Lillene

Enjoy!

The Dreaming Tree didn’t seem any different from any of the trees around it to Serenity, but he probably wasn’t the best person to ask. Admittedly, that was like saying one person didn’t seem any different from the next; it was true enough if you didn’t know what to look for but not particularly polite to say out loud. 

More than that, it completely ignored anything that couldn’t be seen, and that was probably everything important about the Dreaming Tree. Dreaming couldn’t be directly seen, after all. Not from the outside, at least.

Elder Jinsa, on the other hand, was the youngest elder dryad Serenity had met. If someone had told him she was forty, he’d have believed it. All of the other elder dryads looked to be well into their sixties, at least. That didn’t actually mean they were that old, of course; Serenity didn’t know how dryad years translated to human years, and age estimates were much less reliable at higher Tiers anyway. They could easily be far older or far younger than they looked.

Elder Jinsa greeted Rissa and Serenity at the door, then ushered them into a room that Serenity could only describe as cozy. It was fairly small, only about twenty feet in either dimension, yet it somehow managed to fit a couch, a loveseat, and three plush, heavily cushioned chairs around a short table without feeling overcrowded. All of the furniture was made of a polished dark wood, though the cushions made that hard to see on the larger seats. The cushions were bright, a textured deep red that looked almost like the color range of a raspberry. They also looked more than a little worn, especially the chair to the right.

The chair to the right also had an additional small table to one side; Serenity saw a drink and a small plate sitting next to a spiral-bound notebook and what looked like a project of some sort. He wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but the bits and pieces of metal were probably related to the basket that held more bits and pieces, everything from metal and wood to feathers and leaves. Naturally, that was the chair Elder Jinsa immediately took.

It was clearly her chair. It gave Serenity the feel of a chair that ought to have knitting sitting next to it, even if he didn’t see any. Maybe that was just because of how cozy the room felt, or maybe the odd scraps were her equivalent of knitting, something she could do with her hands while she talked.

Yeah, that was probably it.

That left the question of where to sit to Serenity and Rissa. Serenity wasn’t sure, so he followed Rissa’s lead when she headed over to the oversized chair he’d originally identified as a loveseat. On further inspection, it looked just like the chairs, only twice as wide. The couch was similarly just a three-person-wide chair. They were even all in the same style with the same details carved into the wood.

“I admit, I wasn’t expecting two people when I sent for the Eyes that Shifted Time, but the Dreaming Tree isn’t always very precise about things like that. Would you like some tea?” Elder Jinsa smiled at the two of them, clearly pleased.

“Ah, sure, tea sounds good.” Accepting was polite, right?

Elder Jinsa looked over at where the messenger waited and nodded. Serenity supposed she wasn’t just a messenger; she was probably Elder Jinsa’s help for a lot of things. It made sense; he knew just how useful having an assistant could be. Janice made his life immensely easier.

“I wasn’t certain which of us you really wanted, and under the circumstances it seemed best that we both show up.” Rissa smiled at Elder Jinsa. It didn’t seem like a happy smile; it was at the most a polite smile. It didn’t reach her eyes.

Elder Jinsa leaned back in her chair. “If you tell me not to ask, I won’t. I’ve already been told not to ask more about you, Serenity. I don’t know why; Elder Omprek thinks I shouldn’t. He’s being very careful these days, since the attack. Careful enough to make me think it wasn’t an attack from outside, that maybe it had something to do with the notifications we all got that day.”

An attack from outside? Serenity supposed he should have expected that. He’d seen it before, where someone didn’t want to admit there was infighting and blamed it on a foreign actor. All too often it was the Final Reaper; he was a lich, that made him evil, didn’t it? No one cared that he’d been comfortably isolated for decades or in a few cases centuries; he was there which made it easy to blame him. He often didn’t even know why the attack came until later, if he ever found out at all.

Rissa’s chuckle broke Serenity’s dark thoughts. It sounded real, if cynical. “It’s always outsiders, isn’t it? What notification did you get?"

“There were two, one right after the other. I wrote them down, of course; I write everything down.” Elder Jinsa pulled the thick notebook bound with a wide spiral of metal off the table next to her and flipped back several pages. “Here we are.”

The Lord of Cycles, Last of the Holy, has Fallen.

Tzintkra and Berinath welcome the Worlds’ Friend and grant him the Authority of the Holy. Life and Death have met hands in peace and the next Cycle begins anew.

With the Blessing of Cycles, a new Holy One rises. The Lord of Cycles gives way to the Lord of Dungeons.

Jinsa paused after reading the first notification. “The Lord of Cycles I knew of, of course. Lord Echa has been asleep for a very long time, long enough that I don’t actually remember when he was last awake. It may have been before I was born. We were taught about him as children and I learned more about him when I became an Elder because of the Dreaming Tree’s preferences.” 

