The Dry Leaf was bustling with business. It was the most popular tea shop in the whole of the Ladders, the poorest neighborhood of Palanquin's disk. Though the whole of the plateau that hung suspended between the arms of the three giants would usually be considered wealthy, the Ladders was a sort of limbo. It sat at the western edge of the outer ring, partially built onto a series of rickety platforms and gangways stretching out from the true disk.

Named for the great lengths of rungs that stretched down through the clouds to the settlements of the shoulders, the Ladders was where you came if you needed to reach the plateau but couldn't (or wouldn't) pay for one of the sorcerous lifts owned by the great houses of Ysyr. It served much the same purpose that a dock might in a port town, except that it was serviced not by sailors, but by the men and women desperate and brave enough to make a living currying cargo up and down the bamboo shoots.

It was only an hour after the sunrise, the first rays of dawn still streaming in over the city spires to the west. Many were still barging in the open door, hastily brushing the frayed silk curtains aside as serving girls rushed back and forth, plates of piping hot tea braced against their shoulders or trays of steaming buns packed with bristle chicken. The Dry Leaf's front room was roaring, but in the back, five different people sat quietly around a table. The silence seemed to have stretched on forever, though it had only really been a few minutes. A steaming cup of spiral tea sat before each of them and a large plate of buns filled the table's center.

OOC: We'll kick things off with the most awkward breakfast Palanquin has seen in recent memory. Tefia and Tzin have both brought back guests to the teahouse that Tzin's sister works in. If there are any questions about the web of connections, feel free to speak up in the OOC, but for the moment, let's get the ball rolling with some dialogue before the first plots launch in earnest.

Lekeles stewed in the silence, like the green leaves that floated around the bottom of his cup. He brought up to his lips, as if to drink, but caught sight of the woman with the animal features and stopped.

She hadn't stopped staring at him since he came in, and he had a horrible feeling that she had good reason for her hostility. He slowly sipped on the tea, placing it back down on the counter and looked uncomfortably across at Wind. He needed Wind right now. He needed him to break the awkward silence, to say something.

To say anything.

He cleared his throat.

"So... Tzin, thank you for the tea..."

Tzin noisily slurped down a cup of tea, signalling his appreciation for its quality by wolfing down one of the buns. The another. And another. If the silence was awkward, he was unaware of it.

Altogether relaxed, Tzin chomped and chewed and then hurriedly swallowed his mouthful of food when Lekeles spoke up. "And thank you for joining us! This is the way it's meant to be--a Circle of Solars gathered in a humble tea house, tea and adventure brewing in equal measure." He grabbed another bun from the plate in the middle of the table. "Have you tried these? They're my sister's recipe--" This last was harder to understand, given that he said it while shoveling a bun almost entirely into his mouth in one go. Another cup of tea cleared things out. Whatever Tzin took it upon himself to do, he did with gusto.

Gobble...snarf...*slurp*

"Anyway what have you been doing since last I saw you? Any luck finding that temple," he asked, in between bites. A broad, guileless grin situated itself on Tzin's face, his sense of unbridled excitement almost palpable in the early morning bustle of the tea house.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:32, Sat 14 Nov 2015.

Tefia slouched in her chair, letting Tzin do the talking for now.

She alternated between sipping at her tea and munching on a chicken bun, occasionally handing bits of it to a large black rat sitting on her shoulder. The rat peered suspiciously at Cathari, ducking behind Tefia's head whenever the beast-blooded solar glanced back.

Tefia plucked the rat off her shoulder and held it in front of her face, whispering to it nose-to-nose. "Don't be such a wuss Justin. She's not actually a cat."

Justinian the rat replied by waving his little rat arms in an exasperated fashion. Tefia rolled her eyes and dropped him into her lap, returning to her tea. Justin returned to glaring at Cathari over the edge of the table.

Lekeles paused, still unwilling to look away from the woman with the ears. "... Er, yes... In fact, that was why I was coming back, I've hit a bit of a... Well, I'm struggling with the next steps."

Briefly he glanced at the sweets on the table, cut from his reverie "No, No I haven't. I'm sorry, I'm sure they're delicious." Lekeles hadn't touched the buns and had barely touched the tea since arriving. He'd missed Tzin's company, the calm and warm voice that had helped him back from the brink so many times.

Wind had provided some stability, being forced to interact with another human had helped him to be Lekeles and not...

Something else.

