Gestrals. [ Sciel confirms. If gestral figures exist on Roshar, then Jasnah will know exactly what the things look like...more or less. ] Wooden, human-sized creatures that're generally considered myth, even though the first expedition -- Expedition Zero -- talked about them when they returned. [ Those who did return, anyway. ] I don't think I really believed they existed until I saw them for myself. Spent a lot of time in their village, actually... I ended up there on my own pretty early on, and since I didn't [ want or expect to live much longer ] really know what to do next, I started fighting in their arena. Became champion, actually. [ There's a thoughtful cant of her head as she drops back into those fights, recalling her adversaries. ] They love fighting, and some of them are even good at it. But usually it's just somebody you feel kind of bad about going up against, though they'd never, ever back down.
[ It's one thing when the gestral is some big, hulking guy. It's another when it's a little one that has small dog energy. ]
So they respect those they see as great warriors, obviously. Helps that they don't actually die; they're eventually...resurrected? Reincarnated? In their Sacred River. [ Sciel shrugs one shoulder, humming. ] I've never seen it happen myself, but I know it works that way.
[ It's one thing to hear a story about creatures who aren't human. Quite another to hear about creatures made of...of wood? And as Sciel continues, she can't help but wonder if they don't sound more like spren. Because, like these gestrals, spren don't actually die either.
Jasnah's head tilts. As sometimes happens, she looks a little like she's listening to something or someone else. Ivory whispers a private word in her ear. She exhales through her nose. Looking thoughtful. ]
Curious.
[ Jasnah shifts, minutely, as if crowding a little closer to the campfire. ]
Definitely. [ Sciel replies, voice emphatic. ] Better than the myths. We traveled with one during the Expedition: Monoco. He... [ ...Is hard to describe, as evidenced by the pause in which she considers the right adjectives for their hairy friend. ] ...Was surprisingly wise, actually. He and Verso would get up to all kinds of ridiculous things, but Monoco also had a lot to say that was unexpectedly helpful. Guess that comes with living a few lifetimes.
[ Even if gestrals don't carry their identities over between those lives, she assumes some bits and pieces carry through. ]
He could also transform himself into Nevrons. Very useful in a fight. [ There's a beat; her expression twitches toward some mix of amusement and puzzlement. ] He'd have to have the leg of that Nevron first to manage it, though. Meant he talked a lot about feet.
[ Idly, she glances down at her own legs — draped under a split havah, clothed in plain fabric trousers under that split skirt. Like the scouts wear. A wiggle of her right leg where it sits, bent, on the bench. ]
Why a leg? How odd. Would a hand or a head not suffice?
The leg. [ Sciel repeats. ] He never explained and, honestly, I never asked. Somehow I think he'd just have said something like "why, indeed" in a mysterious voice, and then never actually answer.
[ Verso probably knows the reason, but that doesn't help anybody right now. Sciel shifts where she sits, returning her attention to the queen and affixing her with a relaxed smile, leaning back against the weight of her hands. ]
Far as I know, he's the only gestral who can do it. [ beat ] Could do it. Again: no idea why.
[ ...Aren't mysterious, mystical creatures kinda annoying? Her expression crinkles with a flicker of empathy. Even so, it's a fascinating topic. And she might have liked the opportunity to dig deeper. Sometimes, perception is an important factor in mysteries like these. Maybe legs meant something on an emotional, cognitive level — and that importance drifted into the physical.
Idle conjecture. The kind that just spins and wheels in the back of her mind, but doesn't quite deserve the light of day. ]
And transforming into a...[ a pause while she remembers the word, ] Nevron. That was helpful?
Nevron, right. [ There's a brief nod at that, then a slight tilt of the head. ] Mm, they're basically just...monsters, honestly. And, yes: it was very helpful. We were a talented group, but having someone with us who could make use of Nevrons' own abilities against them definitely came in handy.
[ To match their strength, to make use of certain elemental weaknesses...the list goes on. ]
Not just offensive, either. Monoco could transform into something that could increase your movement speed, or heal. Truly a jack-of-all-trades, that one.
[ If it's at all awkward or overbearing, it doesn't show in Sciel's face, or resonate in her reply. ]
You remember I've mentioned Verso, our...guide? Monoco was his best friend. [ More or less. She can incorporate Esquie into the conversation later, when they're done sorting out some of the gestral details. ] To get where we were going, Verso suggested we recruit him to join us. He didn't just turn into Nevrons; he also knew a lot about the area. Plus, it was probably best for everyone that we had someone there who could bring our mysterious friend out of his shell a bit.
[ Get him to lower some of the many masks, as it were. ]
[ A slow, understanding nod. It's hard not to think a little, just a little, of her time lost in Shadesmar. Although she hadn't had a proper guide, there'd been something of a party assembled. To keep safe. To pass time. Ivory had been indispensable.
