[ That...earns Jasnah a particularly broad smile, one paired with an impish gleam in those sharp, green eyes. ]
I like the sound of that. [ It's nothing new, of course -- everything about Jasnah's rule, as far as Sciel has witnessed it -- has been about the same. But it's still nice to hear it affirmed so explicitly, particularly as someone...well. So inherently different from most people she's interacted with so far by nature of how she'd arrived. ]
I'd be happy to help inspire them. [ Sciel laughs lightly. ] Mm, now I wish I'd made more use of my journal: I'm sure it would've been helpful. The others were so good about their notes, but I always had trouble finding the right words.
[ Ah, well. She's fairly confident she could summon the details, if need be. ]
[ She can't help it. Taking it on herself to diagnose Sciel's writer's block on the spot. ]
Better to get down any, and revisit them later. Books, notes, journals. They're just storage containers. They can be packed, unpacked, repacked as necessary.
[ Contrary to what one might think, Jasnah isn't precious about it. And perhaps she comes at this from the privileged direction of being someone whose first choice of words is often more than adequate. Still, she means it. The words on the page are tools. And some output is better than none. ]
[ She should've expected Jasnah to call her out on the word, given that so little the queen says and writes is, to Sciel, done without total intention. So she cracks another smile, chuckling in admission of the small misstep. ]
What I mean is...it was hard to get any words down, sometimes. What we encountered was so...unlike anything we'd seen before. It turned all our expectations completely on their heads. And the others could still cut through all that chaos and record it, but...
[ Sciel had spent most of that time turning it all over in her head instead. Looking up at the stars and telling them about what she'd lived through that day, the way she and her dad used to do. It'd been calming. Helpful for her sanity. But the journal had remained blank as a result. ]
I'll work on it now, though. [ She concedes. ] Think it'll be easier, since I'm not exactly in the thick of it.
[ "The thick of" what had happened back home, anyway. The latest chapter of her life is very much still unfolding. ]
[ Hmm. Jasnah catches the edge of her thumbnail on a book, picking at an errant thread on the spine. Pulling it loose, balling it up between the pad of her thumb and index fingers. She really doesn't have the time for the offer she's about to make. And yet... ]
You know, Sciel. [ Careful, thoughtful, unwilling to flick the balled-up thread away, she disposes of it gently on a scratch-pad near her inkwell. ] I have some experience helping others...get their words down. Tell their stories.
[ Yes, it's usually because the men she's interviewing can't write out their own experiences. But the point still stands! ]
[ Someone else might protest on principal: surely the Queen of Alethkar is too busy for an offer like that. But Sciel, both more self-assured and more insightful than most, merely eyes the other woman with a small, surprised smile: one that grows a touch as she considers the unspoken gesture. ]
...Yeah, I've heard you do. [ Jasnah has experience with most things, or so she feels based on what she's witnessed so far and the rumors that widen Jasnah's shadow beyond what Sciel has seen for herself. ] I'd really appreciate that help, Brightness.
[ Sure, she can jot some things down herself, work through everything she can remember of her time during the Expedition and before. But, if the point of recording it is for it to be particularly informative, or...beneficial in a way than might specifically help someone in Roshar, then doesn't it make the most sense to involve a person who can guide the flow of information?
And if that means they spend more time in each other's company, well. So be it! ]
[ There are many things the Queen of Alethkar ought to be too busy to do herself. Attending personally to a single field research lab is, by most reasonable measures, one of them.
They depart two days later through an Oathgate, emerging onto the Shattered Plains. At the old warcamps, they rendezvous with a small contingent of cobalt guard and enough horses to carry them — and a modest allotment of supplies — a few days' ride into the Unclaimed Hills. There is a storm in the forecast, but they should reach the storm shelter before it breaks. After that, it will be another full day to the field research lab.
They ride from first light until dusk. When it comes time to make camp, Jasnah settles beside Sciel, dressed not as a monarch but as a scout: trousers beneath a split havah, one hand gloved in leather, her hair drawn back into a practical braid. ]
This will be your first highstorm outside of Urithiru, won't it?
[ There are a lot of novelties, now living her life in this world. Some of them are commonplace, like riding horses. Sciel has become especially taken with the animals, patting her mount's neck and chattering pleasantly to the beast periodically as they make their trip to the lab.
Some of them are less ordinary, like the highstorms. ]
That's right. [ She replies brightly, looking over at the queen when posed a question. ] I'm really looking forward to it, to be honest.
