Jade blinked and held still as Ríváné adjusted her clothing and braids. The tiny woman closed her eyes, content to let the other woman fuss at her. No different from her father's fussing when she was a child, Jade found it reassuring, and her nerves slowly faded. "I hope the lack of formal wear will not be a problem. Any dress I try to fit in one of my pockets would come out wrinkled."

Honestly though, with someone's hands in her hair, it was hard to care about less relaxing things like that. When Ríváné finished, Jade looked up at her. "Thank you. If you are finished, I am ready." She offered a brief smile, uncertain what was to come, but less inclined to worry. If Ríváné had time to fuss, and didn't object to the casual wear, it couldn't be that bad.

She did wish for a moment the hair-adjustments had continued. It felt unusually nice for something that involved being touched.
 
A few moments of adjusting Jade's clothes later, Ríváné was satisfied with the relative symmetry that she had achieved on her guest, so they were ready to go and fortunately for both of them, she was quickly alerted that the escort had arrived a few minutes ahead of schedule. That was excellent. The sooner they got to meet Two-Stars-Weeks-Away, the quicker this strange case of Jade's got cleared up, not to mention it would mean less responsibility on the songweaver. While the small woman had not caused too much trouble so far and she was also starting to feel quite a lot of sympathy towards someone who seemed so lost, in the end, not being in charge of a person who was so important to a Ruler was probably a good thing.

"Our escorts have arrived, Jade," said Ríváné. "Come with me. I will introduce you to them." Thankfully, Ríváné's guest knew almost nothing of Civitatem Lucis, so she would have no idea just how excessive her escort would be. Otherwise, her words about this planet not being a dangerous place might look as if she had been lying to Jade in order to cover up the terrible state of it. As for Jade, it was probably around the time when the relatively high gravitational pull started making its effects felt on her, exerting her muscles more than she was used to.

But Ríváné already opened the door before her guest could as much as ask for a moment to rest or perhaps a place to sit, revealing two men in the same uniforms as the songweaver was wearing. Both of them had short hair, but beyond that, they were completely different. The one to the left of Jade was built with a solid stature. He definitely exercised regularly, taking pride in the physical prowess that he so obviously had. He had simple, sky blue eyes that felt unusual after Ríváné's heterochromatic irises that swirled with colour, not to mention that his hair was a medium shade of brown. His facial features were wide, strong and characteristic, reflective of his body.

The other man was much more outlandish. Instead of humanoid ears, a pair of visible and very clearly natural, firey red cat-like ears peered at Jade, transitioning into hair without too much of a problem. The hair then transitioned into tatoos made out of vibrant, red lines, presumably reaching all over the man's body as they diseappeared in his collar and reappeared on his hands, on which he was not wearing his gloves. To make the picture even more bizzare, the man's eyes were completely humanoid, if coloured red, and he was also in the possession of what looked like a tail. Of what animal, Jade could not say, because it was segmented and armoured, nothing like she had even seen before. Furthering the confusion were the man's hands, which seemed to have been modelled after some sort of a reptile.

At least his face was normal, though. A little narrow, with a somewhat bony structure, but normal.

Ríváné, however, found nothing wrong with his body either. Without as much as batting an eye at the honestly baffling sight, she smiled at the two men before she lightly grabbed the larger man's shoulder.
"Jade, I would like you to meet umm... 'sky-clearer' Aranam." The injection of the English word was jarring, but necessary. Ríváné wanted Jade to understand the positions of the people who were to be escorting her. "And 'mind-house' Kámír," she continued as she lightly brushed the strange man's shoulder as well. "We, along with Expanded Boundaries will be your escort."

Then Ríváné pointed towards the sky, which was currently filled with a rather large, metallic hulk. Or to be more precise, the bottom of it. Whatever vehicle they were going to travel with, it was clearly highly armoured, not to mention well-armed judging by a pair of what looked like turrets on the bottom. Obviously, there was no way that Jade could recognise the weaponry on them, but their structure, not to mention their positioning, clearly indicated that they were there to defend the floating vehicle from any threats that might approach.
 
Jade nearly collapsed, and her eyes widened. She looked around, and then followed after Ríváné. Her legs felt heavy, like she'd walked four miles, though she'd only moved between rooms a few times.

The muscular man reminded her vaguely of one of her many nephews, and the red man...

She forced herself not to stare and nodded in greeting to both before greeting them in the native language. "Hello, Sky-Clearer Aranam and Mind-House Kámír. It is a pleasure to meet you."

At Ríváné's motion upwards, Jade turned her head in the same direction. Above, a floating craft filled up a huge amount of sky. Her mouth dropped open as she stopped moving. It was possibly larger than... No, it was surely larger than the Black Phoenix. Her legs wobbled, and she shot a hand out toward the nearest wall. She looked toward Ríváné, then up again.

