2021-04-28: Change Its Course
- Log: Change Its Course
- Cast: Citan Uzuki, Ida Everstead-Rey
- Where: The Crater Sea
- Date: April 28th, 2021
- Summary: After the conclusion of the business with Stein and the rest, Ida has a few questions for Doctor Uzuki, about him, Solaris, and the equally mysterious Shevat.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
It was, perhaps, not an unexpected call to have had, after all that had happened. Ida is a young woman with a very... singular medical 'issue' (if one wants to call it that) and moreover a young woman with particular concerns as far as privacy is concerned.
And considering that, outside the regular ships and the Karlsefni, Citan is more or less stranded as long as Heimdall is 'in the shop'...
Well, he had accepted the request.
Stepping into her personal quarters, he takes but a moment to regard the contents room in question. It's about what he would have expected for a young woman of her station -- though the curio cabinet draws his eye. "How interesting. Are those from particular archaeological sites, Miss Everstead-Rey? I understand you have been involved in a number of expeditions."
Perhaps it's due to the slight awkwardness of finding himself in a young noblewoman's private room that he's opted first for this particular direction of casual conversation. He is a doctor -- he's even delivered babies -- but that doesn't mean that, for all his calm and collected exterior he's unaware of the potential light in which this could be viewed.
But Citan is nothing if not a professional in this matter: she had asked for this degree of privacy for a very good reason, and there isn't another private place to be had until the Karlsefni makes its return.
He turns towards her.
"...But, I do not think that you asked me here to talk about archaeology, did you?"
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Most of the Endeavor's small crew is out and about, enjoying Port Rosalia as best as they can. The sole member remaining aboard is Xenia, the ship's captain, a woman Ida trusts to keep secrets. She was the one who led Citan to Ida's quarters.
Ida sits in one of the chairs--metal, upholstered with plush green cushions, as is Galadian fashion. The curtains are drawn, and she's dressed in simple linen pants and a camisole-style undershirt. Even some time after the incident, it's clear why she's worn bandages when she's out in public. Her exposed flesh is a mishmash of raw, freshly-healed human skin and pale blueish-silver Hyadean wound-sealant tissue. If nothing else, the latter seems to be behaving itself. It's giving Ida's native tissue the chance to regrow without scarification, rather than simply replacing it. Most of the damage is on the sides of her face, though there's patches on her chest and arms.
Ida smiles demurely as Citan comments on her collection. "Some of it, yes," she says. "Some of it's from home--I find it good to keep a little piece of home, wherever I go." But there are far more serious matters to discuss, and Ida's face turns grave. "You saw what happened in Luca," she says. "I... wanted to speak with you about that." Another, longer pause. "Doctor Uzuki. I trust you. But I've also been... betrayed, in the past, by those I chose to trust. I heard what Billy's father and Bishop Stone said about you." Ida swallows. For a moment, she considers what her options are if she does have to fight off a Solarian agent.
"Who is--was--Hyuga Ricdeau?"
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"Ah, I see..." He can't help but smile at that remark -- when she speaks of 'home'. "So you are the 'sentimental' type. No, I think that is well. It is easy to forget 'our roots' without a reminder... I wonder if that makes us strange as a species, to forget from where we have come."
She seems to be healing well, all considering. Given the... aggressive nature that her graft has displayed in the past, it seems to be 'behaving itself' at present. He hasn't forgotten what had happened in Luca, after all -- as much as Gwen's transformation (and ensuring Fei's safety) had taken priority, what had happened with Ida had not escaped his attention.
It was progressing, without question. The question was how far it might go, in time -- and whether there would be a point where the young noblewoman's... condition would no longer permit itself to be hidden.
"I see..." he muses, as she speaks first to her own condition.
And then speaks to something else altogether.
'Who is--was--Hyuga Ricdeau?'
If he was surprised by the turn of conversation, he gives no sign of it save to pause, lifting one hand to readjust his glasses. "Ah... I see," he says at last, and sighs. Closing his eyes for just a moment, Citan appears to collect himself.
"After what you had seen, it is understandable that you would wonder. ...He and I are one and the same. Or rather, one might say that I was him." His hand drops from his face and he folds his arms across his chest.
"As you may have guessed, yes, I was born in Solaris, as was Jesiah. We both attended Jugend when we were young. He was my senior, and our leader in the Elements. However... this is something that we have both left behind us."
