World Tree MUSH

    It's hotter than usual in Kaipo. Though the desert town does have the benefit of being tucked right up against a cool oasis to mitigate the heat somewhat, it's still dry and sandy as ever.
    Rydia has taken up her position once again as the local inn girl, tending to traveler's needs and handling smaller menial tasks to make the innkeep's life easier. IT's not much, but it gets her and her friends a friendly place to stay.
    Speaking of, the young Summoner is in the middle of tending to some laundry out back, hanging sheets up to dry in the sun, unbothered by the heat thanks to the cool mist that always seems to linger around her.

And then a shadow passes over Rydia. It doesn't last long, the bird swiftly lands on the front side of the inn, and Temulin ties down the bird before heading in. She's not wearing her armour, instead wearing shorts, a baseball cap and a t-shirt, all of which obviously purchased in a twenty-first century earth. The t-shirt is black with the logo of some black metal band, including a skull.

"Do you have airag?" She asks whoever looks most likely to provide her with a drink, clearly expecting to be disappointed. She hasn't noticed Rydia yet.

    Finding a drink made from fermented horse milk, on a world where giant riding birds have all but replaced horses may be hard. Temulin will probably have to settle for being disappointed. But it's not long before Rydia wraps up hanging the linens and makes her way back inside from the back.
    "I swear something huge just flew over the inn a second ago." She mutters to herself before she dusts her hands on her robes. "Sit down, take a load off, I'll be right with... you..." She starts to speak but only trails off when she realizes that the person dressed like an offworlder is more familiar than not.
    "... Temulin Dotharl." The girl's tone is cautious as she narrows her eyes, the mists hovering around her seemingly dispersing quite fast and floating out the room through the back.

Temulin stares at Rydia for a few moments when the girl utters her name. A pause, and then she notices the mists and there's a moment of recognition. "Oh right, the primal summoning girl." Her voice is guarded, but she doesn't reach for any weapons or make any hostile moves. "That your primal disappearing?" She asks. glancing in the direction of the mist.

    "In fairness, you tried to kill him, the last time." Rydia points out, when Temulin doesn't act overtly hostile in the moment. "I think that's a good enough reason for Whyt to be a little skittish around you." She says.
    But then she clears her throat. "And I have a name, you know." She does add on. But furthermore, she's at least a professional inn-girl: "So what can I get for you while you're here?"

"Pray tell then, what is your name?" Temulin asks, leaning back in her seat. "And yeah, sorry about that. I was making assumptions that I probably shouldn't have." She considers, "So I'm guessing you don't have airag here. So, something cold to drink. Preferably airag, but you know, can't be picky." She shrugs.

    "It's Rydia. Rydia of Mist, like I've told you before. Hasn't changed since then." The girl says as she makes her way behind the counter, deftly working without getting underfoot for the innkeep.
    "We've got water, juice, or wine, take your pick." She says before asking the golden question:
    "Those must have been some pretty wild assumptions. Why did you try to kill Whyt, anyway?"

"I've met a lot of people, and I understand I may have made a certain impression, but I don't remember every name I encounter." Temulin answers Rydia, "But Rydia of Mist, I got it." The dark knight leans back, "I'll go for the wine, unless this is one of those places where they have age limits on that. If it is, I'll take the juice."

The latter question gets a moment of thought, before Temulin answers. "Where I'm from." She begins, "Summoning primals is an old art, feared by most for the fact that primals kill world by their mere existence. Whyt, that's what you called him right, feels a lot like a primal."

    A jug of wine is procured, and so is a cup. And Rydia pours the wine into the cup before making her way over; albeit somewhat warily. But the wine is set in front of the Au Ra and Rydia purses her lips.
    "Whyt," She begins, "Is an Eidolon." She doesn't use the word Primal. "Eidolons come from the Feymarch, a realm beneath our own, where it's said all monsters once came from."
    "Summoning is an old art. I came from a whole tribe of Summoners. But I'm the last, now. Because of that fear."

"Well there's another reason people fear primals." Temulin answers, and she waits a moment to sip her drink. "Their very presence can twist the mind of people, turn them into zealots who will do nothing but serve their bidding while the primal is around, or try to summon him again when he's not. This is called tempering, and there is no cure for those who have been subjected to it. They will be zealots serving their false god for the rest of their lives."

"If you're the last, that sounds a lot like your Eidolons don't temper. So I'm going to assume that's the case, and leave you be." Temulin takes another sip, "Pray don't make me regret that." The way she speaks, it sounds like dealing with primals is far more than just a paycheck to her.

