#meanwhile haninan is Weeping bc how could something so horrible happen so such a nice child and also adopting them on sight

[captusmomentum]

Because Fey reminded me about the One True Dad I was taken over by the unholy compulsion to write more Ancient!Inan, namely, when Haninan and Inanallas met which atm I’m placing vaguely around the time Inan was starting to be considered mature enough to be an adult but still not as aware of how Elvhen’an works or as socially anxious. So like, basically the pre-dothraki winter collection era. It’s pretty rough and dirty but Eh, whatever.

Haninan is @feynites‘s 

Mythal was in Arlathan for some meeting or something with her husband, they weren’t really sure on the details, and so all of Mythal’s circle was with her here too. This included Inanallas, who was decidedly not one of her trusted servants but as Mythal herself had put it, her ward.

Whatever.

There was some benefits to having to be in Arlathan though, like how it was much easier and much more fun to sneak out and explore. Arlathan is huge and sprawling, full of people from all the different factions and all levels of society. Inanallas always enjoys darting through the city hunting for interesting little bits of it’s history or places that haven’t been completely bowled over to make room for things that conform to the dumb rules the elves have for how things should look.

They like to watch how the people interact too, in Mythal’s palaces it’s always sort of one way because they’re all talking to each other and they’re all supposed to act Mythal-y or something like that. But here there’s Elgar’nans talking to Falon’Dins and Sylaises bartering with Ghilanan’nians and Andruils bellowing at Junes. It’s interesting, to see how people are themselves but take on some affectation of their Person, like the lines on their face don’t just act as some kind of signifier but infuse some of that person into them. It makes them ponder on their own line tree and if it’s made them a bit more like Mythal. Maybe it has, since they’re much more polite now with them on, but maybe that was just growing up and learning how elves worked.

They understand from listening to people after the fact that their lines were a subject of debate at the time. Not if they should get them or not, but if they should get them when people normally got them, or if they should get them later on account of how they were a “special case”. Mythal had eventually decided that because they were a “special case” they needed to get them on time because the lines meant more than just who’s house you lived at. So they’d gotten the line tree at 25, but they’d still been considered a child until they were about 50, because they were a “special case”.

And they absolutely knew the proper word was vallaslin but that was just a fancy word for “shit people got permanently painted on their face” and it was more fun to speak literally.

On this venture they aim to get a look at June’s tower, they heard it’s made of constantly moving pieces which sounds very interesting. It takes them the better part of the day to navigate all the eluvians and streets they’d never used before but it’s not as bad as they reckon it would have been for some other people since they can simply shift through the all the bits of dreaming, magic, people and somethings, find one that feels like a June person feels and trace that back. It’s apparently a rare gift which makes them feel bad for everyone else who tries to navigate the impossible maze of Arlathan’s streets.

June’s tower is not as interesting as they had imagined which is disappointing, really it’s design just seems more annoying to deal with than anything else. They had considered sneaking in to investigate on the way here but now that just seemed like more hassle then it’s worth so they opt to explore the area around it instead.

Overall there’s not many interesting places (but the lower districts are all dull and grey so that’s not a shock) and they end up seeing more interesting interactions than anything else. Eventually they pass a little path between buildings to an eluvian. They backpedal and creep over to investigate.

It looked like it wasn’t a very popular one as it had a certain air of disuse around it. They’d learned a bit about how eluvians worked recently but not as much as they’d’ve liked. They examined it thoughtfully. Sometimes the best way to learn about something was to poke at it and see if you couldn’t pick it apart a little and this eluvian was generally unused, it wouldn’t be that much of a bother for anyone if they tinkered with it a bit.

They start to get to work trying to figure out how exactly to start taking the thing apart. It’s a tricky thing to do with magic stuff, it can be hard to find a good place to start weedling in and you can end up just mangling the whole thing or blowing yourself up. The eluvian is particularly frustrating on this front the magic that makes it is as smooth as the glass of the mirror so there’s no obvious points and they’re certain that pressure is a no go, the whole thing would just shatter like glass.

Inanallas huffs and settles in to try a more esoteric method. They repeat the process that had gotten them to June’s Tower only now from a more open meditative state of mind, letting themselves see more of the blurring place between here and the dreaming. They try again, looking for the songs that sing the feelings and concepts that form the eluvian. This meets with much more success and they can see/feel the songs that make it More, even see what it’s sister sees, a flash of grass and sky and tree. They also hear the hum of the stones around them, the people inside them— see pieces that jangle in them, feel the paths of spirits as they drift on the wind.

