The Search For Kathea, A Leap Into The Divinity of Dragons

 The Search For Kathea, A Leap Into The Divinity of Dragons

     Rigmor: "Ok, what's next?"

     Iriisii: "Wha...Oh, sorry, just thinking about everything and nothing at all."

     Rigmor: "You are the only person, mortal or Goddess, that I know can make such a statement actually mean something. Now tell me what kind of 'nothing' is on your mind."

     Iriisii: "Really, I am just trying to let whatever is preying back there, surface and tell me what I need to do next."

     Rigmor: "So what is it telling you?"

     Iriisii sits down, a look of concern coming over her face. Rigmor sits in her lap and places an arm around the back of her neck. The fingers of the hand, attached to her other arm are slowly tracing Iriisii's lips.

     Rigmor: "That bad, huh?"

     Iriisii: "I don't know, that is what scares me."

     Rigmor: "We have been here before, you and I. Sometimes it was me who was scared, sometimes it was you, but we always made it through, did we not?"

     Iriisii: "Yes, we did. But never before have we gone so far as we might now, as I might have to go."

     Rigmor: "There it is. Do you think you may be getting so high, that you will leave the rest of us behind? Yes, you have been to places I could only dream about. But you have always returned, somehow, someway, you find your way back to me, like a bad penny!"

     Iriisii: "I do at that, don't I."

     Rigmor: "Now I know it is serious when you are like this. Come on, tell me."

     Iriisii: "When I called out to Shai-Hulu'ud, and he answered like he did. What he has done just because I asked. Who am I to command a being who can do what he can?"

     Rigmor: "You are someone he loves as his own daughter, that's who. You went back into his own memories, changed them, and gave him the power to deal with them in his own way once more, instead of being controlled by them, by what happened to him. You made it possible for him to reconcile who he was as a child, with what he would later become. How it was possible, I am sure I do not know. What he was carrying around inside of him that would change him so much when it woke up.

     But it is integral to who he is, that much is for sure. All of the questions we could ask, the answers would not likely mean anything to us. But they mean something to him and that is what matters, isn't it?"

     Iriisii: "Yes, you're right."

     Rigmor: "And hidden behind all of that is what really has you scared. The Draconic Divines, am I not right?"

     Iriisii: "Again, yes."

     Rigmor: "I am not going to say you do not have the right to be scared. No one remembers them, who they were, or what happened to put them where they are now. Much less what might happen if you bring them back, truly bring them back. Of course, we do not know the full consequences of what it means, not just to them but all of the others there as well. But have you thought that this might be why they went there in the first place?"

     Iriisii: "What do you mean?"

     Rigmor: "They went there so that you would come and give them a path to redemption, a path to return. No one else has done it in all of the time they have been there waiting. I cannot believe all that they could do was wait for an eternity to end and then hope the next Kalpa still has a place for them?"

     Iriisii: "What are you saying?"

     Rigmor: "You have already forged new paths to redemption for others where no path existed before. Why not a path for lost immortals?"

     Iriisii: "You really think that is possible?"

     Rigmor: "Well it is possible that we who were once mortal found a way to step into the world of the immortal, did we not? And somehow I do not think that the immortal would be chained to an eternal dream because of whatever happened that is their version of death? I think there should be a way they could be brought back. It is almost like someone is sidelining the competition. Getting them out of the way of something to come."

     Iriisii: "That sounds very plausible, but we are still going to have to make a leap of faith in order to find out."

     Rigmor: "And when have you let that stop you."

     Iriisii: "You are the one that goes leaping off of high cliffs into God's only know how much water below. And jumping off of other cliffs into trees to escape being chased, only to nearly open up your guts. So was it sheer, blind luck or divine intervention?"

     Rigmor: "Divine intervention, had to be. Too many things went right for it to be luck. I mean, one, that I lived through the fall. Two, Rose saw me fall and came to help. Three, Rose saw you and called out for help. Four, you heard her and came to see, even though Hadvar right in front of you did not hear anything. Have you ever wondered why that was? Five, you actually picked me up, carried me to Rose's boat, and then to her camp. Six, you helped get what Rose needed to care for me. Seven, when she asked you to sleep with her as payment for everything you did, you politely told her no. Believe me, I have no idea how you managed that, I almost think that part was sheer, blind luck. I mean she was so gorgeous and still is for that matter. If the situation were reversed I am not so sure I could have resisted."

