Title: FFXIV Write 2022 - 16. Deiform
Characters: Thancred Waters, Urianger Augurelt, Zoissette Vauban, Ryne, Gaia
Rating: Teen
Summary: Guessing at the shape of gods proves a troublesome pastime
Notes: None
All was not well deep in the heart of Eden as it hovered in the Empty.
Much work had already been done on restoring the elemental balance to the great expanse that had consumed much of the First. Water had been restored, and then Earth. Lightning, followed by Fire and Wind, the latter two of which were handled simultaneously. All of the elements of the wheel, save one, and how they were to go about restoring that remaining one was proving to be a source of conflict.
Zoissette frowned, looking at the notes she'd made in her codex. Nearby, she could hear the shouting of her comrades. Ryne, pitting her will against Thancred, as she tried to convince him that she should serve as the conduit for the element of Ice, much as Ysayle had served as the conduit for Shiva back on the Source. Urianger had seemed to oppose the plan at first, but had quickly come around. Gaia, oddly, was not contributing much, but did seem to be against the idea.
Two against two. Zoissette sighed. There was not nearly enough information here to form a coherent theory, and this was exactly the kind of murky metaphor and unclear conceptualization she was not very good at, but any moment now, they would call upon her for her advise, and she would have to give it.
She heard Thancred sigh, and braced herself.
"I've made my feelings on the matter perfectly clear, but what say you, Zoissette?" he asked.
She looked up to see four expectant expressions looking at her. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and tucked her codex away in favor of pulling out her logbook.
"It's a terrible idea," she said.
Ryne looked crestfallen, as she clasped a hand to her chest, while Thancred looked relieved, letting his arms fall to his sides.
Urianger... raised an eyebrow. She met his gaze, and nodded, ever so slightly.
"Well, glad that's settled then-" began Thancred, while at the same time Ryne said "But we've got to at least-" in protest, but both of them stopped as Zoissette held up a hand.
"It's a terrible idea, but I don't think we really have much choice in the matter."
Now it was Thancred's turn to protest, as he recrossed his arms.
"Whatever do you mean," he said.
"Well..." said Zoissette, tapping a finger to her lips, frowning as she began to pace. "Let's think back, shall we?
"This will be the sixth and final element we summon. Success here may mean life for the First, but Ryne's got the right of it - that only matters if we can trust Eden to be left to its own devices. It's influenced by all of us, but after this, we're going to have to trust it to itself, and in order to do that, we'll need to make sure we've shown it the right way."
"We'll still have control of it afterwards," said Thancred. "Perhaps we should see if we can get it right first before we start thinking about what to do in the long term."
"Right, right, and I don't disagree."
"Whatever are you getting at, then, Zoissette." said Thancred, his frown deepening.
Zoissette grimaced, and looked up at the ceiling, trying to settle her thoughts.
"Prithee, friend. Your counsel, wheresoever it shall lead, is most welcome," said Urianger.
She glanced at him, wondering briefly if he was guessing at what she was having a problem with or if he knew, but she let that thought go after a moment. Whichever it was, he wasn't wrong.
"Alright," she began, settling in for the real crux of her argument. "Let's think back to the elements we've already worked on, and go through them in order. Do you recall the first one, Ryne?"
Ryne held her knuckles to her chin, looking thoughtful. "That was Leviathan, wasn't it? The big two headed serpent under the sea."
"Exactly. Just so," said Zoissette, and how she began to flip through the pages of her logbook. "Only it wasn't quite right, was it? Or at least, that's not how I remembered the fight going. When I fought Leviathan, it had only the one head."
"Oh! Of course," said Ryne, but then she frowned. "But wait, that cannot be right. It must have grown another during your fight, I am sure of it."
"I was wondering about that," said Thancred. "But what of it?"
"Well, think about it," said Zoissette. "Ryne, why did you think it had two heads?"
"Well... I remember you describing your fight against it. You said that at first, it attacked you singularly, shooting at you with jets of water and lashing at you with its teeth... but then you said it began to attack you from two angles of attack, and that you and your comrades had to fight them both."
"Right. Two angles of attack... two heads," Zoissette said, as she made some notes in her book. "Only it wasn't two heads. It was its head we fought... but also its tail."
Ryne frowned. "That doesn't make much sense, though. How would a tail be any danger at all?"
"You can ask Klynt about that later," said Zoissette. "I want to move on to the next element we tackled, that of Earth."
"Of course," said Ryne. "And you fought Titan. Thancred had to help you with that story."
"It's not my fault," protested Thancred. "Zoissette is a lot of things, but a poet she is not."
Gaia laughed at that, and Ryne shot her a look.
"What? It's true. Back me up here, Urianger."
"While it mayhap be a matter of opinion, I doth believe our Lady Sette to be a woman who prefers the machinery of her symbolic representations, to the more subtle flows of metaphor and language true."
