Chapter Text
The days after his Radiancy’s outburst on Navikani were quiet. He practiced his harp and read poetry, and went swimming and on walks along the beach and into the jungle.
Cliopher had joined him on one such walk, a stroll out into the jungle; Cliopher walking next to his Radiancy, with Zerafin and Varro a few feet behind them. They had been discussing poetry, a safe enough topic after the week’s adventures, his Radiancy more engaged in the topic than Cliopher had ever seen him.
It was a shock to both of them when the ground fell out from beneath them.
Cliopher hardly had the time to get his bearings before he found himself surrounded by glowing gold light, slowing his descent enough for him to notice that he was plummeting towards water. He spared a moment to be grateful for his Radiancy’s magic even as he took a deep breath in preparation for landing.
He dropped to the pool below, and immediately the golden bubble around him vanished. He plunged into the water, his momentum carrying him all the way to the bottom, where he could push off to return to the surface.
He kicked off his sandals as he rose, freeing his feet to kick more easily, and as he reached the surface, he pulled off his outer robe to free himself to maneuver. He was grateful that he wasn’t in full court layers which would have dragged him down under their own weight, and he was a strong enough swimmer that he did not need to shuck off any further clothing.
He reached the surface of the water, treading water gently as he got his bearings.
They were in some sort of sinkhole, and had fallen into a pool in some sort of open cave. His Radiancy had surfaced some ten feet away, and was struggling with his own robe and mantle. He was managing to tread water on his own, and he shook his head at Cliopher before he had the chance to swim over to His Radiancy.
“Shore,” he called out, gesturing off to his side, and then promptly began swimming towards it. In the dim light of the hole they had fallen through, Cliopher could make out a ledge in the direction that His Radiancy had gestured, and he struck out towards it himself.
It seemed to just be the two of them, Cliopher noted with distant horror. He twisted in the water to look up at the hole they had fallen through, and saw the silhouettes of His Radiancy’s guards looking down at them. He waved up to them. “We’re OK,” he called up, his voice echoing strangely through the cavern. A ball of magelight appeared over him, and he saw one of the guards wave back. To his surprise, they did not call back to him, but having reassured the guards that they were ok, he completed his swim over to the ledge, and pulled himself up onto it before stopping to take stock of his surroundings.
The only light they had was the sun shining through the hole that they had fallen into, and it was clouded with the dust from the collapse. They had landed in the pool along with a large amount of debris, some of which was still floating on the surface of the water. The pool itself was large and uneven, a few stalagmites rising up out of the water. The walls around them were some sort of dark stone, and seemed to shine faintly with moisture. They were on the only ledge large enough for both of them, which looked to be ten feet from the edge of the water to the cave wall, and perhaps twenty feet wide side to side, tapering back to the cave wall, with a large patch of moss covering most of it. His Radiancy was standing next to a circle of golden stones - pearls? - that were glinting faintly in the light, and upon closer inspection appeared to be a fire pit already stocked with kindling and wood.
“This is all very strange,” a voice seemed to echo through the room. The voice had a sharp islander accent. It sounded like Cliopher’s father, which was, of course, impossible. This would be a strange place to find islander dead. They preferred high places and the open seas. “How could moss grow here if the only light is from the hole we fell in?”
His Radiancy was in the process of removing his soaked outer garments, but he paused at that echo. “That is hardly the strangest thing about this place,” he said dryly. He finished pulling off his soaked tunic, leaving him in just his linen pants, with the light playing subtle patterns across his skin. He paused to look around himself, taking stock in the situation.
“This is a liminal space,” His Radiancy said quietly, his voice echoing softly through the cave. “We are not - quite - between worlds, but we aren’t fully in Zunidh, either. There is magic here, but I do not sense anything harmful to us.”
“Faleron would love this,” murmured another voice. It sounded like a man, speaking Shian with an unfamiliar accent. Cliopher frowned, looking around for the speaker. Faleron was an unusual name, though surely there were others with it beyond the most famous. His Radiancy had gone still, his posture entirely uninformative, though Cliopher thought he was surprised.
“Who said that?” the islander voice demanded.
His Radiancy looked over at Cliopher, his expression thoughtful. “I do not sense anyone near us,” he said quietly. “Not within this place.”
“What a fascinating mystery!” that Shian voice exclaimed, alive with interest and curiosity.