Her gaze dropped to Ríváné again. "I did not expect such a... massive escort." Last time she'd seen a ship that size was...

The thought froze her mind to ice, and she closed her eyes tight as a shiver traveled up her spine. Fresh pain tugged at her palms, and she moved closer to her host.
 
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Though the exact implications of the words have been clearly lost in translation, Jade's escorts nevertheless offered her a friendly smile, but they refrained from touching the alien woman. Like Ríváné, they had been briefed about the conditions they were to be expecting, so Kámír forced his feelings of upset into his stomach when he saw that the small woman was trying oh so very hard not to look at him. It was proving to be rather difficult, especially with her mangling of his title, not to mention her obvious amazement at Expanded Boundaries. So tempted he was to tell her that the frigate was more of a cosmetic choice than anything because of him that he had almost opened his mouth, but in the end, military training overcame desire.

Aranam did little. He was evidently more well-tempered than his companion, looking to Ríváné instead when Jade chose to practically hide behind the songweaver. It was a rather amusing sight, but the songweaver was quick on her feet. Reassuring her guest with a few carefully chosen words that repeated the fact she had nothing to fear, Ríváné waited for the tension to settle, then she took a deep breath. And the next moment, a ránei command flowed from her mouth with all of its haunting beauty along with its identity-brushing resonance. As a result of her words, a part of the ship's structure opened up, followed by a platform descending from the craft.

"This way, please," said Ríváné as she indicated the platform. Catching onto her intention, the two other soldiers walked onto it and the songweaver herself escorted Jade to give her that sense of safety she seemed to crave so desperately. As soon as Jade was firmly on the platform, it headed upwards until it was swallowed by the frigate's belly, allowing the small woman to get a glimpse of the city's skyline for a few seconds before the interior of the ship took over.

It really was not what Jade expected. The massive skyscrapers were familiar, of course, but their design was not standard, pattern-built or monotonous. No, each building seemed to be a small work of art in and of itself, including the small house that she had been picked up from. Judging by her previous experience, only the first few storeys of the skyscrapers were designed the same, with the intent to support hundreds of tons of weight, but then they evolved into their own, colourful shapes that were composed of soft lines or exquisitely-designed, unconventional forms. Clearly, the city spared no expense when it came to architectural design.

As for the inside of the frigate, or at least the part of it that they entered, it was relatively cozy. Like Ríváné's house, it was filled with colourful, comfortable-looking chairs for the convenience of the guests, though it was clear that this feature was only recently added to this place. Soft, curved lines dominated and though there were no physical windows, holographic projections let the people inside know their position.

"Jade," said Ríváné with a smile on her face after she was sure that her guest would not be scared of the interruption. "I gave you permission to use the ship's computer to look up words in the dictionary and get some explanation for the things you don't understand." A simple gesture followed that sentence, which caused a holographic screen to swim into Jade's vision, complete with a keyboard and everything that one might need to start an in-depth search. "Do not worry, you can interact with this one using your hands. Or if you want to, you can ask me questions about this planet or us," she said, clearly referring to the soldiers and herself.
 
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The tiny woman closed her eyes as the platform entered the frigate, then opened them again when she felt it stop. She looked around as she listened to Ríváné, the nlooked at her and each of the two escorts in turn. "Thank you. I will study along the way, then. There is clearly much that I do not understand." The chairs looked very, very welcoming to muscles that were used to the gravity of a much smaller planet.

The keyboard in front of Jade stopped her from pursuing a seat right away. "The most important subject I have difficulty with is the 'Four Philosophies'. I remember some of what I read in the dictionary, but not enough to feel I have a sufficient grasp on the idea."

She remembered Soul was about art and the self. Probably that was only halfway correct. Song was information and technology, she was pretty sure. Ríváné's singing backed that up. Body was inventing weapons... She remembered because she'd thought originally that it seemed like it should have related to biology more. World was... moving? Physics, maybe.

The tiny woman looked between the trio, uncertain if asking them or if using the convenient database might be better. She typed carefully, deciding to start there and then ask questions when she inevitably did not understand.
 
Ríváné was more than ready to answer any question that her guest may ask her, but it seemed that was unnecessary. She had really thought that Jade would pose something after she had stared at the three of them for so long, then the small woman decided to immerse herself in the keyboard. Honestly, the songweaver would have preferred to explain everything in spoken word, yet she could see why this way was better, so she excused herself to sit with the other escorts. After everyone finished sitting down, the frigate started with a sudden jolt of acceleration that was not enough to disrupt focus or to cause other small inconveniences, however, it was definitely enough to be noticed.