Zoissette nodded, as she tucked her logbook behind her for a moment, continuing to pace. "He's right, I won't dispute that. I'm more prone to stumbling over my words than being able to produce so much as a rhyme. Do you remember how you helped, Thancred?"
"Well, I can hardly be expected to keep track of every turn of phrase I invent," said Thancred, and his anger had dampened some, now engaged in trying to follow along with Zoissette's thoughts. He puts his hands on his hips as he looked off into the distance thoughtfully.
"Well, if I may say there is any shortcoming in your verse, it is usually in painting the fullness of a scene. You're passable at straightforward description, but you usually fail to capture fully all the senses of a scene. Why, in the case of Titan, I believed that you mentioned what the primal itself was like, but you did not mention the fullness of the sights, or the sounds that may have occurred. As I recall, I had to prompt you to make the landslide metaphor, and while I was not there myself, I have oft heard the tale of what it sounds like when Titan approaches."
"Right, right," said Zoissette. "And do you remember what you said about the sound?"
"Ah, yes... I may have let myself get lost in that one a bit. One moment while I try to remember. I believe I likened it to the sound of grinding stone and rending rock, a landslide of rolling stones, like mighty wheels turning beneath the earth. I was trying to impress upon Ryne what it may well have been like to have been there, as he must have bored his way through you and your compatriots like a drill, shoving away all that would face him off the face of the firmament."
Ryne smiled, and clasped her hands together while Gaia rolled her eyes.
"You are rather full of yourself sometimes," said Gaia.
"Oh, hush. It made Zoissette's story rather more exciting," said Ryne, and Thancred smiled, despite himself.
"Right. Mighty wheels. And drills," said Zoissette. "And that's what he had, wasn't it? Let's move on. Lightning, and the fight with Ramuh. That one you should have had rather more familiarity with, Thancred, as you've laid eyes on the Primal. Did anything strike you as odd?"
"You mean aside from the fact that he suddenly had the body of a horse? No, I thought that went rather more closer to what you've personally experienced than the others, at least going by what you've told me of your many tussles with primals."
"To say nothing of our frequent review of the materials thou and thine provide," said Urianger.
"Sure, sure. That one was close enough, as far as how much I remember the fight, but the body? Ryne, do you remember asking about storms?"
Ryne took a step back, surprised at being put on the spot.
"O-oh, right! You said that Ramuh was a lightning primal, and I had to admit that I don't think I've ever really seen a lightning storm. You tried to describe it, with the flashes of light and the rolling of thunder."
"The rolling of thunder," said Zoissette slowly.
Thancred looked interested, now, fully invested in the discussion. "What of it?" He asked.
"You don't remember her question to you about thunder?" asked Zoissette, and Thancred shook his head.
"I doth recall," said Urianger, tilting his head and tapping a finger to his temple.
"I thought it passing strange, at the time, but now I see whence it makes sense. She asked if the sound was like that of a stamped of horses, as she had read about them in a story tale book she had been allowed, that spoke of the thunder of hooves across plains."
"Do you see it yet?" asked Zoissette.
"I feel like I almost understand what you're getting at, but not quite," said Thancred, with a frown.
Ryne shook her head. "I don't understand either. Are you saying we've been getting them all wrong this entire time?"
"Not... quite," said Zoissette. "Let's talk about the last two. Fire and wind. Two elements at once, and I thought that might be one too many. More than Eden could handle. More than I could handle, maybe."
Thancred nodded. "Right... and I remember I had to step out to talk to Urianger for a moment while you two talked about the details. Let me guess, you screwed up the story, did you?"
Zoissette smiled thinly at Thancred before looking to Ryne. "...perhaps. What do you remember about them, Ryne?"
Ryne looked thoughtful again as she tried to remember. "I remember... you described Garuda, the Wind one, as hauntingly beautiful. You said some of the Sin Eaters reminded you of her, but that she had rather more feathers and wings."
Zoissette nodded. "Just so. And the other?"
"...you said Ifrit was big and tall, and it was made of fire and muscle and tendons, and, uhm, horns. I remember you pointed out the horns."
Zoissette pulled out her logbook, and frowned, looking at her notes.
"...do you remember me ever mentioning that Ifrit was basically an oversized lizard?"
Ryne shook her head. "What? No! I - I think I would remember something like that."
"And do you remember what you were thinking, when we brought them into being, while I was fighting them?"
"...well... I thought, maybe, that it was sort of like... like a marriage, you know, between the two elements. That the were so different, and yet so alike, with matching tempers. I remember thinking that they would argue a bit, but also, that they would still fight, just, you know, together as one, once joined."
Zoissette made a small noise, and wrote down a few notes. "I am not great with metaphors." she muttered to herself, before looking up at Urianger.
"What was it you said earlier, Urianger? I'm better with math than poetry?"
"In a manner of speaking," he replied.
"In a manner of speaking," said Zoissette. "In a manner of speaking."