     Iriisii smiles at Rigmor.

     Rigmor: "What? It's just the truth! But I guess the way things went gave you time to grow on me. I mean if she had not been captured by the Thalmor, taken to that prison, and escaped into Cyrodiil on her own. I mean who knows where we could have ended up if things had gone differently?"

     Iriisii: "You are so right. But it is what it is, it happened the way it happened, and I am not going to play the what-if game. I have you and all the others, our children. I am not going to wonder about what if this or that. I play the hand I have been dealt, if others see me as a puppet, well, in the end, are we not puppets of one sort or another? 

     We are guided by those above us, and in our case, as we rise up, we are also driven by the needs of those below us. With barely time to find out what it is that 'we' need in our own lives."

     Rigmor: "Well, I can tell you what I need in my life right now! And that is you! Come on, I want to look at the sunset from the top of the tower, just you, me, and the skies outside."

     Rigmor stands up, takes one of Iriisii's hands, and turns toward the stairway to the observation tower, she places Iriisii's hand up on her own shoulder, covering it with her own, and leads her up the stairs and out onto the deck. The sun is slowly sinking below the horizon, and the stars are beginning to wake and show themselves in the darkening sky. The hint of Masser rising soon in the east can be noticed. Kyne watching from her garden sends one of her children with a soft breeze, fragrant with the scent of her white flowers to sweeten the air around them.

     As the sweet scent reaches them on the gentle breeze, Rigmor leans into Iriisii, who wraps her arm around Rigmor's waist, pulling her close. and they watch the dying rays of the sun disappear, even as the light of Masser climbs up over the trees leaving gentle shadows everywhere.

     Rigmor: "Do you think we could put a fountain with a waterfall somewhere in the courtyard? The moonlight reflecting off of it would be so beautiful, don't you think?"

     Iriisii sends a thought to the Custodian, who sets the request in motion. It only takes a few moments to make it a reality. When the sounds of the water splashing down the rocks to the pool, a ring of smooth stones evening out the small waves as the water above splashes down on them. The reflecting pool's surface is mirror smooth as Masser's light reaches it and these two young Goddesses see into the depths reflected just for them.

     They see something but they are not sure what or even when the images are from. They see two figures looking into a fairly large round cistern pool enclosed in stone blocks. Iriisii recognizes the figures as Azura and Kyne. But where are they that they would be looking into a reflection pool, and who or what are they looking at?

     As she and Rigmor concentrate on what they are seeing, inside the image they are looking at. They see the image Azura and Kyne are seeing, two figures standing on top of a tower, looking down into a Fortress courtyard, into a pool of water reflecting Masser's light.

     Rigmor: "What in the...are they who I think they are? How is this happening? Where are they? Are they at the same time as we are?"

     Iriisii: "Someone is showing me something, perhaps in answer to a question I have had on my mind."

     Rigmor: "What question was it?"

     Iriisii: "Whether it was possible to save Nirn from destruction during the Fifth Era? The battle that destroyed our home, caused those who fled to seek sanctuary on Masser, to try and start again. What we are seeing is on Masser."

     Rigmor: "So there is no hope?"

     Iriisii: "Wait, look, the image with the image is moving."

     As they watch, they see the second image shift until Nirn comes into view. But there is something different here, Iriisii can almost but not quite make it out.

     Rigmor: "They are looking at us! But what does that mean?"

     Iriisii: "That perhaps there may be a way to stop the war that is going to crack our world into pieces, but as I consider this. I wonder what price would be asked, what changes would occur, and how would it affect what we have done and have yet to do? Is this going to be one of those things that horrendous as it is, should not be changed? Or is there a way...?"

     Rigmor: "What?"

     Iriisii: "The only way is to merge parallel time tracks so that more than one outcome is valid at the same time."

     Rigmor: "You mean another 'Dragon Break'?"

     Iriisii: "Yes. But there is so much I do not know about them or understand how they can be guided. But...?"

