So, Ryza's presence is the wild card here that Robert has no way of knowing about. I actually think it would be instructive to ask Artemis what she would have done in this situation if we weren't here - the reason being that whatever the answer is is what Robert likely expects.
I agree with the suggestion that asking Artemis what she would do without Ryza's nightvision might be a good idea, since that's probably what Robert expects us to do.
"Before anything else," you say. "What would you do if I wasn't here?"
Artemis blinks, looking confused. "What do you mean, Ryza?" she asks.
"I'm the only one Robert doesn't know about," you say, your thoughts racing like the wind. "He knows you. He knows Axton and Lancel, and no offense, but he can probably figure out what you do, Kelton."
"None taken," the soldier says cheerfully.
You give him a grateful smile before continuing your thought-current. "But he doesn't know me. He doesn't know what I can do, so he'll discount me. That means he'll do something to prepare for what you'd do if I wasn't here, which means we can prepare for his preparation without him being able to prepare for our preparation for his preparation."
Artemis seems to mouth the last few words before leaning back, looking thoughtful. "I'm… not completely sure," she says. "I probably wouldn't have made it this far without you, but assuming I somehow did, I'd still know that just going along with him following me wouldn't work. I'd have to do something."
She starts tracing in the dirt, not seeming to draw anything, just thinking. "I'd probably still try to make a break for it. It would be risky. Utter madness, especially with Actaeon in tow. The chance of someone getting hurt or lost would be enormous, especially since I wouldn't be able to risk lights for quite a while, but it would be a chance." She glances out the window. "Alternatively… if I thought the risk wasn't worth it and was angry enough, I might go with Kelton's idea. Drink the Shadow Elixir, sneak out, and try to kill them off, though he'll probably have one or two more people he hasn't shown specifically to prevent us from doing that."
"I don't know this guy," Kelton says. "But from what I've seen he doesn't seem like some all-seeing spirit. Sometimes, a scout party is just a scout party, not some elaborate trap."
"Robert may not be omniscient, but he is intelligent," Axton says. "Which means we need to take this a step further. Lady Ryza, he might not know what you're capable of, but he has seen you." He glanced at Kelton. "If I had to guess; he probably thinks you're with Kelton: he's been acting protective enough of you, and at a distance the lack of family resemblance might have thrown Robert off. He might imagine you're his little sister, along for whatever reason."
Kelton blinks before grinning. "Thats me," he jokes. "Kelton: tactical genius."
Axton pinches the bridge of his nose, but doesn't comment. "In any case, Robert would also be reasoning that, since we have a child with us, we might need to stop, though there are a few ways around that. You're small enough to carry, and could ride on Actaeon if needed."
"And we're back where we started," Lancel groans.
"'Having more information is always moving forward,'" you quote Father, thinking hard.
Now, you just needed to figure out what to do with that information.
AN: I was thinking last night, and I realized that this was a fair question that a thoughtful manakete would ask, and so I'm going to extend the vote until tomorrow so voters can take this new information into account.
[X] Agree with both Artemis and Axton and Lancel's plans. Leave during the night and head north to Castle Legerius, using Ryza's nightvision for guidance.
-[X] It might be worth considering using Ryza's lightning magic to allow everyone else to see where they're walking once we're far enough that Robert and his goons won't be able to see it, but don't do it if the others think it would be a bad idea.
"Marching thus at night a battalion is doubly impressive. The silent monster is full of restrained power, resolute in its onward sweep, impervious to danger."
-Lord MacGill
Your thoughts race; everyone had brought up good points so it was tricky to try and think of the best ones, but you were smart, you could do it.
"I think both Artemis and Axton make good points," you say finally. "And I don't see why we can't do both." You kick at the ground. "If we keep up our current pace, it will take us more than a week to get to Agrithe; that's plenty of time for something to go wrong. Better for us to go find more friends who can help us, like Kelton's people did." You look at Axton. "But at the same time, just staying here tonight won't help us: it just gives them more time to think, and we've always done best when we can think and they just have to react to us."
