Fell is going to Fukeru Ukuure.
Feres is going to Darkling Dawn
Vaesai is standing at Lantessama.
It wasn’t going to be easy… not the least because her brother hadn’t come with her. But on the other hand, she wondered internally if she even really wanted him involved with this.
Fell shook her head to dispel such thoughts, and instead focused on her task once more. She watched the house closely, knowing that anything she learned from observing it could possibly save her life later in the night.
Right now though, all she was really waiting for was for Velst to retire for the night… or at least stop his pacing of the house and settle down somewhere. And hopefully not in the room that she felt sure Kirasian was in, either.
Finally, she saw her chance, as Velst walked into a room fairly far from the one that she had pegged as Kirasian’s, and drew the curtains, the light going out seconds after he did so.
Not wasting any of her precious time, she slid down from her perch on another roof and quickly leapt from where she landed, landing this time on the roof of a small porch that Velst had added on to the back of his house not long ago. The thump of her landing sounded, to her, like a boulder crashing to an abrupt halt, and she froze in fright, her heart pounding loudly as she waited for a shout of discovery.
But none came, and she slowly, still quivering slightly from the scare she had given herself, crossed the porch roof on all fours, eyes darting from side to side as she kept watch for anyone about to shout an alert.
Luck was apparently on her side, though, or perhaps her landing had not been quite as loud as she thought, for she crossed without mishap, and managed to slip up to the window she had pegged as the best choice of how to enter the house. Rising up slowly, she pulled out one of her slim knives and probed the window lock carefully, heaving a sigh of relief when it became clear to her that Velst hadn’t spent any money on security or locks at all.
A quick jiggle sent the loose bolt sliding back, and she carefully pulled one side open and slid into the house, pulling the window mostly closed after her. Moonlight illuminated the room just barely enough for her to spot obstacles that threatened to block her path and send her to the floor with a crash.
Fell paused for a small second beneath the window, trying to force her wildly beating heart to calm down, and her shaky limbs to grow sturdy once more. This wasn’t the first time she had done something like this, but there was so much more that she risked losing if she failed…
No time to think, girl, lets get this show on the road. Sooner started, sooner ended.
Steeling herself, she rose and crossed the room swiftly, pulling the door open just enough to let her small frame slip through, and then instantly started off down the hallway towards what she was sure was Kirasian’s room.
The trip itself was a blur to her, a blur of small dashes and long pauses as she froze in shadows, biting her lip as she closed her eyes and prayed that none would spot her. But eventually she did manage to reach the woman’s room, and blessed her luck once more as the door proved to be unlocked despite her expectations to the contrary.
More moonlight managed to reach this room than the first, proving ample illumination for her questing eyes. Tension that she didn’t even know was there suddenly relaxed as she caught sight of her goal, the lady Kirasian, apparently asleep in a thinly padded chair.
“Who are you…”
Fell started as Kirasian spoke, the weary, almost pained sound in her soft voice attesting that something, at least, was wrong, “Milady, I am Fell, a healer…”
A tiny ghost of a smile crossed over Kirasian’s face, though still she didn’t open her eyes or otherwise move, “A healer that creeps in like a thief… or an assassin. You are an interesting healer, Fell.”
“I refuse to allow a death to occur when it should not,” Fell crossed swiftly over to the woman, laying a small hand on the other’s arm and letting her senses extend into Kirasian’s body, “And this should not happen.”
Kirasian shivered slightly as Fell’s powers washed through her, repairing the worst of the damage and giving her back some of her strength, “He’ll just keep at it, Fell… there is no way to stop him.”
Fell smiled coldly, “Don’t be so sure of that, milady. Come, do you feel strong enough to rise?”
“I… I suppose so…” with a soft sigh, Kirasian rose unsteadily to her feet, one of her hands gripping the small healer’s shoulder tightly, “But what… do you have in mind?”
“Getting you out of here,” Fell nodded with conviction that she wasn’t quite sure she felt, then began to lead the other to the window.
Dark eyes blinked as Kirasian gazed out the window at the sky for a second, then looked down at the two story drop before them, “And… how do you suggest that?”
Fell grimaced faintly, “You’ll just have to trust me, milady. Here, rest here for a second.”
Leaving Kirasian sitting on the window seat, Fell slipped back into the room and glanced around, trying to decide what she could use. With a sigh, she crossed to the bed and tugged at one of the covers, taking out her knife once more and cutting the sheet into strips as fast as she could. The resulting pile she knotted together, straining her muscles as she tested the strength of each knot in turn, and mentally blessing the fact that, due to the illness that Kirasian had been suffering from, neither of them were very heavy.
Carrying the makeshift rope, she crossed back to the lady, “Here, let me tie this about you… I can lower you down to the ground with this, and then climb down after you.”
Kirasian frowned, obviously hesitant about accepting this offer, yet she rose once more and, hand on a wall for support, allowed Fell to tie the makeshift rope about her. As Fell quickly unlocked the window and opened it wide, Kirasian braced herself, mentally wondering how such a small girl-child could even hope to support her weight, slight as it was, in a two story descent.
Yet Fell didn’t even hesitate, as she tied the other end of the rope to a sturdy piece of wood that wasn’t about to move at any time in the near future, given that it was securely worked into a support for the mantle. Then, without pausing once, she went back over to Kirasian and lifted the woman up, carefully lowering her over the edge of the window and grasping the makeshift rope tightly.