As for the information terminal that Jade had gotten her hands on, it was programmed to recognise English input. As such, when she started searching about the Four Philosophies, it brought up detailed information, going into an explanation of what it was. To make matters even easier, the text was dual-layered: One line written in ónic, the other in English, and if Jade investigated a little, she found that she could highlight elements of the text to check which words corresponded. It was an insanely useful system to help learning along. Not only could she witness the native tongue in action, but it also enabled her to read in her native tongue if she was too tired.

According to the system, the Four Philosophies were one of the key characteristics of Civitatem Lucis, the current human government. Like Ríváné had explained, they were basically four ways of thinking, four sets of beliefs that corresponded to the parts of what made a human being: mind, body, soul and perspective. The description spoke of this strange division in great detail, positing that every single human had an identity, a way of percieving the world that was divorced from their mind and soul, becaue it was a multitude of things acting together. It was not completely independent, but then, neither were the other parts of what made a human into a living being. It was a little confusing, especially the part where perspective was tied into the laws of physics.

Apparently, because the laws of physics required observation, a different perspective resulted in a different interpretation of a physical law, and as such, the revolution of human technologies started. Eventually, as Civitatem Lucis expanded through the galaxy, all four human aspects developed their own following. 'Song' emphasized perspective, 'World' emphasized the mind, 'Soul' emphasized the soul and 'Body' emphasized the body. During these developments, the primary characteristics of each philosophy also developed: 'Song' was firmly focused on controlling different aspects of the universe, 'World' was focused on understanding and exploiting them, 'Soul' found itself emphasizing their beauty, while 'Body' always saw the way to turn the universe into a devastating weapon or a tool for self-improvement.

It really was quite interesting that despite the differences in how they saw things, these Four Philosophies became increasingly intertwined through the years, with each of them making use of others' discoveries. They were always at the forefront of technological pioneering, each one of them focusing on a certain part of a research project or the universe around them. They were quite intricate things: Not only did they represent a specific set of beliefs, some of which were shared, but they also represented technologies, unique developments. Their way of thinking was firmly represented in the products they forged, the discoveries they made.

As for Civitatem Lucis? Apparently the name meant City of Light in Latin and it was the only surviving human government. The others have died somewhere around 2150 A.D., which was more than seven thousand years ago.
 
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That... made a lot more sense than the dictionary's entry. While it still remained a concept far from her upbringing and history, it wasn't nonsense. Far from, it made a lot of sense to the tiny woman. She pulled out a notepad and jotted some notes down—things she'd have to tell her mother when she returned home—not to see if her mother would copy the technology, but to see what would happen if this sort of philosophy could be useful for her mother's slowly-growing empire, and because her mother had an interest in these sorts of things—strongly-held beliefs backed by science.

Her pencil slowed, and she typed her mother's name into the computer.

As she should have known, no results.

Her mother did not exist in this world's history. She glanced at the three briefly, then bit her lower lip as red eyes followed her fingers as she typed. 'What happened to Earth?' and hoped the syntax was correct. She typed in ónic, hoping to practice it a bit more. Spelling was easy, thankfully.

Was Earth... gone? Was it simply not the place she'd happened upon? Though she didn't like or dislike Earth, it was her home, even a foreign Earth like this world would have. Her stomach churned as she finished typing and sent the request.
 
After Jade had finished typing those words in, the computer worked for a few moments before it found the relevant page and displayed absolute horror. All Jade could see was that the planet once labeled Earth, the nursery of all life had turned into a radiation-filled machine graveyard with heaps of scrap large enough to be visible from orbit. Gone were the vibrant oceans that had once coloured the planet and there was not the slightest tidbit of green visible. Even worse, according to the entry that she was browsing, humans had almost annihilated themselves some time in the first few decades of the twenty-first century, resulting to the liberal use of nuclear weapons.

Records of Earth's history were very sparse, too. From the few tidbits on the page, Jade could gather that there had been two other human governments beside Civitatem Lucis, the Central-Asian Organisation for Peace and the Independent Space Research Initiative. But even the entry itself stated that because of later events, most historians could only speculate as to what really happened on the planet of humanity's origin. And as for later events?

If Jade read further, she would see a picture worth a thousand words. It was a non-scaled model of the Solar System, except it was wrong. Pluto and Charon were completely gone. Uranus had been shattered into pieces. Neptune was a quarter of its former size. Saturn's ring was now nothing more than randomly-flying debris. Jupiter's many moons have been stripped away save for a handful of asteroids. Craters littered Mars. And all around the Solar System were wrecks of primitive human efforts of exploring space, gutted to the bone, their insides spread all over. Space stations flew in orbit of the Earth, their structures clearly shattered by some form of alien weaponry.