"It'll be dangerous," Axton says quietly, but he doesn't sound aggressive, just voicing ideas. "We can't see in the dark like you can; we stopped at the base of the mountain specifically because you were worried you wouldn't be able to guide us safely."
You nod. "That's true, but we didn't really need to move much faster then: we already had a good lead, and they didn't know we were gone yet. It was better to be safe. Now, we have those horses right behind us the whole way, meaning we can't get any rest. We need to get away from them, and if I'm the only one who can travel at night, then it's better we use that."
Kelton shrugs. "I would have preferred to solve the problem more permanently, but the kid makes some good points, and she's right that all our plans pretty much rely on her, so she gets a bigger vote than others. No offense, my lady."
"None taken," Artemis says. "Alright; that sounds like a good compromise to me." She glances out the window. "We should have some better cloud cover in an hour or two: we set up watch until then in case Robert tries something, then we slip out the back way." Everyone nods. "Excellent. Lancel; you go first: try to keep out of sight as much as possible, but leave some clue you're there. Axton, I'm going to try and set up a decoy for when we leave, something that'll keep Robert guessing."
Everyone sets about their work, and you find yourself with not much to do. You don't want to get out a scroll and read in case something happens, but whenever you try to ask if there's anything you can do to help you're told that, since you're going to be guiding everyone through the night soon, you should get some rest.
You occupy yourself with thinking about how you're going to do that. When you were guiding Artemis through your home, you'd needed to hold her hand for large portions of it, and while you wish you could do that here, you only have two hands. Instead, you decide that you'll need to imitate a duck: if you have everyone follow directly behind you, you can guide them all without having to directly guide each of them, just as a mother duck would guide her ducklings. It's a foolproof plan.
You're not quite sure why Kelton balks and Artemis stuffs her fist in her mouth when you describe it to them. Must be a human thing.
However, once you've convinced them that it's the best idea, all that's left to do is wait. A tense hour and a half passes before Artemis finally peeks out into the black night. "Alright; I think this is the best we're going to get," she whispers. "I see a fire on the hill; Robert's letting us know he's still there, though he probably has a few people watching from other angles." She carefully sets the strange thing that looked vaguely like a person she and Axton had clobbed together from a cloak, some sticks, and a bundle of moss swinging. "Feed the fire as much as you can; we want it to burn as long as possible, then let's go."
You lead the way out of the smallish hole Kelton had found; barely big enough for Actaeon to squeeze through. The horse does not seem happy, but with Artemis gently holding and shushing him, he seems willing to follow.
You pause for a moment, letting your eyes fully adjust before going further. You can't see the vibrant greens, browns and other colors in the night like a Black manakete would have been able to, but as the world sharpens around you you spot a figure standing in the trees a few dozen meters away. "Someone over there," you breath to Axton, who's right behind you. "Wait… wait…"
Finally, after a minute, the man shifts and moves away. "Okay, go!" you say, grabbing Axton's hand and leading the way, trusting him to guide the others along.
The first part of the journey is the most dangerous; it's mostly open ground down the hill on the other side from Robert himself. If you can make it to the tree line, you'll have some cover, but right now the only thing shielding you from sight is darkness. Thankfully, you'd taken the time to map the best route in your mind, and so there are no stumbles as you hustle down the hill and into the woods.
You slow to a stop: now noise will be your worst enemy. Axton nearly runs you over, but he's able to stop himself, and after a moment the whole procession slows.
You listen intently, but you don't hear any sounds of disturbance or alarm. "Okay, let's go," you whisper, starting to inch forward.
The going is slower than you'd expected. Even your darkvision has its limits: pools of particularly deep shadow blinding even you, and several time you nearly stumbled over a root or into a hole in the ground. However, with the occasional tiny flicker of lightning, you were able to prevent injury.