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida's shoulders roll in a shrug. "I couldn't say," she says. She meets Citan's eyes, and holds his gaze as long as he'll let her. Her poker face is good--growing up in polite society as she did, it had to be--but a keen observer can see the subtle tension in her body as she sits there. She's a little too straight-backed, and the way she holds her hands feels like she's deliberately not fidgeting with them.
"...I see," Ida murmurs, as Citan makes his damning admission. Her eyes flutter closed, and she takes a deep, steadying breath. "I see." The poker face begins to crack as the stress of the past week breaks through. She tries not to think of her mother and aunt, of the danger they might be in, but she does anyway. She tries not to think of Adlehyde, but she does anyway. Her hands curl into fists. She begins to tremble.
"You left," she says. It's like she's trying to remind herself. "I don't--know what those words mean. I know so pitifully little about who they are, and what they're after, and the way they treat us... what they did is--"
Ida swallows hard. She doesn't want to take her frustrations out on Citan, but holding them in will just make things worse.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Citan watches her, reads her after a fashion. There is a lot that goes on in the black box of another mind that escapes review by the rest of the world -- as one philosopher had once said there is a universe on either side of the eyes. But nevertheless, it is possible to glean some of what goes on in the unobservable universe.
He has been an adept student in that school for most of his life, now. It had been a necessity once. And then it had become something more.
"...Forgive me," he says at length, shaking his head. "There are some to whom I have spoken of my past, but far more that I have not. For those who leave Solaris, it is best to simply disappear and remain so..."
He pauses again, regarding her, perhaps also regarding the tension in her body.
"...Are you feeling alright, Miss Everstead-Rey?" He studies her, perhaps, for a moment more before he closes his eyes as if in thought.
"After what you and the others experienced... perhaps it is past time for me to 'come clean', as it were..." He reopens his eyes, his usual easy smile long since departed. "...Very well. Let me start again. I am a citizen of Solaris. I was born to their lowest class, and through circumstance, I was able to elevate my station and attend the officers' academy, 'Jugend'. Attendance in Jugend is typically only afforded in Solaris for those with sufficient rank or with skill. ...This is how I came to meet Jesiah and the others."
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida listens, her hands still clenched at her sides. It's not Citan, she tells herself. Not him, specifically. She opens her eyes, files away the information he's given her. A class structure. A military academy. "The others," Ida says, her voice breaking. Others who? The Watcher? Commander Ramses? Krelian? Ida can only guess. "I--I'm sorry. You're taking a great risk just by telling me this, but I--"
She finally answers Citan's question. "I'm not okay." The words fall out in an angry jumble. "Why would I be? Solaris had its subtle claws in the Church this entire time, and the moment it wasn't worth it, they--" Ida's breath hitches in her throat. She's no longer looking at Citan, but through him. "They killed them. Not just the turncoats. They killed people who hadn't the slightest clue who was really in charge. I watched my mother's master die, and I still haven't told her." Ida's voice breaks, again. "I still haven't told her. Or Isabel. And now, God, I--"
"Everything's going to be worse," Ida whispers. "Aria's gutted the papacy, but you know who she left in place? Selene. The Head of the Office of the Inquisition. She spoke like a woman driven by duty. She spoke of purging the faith." Tears gleam in Ida's eyes as she meets Citan's gaze again. "I am so very sick of watching horror happen and being helpless to stop it."
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
He shakes his head. "No... after what has happened, I would say the greater risk is in you and the others remaining ignorant of the truth. Solaris has worked diligently to keep itself hidden from the world, and as you have seen, used that advantage to manipulate and divide those it considers 'under its control'. I cannot afford to remain silent anymore."
She's not 'alright'. But why would she be?
Citan remains silent, pensively so, as she lets spill the animus she's held in until now.
"I... am sorry for your loss," he says ultimately, bowing his head. "The loss of life in that... attack," it really isn't the right word -- massacre would be better, "was inexcusable. I..."
He trails off.
"Aria?"
He hasn't heard, apparently -- not just yet. "You are meaning the 'heretic', as they might call her, of the Granas faith? So... she is the one elevated to the papacy..."
He had known the election was coming -- any day now -- but had been caught out by the more immediate concerns following the encounter with Stein, both here and elsewhere.
"I see... so she intends to answer for a purge with a purge..." Lifting a hand to his forehead, Citan again bows his head. "At times I... am given to wonder about 'us', as people..."
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"They can't keep doing this," Ida whispers, her voice tight. "I have to--" She can't get the rest out. She trails off into choking sobs, shaking slightly with each breath. She grips her knees with her hands, and curls up; it takes her a good thirty seconds or so to ride the wave of raw emotion. Ida looks back up with Citan, her eyes reddened.
