[Leela] Chapter 6: Capital of the Xalaster Orthodoxy, Olodeen, City of Saints

[Throndir]

Efrit swallowed his food and cleared his mouth. "The ethereal? Zavan was teaching you that stuff before. I'm probably not as knowledgeable in it as him, but I know enough. Why do you ask?"

[Ella]

Leela Steading

"Zavan mentioned that I'm almost done with learning the basics last time he was giving me lessons. He gave me some notes to finish on my own while were are here, but I figure it would be better to have someone to talk to in case I have questions." She paused, then added, "What sorts of things are you best at? Besides fire."

[Throndir]

"The things I'm best at? Commanding goblins. Becoming fire. Shooting off fire. All sorts of fire. And not that kind of human magic where you invoke an element with words suddenly appearing in your head..." He shook his head. "Why do you want to know? Looking to make a teacher out of me?" Efrit grinned as he waved a piece of chicken on his fork.

[Ella]

Leela Steading

"If you have anything useful to teach, then yes." She literally just said 'besides fire', yet he had decided to list a bunch of fire things anyways. Were his fire abilities even learn-able? She had thought with him being an Ifrit that all of those would be a racial thing.

[Throndir]

Location: Golden Wing Inn
Date: Day 4 - Time: 7 PM

"Sure, the soon-to-be-reinitiated Goblin Master of Roshandan will show the Great Princess how it's done."

State any plans for rest of day. It is currently 7 PM.

[Ella]

Leela Steading

"You'll show me how what is done?" She was not sure if he meant ethereal magic or something that he was good at.

[info]After dinner, Leela will go find the baths.

After bathing, she will either have Efrit teach her stuff or read from the notes Zavan gave her to try to finish up Ethereal knowledge lessons.

When Zephyrus returns, she will ask for a report.[/info]

[Throndir]

Location: Golden Wing Inn - Leela's Room
Date: Day 4 - Time: 7 PM

Efrit grinned and winked at you.

"How to be as amazing as I am, of course, Great Princess."


Location: Golden Wing Inn - Bathhouse
Date: Day 4 - Time: 7:30 PM

You finished bathing, and Abi accompanied you as well. When you went to the bathhouse, Abi stared wide-eyed at everything. There were no other patrons in the house, so it was just you and Abi. Efrit said he would join in the men's side, though, he actually stayed behind to finish what he had been eating.

"Wow! This is a bath! I never had one before like this... Master Zavan would try to force us in a large tub in the castle, but none of us like getting wet..."


Location: Golden Wing Inn
Date: Day 4 - Time: 9:00 PM

Once the bath was done and you had dressed up. It was another half an hour until Efrit finished up as well, and soon enough Zephyrus appeared.

"The city has more people than when I last remembered. But of different ones... More people with animal ears, and simple clothes, and less of the ones wearing the metallic clothing and weapons."

[Ella]

Leela Steading

"Oh, I see. And what does that entail?"

~~~~~~~~~~

Leela was relieved to find no one else in the bathhouse. She hoped that no one would show up while they were in there, either. Just in case, though... It was probably best that she not give Abi a bath here. She did not want someone walking in while they were washing Abi's hair and seeing the imp's horns. Or her little wings that Leela had so far kept pretty well hidden.

"This is a communal bath, Abi. I have never been in one before, either. I have only used private baths big enough for one, maybe two people. I would suggest you learn to enjoy it. When we get back, I will help Zavan in giving you all baths." Leela was glad that Zavan had at least tried. She wondered if it was any worse than giving a cat a bath. "You are safe from it for now, though. I want you to keep watch. Guard my clothes and let me know if anyone comes in."

With that, Leela stripped and piled her clothes in a neat pile. Using knowledge she had gleaned from bathhouse scenes in anime, she found her way around the bath house, first finding the scrubbing and rinsing station to clean her body and hair before entering the bath. Really, she was not sure there was much of a point in actually taking a bath after washing oneself. But she figured she might as well get the full experience, if only for a little while.

They ended up having the bath house to themselves for quite some time, and by the time Leela had dried off and put her clothes back on, it was later than she had expected. Ah, well. It was worth it. After four days since her last shower, she felt nice and clean and it was so nice having such a huge bath compared to the tubs she was used to.

