Even here may life bloom, Dorivad Nonarran, Farseer of Iyanden thought to himself, wandering the stone paths at the very heart of the Craftworld. Melancholy was not a state unfamiliar to the Eldar as a whole, yet those of his home were long practiced in turning it to a way of life it seemed. The soft chuckling of a stream passing through dancing greenery seemed almost to mock his thoughtful pace and serious bent.

Too much had been lost, the most notable being the disastrous conflict with Hive Fleet Kraken of course, but the long years following had been increasingly less kind as their numbers dwindled with an inevitable result. It was that realization that clung to the hearts of his people, and even to him as rare rays of light and hope turned to ash in the brash anger of youth and loss of discipline.

He turned and strode serenely into a grove of medium-grown trees. Their ancestors had stood upon the very spot until decompression had swept them into death. Would this grove outlive his own Craftworld? Not a pleasant thing to consider, but an inevitable turn to introspection in a land of the dying.

Not far away, however, he spotted what appeared to be a young Eldar boy sitting around and not really paying attention to him. And playing with a Chinese finger trap. A blue one.

Dorivad looks to the child curiously, furrowing his brow as he knew all those who remained here and a child, any child, was precious and prized enough that he would remember them! "What brings you here, young one?" he asked gently. "Where are your parents?"

The boy didn't look up. "I dunno," he said, shrugging, still staring at the finger trap. "I'm trying to get my fingers out."

The Eldar crouched near the child, sweeping the hindrance of his robe's hem aside negligently as he looks at the puzzle and its intricately woven strands. Dorivad smiled faintly.

"Cause and effect, child. Press your fingers closer that it may loosen, then use your thumbs to remove the toy."

The boy did so, grinning, and held the finger trap aloft triumphantly, now free from his fingers. Dorivad smiled sadly at the image of youthful innocence, wishing it were something still possible in this place as he straightened with regal dignity.

"The question then remains," he said, turning his back and walking a few quiet stepped away, "as to what you are. You are no child of Iyanden, I know the precious few that remain. Nor are you of Chaos, whose stench would have been instantly apparent to me. What then are you?"

"Oh, I'm God," he said lightly, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"The Eldar are beholden to none such any longer," Dorivad replied softly, seeming still unconcerned as he leaned to touch one of the dancing reeds near the stream. "And whatever Gods might come of other races would surely have no interest in such a place."

The boy cocked his head at him. "It is a poor deity that demands and requires blind devotion and worship." He stood up and brushed himself off absently.

"Mm, perhaps," Dorivad replied. "Yet even that which we once paid homage to is no more, so what matter gods to us?" The sudden inability to rouse the Shard of Khaine had come as yet another blow in recent times, and with it came other knell in the dirge of his people. "What do you believe your purpose to be here then, if you neither seek nor shall receive it?"

"You will find that some are not so absent as you may believe," he said, winking.

"Irregardless," the Eldar dismissed it with an airy wave, turning back to study the self-proclaimed god. "You have not yet answered that which I have asked. The Eldar have no gods and are doubtful to seek out more, what is it that you then seek?"

"Right now, I seek only to speak with you," he said. "There are various matters which I wish to discuss, some of which I do not believe have been brought to your attention as of yet."

"Then speak and I will listen," Dorivad replied with vague indifference. "But you must needfully forgive me if I do not take any of your words without some measure of distrust."

"Only children are expected to trust and obey without considering and questioning. Yet even they would benefit from knowing the reasons thereof. And yet, does a soldier demand answers of his superiors whenever an order is given? Do you give an explanation to each thing you might say?"

"Truly enough spoken," Dorivad admitted without rancor, remaining calmly serene as he returned to examining nearby vegetation and encouraging growth here and there with a gentle touch of power. "Yet there is a flaw in the comparison you present of the soldier, for such are beholden to specified superiors. Would you have them obey the command of those of another army entire? Perhaps you may see the source of my distance."

Shazmar smiled at him. "Now, tell me, then. If Khaine himself came here and told you to do something, would you listen?"

"Were he to do so, assuredly," Dorivad replied. "And yet that is perhaps less likely than you might be inclined to believe." He did not explain further, the matter one of personal and very deep meaning to the Eldar alone.

"I believe you might just be surprised," Shazmar said, winking. "You see, future sight does not work into other universes without actually going there..."

"That such may be true is largely irrelevant," Dorivad offered a one-handed shrug, continuing his examination and kneeling beside a tree with a vine creeping slowly upward along its trunk. "Theories and fact may posit the existence of such places, and yet it is the surety of this real and present universe which must needs concern the Eldar. Others will need attend to their own."