"It's the helplessness," she whispers. "It's haunted me. That awful little voice that says I didn't do enough, didn't know enough to stop it." Citan isn't the first person she's confessed this to, but his situation is perhaps... the most unique. And while Ida is still angry and frustrated and grieving, she can't help but notice he's picked up what she's put down.
"Yes," Ida says. "It's so--so convenient, isn't it? But this... I don't know, does this feel like Solaris' hand, to you? I... think it might be someone else's, but that's just--"
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
It is a difficult thing to see another cry. But, in this, there is little he can do except permit her this emotion, gazing down towards the floor as if to give her some semblance of privacy. Sometimes the best thing to do is... to express that grief.
"I see..." Citan murmurs, when she at last makes her confession. He glances away from her, his face even in profile betraying some measure of deep contemplation.
Who is at blame, when someone strikes down another? The one who held the weapon? The victim, for not protecting themself properly? Or those who saw and did not act?
He has read the words of enough philosophers now to know that there are some who would blame all of those in that scene -- or even none of them.
But if Citan Uzuki were himself asked who was at fault, his answer would be...
"...I understand. It is... a difficult thing, to feel as if one were at the mercies of fate," he says, finally. He folds his arms over his chest.
It's convenient. That's the entire problem.
"I am... not certain," he says, quite honestly. "It does not seem to be their doing, at a glance... but we cannot forget they have operated in the shadows of this world for centuries. There is too much about this situation we do not know... could it be that Sister Aria is also...?"
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"I'm so tired," Ida breathes, "of feeling so weak." She straightens up, though there's still a slouch in her posture--as if she were carrying a literal weight on them as well as a metaphorical one. "Even though I know I'm not." Positive self-talk, like her alienist taught her. Where possible, treat yourself kindly.
And Citan gives her something else to focus on. "She could be," Ida says. "But a few things... don't add up. I think I know one of the new Cardinals from somewhere, and when I dug into the matter, I found a name. Tia Caerulea. She was appointed Cardinal Bishop of Cyrum of the East, but... Cyrum's been abandoned since the Day of Collapse. No one lives there."
"But whomever's pulling her strings, she's made her plans plain as day. I will not--I cannot sit by and let more innocents die. Even if that means angering the Holy See. Even if it means excommunication, or worse."
Ida leans forwards, and a lock of hair falls across one eye. "I don't think they would approve of my beliefs, regardless."
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"Cyrum?" he echoes, furrowing his brow. "Cyrum... the name is familiar, but I-- yes! Now I remember, that nation has long since been lost! There was a rather fascinating treatise on its... er, but that is of little concern now," Citan says, shaking his head. "And no one has remarked on this... Cardinal hailing from a nation that no longer exists...?"
He glances downwards as if to think it over, frowning. "That would be... sloppy indeed for 'them'. Yet I cannot discount it. Is it some ploy? ...Perhaps they might claim that there are still descendants? But what aim would it..." Citan shakes his head again. "No, these are mere wild guesses. We are not operating with enough information. And obtaining it will prove difficult. Hm..."
In the end, the doctor cannot help it seems save but to smile slyly. "Fortunately for us, whoever they may be, we have an 'ace in the hole', as it were! Miss Everstead-Rey... perhaps it is time we seek a more powerful ally."
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"That's why I thought she might not be one of theirs," Ida says. She reaches up, blots at her tears with the back of her hand. "At first glance, it seemed so sloppy, and yet..." And yet she thought the same thing Citan is articulating right now--there might be something deeper there, something they're after in that region.
Citan smiles. Ida's brows arch in confusion and worry. "...What do you mean?" she says. Through ARMS, she answers to two people who are each immensely powerful in their own way. Who else is there?
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
Is it something about the region? But then why draw attention to it? It does not make sense, and at present, he has hardly the opportunity to investigate it further. It's possible -- as it was before -- that this whole edifice is built in layers, the real intention buried even from the view of 'the administrators', so to speak.
Or it may be another's play altogether, and the worst part is that he just isn't able to be certain.
Citan has but one question for Ida. "Miss Everstead-Rey... are you familiar with the nation of Shevat?"
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida's brow furrows as she wracks her brain for any mention of the name. "...No," she says, after a long moment. "The first time I heard that name was in the ruins. One of their agents--"
Ida trails off, and almost double-takes as she looks back at Citan. "Do you... work for them?" she says.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
It's his turn to sort of double-take, which is to say, Citan Uzuki blinks. "No, not as such... though I have had contact with them in the past. ...To put it simply, Shevat is, like Solaris, an ancient nation that has hidden itself from the world, but its intentions are different. It seeks to counter Solaris' aims, though, if I may be frank... it does not have the capability to face them directly. Not anymore."