[ The opportunity to have new experiences means she's alive, after all. ]
We didn't even get rain in Lumière. [ Sciel laments, referring to the Dome that covered the city, keeping it safe from both Nevrons and weather alike. ] And it was fairly mild on the Continent. So I've never seen anything like this. Not even close.
— I'm afraid there won't be much to see before we'll be forced to take shelter. But we can probably hold off until the rain kicks up, then duck inside.
[ It's a few days off yet. But it's interested to watch someone respond to the prospect of a highstorm with so much...anticipation. They're such cursed, mythologized things on Roshar. Especially in those places hit hardest. ]
Hard to imagine a place without rain. [ She murmurs, adjusting the drape of a skirt and holding a bare right hand out to the modest fire. ] Without rain, but with — what did you call them, again? Aquafarms.
We'll hear it, though? [ Unless they've got some kind of incredibly sound-dampening shelter, which...she supposes is possible, but. ] I'll follow your lead, Brightness. Promise to only stick my neck out a little.
[ Sometimes, with the impish sparkle in her eye, it's hard to tell whether or not she's joking. ]
We did get rain, technically. But it didn't make it down to us. [ It'd just patter way high up against the Dome. ] Mm: aquafarms. We were able to make use of the seawater for that: it was oceanic species we had there, after all.
[ They'd figured out how to make a living, for however their short lives lasted. Those who didn't Gommage still had to go on, after all. ]
[ — A simple, single nod. Yes, they'll still hear it. The rain; the wind; the boulders and debris tossed by the wind. Jasnah has sat through uncountable storms, rarely considering much beyond her gratitude for being safe inside. Has she ever paid attention to how they sound? Not especially.
She might this time, however. Curious about what Sciel's so curious about. ]
[ Sciel has experienced the highstorms from Urithiru, of course, but it isn't the same. Being out here on the Plains will, she imagines, make it all feel so much closer as it bears down on them from just outside the safety of their shelter.
Jasnah's question makes her realize how much they still have to discuss about the world Sciel had come from, but...then, that's part of the point of their (possibly) working together on the documentation, right? ]
The Dome. [ She explains. ] After the Fracture, 67 years ago, they managed to build a...protective shield around the city of Lumière to keep the Nevrons out. And it works, though it also does keep the weather out, too.
[ And because she's anticipating it, Sciel adds, with a smile: ] Don't ask me how it all works. The finer details are lost on me, sadly.
[ If she had Lune, Gustave, or even Verso here, Jasnah would be able to get more information. Alas. ]
[ And, let's be honest, Navani would be more interested in these particular finer details than Jasnah is. So Sciel's disclaimer doesn't spark too too much disappointment. Although she does wonder about the true practicalities of such a...dome. ]
All weather? Even the wind?
[ It's almost (almost) sad. Then again, it wouldn't be the saddest detail about Sciel's home planet. ]
Even the wind. [ Sciel confirms. If you think too much about it, one might start to wonder how the citizens of the city don't suffocate, but there are no answers to be had. ] I guess it makes things a little easier that way. We don't have to worry about flooding, or blizzards...
[ There's a wistful sigh. It'd been such a gift, getting to see the snow as part of the Expedition. It's one of the myriad things she'd wished badly that Pierre could have experienced, too. ]
The stars were visible from inside, but...obscured. I've loved being able to see open skies.
[ There are spren for all sorts of things, of course. Painspren and gloryspren. Rotspren and passionspren. Starspren, however, are rare. Like little specks, chasing each other in the sky. Except... ]
They're magnificent when seen in Shadesmar. [ A soft, breathy pause. Like she's remembering something. ] Seven sets of wings.
[ That...seems to interest Sciel very much, as evidenced by the way her eyes widen with an almost childlike wonder. ]
There are? [ It makes sense, based on what (little) she knows. She primarily thinks of the spren as related to emotions, but they really make up the whole of the world, don't they? Flamespren dance around the very fire at their feet, drawing her gaze down as she considers it. ]
I'm sure they're incredible. [ Sciel breathes. Of course, she hasn't been to Shadesmar, either, but Jasnah's descriptions of the form the starspren as they appear there is enough for her to imagine the creatures. ] ...I'd love to see them someday.
[ One of many things on Roshar she's learned about, since her arrival, and has added to a mental to-do list for...whenever it ends up happening. Sciel had once been fated to die before she turned 33, so having all this time to fill is...still strange. ]
The view is safer from this side, [ she cautions, ] albeit less spectacular.
