In the Worldship

[Elmira Val]

Vergere awoke from a dream of blazing suns. The yellow light was dim in the Elan's chamber, and she wondered how often the children of the coral walls dreamt of deep green summers.

It had been so long since she had awoken underneath a warming sky and heavy earth, so different from the lonely creaking of the creature below her resting place.

Blinking away the drought of sleep, Vergere placed a fragile hand on Elan's cheek. Perhaps in another lifetime her mistress would of known a childhood of wet soil undying, but safety seemed merely assurance that this planet was steadier than that one. Planets died, as they lived through nights too numerous for their bound children to comprehend.

[Blue but beautiful]

She had always been a light sleeper, even in the most scerene of places, tucked away within the confines of shimmering yorik coral walls.
Elan stirred at the feather-light touch, opening her eyes to meet the gaze of her familiar. She was always a hard one to read, Elan knew, Vergere had been as well versed in the arts and theories of the deception sect as she had herself. The priestess Fallung had done a fine job of that.
Only allow them to see as much as you wish them to. She thought inwardly.

" You are considering our journeys end?" The priestess ventured a guess.

Their last words had been on the hopes and expectations of finally finding a galaxy to make their own. And none other than the same galaxy Vergere had been born into.
Elan had delighted in the tales that her familiar would tell to her about her home, when she was younger than she was now. Perhaps she still did. It all seemed too far off to be real.

[Elmira Val]

"Ah, what 'end' do you mean? Mistress Elan, we cannot travel the distance it takes by walking, but for the worldship it is but a few footsteps. Yes, the creature sees an end, but we see long distances left to walk, where it sees only a miniscule gap." Vergere smiled demurely, perched on Elan's bedside table.
She stroked the lambent mounted in the coiled stand, tickling it awake. Then she stroked another, and another, until light flooded the room.
"For the lambent, the distance is miniscule...but for sunrise, it creeps like a luminous ooglith. But they're still traveling the same distance. It's been so many sunrises, but we have yet a day to open twilight."
Vergere had a propensity for analogy.

[Blue but beautiful]

She offered but a nod of acknowledgment to her familiar, Vergere always had had a way with words and analogies. But her words spoke perfect sense to Elan, there were many ways of describing an 'end' so to speak, she had merely offered a few more choices.

"Perhaps I see things from the perspective of a greater vessel than that in which my spirit is contained." She responded like minded. But this also could have had several answers.

As the light from the lambents each began to fill the chamber, Elan's eyes were forced into adjustment, tingling with the sudden ache at having to do so at such short notice.

"Indeed I was referring to our worldship's destination" Elan offered as she shook off the last ebbs of sleep. "I was also pondering your feelings regarding this in what I can only call one of Yun-Harla's twists of fate."

Her expression softened a bit as she considered all possibilities. Was her familiar anticipating the arrival of the worldship at her native galaxy? Would she wish to return to those like her? And perhaps more prolific, would Elan or those above her, let Vergere do so?
She would certainly regret the colourful - in many ways - beings' absence if she did so. Vergere had at times been more than a familiar, but a tutor in the absence of Falung and Elan's father, Jakan. He had been far too preoccupied to deal with the task of tutoring his offspring when there were others beneath him who could do the task amply enough. And as she spoke of sunrises that Elan had never before experienced, she found herself become possessive almost. Vergere has been a gift, inheritance almost.

" Would you return to those you left behind?" She asked, born of the nagging curiosity that was unbecoming of one such as her.

[Elmira Val]

"You can keep me if you want, but...." Vergere glanced up,
"You would miss the sky too. It's an inborn trait, but my kind was stripped of wings in exchange for hands long before I was born. Sacrifice is an essential truth of the universe." she shrugged.

"There was a star that, when it turned the atmosphere of it's greenest world to midday, felt around bare skin ever so gently. You would be the perfect inhabitant." Vergere mused, referring to Elan's current state of dress. She pressed an ear against the door, listening to the corridor outside against the steady pulse. The ship's main mind was beginning to awake from its sleep cycle, and it's inhabitants were already heading to their posts. She opened the window portal slightly, to see the drab grey of the walls outside.

[Blue but beautiful]

"You would miss the sky too. It's an inborn trait, but my kind was stripped of wings in exchange for hands long before I was born. Sacrifice is an essential truth of the universe."

How could someone miss what they had never known? She began to wonder. While she agreed whole hearted on the latter statement, she found it sad in a sense, Vergere had known what it was to gaze up at the sky, a real sky. She'd known what it was to set foot upon true, not shaped, soil. It was then that perhaps she understood the meaning of Vergere's words, so un literal were the inhabitants of the awaited galaxy.

The priestess would have liked to have shared in the familiar's reverie for a while, but more talk pushed that thought far from her mind.

"There was a star that, when it turned the atmosphere of it's greenest world to midday, felt around bare skin ever so gently. You would be the perfect inhabitant."