All of this crowned by the name of an alien species: rahn'fehr. The ones responsible for this level of devastation.
 
What little color there was faded from Jade's face as red eyes widened. Her hands shook as she took a step away from the display. Rapidly, she covered her mouth as her neck lurched, but she held it in, even as tears threatened. That was her home, shitty as Earth could be, with its bad politicians, its war-mongering nations, and her own obnoxious mother. She swallowed past the vomit that threatened and waved a hand through the display, trying to make the images go away.
 
It did not take too long for Ríváné to notice that something was wrong with Jade, or rather, something was wrong with the way she was behaving. Then it took even less time for her to recognise the obvious signs of fear mixed with grief, so she excused herself from the company of soldiers to venture over to her guest in order to try to guess what the problem was, as to why the small woman was acting as if she wanted to wave the holographic screen away. Or maybe, she just wanted to back off for some reason. Upon arriving, however, the only thing that the songweaver could note was that Jade was looking up information about Earth along with the old Solar System, which was no good cause for the expression on her face right now.

Then, in a flash, she remebered. Jade had said she was from Earth.

Ríváné's colourful eyes widened as she took the holographic screen further away from Jade, then she brushed her guest's shoulders casually in order to shift her focus away from her emotions to herself. Of course, she was not sure what to say or what to do with someone who just faced the fact that her home was destroyed. She tried to summon soothing words regardless.

"It was hard for Civitatem Lucis to abandon Earth too, Jade," she said, clearly unsure of what she was saying. "But our home will eventually heal. It was not destroyed, so there is still hope." Left unsaid was the fact that there was no hope for many other planets which had been the target of the rahn'fehr, but Ríváné's guest did not need to know that. At least not yet. If she looked up the species which had destroyed humanity's home, she would be faced with their cruelty along with their insanity.
 
Wide, red eyes stared up at Ríváné, startled by the sudden intrusion into her grief. "Earth was- Earth is-" She cut herself off. Jade couldn't say it, even in her native language. She lowered her gaze and hugged herself. "Even though... Even though I know that isn't -my- earth because my mother never lived there..." She trailed off as her own throat choked the English words. She both wanted to be hugged, and wanted not to be touched. She especially wanted a hug from her three parents... but also to kick her mother in the shin and yell at her, since she could prevent this in their own world, she was sure.

She fell silent as she realized she was babbling in English, and switched to ónic. "Sorry." She forced herself to take a deep breath. "I was not expecting that." She tried to control her shaking, to force her emotions back firmly under her control, but even though she managed her typical cool expression, her shaking and constricted throat gave her away. "My mother... My mother never even existed in this universe. Why am I so upset about an Earth that isn't even mine?" She slowly looked back up at Ríváné, red eyes jerking around the other woman's face, trying to read her expression. "Why are emotions so stupid?" Her throat closed, and she lowered her face as she closed her eyes as tears began to overcome her control.
 
Jade had started speaking in English and though Ríváné had no idea about the language at all, the tone along with the small woman's expression told her everything she needed to know. Jade was grieving for Earth, the ancestral planet of humanity which had been lost to the rahn'fehr when humanity first encountered their kind. The songweaver naturally wanted to give some comfort to her guest, so she reached out to gently support the small woman's shoulders with one of her hands as she was not sure how anything else would be welcomed. As it had been demonstrated earlier, the difference between their cultures was extremely hard to bridge and Ríváné did not want to cause Jade any harm or upset her even further.

Then, when Jade finally started speaking properly, there was a barely noticeable change in the room which made Ríváné frown. They had arrived all too soon. She could not even attempt to calm the small woman down in such a short time, not to mention that from the way she had been talking, it became apparent that Jade really believed her own story despite its impossibility.

Ríváné's arms folded upon each other, her dominant hand touching her throat in discomfort at this situation. She was definitely not good at reassuring completely foreign people; she knew what she would have to say to a citizen of Civitatem Lucis, but this was completely beyond her capabilities! Hopefully, she could still calm Jade down by quoting the philosophy that she was a follower of.
"Emotions are not stupid, because they form a large part of what makes us human. You are sad because you saw that the rahn'fehr destroyed your home and left it in ruins. I would also cry if I saw this planet die, because it is my home and I am attached to it, even though I am not the Ruler of Abevr." Ríváné was trying to keep her voice gentle as she voiced her opinion on emotions as they were seen from the perspective of her Song, which were pieces of sage advice as far as she was concerned. "The important part of emotions is to feel them in the right places and the right times, to be aware of them."

A pause. Ríváné let her words sink in for a few seconds before her arms unfolded from her position to brush Jade's shoulder again in order to get her attention.
"I wish I could talk to you about it, but we arrived. Are you ready to talk to Two-Stars-Weeks-Away?" Of course, no one could be ready for their first time in the presence of a soundmason, but it was polite to ask. Not to mention that Ríváné wanted her guest to be in command of herself when she first encountered the Ruler, because the experience would be quite overwhelming.
 