[ Jasnah isn't afraid of Shadesmar, exactly. But when she does speak of it — somewhat rarely — it's with a healthy, respectful dose of trepidation. She isn't proud to confront the fact that Roshar's one and only Elsecaller doesn't use the Surge of Transportation as much as could. ]
[ Chin upturned, Sciel is gazing skyward with a little half-smile. ...For a moment, before she returns her attention, and the smile, to the queen. ]
...But, I'll leave the danger for today to catching a glimpse of the highstorm. [ Maybe another time she'd try and convince Jasnah to let her see Shadesmar... ]
[ Jasnah leans back on the heel of one palm (her right, naturally) and cranes her neck to take in the stars. It's...nice, seeing something in a new light thanks to someone else's perspective. In this case, Sciel's joy at seeing the open, unfiltered sky — ??
Wonderful.
She presses her mouth into a line, nodding. ]
I can't help but wonder if your world is one of those stars up there. [ Wit had sorta-kinda-mostly explained to her the idea of space but it's still taking some getting used to. ] So close and so far, all at once.
[ At the suggestion that the place she'd come from might be 'up there' somewhere, Sciel merely smiles a pleasant, noncommittal smile. ]
Maybe. [ A pleasant, noncommittal answer. ] ...It's a nice thought. That I could just look up and have it be hanging there somewhere, looking back at me.
[ As if it were somewhere she could go back to someday. ]
There's a lot I'm glad to have down here, though. To look at.
[ Whether she's referring to her present company, the world and its wonders at large, or both... ]
[ It's...nice. Sitting, chatting with someone from a whole other world for whom Roshar feels new. Exciting. It had already been so old hat for Wit — and it always seemed as if he knew more about her own history than she did. Aggravating, even if it was also kind of attractive. ]
Apparently there's many. [ She catches Sciel's eye then tilts her head back up at the starts. ] Worlds. I can only name a handful of them.
"Many?" [ Sciel repeats, looking to Jasnah with her usual, piqued curiosity. ] And...does that mean a dozen, or hundreds?
[ Many worlds. Possibly visible in the night sky. The idea still seems so fantastical, even after everything she's been through, even after personally coming to this world from another.
Of course, gestrals and the Grandis had been the same. Mythical things come to life just as soon as they stepped out of their literal bubble. ]
[ A strange, small thrill ladders through Jasnah. Was this how he felt, she wonders? Every time he introduced a mystery she couldn't help but chase. It prompts her to lean in, just a little, and raise her gloved hand. She draws a line to a group of red stars. A kind of smudge of a constellation. ]
Taln's Scar. But someone once told me it's called something else on other planets. The Red Rip. The Starbelt. So that's at least two other worlds who can see the same landmarks in the same sky.
Huh. [ Comes the thoughtful sound as Sciel follows the line Jasnah traces in the sky. ] Not sure I've heard of that one. What're some of the others?
[ Famously an enjoyer of laying under the stars, Sciel could rattle off some of the constellations they'd been able to see back home. But...first, she'd rather hear the queen point out the ones that do exist here, drawing the connections between how they're known on Roshar and on other worlds. ]
Though it'd be hard to find one that sounds cooler than that. [ She chuckles. ] All of its names are great, honestly.
[ It's information she shouldn't have. The different names for Taln's Scar. She certainly knows only the Rosharan names for what remains across the sky. Still, she tracks her fingertip across the night sky. ]
Reya's Tear. [ She indicates a very bright single star. ] And, there, that's Salas. The first of the moons.
[ A small, dim violet. It'll be visible for a couple hours before the 17th — before Nomon rises, and they enter the Hateful Hour. ]
[ Sciel has questions. Her curiosity may not have the same academic hunger as Lune's would, but she wonders with great interest about these things all the same. It's natural, isn't it? To want to know about your new home. And to learn more about the myriad worlds out there, too, if you've just learned that those others exist in the first place. ]
Was Reya a person? [ And: ] The first of how many moons?
[ She'll listen to whatever stories Jasnah has on offer. Or, if she either doesn't have answer or wants to move on, Sciel will just as happily hear what comes next in the queen's mapping of the stars overhead. ]
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I like the sound of that. [ It's nothing new, of course -- everything about Jasnah's rule, as far as Sciel has witnessed it -- has been about the same. But it's still nice to hear it affirmed so explicitly, particularly as someone...well. So inherently different from most people she's interacted with so far by nature of how she'd arrived. ]
I'd be happy to help inspire them. [ Sciel laughs lightly. ] Mm, now I wish I'd made more use of my journal: I'm sure it would've been helpful. The others were so good about their notes, but I always had trouble finding the right words.
