Devi would find Camus resting in the shade of the great wall. He had moved away from the part that he had been working on to travel further along towards where the Arynn Dresmondi with earth dyrs were busily raising the great structure up from the ground itself. His son, Archer, was among them. Esme had gone to seek him out, make sure that he was doing alright.

The past five years working on the wall were steadily beginning to take their toll on the Dresmondi. It wasn't that they were being worked as slaves. Far from it and having witnessed first hand what an invasion could potentially do to them, the prospect of having a sizeable amount of stone, iron and magic between them and the Coheed hordes and red haired demons who came with them was a decidedly appealing one. It was simply that they would have rather had this task over and done with so that they could get back to more Dresmondi things. Their people had been builders once but that had been in their distant past and for generations it had been the open road and the freedom that offered which had appealed to them.

They adapted Camus felt but adaption didn't necessarily mean better.

Whilst he might have been a senator, in his mind that didn't exclude him from manual labor. So he came down here and helped when it came to melting the great lumps of iron ore that would then be poured down over the wall, providing it with a thick and heavy coat of solid steel. It would make for a formidable structure and that was without all the enchantments he saw getting thrown around the place.

Resting against his dyr, the man was steadily beginning to rouse himself when a strange woman approached him. After five years, Camus was gradually beginning to get a feeling for Arynnites. He thought he might possibly have seen this one around before but rather wouldn't have risked guessing just where. Instead, as she approached, he just dipped his head "Yes, M'am, that's me and this is Mercy. Is there something I can help you with?" He figured she must have wanted to speak with him for his title of senator rather than wanting to ask for an interview for "Peg leg magazine".

Industry was an unfamiliar sight to any Elyusian. The banalities of their existence were tended and seen to by a rarely seen force of silent, efficient slaves. To witness such…work being done here, the toil of man and beast on display, melding mettle with magic to perform such a feat…well. It was a thing to behold, to say the least.

Devi was almost reluctant to tear her gaze from the wall and the work being done there, but the Dresmondi senator proved fascinating enough in his own right. Approaching the man they called Camus, her gaze flicked from the Dresmondi to sheer size of the creature that supported him. Mercy, he called the dyr. Not an animal, Devi knew, but the physical manifestation of an actual soul. For someone who had spent decades researching the various applications of all manner of souls, it was an almost stupefying wonder to behold.

After another moment of transparent awe, her attention returned to the Dresmondi she sought. “A pleasure,” she assured the senator, taking another step toward the pair, “to meet you both.” Though there was nothing particularly nervous about her demeanor, Devi left a wide berth between where she stopped and the pair she sought. The distance required that she raise her voice more than usual, but it seemed prudent, given the circumstances. And Devi Talik was nothing if not prudent.

“I’m a researcher with the university, and I’ve been told you speak for your people here.” The remark ended on the note of a question.

Upon approaching, Mercy would lower her head, allowing Camus to hop off of her good tusk which she so often used to carry him around. The man was relatively used to dealing with Arynnites, more so than some of his countrymen who still found them to be a funny bunch who should only be interacted with when both strictly necessary and unavoidable.


Camus would raise his eyebrows at the woman's statement. It wasn't offense, more perplexity at her statement. 

Researcher and University were two words which Camus understood but only because they had been explained to him. Neither were concepts that would have meant much to traditional Dresmondi and didn't exactly fit into their lives on a daily basis. He took it to mean somebody who read a lot, studied things and wrote about them then chatted about what they had written to other people who read a lot, studied things and wrote about them as well. He failed to see the point of it but to each their own. Arynnites seemed to be terribly fond of that sort of thing.

"Well you're certainly welcome to ask around." Camus still couldn't quite comprehend what would have brought her to the wall. Her explanation both was and wasn't one and certainly did little to clue him him in exactly what she was expecting from his people. If she wasn't careful, he knew that a few of those here had it in them to give her short shrift. "What is it that you wanted to know or talk about Mrs...?" The man drew out the last word, hoping to remind her that he still didn't have a name to put to the woman's face.

