week 2 ( thursday );

[reidentify]

[It can't be here. It can't.

Even knowing that—and that everyone is seeing illusions—the sight preys on so many of the fears that Lief has had the past two weeks. Worry about why he was here, at first, and worry about his home.

Desperate for some peace, as he avoids looking up at the sky, he finds himself at the oasis. He knows he can't stay for long, when he needs to be ready for the stakeout that Prussia's organized, but he's of no use if he's already rattled.

...

Not caring about the possibility of contamination at the moment, he splashes his face with some water.]

Comments

[reidentify]

... It has a brand—one placed on all that it owns, from buildings to trees to even people.

[His tone is bitter, as he thinks of all who were branded in the Enemy's time.]

In its territory, the sky is marked by it. [He's seen said sky once, in the one and only time he'll ever enter the Shadowlands, hopefully.] And there are—signs of its presence. Like a storm coming.

[hydrazine]

Does that at least make it easier to figure out who might be working against you?

[It depends on how easily it can be hidden, she imagines.]

[reidentify]

[He shakes his head.]

While I have seen a few of its servants who carry its brand, I do not know if all of them do. [...] When I say that he placed its mark on people, I mean—those who defied it and were punished.

[hydrazine]

...Oh.

[That's significantly more yikes.]

I'm guessing that getting branded wasn't the most pleasant feeling for anyone who got that mark.

[reidentify]

I was lucky enough to avoid that fate, so I have only witnessed the process. I cannot say what it was like.

... Most of those who were branded—and not promptly executed—were those who were taken away and made slaves in the Enemy's territory. They were rescued only about a year ago.

[By him and his friends, personally, but he isn't sure if he should say that part. Either way, compared to them, he and the rest living in Deltora were perhaps lucky, as an oppressive regime is still better than the horrors in the Shadowlands.]

[hydrazine]

Well, the rescue part is at least a plus.

[Even if the rest is horrifying.]

[reidentify]

Yes. As far as most of the country believes, we have been at peace for a year now.

[Better than nothing.]

[hydrazine]

[A nod.]

So. How are you planning it on getting it out of the last quarter of the country?

[reidentify]

... The same way we have done for the rest of the country. The curse is caused by a—I do not know what to call it, beyond its name of "Sister". You can think of it as a false gem that sings what, all my life, I thought was the sound of silence, cursing the land as it does so.

[A low humming that has always been there since he was born.]

There was one at every corner of the land: east, north, west, and south. We have destroyed the first three. I was in the process of defeating the last, hidden in the capital, before arriving here.

[hydrazine]

Silence is overrated, anyways.

[Although maybe not compared to... that.]

How does destroying them work?

[reidentify]

[...

Sorry, Raven. The story gets weirder.]

With dragons.

[hydrazine]

...Are you sure you aren't retroactively hallucinating?

[Let her have this.]

[reidentify]

[Lief groans, because he knows how weird everything is.]

Most people where I am from would likely ask the same.

[hydrazine]

Is it not a well known fact?

[reidentify]

Dragons were thought to be extinct. The last of them were persuaded, long ago, to go into hiding and enter an enchanted sleep—until the day came when we no longer had to fear the Enemy.

[Until the promised king—him—arrived, but he doesn't say that part.]

As you know, that day still has not come, but the Enemy's reach is lesser now, at least. The few of us who know that the famine is not of natural means have been reawakening the dragons, for they are the only beings in Deltora powerful enough to destroy the Sisters.

... I suppose they are not so secret now that one has been sighted at the capital, but they have an ill reputation, however undeserved I feel it may be, and so we could hardly have told everyone about them before then.

[Life would be (mildly) easier if people in the capital would stop trying to kill the one ally he desperately needs, even if it's a little sweet that everyone is so ready to fight one of the strongest monsters in the country for his sake.]

[hydrazine]

Why do they have a poor reputation if they're supposed to help save you all?

[Everything that he's saying interests her, but that sticks out in particular.]

[reidentify]

Many tales portray them as hostile, all the more so when we are unsure of their diet—though having met them personally, I do not know of one that feeds on people.

[He lets out a light sigh.]

But again, as few even knew they were still alive, even fewer know that they are allies. At this point, I do not think it is solely anyone's fault. Many people would most likely attack a dragon on sight, believing it to be a threat, and thus, the dragons do not think highly of most humans.

[hydrazine]

Sounds like a mess on both sides, then. Well, hopefully the people catch on easily enough that you both want the same thing.

[Even if she's still very ??? about this whole thing.]