Chapter Text
X’whis is an Archon. His knowledge is proven and even those few who could undebatably match him in Thavnair said he knew his subject best. Yet some petty Forum member had insisted on bickering with him on if dynamis could have any effects on a ‘reasonable’ scale. And that if it couldn’t, and if it was as unpredictable as claimed, that studying it was at best useless to the Star. Or actively harmful at worst. X’whis should never have earned the prestigious Archon Mark for such a thing…. Nonsense, but frustrating even so.
Motivated by spite, X’whis sets out to experiment. A matter of thresholds. Drain himself of as much aether as he could without risking life or function, and find a location of average aether. Low population but not barren.
A particularly unwelcome feeling corner of the Twelveswood would do.
But what to achieve? Restoration of his aether? Too simple, too easily dismissed. Perhaps… just something unexpected and good? Does nothing for dynamis being unpredictable- but it was unpredictable to a degree. Still, any experiment required some goal.
Eventually, he settled on willing himself to find someone who needed his aid.
Preparation was dangerous, but done alone. This was primarily for his own curiosity- endangering himself for that would be typical of about any Sharlayan trained scholar. It’s almost funny, despite knowing how little his companions would appreciate this stunt.
It takes a few minutes, sitting drained out in the woods before anything happens. His ears twitch as he hears… something. It’s soft, like breathing.
X’whis feels the need to investigate- though even if he didn’t, his experiment requires it.
For how quiet the sound is, it feels as though he won’t have to go far. Alas, for the exhausted miqo’te man, this is not the case. It takes a long while to locate the source.
The noise becomes clearer only when he actually closes in on it. Whimpering disrupting what he had been hearing before. If it was even the same noise as before…. He isn’t so sure.
The change led him to a tree with a large hollow. It had something stuffed into it.
Gentle as he could be in his shaky state, X’whis pulled the fabric free- and in turn what was wrapped up within it.
A baby.
A tiny hyur runt without much fight left.
Truthfully, his experiment goes forgotten at this point. He has little to offer, in this condition in particular- still he tries. Pulling off his travelling cloak and replacing the thin, damp excuse of a blanket with it. Holding the little one tight to his chest as he starts the long trek back to civilization.
The nearest small village is like most of its like in the Black Shroud. Suspicious but not unkind. He is able to get healing and a bit of food. The baby is not. Some bullshit about the Elementals, as was also typical, he recalls.
But spiriting away a baby without trying to find its mother seems of poor integrity. So he goes to Gridania and petitions Kan-E Senna for aid.
She listens, of course. It’s a small matter against the grand scheme of running a city-state, but he is also the Warrior of Light. Connections.
While the Wood Wailers and such do their work, X’whis stuck around The Roost. Working through how to care for a baby so young as a man. Logically, turning the little girl over to someone else would be wise. He doesn’t want to however. Instead, he eagerly takes all the help that he can that allows him to keep the baby.
This meant employing wet nurses- a plan easier considered than implemented. He was no longer one among a tribe. He was well-renowned, but that in no way made him like as a neighbor to any Gridanian. And there are no mothers amongst his immediate acquaintances and companions.
But those are immediate and he has lots of acquaintances. Someone had to know someone else who would be willing to come to his aid. Or at least the aid of a baby.
The look he gets from Miounne after asking is a bit embarrassing- but a retired adventurer sounds more likely to him than Y’mhitra knowing a researcher nearby who could also help.
The woman he gets directed to is a highlander hyur named Finna, and her husband. After opening with saying that Miounne had sent him their way, then explaining second, he is let in. They make for exciting conversation, and their little son is also cute.
Eventually he’s called back to the Lotus Stand.
“X’whis Tia- I hear you have been very nurturing to your charge. I hope it has not been too taxing.”
He shook his head. “The opposite- within reason.”
“That is a relief. We have some answers to your concerns.” Her expression turned serious and grim. “We did locate the woman whom we believe is related to the babe.”
X’whis tilted his head, waiting for more.
“She had passed by the time we located her. She has been laid to rest.”
“What happened? If we know.”
“She was attacked, it seemed. We are investigating who was responsible.”
“I see.”
“As for the babe, I am certain we can find a family whom would care for her err long what with word of your involvement.”
The miqo’te shook his head to the padjal leader. “No. No, that won’t be necessary.”
She smiled knowingly. “I thought that is what you would say. Do not forget to take help, my friend. What will you do once you’ve left Gridania?”
“Same as here…. And I suspect that someone in Sharlayan would be interested in finding a solution better suited to me.” If only for the discovery of it all. Perhaps one already existed- better than an army of wet nurses across the Star would be anyway.
“...Tell me, have you a name for her?”
“...Alheset. X’alheset.”