In Chronur, Tum is talking to his watcher at the firepit in the middle of the suite. Wladysus is sitting near the firepit eating a bowl of ice cream with more toppings than is reasonable. Runa is in her room and Antikytheria listens passively from its room while looking for information on Talos Mechanical parts in the archive. Their doors are opening, and they are listening. Their watchers are nearby. Castor is off doing research, and Lyfdeq is with him.

"That conversation was disappointing." Referring to his conversation with a watcher ohapitu named Gnlana who threw him out of her kitchen.

Rhvuric says, "For what it's worth, she was trying to keep you from dying. But I think I understand why you're frustrated."

Tum responds, "That is fair, but there was more bite behind those words. I'm wondering if it is because of the discussion of temporal aether."

Rhvuric says, "Maybe. She's also very territorial about what goes on in her kitchen. Imagine if a stranger came up and tried to do something dangerous while you were cooking."

Tum nods, Tum: "That is the problem, isn't it? To you, you consider all of this your kitchen. There are more questions we need answers to. Questions that might be uncomfortable." He indicates all around.

Rhvuric asks, "You mean all of time?"

Tum nods, "Yes, and this place here. Even the idea of 'stranger' carries meaning here. The core of ohapitu is 'invitation,' not satiation."

Rhvuric nods, listening.

Tum continues, "That is what has been lost. To be clear, are we being invited into your circles? Because I feel the distance you are keeping with us keenly. If we are being invited, there are discussions we need to have. I fear for the safety of this tribe." His tone is that of disappointment.

Rhvuric considers. He looks around at the other watchers nearby, then says, "I don't have the authority to decide what you are told or not told, not entirely. I know that you met with Fehenesz earlier. He might be able to help. Or we could go to someone else with the same authority. But I can't disobey my orders."

Ulte-eneq looks worried. Oddomo doesn't have a reaction. Ypeq, Wladysus's watcher, looks interested.

Tum says, "You have orders though. And those orders place us outside your tribe." He draws a line on the ground by the firepit, between himself and his watcher.

Rhvuric considers his words carefully, "We are two different tribes working toward the same goal. We hunt together for survival, but we have different methods and knowledge. And not all of us agree what should be shared and what shouldn't. And I understand that that causes problems, but we need to speak to the elders of my tribe before I can share what you want to know."

Ypeq walks over and puts a comforting hand on Ulte-eneq's shoulder. Wladysus watches Tum and Rhvuric keenly.

Tum says, "Are you comfortable discussing your tribe's vulnerabilities? Fehenesz brought up the possibility that someone from your tribe is working towards this break."

Rhvuric says, "Comfortable, yes. But I don't know if I have the full knowledge to be able to answer accurately."

Tum responds, "If he is right, then there is a chance we will be hunted by members of your tribe. I would ask how to defend ourselves, if it comes to that. How do you kill a watcher, if a rogue hunts us?"

Rhvuric says, "You have Littany metal. You have seen how we react to it. We bleed and die like anyone else. And right now, our powers over time are limited. That's the best answer I can give about that."

"How do you react to it?" Tum asks, "I confess I am not aware. I have seen you recoil but I do not know what happens."

Rhvuric answers, "I meant, we ran away when Macrinus threatened us with it. We fear it because its touch burns us and any blade made of it will destroy us entirely."

Ulte-eneq steps into Runa's room and looks away. Ypeq follows her and hugs her.

Tum notices. "Has this happened to one of yours?"

Oddomo interjects, "And rogues are more dangerous than we are. Every rogue has their own unique powers, which is how they evade us. You might need to speak to the rogue-hunters about how to fight them."

Rhvuric says, "No one we know personally. Ulte-eneq is just one of those who thinks we shouldn't share so much information."

Ypeq says, "She's afraid. We're all afraid."

Runa looks up from her wool she was sorting and looks to her watcher. "I'm sorry this is making you uncomfortable. These are dangerous times."

Ulte-eneq shakes her head. "The world might have already ended and we are just scrambling pointlessly. Dangerous times is hardly the right way to describe it."

Ypeq says, "It's not over. We have hope."

Runa nods. "Fair enough. I can understand this fear, of feeling stripped of your natural defenses."

Tum says, "What /can/ you do to us, if you don't mind me asking. Fear is healthy. Fear is a gift. Fear must be discussed and met."

Rhvuric says, "If time were moving, we would be able to stop it. But right now, we can't. We can with focus and meditation step outside of time to observe you, and move back a day or so to see anything we mised, but right now, there's no time to step outside of. Those are our natural powers. Many of us train in different arts and abilities, and right now, there's so many of us here from every time period, I don't think anyone can say what is truly present."

