(2023-02-16) Holding the Tail of a Falling Star

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Author:	Luridel
Summary:	Mordecai finds Caspis in Valiance Keep to ask him some questions about the World Trees. He learns something new about the nature of saronite. ~3100 words, lore/story discussion.
Rating:	T for Teen

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discussion of Old God-inflicted insanity and the Hunger

Mordecai looks at Caspis. He looks at the cannon. He inches closer carefully so as not to get in the way of the cannon.

Caspis gazes out over the tundra. Brooooding.

[Mordecai]: Um… ex-excuse me.

Caspis turns.

Caspis's ears lift slightly. "Mordecai Aspenwood. Are you warm enough?"

Mordecai smiles. "Oh. Um, yes, I am. This… there's an enchantment." He gestures vaguely at the robe.

Caspis nods. "Very well."

[Caspis]: What may I do for you this afternoon?

[Mordecai]: Oh. Um. I had… a few questions? If you're not busy.

[Caspis]: Of course.

Caspis bows down graciously.

Mordecai returns the bow almost automatically.

[Mordecai]: Lode mentioned… a 'failed world tree' up here?

[Caspis]: Ahhh, yes. Perhaps we should find somewhere to sit.

Mordecai looks around. He begins to inch away from the cannon again. "Right."

Mordecai looks around for places to sit. There aren't a lot of options.

They find somewhere to sit.

[Caspis]: This breaks the wind a bit, at least.

Mordecai nods, settling down.

[Caspis]: You speak of Andrassil. Now called Vordrassil, the Broken Crown.

Mordecai repeats quietly, "Vordrassil," getting the pronunciation correct. He nods.

[Caspis]: What do you wish to know?

[Mordecai]: Why was it planted? What happened to it?

Caspis sighs softly.

[Caspis]: It was planted as part of a scheme by Fandral Staghelm to counteract the effects of a substance that, according to indirect reports I have received from the Ebon Blade, is now being called saronite.

[Caspis]: A friend, via the Argent Dawn, via the Ebon Blade.

[Mordecai]: Saronite. That's… the metal they use for their armor, isn't it? What… effects does it have?

[Caspis]: Argent… wait, what are they called now…? *He shrugs*

[Mordecai]: The Argent Crusade, now.

[Caspis]: I cannot imagine why they would use it for armor. As I knew it, it drove people mad.

[Mordecai]: W-what?

[Caspis]: It began appearing several thousand years ago, all over Azeroth. A sort of eruption, corrupt in the extreme.

[Caspis]: Staghelm planted branches of the World Tree at sites where it manifested, and it seemed to purge them.

[Caspis]: Great trees grew at each location, and strengthened the connection to the Emerald Dream.

[Mordecai]: I've… never heard of saronite coming from anywhere else but Northrend. That would be… because of the other trees he planted?

Caspis shakes his head. "He planted them to combat the existing eruptions."

[Caspis]: There were seven locations where it appeared. Two here, the rest very far flung. It was as though it found weaknesses, veins in the earth, and followed them to the surface in specific spots.

[Caspis]: We suspected that because two of the locations were on Northrend, that Northrend might be the source. And the nature of Andrassil's growth seems to confirm this.

[Caspis]: It grew rapidly and incredibly large - it was the largest tree aside from the World Tree itself.

Mordecai looks increasingly alarmed as Caspis explains. He draws his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them. "Saronite drives people mad?"

[Caspis]: Yes, at least in its raw form, if people are too long exposed.

[Mordecai]: Not necessarily after it's been worked?

[Caspis]: Of that, I have no knowledge.

[Caspis]: But it "whispers", when it erupts raw from the ground.

[Mordecai]: What - what effects did that have? Do you know?

[Caspis]: Violent madness. Aggression.

[Caspis]: Paranoia, turning on one's own friends.

[Caspis]: But planting the branches of the world tree caused the deposits to disappear, and cleansed those areas.

Mordecai nods. "I didn't mean to interrupt. Please continue." He looks very thoughtful.

[Caspis]: It appears to have returned here, however. But only here.

[Caspis]: Your questions are not interruptions - they are the purpose of this conversation, hm? It is only that I tend to ramble.

Mordecai smiles a little shyly. "It's just that I hadn't heard of anything being wrong with saronite before. I thought it was just a metal. And all the Knights of the Ebon Blade wear it."

[Caspis]: Perhaps they are immune to madness, or perhaps, as you say, their smiths have found a way to neutralize its effects.

[Caspis]: Or perhaps they are all already mad. *He shrugs*

[Mordecai]: You don't think there's a chance… that that's where the Hunger comes from, do you?

[Caspis]: The Hunger?