“Are these the voices of the dead?” the Islander asked, his voice rich with concern.
“I don’t think so,” His Radancy said absently, his eyes unfocused and glowing. “There is something else going on here.” Once again he spoke in answer to the disembodied voice, and Cliopher blinked, expecting him to have been as surprised as he was. A suspicion began to bloom in the back of his mind, for twice now the second voice had mirrored his own thoughts.
He concentrated for a moment, focusing on a single clear thought, and a moment later, the second voice spoke out again. “Are these our thoughts?”
His Radiancy glanced sharply over at him, his eyes glittering with magic. He looked away again, his expression settling into it’s customary serenity.
“This is a very dangerous place for you.” That voice was clearly His Radiancy’s. But Cliopher was looking right at him, and he had not spoken. Their eyes met. His Radiancy stood there entirely still and serene, his face clear of all expression. Some deep emotion moved in his eyes, but Cliopher could not name it.
“Not entirely,” His Radiancy said, looking away from him out over the water. “But it is certainly a factor.”
Cliopher wasn’t certain what made this place especially dangerous for him, but he could think of no way to bring up the question. His Radiancy hadn’t spoken that concern, which he thought meant that he wasn’t free to respond to it. “What is the proper protocol for asking his Radiancy about his thoughts?” said his echo, “And why is it dangerous for me?”
Cliopher flushed, embarrassed at having his thoughts placed out in the open like that. He had never sympathized more with his Radiancy unemotive stillness. “Perhaps this is why it’s dangerous,” his echo added wryly.
“You - I - should find a way to give him privacy.” said his Radiancy’s echo.
“Surely, my lord, it is you who needs privacy,” Cliopher protested.
His Radiancy glanced over at him, “I am accustomed to having no privacy,” he said serenely.
Cliopher recalled the moment hardly over a week ago when he had first seen his Radiancy go swimming. Even as he recalled the moment, he heard Conju’s voice echoing through the cavern, “His Radiancy has no privacy. These are the guards of his household, and I am his Groom of the Chamber.”
Both of them glanced up at the opening at Conju’s voice. Then, as it continued and the context became clear, his Radiancy looked back down and out over the water. “Not just our thoughts, then, but what we’ve heard from others,” he murmured. “Surely, after all this time, you can govern your thoughts,” said his echo, just as neutral as any words the Last Emperor had ever spoken.
Feeling vaguely embarrassed, Cliopher turned his attention to the ring of pearls - they were pearls - sitting towards the back of the ledge. It was unquestionably a fireplace, complete with a stack of wood and kindling next to it. Clearly someone had left it here, which meant that someone meant to return, which in turn meant, “There must be a way out of here,” his echo finished the thought.
His Radiancy looked over at him, and the fireplace, his expression still unreadable. “It does seem likely,” he agreed. “But I don’t see where it could be”
“It’s just like the hearth of my magic,” said the unknown voice.
His Radiancy looked at the fireplace, then looked at Cliopher. “You should get out of those wet clothes,” he said. “And I shall light a fire.”
His Radiancy was certainly correct about the clothes, Cliopher reflected ruefully, as his attention was drawn back to his own soaked tunic and robe. But the fire… “Lighting a fire is one thing. Building one is another.” said his echo doubtfully.
In response, his Radiance grinned at him, his expression suddenly as lively as it had been when he’d found the harp. “I think I can manage,” he said firmly, in a tone that brooked no disagreement.
There was no way that he would know how to build a proper fire, but it would give him something to do. “Yes my lord,” he said, as he began to pull off his own soaked clothing. “It’s just going to be a pile of sticks, isn’t it?” came his judgemental thought. Cliopher was grateful that the shirt was over his face at the moment and hid his flush of embarrassment.
“What he doesn’t have in skill, he makes up for in enthusiasm,” said a woman’s voice, speaking Shian with an Alinorel accent. She was laughing, her tone clearly affectionate, even teasing. His Radiancy, Cliopher saw when he finished removing his shirt, had the slightest smile crinkling around his eyes, as he was focused on building the fire.
Cliopher looked down at the fire his Radiancy was laying out. It was not, he had to admit, the worst fire he’d ever seen someone build. It was even…
Buru Tovo’s voice echoed in the cave, “Better than it was. But the test of a fire is if it stays lit, boy. Let me see you light it.”
