Aligned

A shared goal? I couldn’t imagine what possible goals we could share. He’s waging a war on Yste I’d assume. Our objectives couldn’t be more apart. I wanted to say as much, so much so that I nearly started to open my mouth, but stopped. No, I can’t do anything to antagonize them. I’m still alive because I’m useful.

The Commander turned back towards a small chest on a table at the side of his chair. He searched around for a brief moment before returning to me with something in hand. Opening his hand, he presented a familiar looking object. It was a triangle of similar size and shape to the one I bore, but rather than a band around it had a circle within the center and a detailed relief on the surface. Pits and dots covered it almost like a landscape trying to convey mountains and valleys.

This was a symbol that I wasn’t familiar with and had a higher degree of craftsmanship to the design. The Ministra symbol I carried was simplistic in comparison. If it was even supposed to be a Ministra symbol. I hadn’t heard of other regions or kingdoms having different representations. Though I guess I don’t really travel around, so I wouldn’t know.

“We’re both seeking Her.” That would confirm it then. But what does he want with Ministra? “You find that hard to believe, Speaker?” I leaned back a little as if that would be enough to make it more different for him to read my expression. I was far too transparent. “We aren’t here for what you’re imagining.” I don’t know, I’ve imagined quite a few scenarios watching you from a distance.

He closed up his hand, taking the object away. They sat down in the chair looking a little more relaxed, even if scary. “Ministra’s word this year spoke to us. It was proof that we had to act. She only sees everything ending because we have stopped respecting and revering Her properly. People have fallen to decadence and sloth. We don’t give worship to Her and so She saw fit to remove us.”

As he began to explain his rationale, I sat up properly. While I’ve already heard many different ways to interpret the prophecy, it was surprising to continue to find new ones. Though the way he approached it had some worrying tones.

“We came here to restore Origin and pay proper worship to Ministra as proof that we are still worthy of Her.” Restore Origin? It’s a divine artifact created by Ministra lost to the ages. How do you think you’re going to be able to restore it? That’s not possible. To even consider it would be arrogance.

But more surprising was that they knew Origin was here. I guess they had some sort of text or historical tale to its location? It can’t be that surprising to have different versions or pieces of it spread around, if I thought about it. The thought that they might have a clue to it, brought me to attention. “You know the location of Origin?”

He let out a telling sigh. “No, neither do you, it seems. Which is why you should work together with us.”

“Together? I’m not part of your military or kingdom.” Dammit, I just reacted. I should have kept that to myself. Though it wasn’t the worst thing I could say. He’s not going to execute me for something like that, right? Right?

“But you’re a Speaker, you have a duty to find Origin and properly show your devotion to Ministra.” That’s not why I’m doing it. But his eyes told me that it didn’t matter how much we fought over nuance.

I really shouldn’t work with him. They’re the military and I don’t know what they truly plan to do with the knowledge, if we can find it. However, I don’t think he’s going to let me just go free. And even if he did, it’d have to keep clear of them. Working together might be the only option I have to peacefully find Origin and not deal with the threat of attack.

Turning a little to look off to the side of the tent, my mind thought to Yste. We were still in their territory and they had been fighting already. How would it look if they found me with the Searc military. I’d be executed, again.

This felt like a no win situation. Every choice was bad. And the paths only lead to a different sort of destruction. What was the right choice?

Looking back at the man, it almost felt like he had a smirk on this face, though there wasn’t one present. He knew that he had the control and I could only follow. This shouldn’t be how we find Origin, marching in with soldiers. It doesn’t matter how faithful they might be, She would not approve of such barbaric actions upon sacred ground. Would She strike all of us down? Does She do that? She’s never directly interacted with us as far as I’m aware, but could She?

As new questions spiraled through my mind, I heard a thump of a hand. My eyes refocused back to the Commander. He had enough of my silence. An answer needed to be delivered. I closed my eyes for a moment. ‘Please look after me. I only act to understand and know Your will. Forgive me, if You can.’ Facing the man, I stood up trying to firm up my stance. Everything still shook, but I could stand. “I’ll join you.”

“It is the logical action.”

I don’t know about that, but I still nodded in agreement. I would need to be friendly even while holding my suspicions.

“Now that you’ve accepted my offer. Let’s be honest with each other, yes?” He stepped down from the chair and moved over to a chest off to the side of the tent. I watched him with interest. I’ve been honest, just withheld information. What does he want from me? From the chest, he retrieved a rolled leather.

He approached the table at the center of the tent and pushed a few things aside with the roll. Then he pulled at the binding string to unfurl it. Spread out over the length of the surface, I could see that it was a map. Moving a little closer to examine it, it had more accuracy than the one I carried. Pointing down at the Wastes, he directed me to where I had seen the army before. “We’ve searched much of the east here and began working westward. You were found here.”

The ruins were even marked on the map, though not as ruins but Fort Claset. I wonder how old the map was if it had fortifications that were still active. But I couldn’t think too long about it as he looked at me for a response. Right. “Yes, I came in from the west. I stayed west and north searching those areas for clues.”

“What were you using as your basis for locating Entif?”

I glanced back to my pack. There was little that I had to work from, but what we shared so far was nothing new. Apart from the battlefield, I already knew why they were lingering so long in the east based on his previous statements. And they knew where to find me, so it was just a good deduction to know what I had searched. The only thing we didn’t know was the coverage we reached. He was looking for some real honesty. Something he doesn’t know yet. Do I tell him?

It’s not as though it’ll give them much more to work from. From what I estimate the map wasn’t from the Ganiza era, which would have been the most useful. It was after the creation of the Wastes, but from the time of conflict. This might be what they were using as their evidence to Entif. It’s about as tenuous as my archival text.

But he expected an answer. We had agreed to work together. “A historical text from the Berthon library described Entif and Ganiza. For as much as use that is in present day. The environment’s changed too much.”

“Yes, none of our records date far enough back and anything else was passed through oral tradition. The accuracy has long since faded.”

“What have you been using? Why did you even know it's somewhere here?”

“Searc came from a branch, the step-brother to the Last King Elest. Much of the history was lost to time, but it’s always been said that our home was here. We just never knew exactly where. This map was created during the Burning, but even it lacks information.”

I nodded staring over it for any information that might connect to what I knew. “It’s better than the map I have. I’ve been trying to locate any signs of the Yosten River.”

“Yosten? It’s in the north, or was coming down from the mountains here!” He knows the river? Does that mean we actually have a chance at this? What will they do when they find it? Is it even still there?

Why am I a little excited?