She rose to collect the robeskin she had hung from a coral wall protrusion nearby, the smooth living garment arranged it's self around her form in the way it had been trained to do so.
When Elan glanced back over her shoulder, the Fosh had her ear pressed to the chamber entrance, presumably listening to the comings and goings outside.
Was it that time already?

"You will accompany me today?" She quizzed rather than ordered, " There may be things I would rather you hear first hand rather than second, if permitted."

Arranging the strange weave of cloth and hair atop her head hurriedly, she made haste toward the porthole. This day was rumoured to bring with it a much anticipated announcement, one that would detail her caste's part in the plans set in motion by the warrior caste.

[Elmira Val]

"Words are at the mercy of their interpretors, therefore, I do come. I was listening for words. Perhaps I heard them and didn't think to consider the language of walls."
Vergere detached herself from the portal and lifted a wiry antenna in an undulating motion, allowing her crest of feathers to move as if riding on a balmy current.

[Blue but beautiful]

Elan noted that her familiar often spoke in ways she could not fully comprehend and had to wonder if all the inhabitants of the infidel's galaxy spoke thus. It mattered little if indeed they were granted this place as theirs to cleanse and make their own as the Supreme Overlord had stated.

The door membrane irised open at recognising her scent, allowing the two of them to exit into the capillary like corridor beyond.
Even in this early hour there were plenty of people about, all heading to their posts as no doubt Vergere's keen hearing had told her.

She had spent the majority of her life aboard this worldship, only having spent time on others for ceremonial reasons, or to preside over small sacrifices. But despite all the time she had spent here, still others would cast their gazes across to her, or more aptly her familiar, in wonderment.
Elan wondered if it disconcerted Vergere any, she never seemed to notice it, but she had spent much time in the company of those who worshipped the trickster, that was to be expected.

Heading for the sector of the ship near to it's core that was devoted to the various onboard temples and shrines of the Yuuzhan Vong religion, she wove her way through the increasing throng of people. Checking back every so often that her pet was not too far behind. Often she was ahead of her and that amused as well as puzzled her occasionally.

" This day has been greatly anticipated," she spoke to the fosh, as if to gain her views on the matter.

[Elmira Val]

"Perhaps it is I more so, for I have seen a day."
Vergere looked at the stony spires of the temple, the monument had never felt the blessing of nourishing sunlight from its patron gods. How many gods roamed the universe, to give favor to numbered stars and scorn the gaping voids her masters walked?

The temple walkway thronged with decadent ceremony. The warriors lined at either sides of the smooth, patterned cobbling were wore veiny black robes instead of their regular, dutiful uniforms. The older ones carried transluecent white crook-pipes, and two younger recruits were engaged in a rhythmatic duel. Skillfully, they cleared the way for Vergere to pass, giving a semblance of a curtsy as they continued, away from the circular temple door.

[Blue but beautiful]

Elan merely nodded in acknowledgment of Vergere's comment. Normally familiars would have been forbidden to enter such a sacred place, especially during an event such as this, but Elan had insisted that she be here to listen to what was about to be documented here. Indeed, the Fosh had been a great insight into the workings of the galaxy they approached and She was keen to hear the small avian-like creatures views.

A path through the throngs of revelers and attendees was cleared as they made their way to their selected places. Each caste had one, clearly marked out by subtle changes in the yorik coral tone of colour, style and in some cases even the subtle scents created by small creatures secreted in the walls.

The place was heady with the smell of incense. Conversations uttered from various types- particularly warriors- were halted momentarily as Elan passed, no doubt in peculiar fascination over the Fosh that traveled with her.
Vergere, while known, was not a common sight about the worldship.

Indeed, the priestess found it strange how her familiar could somehow seem to go unnoticed when she so wished, when she herself, someone who was adept in being deceptive, could not.

The subtle change in the metallic tang in the air indicated to her that they had all but passed the section of the vast area dedicated to the worshipers of Yun-Yammka and she turned to allow Vergere chance to catch up. She need not have bothered, the small yet colourful being almost glided up beside her.

"Did you ever see such a day as this?" She voiced her thoughts, referring back to her pet's earlier comment.

She was almost overcome by the sight. The inhabitants of this worldship had not done things by halves. It almost signified it for her right there and then, the day of Tizo'pil Yun'tchilat was nigh.

[Elmira Val]

"The weather was different." Vergere answered smugly, recalling the grandness of Coruscant, of a bygone Jedi temple thronging in assembly.
The entrance was open, and the vaulted ceiling of the grand foyer shone from an artificial night sky, bruised from age but still clinging to a millenia old memory of illuminated heavens. The first gate came to a second, and Vergere's faint echoes of footsteps trailed behind her like a comet tail.
At the bars of the second, narrower gate two black-clad temple guards crossed their staffs, barring Vergere's way with their immense bodies. Seeing Elan, they moved aside.
She needed only to give a slight movement, and the warriors were proven benign, perplexed at her choice of companionship.