"You mean to say you are without your natural powers while time is in this state?" Tum asks.

Rhvuric nods. "Yes."

"Who hunts you? What are your natural predators, normally?" Tum asks. "What of the city's defenses? Did they rely on the same power source as your natural powers? Is the city also relatively defenseless?"

Rhvuric considers, "We have a large enough tribe and a home that is hidden so well that there are no predators against us specifically, but there are those who seek to harm time itself that we consider our enemies. I don't know all of the beings out there who are a threat to time itself. They are very few, but the ones I know of are the Littany family, the rogue watchers, and maybe some of the more dangerous gods. And whoever or whatever this Epochal Ranger is." He pauses, thinking. He then continues, "The city is more vulnerable now than usual, I suppose, but we have other magicks that protect it. And its walls are sturdy enough to withstand great powers."

"What are those defenses?" Tum asks, "If someone were to attack the city, or attack you as a people, how could they go about it? From where I stand, restricting your time powers seems like a necessary first step."

Rhvuric considers, but then Odddomo says, "Given the state time is in right now, I think it's fair to say that we've already been attacked." Rhvuric follows up, "That's... something that has crossed our minds. I don't know what the military is doing about it, but I know they have been working on defenses."

Tum says, "You are apex predators, you are not accustomed to living as prey. Unfortunately, that makes you predictable."

Rhvuric nods, "We aren't like your tribe, though. Some of our tribe do work on defenses. Just not those of us in this room."

Tum says, "If I can offer any help or advice, it would be this: Be strong in your vulnerability. To be prey is to live with and embrace risk. It is to find strength in what you can control when powerless."

Rhvuric says, sincerely, "I will pass that along."

Tum says, "This is why we must attempt to cook things even if the cooking is risky. I know you are taking a risk in inviting us in. It is one step."

Rhvuric nods, "There are those taking risks right now. You represent one of those risks. But part of taking risks is knowing the limits of those risks. I know Gnlana didn't express herself in a way that made you want to trust her, but you have to know that some of the knowledge we have is about what is dangerous for you or for all of us, and if we say something is too risky, we know what we are talking about. Consider how risky it is for us to bring you in at all when we say something is too risky - it means it's so much more dangerous than you and your metal are."

Tum shakes his head. "You know so much more than us, but there is much you have also forgotten. You have blind spots, you have weaknesses. Your biggest is that you are risk adverse, culturally. Understand when I ask questions, this is me pointing out that which you have overlooked. We need to learn from each other."

Rhvuric says, "Maybe, but she's not wrong that if you eat raw temporal aether, it will kill you."

Tum says, "Oh, I heard her. She did not hear me. I'm asking and pleading with you, with all of you, to please listen to us. It is what you have brought us in for. It is how we can repay your kindness."

Rhvuric says, "But you also have not listened to me. I said at the beginning, I am not the one who needs to hear this. I can't do anything about it. Others can, but you chose to talk to me instead."

Tum says, "I sense your frustration. I speak to you because you can listen, because the ones who need to hear this will not listen to me, I suspect, where they might listen to you. You have pointed out that I am not of your tribe."

Oddomo bursts into laughter. Wladysus: Rhvuric looks irritated, then laughs, too. Tum smiles, then laughs as well

Oddomo says, "No, you've got that wronger than you can imagine. They will listen to you. They won't listen to us at all."

Tum asks, "Why?"

Rhvuric says, "We're not the ones with the power to save time itself. You are. You're the one they will listen to."

Wladysus says, "We have leverage. They don't."

Tum nods to Wladysus in thanks.

Rhvuric says, "That's complicated. In normal times, we are much more egalitarian. Right now, things are different."

Oddomo says, "Right now, there are thousands of societies from all different times all merged into one. That's the problem."

Ulte-eneq says, "'Right now' has no meaning."

Antikytheria asks, "Egalitarian how? Because your society predates the alternative structures, like Tum's? Because the knowledge of them weighs on you, like mine?"

Runa also rises and comes into the common area. "Are all of you from different times in your own society? Would you have coexisted normally?" she asks of the Watchers present.

Oddomo says, "I can't talk about what our society was like on other iterations of Shem, but the one we have in the time I know, everyone gets to vote on anything important. So it's a little like when you are from, Antikytheria, but with the twist that we all have to obey one big rule, which is that we have to work to make sure time is functioning right. And if anyone disobeys that, they face dire consequences. So there's still a bit of stratification in society. And right now, since the voting public has ballooned from millions to over a billion, there's no possible consensus, especially since there's no understanding of who is who or from when or... look, it's all pure chaos. Carefully hidden by magicks well beyond me. But since no one is able to organize things like they usually are, everyone is turning to the last few remaining recognized authorities - the rogue-hunters, the priests, and the handful of inmortal watchers who are around."