Harder, as it turned out, was keeping your "ducklings" in line. You had thought that they'd be able to just put their hands on each other's shoulders, but with the necessity of keeping a horse in line and weapons in hand, that turns out to be less viable. It's barely fifteen minutes before you have to rapidly extend a wing to catch Kelton as he gets separated and nearly blunders past you; unable to speak due to a shuffling noise not far from you that could be an animal, but could be one of the bandits. He grunts slightly as you push him back: even in your heart-form, your wings are strong, but thankfully he doesn't complain, and you continue on.
And on.
And on.
This… actually seems to be working. True, it's mentally exhausting, constantly keeping everything around you in focus as you try to keep going in the right direction. Artemis had mentioned once that she was able to navigate by stars , but the same clouds that were keeping you from being seen also prevented that. Instead, you are forced to rely on far more guesswork and hunches than you are comfortable with, but it's work-
Wait, Lancel just got separated. Stop everyone else and go get him.
Okay, now it's working.
You can't really tell how much time passes; it all starts to blur together. You've never been one to like going too long without a nap; and so it's painful to force yourself to keep going, step by step, realizing you've now gone an entire day without once stopping to rest (that hour and a half hadn't counted, you'd been plotting).
The first sign that something is changing is when you hear Artemis whisper something to Kelton, who whispers it to Axton, who passes it on to you. "Lady Artemis is wondering if there is anywhere safe enough to get some light, so that we can ease some of the burden on you," he asks.
You look ahead, frowning. "There's some tree line up that way, past a small ridge," you say. "We're on open ground right now, any light will be visible, but if we get there it should be safe to have a bit of light. I'll redirect us."
It takes a while and another few uses of your wings as makeshift walls (you are so glad everyone here knows about those and accepts them, this would be even more miserable without some way of quietly herding your friends) before you finally reach this next batch of trees. Once you're a little ways in, you form a ball of lightning in your hand and stabilize it into a rough facsimile of the sort of light orb a White manakete would make. "How's everyone doing?" you ask.
"We're doing well, Ryza," Artemis says, rubbing Actaeon's nose as he shies away from your lightning ball. "The question is, how are you doing?"
You shrug. "I'm a bit tired, but I'll be okay," you say. "If we can take little breaks like this, where we're all able to see, then I'll be fine for open spaces where we have to be sneaky."
Artemis frowns as she looks around. "While I understand that we have been traveling hard for the better part of a day, the further we can get from Robert before he realizes we're gone, the better off we will be. If you are all willing, I say we push on: we can rest during the day when it will be more likely we'll be spotted if we travel."
"Our lives are yours, my lady," Axton says. "If this is the best way to ensure safe passage, then we will endure."
"I'm down for it," Kelton says.
Artemis smiles. "Thank you, all of you," she says. "Very well, Ryza, take a break for a bit; we'll use light to get us through these woods."
You blink blearily as you uncurl, not quite sure where you are or what's going on. It's bright, too bright out to be asleep even though you're so tired…
"Hey, Ryza," Artemis's voice says gently.
Peering over, you stare at Artemis, who's leaning against a tree looking almost as tired as you feel, but still acting alert. "Artemis?" you say dumbly. You always sound dumb when you're tired, it's why you don't like being tired.
"Hush, it's okay," Artemis says, gently reaching out and rubbing your head. "Go back to sleep: you must be exhausted."
Frowning, you try to remember what you'd been doing. Last night… last night you'd all left the tower and kept walking… you'd all managed to make it to the woods and get some light… then you'd kept going.
Oh. Right.
You all had kept walking until dawn broke over the horizon. You'd led the way when you'd all been out in the open, using magic to light the way under cover, and you guess you'd overestimated your own stamina. You weren't in any danger of overload, but you were just so tired. Reaching unconsciously into your pocket, you pull out your dragonstone and press it to your temple, feeling a measure of your dragon's strength filling you.
Artemis gently covered your hand with hers. "I know the others are still asleep, but you should still be careful doing that," she said, a note of urgency in her voice. "I don't know what habits you formed before, but I'm afraid you're going to have to learn new habits."
