Editing Imber (section)

==Chapter One==

"And...And then I got here," Taldeer finished lamely. She reflected she must look pitiful in front of the Seer Council of Ulthwe, having been grabbed and dragged off of her ragged escape as soon as she had touched onto her craftworld. They stared, impassively, behind their ceremonial masks of judgment.

"We..." Started one, "We sense no lies."
"But she IS a skilled farseer," immediately started Eldrad, and Taldeer flinched at her father's cold impassive voice, "And she has changed while she has been away."

She glanced up, to see her father was leaning in close. The mask he wore, strangely, was that of the Laughing God. "Tell me- this, mon'keigh-" LIIVI, she thought, "-This LIIVI; did you copulate with him?" He leaned back in his chair, falling back into shadow as the seers and onlookers stirred and twittered.
"Of course not," She hissed at her father's implication, in front of everyone.

"Good, good, because, I realize that you are a mere two hundred years, and in your long time away, you might not have heard of the reports. Reports of what happen when our two species intermingle. To be sure, we ARE compatible, but, the children..." Eldrad turned away, standing, "But so long as you haven't, I believe we may now convene for judgment, comrades?"
They filed out, to lay their judgment for their errant general, leaving Taldeer alone, with herself. She waited, waited until there was no sound but the buzz of the wraithbone, and the wash of the ocean, before she fell to her knees, clinging to herself, weeping, "Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh my child, oh no..."

He was right. It was a mistake.

In her regret, in her shame, in her grief, she whispered his name, "Liivi," wiping away at her eyes, "Fool of a mon'keigh," she coughed, gasped for breath, as she tried to even herself out, "There was NOTHING worth saving. Nothing, nothing," she whispered, shaking her head. She straightened. An eddy- someone coming. Macha. She scowled, wiping away at her tears. She wouldn't show that Biel-Tan witch the slightest ounce of grief. Not give one inch.

Through the veil, she stepped. She was no longer clad in battle armor, a tranquil look on her face, dressed for peace. Immaculate and clean. Standing across from Taldeer, still in battle armor, bloodstained, dirty, hair mussed and tangled. All Taldeer wanted to do at that moment was hit her.

Macha gave her a contemptuous flick of her eyes, and shook her head. "I told you."<br/>
"Shut up," whispered Taldeer looking away.<br/>
"'Leave a scar' hmm? I didn't take that to mean you wanted to scar yourself," Her sarcasm dropped as she stepped forward, "How many were lost."<br/>
"Go away," Whispered Taldeer.<br/>
"I saw the survivors. A bare tenth of those that were there. Oh, I know you had your ever important crusade to fight against our ancient enemy-"<br/>
"Leave."<br/>
"-Who we defeated aeons ago, IGNORING our present enemies, who," A sarcastic grin appeared on our face, "Evidently, CRUSHED you and-" Macha stopped.<br/>
"Have you been crying?"

Taldeer didn't answer, sullenly staring away.<br/>
"Oh by the stones, you have been," Macha had a smile on her face. Taldeer turned, hissing.<br/>
"Good, fine, wonderful of you to find some bit of humor in this mess! Fine of you to have found the silver lining to this! Do you really take that much delight in my misery, you whore? You would see your fellow eldar dead so long as it hurts me?!"<br/>
"No I, I," Macha waved her hand, "I guess I never thought you COULD cry," She shook her head, a small grin on her face, "You have changed haven't you."

Taldeer stared at Macha, quivering, holding back, fighting it- before falling on Macha, weeping.<br/>
"Shshshshhhh, it's okay," Macha patted her, her voice muffled as Taldeer bawled on her, "It's okay...Khaine, I never would have that you would feel grief."

Macha held her sister patiently, as Taldeer wrung out the last of her despair. Shaking her head the whole time, "Fanatic no more, hm?" She murmured, stroking her sister's hair.

Eventually, Taldeer quietened, and pulled back from Macha, silent. There was quiet. "I'm sorry," Macha eventually said.<br/>
"Th-Thank you. Now, if you would please leave me, I have to wait for the council's judgement," a pause, "Sister."<br/>
"Of course, sister," Macha nodded, turning back into the corridor, "We will talk again later?"<br/>
"Yes."

They came back. It went as expected. Stripped of rank, censured, no Ulthwe would bow their head to her anymore- she already knew, she wearily thought. They already knew she knew.

