Revelation Raven

Log Info

• Title: Revelation Raven

• Emitter: Corey

• Characters: Corey, Karasu (as Wuya)

• Place: Temple of Gilead

The Temple of Gilead is a place that Corey visits once a day in his travels, whether alone or with Karasu (and by extension, Wuya). But for today... It is just him, and it is just Wuya. And Corey's good mood has continued into the afternoon as he walks into the Temple. He is a traveling Warden, so he is not expected to contribute to the guard posts, but he greets his fellow Wardens posted around the Temple anyway. He goes deeper into the Temple until he finds a quiet room, away from the hustle-and-bustle of injured animals, farmers inquiring about blessings, and other matters.

"Now we've got privacy," Corey says cheerfully to his caped mascot as he closes the door behind them. The room is quite bare of most things, with only a pillow provided to sit on top of. "Have you been having fun today? We got to meet new people, and you even got new clothes."

Wuya shifts the new red handkerchief 'cloak' that he's acquired with a sort of childish pleasure and hops to the edge of Cor'ethil's shoulder so that the man can see him clearly. "Do you think Karasu will let me keep it?" Now that they are alone he doesn't seem to have any reservations about talking. Karasu's trust in Corey is extended to Wuya. "There were a lot of people... nice ones."

Corey's eyes are bright with sort of joy and hope with Wuya's question. "I think he might," he says. "It's not food or drink, after all. But you're right. There's a lot of nice people here in this city."

He walks with Wuya on his shoulder, carefully going to sit down on the pillow that's on the floor. Difficult thing to do for most people to do while in full plate, but Corey is rather graceful, and so he manages. "More like a stiff cushion," he mutters regarding his new seat, but it'll do. "It's important to remember, though--for all of the bad you see in the world, there's light. That's why I wanted to get you out of the inn today."

A finger goes to scratch under Wuya's throat feathers again. "For all the people that'll try to hurt you... There's just as many, if not more, people who'll try to protect you. Myself included."

For a long moment Wuya simply enjoys the attention, and then he ducks his head away from Corey's searching fingers so that he can hop down onto the floor and look up at the paladin. "I am not afraid." This is a semi-bold statement for a small raven whom had so recently lost some of his feathers that they had not as of yet had a chance to grow back. Karasu had seen him restored somewhat, but there was a limit to magic. Then he speaks more quietly. "I am his guide to Vardama after all."

The paladin's hand, left without a bird to dote on, goes to fall into his lap. Corey looks at Wuya on the floor and nods a little, his gaze going soft. "I..."

For a long moment, Corey struggles with the words to say. "Karasu said he thought you were trying to save him," he says. "I've been... thinking still. About everything. About how he seems so... Eager isn't the right word, but he's accepted this outcome already like it's the iron chain and the written word. Permanent and fixed like the stars in Ni'essa's heavens."

Silver eyes peer at Wuya. "Call it foolishness, but... Does it have to end that way?" Corey's almost pleading with his words. "Is there something he's overlooked or not told me?"

Wuya looks uncomfortable here, finally settling himself and his feathers into a place that seems to soothe him. The little red cloth draped over him. A splotch of color on so dark a bird. "There is something that he does not know." The raven admits quietly, but the words don't seem to bring him any comfort. "But knowing might make things worse... if they can be. The witch, she said that his brother would end his life. Said it as certainty."

Wuya looks at Cor'ethil with sad raven eyes. Dark orbs that seem to know so much. "That I would lead him to death."

Cor'ethil stares at Wuya for a long moment. He's trying so hard to understand the words Wuya has just said, but there's something in his eyes like the shock of betrayal. His mind only goes to that one place. That Wuya's...

"Have you been working for his brother the entire time?" Corey asks soberly. His throat's dry. "Or... Are you... Fated to lead the two together? To have Karasu die on the blade of his brother?" His hands twitch ever-so-slightly in his lap.

Wuya looks at Cor'ethil for a long moment. "I am Raiden."

Suddenly it makes a certain amount of terrible sense. The reason that Wuya sounds so like a younger Karasu. The way that Wuya had come to teach Karasu a life beyond that of the assassin he'd been trained to be. That Wuya might be trying to find - and failing - to find a way to save Karasu, but knowing all along that he himself is fated to bring about the downfall of the brother who had saved him. The only question then is... how?

The words still Corey all over again, like he's paralyzed by that poison again. Did he hear that right? Karasu's familiar is... His brother?

"You're..." The word slips out of his mouth before he realizes he'd said anything at all. "How? You can't be both him and... Unless..." Now his head's finally moving. The gears are finally turning. The tactician's back in the game. "The man Karasu believes is his brother is not actually his brother at all."