“Talik.” Devi supplied her name on a hurried breath, not realizing she had omitted until he asked. “Devi, if you prefer.”

Talik was such an infamous name in Arynn Frey it didn’t occur to her that the Dresmondi might not know which was her given name and which was the surname. Neither did it occur to her that a Dresmondi might not know what to do with a pair of names. She knew, on some academic level, that Dresmondi had no use for such familial nomenclatures, but that information was not of any real relevance to her chosen line of study and, therefore, had been consumed and summarily abandoned some years ago.

Standing before them now, she could not help but regret not delving deeper into the existing body of work on the Dresmondi people. She was still at a complete an utter loss for words at the mere sight of his dyr. The size of the creature. Her shape. The sheer magnificence of a soul incarnate.

It required a conscious effort to drag her attention from the dyr to the man that had slid from the creature’s tusk, and another moment to recall what it was he had asked of her. “And nothing too invasive,” she finally assured him. “I’d like to explore the possibility of amplifying your work here. On the wall,” she hastened to explain.

“But, truth be told, I’d settle for really anything at all I can learn about the connection you share with your…dyrs.” The word felt odd in her mouth. She’d read it countless times since the wave of Dresmondi refugees crossed their border some years ago, but this was the first time she’d ever had cause to actually say the word out loud.

As it turned out, any concerns that Devi might have had about using her surname were pointless. Camus knew very little about the family and wasn't particularly inclined to taint others merely by association. Whatever had happened with her family had occurred before the Dresmondi had been displaced and was, as a result, little more than water under the bridge to the man. "A pleasure to meet you Devi." Like many of his people who were devoid of surnames and had never found much use for them, he found first names to be far easier to wrap his head around. They seemed a good deal less pompous and you didn't have to add anything before it to avoid being rude.

"Amplifying our work?" Camus blinked a couple of times, raising his gaze towards the massive structure that they had been building. "You mean you want it bigger? The folks up on top won't be able to breathe." He was joking in part, but in truth the man saw little point in making the construction any larger than it already was. Nobody could realistically climb it. Even siege engines and ladders would have to be rather massive to stand any chance of scaling the walls. Short of making a dome, they were never going to be able to stop anyone from flying in. That was what the enchantments were for as he understood things.

"You're free to ask as many questions as you want about our dyr. We'll answer as best as we can but I'm afraid even we don't now all of the secrets about them." Whether it had ever been known and had been lost at some point or if it had always been a mystery Camus honestly couldn't have said.

For a Talik born into the tedium of an aristocratic existence, Devi had never developed a flair for platitudes or niceties. Even now, small talk eluded her and, for an awkward moment, she did her best to smile back at the Dresmondi and his massive shadow. By the time it occurred to her that she should quite possibly say something in return, something to the effect of ‘the pleasure is mine’ or some other such nonsense, the moment had mercifully passed.

“Not at all.” A mild grin bent her usually pressed lips in a rare smile. “I want to explore opportunities to amplify the magic of your dyrs. To make your work go faster,” she clarified, not entirely certain how elementary she should be. The man was a senator, but—looking at the dirt and sweat and grime of industry wrapped around the wall—it occurred to her for the first time that it was entirely possible half these people had never seen the inside of a book, let alone a library.

The offer to ask her questions freely was a gracious one, and not at all lost on Devi. Her eyes flickered to life, alighting with the veritable array of questions already rushing to her tongue. She had heard the Dresmondi carried with them questions of their own where their dyrs were concerned. That, too, was a curiosity, a rock she was already itching to overturn. But Devi Talik was nothing if not methodical. One curiosity at a time.

Camus was growing gradually more curious of the strange young (well, he called her "young" because she appeared younger than him but he'd learned over the past few years that didn't actually mean anything in Arynn Frey) woman. For the most part, many of the Arynnites preferred to keep their distance from the Dresmondi. There was a definite difference between their cultures which, he doubted would ever fully be mended until the older generations of Dresmondi died off and left only those who had grown up here. A sobering thought. For the time being he was simply a mixture of content and curious to be dealing with one of the exceptions.