    "It's different than that." Rydia says when the Au Ra explains the concept of tempering. "Do I look like a mind controlled zealot willing to do anything for a baby dragon?" She asks wryly. "Whyt and I are pacted, for life, in a mutually beneficial contract. I give Whyt the energy he needs to remain on this plane outside the Feymarch, he gives me his service. That's how it was for my mother and her dragon, that's how it is for any Summoner and Eidolon. We give them the power they need to manifest, and they give us a boon, usually in the form of their strength."
    So no, the girl doesn't seem tempered. But there is a moment's pause. Rydia is well aware of Temulin's mercenary tendencies. This does sound like the Dark Knight is much more deeply invested in the matter. "... Just how dangerous are these Primals, where you come from?"

"Six years ago, the elder Primal Bahamut nearly destroyed the continent of Eorzea and plunged the world into the Seventh Umbral Era, a Dark Age." Temulin explains the situation, "Though defeated through the valiant sacrifice of some heroes, other lesser Primals are still summoned in his wake, preventing the star's recovery and bringing more zealots into their fold."

"And though we lack records on what caused previous Umbral Calamities, what records we do have suggest that Primal Summoning lies at the heart of more than one of them." Temulin answers, "So, they're very dangerous, and some fools think they can control them. Weaponize them. It was fools like that who trapped Bahamut inside an artificial moon, and fools like that who released him."

    "Bahamut did what?" 
    Rydia sounds so incredulous as she hears that, nose scrunching as her brow furrows. "According to legend, Bahamut was king and father of all Eidolons. Before vanished, and Leviathan took up the mantle of king."
    She sounds shaken by the mere thought of the sheer amount of power that kind of Primal could have, to nearly wipe clean a continent. "The... The Eidolons would never do that. They're a force of benevolence. Even Ifrit, The Lord of Flame, though wild, isn't so..."
    She trails off and shakes her head. "That does sound like the act of a fool. To try and control the forces of nature and order themselves. My mother always taught me that Summoning was to be a relationship based on exchange, not brute force control."

"Another commonality, of sorts." Temulin mutters, pilling out an eorzean gil. "Your money is called gil, your people ride horsebirds like the eorzeans, and isn't one of your friends a dark knight like me?" She sighs and shakes her head, "Yet despite the obvious similarities, it appears there are many differences. Ifrit, the Lord of the Inferno, isn't really wild as such. Oh he's got a temper, like the Amalj'aa who serve him, but according to the records he's quite intelligent, if self-centered and uncompromising to those draw his ire."

    These commonalities are are little too strikingly close. Chocobos, Bahamut, Ifrit, gil. But there are differences as well, and Rydia can at least take solace in the fact that she's pretty sure she's not being mind controlled by a baby dragon. Still, she nods her head slowly.
    "Cecil. He's a Dark Knight, yes." She confirms.
    "Mn. All the Eidolons are intelligent. And temperamental is... One way to describe Ifrit. I've never called on him myself, and quite frankly I don't think I'd want to." She admits. "I met a monk once from a land called Ivalice, where the money is also called gil, and she had a Summoner from their world with her at the time. She called their Ifrit, I was lucky Shiva responded when I called her then."

"Ivalice?" Temulin raises her eyebrow. "I think heard a rumour about a long-lost empire by that name, though I may be mixing it up with something else." She takes a sip from her wine, "Anyway. My apologies. I hope you can understand where my assumptions came from. I was still getting used to travelling these worlds, and hadn't yet realized that despite their similarities these earths can have drastic differences. And your world has more differences still."

    "I think I can, now." Rydia says after a moment, pursing her lips. "I'd never heard of Ivalice before, but. I think I understand where you're coming from a little better." The Summoner murmurs, hands folding together in front of her.
    But then up comes a finger. "So you promise to not attack Whyt again, now that we've squared this away?"

"No." Temulin answers the question. "I promise you that I won't attack Whyt unless he's up to no good, with or without you. Pray forgive me for having to narrow it down like that." There's a smile, "But I hope I won't have to."

    That. That makes Rydia's cheeks puff up. "Well he's usually not up to no good." She counters, huffy. But after a beat she relents with the childish pouting. "You really shouldn't have to, though. He and I are pretty tied together, he's not going to be doing anything unless I'm doing it."

"Different degree of up to no good." Temulin clarifies quickly, smiling. "But yeah, you seem like a good kid." She shrugs, "So I doubt I'll have cause to attack him without breaking my promise. I just don't want to make a promise I could have to break."