[ Ah, well. She's fairly confident she could summon the details, if need be. ]
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[ She can't help it. Taking it on herself to diagnose Sciel's writer's block on the spot. ]
Better to get down any, and revisit them later. Books, notes, journals. They're just storage containers. They can be packed, unpacked, repacked as necessary.
[ Contrary to what one might think, Jasnah isn't precious about it. And perhaps she comes at this from the privileged direction of being someone whose first choice of words is often more than adequate. Still, she means it. The words on the page are tools. And some output is better than none. ]
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What I mean is...it was hard to get any words down, sometimes. What we encountered was so...unlike anything we'd seen before. It turned all our expectations completely on their heads. And the others could still cut through all that chaos and record it, but...
[ Sciel had spent most of that time turning it all over in her head instead. Looking up at the stars and telling them about what she'd lived through that day, the way she and her dad used to do. It'd been calming. Helpful for her sanity. But the journal had remained blank as a result. ]
I'll work on it now, though. [ She concedes. ] Think it'll be easier, since I'm not exactly in the thick of it.
[ "The thick of" what had happened back home, anyway. The latest chapter of her life is very much still unfolding. ]
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You know, Sciel. [ Careful, thoughtful, unwilling to flick the balled-up thread away, she disposes of it gently on a scratch-pad near her inkwell. ] I have some experience helping others...get their words down. Tell their stories.
[ Yes, it's usually because the men she's interviewing can't write out their own experiences. But the point still stands! ]
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...Yeah, I've heard you do. [ Jasnah has experience with most things, or so she feels based on what she's witnessed so far and the rumors that widen Jasnah's shadow beyond what Sciel has seen for herself. ] I'd really appreciate that help, Brightness.
[ Sure, she can jot some things down herself, work through everything she can remember of her time during the Expedition and before. But, if the point of recording it is for it to be particularly informative, or...beneficial in a way than might specifically help someone in Roshar, then doesn't it make the most sense to involve a person who can guide the flow of information?
And if that means they spend more time in each other's company, well. So be it! ]
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They depart two days later through an Oathgate, emerging onto the Shattered Plains. At the old warcamps, they rendezvous with a small contingent of cobalt guard and enough horses to carry them — and a modest allotment of supplies — a few days' ride into the Unclaimed Hills. There is a storm in the forecast, but they should reach the storm shelter before it breaks. After that, it will be another full day to the field research lab.
They ride from first light until dusk. When it comes time to make camp, Jasnah settles beside Sciel, dressed not as a monarch but as a scout: trousers beneath a split havah, one hand gloved in leather, her hair drawn back into a practical braid. ]
This will be your first highstorm outside of Urithiru, won't it?
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Some of them are less ordinary, like the highstorms. ]
That's right. [ She replies brightly, looking over at the queen when posed a question. ] I'm really looking forward to it, to be honest.
[ The opportunity to have new experiences means she's alive, after all. ]
We didn't even get rain in Lumière. [ Sciel laments, referring to the Dome that covered the city, keeping it safe from both Nevrons and weather alike. ] And it was fairly mild on the Continent. So I've never seen anything like this. Not even close.
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[ It's a few days off yet. But it's interested to watch someone respond to the prospect of a highstorm with so much...anticipation. They're such cursed, mythologized things on Roshar. Especially in those places hit hardest. ]
Hard to imagine a place without rain. [ She murmurs, adjusting the drape of a skirt and holding a bare right hand out to the modest fire. ] Without rain, but with — what did you call them, again? Aquafarms.
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[ Sometimes, with the impish sparkle in her eye, it's hard to tell whether or not she's joking. ]
We did get rain, technically. But it didn't make it down to us. [ It'd just patter way high up against the Dome. ] Mm: aquafarms. We were able to make use of the seawater for that: it was oceanic species we had there, after all.
[ They'd figured out how to make a living, for however their short lives lasted. Those who didn't Gommage still had to go on, after all. ]
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She might this time, however. Curious about what Sciel's so curious about. ]
Why didn't the rain reach you?
