soul_logs | [OPEN]

Zeratul was easily pulled from his thoughts as Gai approached, thankful for the much needed distraction. He straightened his back slightly, but did not stand to his full height.

"En Taro Adun," he inclined his head at the greeting. "Thank you for your information, but I am merely acquainting myself with this city. I am Zeratul."

"Of course. I am sorry. En Taro Adun." Gai bowed his head back. "I am glad to meet you, Zeratul, and the city has a great many things that are worth acquainting with!" It was hard to know who might be friends with those he knew and who wouldn't be, and Gai would want to warn Tassadar before revealing his presence... "Have you had a chance to see much of it yet? Or many of the people?" Maybe some careful probing first.

The apology was a bit of a surprise, but the fact that he didn't trip up on the phrase told him he was not the first protoss Gai had spoken to. Zeratul reached up to scratch his chin, humming thoughtfully.

"I have seen a great deal of stairs," he said. "And even more sand. The people I have just begun to meet."

That didn't answer Gai's most pressing concern, and so he decided to quickly message Tassadar while he spoke with Zeratul. He raised his mirror up, typing as he continued smiling. "The stairs are one of the city's best features! But have you been shown the map yet?"

Protoss, name sounds like ze-ra-tu-ru, enemy or ally? There, message sent to Tassadar, and Gai showed the map to Zeratul on his mirror as he waited for an answer. The reply happened a moment later, a quiet beep. "I am sorry. It does that sometimes. One moment!" Pulling it back, Gai saw the answer. Ally. That was a relief, in Gai's mind. "There is another Protoss here. I do not know if you knew yet, but he says you are his ally, Tassadar."

Shibusen's stairs were not the longest he'd walked, but the storm hadn't really improved his opinion of them. Zeratul tilted his head curiously when Gai presented the mirror. He had not taken the time to use his very much, and with his long claws, it wasn't the easiest to manage.

"The map will be most useful. Thank you," he nodded in thanks, pausing when Gai mentioned Tassadar. He knew the templar had been here for some time, but he had yet to learn of his presence in this city. "We were fortunate to find one another yesterday, and we are indeed allies."

"You are welcome!" Gai nodded at Zeratul's confirmation. "I am sorry about the typing. I had to ask him before I told you that he were here. He is my friend and I would not betray his presence to someone who could be looking for him to harm him." He looked back over the city, easy to see from their vantage point. "There was another Protoss here for a time, but Selendis is gone now. I liked her as well. But BREW takes many and sends others."

He gave Zeratul a smile. "Did you have questions about the city still? Or are you simply looking to see what you can see?"

Zeratul found Gai's concern for Tassadar heartening. He had been troubled to find his friend so isolated and withdrawn, so he was glad to know at least one person had befriended him.

"Hm, I have heard the Executor was here for a time." He knew she was needed back in their home sector, but her presence had probably once been a comfort to Tassadar. The sons and daughters of Aiur were not suited for being alone, not like he was.

He considered Gai's offer, then shook his head. "You are most kind, but there are some things I must see for myself at present. I will have many questions soon, I am certain."

"The Executor?" Gai wasn't sure he'd heard that title for Selendis before. He tilted his head. "Does Tassadar have a title like that, or you? If it is not rude to ask. I do not mean to cause offense. I like to learn, but I do not know when I am trying to learn too much, sometimes."

He nodded. "I ran many laps around the city to get acquainted with it! It was also very good exercise. And there are many training opportunities every morning right over there." Gai gestured toward the training grounds. "Oh! Tassadar comes there, but so does someone else from your world. Kerrigan, a human. Do you know her?" She was at least respectful of Tassadar, so Gai was guessing they would be allies as well.

Zeratul chuckled. Gai had come here offering to answer Zeratul's questions, but he seemed to have more than enough of his own.

"Indeed! Both Selendis and Tassadar share the rank of High Executor, though not at the same time," he explained. "I am a Prelate, of the Nerazim tribe."

Ran... laps? He could admire the human's enthusiasm, but he hardly saw the need to go to such lengths. A shadow seemed to pass over his face at the mention of Kerrigan, but when he spoke his tone was neutral.

"I know of her, and she was present for my arrival here yesterday," he said. To say it was a complicated situation was putting it mildly, but Gai's intentions seemed pure.