So long as it stayed at some questions and suggestions, he didn't have any objections.

"You mean with enchantments?" Camus raised an eyebrow. He knew some of what their magic could do. Whilst it wasn't as immediate as a dyr's command of its element, their enchantments were infinitely more versatile. "I don't think that's ever been tried." The blacksmith wasn't much of a scientist, mad or not. The idea of mixing two such different magics together was one that it would take him some convincing.

"Our biggest problem Mrs. Devi is that we get tired." It seemed almost insultingly simple but it was the truth. "Work like this is a strain on us and especially our dyr." He would leave it at that, waiting to hear what she might have to possibly offer him as a solution to that particular problem.

It was the prospect of that which had never been done before that appealed to her, that she craved. Her mother had left her mark on this world, even Indira, for all the pain she had wrought, would be remembered. In the marble-lined halls of Arynnite society, ‘Talik’ was still a name that proceeded her own. Devi was not the Talik history would remember. She had always been an afterthought, a leftover.

This was her opportunity to alter that legacy.

“With enchantments,” Devi confirmed. There was a light already flickering to life behind her eyes. “Something to augment or magnify the magic your dyrs command. It wouldn’t be without precedent,” she rushed to explain, slipping into the cadence of a practiced lecturer. “We already have enchantments designed to enhance or replicate an existing design. It would be the innate quality of your dyr’s magic that would require some perusal, but I suspect it might be possible.”

Devi was aware of the fact that she was getting ahead of herself, but standing here, under the base of the greatest structure Arynn Frey had ever built, surrounded by physical manifestations of actual souls…it was intoxicating, to say the least. It was the Dresmondi that ultimately roused her from her already-rampant calculations to return her to the present.

“Fatigue is a natural reaction.” It was the scientist in her who spoke now, a clipped, matter-of-fact observation that was undoubtedly responsible for her reputation of being cold and aloof. “If we dampen that, we risk your dyr’s life. It would be better to enhance his—her?—” Devi turned a curious look upon the massive elephant, wondering for the first time how the Dresmondi referred to their spirits—“capacity instead.”

Camus could only stare at Devi as she spoke. He couldn't help but wonder if she'd checked all of this over with Kimora and the Cabinet. It seemed to him that potentially giving the resident Dresmondi, even just a handful of them, something which could massively enhance the power of their dyrs would be a big step. Whilst some part of him was flattered by the notion that they could be trusted to such an extent and felt that it was likely a step in the right direction - albeit as always one which would serve Arynn Frey first and foremost - he couldn't help but remain cautious in some regards.

"She." Camus glanced fondly towards the massive elephant that stood next to him. "Most of us have dyrs of the opposing gender." He hoped that would help her in the future. It was usually a pretty safe bet when speaking to a Dresmondi to make that assumption, of course there was always the occasional exception to the established way. 

"If you could find some way of enhancing their powers so as to make them more powerful, that would definitely allow us to move faster." If they could shave a few months off of the completion, that alone would please the queen. The man paused for a moment, glancing towards Mercy thoughtfully. "Or give them more of a magic pool to draw on, the physical stuff we can definitely handle."

A thought occurred to him as he pondered the matter. It wasn't a subject that he had ever really given much thought, nor that anyone in Dresmond had ever really had to as far as he was aware. "Of course, our dyrs have different elements. You would know but any enchantments you made might have to take that into account."

“She.” Devi looked once more to the ponderous dyr, committing that particularly fascinating revelation regarding their generally opposing sex to mind for later consideration. If she was lucky, it would be not be the last such discovery. A physical soul. It begged one question after another, but Devi Talik was nothing if not patient.