Caspis peers at Mordecai searchingly.

[Mordecai]: The… what the Death Knights claim to experience. The need to inflict pain to sustain themselves.

[Caspis]: Hmm. I know little of death knights. But I do know that long exposure to the raw ore most certainly caused acts of unspeakable violence and suffering.

Mordecai nods slowly.

[Caspis]: Those who heard it "speak" did as it bid them, after a time.

[Caspis]: If you are familiar with death knights, you might ask them if their armor "speaks" to them.

[Caspis]: If not, perhaps forging silences it.

[Caspis]: It is, in a sense, a living thing - and extreme heat may "kill" it.

[Mordecai]: Mm.

[Caspis]: Our best guess is that it exudes from the body of a wounded god beneath the earth.

[Caspis]: Wounded by the Great Sundering.

[Mordecai]: Colson mentioned… you saw an excavation in progress, last Sunday. Some unknown group disturbing a tuskarr burial site, and… digging?

Caspis seems to need a moment to recall this. "Mmmm… yes, something of that nature."

[Mordecai]: He said it reminded him of what he'd seen in Kalimdor, with Twilight's Hammer cultists digging to seek out the buried Old Gods.

[Caspis]: I would not be surprised. But if so, they are digging in the wrong place. The primary eruptions of saronite we found were far to the east of here.

[Mordecai]: Far to the east… all right.

[Mordecai]: Where Vordrassil is?

Caspis nods. "And another, in Crystalsong Forest."

[Caspis]: To the west of Vordrassil.

[Mordecai]: I see.

[Caspis]: Mmm… Northwest.

Caspis's gaze is far away, as though lost in memory.

Mordecai frowns, staring off into space as well for a little while.

[Mordecai]: It's not common knowledge in this day and age. About the saronite.

[Caspis]: In truth, we ourselves had all but forgotten it. Until now.

Mordecai nods. "I suppose it was a problem from thousands of years ago."

[Caspis]: And considered solved, though…

Caspis sighs.

[Caspis]: We created a worse problem, I begin to suspect.

[Caspis]: I believe in saving Azeroth we tainted the Emerald Dream.

[Mordecai]: Oh, Light. Because of… I see.

[Caspis]: Andrassil. Its roots… delved deeply.

[Caspis]: We destroyed it as soon as we saw how it was corrupted, but… the tree itself was a conduit to the Dream, and something may have been drawn into it.

[Mordecai]: You think it may have reached something more harmful than even the saronite. One of the Old Gods themselves?

Caspis nods.

Mordecai sighs and rubs at his face with a gloved hand.

[Caspis]: Only a being so powerful would have the ability to taint the Emerald Dream. Even then, it has taken thousands of years. But the signs are all too obvious now. Stormrage's disappearance being a symptom.

[Caspis]: He was no neophyte, to lose himself easily. Something powerful waylaid him.

[Caspis]: Perhaps if Staghelm had consulted with the Dragon Aspects before planting stolen limbs of the World Tree all over, they might have warned him not to plant there. But.

[Caspis]: He was always one to seek forgiveness rather than permission. And then decided he didn't care about forgiveness either.

Mordecai nods slowly. "Would… killing it… help the Emerald Dream? Like how killing the one in Silithus changed the silithid?"

[Mordecai]: Killing the Old God. Not the tree.

[Caspis]: I am uncertain. Until just now, I wasn't certain old gods could be killed. *Over a year ago is 'just now' to him.*

[Mordecai]: I do hope that one sticks.

[Caspis]: Mm.

Mordecai rubs at his face again. "I realize it's a rather ambitious prospect. Very much so. But…"

[Mordecai]: I've seen miracles happen before.

[Caspis]: It took the Horde and Alliance working together, in great numbers, and many lives were lost. But if this one could be killed, I would certainly recommend it, even if the Dream remains corrupted.

[Caspis]: The trouble with imprisoning something is that it has little to do but plan revenge. Illidan Stormrage should have been executed.

[Caspis]: But that is unrelated.

[Mordecai]: Mmm.

[Caspis]: Only that… locking something away and letting it remain conscious rarely ends well. Especially if that thing is powerful.

[Caspis]: I understand that they "slumber," these gods, but even in their sleep they can whisper. And sometimes, they wake, as was seen with C'Thun.

Caspis peers at Mordecai searchingly.

[Mordecai]: … I feel like Jo should be warned. Captain Jo.

[Mordecai]: She, she writes the newsletters. Every week.

[Caspis]: Mm. If I had more than speculation and old memory, I would speak with her.

[Caspis]: But understand, everything I say is based on feeling, intuition. I have no facts.

[Caspis]: Even the events I was present for, I do not fully understand.