Cor'ethil stares at Wuya. "Who is the Lord of Tears? Does he have anything to do with it?"

Wuya ducks his head sadly. "I do not know. I think it is Akimitsu Sōri... He is the one who killed me, but I have no way to know." The raven seems quite miserable really. He's very limited after all, he can't gather information on his own. He can't learn new information beyond what his brother knows... and Karasu thinks that the Lord of Tears is him. "The title is given to the one who stands beside the Lord of the Land. That is all I know."

The information fits together in the puzzle pieces Cor'ethil knows. He reaches up and scratches at the side of his face for a moment with his gauntleted fingers. It's not really the most comfortable thing in the world... But it's one of the things he tends to do while thinking. "Lord of Tears who stands beside the Lord of the Land," he murmurs. "The person who rules the land where you and Karasu come from, Raiden?"

The questions come more easily then. "What do you know of Akimitsu Sōri? How long ago did he do this to you?" Corey then catches himself, shaking his head and sighing. "I'm sorry. I just... I'm trying to make sense of this, and I want to help you and Karasu both. If... If this was myself and my twin sister, I'd want us both to live. I wouldn't want her to be forced to kill me."

Wuya gives his wings a little flap. "Even if I could I would not." The bird settles himself once again and emits a soft raven-sigh. "Sori served my father but I did not know him. He... after Karasu left. A few days later." Now he sounds sad, distressed and vaguely tormented and he just sort of nests himself onto the floor in a birb-puddle. "It is all my doing."

The sorrow in Wuya's form and voice is so much for Corey, who is called upon to be the champion of all animals in many ways--even if Wuya is not an animal but... the spirit of a boy who should have lived, taking up new form. He can't abide leaving someone suffering like this alone.

Gently, gently, he scoops up Wuya in his hands before going to position him so that the bird's head can rest on his shoulder as his body rests against Cor'ethil's chest. "I don't see how it could be your fault," he says. "You didn't know what was going on with your family. And... You should have been protected by the people who once served your father. You shouldn't have been hurt by them."

Corey feels a cold little pain in his heart as he gently goes to pet Wuya's feathers--this time on the top of Wuya's head. "You can't wear the blame. Neither you nor Karasu can. But there are people who acted in complete malice against the both of you, and it sounds to me that this Lord of Tears is one of them, if not the primary instigator of your trouble and Karasu's troubles."

He sighs softly. "I don't claim to understand the prophecy given. But... it doesn't sit well with me that the goddess of Final Rest would mark someone for death when they still have days ahead of them. It does not fit my understanding of that goddess. It also is not my place to question the gods, but..."

There are no words here to stop Cor'ethil from finding some conclusion to his words, only Wuya seeking comfort in the knowledge that he is no longer alone in his secret. Taking comfort in someone who loves his brother even as he does. So Wuya listens. For as long as it takes.

It's another moment before Corey finds the words to say. He takes a breath. "It is not my place to question, but it is my place to try and understand--which may involve asking questions, not questioning," he concludes. "Is there something that keeps you from telling Karasu who you are? Some sort of magic compulsion? Or is it just... fear?" He can only imagine that boy-turned-bird isn't exactly reluctant to divulge to his brother, so fearless in seeking death by his brother's hands, that he is the brother.

"It is both agreement and caution." Wuya admits quietly. "I am commanded not to tell him, but also... What would it mean to him? That the one person he has saved is not saved? That the fate he has been seeking willingly is a lie? He might harm himself."

At the last few words that Wuya offers, a huff of air that could almost be a laugh leaves Corey. He shakes his head. "He's already harming himself," he says. "Healthy people do not go... seeking their own ends."

He looks down at Wuya finally, into those raven eyes that Corey genuinely cares for. It's not hard to love Wuya like all of the ravens that his family raised in the rookery. So many people associate the bird simply with death, but he's always known there's so much more to the raven. They're fiercely intelligent. Clever in all the best ways. Possessors of thought and inheritors of memory. And, as his mother had said to him once: in some folklore, they're associated with death, and in others, life, but both are simply states of change.

"We can change this." Corey decides it then. "I don't know how, not right now, but... That's okay. Wars are not won in the span of a night. Maybe I can talk to the Archmage. Or find some other allies who might be able to help with information gathering." He smiles at Wuya then. "You're not in this alone anymore, you understand?"

In the end, that's all that either of them has. Neither of them are alone.

If not that, then perhaps their love of Karasu will be enough.