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Of course, there were still several hours to go until sundown, and Kalokin wouldn't need more than fifteen minutes to fetch a snack. No, this time was for him to sort his thoughts out, to get his mind in order. The last time he'd told this story, he'd almost lost his only friend. The time before that, a revolution toppled the Naga government as a response to the truth he'd revealed.

"Oh come on, dissent was brewing for a solid decade before that, they just didn't notice until after the fact. Ghanyr was just the catalyst that sparked it into open rebellion. Also, is my foray into the woods really that important?"

His words slipped through the air barely more than whispers, bound for some unknown or perhaps nonexistent presence.

"Ha ha, very funny, play it like I'm insane. Classy." His words were met by silence, and nothing more. The empty forest loomed dark around him. "Typical. Thrice damned uppity-" his tone shifted somewhat as his eyes lost focus and his form dissolved below his shoulders. White mist covered his eyes, coalescing into pale cataracts that rendered him apparently blind.

"Well, the puppeteer was never much one for conversation with me, I suppose you all will have to do. Yes, you. I know your kind, you gather where important things happen. You watch legends form and kingdoms fall. I don't think anyone else knows about you... save for one certain Cottonmouth. That's a different story though, and you'd be watching him if you wanted his story. Watchers. Observers. Followers... yes, that's a good word, for you follow the exploits of others, but in all my eons I don't think I've ever seen any of you -do- anything, at least not in this world. I'm not sure you can."

Kalokin busied himself carving a bow from a supple limb with magic while he spoke, giving his hands work while his lips wandered.

"When I focus, I can even hear you talking amongst yourselves. Damned strange, if you ask me, but since you've followed me out into the woods to watch me do literally nothing, I may as well explain a few things. I'm more a fan of show not tell, but telling will have to suffice." He was silent for a few moments before his words fell forwards in a quiet stream. "Magic is an energy, just like all the others. It's a power, a potential, one that can be formed into any other energy. With the right soul and a strong spirit, the power you call 'magic' may become any kind of energy. That said, every soul has a predisposition towards a certain kind. Khaesho's is heat, and Shouyousei, as we just learned, has a knack for electrical, but both of them have a modest aptitude for kinetic. Due to the nature of the soul, the ability to create heat is the most common, a blessing considering that Naga are cold blooded. Souls are chaotic, unpredictable things, and heat, as you might know, is a simplified measure of chaos. It is an amount of kinetic energy split in uncountable different directions over each molecule of physical matter. Bonds hold the matter together, but if that chaos grows too great, molecules break apart and reform into different combinations. In simple terms, they catch fire and burn. Fire is literally matter shaking itself to pieces and letting off excess energy as heat and light. Rather than require refinement, heat magic requires passion and emotion to help channel it. When magic is poured forth in the idea of heat, the chaos inherent in the soul scatters it into an appropriately chaotic pattern. Since heat is just a randomized form of kinetic energy, most Naga also have some affinity for kinetic, albeit it takes significantly more focus. Take Khaesho, for example. His soul is strong enough to keep himself comfortably warm for days using nothing but magic, but if he tried to move anything larger than a chair across a room, he'd catch it on fire; the smallest fraying of attention in kinetic magic easily turns it into heat, and as such most magi don't use kinetic magic on things that aren't fireproof, unless they know what they're doing."

He examined his handiwork, then nodded to himself. Reaching out with his mind, he pulled a generous basket of leaves from the tree. The fibers would be woven into a bow string.

"Heat and kinetic energies are also the most straight-forwards. You want something hot? Energy from your soul flows into it, then transforms into energy. Done. You want something shoved? Takes skill to compress a slow push into a quick shove, but the concepts are simple, you just need focus. Electrical energy is much harder... more rules, more limitations. You need a decent knowledge of how it works in order to do anything useful -and- safe, but you all can hear about that later. Shou will need a full crash course in E fields before she can safely wield magic, and I don't want to explain it twice."

String complete, he stretched the bow and hooked the sturdy weaving onto the ends, An experimental pull showed that, of course, this was untreated wood, but it would shoot straight enough that he could compensate.

"Consequently, Shelandra, deity of fire, and Ghozamel, deity of force, are the strongest of us in terms of raw power. Bhalxash, electricity doesn't have the kind of primal magical force that they do, but she can still pack quite a wallop. In times of plenty, we'd host grand shows where we beat the loving hell out of each-other in the name of a good time. Put on a good show, raise money to supplement taxes, run some crooked gambling schemes, grand fun. I usually let them win unless the pot on me winning was properly massive, but that's beside the point."