Jade listened, using Ríváné's speech as something to concentrate on, something that her mind could cling to as she pulled herself slowly from the murky depths of despair. She shuddered. "I... I believe I need a few moments and a drink, please." Her shoulders shook, and she compressed both her lips between her teeth to try to keep herself in reality, away from her emotions.

Emotions were fine... but this wasn't the place or time. "I want to look at my home before we go..." It would probably tire her, but being so overtaken by her own emotions made her chest hurt and her face burned as every part of her tiny frame shook. She lifted a hand and drummed each finger against the pad of her thumb, and a small portal appeared, and then grew, showing from a distance, a lush green and blue planet, viewed from above. Staring at it, Jade's tremors slowly ceased as she looked at the familiar continents and imagery. She looked from the window of a space station, and tear-clouded eyes could see the dark places where the ocean was deepest, and the Sahara, and she could even see the slow approach of darkness as day passed toward night on parts of the Earth.

Jade wiped at her cheeks, then looked up at Ríváné, who she felt certain was growing impatient by now. "A little longer?" She looked back at the oval-shaped portal, barely as large as her head. Another drumming of her fingers, and the portal shimmered, and then disappeared. Jade wiped her eyes on the edge of her sleeves, then looked up at Ríváné. Her fingers felt like ice. "I... Are my eyes red?" She paused, then gave a short laugh. "Not the..." She shook her head. "Around the edges?" She forgot 'iris'. The words came out half-choked as she fought to control her emotions, to force them back into submission. This wasn't the time, nor was it the place, nor did she... really trust anyone present with something she considered so secret and exposing.
 
A few minutes and a drink were completely acceptable and expected. Though there was an expression of extreme dissatisfaction on Kámír's face because he obviously thought himself above the task, Ríváné simply nodded to her charge before she approached Aranam and exchanged a few words with him. The rather large man took some time to agree, but it was worth it: When Ríváné returned, she had in her hand a bottle of water. The bottle would have to be discarded of course, however, everything depended on Jade's stability.

"Take your time, Jade," said Ríváné as she handed the bottle to the small woman before the portal was ripped into space and time, causing everyone who could see the image to gasp. Impossible. Pictures like that only existed in history books that displayed the little data which people managed to save before the rahn'fehr attacked. For Jade to display something so casually without the use of any technology that Ríváné could see, it was... rather hard to believe. When the demonstration first occured, she had thought that it was a trick of some kind, but the shocking picture of Earth when it was still alive left many things to consider. Amongst those was the possibility that World was indeed right and there were multiple universes.

Incredulous silence filled the room as countless theories went through everyone's minds. Kámír was even about to stand up in order to demand answers from the tiny woman, except that Ríváné recovered first as it was expected from a follower of the Song philosophy. A mere look from her was enough to force the man back into his seat before he could do anything as rash as seizing Jade by her shoulders or something along those lines. The small woman needed space right now to compose herself, not attempts on her life or a flood of questions that would leave her dazed.

"I think you look fine, Jade," answered Ríváné after she had taken a look at the small woman. Of course, her eyes were reddened from the crying, but that did not matter in the presence of a soundmason. There were far more important things to worry about. "Take your time. You need to be well if you want to speak with Two-Stars-Weeks-Away. If you think you are ready to go, tell me and I will give the command."
 
Jade offered brief, but honest thanks for the water and took a sip, then wiped at her eyes again as she used a long drink to try to make her breathing go back to normal and open her throat.

She didn't even notice the expressions on those around her, at least not immediately. She took another long drink. "I am sorry." Her voice was normal again—normal for her, at least. Almost monotone and soft-spoken, she said each syllable clearly. The tightness remained in her throat, but it didn't feel as strangling, and its effect on her speech didn't seem too severe. "I am not usually so emotional..." She trailed off and took another drink.

A deep breath, another drink, and another wipe at her eyes, and finally, she felt enough of her tremors had stopped that she could at least walk straight. "I think I am ready." She took one last sip of her water, then looked around, uncertain if manners here were to leave it somewhere here, take it with her, or throw it out.

Ríváné's weird gesticulations she made sometimes didn't help much. She knew 'frustration' but... the rest were still a mystery. Something to ask about later. She forced herself to concentrate on the world and situation at hand. "I am ready."
 
