Those in Glass Gardens

[Shallan Davar]

Almighty above! It was something green! Finally!

Shallan almost forgot to be cautious as she hurried along the last stretch of the tunnel. It had been so long since there had been any sign of… well… anything down in these storming tunnels. They were fascinating geologically, but the entertainment of sketching ore veins and strata quickly fell by the wayside when such normal things as food and warmth made themselves noticeably present. She had a very scant amount of supplies left, and the coat was only able to hold out so long before the seeping, storming, cold of this place broke through and just made… everything worse!

But there it was. Up ahead, shining brighter than any herald ever could, was sunlight. Storming, glorious sunlight! Shallan exhaled, releasing the stormlight she had been holding inside her. It drifted off of her like a vaporous mist, even in the chilling cold of Inverxe’s air. Her the glow faded from her skin and eyes, darkening the tunnel around her back to the expected near-black of the underground. Creping through the shadows, Shallan approached the sunlit cavern up ahead.

It was like finding a stormwalled garden tucked away in the ley of some rocky outcropping back on Roshar. A cacophony of glorious and beautiful colors tucked away between the smallest cracks in the rock. Nurtured safe and secure from the Stormfather's passage. It was a visual feast and she stared eagerly, drinking in the colors. Plants like she had never seen before, wide leaves, hanging vines that would have no defense against a high storm. How in the almighty were they thriving down here?

She craned her neck back to see how the sunlight was reaching them. It streamed from cracks in the ceiling, large sheets of crystalline ice reflected, almost funneled the sunlight down from above, far stronger than she ever recalled it shining on the surface. The melting ice dripped from above and whenever the near-constant winds of Inverxe whipped them into misty spray an iridescent rainbow arced across the ceiling of the cavern.

Look at it all, Pattern! It’s amazing!

A garden within snow. Pattern hummed in affirmation, It is a very impressive lie.

No, I mean the beauty of the place! It has a storming rainow! It’s like something out of a storybook!

Pattern buzzed as Shallan hurried forwards. The sunlight and foliage beckoned to her, promising a reprieve from the cold, hard, icy stone. Maybe she wasn’t doomed to starve down here after all? Maybe she was going to find a way out of these caves and be absolutely fine! Her boots crunched along the ice-packed rock as she approached with an almost giddy energy. This was the last thing she had hoped to find down here, a gift from the Almighty!

Her smile dropped and she paused on the very edge of the cavern, a few strides from where the greenery gave way to unyielding rock. She could practically hear Jasnah’s admonishment even now. She was lost in a foreign and hostile world. She needed to approach things logically, cautiously, not letting herself get carried away by her emotional fancies. The miners had told her the same thing when she first arrived. This was Inverxe. Everything on this planet would be trying to kill you.

Why was this place even here?

Storms, she was a scholar not a child, she had to think! From a botanical perspective, this would be an exceedingly suspicious set of circumstances. These plants were clearly not native to the surrounding climate, so barring some freak accident dumping a cargo of foreign vegetation into a hole in the ground, they had been intentionally brought here and were being cultivated to grow. But why? Did they just want a little more green in their surroundings? Someone wanted to live down in the tunnels of Inverxe, without giving up the life they were used to? Unlikely.

Pattern hummed in her brain.

You are concerned by something? You were overjoyed by this same sight a moment ago.

What’s going on here, Pattern? This place doesn’t make sense to be here.

Yes? it is a masterful lie. He repeated, sounding impressed.

I am one who seeks the truth.

Pattern hummed to himself as she reached into her satchel, pulling out her sketchbook and a charcoal. Escape and survival would come. She needed to understand this place.

 

[Shallan Davar]

There was an almost tangible difference in the air when Shallan stepped into the verdant cavern. It was like stepping out of the rain into a room with a roaring bonfire. Against her initial judgment, the heavy overcoat she had been wearing was discarded, lest she end up icing herself over with her own sweat when she left the space. But honestly, why even leave? It was so much better here than in the tunnels! Shallan stood, eyes closed, drinking in the tranquility of the moment. Letting the stresses and fears of Inverxe's underground float away from her mind for a time.