[ She hones in on such a small, strange detail. ]
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Jasnah's question makes her realize how much they still have to discuss about the world Sciel had come from, but...then, that's part of the point of their (possibly) working together on the documentation, right? ]
The Dome. [ She explains. ] After the Fracture, 67 years ago, they managed to build a...protective shield around the city of Lumière to keep the Nevrons out. And it works, though it also does keep the weather out, too.
[ And because she's anticipating it, Sciel adds, with a smile: ] Don't ask me how it all works. The finer details are lost on me, sadly.
[ If she had Lune, Gustave, or even Verso here, Jasnah would be able to get more information. Alas. ]
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All weather? Even the wind?
[ It's almost (almost) sad. Then again, it wouldn't be the saddest detail about Sciel's home planet. ]
Fascinating.
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[ There's a wistful sigh. It'd been such a gift, getting to see the snow as part of the Expedition. It's one of the myriad things she'd wished badly that Pierre could have experienced, too. ]
The stars were visible from inside, but...obscured. I've loved being able to see open skies.
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[ There are spren for all sorts of things, of course. Painspren and gloryspren. Rotspren and passionspren. Starspren, however, are rare. Like little specks, chasing each other in the sky. Except... ]
They're magnificent when seen in Shadesmar. [ A soft, breathy pause. Like she's remembering something. ] Seven sets of wings.
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There are? [ It makes sense, based on what (little) she knows. She primarily thinks of the spren as related to emotions, but they really make up the whole of the world, don't they? Flamespren dance around the very fire at their feet, drawing her gaze down as she considers it. ]
I'm sure they're incredible. [ Sciel breathes. Of course, she hasn't been to Shadesmar, either, but Jasnah's descriptions of the form the starspren as they appear there is enough for her to imagine the creatures. ] ...I'd love to see them someday.
[ One of many things on Roshar she's learned about, since her arrival, and has added to a mental to-do list for...whenever it ends up happening. Sciel had once been fated to die before she turned 33, so having all this time to fill is...still strange. ]
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[ Jasnah isn't afraid of Shadesmar, exactly. But when she does speak of it — somewhat rarely — it's with a healthy, respectful dose of trepidation. She isn't proud to confront the fact that Roshar's one and only Elsecaller doesn't use the Surge of Transportation as much as could. ]
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[ Chin upturned, Sciel is gazing skyward with a little half-smile. ...For a moment, before she returns her attention, and the smile, to the queen. ]
...But, I'll leave the danger for today to catching a glimpse of the highstorm. [ Maybe another time she'd try and convince Jasnah to let her see Shadesmar... ]
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Wonderful.
She presses her mouth into a line, nodding. ]
I can't help but wonder if your world is one of those stars up there. [ Wit had sorta-kinda-mostly explained to her the idea of space but it's still taking some getting used to. ] So close and so far, all at once.
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Maybe. [ A pleasant, noncommittal answer. ] ...It's a nice thought. That I could just look up and have it be hanging there somewhere, looking back at me.
[ As if it were somewhere she could go back to someday. ]
There's a lot I'm glad to have down here, though. To look at.
[ Whether she's referring to her present company, the world and its wonders at large, or both... ]
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Apparently there's many. [ She catches Sciel's eye then tilts her head back up at the starts. ] Worlds. I can only name a handful of them.
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[ Many worlds. Possibly visible in the night sky. The idea still seems so fantastical, even after everything she's been through, even after personally coming to this world from another.
Of course, gestrals and the Grandis had been the same. Mythical things come to life just as soon as they stepped out of their literal bubble. ]
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Taln's Scar. But someone once told me it's called something else on other planets. The Red Rip. The Starbelt. So that's at least two other worlds who can see the same landmarks in the same sky.
[ Surely, there's more. ]
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[ Famously an enjoyer of laying under the stars, Sciel could rattle off some of the constellations they'd been able to see back home. But...first, she'd rather hear the queen point out the ones that do exist here, drawing the connections between how they're known on Roshar and on other worlds. ]
Though it'd be hard to find one that sounds cooler than that. [ She chuckles. ] All of its names are great, honestly.
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Reya's Tear. [ She indicates a very bright single star. ] And, there, that's Salas. The first of the moons.
[ A small, dim violet. It'll be visible for a couple hours before the 17th — before Nomon rises, and they enter the Hateful Hour. ]
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Was Reya a person? [ And: ] The first of how many moons?
[ She'll listen to whatever stories Jasnah has on offer. Or, if she either doesn't have answer or wants to move on, Sciel will just as happily hear what comes next in the queen's mapping of the stars overhead. ]
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