Norani Llahalor (2)

The painting was silent for a moment as the figure tapped their fingers upon the balustrade of the painted Crystal Palace in contemplation. "Based on your choice of words, you partially believe this... boy's words already. For a sovereign to believe the words of a child, you are either foolish or farsighted... I'd hope it to be the latter. A foolish ruler is not one I would support." Even as the figure mildly insulted Nesine, the High Elf Queen spoke not a word. "This boy must have mentioned significant events for you to disturb me. Name one, and I will base my answer off of it."

Nesine remained steady under the pressure that could be felt from the words of the Dreamwalker's art-based projection, "The most important event he said will begin in 4:65 Divine when the Demon Emperor would return with greater might and annihilate countless mortals and leaving only four nations standing." Due to Norani's millennium of experience, half of which consisted of the bloody war of the Heroic Era, few things were worth the Dreamwalker's time. Aside from the three most deadly disasters and the inter-faction war of the Storm Era, the Dreamwalker essentially ignored all other matters. However, as one of the few remaining mortals to have experienced the cruelty of the Demon Emperor's invasion, even those matters weren't important to her.

The figure in the painting shimmered as a vague red glow appeared on the edges of the canvas. Nesine paled but stood firm, as she knew this to be a sign of anger from her race's saintess. While she had disconnected herself emotionally after several centuries, Norani could not fully escape from their grasp. When the Dreamwalker felt an emotion in a particularly strong manner, the canvas would emit a vague coloured glow to match it. The insinuation of her life's greatest foe, Andor's most powerful enemy in history, returning once again understandably enraged the Pseudo-Sage, who managed to keep her tone calm through centuries of practice with emotional control, "You have succeeded in gaining my attention, child. Even I would desire to learn the truth of this boy's words, since he dares to speak of such to a sovereign... Before I continue, I recall you mentioning that the boy would offer information that I would be interested in. Few things can interest me, so, if the boy's time travel story is true, it must be quite special for him to say it would interest me. What is this information that he is willing to trade?"

After taking a look at Luca, who nodded bravely, the High Elf Queen spoke again, "The information pertains to the ancient expedition to Hylaneas, in relation to its final location... and the fate of one Tamren Darai... your son, Tamren Darai-Llahalor."

The glow of the painting rippled between numerous colours: the black of grief, the red of anger, the white of surprise, the yellow of joy and hope, and the blue of wisdom. Eventually, the glow faded as the painting spoke once again, "I know your ancestors didn't record Tamren's maternal parentage anywhere, so you could only have heard it from the boy. How does he know of this?"

"He claims that, in 4:66 Divine, the expedition's resting place was discovered. He did not personally witness the location, but he had examined a carefully made copy of the expedition leader, Tamren's personal journal, as well as the genuine bow made for him by his father, High Druid Fennar Darai. After these were discovered, his identity was debated before, eventually, it was confirmed by you yourself upon personal inspection." Nesine paused for a moment before continuing, "He also mentioned that he had other information about major discoveries, but he deemed that the information about your son would be worth more to you."

Once again, a pondering silence ensued before Norani's painted projection spoke, "Quite an intelligent child, it seems." This time, the figure clearly directed her response to the Dragonborn, "Little Dragonborn, you have managed to earn my attention. If you come from the future, you should know of my capabilities. Since that is the case, are you certain that your words are sincere?"

As the painting projected a powerful, worldly presence, bringing the psychological weight of immeasurable power down upon the young Dragonborn, Luca bravely, or stubbornly, did his best to stand firm. The Dreamwalker's true magic was the magic of memory, rather than dream or illusion magic, more specifically the magic of Mnemosyne. The Goddess of Memory's powers encompasses illusions and dreams, making the Dreamwalker's magic part of the Divine category. As such, it was capable of forcing the truth to be revealed, no matter how strong-willed one is. Knowing this, and because he was certain that his memories would be enough to convince Norani and the sovereigns of his honesty, he gradually forced his mouth to speak a single word, "Absolutely." After he spoke, the pressure vanished, and Luca's body slumped against Arcturus, who worriedly protected his partner, whose muscles had gone from extremely tensed to fight off the pressure to lax from the sudden disappearance of said pressure.

"Impressive. When I projected a part of my powers over you, I could sense some of your thoughts. You are certainly clear about the secrets of my magic, and your mind and heart both bear sincerity... So be it. I will agree to your request for memory projection. However, it must be in my dwelling and nowhere else. Nesine, you are aware of the rules of my abode, correct?"

The High Elf Queen nodded, reciting said rules without missing a beat, "Upon entering the dwelling of Norani Llahalor, all guests are subject to mental probing to ensure that only those with true identities can enter, in order to remove all attempts of espionage. Following the examination, the host will have all guests swear a divine oath of secrecy, preventing the trading of any information about the host and the events within the dwelling, that cannot be removed without her approval. Upon concluding the visitation, critical information, such as the dwelling's location and access point, and anything related to the host herself, such as appearance and present capabilities, will be sealed from external scrutiny. Should such seals be touched without her approval, they will burst, causing the guest to perish. These rules are non-negotiable and are approved by the Four Sages of Magic and the Sovereigns of Light."