"The Interdimensional Bridge is open," Shazmar said. "I opened it myself several months ago. And to many other universes. It used to be a good deal more difficult to travel between them. Now anyone with a spaceship can manage it in a reasonable amount of time."

Dorivad gently adjusted the coil of the vine and reinforces the change with a hint of power, then looks aside to his visitor with a thin smile.

"I may not have expressed that clearly," he said, brushing off his hands. "The Eldar have dangers enough that we must defend against in this universe, passage to another entirely upon little more than a whim would be foolhardy in the extreme."

"Oh, naturally you would fear the unknown," Shazmar said lightly. "In spite of the fact that most other universes are a good deal more peaceful and friendly than this one."

Sighing quietly as he stood, Dorivad replied, "It is not the unknown which frightens any Eldar, for such have we faced for ages countless, yet what you suggest... It would mean an abandonment of all which has gone before, the good and ill things we have brought to this universe. We are not coward enough to turn our backs to that which we have wrought."

"Regardless, such is not the matter of discussion at the moment. That other universes certainly exist, and I am from one of them myself, is what is simply truth. I am called Shazmar, and while I am similar to my counterpart in this universe, I am also different..."

"Then you truly have no reason beyond curiosity here," Dorivad responded. "Our world is not your own, nor are the difficulties which we face. Unless you may have some matter more urgent than speculation to discuss, then I would return to my meditations upon what may be once more a threat to us as a whole."

"You may not realize this, but the fate of all universes is intertwined. I came here on advice of a mutual friend to offer my assistance against those threats here."

"Whether they are twined as inextricably as life itself is wont to be or not," Dorivad responded. "The fact yet remains that this universe is what we must needfully attend. Only so much may any Eldar do, and the assistance of one who has no connection to this place may hardly alter that, nor may it be welcome."

Shazmar cocked his head at Dorivad. "Do you know how long it has been since Eldar came to see me? One hundred thousand years. The Eldar in my universe all died out a hundred thousand years ago."

"Such is the way of things," Dorivad replied with equanimity. "We Eldar are long-lived, never have I heard nor seen record of one who passed from existence in anything save the throes of violence, but we are certainly not invulnerable."

"And yet today, two of them came into my temple for the first time in a hundred thousand years! How could I ignore their plight? But in spite of the fact that you were not the kindest to my followers, I bear no ill will toward you."

"Two of them came to you?" Dorivad chuckled lightly. "And yet you have already revealed that all in your own lands are gone to what awaits their souls. You must forgive my puzzlement at this seemingly contradictory turn of events."

"I believe you may know them. Their names are Melaran and Tarna," Shazmar said offhandedly.

No outward sign revealed the Eldar's reaction to the surprise, his own rigid self-control beyond allowing anything that might betray him. "The names are familiar to me," Dorivad replied neutrally.

Shazmar frowned a bit. "You are slow to accept things, and quick to reject them. You see much, but you do not see what lies buried deep within people's hearts."

"You speak of things of which you know nothing," Dorivad replied with an edge of frost. "Do not presume that I do not act as is well within my right in defense and benefit of this Craftworld and those which yet remain."

"Oh, I know you think you are doing the right thing. Often the greatest evils are committed by those who believe they are doing the right thing."

"The matter of which you speak is of no concern to you," Dorivad retorted. "And I do believe that there is naught else which you may say of interest to me upon it." He tilted his head in a precise nod. "Return to your own interests, if you wish." He turned his back to began walking away.

Shazmar tapped the Chinese finger trap Dorivad's arm. "See this? You can try to escape it by pulling so tightly against it that something snaps. Or you can be smart, and ease off a bit. Which way are you going now?"

"I believe that I am going to return to that which is of greatest import to me," Dorivad replied coolly. "Consideration of the best interests of those who choose to remain and act in defense of this Craftworld."

"You are so caught up in yourself and your own that you blind yourself to what else may be going on, even that which critically affects this Craftworld. I would not expect such impatience from an Eldar to leave when I still have much yet to say. Oh, has my mention of those two offended you in some manner? Please, do tell."

"You presume too much, god or no," Dorivad retorted. "I was perhaps willing to listen to your inane babble at first from simple curiosity, yet there must remain a line beyond which I may and shall not cross or allowed to be. You have stepped beyond that boundary."

Shazmar hopped up and started to float around two feet above the ground. "So, let's see. You are distrustful of Tarna because you do not believe she is a 'true Eldar', when she has, in fact, shown a good deal more spirit and courage than you and done far more to help the cause of the Eldar. You do not know her, you do not understand her, and therefore you fear the unknown, you fear what you do not understand."