Citan unfolds his arms, however, and raises a finger. "However! That does not mean that an alliance with them will be of little use. They have information and technology that may be of use to us. Since we have rescued one of their agents, we may be able to make contact with Shevat through her. ...Shevat utilizes a barrier, you understand, that makes it impervious to harm. But they also cannot be contacted save by one of their agents." He pauses, glancing away from Ida a moment, as if considering something. "Jesiah was searching for one of their agents, it seems... it was the very reason he was in Saint Heim. Though, he has not told me the reason why."
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Of course they don't, Ida thinks, as Citan explains Shevat's position. That would make things measurably more fair. She keeps that bit of bitterness unsaid, and lets out a soft sigh of frustration.
As the doctor explains further, though, she brightens, just a little. "...That's very welcome news," she says. "Anything we can do to even the odds. Though, I--have a question." Ida looks away for a moment, well aware that this might paint her as some sort of bumpkin in the eyes of someone from a strange, advanced civilization. "I've heard that Solaris is... in the sky. How, precisely, does that work?"
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"Yes. In truth, I have been seeking to assist the Black Wolves by obtaining contact with Shevat, myself, though it is... not easy, shall we say. Their caution is not unwarranted, but it makes our circumstances down here more troublesome. I suppose given time they might attempt contact with us themselves, but..." He smiles, easily. "It is better to take matters into one's own hands, at times. And I do not believe we should be wasting our time by waiting about."
Ida has a question of her own.
"An excellent question," Citan remarks, fidgeting with his glasses a moment. "To be specific... Solaris is a country that exists in the stratosphere. It is kept aloft both by its relative position and by a central support system uniting it to the earth, though even if you were to sail the entire world, you would not see it. It is kept hidden from the world by a series of advanced 'gates'. Even a high-ranking Gebler officer would not be able to locate or return to the capital without authorization from within Solaris. Solaris keeps its secrets, even from its own citizens..."
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"I agree," Ida says. "Solaris' greatest strengths are its secrecy and its technological development." She pauses, then, thinking--Citan described them as 'ancient'. How ancient are they? Older than the Day of Collapse? Than the Old War? She frowns. "All the more reason for them to subvert the Order," the heiress says, bitterness in her voice. "How better to keep the -lambs- from catching up to them? Just pervert the teachings of Granas and confiscate anything that looks like it may pose a threat."
Citan explains. "So it flies, then," Ida says. "That system seems..." She trails off, shakes her head. "Well, it shows how little its leadership thinks of its people, that much is certain. But you escaped. So did Jesiah. Even if return is difficult, you know it's theoretically possible."
A pause. "Shevat," Ida says. "Do you think they may be able to help me with..." This time, Ida trails off on purpose, spreading an arm to let Citan see the patchwork tissue.
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"Indeed," he answers her. "In truth, Solaris as a society is not quite so large as you might expect. They are still recovering, even now, from their losses five hundred years ago. That is one of the other reasons why they capture surface-dwellers. Without the Third Class Solarians, they could be unable to function..."
And Citan had said he had been born into that class, hadn't he.
"They remain hidden from the world and so are able to control it without being detected. Indeed, it is for that reason that I think we must seek out Shevat. There are certain matters with which only they will be able to assist."
He nods, when she says that it flies. "In a sense. It is not 'mobile' in Shevat's fashion, but its position means that even if it could be seen it would not be easily assaulted."
Citan nods again. "Yes. I believe a return would be possible, though we would need to see to the barriers... and obtain a mode of transport. Or, potentially, seek some other way in. It is a matter I have given some thought to, in the event it becomes necessary. But it will not be easy, regardless of the method."
She extends an arm, then.
"...It is possible. They possess advanced medical technology, beyond what most of the surface nations are capable. Whether they can assist with your situation..." He shakes his head. "I do not know. But if any can," excluding Solaris, clearly, "it would be Shevat."
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Isn't that a familiar story. "Of course," Ida says. "The Great Houses wouldn't have a single gella to their name if not for the labor of the lower classes." She smiles, and it shows teeth. "That's... oddly comforting. Don't misunderstand, mind, I can only imagine what it must've been like to live under their thumb, but--when you put it that way, they sound more like us. Less like an inscrutable, unknowable threat." And hadn't things been similar in the Photosphere?