His Radiancy looked over at Cliopher, laughter in his eyes, and, with a whisper of one of his incomprehensible words, lit the fire.
It would not have stayed lit if Cliopher had needed to light it, one small spark at a time. But his Radiancy could light the whole pile with a whisper of magic, and it would stay caught. “Makes up for it in enthusiasm, indeed,” was his own echo’s wry commentary.
His Radiancy looked so delighted that Cliopher was reminded once again of the joy he had shown in the marketplace, bartering with illusions. “He clearly enjoys this sort of magic, and all of it is forbidden to him,” Cliopher’s echo observed. “No wonder he has felt so trapped.” His Radiancy didn’t respond to that thought either, but instead stretched out on the moss covered ground, laying flat for a moment with his eyes closed. He had managed to remove the remainder of his wet clothing, and seemed to be drying himself in the fire.
“Almost like the old days,” said the unknown voice longingly. “By a fire with my friends.”
Where the dusty light had played dappled patterns over his Radiancy’s skin, the firelight seemed to caress him, covering him with an interplay of light and shadow that somehow managed to add more depth to his skin. “Even the firelight wants to hold him”, whispered Cliopher’s echo.
His Radiancy opened his eyes, the lion eyes glowing as he regarded Cliopher. Across the firelight, it was impossible to make out any expression in his Radiancy’s golden eyes. Cliopher wasn’t sure he wanted to make out any expression. But Cliopher wasn’t the only one to have the cave’s echos share inconvenient thoughts. “It would be entirely inappropriate to say something about that,” came his Radiancy’s thought, with the firmness of an order.
“Sit down,” his Radiancy invited, his tone dry. “There’s no reason for you to stand there being soaked when we have a perfectly good fire.”
Cliopher hesitated. He did not want to disobey a direct order but… “I’m going to go back into the water,” his echo said, “I can get dry afterwards.”
“Why would you be going back into the water?” his Radiancy asked mildly, his eyes still locked on Cliopher.
“Because if there is a way out, my lord, it is likely to be underwater. I should search for it before I dry off.” he answered. “There’s no telling how long we might have to wait for them to get us out, otherwise.”
His Radiancy pushed himself back into a seated position as he observed Cliopher. His echo spoke, “No doubt your guards are solving that problem as we speak.”
It was followed almost immediately by the still unknown third echo, “Do you really want to wait to be rescued? Even if the magic lets them?”
It had not even occurred to Cliopher that the magic might prevent them from being rescued. But upon reflection, he could see why the third voice might make that point. Nothing about his place felt natural.
“My lord, it will only take me a little while to look for any ways out,” he said. “If there is something underwater, we will at least know it is there if you deem it wiser to wait for the guards to return.”
“I hate waiting to be rescued,” said that third voice. He sounded tired, disappointed, even a bit childish.
A new voice joined the conversation. “You have a remarkable knack for getting in trouble, chantling”. It was another man, with a highly educated Astandalan accent. He sounded both amused and exasperated. “You wouldn’t need to be rescued if you stopped running off.”
Almost directly on top of the newest voice, his Radiancy’s echo spoke. “It will give him space from Our thoughts,” he observed, even as his Radiancy looked away from Cliopher and out over the water again. “You are, as usual, correct, Cliopher,” he said. “Do be careful.”
“Of course, my lord,” Cliopher said with a bow, and he turned his attention to the pool and his focus to the task at hand. He paused to tidy his clothes, folding them neatly in a pile next to the fire, as he began running through the mental exercises to calm himself prior to diving.
As he walked towards the pool, he heard, “He really is remarkably fit for a bureaucrat,” from His Radiancy’s echo. It was so out of character for anything Cliopher had ever heard him say that he forgot himself enough to stare at His Radiancy for a moment as he flushed.
His Radiancy was looking away from him, his posture perfect and his breathing deep and even. A moment later, an extremely aristocratic voice spoke out, with the slightest hint of judgment that Cliopher knew was a cover for significant scorn, lecturing them as to the appropriate behavior of an emperor in front of his subjects.
Cliopher pointedly turned away, and dove into the water. His Radiancy had spoken of his early days as emperor, learning to behave as an emperor ought and if this place meant to remind him of that, Cliopher could do him the kindness of not listening in.