It was horridly tempting to stay that way, but Shallan took one last breath of peacefulness, then forced herself to focus. There had to be some trick to it, some secret to this place. The change was too drastic, too palpable not to be caused by some sort of technology or power. Maybe it was benign, just a localized heating fabrial for someone’s private garden. Deep down, Shallan was already suspecting it wouldn’t be that simple.

Wandering the vegetation, she eventually chose a spot that was both visible and comfortable. A tumble of moss-drenched rocks in the middle of a break in the forest canopy. The moss looked thick enough to provide some insulation even here on Inverxe. She set down her satchel and glanced about for her first subject. She had a few images she’d been saving to draw, but for a warm up she would start with some direct sketches.

Not far off was an array of pinkish-red flowers, bunched in a way that reminded her of the fruits used for purple wine. It didn’t have to fear highstorms here, so it displayed itself brazenly for all to see, not a hint of protection or hiding itself. Marvelous! Part of her considered getting closer for a more detailed sketch, but this was quite a comfortable place to sit. A wider scene would be a fine sketch to warm up as well. As she sat, tracing out the shapes of the flagrant blossom, Shallan frowned slightly. It was warmer here, yes, but not so warm that there would be insects alive down here. Aside from the scratching of her own charcoal and the rhythmically dripping water from the ceiling, it was almost oppressively quiet down here.

Something stirred in her memories.

It needs something chirping, Pattern. She thought with a faint frown, A place this alive should have at least some cremlings skittering about.

Pattern buzzed his assent. Her spren had slid onto a nearby rock, giving the moss the impression of a geodesic spiral slightly raised above the rest of the surface. He seemed to be getting stronger, but Shallan did notice that his shape hadn’t fully separated from her havah. He wasn’t feeling that sure just yet.

It was a truly beautiful flower, Shallan decided as she looked at her sketch. But there was something… off.. About it. Her sketch almost felt like a picture of a picture of the flower. It lacked the substance, the vibrancy of the real thing in a way that she couldn’t quite describe. Maybe it was the lack of lifespren? On Roshar, a place teeming with this much greenery would be practically swarming with the little glowing green specks.

She added a few to the sketch, to frame the flower, then immediately found herself frantically scrawling them out, hiding them in swirls of other plants or scribbling them into shading. She blinked, forcibly halting her creative process. For some reason, she found the two fiercely incompatible. Why had she felt such a visceral reaction? That flower was quite alive, but it had felt so decisively wrong to put lifespren near it…

Shallan? Pattern spoke in her mind, he sounded anxious.

Yeah, She agreed, There’s something not right about this place. It’s not just a freak natural occurrence or someone’s private project…

Yes, it is most definitely a lie. And I believe that it may be a hurtful one. The Cryptic buzzed in agreement, sliding back onto the hem of her havah soundlessly.

Shallan frowned, casually noting a shadowy shape she’d sketched into the corner of the drawing while blocking out one of the lifespren. She looked up with a start, noticing for the first time the chitinous shape that had been lurking in the foliage near her specimen. It was perhaps the size and shape of an axehound, but its legs were thin, almost blade-like points. Storms! How long had it been watching her?

She had chosen an exposed spot on the hopes that whoever maintained this place would have seen her, but with how silent the place was she hadn’t thought to consider that a predator would be equally drawn in. No… it wasn’t silent here…

Lifeless.

Shallan slowly set the sketchbook down beside her and extended her hand , preparing to summon the shardblade. Ten heartbeats thundered in her ears, but the creature remained still. It was definitely watching her, but without the coiled tension she would expect from a predator about to strike. At the tenth heartbeat the shardblade formed itself in her hand, coalescing out of mist, its length shining with drops of condensation. The blade’s presence was accompanied by a forceful pressure, and Shallan nearly fell over, clutching her forehead with her safehand as the wrongness she had been feeling since entering the grove crystallized into a singularly pervasive and emphatic demand.