Dorivad looked at the diminutive god in silence, then turned and strode away, not deigning to answer any further in the matter.

Shazmar proceeded to float along behind him. "Oh, yes, you also think you know more than a god, very presumptuous of you. I'm omniscient! Do you know what that means? Shall I get you a dictionary?"

"That you believe yourself such is clear," Dorivad replied stiffly, continuing on his path toward the garden's exit. "And still you persist in pursuing a matter which is of no concern to you. Begone."

"Ooh, I know lots of things, though," Shazmar said. "For instance, I know..." he started a long list of personal details about Dorivad's life.

Dorivad merely nodded along to the list of details, Eldar memory quite long, but interrupted eventually, "Quite right, quite right, and nothing which any might not obtain by other means entire. Please, if you have nothing more than minor tricks then I really must bid you good day... or have the Guardians remove you. Certainly a choice you may decide for yourself."

Shazmar then proceeded to get into precisely what Dorivad was thinking and feeling at specific moments in his life.

Stopping with faint exasperation, Dorivad looked to Shazmar with disdain. "Your prattle does not strengthen your case, nor does it serve to dissuade my growing certitude regarding you. Easily attained, through powers no greater than my own, now would I greatly appreciate your departure. I shall not ask again."

Shazmar smiled at him annoyingly. "But why must you waste my time questioning my incredible godly powers when I do have important things of which to tell you?"

"You have yet to speak of anything of interest to me," Dorivad replied, "I somehow must doubt that anything might change that." He lightly touched a crystal woven into his robe and spoke to the air, "Guardians, attend me at this location, intruder alert."

"You do not wish to hear of the return of Kaela Mensha Khaine or the immanent destruction of the Chaos Gods?" Shazmar said innocently, giving him puppy dog eyes.

"You have perhaps thirty seconds to remove yourself before it is done in your place," Dorivad answered with arctic chill, no longer amused by the jester or his games.

"Do you believe that you could actually remove a deity who did not wish to be removed?" Shazmar smiled. "No, no, I'm staying put until you let me help you."

"You have nothing of interest to me, no more than might the madness of the Laughing God," Dorivad replied thinly. "If that is not sufficient to the task of removing your curiosity in this place, then force of arms will needfully be applied."

"Oh, by all means, it will be funny to watch them try!" Shazmar giggled. "And no, back at home, they don't call me the Laughing God. They call me the Annoying God. But I digress!"

Dorivad didn't reply as the light footfalls of the summoned Guardians approach. He raised a hand to them, their discipline immediately bringing them to a halt, and said, "You see before you a manifestation of one much akin to the Laughing God. Respond with appropriate inattention if he is seen again. Return to your duties."

He could sense their confusion, but held great pride in them as they comply with his command.

"I will do nothing for your amusement," Dorivad remarked after they had gone. "Nor will I subject them to it. Speak as you will, I have no further reason to listen to your madness."

Shazmar giggled. "You don't know me very well. I gave you a chance to do things the easy way. But you had to pull instead of push. How tightly will you pull yourself before you snap?"

"The Eldar do not so readily surrender themselves to madness or other influences which lead only to the damnation of Chaos." Dorivad faintly sneered. "Do your worst, jester, I have no interest in your games."

"Buuuut, I promised Mel I wouldn't cheat," Shazmar said, staring at the sky. "So I won't just alter your personality to make you comply with my wishes, nor change the physics of the universe to bring about what I desire. That would be cheating! But anything else is fair game."

Shazmar waved his hand and a magic finger trap attached itself to Dorivad's fingers. Dorivad looked at the toy with disgust, and merely arched an elegant brow at Shazmar as he found the usual method proved futile for removing it.

"And so we see that the godling's humor," he replied sardonically. "Is as simple and unbecoming the supposed dignity of a god, much the same as the Prankster. No matter, for other measures may be implemented to see to its removal."

Shazmar giggled. "I can tell you how to remove it quite easily. When you stop being so inflexible with your mind and allow yourself to be more accepting of others. You do that, and it'll fall right away easily."

"I will not submit to the twittering babbling of a mad godling," Dorivad replied, turning away once again and returning to his calm pace. "You may destroy me, yet still would the spirit remain. Your threats and blandishments hold equal merit to me. None."

Shazmar floated along with him, maintaining the same distance even as he moved. "Now, normally I prefer to work by more subtle means than this, but hey! In this case it'd take me a thousand years to beat the lesson into your head that you must learn or you will surely be destroyed, and not by my hand. I do not wish to destroy you. And I shall bring no harm to you nor anyone else here. I promise."