     Rigmor: "But what?"

     Iriisii: "What if one could be initiated and controlled?"

     Rigmor: "But wouldn't that require a tremendous amount of power to control so that it does not get loose and destroy everything? And how to pick just the right timelines that you want to merge?"

     Iriisii: "I can only think of one possibility here because it would have to be done for one Realm, all of Creation would be too much. But if anyone could do it...?"

     Rigmor: "You think the Draconic Divines could, don't you?"

     Iriisii: "And someone is planting that idea in my head, but why, and for what purpose?"

     Rigmor: "Well, I guess the only way we are going to find out is to go and bring them back, don't you think?"

     Iriisii: "It looks that way, but I feel this is more involved in something else. We may still need to bring them back, sooner rather than later, but I want to see what this may entail."

     A 'Voice on the Wind' echoes across the outside of the Fortress.

     Kyne: "Indeed, My Thunderchild, your senses are as sharp as a razor's edge. There is indeed an event of terrible implications building, and this one does not have its origins in our Realm or even our Creation."

     Iriisii: "Then it is from 'outside', somehow spilling over into our Realm?"

     Kyne: "Yes, it does impact the future of Nirn as you saw in the Fifth Era, and it involves a 'Dragon Break' as well."

     Rigmor: "Well that is just peachy! We cannot even get our own messes cleaned up without having to deal with even more from somewhere else!"

     Kyne: "An apt turn of words to describe this, for it does begin in alternate realities. A 'Dragon Break' is forming in one that threatens to spill over and involve our timeline, along with several others."

     Rigmor: "Then why not let the heroes from those timelines deal with it. Why do we have to get involved?"

     Kyne: "That is what Azura and I are trying to determine. If it originated in our Reality, our Jills would be able to deal with it. But because it is from a different Reality..."

     Iriisii: "...different metaphysical laws are present that negate their involvement."

     Kyne: "Just so, my Thunderchild. You see to one of the 'hearts' of this matter."

     Rigmor: "One? There are more?"

     Kyne: "Yes, we have been able to clear the 'Fog of War' that envelopes where this originates, just enough to gain a sense of what happened to bring this about. The implications are both frightening and astounding. This goes beyond our understanding of how the underlying forces work."

     Rigmor: "We can get into the 'underlying forces' later, who started this, why did they start it, and how are we going to do something about it?"

     Kyne: "Rigmor, terse and farseeing as ever. Thunderchild, you have thought about the question of what if your historical path took a different route among the many decision branches within our Reality? Think about the possibilities if a serious decision breech occurred in an alternate reality."

     Iriisii does as Kyne suggested and the thoughts she comes across cause her to stagger. Rigmor steadies her as she begins to fold.

     Rigmor: "What is it? What is so horrible to cause your reaction?"

     Kyne: "She sees what Azura and I saw. We would not speak of it, lest we drew attention before we are ready."

     Rigmor: What do you see, love, please, help me share your burden."

     Iriisii: "Rigmor, you know my past better than anyone else, what would I be like if I had never gotten loose from the Sinister Seven? But went on and took over command of them, and gained the power that I did from other sources than those I did? Went in a totally different direction?"

     Rigmor: "Oh my, by all the Nine! But what if..."

     Iriisii: Remember, Akatosh had a backup plan if I did not go along. What I wonder is if this had its beginning there. Instead of the path we took together, over there, we never came together, but instead somewhere down the line, we clashed. A unified Tamriel and its Empire, against whatever my alternate forged on the island continent where I was born.

     This is indeed beyond terrible. We need the Draconic Divines returned, with them we may be able to tip the scales once more, and at least break us away from that which threatens to draw us into its conflict."

     Rigmor: "What happened with the Tsaesci? Did they invade Tamriel?"

     Iriisii: "Somewhere they probably did. When this situation is arising, I suspect they faced my alternate self and lost. Now what my alternate self built is coming against Tamriel in that Realm, but what have they done to cause a Dragon Break? Especially one strong enough to draw us into it?"

     Azura: "Guardian, perhaps I can now shed some light on that. Your alternate has begun looking at the streams of time in her Reality. She saw the future destruction of her Nirn, and the weapon used to accomplish this."