THIS IS TO BE A PLACE OF PEACE!

 

[Shallan Davar]

A Place of peace. This is a place of quiet. A place of respite. Sanctuary. How could you raise arms against sanctuary? Is your heart so broken, so frozen by this world, that you would destroy that peace?

Shallan strained against the cloud of thoughts that came bubbling up out of nowhere at the sight of her shardblade. It wasn’t like the normal unpleasant memories either, this was something else. Pattern was buzzing, he was panicking, saying something to her but she couldn’t make it out. She was too focused on the weapon in her hands, in the wrongness of it. How could she have thought to bring a weapon here to this garden of peace? The handle of the shardblade slipped from her laxed fingers and it dissipated into mist before even hitting the ground.

Like a faucet being turned off, the mental pressure lapsed immediately. Shallan stumbled, steadying herself against a nearby tree. The garden was once again a wonderland of peace. The strange creature she had spotted in the underbrush remained there. It made no move to attack or to flee, just watched her with two eyes like black pits.

Are you alright, Pattern? Shallan asked.

She could feel him reaching out to her via their mental connection. He was hesitant, scared.

Our bond was weakened for a time. Do you yet remember, Shallan? Or did you choose to forget?

No, Shallan frowned, squeezing her eyes tightly before opening them again, That wasn’t me. Something was quite opposed to my brandishing a weapon here.

An outside intereferer? Pattern bristled [/i]The Nahel bond is not something to be forcibly severed! Something sought to supplant my connection to you, Shallan. This cannot be allowed to happen, we must be careful. mmmmmm

I think there are quite a few things not being allowed right now, Pattern…[/i]

Shallan steadied herself, turning her attention back to the blade-legged creature. It was a predator, clearly. The thing had to be starving, Inverxe didn’t have enough storming life on it to keep predators well fed regularly. It was large enough that she was probably on its list of potential prey as well, if it was desperate enough. But it just stayed there, a sort of halfway crouch in underbrush it was poorly colored to hide in, barely moving. And now she understood why.

Pattern, I’m going to need you to make a sound in a moment.

A sound? Not a particular sound? I don’t know that I could…

You’ll know the one I mean.

Shallan breathed in stormlight, her eyes blooming with the inner tempest. She focused her mind, it had been some time since she’d tried a lightweaving this large. Actually, she might not need it to be full-sized. This creature had almost assuredly never seen a chasmfiend before. It would only be seeing a bigger, angrier, more scaly creature than itself. She could afford to be a bit abstract with her creation.

She exhaled, focusing on the cloud of mist issuing forth from her mouth. It was going to be a large shape, and she could feel herself weakening a bit as the stormlight continued to flow out of her. She would have to skip the details. The cloud of stormlight in front of her shifted, the vaporous mist taking more rigid shape. The glowing cloud took on edges and hues, forming a hologram-like image of a multi-legged, chitinous monster out of nightmares.

She had cut some corners, the shadows on its face obscured details and the shell didn’t have anywhere near the right lighting for this kind of environment. It still looked storming terrifying as it towered above both Shallan and that predator. And she hadn’t even made it to the proper scale. The creature in the brush remained rooted to its spot, though it was no longer looking at her anymore.

Now came the harder part. The motion of a chasmfiend was incredible to behold. It actually managed to move elegantly with all those sharp edges and bulk. Her hologram moved a good bit less smoothly, and as it curled down to scream at the predator she could see places where its form was bending into itself, the stormlight mist fuzzing where they overlapped. It still got the message across.

A horrible screech emanate from the vicinity of Shallan’s shoulder. It was eerily like the chasmfiend’s actual sound, but higher-pitched and off-key in a way that sounded distinctly unnatural.

What was that? What did you do? Shallan asked dumbfounded.