[Caspis]: I am too new to the Company to stir up fear where it may be unwarranted.

Mordecai shrugs. "Forewarned is forearmed. But I understand."

[Caspis]: If my speculations turn out to be false, I have made a very bad first impression indeed. I wish to build trust.

[Caspis]: But I have shared what little I know, and what I feel, with Sir Atley. If he comes to believe my fears are grounded, I know that the Captain will listen to him.

Mordecai nods. "Of course."

[Caspis]: You are not afraid, I hope?

Caspis peers at Mordecai searchingly.

[Mordecai]: Once you succumb to the madness of an Old God's whispering, there's no cure, is there? Not that I've heard of.

[Caspis]: Nor have I heard of, or seen. We had to… end the lives of those affected.

[Mordecai]: I suppose it's simply in my nature as a healer to look for… solutions to problems such as that even when there may be none to be found.

[Caspis]: It is important to remember that just because something has not been found, that does not mean it does not exist.

Mordecai nods.

[Mordecai]: Sometimes there's nothing to be done in the timetable you have. But…

[Caspis]: We strive, regardless, hm?

[Mordecai]: We do.

Caspis studies Mordecai. He doesn't smile exactly, but there is a certain softness in his grave expression.

[Mordecai]: Perhaps the locals closer to Vordrassil might know more. I don't know.

[Caspis]: Possibly. My group did not linger there.

[Caspis]: We were… holding the tail of a falling star.

Mordecai blinks and tilts his head.

[Mordecai]: Is that an expression?

[Caspis]: Ah, yes, possibly it does not translate.

[Caspis]: Staghelm. He was a force to be reckoned with, not directed. And we were bound to him.

[Caspis]: He chose all of our fates.

[Mordecai]: I see.

[Caspis]: He would see himself as a rising star, but some of us know better.

[Caspis]: But Duskwood… Feralas… the Hinterlands… the other places were saved, at least.

[Caspis]: If, in your travels, you come across great trees and portals to the Emerald Dream, guarded by the green dragonflight, you know where we visited.

Mordecai nods. "I see. I haven't, yet, but my travels have been relatively limited."

[Caspis]: This must be disconcerting for you, then.

[Caspis]: Being here.

[Mordecai]: It's very new.

[Caspis]: You have shown great courage.

Mordecai rubs the back of his neck, under the cloak. "I feel anxious all the time. But I'm told bravery is acting in spite of that. So. I suppose I'm still here."

[Caspis]: Without fear, there is no courage.

[Caspis]: My daughter, for example, does things that appear brave from the outside, but in fact they are simply done from ignorance of the danger.

[Mordecai]: Ah.

[Mordecai]: Is she here in Northrend? I don't believe I've met her.

[Caspis]: She is underage, and so she is being watched over in Ashenvale. She is only…

Caspis has to think about this a very long time.

[Caspis]: … fourteen…? seventeen…?

Caspis lets out a long, drawn-out sigh.

[Caspis]: I need to write her soon.

[Mordecai]: I've met your… thero'shan? Florande Wildbloom. She said she was twenty-two.

[Caspis]: Yes. Twenty is usually considered of age among my people. But Florande is still quite young. My daughter, Tirenda, is a child both legally and… in disposition.

[Caspis]: Reckless, headstrong. But perhaps will make a fine Sentinel one day.

[Mordecai]: I find it fascinating, the discrepancy. You and Anareline, thousands of years old, on the same trip as a young adult of twenty-two.

[Caspis]: Mm, yes.

[Caspis]: I worry terribly for both of my thero'shan. But they are intelligent and capable, if young.

[Caspis]: They lack perspective, but that comes with time, and is not always necessary for a fight.

[Mordecai]: It's difficult for me to even imagine. What it must be like to live that long.

[Caspis]: In a way it is like living many lives in succession. Chapters, often very different from one another.

[Caspis]: The world changes, and if you are wise, you change with it.

[Caspis]: If you are not, you rarely reach my age.

[Mordecai]: I see.

[Caspis]: I myself have difficulty imagining trying to fit the whole of a life into less than a hundred years.

[Caspis]: Perhaps your people learn more quickly than mine.

Mordecai smiles and shrugs. "Well, we get through as much of it as we can."

Caspis nods.

[Caspis]: Your people are quick to decide and act, which I suppose is necessary. And at times it has done this world good.

[Caspis]: If not for your 7th Legion, the Cenarion Circle would not have acted in Silithus until it was too late.

[Mordecai]: Quick? I suppose - yes.

[Caspis]: By our standards.

Mordecai nods.

[Caspis]: Kaldorei debates can go on for decades, at times.