But that's an interesting question to ask as follow-up, actually: ] Did your...group get along with one another? Generally? Were you colleagues before you left?
[ The fire crackles between them: it's some of the only sounds in the lapse between Jasnah's question and Sciel's reply. ]
Generally. [ Pleasant, concise, and intentionally vague. ] But...tensions could run high.
[ A log shifts and falls, sending up a little shower of embers. Sciel has turned her attention from the stars to the flames, momentarily transported to moments from the expedition that fit the bill.
Eventually she turns back to the queen, half-shrugging. ]
[ Sciel's repetition catches. Hooks, abrades, and makes Jasnah's attention stand up a little straighter. While the other woman buries her gaze into the fire, she leans a little to the left — head ducking, as if she might catch some direct eye contact.
Testing, testing. ]
Generally. [ She echoes. Hmm. She doesn't want to pry, it's just... ] I suppose it's hard to spend so long in the same company and not — chafe a little.
[ While her gaze is averted, Sciel still feels the curious prickle of Jasnah's attention on her face. After she turns back, her mouth twists a little as if in apology. ]
Some combination of the time, the stress. [ Sciel scratches idly at the knuckles of one hand with the other. ] Having a life-or-death mission of that scale can run tensions pretty high.
[ It's still too evasive, and that isn't her style. But...what they'd been through is still a little raw. And maybe she's let herself sink into the new reality to the point of it drowning out the what-came-before.
Maybe she's still relying on escapism more than she thought, even if its forms are a little healthier than some of her previous vices. ]
[ A quiet hum. An mmhm of agreement. Yes, yes, she can see how those factors might put a small cadre of people under so much pressure. She's read brief reports to that effect, hasn't she? About teams of three or four researchers tearing their solidarity apart from the inside out once they're alone long enough. And that's without the added weight of, well, these Expeditions.
Jasnah stays tilted, just so, but doesn't pry any harder than necessary. As if it's enough to make her interest known — she can wiggle her chisel into the crack at some later date. ]
Certainly. I recall reading a thesis about somewhat similar conditions in the warcamps.
[ Sciel nods in return, yes, like the warcamps. She assumes. And it's probably similar, to the degree that it can be. ]
I'm sure it's easier with a larger group. [ There's a huff of a sigh; it's easy to summon to mind what the entirety of the 33s had looked like, once, when there were more than four of them left. ] There'd be...more space for all that to disperse. Probably a chain of command where some well-placed orders could get everyone to calm down. [ She chuckles weakly, raising a hand as if volunteering for the role. In fact: ] Without our Commander, all we had was protocol, and...well, I guess I tried to smooth things out, when I could.
[ Mediating is a natural inclination for her, and it'd been helpful when there'd been some mild infighting. Less so for the more serious matters, when people had already made up their minds about what 'should' happen. ]
[ And just like that. As she'd hoped — as she'd expected — easing off the particulars by a breath or two had opened the field up for more information that she might have gotten simply by pressing questions. ]
And protocol's just words on a page without authority to back it up. [ Something like that. The authority needn't be absolute, but it's nevertheless an important ingredient in the recipe. ]
A bit different from classroom squabbles, I suspect.
Mm, [ Sciel hums in response, frowning a bit. ] not in this case. I'd usually agree with you, but...for most of the people who'd sign up for an expedition, it's more than that. You know going in it's a glorified suicide mission, so people are usually deadly serious about the details.
[ She hadn't been there when Gustave and Lune had argued about protocol, and they'd found records of old expeditions along the way that suggested a breaking down of them, too, but...for the most part, what she tells Jasnah rings true. ]
Definitely more intense than classroom squabbles. [ She confirms, chuckling. ] Though those could also get to be a lot when there wasn't an authority figure around.
[ A tip of the head acknowledges Sciel's correction. Jasnah still thinks — wonders — whether it's realistic or whether the other woman might be thinking too fondly on an institution that must have felt foundational.
But she lets it go. What does it serve to attack a thing that's distant and irrelevant to the current conflict? It would be cruelty for cruelty's sake. And although Jasnah is far from soft, even she has some social lines she does not cross. ]
...How does an Expedition content with disagreement in its ranks?
If the commander is still around? [ Her question is light, almost in good humor, though there's a tightness to her smile. ] Easy. They make the call, put an end to things. And, sure, people will run hot, storm off and make their displeasure known, but...usually everyone's good about abiding by the outcome, even if they don't like it.
[ There's a pause as the obvious follow-up comes. ]
If not, and there's no clear chain of command? [ Sciel sighs, rolling her head to crack her neck. ] And if there's no related protocol, or...it isn't being followed? Then...well, it can be mild chaos. People just start making their own decisions. There've been some cases of outright rebellions, I think. To the degree you can rebel when you're in a little group out in the middle of hostile nowhere.
