Don't expect mercy from my government

[poll_the_stars]

One elf is starting to run out of time. The assassins plotting to kill her could show up any day now. She would really rather they didn't.

The irony doesn't escape her. She's still sending messages about her plans to sell off all of her lifespan and die to become a daeva with a lot of OTC currency. If she wanted, she could mint a ton of Ka, then let the assassins kill her. But the idea doesn't appeal. Some form of giving up, of letting them win. She's not often petty, but in this particular instance she thinks she'll indulge herself. Besides, it's not like they're the merciful type. She recalls Aisilian's perfect comprehensioned words. You were in quite a lot of pain...

No. No, she'll - not do that. She'll go spend a little while in Nexus.

She sends Miles a message.

So everything is packed and I have everything I need with me to flee my dimension before I get assassinated. Is now a good time?

Comments

[thisvorlunatic]

An acceptable outcome.

[lurkingkobold]

Yup!

Dinner, nom.

After dinner - what does the elf seem inclined to do? For that matter, what does Miles?

[poll_the_stars]

Inavet would very dearly like to go practice magic.

She is not going to say this out loud.

"Would it be all right if I took a long walk in the woods?" she asks, instead, carefully addressed to no one in particular.

[lurkingkobold]

Um.

Miles, this one's on you.

[thisvorlunatic]

"...Please don't go too far, avoid talking to the locals, particularly avoid letting anyone know you're an interdimensional elven fugitive, but yes, it would be all right."

[poll_the_stars]

"Sure. I won't cause trouble."

[lurkingkobold]

It is going to be a month solid before the kobold has the woods checked for traps and magic again. Augh.

[thisvorlunatic]

Miles offers the kobold an apologetic half-shrug. He understands the inconvenience, but Inavet really isn't going to entrap their woods and it's not fair to her to confine her to the house in case she does that thing which she certainly isn't going to do.

[lurkingkobold]

Augh.

[poll_the_stars]

.... Inavet gives the kobold a confused look. What's wrong?

[lurkingkobold]

Um.

Um.

Um.

"I can go with you?"

...what the hell, me. Why would you do that.

[poll_the_stars]

Inavet blinks. "Sure, if you like."

[thisvorlunatic]

...okay then...

[lurkingkobold]

Augh.

"Sure." Pause. "It's always a good idea to have someone to show you around a new place."

Get it together, kobold, freaking out isn't going to help anything. Calm. Calm. You know how to do this. Calm. Right.

[poll_the_stars]

"I wouldn't mind the company," agrees Inavet.

[lurkingkobold]

Well. They can just, do that, then. The kobold manages to get her act together well enough to make a plausibly enthusiastic trail guide - it helps that she has an idea of how Ina moves, now, and isn't freezing at every unexpected thing - and after a while, she does genuinely calm down, and even start enjoying herself a little.

[poll_the_stars]

Surprisingly, Inavet seems to enjoy herself, too. She relaxes, and walks with a familiarity that might be uncharacteristic to a stranger. A sureness in her steps.

(Which makes sense, of course. Her second strongest craft is plant craft, and she's in a forest. That combined with grace means she doesn't need to pay much attention to walk where she wants to.)

She follows the kobold and looks around and is generally unproblematic.

[lurkingkobold]

The kobold is pretty familiar with the forest, by now, and knows where a good amount of interesting stuff is.

Here's an interesting rock, for example.

Here's a clearing with pretty flowers.

Here's a patch of evergreens to walk through, for a little bit of a different ambiance.

Here's a section of the forest where the native plants dominate, for a different ambiance again.

Here's a particularly nice view of the lake.

[poll_the_stars]

Inavet appreciates the tour! She is especially curious of the native plants, but is smart enough not to touch them. (Actually she can tell that a good portion of them are poisonous, but that fact isn't immediately obvious to non-arcanists.)

When they get to the nice view of the lake, Inavet asks, "Do you mind if we sit here for a while? The view's nice."

[lurkingkobold]

"Sure."

She waits for Ina to sit, and sits a comfortable distance away - not quite out of arm's reach, but far enough not to invite casual contact.

[poll_the_stars]

She doesn't mind the kobold keeping her distance. She sits, and looks at the lake, and tries to steal a few moments of peace.

[lurkingkobold]

The kobold doesn't interfere with this; she just sits and enjoys the view.

Before too long, the sun starts to set. The view of that is nice, too.

[poll_the_stars]

Inavet watches that, too, with just a hint of melancholy. How many times had she gotten the chance to watch the sun set, in her thousand years of life? Not very often, actually. Especially not lately. Often she was nervous about even going outside. Nervous about someone finding her, nervous about having her guard down, nervous about ambush and injuries and poison and assassins and death.

Once it's set and the sky is darkening to purple, she says, "Time to go back?"

She sounds sad.

[lurkingkobold]

There's a thing about living in a society of people who don't talk - you get pretty good at reading moods, even if you're not particularly paying attention to them.

"I'm not in a rush," she says. "But we can come back tomorrow, too."

[poll_the_stars]

"Mm. Maybe," says Inavet, but the maybe sounds like an I would rather not.

She stands, brushing herself off. "But thank you, for this - it was nice."