His eyes slid back towards the cat-woman like a knife, caution and wariness colouring him.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:22, Sat 14 Nov 2015.

Cathari had been taking a moment away from her business to stop in for tea when she spotted him. It had been some time, but she still recognized the face, the wound she'd given him had turned into a nasty scar. The... countenance was different; more at peace, something she could have never seen of the reaver she had fought. So, very much like a cat, she was equal parts alarmed and curious. She watched him with quiet eyes, waiting him to slip up, wanting him to give something away. He didn't acknowledge her. What was he after here?

Her eyes widened in suppressed alarm as the guileless man gave her her answer. Circle of Solars. Multiple. Blessed by the Sun. Far more dangerous than a warband, if the stories she knew were accurate. If even a hundredth of the stories she knew were accurate, she couldn't let him wield such power.

She closed her eyes and sipped her tea. That was her objective. Figure out which of the individuals present were actually Solars, get them to figure out what Lekeles was and what he'd do. It was a task better left to someone better at manipulating people, but she was here and she'd have to do.

Her tail flicked side to side after the manner of a cat stalking something. The indiscreet one would do. "So," she started, and paused awkwardly. Was that really how she was going to start this?

Apparently it was, she couldn't stop now. "So, how do you know each other?" she asked of Tzin and Lekeles.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:01, Sat 14 Nov 2015.

"We met outside of Prasad," said Tzin, as he reached for another bun. "It's a long, but pretty exciting story. Full of adventure and excitement. No pirates though, at least not yet."

Tzin grabbed the whole plate of buns, holding one in his teeth. It seemed like it'd just save time. "But, I'm holding out hope if you've been successful!" he said, towards Lekeles, before gesturing back towards the cat-eared woman with what he probably assumed was nonchalance. "How do you two know each other? You've been giving each other the eye for a while now."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:06, Sun 15 Nov 2015.

Lekeles' cold blue eyes blinked at the question, an almost reptilian facial tic. He racked his mind, it was burning village, but there were so many. He killed people, but he had killed so many. He had led people to their painful and horrible demises, but that had happened before. Where did he know her from? Which scar had she left him? Was it the one from his temple to eyebrow? Was it one of the eighty-two that covered his limbs and torso? He'd shed so much blood, seen so much blood, he couldn't say from which ocean of gore this woman arose; "I don't... I'm not sure. I think we might have met once before, in another life perhaps." His voice faded, "Or in this one..."

With a rush of realisation, Lekeles swept back into the present and smiled at Tzin, "It's good to see you again, my friend. I owe you so much, I've missed listening to your stories. You were right, the Temple of the Sword was where you said it would be, I had to explore a few waterfalls, but I found it." Lekeles patted the leather bundle of wrappings and cotton twists at his side. "We're one step closer, Tzin. One step closer."

The woman with the tail and ears wouldn't stop looking at him, he tried to place where he had seen her. Had it been since Exalting? In his Mortal life? In the life before that? They all blurred, so many screaming faces...

He drew himself back into the moment. "I think I'm going to have to ask a favour again though, but, why don't we all introduce ourselves, Tzin? It might help us make sense of what you were saying, with all the reference to sun-circles?"
This message was last edited by the player at 09:10, Mon 16 Nov 2015.

Cathari's ears flattened at Lekeles' confusion. "Of course, of course, how silly of me to expect to be remembered," she said, keeping as calm and stoic as she could manage (her tail was doing most of her emoting for her; the hairs on it were standing on end), and only twitching a little bit.

"It was at the Red Hearth, a pretty big name for such a small town. Other people might remember trying to kill everyone who lived there, steal everything that wasn't nailed down and burn it afterward. Some might remember losing a lot of people to a fisherman's militia and the sorceress who was handy at the time." She shrugged, like it really couldn't be helped, "but to your friend here, it was Marsday. Isn't that right?"

That was... well that was less subtle than she had intended. Rather less beating around the bush. A little bit direct, even. She wasn't getting angry, that would be untoward, right?

Tefia's eyes widen with interest and she scoots back her chair a bit, sitting up straighter. Justin climbs back onto her shoulder, perhaps in preparation for an escape, or maybe because he want's to watch too.

Wind had been watching the proceedings with a mixture of amusement and quiet interest, humming a tune under his breath and following Tzin's lead in gobbling down one chicken bun after another. He stifled a snort of laughter as the man eventually took the entire platter for himself, the Eclipse managing to snatch out one bun before they all disappeared down the man's gullet.