It took quite some time for Jade to calm down, which meant that Ríváné had to glare at Kámír several times in order to stop him from doing something monumentally stupid, offensive, insulting, degrading or all of the former combined. The songweaver had made it clear to both of her subordinates that any sort of interruption would not be tolerated, because her guest needed the time to emotionally stabilise in order to be able to face Two-Stars-Weeks-Away. Therefore, any time that she took was an acceptable delay that Ríváné would inform the Ruler about the moment they arrived. She knew that the Ruler would understand it.

She would have lied if she said that Jade giving the go-ahead was not a moment of relief, though, so as soon as Kámír and Aranam gathered around her on her command, she started speaking ránei again. Expanded Boundaries recognised her command, which resulted in a section of the floor falling away from them, leaving the four people on a square-shaped platfrom that started to descend at a moderate speed. And it was then that Jade realised that they were quite far up in the air. The tips of skyscrapers were below them, at least a couple of hundred meters down. Fortunately, they would not have to descend all the way to the ground as there was a wide, metallic plateau below them, clearly made for landing spacecraft judging by the countless scorch marks that littered its surface.

Then, it became obvious that the landing pad was attached to a gigantic structure. Far wider and taller than any other building which Jade had seen before, the extremely robust, sectioned construction was composed of three towers tightly joined to what seemed like a rather large central column. Its purpose was probably to provide support for the entire building and while that might make sense, the lack of windows most certainly did not. Nor did the fact that upon closer inspection, the whole thing was made out of armour plating, some of which had seen better days. Hell, there were even turret emplacements on it along with weapons that Jade could not even hope to recognise, making it look as if it was a spaceship made for extremely long journeys.

Before Jade could even as much as contemplate as to what something like that was doing in the middle of a large city, a strange feeling hit her. Though she could not associate any of her senses with it except for the reaction that it made in her brain, she got the distinct feeling that this was more than just a simple machine. There was an identity to it, some sort of agency that she could only attribute to a living being that had the intelligence of a human or greater. Thus, she had to be facing something like that, right? She felt as if she was staring at something that eclipsed her by several orders of magnitude. It was a subtle feeling, almost intangible, but it was definitely there.

Her attention was turned away from that subtlety when at the moment of landing, a tall fence sprung up on the edge of the landing pad, thickly woven and high enough to prevent accidents or suicides. Judging by the lack of reaction from Ríváné along with her companions, this was completely normal, most likely a safety precaution added to it just in case.
"This way, please," said the songweaver as she stepped off from the landing gear along with her escort, then she headed towards an opening on the building's central column that had not been there before, or maybe Jade had been too far away to notice it. Speaking of things to be noticed, up this close, Jade would definitely see a very strange symbol on the structure, right above where the door had opened for them.

Simple Abstract.png


It was a simple symbol forged into the metal of the structure, but it seemed to be important. The design of the armour plating around it emphasized it quite intently, directing Jade's eyes towards it. For a second, it even felt as if her eyes were a compass driven astray by a magnet. That sensation disappeared quite quickly and was replaced by an instinct that told her something important was near by, felt the same way as she had felt the presence of a living being before. It was born within her mind instea of a sense she was familiar with, yet she could tell that it was definitely there. In fact, the two presences seemed to amplify each other and when the group stepped into the building, they became absolute certainty. And as if it was thinking on its own without her permission, Jade's brain realised the conclusion before the small woman herself.

She was standing within a soundmason. As a matter of fact, this entire building was the soundmason.

Unfortunately, her escorts did not allow her to contemplate the implications of this discovery and within second, she found herself in a rather spacious, silver-coloured chamber that seemed to go against every design principle she had seen so far. Angular, harsh, monochromatic and grandiose, it was the exact opposite of the house she had spent her time in before. That was unfamiliar, but soothing. This was both completely alien and oppressive. Jade's eyes could not find even an ounce of comfort within this place. Then, as her eyes wandered, they found the throne along the opposite wall. There was a man sitting on it, but before she could make out his features or the details of the throne, everything went to hell.

"||\\\\\\/=_|\_||\\\__/||//||\\|__|||\\|_||=_||_=\\//||||\\\/_||_\\_|\\_| _|\_\_|_\\//\\//=_||_=|||\|__|=\\___|\_|__|_\/_|_|_|_|||_||_||_|_|| |||\\\_|___||||\\\/|_||\\|__|=|\/||_||||||\/\/||\\\\_|\\\/|\/|\\__=||//\_|__|\__|\_=|_||\_\_ ||\\\\\/=||\\\\__||\\=\\//||||\\\/_|\_|_|_|__|_||_|_||=\/|_|||\\\_|___||||\|__| \\__||\\_\\||_|_\__/___||_\____||_|__|\__|\_=||\\_\\|/||\||\\___|=|_||||\\\\__=_||_ |__|\\\/||\\\\__|||\\__//||\=||\\\\__\\//||\\\\_|."

