The Olden World

by Czar_Yoshi

A Quick Interrogation

Jaxy followed Valey and Shinespark into the cargo bay, eyes darting perceptively around the ship's interior with Yesna at his tail. In the bay itself, Yanavan sat tied against one wall, Nyala perched in a dutiful vigil keeping him illuminated and unable to sneak.

"Welp, here's the dude," Valey announced, sweeping a wing at Yanavan's half of the room. "No one else but him here," she added, hoping Nyala would avoid drawing undue attention to herself. "Everyone who could kinda came up on deck."

"Well well, what have we here?" Jaxy rubbed his chin, scrutinizing the captive sarosian. "A tight lock they've put you in, my good imposter. One could almost believe they think you're the real Yanavan!"

Yanavan glowered, but held his silence.

"He's the real thing," Valey said with a shrug. "And if he's not, he's done a pretty good job pretending."

Jaxy patted her on the head, earning a hiss. "Easy now, assistant. Unless our captive friend wants to weigh in, I'm about to draw some unflattering conclusions."

"Excuse me, what?" Valey slipped away, spinning and landing several hoofsteps from him. "What did you call me?"

"I complemented your intellect." Jaxy grinned at the ground. "Unfortunately, you also are foreigners, and I suspect this stallion has preyed upon an uncultured knowledge of our history and mythos! Tell me, did he antagonize you before you humiliatingly bound him so?"

Shinespark cleared her throat. "Somewhat. We suspect there was dream magic involved."

"Mostly he makes threats and insults," Valey added with a burp.

"Mmm hmm hmm hmm! And you're aware of your fate if I take you seriously, fraud?" Jaxy spread his shoulders and laughed. "History's charlatans and criminals aren't the models we want our ponies impersonating! Come, speak. Show us your best attempt at exoneration!"

"All of you are fools," Yanavan sighed, shaking his head as much as his bindings allowed. "Blustering, pompous, indecent fools who don't understand the powers you trifle with. Take me before your council and see how satisfied you are with your victory then."

"Bwahahahaha! Really!?" Jaxy wiped a tear from his eye, shaking from laughter. "I offend you? You're righteous in your convictions? Hahaha! This stallion's a gem! Yesna, ask the merchants wherever they found him."

Yesna raised an eyebrow at Shinespark and Valey, clearly hoping she didn't need to ask.

"Several days southeast along the coast," Shinespark answered. "In a sea cave. Jaxy, is there a meaning to this?"

"Yes, I know what I'm doing," Jaxy assured. "How likely is our imposter to say anything more illuminating? Or am I wasting my time hearing him out?"

Valey scratched her head. "He's kinda been like this the whole-"

"Everyone?" Jaxy interrupted, giving Valey an arrogant look only someone a full head taller than her could manage. "I've come to the conclusion this buffoon has nothing more worth my time! Let us return to my other new assistants on the deck and discuss my findings." He turned with a swirl of wings, sweeping a flap of his armor behind him and striding slowly away.

"Uhh..." Valey blinked between him, Yesna and the sullen Yanavan. "Okay..."

---

The moment the door closed behind them, Valey rounded on Jaxy. "Okay, what was that about?" she demanded, stomping a hoof. "I get having an ego, but you were being a jerk to everyone."

"Don't mock me; I was staying in character," Jaxy said, stepping past her until he was standing in the center of everyone. "It wouldn't have been nearly as solid a ruse had I let you in on it so you could play along."

"Wha...?" Valey tilted her head, jaw hanging, all of her friends' gazes concerned at the current conversation.

"Elementary," Jaxy began, starting to pace. "I wear my station on my breastplate for any Mistvalian to see. He knew who I was! All I had to do was introduce sufficient manufactured strife between us and any coward would have jumped at the opportunity to turn us against one another. Furthermore, any innocent would instantly recognize someone as unhinged as I was wouldn't think twice about hauling them before the council for sticking to their story. Audacity is no refuge against me! So, my dear Valey, unless you see a flaw in my logic, I've firmly deduced this imposter of yours is neither innocent nor a coward. He truly believes himself to be something special, which makes me all the more curious what his deal is."

Valey blinked. "Oh. Bananas, I guess that makes sense then. Look, when you've met one too many guys who are actually insane..."

"That's quite fine," Jaxy assured, "I just didn't want us getting too buddy-buddy before I saw whether your prisoner was looking for a way out."

From the crowd, Amber loudly cleared her throat. "So what makes you think Yanavan is an imposter?"

Jaxy nodded, giving her his attention. "Not that I blame you for any ignorance, being from continents away, but Monk Lord Yanavan ceased being equine on the day of his treachery. This is no mere myth; the timing of his betrayal was such that it was witnessed by many. Not only do some of his contemporaries survive and retain their offices to this day, but he was in the presence of clerics and acolytes as well, many of whom saw his monstrous, distorted form in person. The other lords have spoken of it as a permanent punishment for his betrayal, a new and twisted body. However, not only was your captive whole in body, if not mind, he was also a far sight from the eighty-odd years of age the real Yanavan would have on his back by now."

"You mean his Nightmare Module form?" Maple spoke up. "That..." She glanced around. "Might be something we should tell the council about, but we do know about it, and that's how we're sure it's him."

Jaxy glanced around, and everyone slowly murmured in confirmation. "Well, this is interesting. Yesna, share with me your intellect."

The stoic mare at his side took a step forward. "If you're convinced the council should take an interest in him, which I agree with, there's no reason to debate him here. Matters of importance can fall to them to determine."

Valey gave her a sigh of relief. "Yes! Seriously, I wouldn't care if you grilled him and he turned out to be a fake; I just want him to be someone else's problem. Though I am pretty sure we've got the real thing, so just be ready."

"Due caution will be exercised," Jaxy promised airily. "In the meantime, let's see about getting you into port. I hope you're not overly averse to publicity."

Shinespark frowned. "That depends. Why?"

"Aha. A fair question." Jaxy strolled to the railing, looking out at the luminescent mountaintop city. "Navigator, correct course five degrees to the right. You see, these reaches of Mistvale prospered greatly from the airship revolution, and enjoyed a brief flourishing that came with them. We even took steps toward joining a global economy with the world's other great powers! But most of our proposed exports were heavy and required large volumes to be valuable, so we were the first to be hemorrhaged when Varsidel needed ships for their war instead. First trade slowed, and then a connected future was gone before it even began to happen. So you'll be the first foreigners our capitol has seen in quite a while."

Maple shook her head, staring too as the city came into better relief. "It sounds almost like Riverfall. This is going to be an interesting place..."

Comments

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Satan! Only 1.3M words.

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