Svarik and the company I :)

[VisAnastasis]

The Sage listened intently, and by the time king ended his story, he seemed saddened as well by its unhappy outcome, his eyes blooming with compassion.
" My heart feels for that creature. I wished I could meet him, but I fear I could not risk my life in that peculiar forest, and I have too many souls to look after here at the moment to afford leaving my mansion for such a visit. By what I could conclude from your story, there is little hope for him getting better or leaving that place, as long as those shadows still plague his waters. And even then, with soul permanently disfigured, change will be little and come slow. My advise is following your own plan - best you can do right now really is to provide him with plenty of nutrient food and see what you can do to make sure he is not always starving. It seems to me by your story that he uses all the little power he has left to protect the forest as much as he can, and he needs lot of strength for that. Frequent starvation and sense of lacking care - it is very unhealthy for a demon who's always exerting himself. " he paused, before adding quietly. " I fear I can help little in this specific case  - but I know someone who may know more and advise you better. My Spirit friend, who is a partner of mine here. I trust you'll be discreet with him and respect him, so I'm telling you this - he's not in the mansion now, but he will be back home by midnight. Maybe he could give you some advise that could help, or direct you to someone who could provide you with some medicine for your Forest God friend. "

[Mirach]

"I would take any advice I can get to help him," Svarik said. "But will a spirit be willing to help a demon?"

[VisAnastasis]

" If you didn't travel with a creature of such kind, and if it didn't look so healthy and happy with you - I may would be hesitant to tell you this, even if you come from Falcon. But in light of company you're in, I feel I can trust you with this information. " Sage replied, looking at purring Xia thoughtfully. " My friend is, how to say... I bit of rebel, little Nightingale. And when I say rebel, I mean, an actual rebel. " he smiled a little, though he looked up and observed king's features carefully to make sure he can read his reaction. " He is very knowledgeable, but he had demon friends at time war started... So he did not exactly take kindly to its start. That said, he is fugitive from the Spirit Laws currently. Many demons here are his friends. As long as your intentions are pure, I am sure he'll help you, if he can. I only ask from you as much as to promise to me that no harm to him will come from you, and that from you, no Spirit or Demon should learn of him. That would be all. "

[Mirach]

"If it's so, I will gladly promise that," Svarik said.  "I won't tell any spirit or demon... or human who could tell it to them. This journey made me a keeper of many secrets, I fear... I will need to be very careful with them after we return."

[VisAnastasis]

" I can imagine that. But your conscience should be clear, Little Nightingale. Sometimes, keeping things to yourself is simply the best thing you can do. Falcon knows that very well, and I respect him greatly for that. " Man acknowledged. " When dealing with Spirits and Demon especially - never feel guilty about doing anything to help someone who is good. The line can be gray, true, but none the less, never let Spirit or Demon Laws to bind you more than your heart. The world is at war, and to protect individuals, white lies and half truths can work much better than honesty and hoping for best outcome. As long as measure of who's good and who's evil is relative, there will always be someone who will deem that ones you deem deserve life deserve to perish instead. It is okay to do all you can to protect those from evil gazes on any way you can. "

[Mirach]

"That's what I'm trying to do. But it's a precarious situation. I don't know if Falcon mentioned it to you, but Death himself is our guest at the moment. It may be better for protection of your friend if we wouldn't speak directly, but through you as a mediator, so I don't learn his identity and can't unintentionally reveal it," Svarik suggested, despite wishing to meet this spirit who was a friend of demons.

[VisAnastasis]

" He did mention it. I was not familiar with Death's ability to... read minds, I presume? " he asked to make sure. " If he can really do that and even your thoughts are in danger... I guess my friend would already be compromised enough, since from your thoughts, Death could learn this is where he lives. " Sage sighed and stroked his beard a little sadly and with troubling thoughts, considering possible consequences of such an ability. " I don't know how worse or not meeting my friend in person would be, since you already know he lives here... "

[Mirach]

"I don't think he can really read thoughts, but one can't be certain with him. What he can with certainty though, is to see to future to an extent. I would rather be very careful around him, since I can't even imagine how a mind and consciousness like his thinks..." Svarik explained. 

[VisAnastasis]

" Alright, then. If you feel it's best, I shall keep his name and other details about him secret. I will ask him for advise about your demon friend, and tell you what he comes up with in the morning when you wake up. " Sage acknowledged, just like Svarik, desiring to keep his own friends safe.

[Mirach]

"It's a pity, because I would really like to meet him, but I think it's best this way," Svarik smiled sadly.

[VisAnastasis]

" Only other thing I could think to arrange would be for you to meet him at night, in darkness, without being able to see his face, agreeing to not ask more questions than you have to... " Sage thought of it slowly. " But alas! You seem like a guy to whom even that would be enough to learn plenty of him. It is not my custom to refuse my guests simple pleasures, but it's neither my custom to risk lives of my friends, you see, so you can see why this situation saddens and conflicts me. My friend always loves to meet peculiar people such as yourself, I am sure he would had looked forward to it too. "

[Mirach]

"Not now," Svarik shook his head. "But it may he safe later. Death would like to live one life as a human again, with his family. Then we may come again..."

[VisAnastasis]

" Intriguing... " Sage commented, as Falcon probably didn't have space in the letter to go in that much detail. " I will look forward to that meeting afterwards, then, should you live that long, little Nightingale. I will ask my friend about that demon Cernunnos, and give you his reply in the morning. Now, that you have eaten - may I ask the, what would your heart desire? I imagine you must be tired. I'd very much enjoy to hear more about you all, but I'd understand if you'd desire rest instead. "

[Mirach]

"Aren't you tired yourself?" Svarik asked. "If not, I would enjoy talking for a bit longer before we retire."