A symphony of harmonious cacophony which carried an incredible melody filled the entire room, only to explode into something beyond comprehension. Not one of the sounds were familiar to Jade, but they reminded her of when she had heard Ríváné speak ránei for the first time. Only that in this instance, it was completely overwhelming and it was not a sense of command conveyed to her, but something that she could not put into words. It was something utterly incomprehensible to her mind, something that she had never before felt in her life. It was as if her entire body had turned into an instrument to something that was much greater than her as every fibre of her being was forced to listen to the masterpiece which unfolded.

It was magnificent. Yet at the same time, it was unspeakably terrifying. The sounds reverberated through her, completely shattering her sense of self, then replacing it completely with something absolutely alien. Suddenly, her head felt completely empty while her spine gained an unusual emphasis as if it was the organ responsible for understanding what her senses told her, senses which have somehow multiplied manifold. Of course, she could not understand any of these new sensory inputs that flooded her body and yet she was completely in control of them. She knew what they meant. She knew how they conveyed their messages. She knew everything that she needed to know. At the same time, she was absolutely clueless as to what she was feeling.

Sound became smell became touch became taste became a sight to behold. A kaleidoscopic whirlwind bloomed in Jade's identity, sending ripples through all four parts of her being as described by Civitatem Lucis' Four Philosophies. Her self became aware of another self which belonged to something indescribably great and she soon realised that she was facing a soundmason. Surely, her existence was completely insignificant to such a strange being that existed far beyond her comprehension, but at the same time, she could not help but be faced with her own worth. She was a unique individual, a demi-human who had faced many challenges in her life. She was someone who kept on fighting despite her shortcomings. She was someone who had stared down horrors beyond horrors. She was someone who mattered.

What a strange duality. Jade felt that she was a speck of dust in the wind who was a giant amongst her own kind. This feeling created a subtle disharmony in her sense of self that was left ignored at first because it did not seem important. Naturally, that small fault of ignorance turned out to be her downfall as by the time she checked the infection again, it had became a cancer which devoured her body. At the exact moment of this realisation, Jade's senses suddenly overwhelmed the imagery she had been bombarded with and she found herself slammed back into reality.

She no longer felt áratidéfíl.

Instead, she felt a sense of emptiness and awe. Logically, she should have felt fear after the overwhelming experience that seemed to last hours despite it taking only a split second. It was definitely a memory which would last a lifetime and leave its mark upon Jade for as long as she lived, but it was not a traumatic experience. She could not find the words to describe it at all, as even though it should have chilled her to the bone, she had felt safe while it happened. There was definitely something protecting her from the unstoppable thunderstorm that had washed through her, something that was there to shield her from harm. Without that, she would have been traumatised for life, but that layer of protection turned an infinitely horrifying experience into a magnificent beauty.

Now if only her body and her senses would be so kind as to recover from the shock and no longer burden Ríváné's arms...
 

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Jade trembled, staring ahead with wide eyes. Everything about her reeled and struggled. She'd never had anyone or anything go that deep into her, and even the protections granted by her older brother did nothing in the face of this experience.

She thought for sure it'd just be a scan and everything would be fine, but no... This was like being taken apart in a whirlwind and each part of her examined and returned together by a force she could only compare to a true deity, something above... anything else. She might have been the multiverse, but this being's mind treated her being like a toy. She'd just been violated... and liked it. She felt both dirty and awed.

No words came to her mind, but thoughts raced through her as she tried to understand and comprehend the experience. Even with experience from going to thousands of worlds in her 44 years, she'd never encountered anything even remotely similar. Her mind refused to comprehend, and her body refused to move for several long moments.

After what was to Jade an eternity, she slowly forced herself upright. She'd planned to give the salute, announce herself, and talk things over, but now, her mind could only concentrate on the fact that she wasn't even able to stand. Her legs slowly began to force themselves under herself properly. As the soles of her boots found the floor and she used that to push herself upright, she finally looked up at Ríváné, and then towards the being on the throne.

She could barely remember what topic she'd wanted to talk to the Ruler about so badly.
 
Ríváné did not seem to be burdened, surprised or even affected by the experience at all. She had been standing strong on her own two feet despite the intensity of the images which Jade recieved and she did not seem to mind supporting her at all. She had been expecting this reaction, because the same thing happened to her when she first visited a soundmason to speak to them. She was not the one here who was expected to talk, however, so she kept quiet when Jade looked up to her. She only gave the woman an encouraging smile to show that she was not alone, then her guest stood up.