The voice faded to a blur as he dove down to the bottom of the cave. It was not particularly deep - perhaps fifteen feet - and halfway down, Cliopher turned to swim along the edge of the pool, careful to avoid touching the edges where venomous sea creatures were likely to cling. On the far side of the cavern from where he had started, he found an underwater tunnel, large enough for him to swim through, or perhaps to crawl through, if there was no water.
It was the height of foolishness to swim into an unknown cave with no backup. Even without the echo, he could hear Buru Tovo lecturing him on the dangers of getting stuck in a sea cave. He did not need to take the risk now, he reminded himself. His Radiancy would be waiting for his report, and for that he needed to scout the rest of the cave.
He finished most of the circuit around the pool before he needed to surface for air. He rose to the surface, letting out a long, slow diver’s breath, and took stock of his surroundings. The echos were still lecturing aristocrats, and Cliopher tuned them out for the moment. His Radiancy was standing on the ledge where they had settled, looking out over the water. He turned immediately towards Cliopher as he surfaced, and the aristocratic voices stopped immediately, replaced with his voice speaking out, rich with concern, “Thank god you’re ok!”
Cliopher blinked as he tread water, letting his breathing normalize. “Yes my lord,” he said, belatedly registering that it was His Radiancy’s echo, not his voice, which had spoken. His own echo added the wry commentary that this was no worse than diving for pearls. He continued as if his echo hadn’t spoken “I have nearly finished, my lord. It will only take one more dive.”
His Radiancy nodded, and he gestured for Cliopher to continue, but as Cliopher took another breath to dive, he heard His Radiancy’s echo add plaintively, “Please be careful.”
There was nothing else of note along the cave walls as he completed his circuit and returned to their ledge, where His Radiancy had floated a mage light just above him as he surfaced. He swam well clear of where His Radiancy stood, and pulled himself out of the water and onto the ledge.
His Radiancy watched him, standing calm and serene as ever he had stood in his study, waiting for Cliopher to bring him news.
Just as he had so many times in his Radiancy’s study, Cliopher stood and composed himself for a report. “I have completed a circuit of the basin, my lord,” he said. “There is an underwater tunnel on the far side of the cave. It may lead out of the cavern, although there is no way to be certain without exploring it.”
“I see.” His Radiancy stood quietly for a moment, and his echo whispered out, “Of course this would not be easy.” “Is it possible that the water will drain sufficiently on its own to allow us to exit?”
“It is possible, my lord. But I did not see any signs of tidal swing. And even so, I would expect the swing here to be too small to make a significant difference in access to the cave.” He hesitated (his thought of “I don’t want to wait here,” echoing though the cave), and then added, “I could explore that tunnel, my lord. It may well lead to a way out.” Cliopher offered. “Or I could be trapped underwater like I was before,” his echo added helpfully.
His Radiancy raised a single, eloquent eyebrow. “I do not believe there is any need to take that risk for now,” he said dryly.
“Why were you trapped underwater?” asked the third echo. He sounded concerned, but also deeply curious. “The pearl diving?”
And, layered almost over top that echo was His Radiancy’s firm, “I won’t risk losing you.”.
Cliopher flushed and looked away from His Radiancy’s gaze. Of course His Radiancy would not want to be alone. “Very good, my lord. I suppose there is nothing for it but to wait.”
“Perhaps,” his Radiancy said thoughtfully. “Though I do not fancy spending a great deal of time in this cave, attuned as it is to our thoughts and fears.”
Cliopher thought through the implications of that, and his echo beat him to saying it. “But it is treason for me to think that you have fears.” What he said out loud was “I can…stop my ears, my lord. So that you don’t have to share them with me.”
His Radiancy smiled sardonically, and responded, “I very much doubt that that will work. There is something else at work here. This place has the feel of a story to it.” His Radiancy frowned, and said, “I may be able to determine a magical way out,” he said. “But I will need to enter a deep trance to do so.” “You have always had Conju to help you out of it.” his echo fretted. “You are out of practice doing it alone.”
“You” seemed to refer to his Radiancy, for all it was his own voice speaking. Cliopher set that thought aside for a moment, and instead offered, “I will help you however I can, my lord.”
His Radiancy looked around and then back at Cliopher, “This place is rather missing most of the comforts you have grown used to,” said the cave in his voice. “Something to drink is the most helpful,” he said looking around doubtfully, “But talking to me will also help. It does not matter what about, the sound of your voice is enough.”
