Kiraki, a friendly fenki who can keep a secret, sits in private audience with Unar Cho’Sen, otherwise known as Sure Bet, the Bounty Hunter. They sit in the grass upon the cliffs overlooking Hydlaa. The distant rabble and voices of Kada El tavern drift up from below.Kiraki: One has a good view from here.
Unar: True.
(some silence)Kiraki: I brought you here because i am curious about you.
Unar: I am listening.
Kiraki: You never speak much in public but your eyes show you have much more to tell.
Unar: What do you wish to know?
Kiraki: Mmh.. everything if you must know, but perhaps beginning with more about your past?
Unar: Raised in Dsar Sarraghi, Ojaveda. Clan Cho'Sen are Stone Masons. More specifically, high masons.. crafters of the seeing stones. Instruments of great complexity and precision, used to measure and read the crystal stars and thus, the fates. I began in this, the art of my forbearers.
Kiraki: I have seen those instruments.
Unar: Indeed.
Kiraki: You have progressed much in this practice?
Unar: My mother put much hope in me for the craft. I was dedicated. But in time, tragedy changed my course. Fate had other plans.
Connecticaine (shout heard from below): Come one Come all to the tavern of Hydlaa. We have drinks and potions for sale. Come quick!
Kiraki: What kind of tragedy?
(some silence)Kiraki: You have a lovely cat.
Unar: I am sure you have already won his heart with all your petting.
(some silence)Unar: Clan Cho'Sen were not the only seers in Ojaveda. One clan in particular, known as the Shining.. they were a terrible cult, using any means, not only to read the fates but alter them, for their own ends. They were all Klyros. We wanted no part with them. We would not even scry their fates.. for they would sense it.
(Connecticaine’s shouts continue below)Unar: Now, one day, there was a great commotion amongst the Elders of Cho'Sen. They announced they had read a message in the stars.. but would not tell us what. They only said a gift was coming.
Kiraki: A gift?
Unar: When the day came, with guards and great excitement, the Elders gathered in a certain place in the hills. And there fell a shard from above. We called it the fallen star. The Elders called it, the Final Instrument.
Kiraki: What happened with its falling?
Unar: It was not a great stone. Merely a fleck.
Kiraki: Mmh i see..
Unar: But, in time, the Elders affixed the gem to the great seeing stoneworks, and learned to scry much deeper. Not only could they read the fates of individuals soon to pass, but of kingdoms.. destinies far distant of whole races. We treated the craft with the same respect we always had. The Elders discerning who is worthy to know, and of what. Never interfering.
(some silence)Unar: But the Shining, too, learned of the stone. One night.. at a family gathering on Elder Cho'Sen's rooftop.. we were not even plying our craft.. and they fell upon us. Swooped from above.. the Shining.. they stopped at nothing demanding the fallen star.. killing.. even.. ..even cubs.
(considerable silence due to emotional state of the interviewee)Unar: Those who escaped told of what happened.. there was a gathering of the Elders. In time, they summoned.. me. They said the stars had shown clearly I was to be the one.. to bear the fallen star into hiding. Wearing it around my neck, I covered myself in this shawl, and fled into Hydlaa.. no one knowing who I was.
Kiraki: That must have been quite a burden..
Unar: You must understand.. if the Shining got the gem... they would have been able to manipulate the fates of armies.. Octarchs.. perhaps all of Yliakum would be under their thrall. I had to learn how to guard the gem.. and protect myself. But always, invisibility, and silence, were my greatest wardens.
(some silence)Unar: In time though, the Shining did begin to track me down. I could take no risks.. I never knew which klyros they could be. They sent spies in many guilds, came in many guises.. rarely attacking openly. And never could I explain my actions when it came to killing them. Friends were difficult to find.. I could trust very few.
(some silence)Unar: But that is in the past.
Since then I have restored the gem to Cho'Sen, and the Shining have been dealt with. Though as you have seen.. the stigma still exists.
Kiraki: Such things die hard.. That is quite a past though, you had great skills to survive it.
Unar: The skills I learned over time, barely keeping ahead of the more numerous and stronger klyros the Shining sent at me as they tracked me down.
Kiraki: After that was done, what lead you to this life you are leading now?
Unar: Over time the art of death became my greatest skill, surpassing even my high mason learnings. After I went back, helped my family learn to fight, and destroy the Shining, I didn't feel right living at home anymore, or in the stonework craft.