There were still a great many details that would have to be sorted for this arrangement to work, not the least of which would be a request for royal dispensation. That request begged a great many details yet, though. Her audience with the Queen, if in fact her request made it that far, would be the first formal appearance of a Talik since—

Well. Since.

Devi had no intentions of leaving such a momentous occasion to chance. She had to be certain there was at least a possibility of success, that she was not laying at Kimora Llewellyn’s feet a fool’s gambit in a quest for reconciliation. In short, she needed to know more.

“It might not even be possible,” Devi admitted, inhaling a shallow breath before she risked a step nearer, eyes still shifting wondrously between Camus and his dyr. “But if you’re willing to entertain my curiosity, I should certainly like to try. Do you mind if I ask—how it is you communicate with one another? Do you actually hear her thoughts? Or are they simply enmeshed with your own?”

She had read a bit on the subject already, but there was nothing conclusive on the matter.

It must have been a lonely life for those without dyrs. It wasn't the first time that Camus had thought that much. He wasn't sure how he would have made it as far as he had without Mercy standing by his side. They coped. They must have but to not have that voice to comfort them? He pitied the future generations of Dresmondi who, without the medallion would never know the comfort of their souls made flesh to walk through their lives with them.

Camus was curious most certainly as to the possibilities of arynnite magic mixed with their own. "I already trialed some of the Peacemaker's new enchanted gear as part of a demonstration." The senator informed her. "It worked for me just as well as it did the arynnites but then it wasn't mixing with any Dresmondi magic." 

"We hear each other's thoughts within our own minds. I guess..." Camus paused for a moment, he found himself struggling to find the right words. Dresmondi just knew. Everyone worthy of their own name had a Dyr and so they knew exactly what to expect and what it was like. Arynnites weren't so fortunate (as the senator saw things). "We can hold conversations, even disagreements and she certainly isn't afraid of telling me when she thinks that I'm in the wrong." 

"I wouldn't have to if you didn't give me so many reasons to!" The elephant gently chastised him. He smiled before turning back towards Devi. "Maybe if you think of Dyrs as entities in their own rights. They're connected to us but they can think and act for themselves."

“Fascinating.” Simply fascinating. Devi strayed another step nearer to the pair. It was not that she distrusted the Dresmondi. On the contrary, Camus was a senator. Together with his dyr, he was constructing the wall that would protect them for generations to come. Of course, it might have been easy to mistake her caution for mistrust; the fact of the matter, though, was that Camus’s dyr was simply enormous. In all her years, Devi had never seen anything quite like her.

Amusement shone in her eyes as she considered the creature once more, imagining her arguing, debating, speaking. “And it’s impossible for me to hear her?” Devi asked, returning her attention to Camus, though Mercy still lingered in her periphery.

What she wouldn’t give to commune with her own soul. Would it—would he—disagree with her from time to time? Would he voice his disagreements the way the dyr before her did? One question generated another and then another. None were necessarily germane to the research that had brought her here, but looking between the pair, Devi couldn’t help but given voice to at least a small fragment of her growing curiosity.

Mercy gave a glance towards Camus, one which he knew to be bemused if only because he could feel her amusement coming through. "I guess they don't have many elephants in Arynn Frey." The dyr spoke to him. Her partner only smiled in response. He was quite used to people starring at his dyr. Even if the creature hadn't been as... Well, funny looking as she was but her size alone made it a challenge to ignore the massive creature, if only out of fear of being stepped on inadvertently.

"Not as far as I'm aware." Camus answered her next question with a shake of the head, glancing back up towards the massive dyr. "Even we Dresmondi can't hear one another's dyrs, no matter how close we are to one another." Granted, Camus had learned a few little signs and tics which gave away some potential hidden thoughts or motivations, especially where his children's monkeys were concerned.

"Maybe with your enchantments, your people could work something out but..." The man's voice trailed off for a moment as he pondered the notion. "Our bonds with our dyr are quite sacred to us. The idea of someone else being a part of it... I dont know, it seems rather intrusive."