(Written on the back of the as previous not as the group waited for Braz to ask the Gods for advice.)
It seems I was wrong, Kyrah didn’t know Estor. She just… hates what he stood for. His legacy, I suppose. I wonder if she views me the same way? Part of the great, flawed Dragonlords… relics of a worse time…
At least she hasn’t spat on me.
In the end, I suppose I was just projecting my feelings onto her. Hoping for someone to share my unease with.
Though, if I was hoping for that, I think I got my wish: this boat is awful. Covered in blood, with a stale dread in the air that seems to have set everyone on edge.
Braz is divining what to do next. The rest of us have little to do but wait. Oh, I wish could leave… but all I can do is sit here with my thoughts. And they aren’t good: though they also aren’t quite what I imagined they would be. My worries are less of Estor and more of… Xan.
I didn’t recognise the crest on her Dragonlord coin before… I don’t think they had been created when I was, ah, young. But we found some other coins on this boat and Helikaon knew the other crests on them… and using a process of elimination, it leaves only one option:
I think Xan is an Arkelander.
That isn’t a problem. Not in and of itself. But it is a problem is that, looking back, I think she knew and she didn’t tell us. She was adamant she didn’t want to go to the Hall of Heroes. And she practically ran from asking Versi for more information about her heritage. I had thought she was just being polite… but now I understand why she seemed so panicked.
So, from what she has told us, Acastus - who is related to her - has sent her with us on this mission to bring back the Ultros. But that doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense on its own: why would her helping us with this task act as ‘payment’ for his help in locating her father? He isn’t getting the Ultros if we manage to secure it…
Unless they plan to leverage their ancestry to claim that the Ultros belongs to them. Using her being in the group that brought it back to strengthen that claim…
Or - and this is perhaps worse - what if he has sent her to stop us, not help us? Acastus is keen to see us fall… he said as much in the Arena after striking Hippofilius down…
There are other options, of course. But because she has decided to hide this from us, I can’t help but fear the worst. Where do her allegiances really lie?
I… cannot ask her about it now. Helikaon says he senses the presence of many beings we cannot see; one of whom is extremely powerful. Making the logical leap and assuming that it is Estor, and that he can hear and see everything we are doing, to out her as an Arkelander on this boat could be dangerous.
Though, at this point, I am not quite certain for whom.