"I ponder if the gods chose for such a creature to walk their holy perches." the first whispered.
"It will not do to think ill of them in their holy perches." the other, senior guard reminded.

[Blue but beautiful]

Elan appeared to listen more to what Vergere was saying, choosing to ignore many of the ignorant comments voiced by various warriors they passed. She was quietly making a mental note of that, no doubt their indiscretions would come in handy should any of them prove an annoyance in the future.
Though even she had to admit, this must look very strange.
Elan wondered if such expressions and comments would come to her should she ever get the chance to gaze upon a real sky for the first time.
Time would tell.

With a moment to spare they reached their section of the great vaulted hall. Here, no one made more than a confused glance at the familiar that accompanied the priestess. She was more of a known sight to them than any, albeit an exotic one.
Most gazes were directed forward at the display of musical creatures and various members of each caste offering small sacrifices to their applicable gods.

Word would have reached the highest ranking in this worldship from Shimrra's own, it was on his orders that his views, his decree, would be voiced here today by whoever he had chosen personally.
And it seemed he had chosen one of each caste, though it would be a high ranking member of the Priest caste that lead the ceremony it's self.

The only absence Elan distinctly noticed was that of a high ranking shaper.
Shapers were in short supply these days, too many initiates and Adepts, never enough masters. And it was the masters that were needed to keep the eldest of their worldships alive. Disheartening, perhaps, for those shapers who had turned out to hear this.

"Heresy is rife among their caste," she whispered to her familiar, noting her examining of the array of people. "I have heard some whispers that their kind is in decline for this exact issue."

This was not just mere idle gossip, there was a truth behind her words.
Only day cycles earlier a large amount of shapers had been promptly returned to the gods on the charges of heresy. Their work, their damutek, every trace of them had been erased in quick succession to make certain that all hints of their actions ceased to exist.
Elan might have done good to keep her words to herself, many revered the shapers as being closer to the gods than any other caste, even her own. It would do her no favours to anger the gods.

[Elmira Val]

"Perhaps then the word heresy is self-defeating..."
Vergere's words trailed off, like a length of a clear ribbon among the threads of discordant conversation.

"Had'reh, what would you make of that creature's words?" said the black-clad sentry overhearing this. He had always been adverse to the priestess's whims, gratified in pestering his partner.
"It would ruin this occasion to continue this conversation," the other scolded. She was clearly unhappy of this disheartening reminder of her homeworld's sorry state. Had'reh was begrudgingly glad of wearing the tightly ribbed uniform of a temple guard for this reason. Their conversation soon subsided

At last the high priest came, bearing a cask of burning erroc, led by child attendants. Vergere's nostrils twitched with the pungent scent of old forests, and she batted an ear to the swarms of light bearers alight around the trails of ceremonial garlands hung in the temple alcoves in the darkening hall . Elan watched as the lambents in the niches were dimmed by a pair of workers...

They spoke in succession, the scarlet-robed attendants.

"...the seasons shall herald a sharp sky where the earthen foundations beneath pull toward it, of its own according powers, the chosen people who set the roots of ancient lineages into the living skin of the world..."

"...so that the abundant orchards, gods-given, can spring forth their fruit...."


[teeheee guess the reference to a certain someone!]

[Blue but beautiful]

She had not been completely unaware of the conversation going on nearby, nor had she failed to hear the words uttered by her familiar. Such things would have been punishable by death had they been more elaborate as opposed to this speculation.
Elan may have to bring this up later, for now all attention should be focused on the words spoken from the center of the cavern-like hall.

"Ai' tanna Shimrra khotte Yun'o! Through his divine right the gods have decreed that our time is near. We need only cleanse this galaxy in their honour, purge all those who do not acknowledge the true way!"

The speaker was continuing, drawing out cries of exaltation from various small groups in each caste, so full of passion and determination were they, that many around them appeared overcome. This was surely a distraction enough to many domains that they would find cause to set aside their own petty disputes to give their all to this cause.
Though at her back, Elan was certain she could feel the piercing gaze of the two onlookers, burning into her back, they had overheard Vergere's words.

[Elmira Val]

Vergere and Elan were now led to the center of the elevated speaking stage by a pair of hooded attendants. The priestess was being urged to speak for the masses as the ceremony leader began a lengthy introduction. Vergere recognized some of the individuals other attendants had brought to the red of the podium.
"Had'reh, I think we should follow them." whispered the temple guard as they watched the two being led off. He was quick to hide amongst the moving attendance as soon as the priestess noticed him.
"Why?" Had'reh asked irritably, "You're always babbling about that bushel of feathers as if it knew some deep dark secret of yours...."
"I think it knows something we don't," he said as he grabbed her arm.
"Ingo, everyone knows something I don't, there can't be anything special about what it knows! Quiet yourself, I'm so sick of your rantings..." she responded angrily, breaking Ingo's hold.