     Iriisii: "And she is going after it before the one who caused the destruction of Nirn gets hold of it. Yes, if I had gone in that other direction, it is exactly what I would do. If it was so powerful to cause the destruction of a world, then nearly any other world when faced with that power would bend the knee to whoever possessed it. And if she is using the time streams to anticipate what each obstacle she faces is going to do and plans against it."

      Rigmor: "Then only an obstacle from outside her time stream's view can stand a chance to stop her. Not to mention the chaos her use of those time streams is causing. I take it her world does not have a force like the Jills that we have to attempt to repair the streams?"

      Azura: "In that Reality, they were captured and enslaved long ago in order to control the males. This happened during their 'Dragon Wars' period. But we do not see any benefit to simply isolating ourselves from this. If she is allowed to continue, she will breach into other Realities, and what then.

      When the next 'Dragon Break' happens then, will we be able to again isolate ourselves from it? And how many more will come until we are forced to deal with it because we can no longer isolate and ignore it. You know where it will likely come into our Realm from, and who will open the door to it."

     Iriisii: "Molag Bal!"

     Kyne: "Agreed, that is also how we see it. Akatosh is already marshaling the Jills to do what they can to delay this, to give you time to prepare. For if they come through and we join this 'break', it will be very much more difficult to deal with. Go and restore the Draconic Divines, what they have for you will aid you for what will come."

     Iriisii: "Who are they? I and no one else I has spoken to have any knowledge of them?"

     Kyne: "We know little as well, for they were gone soon after Mundas was created. But Magnus knows more, speak with him and see what he may impart to you."

     The voices of Kyne and Azura fade, and Rigmor is looking expectantly at Iriisii.

     Iriisii: "Now we must speak to Magnus it seems. That means a trip to Aetherius to find him, and hope he will see us."

     Rigmor: "He will. This situation will threaten him as well, so I think he will indeed see us."

     Yennefer holding the 'Staff of Magnus' quivering in her hands, "Magnus calls to us three. Do you know why he would do this?"

     Iriisii: "Yes, we know now why. Azura and Kyne have made us aware. And Magnus confirms the severity of what we were told."

     Yennefer: "Then take hold of his 'Staff' with me, and he will bring us into his presence."

     Rigmor and Iriisii each take hold of the 'Staff' and then they feel whisked away into the far reaches of Aetherius. They find themselves within a constructed reality of white marble buildings of various sizes, small to very large, occupying an area extending as far as they can see. The smaller streets are of cobblestone, while the larger ones are of flat paving stones.

     Forever lamps mounted on poles provide a constant light illuminating everything. They hear the sounds of fountains with streams of water pouring from the central statuary mounted either within the fountain or around the outside. There are open areas of grass and small trees with stone benches scattered among them. All in all, a very peaceful place.

     A robed and hooded figure walks from one street to another, turns, and approaches the three Goddesses.

     Acolyte: "Please follow me, the Master wishes to speak with you."

     The Acolyte turns and begins walking toward the center of this area, to a very large, imposing building. Not looking back to see if they are following, the Acolyte continues on her way. Soon they reach the building steps, then the Acolyte stops and turns toward them.

     Acolyte: "Please mount the steps, enter, and proceed straight into the 'Hall of Greeting'. The Master awaits you there."

     The Acolyte leaves them to return to whatever her normal duties are. Yennefer, Rigmor, and Iriisii climb up the steps and walk on into the building. It is some distance to reach the 'Hall of Greeting' but their curiosity keeps them entertained with the frescoes painted on the walls showing scenes from the earliest periods of Nirn's history.

     When they reach the entrance to the 'Hall', they wonder if they do not have more questions than answers about the things they saw painted on the walls. Rigmor thinks that half the books in Nirn's libraries will need to be corrected or removed because of how wrong they were.

     The doors open of their own accord when they approach, so being expected they pass on within. The large hall is brightly lit, with colorful tapestries hanging along the walls. Between the tapestries are bookcases full of books and scrolls, others contain assortments of devices, some recognizable as alchemical, others pertaining to unknown processes.