"That's all of the elements we've contended with thus far," said Thancred. "Do you mean to point out that they have not all gone quite according to your memory? For we already knew that. I certainly hope you're not trying to blame Ryne for that."
"I am trying my best," said Ryne.
"Blame's not the right word, no, but you're close to the point I'm trying to make. Look at everything that's happened so far, Thancred. Now, one might be inclined to say that the divergence between what I remember and what we've encountered could be blamed on me - say, an unfortunate tendency to live with her head in the clouds, I believe someone may've said."
"Well, if I'd known you were listening..." said Thancred, and Zoissette rolled her eyes.
"But we both know my memory is quite good, and, uhm, well...I don't -think- I'm dumb. Certainly not mentally compromised. Uhm. Actually..."
Zoissette stopped and looked up at the ceiling again, suddenly feeling quite self-conscious.
"Yes, yes, you're very smart when you put your mind to it, no need to be modest about that. Well, out with it. What puzzle have you solved?" asked Thancred, and his tone was light. When she looked at him, she saw clear and continued interest on his face.
"Well... it's not me. Or rather, it's not just me, and it's not just this place. Eden responds to us, it's true, and it needs my memories, and I suspect it needs the lingering effects of aetheric influence that those primals have had on me, but it's more than that."
Zoissetted gestured at Ryne, and Ryne blinked, looking surprised, and pointed at herself.
"It's her," said Zoissette.
"I think it's kind of obvious at this point," said Gaia, as she glanced aside to Ryne. "What you're trying to say is that Ryne's influence helps drive this place. We already knew that, though."
"We did," said Zoissette. "But we're not -accounting- for it. Do you see now, Thancred? The stories that I tell her, and that you've helped embellish, and that Urianger has helped provide context for, they've shaped every encounter up until now. And what do you think the most salient aspect of the story of Saint Shiva is?"
"...that she was once your sworn enemy turned beloved friend, Ysayle Dangoulain," said Ryne, quietly.
Thancred fell quiet, and Zoissette looked at him.
"She was," said Zoissette quietly. "But no, Thancred, I don't like this plan any more than you. But I don't think it will work any other way. Because I believe - and correct me if I'm wrong - I believe that Ryne thinks it won't work any other way."
"How could it!?" burst out Ryne. "You two were so alike, light and ice, both born in that same place. You two were so close, and while you became the Warrior of Light, she became the Maiden of Ice. You've embodied the Light, just as she did Ice. How else could Saint Shiva live, if not through her?"
"How else indeed," said Urianger. "Thou mayhaps not have the skill at story of our blessed bard, but thou hast thine own gift of clarity at times. I myself had reached much the self same conclusions, but I see now I did not express myself sufficiently. Pray forgive me, my friends, but I believe Zoissette has the right of it, and has put to words what counsel I hath failed to provide sufficiently."
Thancred frowned. "So wait, then. What are you saying. Are you telling me that we have to go along with this crazy plan? Is that it?"
Zoissette walked over to place a gentle hand on Thancred's shoulder, and she did not begrudge him the blistering glare he gave her.
"I think so. Like I said, I don't like this any more than you do... but I don't think we have much of a choice. Perhaps I could go back to the Source, try to find another summoned primal that happens to be aspected to the element we need, and come back here, and try to tell its story. But that would take time you and Urianger don't have. And in the meanwhile, the First continues to wobble along, unbalanced."
Ryne clasped her hand in front of her, and looked towards Thancred, her expression pleading, but she remained silent.
Thancred crossed his arms, and turned away. After a few moments, he began to laugh to himself.
"Minfilia. Shtola. Her impetuousness. You, and now even Ryne. Is there no shortage of stubborn women in my life who seem hells bent on self ruination?"
Zoissette smiled softly at him.
"Women who are lucky to have you in their life," she said quietly. "Women who would do well to be grateful for your support, and are. But also women who do not necessarily need your protection, least of all from themselves."
She gave his arm a squeeze, and he reached up to touch her hand, and squeeze it back, returning her smile.
"...I suppose you are right," he said.
Zoissette nodded at him, and he returned the gesture in kind.
"Though I must say, I don't understand how half the time you can be so insightful, knowing just the right things to say. And then the other half of the time you are just the daftest Elezen I know, and I'm friends with Urianger."
Urianger offered a bow in response, and Thancred snorted.
"If it matters," said Zoissette, "When we do this, I'll hold back as much as possible."
Thancred just shook his head before he looked to Ryne. "Ryne, I suppose that if you've got your heart set on this, there's no point trying to dissuade you. Just don't do anything reckless, is that clear?"
"As crystal!" said Ryne, excited now. "This is going to work, I promise. I'll make sure of it."
Zoissette smiled, and let go of Thancreds arm, taking a step back while the others fell into discussion about what needed to be done. As they spoke, she looked through her logbook once more, and grimaced to herself.
She may have been right, but that still left plenty of space for it yet to all go wrong.
