#i have come to the realization that the emperor is absolutely playing rakha like a FIDDLE and it's kind of wild to see

[blackjackkent]

Another restless night. The promise of hunting down Ragzlin with Halsin has the beast in Rakha's head hungry, and her attempts at rest are laced with squirming images of dead and dying goblins. She is beginning to think there will be no sleep for her at all, when suddenly...

...everything goes quiet.

She sits up with a sharp snap, drawing in a hoarse breath of cold, still air. She is back in the dreamscape the visitor brought her to before, and the beast and the tadpole lie dormant - or perhaps frightened into submission.

"I promised I'd be back."

The dream visitor is standing nearby, looking out at the starscape. She turns slightly, hearing Rakha stir, and looks down at her with an inscrutable, almost sad expression.

"Don't worry," she says softly. "I have things under control. For now."

It is hypnotic, the sense of peace in this place. The woman's voice is soothing. The emptiness in her mind is soporific. Rakha stands up very slowly; the guardian watches her steadily, appraisingly.

"I see you've been using the powers the tadpole gives you," she says approvingly. "Good." A pause. Her expression turns grim. "But things haven't gone as you expected. You hoped a druid as powerful as Halsin might be able to remove your tadpole. But he couldn't."

She takes a step forward, rests a hand gently on Rakha's shoulder. Her touch is light and cool as the air around her, and there is sympathy in her gaze. "You're desperate to be rid of it. Understandable, but you're looking for solutions in the wrong places."

(A/N: I really enjoy the Durge-specific dialogue option here: "I don't care about the tadpole. I have been offered a greater power by my butler." Which is just. An absolutely incredible sentence out of context. 😂 )

Rakha nods slowly, as if she understands - though of course she doesn't. Nothing about this makes sense. She has so many questions. Who is this woman? How does she know Rakha? What does she want? How is she soothing the beast that Rakha can't restrain herself?

"Tell me who you are," she says. It emerges as a harsh mutter, as if the words are being swallowed up by the infinite, quiet vastness of this place.

The guardian tips her head with the faintest hint of amusement. "It's complicated," she says noncommittally. "But I'm an adventurer, just like you. Just like you. Just like you, I was infected with a mind flayer parasite. Just like you, I seek to be free of it."

Rakha nods again. This is, she realizes, not an answer. It seems sincere enough, and what the guardian has already done for her is unmistakably positive. But it is certainly not the whole truth. Even I had a name when I woke up, even if I had nothing else. You have one as well.

The woman is still talking. "But to do that, we'll need to think beyond local healers. Your parasite is unusual - it is wrapped in magic that prevents its removal. Until the source of the tadpole's magic is destroyed, any attempt to remove it will kill you." She smiles faintly. "You were lucky that Halsin knew this. His instincts are right. The parasites are merely a symptom of a greater sickness in Faerun."

Rakha frowns. The guardian and Halsin are, at the very least, confirming each other's stories - but all of this is still more vague implications without details. "What is the sickness?" she asks bluntly.

The guardian's calm demeanor flickers for a brief moment, revealing a hint of troubled waters underneath. "The Absolute's aims are not yet clear to me," she says pensively. "But its progress towards domination is clear. These parasites are more than illithid spawn. They are vessels for control. The infected hear the voice of the Absolute, and believe it to be a god. That is how the cult of the Absolute is spreading."

She gestures towards Rakha's right eye where the parasite lies, soothed into stillness by the dream. "The highest of their rank - the True Souls - carry a tadpole just like yours. It is how they receive their oders. It is what makes them obey. When the order to transform is given, it will not be a matter of days - they will be mind flayers in an instant."

She takes a step closer, looks up into Rakha's eyes intently. "Were it not for my protection, so would you."

Rakha's eyes drift half-closed. She feels a soft shudder of discomfort in her head, and then stillness again. Yes. That protection is unmistakable. There are still so many questions, but she cannot escape the fact that whoever this woman is, whatever she is not saying - this part, the moment of peace, is a true thing.

But it is only so certain here, in the dreamscape. In the real world...the beast is never so quiet.

"My mind tells me to do foul things," she whispers. "Are you sure your protection is working?"

Again that sad, gentle smile. "I protect you from becoming a mind flayer," the guardian says softly. "I cannot protect you from yourself. But I know what it is like to be burdened by forces outside of your control. We are alike, you and I." She inclines her head slightly forward. "I've been trying to escape from this evil for a long time. Once, I almost succeeded. Now - through you - I've been given a new chance. You can go where I cannot. And I can protect you from that evil. If we work together, we may turn this around."

In the unusual stillness, Rakha's brain feels as if it has been wrapped in wool. She struggles to parse all of this with her usual alacrity. The guardian... has no control over the beast, and yet the beast is quiet here. And the guardian understands about it, nevertheless. They are alike, she says.

There is something here to be found, some answer not yet given, some explanation for the howling chaos that is Rakha's mind.

There must be.

She has her mouth open to ask another question, to demand an answer, when a low rumble echoes through the air and the guardian starts as if she's been struck. "Hells. They need me. I have to go."

No. I need to know what you know. Please. "Tell me where I can find you," Rakha snaps - but this only seems to drive the guardian's sudden agitation higher.

"No!" she says urgently. "It isn't safe." A pause, and then she goes on hurriedly, "The power I use to protect you - I stole it from someone. They want it back. I will hold them off for as long as I can, but sooner or later I will be worn down. You must discover the source of the magic that controls the parasites before that happens."

She holds Rakha's gaze with an intensity that is so overwhelming that Rakha feels herself nod almost without her own volition.

At that, the guardian seems to relax a little. "The cultists are gathering at Moonrise Towers," she says, echoing Halsin's words from the warg pens. "Use the powers your parasite gives you to convince them you are one of them. And when you find the source of their magic, destroy it."

Again her fingers land briefly on Rakha's shoulder, then release, pushing her backwards. "Go. Our freedom depends on it."

Rakha snaps awake in her bunk, staring into the dirty, cracked stone ceiling of the temple antechamber where they've made camp. For a long time, she does not move a muscle, lost in thought.

Damn it. You have such power, but who are you? What do you know of me? What aren't you saying?