Wind knew a little of what Tzin meant when he spoke of a 'Circle of Solars'. His divine friends back at Great Forks had told him a little of what he had become after his transformation. Anathema. A great God-king of old. Monster. Saviour. Adventurer.

He made a face as the cat-eared woman let off a veritable bomb, accusing Lekeles of murder and brigandry. "Can't see you doing any of that, friend." He said, sipping his tea. "I don't dare tell madam here she is wrong either. Something to figure out, eh?" He said nonchalantly, sitting back in his chair.

"I'm Wind, by the way." He said, waving slightly, a smile on his lips. "Met Lekeles near this Temple of the Sword thing. Dodged some angry cannibals and gave him a ride to Palanquin. He looked around curiously. "Funny thing the lot of us coming together like this."

"I'm fairly sure Tzin would say that there's nothing funny about it, Wind." Lekeles attempted to smile, letting Catheri's words slide off him, refusing to acknowledge them.

He set his tea cup down carefully with a chink of crockery.

Lekeles closed his eyes momentarily. The woman's face covered in a blood splatter, his hand around her throat, dead militia men all around them - Elemental husks burning. Blood spilling down his face, hot and sticky. Screams and the stench of burning flesh. Dead friends staring at the sky as he slowly choked the life out of the witch, his face a rictus grin of joy...

Why would he remember something like that? It was one raindrop in a monsoon of horrific things. Since Exalting, it was a drop of water in the Western Ocean.

"And hey, Wind - I still can't thank you enough for that, really. Although, I'm working on ways that I might be able to."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:12, Sun 15 Nov 2015.

"Ah. So you knew Lekeles before, then." Tzin nodded towards the man himself. He paused his unending consumption, trying to read the expressions on Lekeles' face. Cathari's was much easier, perhaps they were kindred spirits.

"You're a sorceress--surely you can understand: are you the same person you were before you learned sorcery? Or even you a year ago?" Tzin looked around the table at his companions. At the plate of buns and the steady supply of tea.

"I know I'm not. I mean look at me now--sitting in a teahouse on the Upper Level, eating fresh buns and tea steeped only once! Not even any holes in the roof, truly this is the height of luxury," he grinned, then, genuine happiness on full display. He leaned back in his seat, nudging a chair out towards Cathari as he did.
"We are who we choose to be. That can change, you know. But don't rely on my word. Join us. See for yourself. I mean, you don't seem like one of the Ysyr--you're not boring or pretentious enough--and you're not dropping with jade like the Immaculates. So have a seat, try the steam buns, they're delicious! If you're going to start a fight, let me please just ask that we take it outside, this is my sister's shop, and I promised no wrath would be visited upon it this day."

Tzin gestured towards the empty chair, then looked back towards Lekeles. "Now then, introductions, yes? I'm Tzin Vel," he paused, making polite eye contact with the two he hadn't previously met, "um." He stopped, a searching expression on his face. An awkward second ticked by. Desperate, he whispered to Tefia, "I don't what else to say--they never talk about this in the stories..."

"You'll get no violence from me." Lekeles grimaced a smile, holding his hands in the air, "You know that Tzin, you know that better than anyone."

He kept a wary gaze on the cat-woman, "You're Tzin Vell, the strange, wise man who I saved from a Wyld Hunt and who saved me from... Well. And this is Swift Wind, also anathema and one of the best ship-pilots I've ever had the pleasure of sailing with. Just don't leave any spare bottles of drink around, he'll have them in a second."

"That's where my knowledge runs out." Lekeles admitted, shrugging slightly.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:38, Sun 15 Nov 2015.

Wind waved his tea cup, dismissing Lekeles' pledge. "Think nothing of it, my friend," he said, "I don't count debt among buddies."

He glanced up at the cat-eared woman and his smile faded slightly. He glanced at the garrulous man giving her a mini-lecture and made a face. He didn't know what was going on. It could simply be a case of mistaken identity, though the look on Lekeles' face implied otherwise.

He inclined his head to the others at the table at Lekeles' introduction. "He is not exaggerating; I am the best there is. Whether sailing or drinking." He said humbly. But his attention was pulled back to the cat-eared woman.

"Is it true you are an Exalt?" He asked her quietly. "If so, I ask you not to give into your natural anger. Sit, partake in tea with us. We can work this out without violence."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:06, Sun 15 Nov 2015.