They also notice someone very, very old leaning on a wall at the opening of the little path. They hear a tune of pictures, of wide free space, of dragons, children, hands making things, picking them apart. They retract and close down again to something more manageable, they prefer not too look too much into people. It’s rude, probably. Even if they can’t seem to tell they’ve done it most of the time.

They turn to look at him just as he begins to clap, grinning widy. His skin and hair are dark and the hair is all bound in all kinds of braids which all make her think of her family in Dirthamen’s Lands and she’s filled with an instant fondness for whoever they are. They also note his face has no lines, that’s very lucky for him.

“That was very impressive da’len! I hope you don’t mind that I watched, I was curious.”

They shake their head. “No I don’t mind, I’m Inanallas.”

He smiles more, if that was possible. “I’m Haninan, it’s a pleasure to meet such a talented child as you.”

They wave away his comment as he walks over to stand next to them. Normally they’d get a bit annoyed at being called a child but they can tell that at least 2/3rds of the empire’s population could be considered young at best compared to him so they don’t mind it for once.

“So!” he claps his hands together. “Trying to see how eluvians tick huh? Did you figure it out? Did you see anything interesting?”

He closes one eye in a cheesy wink to emphasize the joke and she can’t help but giggle. He’s very silly. He has many scars on his hands, another thing to like about him.

Their face scrunches. “I don’t think I figured it out, but I did learn more then I knew before.”

“Ah! Well, at least you got something! I wonder, would you like me to show you how they work?”

Their eyes light up excitedly. “Yes! Can you really?”

He laughs. “I wouldn’t offer if it was beyond me da’len.”

Watching Haninan in action is almost more interesting than the lesson, and it is a lesson since he doesn’t just pick it all apart but narrates and explains every step and spell as he goes about striping it down and then does the same as he puts it all back together again good as new.

“I can’t say I’m shocked you’re so good at things since you’ve had so much time to work on them.”

He grins. “Yes, and I am me.”

Their face scrunches a little again, confused. “What’s so special about you?”

He bursts into laughter, nearly doubling over.

“Nothing! Nothing! I’m just an old man.”

“Is this one of those things that everyone says is important but doesn’t seem to have to do with anything?”

“Hm. An interesting way to put it, and yes I think could consider it something like that. I’m June’s father and technically, his prisoner, trapped forever in his shifting tower.” He winks again.

They give him a pitying look. “I’m sorry to hear that, it’s not nice for a son to put his papae in jail.”

“I know, it’s very cruel, but at least it’s not a very good one.”

“Yes…” They say as they put a hand on his arm comfortingly. “I’m sorry to say but I don’t think he inherited your gift, it’s a very dull tower.”

He pats her hand gently, his hand is very big and warm on hers.

“I know, I know.”

There is a comfortableness between them, she hasn’t felt with any of the other elves so far— probably because he’s not as stuffy, and he seems to remember what it was like to live outside of big cities, which she thinks others like Mythal seem to have forgotten if they ever knew it. Also he’s funny.

He shifts and places an arm around her shoulders.

“I have a good idea, How about we go somewhere nice, eat some good food and see what other things I can help you pick apart huh?”

They beam up at him and nod.

The place they go is a nice little tavern in a lower district owned by a nice lady who makes very tasty food.

Haninan and the lady seem to be friends which is nice. He ordered them both a bowl of a stew and bread which he does not eat with nearly much gusto as they do. He does however bring up their childhood.

“I had heard that Dirthamen had found a child in the wilds not too long ago, I hadn’t thought I’d get a chance to meet them though.”

“What gave me away? My name or something else?”

He smiles. “Something else. I know the look and there’s no one else around you age it could be. So, how are you liking civilization? It’s very civilized isn’t it?”

Inan thinks very seriously, chewing on a piece of meat as she contemplates it.

“Roofs and beds are nice, and not worrying about food… but elves are very odd and I think maybe a little slow…”

He laughs. “Ah, I know exactly what you mean.”

They talk and he tells them about his own youth from before the empire (which frankly sounds a lot nicer) and shows them some tricky little things that he can do to entertain them. Haninan likes puzzles while Inan… not so much, puzzles are frustrating and get in the way of finding more interesting things they think, but they both like learning and exploring and snooping. Inan manages to recreate one of his little tricks and Haninan applauds them, some other people in the tavern even join him, though maybe without knowing why they were clapping.

Eventually they both need head back and so they agree on when to meet again, he vows to comeback with a puzzle and something interesting inside it for them and Inanallas decides that maybe they don’t like him so much.