Partway through the display, she turned, and walked out of the court. No one moved to stop her. Another mark against her, she figured. She cleaned herself, changed, left her armor with a singer to get it repaired, and found Macha once more.

"Going to go hunt the Necrons again?"<br/>
"Mm. No."<br/>
"I thought it was your responsibility?" Macha grinned, "To save our universe from this threat that you, you lone faithful follower of gods dead, could perceive?"<br/>
"My visions," Taldeer began to backpedal out of it, then shook her head, and continued, "My visions have been proving false of late."<br/>
"All of them?"<br/>
An unbidden thought came to her. Of a scarred man, looking her in the eye, ferociously warm.<br/>
"All of them."<br/>
"Hm."<br/>

They were walking to the Chapel of the Lost, the temple reserved for those gods that were slain by Slaanesh long, long before. Few visited, Taldeer among them.<br/>
"Notice you lost your soulstone."<br/>
"Yes," she paused, then smiled wistfully, "Another vision derailed. For the better I suppose. What are you doing here?"<br/>
"I heard you came in, that you were being put to trial for your failings," Macha was silent, "I was going to ask them to put you to death, and not let Eldrad give you a free ride. After Lorn-"<br/>
"And you didn't?"<br/>
"...You've changed. You've lost your self righteousness," Macha turned, and gave her a glare, "Not that I believe your punishment was unrighteous. I hope to never see you at the head of an army for a long time."<br/>
"Yes, yes, you're right," Taldeer sighed and nodded, "Let me pay my respects, then I'll be off."<br/>
"'Off?'"<br/>
"I'm leaving Macha," Taldeer entered the chapel, her offerings readied, "I'm unsure when I'll return."

"Scarring the universe again?" A sharp note of anger broke Taldeer's prayers, slopping some of the water on the statue of Ellyus, god of storms. Taldeer frowned, and mopped up the spill with her dress.<br/>
"No. No more of that. I have duties to engage in."<br/>
"What? What could possibly be...Oh. Oh. OH."<br/>
"What?" Snapped Taldeer turning, at the smiling farseer.<br/>
"Duties, huh? Duties to someone in particular?"<br/>
Macha waggled her eyebrows at Taldeer, who rolled her eyes, "Do you never think of anything else?" she murmured as she went back to work.<br/>
"Come on, this explains everything. Which was it? A ranger? That'd explain your eagerness to become an outcast. Or one of those quick warp spiders darted in and snatched your heart? You know I know some DELICIO-"<br/>
"Enough, I'm in the middle of my prayers. You can live your love life by proxy elsewhere."<br/>
Silence.<br/>
"That HURT sister."<br/>
Taldeer ignored her, thinking back to when she was young, and she memorized the Twelve Interpretations of Maya, reciting the well worn words to a dead god.

She was walking the path of the Outcast now. It was as simple as that. No ritual, no soul searing experience, no brand, nothing. She just stepped through the door, and that was it. Terrifying. In the book of her life, rites were her grammar. A Ceremony of Birth, daughter of celebrated Eldrad, brought her into this world. A Obeisance of Contrition when she disobeyed. Her entrance to the road of the farseer was wreathed in mysteries and inscrutable dances of protocol. Now.

She stood on the threshold to the Craftworld's Fool's Court. The Court where the outcasts lived and engaged in, which Ulthwe had established for vagabonds to make their own, long, long before. To be sure, she had gone there before, when she was younger, but now, she was going to stay here.

The Harlequin of Kronus had told her there were other ways off of Kronus before. And her smug pity had spoken she had known what the farseer would go through. She wondered, bitterly, if the Harlequin was waiting out there, for Taldeer to pass her by, to make more commentary on it.

"Daughter."<br/>
Taldeer turned, to her father's voice, even if it was in her head.<br/>
"You intend to go then. To find the mon'keigh."<br/>
"Yes," she whispered through her helm, now repaired, "There is a crew of outcasts I have arranged with. They'll take me to Patrochus, a free world-"<br/>
"Free worlds, daughter, are haven to chaos, and chaos-"<br/>
"I'm well aware of your fears father. What your stones tell you will occur, when next the Eye of Terror will yawn open. But I need to do this."<br/>
Eldrad approached, his face taut, holding back his emotions.<br/>
"At a word, I could ground their craft. I can make them return you. I can bind you here, until this foolish madness of yours has faded."<br/>
"But you won't."