     Then they see an imposing figure rise from his seat and walk toward them. Yennefer kneels before him, as Iriisii and Rigmor remain standing.

     Magnus: "Rise, my daughter, you are now beyond the point where you need to kneel to me. Yet the respect you continue to show me honors both of us. Greetings and honor to you, Rigmor Ragnarsdottir, High Queen of Cyrodiil. And to you, Illuminatus Goddess Iriisii Dovahkiin, you do me great honor to accept my hospitality."

     Iriisii: "Magnus, God of Magic, Architect of Mundus, without your works and guidance, none of the worlds of Mundus would exist or its myriad peoples. I welcome this opportunity to meet with you, and share what we can do to protect who and what we love so much."

     Magnus: "You have indeed grown much since you fought that upstart who sought to take my place. I thank you for your dedication in taking the stance of my Champion in that battle."

     Rigmor elbows Iriisii, "you never said anything about..."

     Magnus: "Please Lady Rigmor, it was at my request that she not reveal what happened that day. It came about partly at my own mistake of not keeping a better watch over my tools. But it did bring her to my sight, and what I saw has also drawn me to my former apprentice, Yennefer. My Lady Yennefer, you are an apprentice no longer, you have moved into realms of magic beyond what I can help you with. So I with the greatest of pleasure and respect do hereby declare you a 'Sorceress of the Realm of Mundus', a position second only to my own.

     But you came to inquire about the worsening situation with a looming 'Dragon Break' that threatens to overtake us from an alternate Reality, and also to ask of the Draconic Divines. If I may, I would like to start with the Draconic Divines.

     As you may have already surmised, they are the true 'First Dragons'. All others, with the exception of those created by Akatosh, are descended from them. Even Nirn's dragons were patterned after them so that they share many traits."

     Iriisii: "Do you know what happened to put them into where the 'Dead Gods Lie Dreaming'?"

     Magnus: "That is a tale in itself, but what I know of it is this. At the height of their power and influence, with their children scattering across all the Realms. What you now face in your task to correct the course of Creation had its beginning. The highest among 'Good' and 'Evil' saw them as the 'chains' that would be used to restrict their ambitions. To keep them in check and prevent them from running amok over everything.

     They came together and conspired to find a way to get them out of their way. They could not on their own come to any agreement on how to accomplish this. Until another came from outside their realms, who wished to impose its own desires upon this Creation and needed to 'geld' these high powers. For 'Good' and 'Evil' allied with the Draconic Divines would be too powerful for it to influence, and later overthrow.

     It bargained with 'Good' and 'Evil' to convince them to look the other way while it went about weakening the Draconic Divines by weakening and corrupting their children. And so it was agreed between them. It went out and strengthened the dragons' innate desires for dominance, strength, and power. While carefully urging them to look toward dominating the lesser races coming into existence.

     The combination of the two extremes gradually weakened the Draconic Divines until they began mistrusting each other, seeking dominance one over the other as their children were doing with their own. This was when the 'Balance' came into existence to try and correct the worsening imbalance and chaos. The first 'Champion' of the 'Balance' defeated the Draconic Divines and sent them into their current prison. This was done in the hope that later they could be resurrected, guided by another, who would stand over them and show them where the true fault lay. Help them to regain control of themselves, and then together work to restore the 'Balance' of Creation. Even if it meant bringing 'War' across Creation."

     Rigmor in a hushed tone of voice, "The Jihad of Truth."

     Magnus: "Yes, just so, the 'Jihad of Truth'. There is no avoiding the need for it now.  The only paths that can correct Creation's course all share that event within them. The only true difference in those paths is where they go afterward. Where 'you' go afterward, all of you."

     Rigmor: "All of us?"

     Magnus: "Yes, for where one among you goes, all of you go. It is one of your greatest strengths and greatest weakness."

     Iriisii: "I see, now. You have helped me immensely to see what happened so that I can try and avoid the mistakes made before. Now we must chart our course and bring all our children under our wings, protect those who need it, forge the rest into an army."

     Rigmor: "But how?  Creation is far vaster than even we can encompass."

     Magnus: "You have already begun acquiring the tools you will need for this."

     Iriisii: "The Fortresses."