"I apologise for that experience." A strong, rather low voice cut through the air as the man on the throne stood up, revealing his body to Jade along with the fine details of the throne he had been sitting upon until now. She could immediately tell that this was a man of high station as his posture was nothing less than perfect, his voice was carefully measured and there was this subtle presence around him that commanded her to look at him. Perhaps it was a remnant of her experience, or maybe it was because the gravitas with which the man moved, but 'royal' was definitely the first adjective with which Jade could describe him. The second was 'unusual', as it was to be expected of someone who was a member of Civitatem Lucis.

As for his appearance, he seemed to be a human with naturally purple hair and steel grey eyes which paired with a soft face. At first glance, he did not seem like he could kill even a fly, but upon closer inspection, there were impressions on his face which suggested cold, ruthless logic lying under the kindness. The garments he were wearing reinforced that belief. Painted purple and black in sectioned instances to highlight its segmented nature, the plates were beautifully crafted alloy, forged to protect him without limiting his mobility. Subtle depressions of stars, lines and circles had been hammered into it a long time ago, showing only when the light shined on them. It was a pretty sight to behold, but at the same time, the armour reminded one that the man standing before them was of paramount importance.

"If you wish to speak, you may choose to wait until the effects of your first encounter settle. Until then, allow me to share my station and my name: I am Ruler Jarasiv Máté and they," he said, using ónic's gender-neutral third person pronoun as he touched the back of his throne with his hand, "are soundmason Two-Stars-Weeks-Away. We welcome you to Abevr." The man regarded Jade with a patient, forgiving gaze as she collected herself, but he was watching her closely. She had gotten the soundmason quite excited about herself and Máté could feel through Two-Stars-Weeks-Away that she was something completely different that they had never place before. It was no wonder then that the first time she appeared, she proved a scientific theorem right with nothing but her identity.
 
Jade stared at the man for several moments as he approached and introduced himself and... the throne? No. The building. The Soundmason. Mason as in... stonework? Suddenly it made sense. The Soundmason name was a pun. A Father-damned pun. A small smile appeared on her face. "So... Two-Stars-Weeks-Away is the host that I felt upon entry." She spoke in the local language, a bit of a laugh to her tone, though without any derision. "It is a pleasure to meet you both, Soundmason Two-Stars-Weeks-Away and Ruler Jarasiv Máté." She fell quiet for a moment.

It as only polite to introduce herself, even if she thought they probably already knew her name. "I am..." She didn't know the word, so went with what she did recall. "Representative Jade Mortimer-Senate from a universe where Earth is in 2066 C.E. and my mother rules over much of Earth. The hospitality of this place has been exceptional. Your universe that I have seen so far has been beautiful and staggering." She spoke with slightly less monotone than her norm, likely due to being rattled, though her pitch and emphasis seemed more based on English's fluctuations than ónic's. She still felt rattled, though the pun she'd just discovered, intentioned or not, did help pull her from the intensely rattling experience.

The hand sign was completely forgotten, but she kept her eyes on the Ruler. Thus far, this was far, far from what she'd expected. She could only go with the situation and hope not to be washed away.
 
So did the soundmason's insight tell Máté. She really was from a completely different place, a different universe which was still in its infancy in some aspects, but also ahead of this one in others. Uniting most of the Earth so early under the rule of a single person was quite a feat as far as the historical experts are concerned, because records indicated that humanity's home used to be ruled by a mixture of countries that were always at each other's throats. To calm such a conflict down when no one could in Civitatem Lucis' history was a feat worthy of noting and so was the fact that the Ruler was lucky to meet a representative from this place. It even occured to him that Jade had been sent here on purpose to establish contact with them, as unlikely as it was.

"It is also a great pleasure to meet you, Jade Mortimer-Senate. We are a representative of the planet Abevr ourselves, but we do not carry authority over Civitatem Lucis." The shift in Máté's speech was notable as he started speaking again. While previously, he was using his own words, Jade got the feeling that he was interpreting right now on the behalf of the soundmason, but at the same time, he was also speaking his opinion. It was an interesting feeling, especially when it joined hands with the subtle reminder that she was in the presence of something much greater than herself, a being that was completely alien to her senses and yet it was protective of her small self.

It seemed that áratidéfíl had touched Jade without the overwhelming imagery this time.

"To understand our purpose and our place in this society, think of us as a neutral ground where the Four Philosophies meet without any hostility. We may not command great forces, but our word is valued and our insight is unique on this planet. If you have any questions to ask about ourselves or perhaps Civitatem Lucis, do so now, because there is much to discuss if you are indeed a representative of your Earth." There was no disbelief or skepticism in Máté's voice as he spoke to Jade. He completely acknowledged her as the resident of another world, a reality beyond the reach of his people's technology and did so without any questions whatsoever, which was probably a surprise after Ríváné's disbelief. But he, along with the soundmason seemed to genuinely believe Jade's story as if they had some confirmation that she was telling the truth.