Room 313, Saturday late afternoon

[solo_sword]

Jaina had gone for a run, figured out she didn't actually remember the course she'd done with John because she'd been distracted pretty much the whole time, and created her own. She'd been gone long enough that by the time she got back to the room, she was more than happy to shower and change, and sit down with a datapad for a while like she'd been

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[vkandis_son]

Karal didn't want to bother anyone, but he needed to talk to someone about what he'd found and Jaina was the first person to spring to mind.

He trusted those impulses, half suspected they came from somewhere outside himself, which is why he was knocking tentatively on her door, a roll of notes under one arm.

[solo_sword]

Jaina didn't need to look up into the open doorway to see it was him, but she did anyway. "Hey," she said, putting the datapad down on her bed. "Come on in."

[vkandis_son]

"Thank you," he said with a small smile, and came a few steps into the room. "I don't want to disturb you if you're busy."

[solo_sword]

"Exactly the opposite," she said. "What's up?"

[vkandis_son]

"I find myself in need of someone to talk to about," he ducked his head and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "about what's happening in my world. I was wondering if you would mind?"

[solo_sword]

"Definitely not. You can always talk to me," she said, gesturing towards the desk chair.

[vkandis_son]

With a grateful smile, he sat in the chair, setting his notes down on the desk. "I was reading through the information I brought from Valdemar with me, and I have come to a conclusion that...will not be taken well by the other members of the Alliance."

An extreme understatement, and he rubbed his nose again. "I would very much like another opinion, but there is a great deal of background information necessary for any of it to make sense."

[solo_sword]

"I've had to exposit quite a bit so far this weekend," she assured him, nodding. "I can take it as well as I can dish it out."

[vkandis_son]

And this was why he'd come to Jaina. "You are certain you don't mind?" he asked, the corner of his mouth lifting in a half-smile. "It starts some two hundred years ago."

[solo_sword]

"I'm pretty good at history. Start talking, Karal," she smiled.

[vkandis_son]

He sat up straighter - automatic reflex - and nodded. "All right. Two hundred years ago, the Sun-Priests changed, became inflexible and close-minded, and Karse became insular, hating everything that was not Karsite. Valdemar, which borders Karse, became its bitter enemy, and much evil was done by the Priesthood and by ordinary Karsites to Valdemarans. Hatred and fear were all that existed between the two countries, becoming more entrenched with each generation."

[solo_sword]

"It's scary how much I understand that," Jaina told him seriously. "Not a fun way to live."

[vkandis_son]

"I wish you didn't," he said, searching her face. "As you say, not fun, and I'm sure you can imagine my shock on arriving in Valdemar, reading their histories and discovering it was my people who were the 'bad guys', and that the people we had painted as demons and hellspawn were no such thing."

He folded his hands, head bowed. "But I travel ahead of myself. Vkandis Himself had been abandoned by the Priests, they mouthed the words, but He had no part in their rites and the Priesthood served none but themselves."

[solo_sword]

"Which of course helps no one but themselves, either," Jaina sighed. "So what changed?"

[vkandis_son]

Karal's smile took on the wonder he always felt, remembering that day. "Vkandis Sunlord. When I was twelve years old, He chose to act. The then Son of the Sun stood ready to counterfeit a miracle with magic, and Vkandis Sunlord struck him down, obliterated him with a bolt of lightning." He looked at Jaina as he spoke, wondering if she would believe this.

"He manifested in the world to set Solaris in place as the new, true Son of the Sun, and she overturned the corruption. She set my Master and I to discovering the old ways. As we uncovered generations of lies, I wondered why He waited so long, but I think I understand now."

[solo_sword]

"Wow," she said, having been listening closely. She'd never seen anything like that herself, but it'd be a little hypocritical to not believe that it could happen. "Why do you think He did?"