I copied your variations on the creature’s visual pattern into its auditory sound! Pattern buzzed proudly in her brain, It is so fascinating attempting to be abstract!

 

[Shallan Davar]

The creature wasn’t fleeing. Shallan’s stare hardened as the beast remained still, staring up at a larger, bellowing predator. It was terrified, she could tell even with its insectoid features by the way it was trying to lean backwards. Yet it remained rooted in place all the same. Passive. Still. Docile.

Shallan dropped the light weaving numbly and the chasmfiend dissolved into a cloud of stormlight before dispersing entirely. The poor creature blinked rapidly, its head twitching to the side now and again, clearly still terrified. The best was a predator… a destroyer of peace. That was its nature though. That was what a creature like that was made for! An empty gnawing rage welled up as the situation started to make sense in her head. Pattern hummed nervously as Shallan extended her hand, preparing to summon her Shardblade once more.

Don’t worry, Pattern, I’m ready for it this time.

Worried? I’m not worried Shallan. I knew full well that forming this bond would mean you eventually kill me.

…I won’t. I promise.

Mmmm. Delicious.

The Shardblade solidified back into existence in Shallan’s hand and immediately the mental assault that had accompanied it returned. She was destroying the peace! How could she take up arms in such a peaceful place? How abhorrent and twisted was her heart to try such a thing? Shallan wavered. Perhaps Radiant would be a better choice for this task. She was the strong one after all.

To her surprise, Shallan found Radiant staunchly refusing to assert herself in this situation. Veil was likewise adamant not to exchange control. This was something for Shallan felt more strongly than either of the other two.

Her thoughts swarmed by the mental malaise, Shallan gripped her Shardblade in both hands. Jasnah would say this was a stupid plan, that she was broadcasting her intent to whatever force this was. But right now, she didn’t feel like being clever. Shallan bit down on her cheek to maintain her focus. If she really concentrated, she could feel that the mental thoughts weren’t coming from herself. She could feel the assault strongest from the center of the garden. Slowly she staggered her way towards it.

A tree, one of those weird ones that didn’t have any way to shield itself from a highstorm. She could see it now, large and looming, with various rope-like vines drifting from its lower branches in a tangle. The unmistakable monarch of this grove, and the source of the power that Shallan now struggled against.

Defiler!

Destroyer!

The thoughts slammed into Shallan’s brain with all the fury of a stormwall as she trudged closer to the tree.

Monster!

Bringer of Decay!

The Shardblade wobbled in front of her as her vision tunneled deeper and deeper with each step she took.

Purveyor of Misery!

Broken thing!

How could she do this? Why would she destroy a peaceful garden in the middle of such frozen horror?

Crusher of Dreams!

Breaker of Peace!

“You can’t force there to be peace!” Shallan found herself screaming back at the voice, at the presence in her mind, “I know this... You can’t force peace! You can only force compliance!”

She could feel tears running down her cheeks now, but she was within a few steps of the tree’s base now. This was the cause, she could feel a pressure, both comforting and dark, emanating from the trunk almost palpably. Shallan forced herself to lurch forwards, the Shardblade blurring as it made contact with the bark of the tree. She plunged the weapon in deep, meeting no more resistance than if she were trying to cut water. The Shardblade sunk into the tree to its hilt, and Shallan’s blurred gaze turned upwards, watching the tree’s green wither in seconds to a dull and drooping brown.

The mental presence screamed in her brain, demanding that she stop. Shallan screamed back, wrenching the blade out and swiping it across the trunk at an angle. Now that the wood was dead, the Shardblade cleaved through it like a sheet of paper, cutting a perfect slice through the husk of the dead plant. It slid slowly, before gravity took hold and the brittle dead behemoth tipped over onto its side with a resounding crash that reverberated against the crystalline walls of the grove.

The voice had gone silent, and Shallan took a few staggering steps backwards. She just remembered thinking how cold it had suddenly gotten in the grotto, then she fell backwards, and her vision went black completely.