Making the Ink


 * Zariel's House


 * A single-storey house with pale yellow adobe walls, an angled roof and rectangular windows. A rickety wooden fence encircles a yard of dusty red clay.

A prayer from Zariel: "Let's see if this works for demons, um... Could I borrow Cephas for a while? I've got questions and he's the only one I know of who might be able to answer them."

Zariel is leaning against the back of his couch, head bowed and hands clasped together. A bit on the tired side, too.

Cephas seems to take form from the ambient light in the room, gathering it into a form that one might recognize as the Archangel. He's in his preferred form today, with the bright wings shining behind him, and the Egyptian outline around his left eye. "Well," he muses. "Just a little irregular, but - the Law is the Law."

"Sorry for disturbing you," Zariel replies, looking up and seperating his hands to hang onto the couch, "I had a /lovely/ run-in with Xerum and it gave me an idea. Do you know how to acquire a being's True Name? I think being able to bind the other demons out of my way might make unlife a whole lot less complicated."

Cephas blinks. "...I thought you already had a full roster of difficult tasks," he says. "Still...as it isn't your quest itself, you can get help for it at least."

"Yeah, well, being tortured in the Ring of Fire makes it harder to go about my quest," Zariel points out, "I have no time as far as I'm concerned, but it's a necessity. A clue and a shove, please?"

"Do you have any idea what you are asking for?" asks Cephas shortly. "The True Name gives its bearer absolute power over another ethereal, as you have apparently already experienced." He shakes his head. "You can't work alone for this. You will need the active cooperation of several others - a failsafe, to keep people from taking something so essential to another's being lightly."

"I don't have any objections to that," Zariel replies, "Any specific others? And how many is 'several'?"

"A demon's tears," says Cephas levelly. "Not your own. An angel's blood, willingly shed. A wolf's howl of grief. A dragon's tooth. All given to you freely."

"Mm," Zariel scratches his chin, "First one will be the hardest. But I think... I might actually be able to manage that. At the very least it seems easier than my quest."

"That will get you the ink," says Cephas. "We'll probably talk again when you have those."

Zariel nods, "One more thing, then, before you go. If people other than Ravus choose to help me with my main quests without me asking, is that all right or will I fail?"

Cephas nods. "You can't ask," he says. "Not even by implication. But if they choose, that is their right. Free will is the right of any mortal. Ravus just is not mortal."

"All right," Zariel nods, "One less thing I have to worry about preventing. Thanks, Cephas. I'll pray when I need you again. Take care."

Cephas nods, waves...and dissolves again into motes of light, fading into the ambient light of the room.

Back to The Ascent of Zariel