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rainbowfic2025-11-04 03:52 pm
paradoxcase) wrote in rainbowfic2025-11-04 03:52 pm
Light Black #29, Realgar #14, Color of the Day 11/4/25 [The Fulcrum]
Name: The Liberator
Story: The Fulcrum
Colors: Light Black #29: Succeed, Realgar #14: Liberate, Color of the Day November 4, 2025: Ingeminate
Styles and Supplies: None
Word Count: 641
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Characters: Setsiana, Qhoroali, Liselye
In-Universe Date: 1912.4.1.2
Summary: Setsiana and Qhoroali look for more evidence of the Liberator in the logbook.
For a little while, they poured over the logbook from the temple together, looking for accounts of the mysterious “Liberator”. They found several entries that mentioned them, centuries apart, some going back even to the beginning of the logs. But rather than seeming to be about a miscreant who was stealing or freeing slaves, the entries seemed to discuss the Liberator as if they were a visiting priestess who had come to argue some point of philosophy or scholarship. “She is absolutely, fundamentally incorrect,” read one entry. “She has a complete misunderstanding of that dreamreading,” read another. QuCheanya did not actually distinguish people by gender, grammatically, but Setsiana reasoned that the Liberator must be female, if priestesses from a non-heretical temple were engaging with her in academic debate.
“You’d think that if she was showing up to argue with the priestesses, they would be able to stop her from taking the slaves,” Qhoroali remarked, at one point. “But they always complain that the slaves are gone, as well. Does she take the slaves first, and then return later to explain why?”
“We do have all the exact dates when she appears at this temple,” Setsiana pointed out. “We could actually go to the temple on one of those dates, and see what happened then.”
Qhoroali chewed her lip for a moment. “Sounds like a job for Li,” she said.
When they saw Liselye next, Qhoroali pointed out one of the logbook entries, one from 1789. “I need you to go here,” she said, “to the center-west temple here in Nwórza. Find out who this woman is, and what she does there on this date.”
Liselye read the entry over. “She’s freeing the slaves?” she asked. “Like we are? Are you sure you don’t want to come with me?”
“I’m bad at this stuff.”
“Not that bad,” said Liselye. “You want to know who she is, right? And you probably want to talk to her. It sounds like she might be a priestess, and you’re the one who knows about the priesthood. I just pretend to be a priestess sometimes.”
“I was only in the Egalitarian heresy, really. I don’t actually know that much more about the main branch than you do.”
“Maybe I could come?” Setsiana asked. “I was in the main branch.”
Liselye looked sharply at her. “You’re on the list,” she said. “That could be trouble.”
“Oh, give that a break,” said Qhoroali. “You and I aren’t on the list, and nothing she could do would get us on it. If that was going to happen, we’d already be there. If you want me to come, then she comes, too.”
“Alright,” Liselye conceded. “You can come,” she told Setsiana, “but you have to stay out of sight of the real priestesses. If we have to talk to anyone, let us do it.” She thought for a minute. “This entry says that they discovered that the slaves were gone in the morning, so probably they were freed during the night. To be sure we catch this person, we’ll have to watch the temple entrances all night and then see what transpires in the morning. So we’ll plan to be there for most of a day. I’ll have to see when it’s most convenient to schedule this, as we’ve got other raids planned for a ways out.”
Qhoroali was clearly less than happy about having to wait, but accepted this. Setsiana was grateful just to have been allowed to come. The idea that there was someone else out there working to end the slavery made her feel much better; maybe it was someone who didn’t share Qhoroali’s ideas about how to solve the problem for good. Maybe they would learn of a better approach; maybe the Liberator would even convince Qhoroali that she was wrong. Setsiana could only wait and see.
Story: The Fulcrum
Colors: Light Black #29: Succeed, Realgar #14: Liberate, Color of the Day November 4, 2025: Ingeminate
Styles and Supplies: None
Word Count: 641
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Characters: Setsiana, Qhoroali, Liselye
In-Universe Date: 1912.4.1.2
Summary: Setsiana and Qhoroali look for more evidence of the Liberator in the logbook.
For a little while, they poured over the logbook from the temple together, looking for accounts of the mysterious “Liberator”. They found several entries that mentioned them, centuries apart, some going back even to the beginning of the logs. But rather than seeming to be about a miscreant who was stealing or freeing slaves, the entries seemed to discuss the Liberator as if they were a visiting priestess who had come to argue some point of philosophy or scholarship. “She is absolutely, fundamentally incorrect,” read one entry. “She has a complete misunderstanding of that dreamreading,” read another. QuCheanya did not actually distinguish people by gender, grammatically, but Setsiana reasoned that the Liberator must be female, if priestesses from a non-heretical temple were engaging with her in academic debate.
“You’d think that if she was showing up to argue with the priestesses, they would be able to stop her from taking the slaves,” Qhoroali remarked, at one point. “But they always complain that the slaves are gone, as well. Does she take the slaves first, and then return later to explain why?”
“We do have all the exact dates when she appears at this temple,” Setsiana pointed out. “We could actually go to the temple on one of those dates, and see what happened then.”
Qhoroali chewed her lip for a moment. “Sounds like a job for Li,” she said.
When they saw Liselye next, Qhoroali pointed out one of the logbook entries, one from 1789. “I need you to go here,” she said, “to the center-west temple here in Nwórza. Find out who this woman is, and what she does there on this date.”
Liselye read the entry over. “She’s freeing the slaves?” she asked. “Like we are? Are you sure you don’t want to come with me?”
“I’m bad at this stuff.”
“Not that bad,” said Liselye. “You want to know who she is, right? And you probably want to talk to her. It sounds like she might be a priestess, and you’re the one who knows about the priesthood. I just pretend to be a priestess sometimes.”
“I was only in the Egalitarian heresy, really. I don’t actually know that much more about the main branch than you do.”
“Maybe I could come?” Setsiana asked. “I was in the main branch.”
Liselye looked sharply at her. “You’re on the list,” she said. “That could be trouble.”
“Oh, give that a break,” said Qhoroali. “You and I aren’t on the list, and nothing she could do would get us on it. If that was going to happen, we’d already be there. If you want me to come, then she comes, too.”
“Alright,” Liselye conceded. “You can come,” she told Setsiana, “but you have to stay out of sight of the real priestesses. If we have to talk to anyone, let us do it.” She thought for a minute. “This entry says that they discovered that the slaves were gone in the morning, so probably they were freed during the night. To be sure we catch this person, we’ll have to watch the temple entrances all night and then see what transpires in the morning. So we’ll plan to be there for most of a day. I’ll have to see when it’s most convenient to schedule this, as we’ve got other raids planned for a ways out.”
Qhoroali was clearly less than happy about having to wait, but accepted this. Setsiana was grateful just to have been allowed to come. The idea that there was someone else out there working to end the slavery made her feel much better; maybe it was someone who didn’t share Qhoroali’s ideas about how to solve the problem for good. Maybe they would learn of a better approach; maybe the Liberator would even convince Qhoroali that she was wrong. Setsiana could only wait and see.