"Promises of ones such as you mean as little as the weight of your words," Dorivad responded, lifting the puzzle as in proof. "No harm? Then remove it now or I shall needfully resort to methods that might put lie to your 'promises'."

"Oh, I said that I wouldn't harm you. Not that you couldn't bring yourself harm through your own foolishness and shortsightedness."

"Ah, forever the fine distinctions and subtlety which are the greatest 'gifts' of Chaos," Dorivad chuckled without humor. "So be it. I have no further wish to discuss it with you, do as you like."

"Oh, those gods stink - Especially Nurgle! They have no sense of humor." Shazmar snorted in disgust.

Dorivad paid the odd creature little regard, and Shazmar was likely aware of it as the Eldar settled into a familiar regimen of mental exercises even as his steps turned toward the nearest sickbay. Shazmar continued to blissfully float along behind him, whistling a little tune as he did so. They arrived soon enough at Dorivad's intended destination, the healer within smiling in welcome as they enter, though he did glance oddly at the floating child.

"Farseer, how may I serve?" the healer asked politely.

"I have encountered some difficulty," Dorivad replied evenly, without going into the details or origin of it, "and require that this be removed, by whatever means prove of necessity." He lifted his hands to more clearly show the puzzle. "It would appear to be sealed in place by means most foul."

"He's just being a stubborn old goat who doesn't want to admit that he doesn't know everything," Shazmar said lightly.

"Ignore the tainted one," Dorivad replied serenely to the healer's apparent confusion, continuing more gently. "Look to the problem and leave the remainder to me."

The healer responded affirmatively and began to examine the problem in several ways, though questions obviously remained.

"I do wish you would quit insulting me, though," Shazmar replied. "Or perhaps you are doing it on purpose in an attempt to annoy me? Haha!" He bounced around a bit. "Hey, doc, you want a sucker?"

The healer, while obviously nervous, did as he was commanded by the Farseer and did not answer as is simply the Eldar way. He was not pleased at the prospect, nor at what he was likely going to have to do if preliminary tests proved that the object was as well attached and immune to harm as he believed. Dorivad waited patiently, attuned to the healer's uncertainty but pleased by his obedience to duty.

A floating cell phone appeared in the air. It began to ring with an annoying ring tone.

The healer did try other methods available to remove the puzzle, up to and including cutting it away by various means, and is highly reluctant to even address the final option open to him. Dorivad prodded it from him gently, already assuming as much, and told the healer to do what he must. Patently unhappy with it, the healer prepares to do so.

Shazmar waves a hand and made the cell phone vanish. "Alright, enough of this foolish game. Let's go, Dorry-man."

Shazmar snapped his fingers, and abruptly teleported himself and the poor hapless Farseer to the Nexus of Torn Elkandu. As Dorivad vanished, the now unattached finger trap fell to the ground. Dorivad flexed his hands calmly, then folded them neatly within the sleeves of his robes.

"And of such things are promises made," Dorivad replied scathingly, then descended into disdainful silence.

"Oh, I told you I wouldn't hurt you or anyone else on your Craftworld. I have not. You are perfectly unharmed are you not? I even removed that annoying finger trap!"

"And should my people be attacked without the powers of a Farseer to direct and aid them, what then of your promises and lies?" Dorivad sneered lightly in return.

"Oh, don't worry, they'll be fine," Shazmar replied lightly. "Welcome, by the way, to the city of Torn Elkandu, the center of the universe."

A random passerby said, "Look out, Triel, it's that crazy god, don't look at him, he might think we're interesting."

"Mm," was all the response which Dorivad deigns to grant to reassurance or explanation, though the enthusiastic response of the traveler was one that he can readily agree with at this point.

"We are, in fact, in another universe entirely at the moment," Shazmar explained. "This is the Elkandu Universe. My home universe. It's a bit flaky sometimes but I'm rather fond of it."

"In that I might find little to surprise me," Dorivad replied with absent distaste, silently preparing for whatever may come. Iyanden was already fully aware of its mortality, could he expect any less?

"Open your eyes," Shazmar said insistently. "How can you call yourself a Farseer if you refuse to see?"

Dorivad halted his step and looked at Shazmar as though at a recalcitrant child. "And how may you claim godhood and yet refuse to listen to that which has been said to you? Your world is of no use to me, or those who look to me. We are Eldar, and though you may not understand that concept I will not explain the duty which attends it."

Shazmar shook his head sadly. "You think you see but you are blind. Welp, time to show you differently!" With a wave of his hand, the Nexus activated, and they appeared on Lezaria, in the cherry forests of Thalarey.