[VisAnastasis]

" Presence of the sea provides me with strength and power throughout the year. It sings to me. I only sleep for a little while every couple of days, when I am this close to the shore, little Nightingale. If you still desire so, we can talk more. "

[Mirach]

"I am a bit tired, but not too much. I would like to talk more about the land and the sea..."

[VisAnastasis]

" Then ask thee questions, fair child of the north. " Sage called upon him with fondness. " I adore that subject, so I shall be pleased to speak with you of it. "

[Mirach]

"That's going to be a rather broad question, but I would like to know what's under the sea, on the bottom of it. I don't think I will ever get to see it myself, or meet someone else who did..."

[VisAnastasis]

" I will have to be careful not to out any of my friends as well - so my reply will be more vague that it would have been had Death Almighty himself not been your house guest. " Sage reminded king wisely. " But generally - the air pressure at the deepest bottom of the ocean is so great, only few can reach it or spend time there comfortably. Ocean itself is too big, so its bottom spreads far and varies, and besides, it's so deep that deepest part of it can't be reached by sunlight, so you aren't going to have too fun time unless your body can produce light - and even then, that light would attract predators. It's not a place where you can or want to go without being heavily guarded by Spirits or demons. " he advised. " That being said - Spirits and Demons are reply to your question. On bottom of the ocean, far from gazes of outer world, live great number of strange primordial creatures. There are also lot of sunken skips, lost treasures, and whole cities that were swallowed up by the restless sea and earthquakes. Lot of my wealth come from my ventures in the deep sea - when you have friends that can help and know where to look, you can find lot of gold and things of antique times that are noways quite valuable. As long as you're careful not to get caught by some malevolent Being and have good company, you can explore and find lot of interesting trinkets down there, if they haven't already been raided by other creatures. There as well are - let's only say as much - couple of underground little cities as well, some young, some old, where magical creatures of sea can live together. Just a while ago, a decade or so, it was, I went quite deep, to the city of Mer-folk, to gather some of their scales for some spells - they were most delightful crowd, and there are lot of Singers among their kin, as is known... "

[Mirach]

"The Mer-folk? I have heard some legends about them, but they are just fairy-tales in the north. Are they Beings or a mortal race like humans?"

[VisAnastasis]

" They are humans that spent so much time in the sea and mated with various deities of waters, until they over generations developed mutations like fins and gills, and after some more time could no longer live upon the shore. " man replied. " Now they've retreated deep in the sea, where it suits them best. In dawn of their race, they were of more mixed looks and various age differences. Currently, many of them have various appearances still, being descended from various different fish Spirits, but most have gills and lungs both, just like me, some more some less humanlike look, and they on average live around 500 years. Despite technically being more humans than Beings, they are beloved creatures of the ocean, and because they are gentle and can use tools like humans, many sea animals like them, as well as Beings that have animal, but can't take on humanish form. "

[Mirach]

"How deep and how broad is the sea? Do you know that?" Svarik asked his third question.

[VisAnastasis]

" Our world is made of big and small patches of land scattered throughout the sea. Among Beings, that is known. " he said, and after gently handing Xia back to Svarik, he stood up to the shelf, and picked out one book from it, that had various notes, and seemed like some kind of old diary, and took out a drawing from it. " Do you see this picture, of a ball, colored in green and blue? That is a home of all of us, or more precisely, how it looks on this layer. Green is the land, blue is the ocean. This little circle on this patch of land here - it is Lowlands, our land. " he explained patiently. " We probably will never see it quite like this, of course. Only Higher Beings are able to fly up so high and survive, as outer atmosphere is dangerous unfriendly place, I heard. I didn't see it, either, but this picture was drawn to me by a friend whom I know is reliable. So, that is answer to - how broad is the sea. Like land, it has no end, but goes round the world. About dept of sea, alas, it's hard to say. In center of our world, in this layer, is eternal fire, magma, that warms it from the inside. I can claim that for certain, for I have learned it from one nice fire demon that lives there most of the time. So I imagine, ocean is probably deep, but not as deep as to react the center of the world, but if you ask for numbers, I do not know exact ones. "

[Mirach]

"I don't ask for the numbers. I'm actually more curious about how deepest and how farthest you have been in it..."

[VisAnastasis]

" Again, I don't want to compromise any of my friends by speaking and pointing to some specific locations. " he replied. " But you could say I went around the sea a lot. I don't have friends that can fly, but I have friends that are keen on exploring and can swim swift and dive deep, so I often traveled with them, even more so, when my help was requested and I had to go somewhere specifically. I would say deepest part I went... Is part where light can not reach. I have went to inquire a very old demon of luminescence there, that was hurt and needed to be appeased and assisted, because whirling in his pain, he was causing massive earthquakes and outbreaks of miasma, and people of sea were restless. As no sunlight reaches it and even I felt sick, I imagine it was quite deep. As for how wide I went - it's as confidential. Let's say I so far mostly explored areas around this seashore, but have went around the world when need would arise and leave it at that. One day, if unlikely peace washes down upon us, young Nightingale, and we are both alive at that time, I will be pleased to tell you more, but not today, when protection of many secretive creatures of sea rests upon my shoulders. "