She tried to proceed slowly, yet fear of discovery nagged at her mind constantly, causing her to lower the other down faster than she would have otherwise. But still, Kirasian landed gently enough on her feet, and tugged once on the rope lightly, as she untied it from about her waist.
Fell breathed a sigh of relief as she peered over the edge of the window and spotted the lady leaning heavily against the wall, apparently fine except for the weakness that dragged at her limbs, caused by the poison no doubt.
It was the work of a second to pull out her knife once more and score the blanket lightly where it rubbed against the window ledge. Preparation complete, Fell grabbed hold of the rope and began to scramble down it with all due speed, feeling as the weaving slowly parted along the cut due to her weight. Finally, biting her lip, she gripped the rope tightly and tugged as hard as she could, letting her full body weight drag down on the blanket…
And had to bite back a yelp as the blanket parted silently, sending her tumbling down the last foot or two to land hard on her rear.
“Why did you…”
Fell scrambled swiftly to her feet, letting the blanket lay where it had fallen, “This won’t look as suspicious to any passer-bys, milady. Now come, I need to get you to a temple, and swiftly.”
Kirasian nodded as she accepted Fell’s support once more, and the two of them began to make their slow way away from Velst’s dark house and towards the temple that Fell had already decided upon.
It was all she could do to keep her limbs trembling from reaction to what she had just done.
Maybe there really were gods, and maybe they were looking down upon her favorably.
Behind them, Velst’s house remained dark and silent, the inhabitants unaware of what had just happened.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
The predawn light was more than enough for her to see by, as she ghosted down the empty streets. Faint, soft tendrils of breeze wended their way through the maze-like streets, tugging softly at her platinum hair. The silence was calming, peaceful in its intensity.
This was the time between night and day, the strange, frozen moments where almost nothing stirred and few thoughts disturbed the minds of any.
And through it, Vaesai moved like a wisp, emerald eyes distant, clothes rippling slightly in the small breeze, a few stray strands of her hair dancing. This, more than anything, was her time, the time that she normally left her den and walked the world.
Sure, she would do it at other times, when the situation warranted it… but this was always simply a stroll for her own pleasure, for clearing her mind of the clutter that always accumulated during the day.
A clutter both of thoughts, and of foreknowledge. That was the main reason that she rarely left her den, because elsewhere, the press of events that were yet to happen could become so heavy, so oppressive…
Shielding helped… it helped greatly, in fact. But there were some things that she could just never shield out.
I always know things that will affect me personally… tiny, stupid, insignificant things, like when people will show up at my den, or when there are things that I should do.
And the big things. Things that will change how the entire city or world feels, even if only for a tiny, brief instant.
Oh Selesst… I’m so sorry…why is it always the most important decisions that cause the most pain? If I had held you back, the entire world would have suffered… yet now, I must watch as –you- suffer…
The gods must be reawakened… but why must it come at such a high cost for so many?! Why must the people that will be remembered as bright, glorious legends in the future have such traumatic lives? Why is that always the way?
And outwards, all you will see of them is smiling, brave, kind people… you’d never guess at how much all of them will ache inside at the losses they have sustained.
Vaesai sighed, as she swept her eyes up, looking at the gradually lightening sky as she did so. A few of the brightest stars still shone stubbornly, as if refusing to vanish until the sun was completely up.
The brightest stars… those that never give in without a fight. I suppose those represent our heroes and legends… oh but how I wish that we had no need of such in our world!
She shook her head, bringing her eyes down from the heavens and instead focusing on the cobbled road before her. Long she had watched the world in silence, long she had carefully strove to choose the best options out of those presented to her. Yet with each move she made, it grew harder to proceed.
Thankfully, the weight of being a heroine was not laid on her shoulders, for she instinctively knew if that was to happen, she’d break under the pressure. A Guide was not meant to bear the burden of being a savior, only to bear the burden of making sure that there –were- saviors out there when there needed to be. A hard, heavy weight, yet not nearly as difficult as that which was laid upon the heroes and future legends.
As far as she could tell, she was one of the last remaining of her people. They hadn’t been very numerous even at the beginning, when the gods had crafted them as intelligent tools that could guide the world with their actions. But time had crept up to claim them one by one, in some manner or another.
I only hope that I do not have to pay Feather’s price! To know what would happen, and willingly continue on that path with the knowledge that only by dying in such a manner could she assure that the world had any hope in its future. The thought that I might be called upon for such a task… chills me.
And I feel sorry for the man that she passed her powers on to. This is not a burden that would be a blessing to anyone, even those of us that were created with it. How much more so is it a curse to one who was mortal, up until the point when they are ‘gifted’ with such power and knowledge? Yet who am I to meddle with another’s plans, even long dead as she is?
I think… it is almost time for my ending, in some fashion or another. My choices have slowly grown narrow and narrower in view. But what sort of ending will it be… a true death like Feather’s… or a mere disappearance, like Koronen pulled so many thousands of years ago?
Sounds of movement snapped her out of her contemplation abruptly. Only then did she realize that the sun was almost completely up, though it still couldn’t be seen from the narrow street that she was walking down slowly.
Blinking, and swiftly reorienting herself to where she was, she hurried off towards her den, reluctant to be caught out by any of the multitude of people that lived in the city, wanting to retain her calm, uncluttered state of mind for as long as she could.