"That's a gamble I'm willing to take." Ida lowers her arm, and meets Citan's eyes. Fafnir went dormant after the... incident in Spira, but when he awakened again, he was desperate to tell me something. And he couldn't. I need to make contact with him, but not without outside aid. Not without people to monitor me and terminate the connection if things go wrong."
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
He doesn't seem to take offense. In fact, he smiles, a sad, tight sort of smile that hardly meets his eyes. "Indeed. From what I have learned and seen... it is much the same."
It's exactly the same wherever he goes, quite frankly. Whatever society he looks at, in time, there is again the appearance of that sort of hierarchy.
Kahr had sought to overturn it, to replace it with something that would permit those with ability to rise to the top regardless of their birth. He had envisioned a Solaris ruled by a meritocracy -- the best and the brightest.
But Citan had realized it -- as had Sigurd: what they were envisioning would not change Solaris, it would only change who was in charge. Jesiah had likely realized it, too... and more besides.
The fact that the pattern repeats, as it ever was, only lends credence to their realization.
"...I see." He nods, as she explains. "I had noticed that the spread seems as if it has stabilized. Nevertheless, the sooner you are able to speak with their researchers, the better. They may be able to assist, particularly if you are there to help them understand Hyadean physiology. ...At present, I can do nothing except evaluate."
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida sees that sad smile. Her face softens. If it didn't feel like overstepping her boundaries, she'd put a hand on Citan's shoulder. "Thank you," she says, again. "For all of this, and for what you've done for Fei. Sometimes I feel so... small, when compared to everything he's endured. But I don't have to go it alone, do I?"
Ida rises from her chair. The motion is smooth and fluid, and she rolls her shoulders once she's on her feet. "It's necessary," she says. "This situation is unprecedented. I can't take anything for granted. And when we do get there, perhaps you could help me speak with them."
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"In actuality," he says to her, when she goes so far as to thank him, "It is I who should be thanking you. You defended me in that fight. Stein had... targeted my Gear in that fashion on purpose, most likely. He may have been focused on Jesiah and his son, but he remembered that I had been an Element once. No doubt he sought to prevent me from assisting." He frowns, if slightly, his thoughts for a moment seemingly elsewhere.
"His timing... I am grateful Jesiah altered that machine... it never should have been built," he finishes, shaking his head. "But what is done is done. And..."
He hesitates, for a long moment.
"I feel a certain... responsibility towards Fei. After all, it is 'my country' that initiated that situation." He gazes up towards the ceiling and exhales a breath. "What happened... what continues to happen... it almost feels as if it were 'ordained by fate'."
It has, in fact, been fated. All this up to now is 'what must be'. ...It is the termination of that destiny that alone remains unfixed.
The Time of the Gospel approaches at speed.
But to Ida's more pressing question -- her own unprecended situation -- he nods. "Yes. I will see what I am able to do, Miss Everstead-Rey. Hopefully, they will not require much convincing."
Though he has his own 'advantages', perhaps, there.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida's cheeks redden, ever-so-slightly, but she smiles nevertheless. It's a small, somber thing given the subject matter, but... "He needed to answer for his crimes," she says, "but I didn't want to sit back and lose anyone else. And for a moment, I was so certain we'd lost Jesiah." But she takes the compliment anyway.
Ida lets out a soft breath, thinks back to Lahan. "I don't know if I believe in fate," she says, "but when I stop to think about it, it feels as though he's part of something immense, something that's been in motion for millennia." It makes her feel so small, as she said. "If I can change its course for the better, even a little, then maybe I'll have repaid him."
And then, a simple nod. "Thank you," Ida says. "Hopefully we'll be able to come to an agreement."
<Pose Tracker> Citan Uzuki has posed.
"As was I," Citan remarks, closing his eyes for the moment. If only he had destroyed those designs instead...
"Still," he says, when he looks at her again, "I should have expected he might try something like that." He smiles in a 'what can you do' sort of way. "He had been our leader back then, and tapped to head Gebler. Jesiah might act, ah... uncouth, but he is an extremely capable person. I should not like to be his enemy."
Sometimes, he wonders, if that might not already be the case.
"...Some of the things that have happened in this world have resonated for hundreds, even thousands of years. I do not know the full extent of what Fei is caught up in, but I do believe it is something... yes, 'immense' is a good word for it." He regards her for a moment. "If you are able to do that..." He nods, just once. "Then you will have accomplished more than I have."
The doctor folds his arms over his chest, his gaze elsewhere in her room now. "Yes... we will see what situation everything is in once we reach Shevat."