Ulte-eneq says, "Every watcher who has ever existed, except a few who are lost in the fragments, are now in Chronur. We're from every time that has existed."

Antikytheria observes, "A billion refugees."

Tum asks, "You are actively running from a wildfire?"

Ulte-eneq says, "We are actively sitting inside a wildfire."

Runa asks, "Yes, but you three specifically would not have met under natural circumstances?"

Ulte-eneq says, "We four are from the times you are from, so no."

Runa says, "I'm sorry I assumed watchers were very long lived."

Oddomo says, "We live over 2,000 years. So some of us may have some overlap, but we're living in a city of millions."

Runa nods slowly. "I see."

Antikytheria says, "You all seem to get along well enough. Are the various ages forming into political factions?"

Oddomo says, "Yes, there are factions forming. And factions within factions. Everyone is afraid, and no one agrees on how to react to that."

Tum asks, "What are those factions? We need to be aware when we interact with your leaders."

Antikytheria clarifies, "We don't need to know all of them. Are any of the factions an impediment?"

Rhvuric says, "The ones that affect you the most are those who disagree on how to interact with you all - those who want to share everything, those who want to control the information, those who want to use different magicks, those who don't want you involved at all... Right now, the ones who want your help but want to control the information flow are in charge."

Runa looks between all the watchers present. "Are you all ok working together? And with us?"

Ulte-eneq says, "What choice do we have?"

Runa frowns but shrugs her agreement to Ulte-eneq.

Ypeq says, "Yes, of course."

Oddomo says, "I trust you more than I do our leaders right now."

Rhvuric says, "I think we can get to a place where this can work, but I agree with you, Tum, that it requires us to do more for each other."

Runa asks, "Can we ask that you will let us know if there is a shift to leadership that would be against us Coincidentals?

Ulte-eneq looks to Runa, "I will, and I have fought for you before. You are the only place hope still exists."

Runa nods and says "thank you" to the watchers.

Tum says, "We are all in this together. If it comes to it, and you get into trouble with your tribe, I would invite you into ours. We protect each other."

The watchers are quiet for a moment, then Rhvuric says, "Thank you." Then a moment later. "Please don't tell anyone outside your group about this conversation. And let us be the ones to talk to Lyfdeq about it."

Runa nods, "Of course."

Tum says, "If the forest is on fire, get behind the ones who can create a firebreak. If we have leverage, we can say we made you, and that we need you. That is the truth. After all, you are the ones who would listen to us, you are the ones we spoke to."

Antikytheria says, "I have a feeling this won't be the last conversation like this one."

Rhvuric nods, "No, probably not."

Antikytheria looks to Oddomo. "You mentioned before, rogue-hunters, priests, and immortal watchers. Who in those groups should we know of?"

Oddomo says, "The big names are Xanoa'xhath, Mother Shem's watcher, who welcomed you here. She is inmortal and the leader of those who want you to help, but also want to control the flow of information. Wanthur, an inmortal who leads the rogue-hunters, who leads those who doesn't want your help. Fehenesz, whom you met, the archdruid and emissary to other cities. He's also inmortal, and he is the one who thinks everything should be shared. Hedreqnel, a political leader from the same era as Wladysus, who has led a big push for a return to more democratic functioning. And Azbraraln, the watcher of the nephesh Elam, who hasn't really made his position clear, but who a lot of people are trying to turn into some kind of leader."

Runa asks, "The rogue hunters want to resolve the dilemma themselves?"

Oddomo answers, "The rogue-hunters think a rogue did this, and they think hunting them down will work."

Runa asks, "And what other cities? Like this one?"

Oddomo says, "Other cities of other species and nations. Not like Chronur."

Runa nods, "Ah I see."

Tum says, "This calls for a meal. You know the one Rhvuric, we're making pemmican and sharing a meal." He'd understand the act. It's a family meal with emphasis on family. As a ritual. "And each of you are helping." He indicates each watcher.

Wladysus says, "Oh, we are invited to go eat with the other Coincidentals, though."

Tum nods to her, "It is trail food, it nourishes on the go. You take it with you."

Wladysus me shrugs, "Okay."

Runa asks, "May I help too Tum?"

Tum nods to Runa, "Yes, please." he starts walking through the steps, everyone gets to help mash the mixture.

The watchers agree to help.