The Merciful of Imarsi

"I say, we should have blasted the fool off the cliff! You younglings are weak and undecisive!" blasted the old, crooked priest.

"Is that so?" Meriem raised her harmonious eyebrow slightly, and her attending ladies imitated her in perfect unison. Her eye carried cold daggers of irony, and her tongue could be deadly to the fool and the unwary. The priest, of course, was neither, though he was most angry among them, for his precious grand-niece had been among the Daughters of Imarsi bathing in the sacred pool for that most holy of rites, the Coming of Spring commencement. She, along with the other victims of the attack, was now suspended beneath the Tower of Rebirth, her soulpod planted in a carefully tended ceramic pot painted with magic runes. It would take a winter till she could emerge again, beautiful and unscathed, a whole winter of lost memories and shared happiness to her family, and most painfully to her twin.

Meriem, though, didn't believe in the virtues of vengeance. She had watched the priest lob magical attacks and order natural elements onto the powerful Knight-Errant, with no definitive effect. She had observed his attempts to push him to suicide, isolating him onto a high plateau with no protection from the elements and little sustainance. She had considered the possibility that the warrior's continued good health and decisive actions might not only be due to luck and his assertive nature. Imarsi was a vindictive goddess when it suited her, but she worked in complex ways, and Meriem wasn't one to ignore the Signs, should they be shown to the People of Imarsi.

The Lord of the Snowcaps laughed a short, derisive laugh.

"It seems to me Meriem has a point. The man walks over and under the mountain, he treads the plain and rides the avalanche. Like a sword he bled our people, and like a wolf he preyed on our weak. He stands over the clouds, and he rides into hallowed rock. Let us observe. Let us watch. We shall see if the Signs keep coming as the Song of Imarsi foretells. For eons our people have waited. Who knows? Maybe this wolf of steel and fire is the Shining Heart that will light our way back to the world of men."

"As our Lord commands... but I believe you will be sorely disappointed. All of you." said the old man through grated teeth.