Cliopher wasn’t sure what to say to that, so he settled on, “Very good, my lord.”
He watched as his Radiancy sat down on the moss, closed his eyes, and his breathing settled into a deep, even pattern. There was nothing for it now but to wait, he supposed.
He cast another glance around the cavern, and noticed a few coconuts bobbing in the water. They had apparently fallen in with them, and it would, at least, give them something to drink. With another glance at his Radiancy, he swam out to retrieve them, and then, for lack of a better option, turned to the task of making their waiting place comfortable.
Some casting about along the ledge revealed tools he would need to open the coconuts; everything he would need to survive here for a day or more, with enough coconuts and the fish from the pool. He set that thought aside. They were clearly in someone’s retreat, and he could, perhaps, restock it before they left. He spent some time opening a couple of coconuts for when his Radiancy awoke. He wasn’t certain if the taboos would allow for coconut water, but he could at least have it ready.
Next, he busied himself setting out their clothing to dry. Conju would no doubt be deeply distressed by the state of their clothes after a dunking, but dry clothes were still better than nothing. He still heard his echo muttering commentary as he worked, but as long as he kept focused on that mundane task, his echo didn’t add anything else embarrassing. “Unless,” it offered up, “the echo only shares embarrassing things when both of us can hear them.”
At that, Cliopher cast a wry glance over at his Radiancy, who was still deep in trance, and apparently unaware of his surroundings. He didn’t think the echo was that targeted, though he did not have a true sense of the magic at work. It seemed to reflect strong thoughts, and it was only inevitable that under the circumstances, some of those thoughts would be embarrassing.
Clothes set out to dry, Cliopher looked around for anything else to keep himself busy. He tidied the firewood, sorting it into kindling, short burning, and long burning logs (“Who put these here?” was strong enough to echo). It was not enough to keep his thoughts quiet, however. He found his thoughts drifting back to lessons with Buru Tovo, all of the taná training he had gone through and left behind. And, as he worked, he began to hear new echos in the cavern around him.
“All that Taná training, and you went off to waste it on that velió emperor,” he heard his mother say scornfully. Despite himself, Cliopher’s head jerked up, half expecting to see her in the cavern with them, but the cavern was still just the two of them.
“Oh, don’t be so hard on him,” he heard Ghilly respond, “you know he was always ambitious. He was never going to put us first.” And oh, he could not protest that observation, could he? He had left, and could not even say he would ever return.
As if in response to that thought, Buru Tovo’s voice echoed out. “Are you going to come home, boy? There has been no one to dance the fire. Thought you would have come home for good by now.”
“I went to sit at the feet of the Sun,” Cliopher found himself protesting, stung by the faceless accusations of his family. “I will still bring home the fire.” His boastful words to the efelauni from mere days ago echoed through the cavern, “I will bring home the hearth-fire of a new life for the world.” He flushed once again at the boastfulness of the claim, at the memory of the vendor’s laughter when he made it.
“That means I have to come home,” said his echo quietly. Cliopher looked down at the stick in his hands, feeling entirely too exposed, even though it was just him alone with his too-clear thoughts. “I don’t know how,” he admitted quietly to himself. “But I can find out, now that his Radiancy plans to retire.” “I wish…” his echo paused, and Cliopher thought it was done, but it continued on, almost in a whisper, “that he could come home with me.”
And oh, that thought was treason, blasphemy, and heresy all combined. He couldn’t even deny it was his thought, that the cave had picked up something he had hardly dared to admit to himself. He glanced over at his Radiancy, felt the cool shock of relief (“just relief?” asked his echo) when he saw that he was still in trance.
Cliopher would rather be lectured at by his family than have the cave continue to pull out treasonous thoughts (“even if his Radiancy appreciates them?”). He thought that he didn’t really want the cave to share either, but the whisper of Buru Tovo’s voice gave him an idea.
Cliopher closed his eyes for a moment, centering himself as he had many times, on countless deserted islands in the Wide Seas, and began to sing the Lays.
Some time later, his Radiancy’s voice interrupted Cliopher’s singing. “What are you singing?” he asked, his voice sounding quiet, weaker than Cliopher had ever heard. Cliopher turned to look at him. His Radiancy had not moved from his position, and he was looking - distant - like he had not fully come back from the deep trance.