Oh, right, humans had killed most of your people. You'd forgotten about that. You put your stone away, but don't say anything, just look out from the grove that you vaguely remember Artemis forcing you to stop at after you nearly broke your nose falling down. She'd said everyone was tired, and that was true, but it was clear they were stopping because of you. You'd felt bad about that.
"It's okay, Ryza," Artemis says, and you realize you must have said some of that aloud. "We made a lot of progress last night, and nobody's said anything about spotting people around since we've been keeping watch today. I think we made a clean break."
You nod. "Okay," you say, before frowning and squinting into the distance. "But how can you be sure, what with the clouds walking around over there?" you point towards a nearby hill.
Artemis turns her gaze to follow your finger before biting back a laugh. "Ryza, those aren't clouds. Those are sheep."
You peer at the strange things, frowning. They sure look like a cloud: all white and fluffy. You wonder if you could drink them: you'd tried to drink a low-flying cloud once after Father told you that they were made of water, but you'd just ended up getting wet.
Artemis continues to rub your head, humming. "Go to sleep, Ryza," she whispers. "You've done so much already; you can rest for a little bit; we should be able to make it to Countess Mantrae without any more problems."
A question occurs to you. "Artemis, why didn't you want to go to her first? You'd said she and your family are friends, why wouldn't you go straight there?"
Artemis frowns. "I'm not quite sure, I guess," she says. "I could say that I thought it'd be predictable, that the bandits would surely try to stop us. I could say that I didn't want to bring her any trouble. I could say that I didn't want to give even a friend any sort of leverage from a debt owed." She sighs. "In the end, I think all that's true, but also I wanted to show that we could get home without begging for help. Stupid, I know."
You shake your head. "I don't think it's stupid. Stupid would have been continuing to insist even after people said it was the best thing to do, but you didn't do that; we talked it out and we came up with a good plan. That's not stupid."
The human smiles. "You really are a sweetheart, Ryza," she says, slightly increasing the pressure on your scalp, causing you to press into her hand. "Go to sleep, little dragon."
"Manakete." you correct automatically, but you still shift to curl up next to Artemis to get in her shade and closing your eyes again.
You wake again to urgent whispering.
"-came from the wrong direction to be bandits," Lancel was saying.
"Can we risk it?" Axton counters. "Look at how they're talking, he wants something and she seems nervous."
You uncurl slowly, looking around to see what's going on.
It's almost dusk, the sun starting to sink towards the horizon, and the rest of the group are clustered around some trees near the edge, talking quietly. Carefully shifting yourself, you crawl over to join them.
Atop the hill where the cloud/sheep had been grazing, a group of mounted men are clustered around another figure that, when you focus, turns out to be a young woman dressed like some of the people in Miau, carrying a long stick with a hook on the end. The leader of the men is dressed a lot like Robert: his armor glinting in the sun as he stands. The woman is wringing her hands and gesturing, causing the armored man to wave a hand in what you think is a dismissive gesture.
"Could be Countess Mantrae's people," Kelton says quietly.
"Probably are, though that seems a bit big to be a simple traveling group, and so late in the day," Artemis says.
You start to open your mouth, but a faint rustling in the woods behind you causes you to cock your head. Turning, you focus… hoofbeats, just like Actaeons, but Actaeon's right over there and he's also looking in that- "Company," you say softly. "Trees behind us. Horses."
Artemis starts to turn, but before she can complete the move a pair of horses canter into the clearing before coming to a sudden halt. You shrink behind her as she leaps to her feet, drawing and nocking an arrow. However, the people on the horses seem more surprised to see you than you are to see them, simply gawking in your direction.
"Bloody hell, what's all this then," the man in front says. "Put those down!"
"As soon as you say who you are and who you're working for," Artemis says icily, her bow drawn and leveled. Glancing around, you see Axton and Lancel also have arrows drawn, and Kelton has stepped forward, his spear and shield out and leveled.
The front man starts to open his mouth again, but the woman behind him's eyes widen. "Biggs, isn't that her?" she says, pointing. "Isn't that Lady Cartese?"