[Caspis]: Not always appropriate in times of imminent threat.

Mordecai smiles faintly. "True."

[Caspis]: I am a minority voice among my people in that I am pleased that the humans have taken leadership over our Alliance. Humans… get things done, as you would say.

[Caspis]: I have my doubts about gnomes… but the other members of the Alliance bring needed skills and perspectives.

Mordecai sounds faintly surprised. "You don't believe gnomes bring needed skills and perspectives…?"

[Caspis]: I have not had very productive encounters with them, for the most part. But at least our Captain has yet to give me cause for alarm.

[Caspis]: I find their machines unsettling and their recklessness with regards to environmental impact downright enraging.

[Mordecai]: I see.

[Caspis]: They are as disconnected from nature as any living being I have ever met.

[Caspis]: They seem to see nature as an adversary to be eliminated.

Mordecai hums noncommittally.

[Caspis]: But I do not mean to speak ill of allies. I am certain they have been very helpful in various conflicts.

[Mordecai]: I think one thing that puts gnomes as a whole into perspective for me is that most of the living adult gnomes of today all came from the same hometown.

[Caspis]: Hmmm.

[Caspis]: Perhaps as they travel more and interact with other cultures they will adopt new ways of thinking.

[Caspis]: My own people, some of them, are too isolationist, fear outsiders. This is never useful.

[Caspis]: Staghelm himself among the worst. He would never have agreed to become part of the Alliance.

[Mordecai]: You've all been adapting relatively quickly. Most kaldorei I've met know at least some Common by now, and the majority are properly fluent speakers.

[Caspis]: Our moon is waning, as is natural, but he cannot abide it.

[Caspis]: I embrace it.

[Caspis]: I believe it is your people's time to lead us through the changes the world is experiencing.

[Caspis]: This is why I have studied your language intensively, and read of your history.

[Mordecai]: I've picked up bits and pieces of Darnassian, but mostly… it was what I needed to know for work, not conversation.

Caspis nods.

[Mordecai]: Funeral rites, mostly.

[Caspis]: Our people mostly prefer to learn Common than to hear our own language… spoken unskillfully.

[Caspis]: Rites are relatively safe, as they can be memorized.

[Caspis]: But very few humans have the ability to have spontaneous conversation in Darnassian.

[Caspis]: The rules of grammar, I am told, feel more like complex math than language to a speaker of Common.

Mordecai ducks his head, the hood falling low over his face. "What I know I've mostly memorized."

Caspis studies him.

Mordecai seems faintly embarrassed.

[Caspis]: I do not mean to insult you.

[Mordecai]: No, I-I understand. It's fine.

[Mordecai]: I was just thinking about. Um, you called Colson my shalan. Once.

[Caspis]: Was that incorrect?

[Mordecai]: Anareline told me it was closer to 'soulmate' than 'spouse'. Do you believe humans can have them?

Mordecai sounds hopeful, and a little shy.

[Caspis]: I could not say for certain, but the way you behave around one another reminds me of that sort of bond. Many human marriages do not seem to have this quality.

Mordecai brightens visibly, breaking into a genuine, happy smile.

[Caspis]: Humans largely seem to value their independence, and would shudder at the idea of another person being an inextricable part of them.

[Caspis]: But to me, the two of you seem as… a pair of limbs attached to one body, which is what the feeling of a shalan is like, in a sense. Difficult to describe to those who have not felt it. Two wings. The bird itself being… what you create together.

[Caspis]: Greater than both of you.

Mordecai nods. "Yes. It's like that."

[Caspis]: Either wing can move independently, but together, they are more.

Mordecai nods again, beaming at Caspis. "Yes."

[Caspis]: It seems much more rare among your people, but I don't see why it would not occur from time to time. Souls are mysterious things.

[Mordecai]: She's very kind. Your Anareline.

[Caspis]: She hides it well. *The faintest hint of a smile.* I am glad you have seen that side of her.

[Caspis]: Generally she shows a rather severe face to the world.

[Caspis]: The first time I saw her I thought she was Elune's vengeance herself, the Night Warrior.

Mordecai smiles at the description.

Caspis almost smiles back.

There's a clanging metal noise from elsewhere in the courtyard, and a shout of pain - somebody dropped something on their foot, maybe.

Caspis's eyebrows shoot up.

Mordecai startles and jumps to his feet. "I, um, I should."

[Caspis]: Yes. A healer's work is never done.

[Caspis]: If you have further questions, by all means seek me out.

[Mordecai]: Thank you for. Yes.

Caspis bows before Mordecai.

Mordecai bows hurriedly to Caspis and hurries off to see to the problem.

Caspis wanders off.