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As Azura flew up and away from Ihokhe and his companions to join Luis the eclipse whale who had been exploring their surroundings while she and the mortal had conversed.

[color=lightblue]“Hello Luis. I’m back. Sorry you couldn’t join it. Hope you weren't to bored?”[/color] she said one she had flown up to

[color=RoyalBlue]”No I’m good. I met some others like me in the sea while you were chatting. Not the best conversationalists, but they were nice nonetheless. They were very impressed by my size and flying ability apparently.”[/color] he said

[color=lightblue]“Wait what… oh! Someone made regular whales.”[/color]

[color=RoyalBlue]”Is that what they where? Ashalla apparently made them. Not sure why. So anyway,  how did it go?”[/color] he said

[color=lightblue]“Some good. Some bad.”[/color] she said before recounting the conversation to Luis. In her opinion it had been a useful source of information, but she had bungled her part of the exchange fairly badly in places. [color=lightblue]“I hadn’t really expected to have to explain all this to mortal races yet. The gods are all racing ahead of my expectations and ability to deal with the consequences it seems. Not that I can blame them I suppose, it’s not like I want to make our plans public knowledge lest we alert Katharsos to them.”[/color] 

[color=RoyalBlue]”It’s out there now though right? Or will be soon. This Ihokhe fellow knows and you’re going to to tell the rest of his kind about it.”[/color] he said

[color=lightblue]“Yeah… Time runs short. I do need to tell the rest of them, but after that we’d best be prepared as soon as possible, because it’ll get out to the rest of the gods before long. To Ohannakeloi first if he hasn’t been told already… I’ll need to think of a better way to get my point across before long.”[/color] she said thoughtfully

[color=RoyalBlue]”Do you want help with that? We could pre-prepare what you will say? I think that would probably help you alot.”[/color] Luis suggested tentatively.

 [color=lightblue]“mmmm…. like a speech! Haha yes we can wright one up and then I can present it to the world!”[/color] Azura said elatedly, performing an excited barrel roll in the air as she did

[color=RoyalBlue]”Then why don't we slow down our trip and think one up. I’m more than happy to help there”[/color] 

And so that was exactly what they did. The pair spend some time bouncing ideas off each other, writing and rewriting the explanation of soul crystals and the nature of death. Things where going smoothly till they came across K’nell’s magpies during their trip. Their story both shocked Azura and agitated her greatly. Fortunately retelling the tale to Luis forced her to reflect on the tale rather than storm of blindly into the night to find Li’kalla’s lost souls, storm off to confront K’nell about the truth of his story or enter a rage and go to try and stab Vakk.

[color=RoyalBlue]”Well that’s messed up”[/color] Luis responded matter of factly [color=RoyalBlue]”So what are you going to do?”[/color]     

Rather than dwell on the regret of having left Li’kalla alone to be molested by evil tentacles Azura focused on what she could do right now. [color=lightblue]“I’ll call her”[/color] she told Luis

With that Azura reached out with her mind and tried to contact Li’kalla. What she got in response  was silence that lingered ominously until a feeling of rage, hatred and hunger lunged out of the silence at her mind. Azura reeled in shock and slammed the connection shut before the feelings of the dragon overwhelmed her.

[color=lightblue]“Ok. Something is very wrong. I got nothing but rage. She was such a sweet girl, I have no idea where that might have come from.”[/color] she told Luis after taking a few moments to recover.

[color=RoyalBlue]”So this K’nell’s probably telling the truth. Or some of it at least?”[/color]   

[color=lightblue]“Seems so and we have just the tools for the job of finding these fragments of her soul if they exist and have somehow resisted the pull of the vortex. If you don’t mind, I’ll need to borrow some of your Alma”[/color] she said as she landed on one of Bruna’s temples.

Some of the Alma Luis was carrying to come out of the structures littering his armored back and meet her at his behest. The bird gathered around her as she picked at their minds, adapting their ability to detect intelligent souls in general to the task of finding a specific intelligent soul. As she got into the zen of editing the gems to find Li’kalla, the same zen that had let her miss the goddess's initial cries for help, she modified some of the others at the behest of the memory lock in her mind without her conscious mind being recognising that that was what she was doing. Since she had arrived in the Architect's universe from the Void the lock and her had formed a working relationship as they got used to begin alive again. It plucked information from the depths of her memory, scrubbed clean of any context and then presented her with knowledge she had used to make sense of the world without having experiences to base her understanding on. She did her best to ignore its existence, as she was supposed to, while still accepting its knowledge which is what had let it create its own little soul seeker without her noticing. 

Once she was done most of the birds scattered to the winds to begin scanning Galbar for signs of the goddess’s shattered soul. The lock modified ones returned to Luis unnoticed. They would need to wait, for their target was to be found high above and was unreachable by mortal means.

[color=lightblue]“If K’nell is telling the truth then those will tell us soon enough. For now let’s keep going. Time grows short.”[/color]

[color=RoyalBlue]”Alright then… if its short why don’t we take a leaf out of K’nells book. Spread this speech through the Alma. There might be other mortals by now right?”[/color] Luis said, having had time to reflect on their situation while Azura worked on the Alma  

[color=lightblue]“hmmm. That’s a good idea. But let’s see how it lands first?”[/color] she suggested. It wouldn't do to have their speech sent out only for its first retelling to be a flop.

[color=RoyalBlue]”Onwards to Ohannakeloi then?”[/color]

[color=lightblue]“Onwards”[/color]

[hider=summary]
Azura talks to Luis about her conversation with the mortal Ihokhe and concludes that it did not go as well as she had hoped.
The two resolve that she should pre prepare a speech to give regarding death and soul crystallization
While discussing this they encounter K’nell’s magpies and learn of the fate of Li’kalla
Azura attempts to check on Li mentally, but receives only the angry, hungry thoughts of the dragon in response.
Azura modifies a number of Alma to seek out Li’s soul. One of these is also modified by the mental block imprisoning her old memories to find a currently inaccessible soul.
The two continue on their journey to go meet Ohannakeloi and his Ihokhetlani while the Alma scatter to the winds to atempt to locate the fragments of Li’kalla’s soul.
[/hider]  

[hider=might summary]
Start: 3 fp, 0 mp
0 mp soul crystal mutation. Modified some Alma’s ability to find sentient souls to instead make them seek out specific souls. Li’kalla’s and an unknown soul realted to Azura’s mental block.
End: 3 fp, 0 mp
Portfolio progress:
Tonnikala (7/10) 
Birds (6/10
[/hider]