     Magnus: "Yes, they are five in number, you have one now, and soon a second will come under your sway. They can be merged together into one. One that even their creators never conceived they could become. Because you have the 'key' to do it with."

     Rigmor: "The 'Key'?"

     Iriisii: "The Krang! The Krang is the key!"

     Magnus: "You see it now, how they can be brought together and with the near infinite power of the Krang, what it can become with you at its helm, leading your Celestial Army. You need but one more tool to add to it, to expand its reach."

     Rigmor: "Expand its reach? Where could it not go?"

     Iriisii: "Time. It could not even then pierce the veil of time."

     Magnus: "You do see it, you see the need for it. For your combined Fortress, powered by the Krang, of necessity must finally exist outside of time and space as you know it. Because that is where you will find the one who started all of this. The one that will be the hardest for you to face."

     Rigmor: "But what 'tool' will give this expanded 'Fortress' power to move in or even outside of 'time'?"

     Rigmor looks at Iriisii, who sees that answer as it swims up from the depths of her memories.

     Iriisii: "Sky's Divide, the third 'Numidium'."

     Rigmor: "Shit, that place keeps coming back like a 'bad penny'! It's like it wants you back for some reason. Wait, you said it's the third?"

     Iriisii: "It was thought to be the second when it was built, but since it was never properly activated until I restored power to its systems, until after Talos used the second one to break the Dominion. It would now be considered to be the 'third'. It is also the most comprehensive of them all."

     Rigmor: "How is that?"

     Iriisii: "It is not just a giant powerful construct, the entire island is the 'Numidium'. It even has the power to affect reality within its confines. The weather can be changed at will, the lifeforms native to the island can be commanded, and there is an underground factory where Centurions and others can be constructed. Rigmor, an entire army of them, can be created and commanded. Think of combining that kind of facility with the Fortresses, powered by the Krang. No need to use the Ingenium/Mantella for that purpose, the Krang can provide all the power Sky's Divide could use and it not be but a sliver of its potential."

     Rigmor: "But what about..."

     Iriisii: "Salaquine? She now has what she has had for so long desired. She is now whole, once more. She once told me, that Sky's Divide was designed to be the weapon to meet Nirn's greatest enemy, one who would come from outside space and time. Its power would come from the Ingenium/Mantella, eventually directly from me. Now, however, we can use it with a much greater power source, and not require such a sacrifice."

     Rigmor: "And if for whatever reason we did need to use that, what you call it, Ingenium/Mantella?"

     Iriisii:  "I know what to do to use the 'Ravenous Darkness' safely as that source if it came to it, even though I do not wish to do so if it can be done another way. But I would not ask such a sacrifice from anyone else, in the case of the 'Ravenous Darkness' it would be justice."

     Rigmor: "That I cannot argue with. So you are now ok with bringing the Draconic Divines back?"

     Iriisii: "As long as we can get them to see where they were being manipulated and get them working together once more, yes. If that means I must take a position to be a conciliator with them then so be it. Then we can work to reverse what was done with the Dragons, to curb their commanding and domineering desires, turn them back to being mentors, protectors as they were in the beginning."

     Magnus: "You see the path ahead, this is a needed step for you to take to acquire the tools you will need to take on those enemies still waiting out there. I can foresee no limits to where you can go, or how far events will take you. I can only pray those you have surrounded yourself with, will prove up to the task of counseling you properly and help you stay on the path you have chosen."

     Iriisii: "What can you tell us of who we face behind this 'Dragon Break' approaching us?"

     Magnus: "It is a problem as serious for Nirn as any yet encountered. Its source is from a parallel Realm. What is disconcerting is how it is somehow able to direct the timelines to be affected by the 'Break'. Akatosh is also worried about this development, as he has directed the Jills to do what they can to slow its progress to allow you time to look into this and determine how to deal with it.

     It does arise with one who partially followed your path within that alternate timeline. However, I have sensed traces of manipulation, interference in the natural flow within that stream that has given birth to this problem."

     Iriisii: "So this has been manufactured and then directed toward us, hoping that we would not detect it until it was too late to properly deal with it and keep our timeline from being drawn into it. It bespeaks a particularly depraved and deviant mind."