~~~~~~~~~~

"When were you hear least, Zephyrus?" Leela questioned. "The animal people are called demihumans. The ones who wear metallic clothing and weapons were probably soldiers, knights, or some other military group. I am assuming they sent those to the south border Bishop Mateo mentioned. Did you learn anything about where Ashaki might be?"

[Throndir]

Location: Golden Wing Inn - Leela's Room
Date: Day 4 - Time: 7 PM

"We can continue getting you up to speed with your learning of the ethereal. I suppose Zavan mentioned it already, but it's the type of magic that's about the ethereal body... Or the blueprint of our physical world. Demons are more intune with that plane than this one, though, it isn't where we live either. Well, not all demons. The nightmares make their home in the ethereal plane though."


Location: Golden Wing Inn - Bathhouse
Date: Day 4 - Time: 7:30 PM

"Okay Leelasama! I will watch your clothes like how the Keeper watches everything in the vaults!" Abi exclaimed.

The time in the bath went by without incident. Abi continued to stare at the clothing, but after awhile even she got bored, and had started to jump into some of the puddles around the pool, giggling as the water had splashed up. She had begun to run around as well, but it didn't take her long to trip and fall. Recovering from it, her eyes were beady and full of tears.

"That hurt!" She sniffled.


Location: Golden Wing Inn
Date: Day 4 - Time: 9:00 PM

"Hmm... I'm not sure... I don't really keep track of time, it just goes... And I just move from one place to another how I please. Maybe 10 winters ago? Or more? Ashaki is... one of the demons, right? I haven't yet found her... But I haven't explored through the entire city yet either."

[Ella]

Leela Steading

"Yes, he explained that. Why don't they live in that plane if they're more attuned to it, though?"