"I grow weary of your games," Dorivad replied simply, dismissing the oddities of the world around them as they traveled, and the scenery at their destination providing little more of interest.

"Welcome to the planet Lezaria," Shazmar said. "From these forests in which the remnant of the El'dari was finally awakened from their long slumber, the only ones who survived the slaughter a hundred thousand years ago by allowing their souls to sleep within these trees. We are not far from the city of Eldamar."

"How interesting," Dorivad replied caustically. He was not beyond noticing the similarity in the names provided, but the mad one had already said that the Eldar of his world were destroyed and now was showing the reverse. Nothing more could truly be expected.

"They likely would have never awakened again and remained lost to this universe forever had one Dolen Ista not come here. There were no Eldar left alive in this universe who could have saved them."

"I have heard he yet lives, to the surprise of many," Dorivad responded evenly. "And where I might prefer he return to serve the Craftworld, I may no more deny his finding other duty than I could for Melaran."

As sand through the glass, passed a random thought that was quietly returned to the confines of order and reserve.

"He is in the Karzan Galaxy fighting Chaos in the name of Kaela Mensha Khaine," Shazmar said. "I could take us there if you like."

Dorivad shook his head lightly, his voice soft. "As I have said, each Eldar knows in their soul where duty lies. I could no more deny that self-anointed duty than change another's soul, not were I to remain true to that which may yet remain to us in the twilight of our age."

"That wasn't an answer," Shazmar said lightly. "And neither did I suggest that you convince him to return. But self-anointed? Khaine marked him himself and told him to go out and fight."

"Kaela Mensha Khaine is no more," Dorivad replied with a first hint of anger. "You may make light of many things, jester, but do not take that One's name in jest within my hearing."

"I'm not joking," Shazmar says in all seriousness. "You can ask him yourself if you would trust his word more than mine."

Without another word, Shazmar abruptly teleported them over to the mess hall on Epsilon Station, where Kalli and Dolen were sitting and eating casually between ventures. Shazmar actually drifted off for a moment and gave him some space.

Kalli blinked over at the guy who just randomly appeared in the mess hall and murmured to Dolen, "Who is that?"

Dolen had been in the middle of a meal, silently thankful to be away from the 'joys' of Kalli's adoration of all things pizza for a while. The sudden appearance of the newcomers barely registering other than in a minor twitch at the sheer frequency of magical occurrences in this place... at least until the identity of the one registers and he bolted upright into a suddenly attentive stance.

"Farseer!" he greeted, and bowed respectfully.

Dorivad smiled lightly to the 'lost' Eldar and inclined his head in acknowledgement. "It is pleasing to see you well, though we originally thought both Melaran Sadron and yourself lost on a distant world. Gladly do I greet you, a weight lessens from me regarding that venture as all are finally accounted for."

Kalli blinked for a moment and looks from Dolen to the Farseer and said, "Er. Hello." She said tentatively, giving a bit of a wave.

Shazmar proceeded to entertain a pair of rabbits in a corner by juggling carrots.

"All?" Dolen asked, suddenly grinning, but retained his reserve otherwise as he looked aside to Kalli May, "Kalli May, may I introduce you to Farseer Dorivad Nonarran of Iyanden. He..." he shook his head and looked back to Dorivad. "You bring truly welcome news, Farseer. Although..." he frowned faintly, "What in the name of Khaine are you doing here? What of Iyanden?"

Dorivad offered a brief nod of acknowledgement to the human woman, then addressed the question, "I would yet remain there were it not for the unwelcome intrusion of this one." He indicated Shazmar with a curt nod.

Kalli said politely, "I'm Kalli May of the Dancers on the Edge of Death. Pleased to meet you."

Shazmar popped up behind Dolen. "I offered to help him and Iyanden and give him valuable information. But he refused my assistance and wouldn't even listen to me." Shazmar pouted a bit.

Dolen looked at the Farseer and then back to the stranger with a faint glare. "Whatever you may have offered, I am certain he had his reasons in refusing that dealt wholly in his capacity as defender of Iyanden. He is Iyanden! What manner of madness and folly would you court to bring him here?" He paused, suddenly looking sharply at the 'child'. "And how did you do so?" Dorivad was a Farseer, how indeed!

"Oh, don't worry, it's well protected at the moment, I'm watching it like watching popcorn pop! And if anything nasty comes along I'll just do like this!"