     Rigmor: "How so?"

     Iriisii: "It does not care how much damage it does to the Realms, timelines, and Realities its efforts cross paths with. It has for some reason set sight on us, and I wonder?"

     Rigmor: "Tell me what you think, is it something else Salaquine might have told you before you first left Sky's Divide?"

     Iriisii: "Yes, it is, but I am uncertain how much credence to put to it. There is too much I do not know of those possibly involved."

     Rigmor: "Then tell me anyway and between us, we may be able to see where it goes."

     Iriisii: "After I was talking to her about several things, it came to mind to ask after the outer enemy and why they would go to such trouble to want Tamriel. She said all of Nirn was once theirs before they were forced to leave it. And now they wanted it back."

     Rigmor: "It clicked for you then, in your mind, who it was that wanted to come back and reclaim what it once had?"

     Iriisii: "The Tsaesci."

     Rigmor: "FOR THE LOVE OF...! But they are no longer a problem after what you did to them outside of Leyawin! Ohh GODS, that was only the ones left behind, or stayed behind wasn't it?"

     Iriisii: "That is what I think as well, and that they may have had a part in what happened to the Draconic Divines."

     Rigmor: "If they worshipped them, and then the other races began appearing, driving them from the lands of and around Tamriel, forced the main part to leave Nirn."

     Iriisii: "And now they wish to come back and reclaim what they felt was once theirs. And they need to do it before I resurrect the Draconic Divines, place myself above them, and help them to free themselves from whatever was first done to change them. For if it was the 'Blood Magic' of the Tsaesci that first worked on the Dragons and then through them the Draconic Divines."

     Rigmor: "But why did they do it?"

     Iriisii: "Because they did not want to share Nirn, and the Draconic Divines refused to go against the Gods and sweep all but the Tsaesci from Nirn. So they thought to force the issue through 'Blood Magic' manipulation, but it was too late, the new Gods were too numerous and strong."

     Rigmor: "And in the ensuing chaos of the Dawn Times, The Draconic Divines, having lost their worshippers, and being defeated by the First Champion of the Balance, were somehow put in the place where the 'Dead Gods Lie Dreaming' in the Dreamlands where they would be nigh unreachable."

     Magnus: "And now you see why you and yours together are such a formidable opponent. Together, you complement each other, draw strength, knowledge, wisdom, and power from each and freely give it to all of you. Would that it was you that had been present for the creation of Mundus and Nirn, how much pain and suffering could have been avoided, for all the races, then until now."

     Iriisii: "I can think of no greater compliment that could be given, thank you, but it came about as it did and I will not question the wisdom behind it. Maybe at some future time, we may find an answer to that, maybe not, but that will take care of itself in its own time. For now, we must act on what we know, and now we know more than what we did. Come, we must get to planning this next act, we can little afford to leave any part of it to chance."

     Magnus: "Farewell my children, and good luck. If I can help without tilting the balance, call upon me. Now go, see to what you must do and I will do what I can to hide you from view."

     Magnus returns them to the Fortress, as they reappear back on the tower deck, Yennefer really looks out from there for the first time.

     Yennefer: "This is beautiful, so peaceful, quiet, the moonlight reflecting off of that pool. I do not know how long it has been since I felt so at peace."

     Rigmor does not even hesitate to pull Yennefer between her and Iriisii.

     Rigmor: "Now you see one of the things Iriisii does for me that keeps us together. She finds these places like this and takes me there to share with her, just the two of us. It brings us so close, that I cannot imagine what my life would be like without her doing this. If Kthanid does not do this for you, then you do it for him. He will get the message soon enough, and both of you will be closer to it."

     Yennefer: "Thank you for showing me this. I will remember this for the rest of my days, however many that becomes."

     They stand there looking out over the moonlit courtyard, and there with Masser taking up the top third of the sky, Secundus peeks over the trees. The light growing just a little more, but just a bit softer too. The air is still fragrant with the scent of Kyne's flowers, a soft breeze blowing from Lake Rumare. Iriisii thinks, 'yes, I should take a few more minutes to stop and enjoy this. I need this to remind me, just what it is I fight so hard for, and how much it is worth the effort to do so.