High Executor, even. Gai had expected them to have importance back home, they'd both been professional, but that sounded very important. ...Highly important, even. As did Prelate. "A tribe is similar to a village? Or a clan?" He'd heard the word before. He just wasn't sure about its precise meaning.

While Gai wasn't certain he could tell Protoss moods yet, there was a change of voice from Zeratul-who-had-just-chuckled to Zeratul-talking-of-Kerrigan. He wasn't her biggest fan, but she was professional with most things. "She has done well for the city. I... do not like her all of the time, but she knows her duty and does it."

"Tribal members can be scattered across villages, as my people are scattered across the stars," he said. Up until four years ago, they'd been outcasts hunted and persecuted by the rest of protoss society, but that wasn't relevant now. Given all the recent shifts in their power structure, and how he'd removed himself from it almost completely, the title was mostly honorary.

Gai's opinion of Kerrigan intrigued him. All he knew of the woman was what he'd taken from James Raynor's memories, and the few minutes they had spoken in the Kishin Chamber.

"May I ask what her duties here include?" The two of them still needed to have a long talk, but that didn't mean he couldn't find out what she'd been doing in the meantime.

"I see. I am sorry." Scattering didn't sound good, not at all. People should be together, not strewn apart. Gai strongly believed that everyone needed company and each other.

At the question Gai paused. What did they include, really? She did something for the Watch, but Roy was now gone and thus couldn't say. She protected for Shibusen when it came to the Brew... maybe that would work. "She guards, and I believe she watches as well." Actually, he was fairly certain she watched. It was just a matter of seeing her do so, and he didn't, not often. That meant she was good. "She's a part of the Watch as well, though we are restructuring right now."

Zeratul tilted his head, brow furrowing in confusion. He didn't think he'd spoken negatively, so perhaps they had misunderstood one another. "Sorry?"

"I believe her skills make her well suited for such tasks," he said, nodding. Not everything that made the Queen of Blades so powerful was attributed to the zerg, after all. "Hm, the Watch. I have heard of it, but I am curious to know what, precisely, it is."

"Is that not a bad thing, then? The scattering?" Tassadar hadn't seemed to want company, after all, when he had lost Selendis. Maybe Protoss were solitary. Gai couldn't understand that, but they were aliens.

Gai was a little curious about what skills Zeratul knew about. It would be interesting to know more of Kerrigan. "Which skills are those?" Maybe a little probing. "The Watch defends the city and also patrols for inside things too... but we would be better used as just defenders, I think."

"Not at all," Zeratul chuckled. "Many protoss do prefer the unity their Khala offers them, my own people revere our individuality. We are nomads and wanderers, finding peace in solitude as well as with one another."

Gai could be as curious as he wanted, but Zeratul wasn't giving anything up on that front. He wasn't certain who else knew about her future aside from herself and Tassadar. "A peace keeping force, then," he said, skipping over the Kerrigan topic. "Oh? Why is that?"

"Oh. I did not realize." Gai tilted his head. "You do not find company to be good? Or is it that you do not find a need for it?" He was too social for that. But then again, he was no Protoss. Or one of Zeratul's tribe. "And that is the same for Tassadar and Selendis?"

Oh well. He hadn't really expected to learn much about Kerrigan, though he hadn't expected his question to be entirely ignored. That... Well, he'd wait to judge on it. "Because Shibusen is in charge when it comes to legal matters, and the city's defense is more important. We have been attacked more than once, and we need to respond in a better way to those attacks."

"It is different for each of us, but I prefer solitude more than the company of others," Zeratul explained. It did get lonely, and there was a sense of community, but they could go many, many years without seeing anyone else and not suffer for it. "Hm, I cannot speak for them, but the children of the Khala are more dependent on one another than my people."

He had yet to get a real sense of the city, but so far it certainly wasn't set up like a military case. There were civilians here, and nothing hinted at air defense either. What stopped the city from being leveled, then? "Understandable. You mentioned restructuring - will this help?"

"I... see. Or I do not, but I will take your word for it. It is hard for me to understand, but I can accept that. As long as you are actually happy. Because some I know prefer solitude because they are afraid of being happy, and then that is something that should be worked on!" He'd let Zeratul say which it was; Gai knew the Protoss a little by now, but he didn't know them nearly well enough to judge how they were feeling most of the time. "What does children of the Khala mean?"