He waved a hand and made a very confused Ork appear. The appearance of the Ork brought an instinctive reflex to both Eldar, one reaching to snap a weapon to the ready while a faint nimbus of power crackles to life around the other, and Kalli tensed as well. Then Shazmar turned it into a pink bunny that hopped around in confusion and tried to nibble on somebody's foot. They were understandably somewhat confused at the sudden change, and Dolen's weapon trailed the creature regardless but managed to avoid actually firing. He cast a quick glance at Shazmar, then returned the pistol to its holster at his waist.

"You fail to understand the import of a Farseer to distant Iyanden," Dolen said, looking to Dorivad and then continuing as the other Eldar merely nodded. "They are the heart and soul of the Craftworld, and vitally important now as Khaine attends to other matters which have rendered the Shards powerless!"

Dorivad gave Dolen an odd look at that, but did not immediately reply.

"Of course I understand," Shazmar said. "I'm God. I'm omniscient. But if he'd listened to me in the first place we wouldn't be here. He wouldn't even believe me when I tried to tell him about Khaine."

"This land is truly mad," Dolen muttered, voicing the thought that he'd had more than once since coming here, then looked to Shazmar. "Is that truly all you sought in bringing him here, that he might believe the impossible? So be it!" He looked to Dorivad earnestly. "Farseer, use what you must to convince you of the truth I speak, though I would surely throw myself to Chaos itself before deceiving you! Kaela Mensha Khaine merely slept in an ancient temple, and with the aid of Kalli May he was reawakened to storm the Gods of Chaos themselves. The Mark I bear upon armor and flesh, forever fresh the color of blood, is his Mark. I swear this upon Khaine and my soul!"

Dorivad did indeed activate the powers of the Farseer, not of distrust in the Eldar he had once known and trusted but out of distrust in anything the mad godling would bring before him. The Eldar spoke the truth, Khaine did indeed walk again, which explained a mystery that had plagued him.

"Always a child of Iyanden," he said softly and offered a nod of praise. "It surprises me not at all to find you still opposing Chaos even here."

Shazmar settled down onto the ground. He said quietly, "I have not sought to deceive you. You have no idea what I have lost in fighting Chaos. I offered you my assistance and knowledge freely."

Dolen leapt in even as the Farseer was about to speak, showing considerably more heat than the other ever might have. "You bring him here," he nearly hissed, "ignoring all that he is to Iyanden, and then expect to be trusted? I would trust you no further than I might those self-same minions of Chaos! His reasons I may not know, nor presume to, but as a son of Iyanden I find your actions beyond tolerating!"

Shazmar shook his head. "Well, if you insist." The four of them abruptly appeared in the same spot where he and the Farseer had been before going to Torn Elkandu. "Are you happy now?"

Kalli realized for a moment that she was still sitting but not on a chair, and stood up, a little disoriented.

The sudden return snapped the burning anger inside Dolen and he looked with wonder at the familiar gardens.

"I..." he began, then trailed off and shook his head. "I do not know what power you may hold, nor what you may represent, but this Craftworld..." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, regaining his reserve and continued with calm quiet, "This world, though it may be bleeding from its many wounds, it is still in our blood and part of the soul. I apologize for my outburst," he addressed that to the Farseer, bowing, and then stepped back.

Dorivad looked at Shazmar in silence, then spoke quietly, "Do you understand now, jester? This universe is not your own, nor its people of your blood. You are foolhardy indeed if you expect trust to be so readily and easily won. More have the forces of the Empire of Man done beside such warriors as this, shown greater honor and worthiness to that trust than anything you have done and yet we still battle them."

"Did I mention the Emperor's awake again now too?" Shazmar said offhandedly.

Kalli peered around the vicinity, blinking slowly at her surroundings.

"That is not necessarily the most reassuring of news," Dorivad replied with a hint of scorn. "Is it always such that you would seek to gain our trust with, then? Such an event would be certain enough to gain the attention soon enough among those of us who lead the Craftworlds. I fear you must needfully depart without that which you come seeking, jester, as there is nothing with which you may gain that trust with now."

"I don't ask anything of you," Shazmar said. "Which is, perhaps, part of why you are so distrustful of me." He smirked. "No, see, I made a bet with Melaran... He said that I would never be able to convince you to listen to me and accept my help. I said I could."

"Melaran... asked this of you?" Dolen asked incredulously, then chuckled and sighed. "Oh for the love of... Was there no other way he could conceive of to seek aid for Iyanden? Though I respect and care for him, I have wondered regarding his impetuous nature time and time and time again. Farseer." He shifted his attention. "You know Melaran, he stood at my side more often than I can remember. Is that so difficult to believe?"

Dorivad appeared, to Dolen, to be inexplicably uncomfortable, and he replied, "There are times which may change even what we have believed to be inviolably true, though I may hope and wish that it turns not to what I fear it could be."