Leela gave Efrit a summary of everything Zavan had taught her so far, then continued to learn from Efrit and the notes Zavan had provided.

~~~~~~~~~~

"I thought you didn't like getting wet." Leela commented when the imp started to jump around in the puddles.

"And that is why you don't run around the pool. Or on any wet surface, for that matter. You're lucky you didn't fall into the bath." It was around this point that Leela decided her bath had been long enough and got out, collecting Abi from where she sat on the wet ground before moving to dry off and get dressed.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh, I see. Yes, she is the one we are here to rescue... This is a much larger city than I expected, so I understand. Thank you for looking, though." She hoped the meeting with the leaders would go well... If it did not and if Zephyrus could not find where they were keeping her, it might get more dangerous than she had hoped.

[spoiler=Rolls for expedited training (ethereal magic).][blockquote]Rolled 1d20+13 : 19 + 13, total 32[/blockquote]
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+13 : 5 + 13, total 18[/blockquote][/spoiler]

[info]Leela will retire for the night once her training, bath, and meeting with Zephyrus are all done. Before Efrit goes back to his own room, Leela will tell him "Oh, and Erik. Try not catch anything on fire here."[/info]

[Throndir]

Location: Golden Wing Inn - Leela's Room
Date: Day 4 - Time: 7 PM

Efrit grinned. "You notice how the skies are blue here... Rivers too. The plants are green... And everything seems... bright? The reason why our lands are different, is because it's a slice of the ethereal plane, placed into here, into this plane. Koldeezan was the name of our world before this one. Many of our world's inhabitants maintained close ties with the ethereal plane. Roshandan's domain was much larger too then. There were humans who lived with us in that world, and much like here, it was a constant war. Lord Ghorat Roshandan al Valorja. He and his domain was once feared throughout the lands. He himself was known to be the terror to man... At least until he met Leilana."

Once the conversation was over, Efrit would begin teaching you more about the ethereal. Which you eventually found out that Efrit wasn't a really good teacher.

Training
Knowledge (ethereal): 7/8

Location: Golden Wing Inn - Bathhouse
Date: Day 4 - Time: 7:30 PM

"There's a difference...!" Abi complained, though wasn't quite able to articulate what the difference was to jumping into a pool, or jumping into a puddle.


Location: Golden Wing Inn
Date: Day 4 - Time: 9:00 PM

"I can try looking around tomorrow too, Princess Leela."

[Ella]

Leela Steading

"The ethereal plane must be very depressing." Leela commented when Efrit described it. Tasteless food everywhere, red rivers, always dark skies. She liked dark, foggy days, but she also liked green plant life and blue skies.

"Tell me more about Leilana." The mention of how Ghorat used to be and how Leilana had changed everything caught her full attention. Zavan had seemed sad and hesitant to speak of her when her name had come up before. She had hoped to get the opportunity to get more information, and it looked like Efrit would be the source.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Wet is wet. Just pretend you're jumping in a giant puddle. I used to pretend I was a fish or a mermaid when I took baths or went swimming. It was fun!" She remembered the days when she and her best friend would play in the small pool, tying their feet together with hair ties to pretend they were mermaids as they swam around in circles. Perhaps she could find a way to make it fun for the imps so they would look forward to bath time.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Thank you, Zephyrus. Please do. But will you be able to find us if we are called to the meeting while you are gone?"

[Throndir]

Location: Golden Wing Inn - Leela's Room
Date: Day 4 - Time: 7 PM

Efrit grinned. "Leilana... That's a name you don't hear very often nowadays. She was a strange one. One of the archons of our world. An angel. They were once enemies too, fighting on the battlefield for a few occasions. Then well... something happened. Lord Ghorat became less and less enthused about the eternal war we fought. There were some internal drama within the archons, and Leilana was banished. Lord Ghorat offered her refuge, believe it or not. Stating that he couldn't bare to see his rival in such a pitiful state. The decades after that was turbulent to say the least, but there came a point that Lord Ghorat could visit Leilana's home, and vice versa, without the usual fighting they had. Leilana soon got to know the rest of the generals too. Most of us didn't mind. The lull of peace I mean. A couple of the older generals reasoned that we'd be back in the full scale of war again anyways, and we respected our lord enough to give him his peace with his rival. Other demon lords came to power of course, renewing the war with the archons. Lord Ghorat was still feared, after all, he still remains as one of the more powerful demonlords, and even though we weren't actively fighting in battles, we all knew, if it came to it, we would reign on top. Like we always do.

Then...

The 'New World' happened. We were separated form most our lands. Our castle was kept, so too was Leilana's old home. It was around then too that Zavan joined us as one of the generals. To think he's the youngest general here, and has become perhaps one of the strongest in that short amount of time. About a year later though... Leilana just disappeared. None of the generals know, perhaps Zavan, Lord Ghorat, or Lady Ashaki, but no one has really talked to them about it. And to be honest, a lot of other generals had started to blame Leilana for Lord Ghorat's spiral into his docile self as he is now. Back in our own world we were feared. But here in the New World... Well, we shared the world with a bunch of other demon lords. Too much if you ask me. Each of them trying to vye control. Lord Maou, lord of the West and South, Lord Raani of the North, Lord Klast... Just to name a few. Then when Lord Ghorat vowed to never step into human lands again, and even bind himself with Tier 9 Binding magicka? That was the last straw for many generals. Myself included, until I realized the demon lords of this world really had no use for goblins. Even in Lord Ghorat's prime, he kept the lowly monster races with him. And I suspect that a couple of my other generals would come back, if not for their pride that holds them."

Training
Knowledge (ethereal): 7/8

Location: Golden Wing Inn - Bathhouse
Date: Day 4 - Time: 7:30 PM

"A fish?" Abi's eye widened. "Those are scary! But that sounds fun! I want to be river monster!" Abi exclaimed as she patted the pool of water one more time, giggling as the water splashed her in her face. She eventually picked herself up though, heading with you to dry yourselves off.


Location: Golden Wing Inn
Date: Day 4 - Time: 9:00 PM

"Hmm... I can if I spread myself far and wide... Just call for my name, and if I'm actively listening, I might be able to find you. I can't wait to help find the young lady to save." Zephyrus said his eyes sparkling. "I would be like a hero... And I would be able to help out my dear princess Leela Steading." Zephyrus said, smiling softly as he gazed at you.

[Ella]

Leela Steading

Either Efrit was in a good mood from eating good food, he enjoyed that she was looking to him for information, or he enjoyed the topics they were talking about. Whichever it was, he kept grinning. She could not decide if it made him look good or made him look more sinister... Either way, she decided not to say anything to him about it and keep to the topic at hand.

"I want to make sure I have this straight. Everyone except for Zavan came from Koldeezan? Angel Leilana and Demon Ghorat were once enemies, but ended up getting married and having a kid after she got banished and Ghorat let her stay on his land? And Ghorat was once the most powerful demon lord?" Koldeezan sounded awful. Not only was the food bland - possibly even toxic? - and the scenery depressing, but it sounded like they were in a state of almost constant war. It sounded like perhaps Ghorat had woo'd Leilana. Letting her stay on his land after she got banished, then visiting her. Leela wondered why Leilana had been banished by her people... And what happened to her. From the sounds of it, she was probably in this world somewhere, considering she had disappeared after Roshandan had appeared in this new world.

"Zavan showed up after you all found yourselves in Roshandan? And then a year later, Leilana disappeared? From that timeline..." Leela tried to put things together in her head. Zavan said it takes about a hundred years for the summoning circle to be usable again. He is already over a hundred years old and Efrit just said he was the youngest general. That, plus the fact that it sounded like all the other generals came from Koldeezan... They were all at least a hundred years old. If Leilana went missing a year after they got here, then that meant Ashaki had to be about a hundred years old, too. All this time, Leela had for some reason thought Ashaki was a child or a young woman at most. But Ashaki was about 5 times older than she was! Her last words came out with a deadpan expression. "You're all old and Ghorat has a daughter complex."

The more she thought about it, the more she was starting to realize that she was probably the youngest person in her 'group'. She doubted even the imps were younger. Though if any were, it was probably only from rebirth after dying and Leela was not sure she would count that. Even Zephyrus was probably older, since he did not keep track of time and just wandered around as he pleased. She had begun to think of her group as her own little 'other world' reverse harem with the token mascot. But with them all being old enough to be her grandpa and most likely would live long after she died of old age... Now she felt creeped out by it.

Shaking her head to clear her embarrassing and disgusted thoughts, Leela turned her attention back to what Efrit had said. "These other demon lords... I will need more information on them and their lands at some point. Since you temporarily left and came back, I figure you probably know more about them than Zavan would, so would you mind writing up a report on each of them? Does not have to be now, you can do it when we get back to Roshandan. I would also like a list of the other generals that might come back as well as information about them. And, we still need to discuss you and the goblins at some point as well."

"On another note... what did you all do for the century between finding yourself in this world and now?"