“It is nothing, my lord,” he said, embarrassed. “I was singing the Lays. I thought it easier than listening to the cave continuing to share my thoughts.”
“A clever thought,” his Radiancy said, stretching out his hands to warm them by the fire. “Did it work?”
“It seems to, my lord,” Cliopher agreed. “The cave seems to speak to what I was thinking at the time. If I focus on nothing but the Lays, it has nothing to say.”
“If that helps, then I could sing again,” offered the mysterious third voice, cautiously hopeful.
Cliopher realized abruptly that he hadn’t heard that third voice since his Radiancy had gone into the deep trance. It must be connected to him somehow. As the cave had used the voices of people close to him, that must be someone who had once been close to his Radiancy.
He frowned, but a glance by the fire reminded him of the coconuts he had prepared. “I found some coconuts, my lord,” he offered. “I don’t know if you are permitted to have them, but it was the only thing I could find.”
His Radiancy looked at the coconuts, and eyed them consideringly, then sighed. “The taboos forbid juice, and I imagine that comes close enough.” “I don’t think it will do any harm,” said the third voice, sounding resigned. “But I could not put Kip in that position.”
“There is no one but us to know,” muttered Cliopher’s echo mulishly, but all he said was, “As you wish, my lord.”
His Radiancy smiled wryly, but turned his attention to Cliopher. “Would you continue singing for a while?”
“Of course, my lord,” Cliopher said, accepting the change in subject. He turned his thoughts back to the Lays, and he paused, suddenly making a connection to their current circumstances. “I think I know this story,” the cave said for him.
He frowned, chasing that thought down, to one of the more obscure stories told in the Lays.
After a few moments of silence, his Radiancy spoke again. “You had a thought about this, Cliopher?” he prompted.
“Oh. Yes my lord.” Cliopher flushed at having allowed himself to be so obviously distracted. “We have a story of a place not unlike this. Though it is not quite the same story.”
“No,” his Radiancy said thoughtfully. “It wouldn't be. But we have fallen into a story. Can’t you feel it?”’
Cliopher hadn’t been giving it much thought, but as soon as his Radiancy said so, he realized it was true. It felt as if he had stepped into the Lays just as much as he had when bargaining with the efelauni for that incredible cowrie efela.
The vendor’s words echoed into the cavern. “I have heard of three brothers who left. One went as far as he could to see what there was to see. One went searching after his heart. And one went to sit at the feet of the Sun.”
He became aware that his hand had come up to touch his efela. His Radiancy was watching him, his expression curious. Cliopher realized abruptly that the echo had come out in Language, not in Shaian, which, of course, his Radiancy would not understand.
He flushed, and addressed his Radiancy’s last statement. “I suppose so, my lord,” he answered.
“So he is familiar with it,” said his Radiancy’s echo, sounding oddly pleased. Then he spoke aloud, “Would you be willing to share the story this reminds you of, Cliopher?”
Cliopher blinked. “Of course, my lord,” he said, though the cave shared his other thought aloud, “But what did he learn in the trance, I wonder?”
His Radiancy’s eyes crinkled into a smile. “I will answer that, in time. But I expect your story will shed just as much light on the situation.” “And his voice will help me back to myself,” his echo added.
Cliopher blinked, and said “As you wish, my lord,” turning his thoughts resolutely to the story in the Lays.
“The story we tell is of an explorer, Ikaika,” he said, paraphrasing rather than allowing himself to fall into the rhythm of the Lays - this story was uncommon enough that it was mostly told in language. “He is said to have traveled far, looking for something that he could not name. Every time he came to a new place, and met a new people, he looked for it, and every time, he soon left unsatisfied, until finally his travels brought him into contact with another traveler, who claimed he could help Ikaika find what he was searching for, and, hungry as he was for an answer, he accepted.
"On their travels, they were swept up by a storm, and he was knocked off his boat. He came to in a sea cave, the way out already blocked by the rising tides. While he waited for the tides to recede, the cave spoke to him of his fears and failings, all the things he worried about constantly, until he realized that what he had been looking for was peace from himself, and nothing more.
"When the cave finally opened some time later, and he swam out onto the shore, he found his vaha on the shore in good condition, a fire already going and coconuts laid out. His traveling companion was no where to be found, but he had found a new island that it is said only can be found by the Ela, and those touched by the gods.”