"Of course, he did think that if I mentioned his name that you'd probably kill him if he ever came back here." Shazmar smirked. "Melaran and Tarna had undertaken a 'mad quest' for the one you call the Laughing God. You liken me to that one, but I am not that one, exactly. But as I have said, I do not seek to bring harm to you or any of those here."

Dolen stiffened at both replied to his question, loyalty conflicting but he had spoken of a soldier's duty before.

"Farseer," Dolen said gravely, "I know not what has transpired here, but I know each of those who have served with me beyond the measure of any other. Do not shame us all in laying some perceived guilt upon one who we would stand to the death beside. Chaos itself would find nothing to allow root in that soil."

Dorivad closed his eyes, then straightened and looked for a moment to Dolen and then to Shazmar. "You have heard my reasons, jester, and whether your intent be good or ill I can place no trust in it from your own actions, if naught else. You have lost your wager, the sole purpose in your presence here." He didn't shift as Dolen looked at him and then turned his back to stalk away.

Shazmar's eyes started glowing silver-blue brightly, like two small stars. "Your pride does you justice. Your arrogance does not," he said. His voice sounded different as well. There was little trace of playful innocence in this. "I know your reasons. Will you tell these then how you rejected those two, and why?"

Kalli really did not look like she wanted to be involved in this.

"My reasons are my own," Dorivad replied with growing heat, his impatience growing in relation to the display of power that he did not let go by uncontested. "I am Farseer to Iyanden, jester, and more than enough have I been patient with your ramblings. I will accept no more questioning of what is in the greater interest of my people, you do not belong here, and if you seek to enforce your will then you will be sadly disappointed."

Dolen did not look back, though he could feel the cascading energies as surely as the weight of his heart. There was nothing he could... or would do.

"You refuse to admit that you are wrong and are embarrassed that your grave mistake should come to light," Shazmar countered.

"And you have no right to speak of that which you do not know!" Dorivad retorted with growing heat. "That one refused what was offered and there is nothing more to be said upon it. Your presence, your purpose of a mere vulgar wager with one who abandoned his Craftworld in its need is unwelcome here!"

"You claim to protect Iyanden, when you doom it by your own actions," Shazmar said with sudden calm. "Are you so blind as to fail to realize that?"

Kalli, meanwhile, was looking around for something to duck behind, just in case. Well, there was always Dolen. He wouldn't duck and would make decent cover.

"I would be blind and damned to listen to the blandishments of one who has proven themselves to be no friend to this Craftworld," Dorivad responded hotly. "Take yourself hence, creature, for you know nothing about the soul of this place!"

"Open your eyes," Shazmar said insistently. He sat down and started crying.

"He will not," Dolen said emotionlessly, having turned back and looked at the two. "One who fails to see the honor and loyalty of those who would serve them is not worthy of those precious blood-bought gifts. How many, Farseer? How many have you damned to the Warp with the tattered remnants of their honor? Damn you..."

Dolen whirled and left, the natural light-footed nature of the Eldar gone beneath the weight at his shoulders. Dorivad looked after the departing Guardian in shock, remembering well the long thousands of years. He sighed heavily, the power around him sinking away and vanishing.

"You have destroyed enough this day, jester," he said bitterly. "Is your taste for it sated yet? I have had my fill and more."

"Do you not see? I have destroyed nothing. You did," Shazmar said, barely more than a whisper.

Kalli cast about uneasily but didn't move to follow Dolen. She looked over to the Farseer oddly. Though other Eldar would readily see it, only two of this Craftworld would dare to voice the question, and Dorivad was secure enough in his own sense of pride and decisiveness than to admit to it.

"You would lay this on me?" Dorivad asked quietly. "You came without invitation, dismissing the order of things as they simply are in this place... remove yourself from this, and none would have transpired as it did."

"You blame me? Who only came to offer assistance and information? Which you in your arrogance refused?" Shazmar shook his head. "If you will not see, I will make you see..."

He opened his fingers, and made him fully aware of the consequences of his own actions, and what will likely come of... and what would have happened had he listened in the first place instead.

Kalli decided she doesn't really want to be there either after all and turned to follow Dolen.

No being, man or Eldar, may take the full measure of their own folly without reaction, and the Farseer sank slowly to the ground at the recognition of it all. A million excuses or reasons might be offered, but what price his blindness and overweening pride? Were all the things which he held so dear truly so weak within him as to allow that arrogance to overshadow it all? There was little more that may be done, and Dorivad wept silently.