[ It's the first question that occurs to her — well before Sciel even finishes speaking, Jasnah's thoughts have galloped ahead, wondering why simply losing a commander would leave the group in any kind of chaos. ]
When a companylord falls, one of his captainlords would take his place.
[ The fire crackles on, flamespren dancing along the logs as it burns. Sciel can't help but crack a smile at them, the novelty never fading from getting to witness the little spirits that make up everything in this world. ]
There's always a second in command. After that, though, it's not usually structured the way you might expect. [ "The way you might expect" if you're Alethi, for example, or experienced in any type of war. ] Based on the usual numbers of recruits, I'm not sure it makes sense. We have our strengths and specialties, but no real ranks.
[ Maybe they'd done that in the beginning, but the 33s hadn't been broken down in any real hierarchy beyond the two at the top. Once they were gone, the few that remained had simply worked as equals. ]
[ The political gears are always turning in the back of Jasnah's mind. While she's certain the sample size, makeup, and goals of the average Expedition are mostly incompatible with the complexities of a whole nation, she can't help but wonder whether there are lessons that can't be learned from one and transplanted to the other. Any body designed in such a way that it could — and should — function without central leadership is of interest.
But the fire is burning low, the stars are so high, and the next moon is due to rise. She's not convinced she should ambush Sciel with politics tonight. ]
[ The smile is maintained, but it tightens a little. Her tone and expression suggest it's a joke, though it takes her another moment of chewing thoughtfully on her bottom lip to answer. ]
I used a scythe, farming. That translated well into combat. [ beat ] I'm not sure if the teaching played a role, except that I'd gotten lots of experience wrangling people there. I also had these, [ Here she lays a hand on the intricate lines of gilded tattoos that run from her neck down. ] infused with chroma, which let — lets, I guess, present tense — me add another element to my fighting.
[ Literally, as she suffuses her cards with light and dark in turn. ]
So...in the end, I had a good mix of combat ability and a personality that helpfully balanced out some of the others.
[ ... ]
It definitely wasn't anything to do with my cooking.
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Hmm. A difficult choice. [ In the end, she greedily intends to have both. ] Let's start with the — gestrals, you said?
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[ It's one thing when the gestral is some big, hulking guy. It's another when it's a little one that has small dog energy. ]
So they respect those they see as great warriors, obviously. Helps that they don't actually die; they're eventually...resurrected? Reincarnated? In their Sacred River. [ Sciel shrugs one shoulder, humming. ] I've never seen it happen myself, but I know it works that way.
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Jasnah's head tilts. As sometimes happens, she looks a little like she's listening to something or someone else. Ivory whispers a private word in her ear. She exhales through her nose. Looking thoughtful. ]
Curious.
[ Jasnah shifts, minutely, as if crowding a little closer to the campfire. ]
Did they live up to their myths?
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[ Even if gestrals don't carry their identities over between those lives, she assumes some bits and pieces carry through. ]
He could also transform himself into Nevrons. Very useful in a fight. [ There's a beat; her expression twitches toward some mix of amusement and puzzlement. ] He'd have to have the leg of that Nevron first to manage it, though. Meant he talked a lot about feet.
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[ Idly, she glances down at her own legs — draped under a split havah, clothed in plain fabric trousers under that split skirt. Like the scouts wear. A wiggle of her right leg where it sits, bent, on the bench. ]
Why a leg? How odd. Would a hand or a head not suffice?
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[ Verso probably knows the reason, but that doesn't help anybody right now. Sciel shifts where she sits, returning her attention to the queen and affixing her with a relaxed smile, leaning back against the weight of her hands. ]
Far as I know, he's the only gestral who can do it. [ beat ] Could do it. Again: no idea why.
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Idle conjecture. The kind that just spins and wheels in the back of her mind, but doesn't quite deserve the light of day. ]
And transforming into a...[ a pause while she remembers the word, ] Nevron. That was helpful?
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[ To match their strength, to make use of certain elemental weaknesses...the list goes on. ]
Not just offensive, either. Monoco could transform into something that could increase your movement speed, or heal. Truly a jack-of-all-trades, that one.
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How did a creature like him end up travelling with the Expedition?
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You remember I've mentioned Verso, our...guide? Monoco was his best friend. [ More or less. She can incorporate Esquie into the conversation later, when they're done sorting out some of the gestral details. ] To get where we were going, Verso suggested we recruit him to join us. He didn't just turn into Nevrons; he also knew a lot about the area. Plus, it was probably best for everyone that we had someone there who could bring our mysterious friend out of his shell a bit.