Cathari had expected a denial, perhaps, or some attempt at justification. Maybe even a real justification - she'd heard a lot of those, and was getting pretty good at sorting them out.

What she hadn't expected was to not be remembered, and then, to not be acknowledged. It was even more infuriating than any explanation might have been. It might even have been more infuriating than if Lekeles had stuck out his tongue and said 'neener-neener.' It was fortunate, then, that there were others present to mediate.

"Cathari Alaskel. Sorcerer-General of Sendavica, once. Now the Sun's own," she said, acknowledging Swift Wind's point. Yes. She was getting angry. That wouldn't do at all. She took several deep breaths to clear her constitution, and sat down for tea.

"I've never met any others, but I've heard enough stories. The Solar makes the tyrant care for his people. Makes the merchant see beyond his coin. Makes the reaver see those he's hurt. If you saved him from that life, then you have my gratitude," she said to Tzin Vel, carefully considering her words. "You'll understand if I don't believe it - the second half of the story usually goes, the Solar goes off on another adventure, and the merchant falls back into greed.

But I would like to see for myself. If that was a real invitation, I would be willing to join you, yes."

Tefia stands, rubbing at her wrists. Suddenly awkward as the room's attention shifts to her. "My name is Tefia. I'm from... places. This is Justinian." She points to the rat on her shoulder.

"I don't know about this whole 'solar' thing, and anathema just sounds like a name tyrants made up for someone with power who doesn't toe the line. So I guess I'm that, 'cause I do what I want." She sits back down, snatching a fresh steam bun out of Tzin's hand almost faster than the eye can see, leaving him to bite down on empty air. Her awkwardness gives way to genuine excitement as she glances back and forth between Cathari and Lekeles. "Right now, I think I want to hang around you folks, 'cause it's looking pretty interesting."

"It was," says Tzin, answering Cathari, before chomping down on...nothing? He stares at his empty hand, puzzled. To Tefia, "It does..."

Fortunately there's another bun in his other hand. He bites down. At least... there was another bun. He looks around, warily. He grabs a bun off of the plate and holds it up triumphantly, "Hah!"

Before he can finish exclaiming, the bun is gone. "You're welcome to join us, but we seem to be running out of steam buns."

He looks around for a server, trying to replace the vanishing food. "Anyway, there's a problem with your version of the story. It assumes that change is the sole responsibility of the Solar. After all, the world is full of troubles. It's up to the merchant--and the people around him--to keep him out of greed."

Lekeles looked at Tzin, "I promised you that I'd keep things quiet, Tzin. You know I keep promises, and I really don't want to end up in a position where I might kill one of your guests." He looked at the woman who hated him, shame filling his features. "I really, really don't want that."

"Especially if you've been Exalted." Lekeles picked up his cup again, carefully sipping from it, trying not allow his emotions to control him. He was pleased with the fact that the cup had not rattled yet, despite the memories and images assaulting him.

[Private to GM: They had died. They had died in mountains and he had laughed as he burned their corpses. A mountain of ten thousand souls - but still so many left to kill. The Slaughter King? That name was a mockery of his true purpose...]

"I can't say that I'm surprised, to hear you exalted, Madam Alaskel. If I remember correctly, you saved that village from me. That was a very impressive feat- so, thank you for that. But your metaphor is limited. I was many terrible things, but I was never a merchant."

Lekeles paused, allowed his frustration to blled like heat and turned to the other woman in the group, "Tefia, if it's excitement you're looking for, then I think I might have something to keep you busy and amused, if Tzin can help me with my search at least."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:01, Sun 15 Nov 2015.

"Stories usually have a purpose behind them," Cathari said to Tzin, getting one of the steam buns before the cute girl present stole them all. "The ones I've heard about the Solar Exalted have many. There's a specific warning: 'beware the Solar who can get you to change your whole outlook on life.' There's a cautionary in general: 'there's no messiah that will drop down and sort out your life for you, no matter how powerful they are.' There's a call to action: 'redemption isn't something that happens just because you want it to.'  The truth is more complicated, I'm sure. That's why I'd like to see for myself.

Intellectualizing something always calmed her. She could intellectually process Lekeles as no longer a menace, for the moment. His hands wrapped around her throat, her slowly fading vision, the creeping feeling that this was finally it, that was all far away now. It couldn't hurt her unless she let it.