Shazmar sat quietly crying, rubbing his eyes with his small hands.

Kalli proceeded to get hopelessly lost.

"What have I done?" Dorivad asked softly of no one save himself. "To destroy two of Iyanden's sons in the span of days, and to no reason or purpose? Better that they might return and I go to the Warp... I have failed them all..." He rose and looked to the crying child and whispered, "Damn you for making me see, damn me for making it be so." Shaking his head he started to walk away.

"I can still help you, if you will allow me... I came here to give hope... not to take it away," Shazmar said quietly.

"I can speak for them no longer," Dorivad said quietly, "Ask the children of this Craftworld, who are truly deserving of even the possibility of hope, a brief ray of light in the darkness. They will need give you an answer, may it be better reasoned than my own."

"There's one more thing I must show you as well..." Shazmar murmured. He then showed him exactly what all Tarna and Melaran went through, at how Tarna risked her life to save an Eldar she barely knew, and their unwavering courage and devotion.

Dorivad was beyond the point of shock or despair by this point, and he merely smiled with deep sorrow, seeing much that he had refused to see before and the very effect that one had upon the other.

"No, I can speak for them no longer," he whispered, then looked over his shoulder at Shazmar. "Ask the children, tell them fully of my folly, whatever you must." He sighed and looked away. "Bring them the hope you sought to."

Shazmar sighed and stood up, and went to see where Dolen wandered off to. And dragged poor, lost Kalli along.

"I'm sorry about all this," Shazmar said quietly. "I should learn not to interfere..." He wiped his eyes.

Dolen didn't lose himself in the least, even though he hadn't seen a single thing since leaving the garden. He found himself outside his own quarters, left much as Melaran's had been, untouched, and retreated there in silence.

Kalli blinked a moment at the sudden change in surroundings. She muttered, "Oh, good, I thought I was going to have to stop and ask for directions..."

Shazmar smirks at her. He said to Dolen, "He did finally see reason... but I think it broke him to see the extent of his folly."

Dolen didn't immediately react, sitting on the edge of the neatly made bed and staring into the distance.

"I am glad of it," Dolen murmured, then shook his head and leaps to his feet, showing the same reserved exterior he generally presented as he turns to them with a false smile. "Our work here is done, then? Much yet lays before me in distant places, as Khaine has commanded."

Shazmar looked to the ground. "I feel I should do something but I do not know just what."

"Do what you may for the Craftworld, if it lay within your power," Dolen replied simply, even now thinking of their greater good. "Though the Eldar are doubtless stubborn and rigid in our ways, we are ever stalwart allies to those who would prove themselves such." He offered a bow to Shazmar. "I know not the full extent of what has happened here, nor honestly do I wish to..." A shadow flickered in his eyes, haunted before being dispelled. "Yet would it seem that you have acted in honorable fashion toward Iyanden," he finished crisply.

"My power..." Shazmar said quietly, trailing off. "I am a god. Not just any god. I am unbound by the restrictions that hold back some others. Perhaps in some manner, some good can come of this..." He took a deep breath, and glowed brilliantly silver-blue.

There was a distinct feeling of an almost tangible shift, and a rushing sensation for a moment.

Dolen, not wholly unfamiliar now with the feeling of power which a god exuded, decided that now would be a very good time to take a few steps backward. He might be tolerant beyond measure compared to other Eldar, but this was still far beyond his experience or his wish to do so no more than he would have sought the touch of Khaine!

A flash of sudden silver-blue light washed over the entire Craftworld. When it faded, there were those there who were not there before.

Shazmar said quietly, "... I have restored life to those whose souls were thought lost forever." He looked quietly to the ground.

Dolen just looked at the god in astonishment, then managed to gather some shred of self again at the thought of what may have happened, the possibilities. Yet another ray of hope... even among the bitter taste of ash in his mouth was a bubbling joy for what had been his home for so long.

"Thank you," he said simply, capable of nothing more though the words were far from adequate.

"My work here is done," Shazmar said quietly, with a sigh. "I will return you to where you were."

He waved his hand, and Dolen and Kalli suddenly found themselves sitting back at their table on Epsilon Station. There was a pink bunny eating their lunch. Dolen isn't really interested in his former meal anymore, pink bunny or not, the creature was welcome to it.

"That was interesting," he remarked blandly, "Though I feel some sympathy for this unnamed god that seemed intent on aiding."

Kalli murmured, "That was Shazmar, if the Eyes of Truth's records are any indication..." She nodded to him.

Dolen shook his head and offered a single-handed shrug, "I believe I shall go and meditate for a time, Kalli May. Call upon me if anything is required."