~~~~~~~~~~

It was so easy to forget that Zephyrus was probably much older than her when he acted so innocent and cute. She really just wanted to hug him. Unfortunately, any attempt to hug him would end in failure, so it was pointless to try. Leela would have to make do with simply smiling back at him instead. "Awww. You're so sweet, Zephyrus."

[Throndir]

Location: Golden Wing Inn - Leela's Room
Date: Day 4 - Time: 7 PM

"I want to make sure I have this straight. Everyone except for Zavan came from Koldeezan? Angel Leilana and Demon Ghorat were once enemies, but ended up getting married and having a kid after she got banished and Ghorat let her stay on his land? And Ghorat was once the most powerful demon lord?"

"That is all correct... Lady Ashaki was the result of their union. Lord Ghorat was indeed the most powerful demon centuries ago. No one doubts his power, and if he were to get serious, I suspect he could go toe to toe with any of the other demon lords in this new world."

"Zavan showed up after you all found yourselves in Roshandan? And then a year later, Leilana disappeared? From that timeline... You're all old and Ghorat has a daughter complex."

Efrit furrowed his eyebrows. "Hey! I'm not that old! Just about 250." He said, shrugging.  "The greater ifrits can live up to... perhaps 1000. But I won't argue about Lord Ghorat's daughter complex though." Efrit said chuckling.

"These other demon lords... I will need more information on them and their lands at some point. Since you temporarily left and came back, I figure you probably know more about them than Zavan would, so would you mind writing up a report on each of them? Does not have to be now, you can do it when we get back to Roshandan. I would also like a list of the other generals that might come back as well as information about them. And, we still need to discuss you and the goblins at some point as well. On another note... what did you all do for the century between finding yourself in this world and now?"

"A report? Sounds like pain." Efrit groaned as he laid back in the chair. "But yeah sure, I'll save that for after we get back. Gotta convince the big guy to let me back in first. As for what we all did since... Well, honing our skills, mock battles, reading, keeping our people in line and making sure the other demon lords aren't trying to take them, and of course, caring for the armies... You know, food, shelter, that sort of thing.


Location: Golden Wing Inn
Date: Day 4 - Time: 9:00 PM

Zephyrus smiled even more brightly "Sweet..." Zephyrus said thoughtfully. "That was the first time I've been called sweet. I like being sweet."