They locked, eye to visor for a moment, before she cocked her head, "Why was it so much easier for you to let me take an army to Kronus, than for I alone to go?"

She did not wait for an answer. She turned, and walked to find her craft. She had just turned the corner, her father still staring after her like a statue, when the patter of feet further back in the craftworld barely became audible. At a sprint, a young farseer in fresh armor, holding two rune bags ran onto the scene.

"Where is she!" Caerys ran past Eldrad, hesitating at the entrance into the Fool's Court.<br/>
"Who?" Eldrad mumbled, turning away.<br/>
"Taldeer! Taldeer! I just got back, and heard she was headed this way- My lord Eldrad, I, I,"<br/>
"No, no," he stepped slowly away, picking up speed, "It's quite alright Caerys, I understand you're excited about becoming a farseer."<br/>
"Oh, thank you my lord, but, Taldeer?"<br/>
Eldrad turned, narrowing his eyes at Caerys, Taldeer's protege. Shorter, yes, perhaps a bit more wan, and chipper, but, in almost every other way, the same.<br/>
"Gone."<br/>
She was dumbfounded, "Gone? GONE? But, my lord," she adopted a lecturing tone, "She PROMISED me that she would be ready to congratulate me when I gained my title, and donned my armor that I would-"<br/>
Eldrad's patience ran out.<br/>
"Did you not HEAR me you natty little WENCH? She's gone! Vanished! Disappeared into thin air, to never be found again! Abandoning her craftworld in shame for her utter defeat on Kronus!" He turned, stomping away, leaving the shocked Caerys standing shock still, "And you're just one more student, you twit."

Caerys stood stock still, still clutching her two bags of seer stones, matching, that she had hand carved for her initiation, staring after Eldrad.

"...Defeated?"

Imber was once a Eldar Maiden World. Once. Now, it teemed with humanity, there were a few tribes of eldar left, and even a Tau embassy. It was a world, only recently discovered by a band of Explorators who had sent reports to the sector command that there was a world that needed to be brought back into the fold. The Sector command had its hands full with a recent crippling warpstorm settling on a system, so it sent back orders little heard- Negotiate.

As of such, for the past six months, the tenuous nations of the planet were enjoying brisk trade, lavish gifts, and low scale gang wars as the Tau and Imperial delegations struggled against one another, and the recent cult that sprang up about a word bearer that was attempting to convert the populace. Imber at the moment was the perfect place for anyone to find whatever they needed.

Currently, just outside of one of the larger space ports on the Equatorial hub, there was a building where coarse intoxicating poisons were served. For some reason, some subconscious consensus was reached across all humanity that where alcohol is served, is where business should be done.

"Hm. Now, and the, ah, pay?"<br/>
"Whatever you pick off of the ships, I only care about one item of cargo. You can split it with your crew as you wish."<br/>
"Mm, and uh, if I may just ask again what the targets were?" From underneath the long coat, a slender, mesh armored arm grew, grasping the wooden cup filled with water, and pulling it to the hood.<br/>
"The Inquisition."

"Yeh, yeh," Torbett scratched his chin, nodding, "And, the pay is again?"<br/>
"Whatever you get off the ship," dark eyes glared from beneath the hood, "I rather dislike repeating myself."<br/>
"I was just checking, because, see," Torbett spread his hands in a gesture of confusion, "That just doesn't make any sense. Why, pray tell, do I go ahead and piss off the foremost organization of psychotic corpse producers in the galaxy, on the off chance that I might be able to grab something of theirs? As far as I see it, there are three major flaws in this plan, number one," Up rose one damaged digit, "I have to get the stuff first, number two," Arose the second digit, "Once I have the stuff, I'll be hunted from here to the Eye of Terror for having it, and number three," Rose the third, then hesitated, then sank back down, "Alright, I don't have a third, but I think the first two are strong enough to stand on their own here. Sorry, but there isn't enough to appeal to me for this," Torbett leaned back in his chair, sucking down his drink, "Slag off."<br/>
The woman across from him sat still hands gripping the table for a moment, before relaxing, "Very well then," she said as she stood, "I suppose I won't have to waste any more words with you then sir, if you're unwilling to reach for more than just your mug of piss, I can't bother with it," Taldeer stamped away from the latest in a long string of rejections.