[ Get him to lower some of the many masks, as it were. ]
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But that's an interesting question to ask as follow-up, actually: ] Did your...group get along with one another? Generally? Were you colleagues before you left?
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Generally. [ Pleasant, concise, and intentionally vague. ] But...tensions could run high.
[ A log shifts and falls, sending up a little shower of embers. Sciel has turned her attention from the stars to the flames, momentarily transported to moments from the expedition that fit the bill.
Eventually she turns back to the queen, half-shrugging. ]
Generally. [ She repeats, airily. ]
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Testing, testing. ]
Generally. [ She echoes. Hmm. She doesn't want to pry, it's just... ] I suppose it's hard to spend so long in the same company and not — chafe a little.
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Some combination of the time, the stress. [ Sciel scratches idly at the knuckles of one hand with the other. ] Having a life-or-death mission of that scale can run tensions pretty high.
[ It's still too evasive, and that isn't her style. But...what they'd been through is still a little raw. And maybe she's let herself sink into the new reality to the point of it drowning out the what-came-before.
Maybe she's still relying on escapism more than she thought, even if its forms are a little healthier than some of her previous vices. ]
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Jasnah stays tilted, just so, but doesn't pry any harder than necessary. As if it's enough to make her interest known — she can wiggle her chisel into the crack at some later date. ]
Certainly. I recall reading a thesis about somewhat similar conditions in the warcamps.
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I'm sure it's easier with a larger group. [ There's a huff of a sigh; it's easy to summon to mind what the entirety of the 33s had looked like, once, when there were more than four of them left. ] There'd be...more space for all that to disperse. Probably a chain of command where some well-placed orders could get everyone to calm down. [ She chuckles weakly, raising a hand as if volunteering for the role. In fact: ] Without our Commander, all we had was protocol, and...well, I guess I tried to smooth things out, when I could.
[ Mediating is a natural inclination for her, and it'd been helpful when there'd been some mild infighting. Less so for the more serious matters, when people had already made up their minds about what 'should' happen. ]
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And protocol's just words on a page without authority to back it up. [ Something like that. The authority needn't be absolute, but it's nevertheless an important ingredient in the recipe. ]
A bit different from classroom squabbles, I suspect.
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[ She hadn't been there when Gustave and Lune had argued about protocol, and they'd found records of old expeditions along the way that suggested a breaking down of them, too, but...for the most part, what she tells Jasnah rings true. ]
Definitely more intense than classroom squabbles. [ She confirms, chuckling. ] Though those could also get to be a lot when there wasn't an authority figure around.
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But she lets it go. What does it serve to attack a thing that's distant and irrelevant to the current conflict? It would be cruelty for cruelty's sake. And although Jasnah is far from soft, even she has some social lines she does not cross. ]
...How does an Expedition content with disagreement in its ranks?
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[ There's a pause as the obvious follow-up comes. ]
If not, and there's no clear chain of command? [ Sciel sighs, rolling her head to crack her neck. ] And if there's no related protocol, or...it isn't being followed? Then...well, it can be mild chaos. People just start making their own decisions. There've been some cases of outright rebellions, I think. To the degree you can rebel when you're in a little group out in the middle of hostile nowhere.
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[ It's the first question that occurs to her — well before Sciel even finishes speaking, Jasnah's thoughts have galloped ahead, wondering why simply losing a commander would leave the group in any kind of chaos. ]
When a companylord falls, one of his captainlords would take his place.
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There's always a second in command. After that, though, it's not usually structured the way you might expect. [ "The way you might expect" if you're Alethi, for example, or experienced in any type of war. ] Based on the usual numbers of recruits, I'm not sure it makes sense. We have our strengths and specialties, but no real ranks.
[ Maybe they'd done that in the beginning, but the 33s hadn't been broken down in any real hierarchy beyond the two at the top. Once they were gone, the few that remained had simply worked as equals. ]
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But the fire is burning low, the stars are so high, and the next moon is due to rise. She's not convinced she should ambush Sciel with politics tonight. ]
What was yours?
[ Specialty. ]
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[ The smile is maintained, but it tightens a little. Her tone and expression suggest it's a joke, though it takes her another moment of chewing thoughtfully on her bottom lip to answer. ]
I used a scythe, farming. That translated well into combat. [ beat ] I'm not sure if the teaching played a role, except that I'd gotten lots of experience wrangling people there. I also had these, [ Here she lays a hand on the intricate lines of gilded tattoos that run from her neck down. ] infused with chroma, which let — lets, I guess, present tense — me add another element to my fighting.
[ Literally, as she suffuses her cards with light and dark in turn. ]
So...in the end, I had a good mix of combat ability and a personality that helpfully balanced out some of the others.
[ ... ]
It definitely wasn't anything to do with my cooking.
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Infused?
[ She prompts, asking Sciel to elaborate. ]
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