SoSS 2.3

***Meeting a Dead Horse*** is the third episode of the second book of *Stories on the Subjugated Straits*, and the eleventh overall.

## Plot

Cassandra returns to the shipping guild lodge to investigate the strange person she'd seen earlier in the evening. Sneaking into her room as she sleeps, Cassandra finds belongings identifying her as a merchant named Leonara Tsuji. However, she senses magic imbued in the documents on Leonara's desk; Roris sends a mental message confirming this, suspecting that they're harboring some secret communication, and asks that the documents be brought to their altar. Cass steals the documents and escapes into the night as Leonara sleeps.

Back at the Order of the Lighthouse compound, Kaseos and Voy practice swordplay with Yowuli. As they spar, Kas says he plans to make a public claim to the throne the next time the current marquis holds court. After Yowuli helps Kas easily disarm Voy, Voy plans to teach Kas more about the sword's history, and Kaseos asks to learn about Roxy and the Infernal Crisis as well. Voy then asks to try sparring while wielding Yowuli, to which the sword readily agrees, and he and Kas finish out their training for the night. Far later in the night, Detonia asks her god for guidance, as her need to remain in humanoid disguise is causing her more and more discomfort; her god does not answer.

The next morning, Nati awakens, surprisingly not hung over after a night of heavy drinking. Val questions her emotional well-being; Nati reluctantly admits her distress over what Cassandra and Kaseos told her about the new gods, and her supposedly being an android. To Nati's surprise, Val is familiar with the latter term from artificery: a magically created lifeform, lifelike to the point of being indistinguishable from an organic one. She reassures Nati that she is still herself regardless, though they both question whether this means that the memories Nati received from the altar of Drolene are real or not. Nati asks Val to fill Kaseos in on what she knows about androids, but asks that no one else be told.

After breakfast, Kaseos asks Darwin to inform the steward of his plans to reveal himself at the marquis's court, and then learns from Nati and Val what they know about androids. Elsewhere, Detonia asks Cassandra what she saw at the lodge; Cass confirms she saw someone who resembled Detonia, but does not mention the magic documents. Cassandra suggests they visit the lodge again to speak with Leonara. Detonia, though nervous about the presence of someone from the plane she was exiled from, agrees to come along.

Cassandra goes off alone to Elmore's Temple of the Saints, where Bishop Ceridwen Teguchi directs her to the shrine to Roris. She discreetly leaves the documents on the altar, and finds them traded for a strange machine. She holds it up to her eye, into which the machine injects a long, sharp needle; after doing so, she finds herself able to properly cast Detect Magic.

Back at the compound, Voy teaches Kaseos about the Infernal Crisis. Seven hundred years ago, as the old gods disappeared one by one, a cult used their absence as a chance to open a portal to the Hells, using Elmore as their base of operations. As the Wornor Straits were decimated, a group of adventurers - each with a connection to a different new god - arose to aid the resistance against Hell, and ultimately were the deciding factor in ending the Infernal Crisis. These adventurers became the Ten Saints, and in the Crisis's aftermath, founded the Commonwealth in its current form and legitimized the new gods as the world's de facto pantheon. The warriors Ellen the Generous trained during the Crisis became the Order of the Kensei Knights, a semi-autonomous organization dedicated to helping the people of the Straits, and Yowuli was passed down through them as it was through Ellen's family before that.

Following Voy's lecture, Kaseos reflects on his upbringing, mentioning that almost everyone he knows has helped save the world at some point. When Voy asks, Kas confirms that the "ankle" who gave him his phone - Avriel Gustin-Heaver - is one of them, and that they're currently investigating time travel. Voy is immediately interested, and asks to meet Avriel, excited by the potential for historical research afforded by time travel. Despite Yowuli's uneasiness with the idea, Kaseos agrees to help arrange a meeting.

Voy travels to the Temple of the Saints and meets with Bishop Ceridwen, and they discuss sacrifices on the altar, and the rare cases in which other new gods take live sacrifices like Drolene does. Voy then asks Ceridwen which god she grew up connected to. She confides that, though she publicly worshiped Yaldir, she belongs to a sect within the church which specializes in Idia, the only old god represented among the Ten Saints and their temples. She mentions that a friend within this sect claimed to have received a response from Idia's shrine at the seasonal cleansing of the altars, something which has not happened in centuries. She invites Voy to join her for the upcoming cleansing rites, to which he agrees, and they part ways.

That afternoon, Detonia, Silence, and Lynx head to the guild lodge's restaurant in search of Leonara, while Cassandra disguises herself as an employee and waits their table and others. The lodge's receptionist brings an agitated Leonara to meet the group. Detonia and Leonara are initially hostile as they question each others' presence, but eventually reveal that they were both sent here by their princesses; Detonia in exile, and Leonara - whose true name is Lemon Mint Holyguard - as a spy. Lemon Mint expresses sympathy for Detonia, grateful that she was only exiled and not sent to the void. When Detonia tells her she was exiled *through* the portal to the void, Lemon Mint realizes that the princesses intended to kill Detonia, and likely don't know she's still alive. The two of them, both in shock at the revelation, agree to meet again the next day to discuss things further. Detonia, Silence, and Lynx part ways with Lemon Mint, while Cassandra finishes her shift before following them back to the compound.

## Characters

### Main

* Cassandra Dunewatcher
* Detonia Lethe
* Kaseos Nodre
* Lynx Cache
* Nati Serrano
* Silence
* Voy Graves

### Supporting

* Leonara Tsuji/Lemon Mint Holyguard
* Val
* Darwin Mizunoko
* Ceridwen Teguchi
* Shipping guild receptionist