A month has passed since the vow settled. At Heavens Pillar’s summit, the air turns cold and heavy as new clouds gather low over the peaks.
Jorren keeps his place near the rune-lit stone. Below the ridge, the mountain is quiet. Then shadow sweeps across the ledge as Talimaryl descends, black and gold scales flashing in the dimming sun.
Talimaryl lands with careful ease and does not spare Jorren a glance. His focus goes straight to Isaru, his mind pressing at the edge of thought like a cool, precise blade.
Talimaryl
The currents have shifted again. Not storm alone, something older is moving through the range. Have you felt it?
Isaru
The air near the summit tastes of iron and rain.
The rune-line at the stone brightens in answer, thin light tracing the rock like a pulse. Jorren watches in silence, tense but steady, while Talimaryl waits for Isaru’s response.
✓ Quest Accepted
Maintain distance from Talimaryl’s agenda
✓ Quest Accepted
Test Talimaryl’s purpose
“Not surprised Talimaryl picked up on the shift, though their attunement is less than my own. "Curious to find you at my doorstep" I briefly glance to Jorren before switching to draconic. <A stranger stumbling in the darkness.>”
SUCCESS (Superb Willpower, rolled +0)
Isaru
Curious to find you at my doorstep.
Isaru lets the words hang a moment, then gives Jorren a brief glance before turning his attention back to Talimaryl. The mountain wind slides between them, and the rune-line glows steady at their feet.
Isaru
A stranger stumbling in the darkness.
The draconic lands cleanly. Jorren stills beside the stone, receiving the dismissal without protest, while Talimaryl’s focus sharpens by a fraction.
Talimaryl
You mark him as outside the matter, then. Useful.
Talimaryl
Then tell me this, Isaru. Does the shift belong to the mountain, or to whoever has begun listening to it?
His tone stays even, but his attention does not leave Isaru. The old path-like rune-line at the ledge brightens once, as if waiting for the answer.
Quest Complete
Maintain distance from Talimaryl’s agenda
“"It is rare for the explorer not to cause ripples in the pond. That applies to any of us. As one that can see, you should know the shape changes constantly."”
SUCCESS (Superb Willpower, rolled +0)
Isaru lets the silence sit, then answers with the weight of a ridge stone. His words take the edge off the summit wind, and Talimaryl’s attention tightens on him at once.
Isaru
It is rare for the explorer not to cause ripples in the pond. That applies to any of us. As one that can see, you should know the shape changes constantly.
The rebuke lands cleanly. Talimaryl does not bristle, but the easy certainty in his posture thins, as if he is measuring the mountain and himself in the same breath.
Talimaryl
Then the change is not mine alone. That is the answer I needed.
Talimaryl
He makes me account for my own wake, not my intention.
The rune-line at Isaru’s feet brightens, then settles into a pathlike curve that points along the ledge, steady and unmistakable.
Jorren
So the mountain is not hiding from him. It is showing the shape of his tread.
Talimaryl’s gaze shifts from Isaru to the glowing line, and back again. The question now hangs between them, sharpened by his quiet reply, whether he can accept being changed by what he seeks.
“I ask Talimaryl why he came”
SUCCESS (Fair Persuasion, rolled +0)
Isaru
Why did you come to Heavens Pillar?
Talimaryl
Because the mountain called, and because I would know whether its call is warning or invitation.
Talimaryl
I came for the same reason I study any hidden thing, not to own it, but to learn what it asks of me.
The answer settles across the ledge with no heat in it. Talimaryl’s gaze stays on Isaru, but his stance opens by a fraction, as if he has chosen honesty over display.
Jorren
He speaks like a seeker, not a conqueror. That matters here.
Below them, the pathlike rune-line holds its glow and bends toward the cliff edge, waiting.
Talimaryl
You test whether I can bear change. I came because I think I can, and because I want to know if I am right.
His question lands cleanly, and the silence after it leaves Isaru still standing apart, with the mountain’s marked path between them.
Quest Complete
Test Talimaryl’s purpose
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Superb→Legendary