Gai looked out at the city at the comment, thinking. Finally he frowned and looked back at Zeratul. "I hope. There are... The city has not done well in the past. We must find a way to do better. If this does not help, then we will find another way."

Zeratul laughed, shaking his head. "I assure you, we are not afraid of being happy. We simply pursue it in ways that others do not." Even among his own species he was considered an outcast and an oddity, but they were slowly coming to accept the differences. He paused for a moment at Gai's question, and wondered how in depth the others had been when they spoke to him.

"Tassadar and Selendis are both followers of the Khala," he said. "It is their religion and way of life. Perhaps you have noticed that I do not quite look like them?"

While the other two were all glittering gold and blue, he was deep purples and greens. The only other major difference on the outside, of course, was his nerve cords. Tassadar's still hung down the length of his back, but Zeratul's had been cut short near the base of his head.

"That is good. I know some who do not trust being happy." He couldn't help but believe Zeratul; the Protoss was laughing. He'd never heard anything remotely close to that from Tassadar or Selendis. Clearly the Nerazim knew more about life and enjoyment.

Gai nodded at the question. "I did. But I thought it was like how we have different hair color, or skin tone. I did not realize it was more." He paused for a moment, suddenly realizing that this meant Tassadar had actually been lonely when Selendis left... and apparently Gai hadn't reached out correctly. Or enough. "...How does one get cloesr to a follower of the Khala? Because Tassadar was alone for a time, but I did not manage to make him feel better."

If he spent enough time around him, Gai would find Zeratul to be just as deadly serious and dramatic as the other two. It was a conscious effort on his part to remain distant from the emotions that would drag him there, though. No one else needed to share in his burdens except himself.

"It is certainly more," he nodded. "My heritage is quite different from theirs, though we are all still protoss."

Zeratul hesitated at the last question. To be perfectly honest, Tassadar was the first Khalai he had ever befriended, and that had only lasted a few months before he died. His practical experience in the matter was lacking. "Your efforts were appreciated, of that I am sure. What Tassadar may have needed was another protoss, and access to the Khala."

Gai hoped to spend more time around both of the Protoss. He liked Tassadar, and found Zeratul interesting. There was something about people from different worlds that excited him and made him feel like there was so much more out there.

"I do not really understand, but if you wish to explain more, I will work on it! I enjoy learning!"

Zeratul's words were some comfort. So Gai hadn't completely failed his friend. "Thank you. I... wish I had been able to do more for him. But now you are here. ...Did some way to access the Khala come with you, even though they are children of it and you are not?"

Zeratul squinted and lifted his shoulders, the movement translating to a smile as much as he could. He was already starting to like Gai, but the man's enjoyment of learning meant he was going to have a hard time getting rid of Zeratul. If there was someone that liked to listen, he would gladly speak.

"Well, what do you understand the least? We can begin there." He would be careful about what he said, though. There might be good reason neither of the other two had explained it at length.

He shook his head at Gai's question. "I cannot. Long ago I choose to follow the path of the Void, and severed myself from the connection of the Khala."

Gai rather liked learning, and being around people who talked. He wouldn't object to this situation at all. At the question he tilted his head, trying to think of how to word it. "In my village alone there are many different types of hair coloring and skin shades. But we are still all of Konoha, of Fire Country. What else does the coloring mean if it is not just... something that naturally varies?"

Severed. That was definitely a final word. Gai looked down. "So your presence here will help him, but not as much as he needs it. Is there anything that could give him that, without another Protoss who... does not follow the Void?"

"It is representative of our ethnicity, of which Tassadar and Selendis belonged to the majority. Long ago, we were divided without cohesion between the tribes, leading to the different paths of skin and blood colors. My people in particular have been removed from Aiur for some time, and thus our appearance is the most changed." There was always more to it than that, but he started with the simple facts for now. "Aside from genetics, each tribe is under the flag of a certain color. Mine, the Nerazim, is green."

Zeratul didn't like to think he would be totally useless in assisting Tassadar, except he knew he could only do so much. He shook his head. "I am afraid not. The Khala is closed to him here, and any other protoss that arrives, so they would still remain without that fundamental connection."

[OPEN]

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Gai, it's rude to text while talking to people!

Yes but he has to protect his friend!

Good old Gai :)

:D

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