The outcast crew had been kind enough to drop her here, but regrettably, had not been enamored of the mission either, especially when she wouldn't explain the details. Now she had been stuck on this heap of dirt for a week, with nothing to show for it other than having lost what little funds the outcasts had given her at the start.

She stepped out into the humid street, tugging the coat she had been given around herself, tucking low the hood. Eldar trade was frequent, but she had no desire to advertise her condition more than entirely necessary.<br/>
"Please, oh honored and wise sister, may you spare some pity for one of your kin?"<br/>
She stopped, glancing back at the corner. It was an eldar, like her, under a paper thin blanket. One of those Eldar that got run out of the tribes, or a ship borne one that got left behind. She frowned, reaching into her messenger bag. A pair of coins, the last she had.

It wasn't like she could have bought anything for it. She dropped it into the bowl, with a mumbled, "May you find your way into Shar'ess' heart once more."

Every day that she had been here, she had found a different Eldar beggar. And each time, she had given to them. It was strange, to see her people brought low like this, outside of a war.

"May you find your way home," sung back as she walked on.

On the corner, one of the new domed buildings had been constructed. The city (Taldeer wondered briefly if it had a name; no thoughts she had yet touched had mentioned a name for this place) was a riotous argot, most in the native style, but as the Imperial cult spread, they began to sport carvings of gargoyles, frescoes, even in some wealthier cases, stone being imported. All the Tau buildings were uniform, cornerless ovoids, evidently prefabs cranked out and shipped from somewhere on planet, and what few buildings sported open Chaos affiliation, she stayed well away from. Worrying runes, meaningless graffiti, invectives against "the corpse god," all that.

She avoided both the Imperial and Chaos buildings, veering instead for a corner that had seen a new Tau building mushroom up. Each of the factions had their gifts for the common people, each of them attempting to foster a common revolution against the far too clever leaders of their nations who chose no sides. The people were exceptionally capable at imitating those they followed, and even the beggars grew fat from the donations given.

She reached and grabbed a bowl from the smiling young man who had shaved his head, a pathetic stub of hair growing that he would attempt to cultivate in imitation of his masters. The queue moved along until she managed to get to the server, an older man with a beard who somehow managed to resist the urge to take hairstyling tips from an alien species.

He looked at her as he filled her bowl with hot soup, then said, "You've been here before, haven't you?"<br/>
"Ah-"<br/>
"Well, you can come inside," He said cheerily, waving her back into the building, "I'm sure A'O'Tulro would love to-"

"I think not," she said, and with a mental flick of her wrist, the man blinked a moment, staring ahead as she moved on. He only worked out of his stupor when the next in line tapped the man on his shoulder.

She sat on the corner, gulping the soup down, uncaring of the heat of it. They had grown more watery as of late she noted, but she wasn't about to beggar food from the Imperials or the "Bearers of the Word." Tau, despite their faults at least didn't have a kill policy for her race.

"Oh mistress of the stones..." Just as Taldeer finished her soup, it was that beggar again.<br/>
"Ma'am, I have nothing else for you," She said coldly, dropping the bowl to her side, "And if you want to eat I recommend you get in line like the rest."<br/>
The blanketed figure shook her head, only saying, "I told you, there were other ways off of Kronus."

The Harlequin. For a moment, the mask's holo field dropped, revealing the truth of it, before it slid back into the normal aged face.

"I swore to serve you so long as you had a mission of worth," She cocked her head, "I believe that your mission is worth something."<br/>
"Oh," Taldeer controlled her shock, with some difficulty, keeping a still and placid face, "So can I have my money back?"<br/>
"I've been throwing it away," The mask's field twisted into the face of Eldrad, all disapproval, "It was worthless, you've been living with the humans like this, beggaring food from the Tau? Honestly."<br/>
"I just need to find a crew."<br/>
"A crew?" The face flicked into Olono, the God of Wonder, first to fall to Slaanesh, "You don't have one already? Come," the face switched back to a disguise, "First, I must tell you what has happened, then, we shall get a crew for you, simple child," The Harlequin grabbed Taldeer's wrist, dragging her along the street, toward the older portions of town.<br/>
"You CAN'T be older than me."<br/>
"But the stories I've learned are. Now silence, and follow."

Down the winding dirt road they stepped, through the humid and clouded air of insects.