As he recited the story, he heard the echo of Buru Tovo whispering through the cavern, speaking the Lays in language, as he had learned them as a child.
His Radiancy, Cliopher saw, had closed his eyes sometime during his recitation. As he drew the story to its conclusion, he heard his Radiancy’s voice echo, “What a mind he has. And what a gift of a story he’s given you.”
Cliopher flushed at the praise as His Radiancy opened his eyes again to look at the fire. “So. A cave of uncomfortable truths and self discovery. Your story, however, is about someone alone.”
“Yes my lord,” he said uncomfortably. “It may not be related at all.” His echo continued the thought he held back, “But this feels like a story Vou’a’s involved in.”
His Radiancy cocked his head in a decidedly un-imperial gesture. “Vou’a? That’s another name for Iki, you said?”
“Yes, my lord. We call him the Son of Laugher, and the god of mysteries, and caves are in his domain.”
“Was he the god in the marketplace, I wonder,” murmured the third voice.
“What god in the marketplace?” responded his own echo. But even as he thought it, he was once again reminded of that sense of stepping into a story as he’d answered the efelauni’s challenge. “Oh. Could it have been?”
His Radiancy took one look at his face and blinked, surprise evident on his face. “Cliopher, don’t tell me you didn’t know!” Cliopher looked away, unaccountably stung, and he sobered. “No, that isn’t fair of me, I know you didn’t choose to share that.” “You are still the Emperor, even here, even though this might remind you of…another time,” added his echo.
Yet again there was his Radiancy’s thoughts seeming to refer to himself when he used ‘you’. Cliopher’s mind grasped on to that oddity rather than thinking more about his Radiancy’s question. “What does that say about his Radiancy’s state of mind,” his echo wondered, “that he thinks of himself as another person?” and then, so quietly Cliopher might have imagined that it was spoken aloud, his echo added, “and what other time?”
This time, his Radiancy ignored the thought. “So this is likely the doing of one of your gods. One who has, it seems, already taken an interest in you. I suspected as much from the magic here. Time has been… stretched… here, and this place has the feeling of a challenge. There is something we must do to unlock it, or else I expect our rescue will not be soon forthcoming.”
“Could you break it, my lord?” It was technically treason to imply that his Radiancy couldn’t do anything, but it was also treason to be privy to the too-human thoughts that this cave was sharing. But for all that he wanted for his Radiancy to have this privacy, he was intrigued by the challenge. “Is this where you stop?” asked Buru Tovo. And his own echo following it, wondering, “What could the challenge even be? Why would Vou’a even be interested in his Radiancy?”
“I think it more likely this is about you, Kip.” answered the third echo, sounding amused.
His Radiancy started talking before that third echo even finished speaking. “Perhaps. But it would be a delicate working in addition to angering Vou’a - or whoever sent us here.”
Cliopher suspected that Vou’a would appreciate a clever solution, even if it wasn’t precisely the challenge presented. But still.. “How does he know all of this? It can’t be relevant as Emperor,” came Cliopher’s echo.
His Radiancy answered with a crooked smile. “Well, no. But I had a great deal of time to myself before I was crowned. I spent much of it reading adventure poetry.”
Cliopher thought of the stack of poetry that his Radiancy had picked up at the market, and his pleasure at discovering Cliopher with the Deeds of Olor. Suddenly, absurdly, he had a thought, which was promptly shared by the cave. “I wonder what he would have thought of Aurora, locked away in that tower.”
His Radiancy glanced at him sharply, his body language retreating once again into smooth serenity, even as Cliopher burned with embarrassment.
“Delighted, I imagine,” said the third voice, rich with amusement.
Cliopher expected his Radiancy would ignore that thought, as he had done the other inconvenient thoughts shared by the cave. But to his surprise, his Radiancy answered, his voice still court-smooth. “I did not get many new things in that tower,” he said quietly.
“And all I did was dream of escape” said the third voice dryly.
Cliopher decided to ignore the echos, and return to the task at hand. “If this is a challenge, my lord, then what are we to do?” he asked.
“We talk, I suspect,” said his Radiancy dryly. “Or else the cave will do the talking for us.” “And the cave will no doubt pick the most uncomfortable truths to share,” added his echo. “As you see,” he said in wry conclusion.