(some silence)Unar: On the eve of my fifth birthday, I lay awake all night with the stars outside my window. Since that night I have never slept.
Kiraki: Never slept?
Unar: In sixteen years. Fate makes the paths of some clear. I was made for this one.
Kiraki: How do even function under such extremes!?
Unar (chuckling): I could ask the same thing to a master smith at the furnace. This is my craft.
Kiraki (chuckling): Even the smith takes a break now and then.
Unar: Ah.. not sleeping?
Unar: I have learned to find rest in many things.
Kiraki: Such as?
Unar: Peaceful company of a friend. Meditation. Safe Haven. The stars when all others sleep.
Kiraki: Death is a strange skill dear, do you.. enjoy it?
Unar: Of course not! I do not enjoy killing.
Kiraki: Then you are better off than some.
Unar: But.. it has lead to
many injustices being restored.. and for this I am thankful.
Kiraki: But where has that path lead you currently?
Unar: My skill at it's pinnacle. I am in the depth of the world of the hunters. Never have I felt more in tune with my destiny.
Kiraki: You are happy?
Unar: Happiness comes and goes.. yet it is not my goal.
Kiraki: What is your goal?
Riven (shout heard from below): COME ONE COME ALL TO YE TAVERN AND BY YOUR SELF A DRINK.
Unar: To be the sword, uncompromising, bearing the vengeance of all.
Kiraki: Of all? That is a big goal, dear
Unar (chuckling): Well.. not everyone at once. But it's every bounty hunter's goal to do this, with honor.
Kiraki: Mmh.. why do you want to achieve this goal?
Unar: Who would use a sword which is unreliable? It must not question it's wielder, not judge it's use. Yet one hopes it will be used for justice. If not, the one responsible for it's misuse always pays in the end.
Kiraki: Your wish is to be but an object of power?
Unar: In a sense. A great Octarch of old once called our trade the “great equalizer”. I don't fight and live for the tria, as some accuse. The sword just needs maintenance! The prices are not exorbitant; they're in the reach of all.
(some silence)Unar: How many would-be criminals or offenders think twice before attacking weak parties, knowing our trade exists? How many more when our trade is done well? It is true we do not choose who hires us, but it would destroy the trade if we wanted to get choosey. After all, the stereotype of rich slavers hiring us to kill the innocent is a rare exception. Keep out of trouble, and you wont have anything to worry about from us.
(some silence)Kiraki: I hear “us” a lot more than “I”. Are you so much part of an entity you have no space left for yourself?
Unar: Ask a smithy about the sword.. and speak til late. I'm sorry. You seemed to be asking about my craft. Of course, one's trade doesn't define them as a person. Some may know me as Sure Bet, but I'm still Unar too.
Kiraki: Then tell me more about the person behind this hunter.
(some silence)Unar: Well.. I was always the quiet one as a child. Little interest in the pursuits of my cousins and siblings. I was happy around the home, seeing to the craft of my parents… Nothing romantic until later.. during the first Hydlaa escapade. That was Marqsaynt the Diaboli. He helped a lot during those times.. but..
(sigh) He turned out to be unfaithful.
(some silence)Unar: I do have a romantic interest now, you know!
Kiraki: Oh? And who might that be?
Unar (wistfully): Omega.. he's another hunter specializing in assassinations. Some know him as Irick.. though.. well, I don't really know how that works anymore. But I love both sides of him, so I can deal with that.
Kiraki: You two have been close for a while now... how does he feel about it?
Unar: Yes.. actually he was one of the most helpful people while I was going through the Shining thing. He was always a friend, even when everyone in Hydlaa seemed ready to hang me.
Unar (pausing to look at small object in her paw): He loves me too.
(A pause as Kiraki hugs and Unar awkwardly consents)Unar: Most people watch their feet a little more around me.
Kiraki (laughing): I deal with much worse than you, dear. You will get use to me, I think.. yes?
Unar (humored): I guess I'll have to.
Riven (shout heard from below): COME ONE, COME ALL, TO YE TAVERN AND BUY YOURSELF A DRINK.
Unar (indicating the shouts): What do you think? The tavern?
Kiraki (giggling): I hope they still have some of that milk!
(Kiraki and Unar leave for the tavern. End of transcript.)