She huffed slightly and seemed amused. “I think the Dreaming Tree’s told me more about Him than everything else combined. His titles were mentioned but no one seems to think about what Lord of Cycles actually means. I knew Lord Echa would wake because the Dreaming Tree knew he would wake. This is early; I did not expect him to wake yet. Until recently, the Dreaming Tree saw him sleeping until a grave threat came to us. The Dream changed that day.”

“Is that when you sent a message with a prophecy to the Foremost Elder?” Rissa leaned forward, clearly actually interested now. Serenity had told her about the prophecy, since she was the closest thing he had to an expert on foresight, but he’d been unable to tell her what it meant. Rissa had said she had a few ideas but didn’t know enough to guess at the rest.

Elder Jinsa looked startled. “It is. How did you know?”

“I was there.” Serenity didn’t see any reason not to admit it. If nothing else, the messenger … assistant … whatever she was … had seen him there. “Elder Omprek didn’t try to keep it secret.”

Elder Jinsa snorted. “Of course he didn’t. He never thinks about consequences. Tell me, do you know who attacked him? I already know they killed quite a few Spears and Elder Inchabe was badly injured and will likely die of her injuries.” 

The stress she put on the last few words made it clear Elder Jinsa didn’t quite believe what she was being told.

There was no reason to hide it from her and every reason to tell her. Hiding things from someone who interpreted prophecy was an excellent way to get disastrous interpretations. It was like hiding things from your intelligence agency; not only would they eventually find out, they might give you bad information if they relied on lies. If anything, it was worse for prophecy because it had fewer things anchoring it to reality. Serenity wasn’t angry enough at the dryads to encourage that. 

If Elder Omprek didn’t trust her, she shouldn’t be in such an important position. 

Rissa gave Serenity’s knee a squeeze. :You’re the one who was there. I can’t think of a reason to keep quiet but I also can’t think of a reason to talk. Either way, we’re already involved in their politics. I don’t know enough about her to make a judgment yet.:

Serenity shrugged internally. If there was no reason not to, he’d just as soon answer a direct question. “He wasn’t directly attacked, but I suspect he’d have been the next target. It looked like a coup attempt. I think Elder Inchabe was going to claim she killed the attackers but only after Elder Omprek was dead.”

Elder Jinsa’s eyebrows went up. “You’re the outsider, then? No wonder Elder Omprek doesn’t want anyone to talk about you. I thought for certain that had to do with Lord Echa’s passing, not Elder Inchabe.”

Serenity shrugged. He’d vaguely known that his position wasn’t well known, but he was happy about that fact so he hadn’t pursued it. Senkovar had, and from his complaining Serenity was pretty confident he wouldn’t have found out much even if he’d tried. It seemed like everyone had been told to keep quiet about it and seemed to be following those instructions. Serenity was happy to leave it that way.

He was also happy to let Elder Jinsa make her own assumptions about why Elder Omprek didn’t want anyone to talk about Serenity. For all he knew, she was even correct about the reason; it certainly sounded like the Foremost Elder was covering up the coup attempt, after all.

Elder Jinsa shook her head and chuckled. “Who can tell with Elder Omprek, indeed.”

Had she just answered his thoughts? Serenity was pretty certain he hadn’t been projecting them.

:Don’t worry. She’s talking to someone else,: Rissa told Serenity. :I can’t quite tell who it is, though. It feels like it’s the tree?:

Serenity blinked, then relaxed a little. :Well, she is supposed to be the interpreter for the Dreaming Tree. I assume that’s where we are?:

“I suppose I should call him the Lord of Berinath, now, you’re right, but he’s still the Foremost Elder as well.” Elder Jinsa tapped her pad with her pencil. “You know about that, don’t you? It was the second notification that afternoon.”

“You may as well tell us,” Rissa answered before Serenity could say anything. “I wasn’t on Berinath yet.”

“Hmm. Well, then, it’s simple enough,” Elder Jinsa started. 

The Lord of Cycles, Last of the Holy, Lord of Berinath, has Fallen.

The Cycle has turned at the Will of the Lord of Cycles.

Berinath greets the Foremost Elder as the new Lord of Berinath.

“It’s almost like a continuation of the first notification; his position as Last of the Holy was turned over to a new First of the Holy as the Cycle turned and his position as Lord of Berinath was turned over as well with his death.”

Elder Jinsa seemed prepared to say more, but Serenity had to question an assumption immediately. “First of the Holy? Why do you think there will be more?”

Elder Jinsa blinked at Serenity. She seemed stunned for a moment as if he’d asked a question when the answer was blindingly obvious. “It’s in his name. Lord Echa was the Lord of Cycles. He didn’t die to stop something unstoppable and he didn’t die without a successor; he chose his successor. Of course there will be more Holy; the next Cycle has started. None could rise while the old Cycle failed, but it will be far easier now.”

Serenity half hoped she was right. Even more than that, though, he hoped he wouldn’t have to do anything about it.

Lillene

Elder Jinsa is more faithful than Elder Omprek … even though she’s young enough that she doesn’t remember when any of the Holy were active. She has the Dreaming Tree, though, so she’s not exactly normal.