X'shasi Kilntreader

Since it seemed to have meet some success, I add another to the list. This time about a subject I don’t often see talked about when it comes to WoLs specifically:

Shasi carries a lot of guilt about this. Her exposure at Carteneau was the catalyst for her Echo awakening, and she lived with some of its abilities for several years before the Scions took notice of her. Despite explicit confirmation of the fact only coming far more recently, Shasi knew right away that what had happened at Carteneau had marked her as Hydaelyn's champion (though she was wrong about the why), and so she often wondered if X'shakkal Halha was one of the last sacrifices to the old Warriors of Light, or the first to die for the new one.

Having been raised away from the tribe for the last decade and a half, Shasi, now nineteen and freshly mourning that loss, returned to the Lynx tribe, where the Nunh that had presided over her birth was still much in power. X'shasi and X'khilo were at odds from the very first, as Khilo's worldview was very much of that might-makes-right school of thought--it had brought him power, after all. But Shasi was always far more wont to bend her strength to the service of others, and so Khilo's values rankled with her. It also became clear to her after some time with the tribe that she would be expected to have children in short order, and while Shasi did want to have them eventually, she had lost her mother too recently to want to be made one. She departed the tribe again after having lived among them only a few moons.

She discovered a few years later, during her travels with the boy Myste, that X'khilo was not her father, and perhaps had always known it. However, none present could say who had sired her. It's not that X'rhun doesn't know, for the record. The moment Shasi turned up, wearing her mother's earrings and with a rapier at her hip, looking for someone to pick up where Shakkal had left off in teaching her the way of the Crimson Duelists, X'rhun knew exactly who she was. He's just been waiting for the perfect moment to tell her, and if she knew that, she'd tell him there's no such thing, but the next best option is now. Today.

- Whatever it is you’re thinking, please say it. If this is to be our last conversation, I would rather it was as long as possible.

- It’s not my secret that I’m not a person. Anyone who paid attention when I was injured could notice it, although only a handful have ever seen a serious enough injury that it would show through. The secret is … well.

- …?

The mining city of Salamund has been controlled by the Garlean Empire for half a century.  Under Imperial rule, the mountain community was transformed into a smog-laden warren of mineshafts, ironworks and refineries.  Many of the structures were hastily constructed, built by the lowest bidders, and are now in a state of decay as the repeated wars of succession for the Imperial throne have thrown the continent into disarray.

Salamund’s industry was not built without an eye for habitation, however.  This sample break room built adjacent to a mining pit offers relief from the daily drudgery between shifts.  Workers can fix a quick meal and find a drink at the stove and fountain, while steam pipes from the nearby smelting plant offer heat.  A bench has been installed as an approved sitting space, beneath a clock and postings of recent notices to ensure workers are up to date and timely.  A small bunkroom has been partitioned off so that up to four can nap between shifts at the mine (workers often hang sheets at the foot of the bed for privacy), as well as a loft for storing tools and approved personal effects.

The conditions were designed for the populace of Salamund - primarily midlanders and keepers of the moon, the mine workers often in their teenage and young adult years - and as such are built to save space, with low ceilings and narrow walkways.

In another bit of boredom while waiting for the next patch to arrive, I decided to put together B’aiken’s immediate family like I did for Jiro Kuroda.  As with that post it got long, so details below the cut.

VI. The Lovers || Fray Myste & X’shasi Kilntreader

love • unions • partnerships • relationships • choices • romance • balance • unity

“She was the person I wanted to protect most in this world. When you find someone like that—someone you would give anything to save—your hearts are connected so deeply that there can be no barriers between you.”

For me The Lovers has always been a card about virtuous choice, and what one values, and what happens when you find unconditional acceptance. Shasi and Fray are not romantically linked, but they are, in a way, soulmates, and this is their first time communing.