50 (A-SIDE): Daybreak

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## Summary

### The Wilds, Reclaimed

As Luca and Vallor find comfort in their shared experience with the cult, Eton seeks knowledge about the great tree they all now stand upon. He takes a golden leaf for a sample, and decides to inform the Empire of what transpired.

Eton manages to take a picture with the Ark camera and send it along with a message to the Crownguard: “Big tree happened. Lots of Ark. Probably not good to be here right now. Send some help.”

Meanwhile, Mujie’s concerns lie with Tai, who has been quiet since the battle ended. She reveals to Mujie that, before the ritual, she sent Garris a message asking for his help, but he never came. Mujie tells her it’s not her fault. But, as usual, it isn’t what she wants to hear. Nevertheless, he finds a way to level with her about loss, the Gods and their connection to the realm’s life force, and their place in it all. Mujie offers her the chance to finally get some answers, and casts Commune, so that she may question his patron God.

> *“Could I have saved Rowi?” she asks. No, comes the simple response from Mitro, unheard but felt from where Tai’s hand grips Mujie’s.*
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> *“Is Garris—... Is Lillet using me?” she asks again, her second of three questions. Another negative response.*
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> *She grits her teeth, and Mujie feels her hold on his hand tighten before she asks her final question.*
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> *Is it okay to go home?” The answer is a clear yes.*
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> *The magic linking them to Mitro dispels. The levee breaks, and Tai cries.*
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### Son of Seasons

Nearby, Cat gets the idea that he’d like to study Vallor’s blood. Noticing Val’s obvious discomfort, Luca tries to mediate, assuring Vallor that he doesn’t have to give anyone any blood anymore. Either oblivious or unbothered, Cat continues to press him, until the party is interrupted by a towering, glimmering figure: Hiran, the Saint of Seasons.

Hiran has been sent by Bartak to deliver the party his thanks for destroying—for now—the creature beneath the village. He explains to the party the role of minor gods in Balaayt, called Saints or Sages, among other things. They are wayfarers between worlds, as he puts it. Unlike the six gods of origin, minor deities are able to freely traverse between the Realm of the Divine and the Material Plane. They can also, it turns out, sire children. Hiran tells them the story of how he met Lydia, a mortal woman from the North Continent who saved him from hunters in her camp, and the party gets an explanation for Vallor’s golden eyes and rare blood.

Later, Cat persuades Tai to give him one of the pair of Sending Stones that connects her to Garris.

## Quotes

#### *WINNING WASN'T SUPPOSED TO FEEL LIKE THIS:*

> “I called for help. From Garris. I used the sending stone like he said, and he didn’t— he didn’t come…”
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> “You gonna say I told you so?”
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> “What am I supposed to say to Dabo? What am I supposed to do now?”
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—Tai, to Mujie

#### *28 YEARS FOR A PACK OF CIGARETTES?:*

> “You must be the ones who purged the evil that took root here. Lord Bartak sent me on his behalf, but you have my thanks as well. This place is my home. Or was, until those settlers came. Ah, and what’s more, my cousin Sika tells me you helped heal the Mother Tree west of here. Friends of the Wilds, indeed. We have much to talk about, I imagine.”
> “Forgive me. Where are my manners. I am the Sage of Seasons. You may call me Hiran.”
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—Hiran, Sage of Seasons

#### *PATRON SAINT OF DEADBEATS:*

> "Late one summer, not long ago. I was struck by a barbed arrow by hunters from this village. I was found by a woman named Lydia, who cared for me until my wounds healed. Our time together was short, but she was kind to me. I left to winter in the Realm of the Divine, and then that cursed entity awoke, and the realm became my prison. Tell me, what became of her?”
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—Hiran, on meeting Vallor's mother, Lydia

#### *DAD* IS *REAL!:*

> “There are many planes of existence, you see. The six elder Gods created the Material Plane, your home, but they belong to the Realm of the Divine. Many Sages, or Saints, or whatever you would like to call us—we are wayfarers, traversing the planes as we see fit. But we, too, belong chiefly to the plane of the gods."
> "The grass grows and blooms beneath my feet and I can change the seasons on a whim. Were my Lord Uncle to make an appearance in the Material Plane, he would raise a tree like this with every step. This plane would be torn apart with overgrowth, glorious though it would be. That is likely why he is difficult to reach at times, as it were. I must say, however, it *is* a rather magnificent gesture, on his part.”
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—Hiran, on the nature of other realms in Balaayt

#### *SURELY. UNLESS...:*

> “That piece of filth you found. What will you do with it?”
> “If there were a way to destroy it, surely my Lord Uncle would have made it known to the sages. That is why they have merely been hidden in the past. But it seems we’ve reached the point in the cycle at which they resurface yet again. I do think it would be prudent to reopen the remaining springs, in any case.”
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—Hiran, on Wrath and Fragments of Siffir

#### *CAN WE KEEP HIM?:*

> **HIRAN:** "You are grown, and surely have no need of a father, anymore. I must apologize for leaving you on your own, but I had no idea I'd sired a child until my Lord Uncle told me what happened here. But, as such, I suppose it falls to me to deliver you the bad news."
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> **VALLOR:** "Bad news...?"
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> **HIRAN:** "You are mortal. What those monsters did to you has stripped you of the greatest gift of your parentage."
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> **VALLOR:** "Oh. I— Well. So I can stay here, on this plane...?"
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> **HIRAN:** "...You must. The Realm of the Divine would prove too much for your weak mortal constitution. You understand I mean no offense, of course. Though I will have to devise other ways for you to meet more of our kin..."
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