A single arrow shaft was carved from the branch by now. He cast his mind outwards, looking for shed feathers that would serve for fletching.

"We draw upon mortals for power, for energy, but their exposure to our souls increases aptitude, in direct proportion to the time and volume of presence. The four... now five, vessels are usually the strongest and most skilled magi in the kingdom, even before you add in their patron's support. That said, a magi hoping to advance can't just hope that a vessel dies and he gets chosen, and having more than one vessel is critically damaging for a deity. The others tried it once or twice, and I remember it almost literally tore Shelandra in half in a matter of weeks. Nasty business. That's why we have acolytes. If a vessel swears over his life and free will in exchange for massive power, influence, and wealth, Acolytes promise what amounts to community service in return for a blessing. Sometimes if the economy starts to drag, we'll sell them for flat cash, though at an exorbitant price. It's an excellent way to get money out of savings accounts and back onto the streets. By the way, I mean blessings as actual, tangible nouns. We can transfer 'raw' magic without changing its form to a more 'natural' state, a skill unique to us that I've seen. If we choose, we can bestow a portion of our 'primal' magic. So long as the mortal holds on to that blessing, their soul will slowly gain aptitude with that element. In times of dire need, a blessing can be consumed for great magical workings, but such an act is rare, but I'll explain why in a moment. The agreement is that they'll use that aptitude to better themselves and their community, nominally by incorporating the improved magical skill into their craft. Shel's acolytes often end up in forges, Ghoz's find work as farmhands and city guards, and Bhal's usually take up work as healers and doctors. Blessing increases a mortal's physical aspects as well, along a similar trend; temperature resilience, strength, and ingenuity are common, but all mortals react in different ways, and the trend is a guideline, not a rule. Also of note, a blessing fragments when a mortal sires heirs, splitting into equal fragments for each egg of a clutch. In this way, even a lowly Naga can, through a lifetime of hard work and dedication, secure a guaranteed improvement for his descendants."

He found feathers and pulled them through the forest to where he floated. Sliced neatly in half, he fused them to the shaft with some carefully applied heat. They wouldn't last long, but he only needed one shot.

"Of course, this leaves the parents with diminished blessings, but by the time they raise a family, most Naga don't need a blessing anymore, and those that do manage to secure another. Blessings follow family lines in this manner, and they don't fade with time. They fracture until they're infinitesimally small and effectively worthless, but they never go away. Over the course of four thousand years of mixed blood and perhaps a few strategically placed blessings with especially promiscuous Naga, every citizen in the kingdom has some sliver of each of we four in their souls. That's how prayer works, at least for them. If they want to direct a prayer, the feel for that sliver and they pray. We always hear. Sometimes we can't help. Sometimes we don't."

A common stone on the ground caught Kalokin's eye next. This was always the hardest part for him. With furrowed brow, he glared at the rock until it shattered into a shape resembling an arrowhead. He sharpened this further before affixing it to the shaft.

"Nowadays, magic is commonplace in Naga society. When they first formed as a Nation, only the vessels could wield magic; not even a sizeable blessing could help a commoner cast, because a key component of magic is faith that you can use it. It's a little like moving your arm. If a Naga breaks an arm and wears it in a cast for three months, it's a little hard to move at first, a little stiff. They've spent so long with that limb immobilized, their minds get used to the idea of simply being unable to move it. Magic goes the same way, but living your life believing it's the stuff of fairytales cripples your ability, like growing up with a limb encased in steel. Over time though, as we found more Naga who were receptive enough to a blessing to cast even basic magic, the people came to terms with the idea that anyone could cast with a blessing. As blessings filtered down through family trees, occasionally, an especially strong soul would pop up able to cast without a recently apparent blessing in their lineage. That's only started happening recently, within the last five hundred years, but already the Naga believe the truth that literally all of them have the potential to perform -some- kind of magic. Many never realize that potential and most never manage more than a few embers, but that potential is there. It's been bred through four thousand years of energy steeping deep enough into their souls that their descendants carry an echo of that power. Honestly, I'm surprised that Shou managed to even cast magic at all, so soon after she was claimed as a vessel. She saw Khaesho do something inexplicable, and on nothing more than my word and her own dreams, believed that she could do the same. People like that are rare... about as rare as a hiker willing to step into a serpent's den."

He had a bow, he had an arrow, and he'd finished his story. Still, he had time to burn, so he manifested enough of a body to coil up.

"Well, there's still plenty of time before sundown, and you've been willing enough to talk once or twice before. I'll answer questions, if you have any. I'll even do it for free."