, Paarthurnax gives a respectful bow of his head.

"The leader of them all is Bormah, Akatosh, creator and father of all dov, all dragons."

Those are a lot of abstract things to have gods for, things Zuko normally considers to be the inventions of people. There isn't much in that list to do with the elements or the natural world except for that Kynareth. But she doesn't give this too much thought, because most of them don't seem important to Paarthurnax's story, and anyway she never gave the spirits that much thought either.

"Wait. All dragons, including you?" Somehow it doesn't sound like he's talking about ancestors.

Ha ha what ancestors.

Paarthurnax gives another nod. "All dragons, including myself." Another low chuckle rumbles about in his throat and leaves him. "Is this surprising?"

"It's definitely not much like the dragons I know." Even dragons from other worlds, like Skysong, seem to have parents.

"...how old does that make you?"

Paarthurnax rolls his head from side to side for a bit, seeming to think on it. He's been asked this before, yet it still always seem to give him pause.

"I passed five thousand some time ago... I am afraid the exact number of years is something I have not kept track of. Lom do tiid shun hond grik puvah."

"That's... a long time." Zuko knows there were still older beings in her world, but they were either spirits or legends, neither of which you sit down and chat with in a field.

"I can't imagine how much you've seen change."

"I have seen much," he agrees, "yet rarely have I participated. I had something I had to wait for. Yet that is later in this tale.

"We were brought into the world already grown, knowing of our power. Such knowledge... made us arrogant. Mortals already gave us so much to pay tribute, and we thought it natural. Were our scales superior to their weak flesh? Our talson better than their feeble fingers? We had wings, and we had our Thu'um, our voice. In little time, we treated them as mere slaves. Those who pledged nothing but undying loyalty to us were gifted power, and to them we left many of the details.

"Yet we were united because of the strongest amongst us willed it to be. The firstborn amongst us... My brother, Alduin."

It does strike Zuko as a pretty dangerous thing, to bring someone into the world already fully capable of wielding whatever power they have, without any experience to tell them how to use it. Her sister became terrible enough, learning her firebending as quickly as she had. And many firebenders had believed in the superiority of their element.

Paarthurnax mentioned his brother earlier, but now Zuko isn't sure how close that is to human siblings. "You were all brothers and sisters, right?"

Because there had to be girl dragons.

There are sort of girl dragons but... that's a weird conversation for a different time.

"We are all kin," Paarthurnax agrees. "Yet more often than not, when we are not united under one, we treat one another as rivals... Those we may challenge ourselves against to prove our strength. Our concept of family is not as intimate as it is for many mortals."

There's a pause, then, and he sighs again as if he can't hold any of his breath anymore. "Yet I was fond of him, when I was younger." While he says 'younger', there's something in Paarthurnax's tone that hints he's never really stopped feeling such a thing. Dragons aren't usually the type for much sentimentality- too ambitious. But he could almost say he cared for Alduin, when they were both still new. "I believe he was fond of me as well- certainly he trusted me more than he did others."

"A lot of 'mortal' families aren't that intimate either," Zuko can't help muttering. She and her uncle were close, as were she and her mother, but the whole family? Pretty much a failure. She can barely remember the days when she and Azula actually got along.

"...so what happened?"

Paarthurnax can't say he has too much experience with mortal families, not for many many years at any rate. He simply knows what is expected of them- the general idea of it.

"Two things happened. One of the first was that my brother, worshipped and filled with power as he was, began to consider himself on parr with the Gods as well. Such a thing... I had always known my brother to be full of pride, but I had not realize he had deluded himself to such an extent." Another sigh, this one more disappointed than anything. "The second to happen... was that those mortals we had counted as mere slaves began to fight back. They wanted freedom- not to slave away under an empire that viewed them as nothing."

"You must have still sided with your brother at first, though, right?" Even thinking he was deluded... Well, maybe not. Zuko didn't have the presence of mind to recognize those things in her own family for a long time. Paarthurnax may not have needed so much convincing.

"I was his lieutenant." Saying just that may not seem like much. Certainly not with the plain way Paarthurnax states it, as if his name wasn't known throughout all of dragonkind and mortalkind both. As if the Blades never referred to him as "legendary". "He was the first I had known for all my life. We had cared for one another as much as our kind could allow. It is not an easy thing to turn your back on one so close... is it?"

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