"You're welcome for that," she said to Lekeles, "I've gotten better at sorcery since then, if you go back to the way you were or if I find you've been deceiving these people, I'll curse you to piss angry scorpions for the rest of your life. I trust you find that acceptable."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:28, Mon 16 Nov 2015.

"As you like," Lekeles nodded, sipping at the tea. "I'm sure that it would be an interesting experience, to have scorpions coming from there."

Lekeles paused momentarily, "But whatever makes you think that I can ever have redemption? There's no redemption for the things I've done. It will never be enough. I have to live with who I was, with who I am and accept that I will never escape it. There's no moral calculation, there's no bargaining to be done. No matter how many lives you save, you never wipe clean a single life you take."

Lekeles looked to Tzin, then to Wind, then to Tefia, "But that doesn't mean that I can't try and do some good, that we can't try and do some good. Have any of you heard of the legend of the Slaughter King?" Lekeles set the tea cup down on the table in front of him, the shallow liquid sloshing as he did so.

"Can you really do that? With the scorpions?" Tzin looks up at Cathari with mild discomfort. It is plain to see he's visualizing what that might feel like. The look of mild discomfort changes as he imagines the full effect.

I hope you never actually have to do that to anyone." Tzin chases away the phantom sensations, shaking his head. "Still, there are worse things to fear when meeting a Solar sorcerer in a tea house." Tzin nods towards the others. "Or a whole Circle of them. We have all the makings of one here--" Tzin stops, as Lekeles speaks, listening attentively to the man's words.

"Well," Tefia spoke up, "I don't know about you guys, but I certainly don't plan on going around solving other peoples problems." She took a bite, then turned to address Lekeles, waggling the half-roll at him.

"I don't know anything about any 'slaughter king' or whatever, unless you're talking about Ma-Ha-Suchi up north. And all I know about him is that nobody but nobody messes with him."

"Sorcerer-General!" Wind exclaimed, sitting straight. "That sounds right fancy. I bet you can do some mean stuff, eh?"

He nodded at Cathari. "It was indeed a genuine invitation. Please do join." He nodded at Tefia, as the girl introduced herself. "Nice to meet you! And I hear you! I have had this impossible monk chasing me all the way from the Riverlands, screaming 'Anathema' whenever she sees me." He chuckled. "It would be exhausting even if it weren't so hilarious."

"If it's excitement you want, I think you could do worse than hang out with us." He grinned at Tefia. "Between Lekeles and me, we could show you a few things, I'm sure." He turned to hear the man himself speak. "And sounds like he has a plan of some sort. Count me in. I'm always in for a bit of adventure."

He stifled a giggle at the idea of pissing angry scorpions and squirmed uneasily about all the talk of tyrants and saviours and responsibility. Being Exalted had freed him from all that, as far as he was concerned. He was uneasy too at the solemnity in Lekeles' voice as he spoke of redemption. He didn't really know the man well, but this was a side of him he hadn't seen before. What kind of bloody past did he have?

He nodded at Tefia. "Hear, hear.  I mean, I'm no stoneheart. I'll help people out when they need it. Have plenty of times in the last year. But I'd prefer not to spend my life chasing after people, just looking for problems to solve. I'd rather chase after trouble myself. Much more fun."

Lekeles smiled wanly at Wind, "I seem to remember helping you run from trouble at least twice this week."

"Madam Alaskel? Have you heard of the Slaughter King?" Lekeles asked, refilling his tea cup carefully, focusing on the flow of the tea almost to the exclusion of everything else. Things had so far gone fairly well, he hoped.

"Yes, I can," Cathari said to Tzin Vel about her sorcery, and that was that. "I enjoy finding problems to solve, because I like to think that when I solve them they tend to stay that way." She smiled very slightly at Wind and Tefia, young people and headstrong but with good hearts behind them, "I expect that if I travel with the two of you, so much trouble will arrive on my doorstep that I'll have little time to seek out more."

"The Slaughter King," Cathari steepled her fingers, so much better to involve herself in academic matters than deal with her own emotions, "I've heard it before in relation to another name. There is or was a great storm-serpent they called He Shakes Heaven's Gate, scales black as onyx and edged in lightning. He was the Slaughter King's herald once upon a time, announced his name in peals of thunder. Killed people who wanted to challenge his master but weren't worthy of the honor, they'd wait around for the King and be struck by lightning, over and over. A very dangerous individual, nobody's seen him in a great many years. How much more dangerous must the King himself have been?"
This message was last edited by the player at 15:32, Mon 16 Nov 2015.