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Riatha sighs gently, her eyes turning inward to memories that seem like yesterday and ghosts that still walk at her side...  "In the days of lore as you of the here and now no doubt say, I was the Ninth Ruler of the Alliance of the Eclipse, following my Brother Esheron Albeshon in service to this House, he - being the Seventh Ruler. I used to spend my time in what many called esoteric pursuit within the Dream, but that is another tale. "After the mares came, then some grew concerned for the state of the Walls for the Entropy Coalition had changed our Walls in their attempt to Breach to the Deep Chaos, and some, myself included, were wary of how this change would affect the walls as time passed. "After long study within the City itself, I decided to venture into the fringe of Chaos, just outside the City, to see what could be determined of the condition of the Walls from their outer.. The fringe of Chaos is not so very difficult to negotiate and still remain coherant in the main, so I devised with the aid of the House and my mentor, an anchor point and ventured forth for what we thought would be a fairly brief sabbatical. But even the fringes are unpredictable at best, and though I felt I had been there only a short time, I have since my return and from piecing together the changes in the City, decided the time flow was not uniform even close by the City. I am now assuming it was not a few days, but rather months, perhaps longer, that I worked by the Walls, and then... if my memory is at all to be trusted on this, a force like a great wave, roared upon me and pummelled my consciousness and severed my anchor to the City of Dreams, and I lost cohesion of any kind. "This I believe to have been the opening of one of the Rifts, I must have been near enough on the Outer Wall for it to completely overtake me and sweep me away to the Deep Chaos. "There, time is utterly meaningless, and yet gradually some sort of sense of being returned, and a sense that I whoever I was, was not alone there..." Riatha seems to have difficulty finding words to explain... "It was as if I... stood at the very nexus of all that can be and all that is and all that was... too much for the consciousness to comprehend, and not truly describable." Riatha lifts her hands in a gesture and then drops them in futility knowing this does not make sense... "There came a change, a sound in a soundless place full of noise, a sight in a darkness filled visions... As if the two souls closest to mine were calling, so I followed? I made some effort to respond. And as I did the link grew stronger. And my Soul grew more certain, and more determined, more whole again." Riatha again flutters her hands, not having the words to tell this. "And then I was here. Upon this facade, with the Alliance of the here and now surrounding me and bidding me welcome. And, the Alliance has made me very welcome indeed, but my time in the Deep Chaos has left effects of which some may be permanent and some not so. I was not unsphered when I departed the City of Dreams. I returned unsphered." |
ur Interviewer meets with Riatha in the Alliance, and requests information on Fre'y as well as her own story of her return to the dream. TyRyt, Kia Ravenheart, and Talin Dametraz retreat to the steps to welcome visiting dreamers and listen to Riatha's tale. Throughout this tale all were captivated by her telling.