Biggs peers at Artemis before swallowing. "Many apologies, milady," he says, clumsily bowing from the back of his horse. "When we were sent out looking for you, we didn't exactly expect to find you!"
"You were looking for me?" Artemis asks, not lowering her bow. "Who sent you?"
"Why, Sir Octavio, of course," the woman says, pointing towards the man on the hill. "Countess Mantrae said you were in some trouble, and we were sent out to make sure you were okay. Glad to see you're safe, milady!"
Artemis raises an eyebrow, but does slowly lower her bow. "And-"
A faint rumbling causes you to look back, and you realize that, in your efforts to get behind the others, you'd moved into clear view of the people on the hill, and someone had noticed. The horses were all cantering towards you, causing you to shrink back again. "Um, Artemis…" you say weakly, tugging on her cloak.
"I hear them, Ryza," she says softly. "I… I think these are friends."
The armored man spurs his horse to get ahead of his fellows, not quite galloping but certainly hurrying. As he comes closer, you finally get a good look at him:
He draws his horse (and it's even bigger than Actaeon! And wearing shiny armor of its own!) and starts to open his mouth before noticing Artemis.
"My Lady!" he says, swinging himself down before giving a deep bow, flourishing his hand oddly as he does. "Truly, the Spirits smile upon us this day, to see that you are safe!" He glanced around, a tiny frown crossing his face. "But… forgive me, I cannot help but notice that the fair Dame Selena is not with you."
Artemis flinches. "Selena's… she's gone," she says quietly.
It takes the cavalier a moment to figure out what she means, but his eyes widen. "I… my apologies, my lady," he says, his voice losing some of its flamboyance. "My deepest condolences for your loss: I know you were very close."
"Thank you."
He looks around. "But forgive me, where are my manners! Well met, companions of Lady Cartese! I am Sir Octavio, knight of Legerius and sworn man of Countess Mantrae. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
You glance surreptitiously between Sir Octavio and Kelton. Are all men from Legerius this… talkative? He seems nice, though, and so you nod back with a smile and a wave. "Hello."
He raises an eyebrow slightly as you speak, but he still smiles. "Well met, child," he says.
After the others introduce themselves, Sir Octavio looks up at the sky before nodding firmly. "As fine as this glade is, it is not place for a lady of your radiance to rest, Lady Cartese. Come, there is still light enough for a ride to Castle Legerius, where you will be the honored guest of Countess Mantrae and be able to sleep in the comfort you are due after these trying times. Catus, ride to Countess Mantrae and tell her our quest is successful!"
Artemis blinks as one of the men salutes and turns to gallop off. "Aren't… you going to ask what has happened first?" she asks.
"Perish the thought, fair lady! It is clear you and your company are exhausted and have suffered terribly: something that should not have happened in the lands of Countess Mantrae's domain! I would not force you to recount your trials before you have been given respite from them!" His smile took on a slightly rueful air. "That is, unless you want to tell the tale of your heroic escape from danger."
Artemis grimaces. "I am content to tell the story fewer times," she says. "And I'm sure Countess Mantrae will have her own questions when we reach her." As she starts to turn towards Actaeon, she pauses before looking back. "Sir Octavio, forgive me, I do not mean to sound ungrateful. Your arrival is… most appreciated, and I thank you." There was something off about her voice as she said that, but as you forced back a yawn you decided you didn't have the energy to ask. "Come on, Ryza, I think Actaeon's recovered enough for a short ride."
You blanch. "Um…"
Artemis smiles. "Don't worry so much, Ryza," she says. "I promise, he's very sweet. Come on, or you'll get left behind."
You don't feel too comforted, but as some of the people who came with Sir Octavio start to look at you oddly, you allow Artemis to lead you over to Actaeon and, with a bit of work, she manages to help you sit on his back.
Instantly, memories from your youth fill your mind. You'd ridden on Father and Mother's back many times when you were young, and although the feeling isn't right (Your legs hang on either side of the horse rather than curling around a spine, you aren't nearly as high up as you're used to, and there are no faint jolts of lightning to cause your legs to pleasantly tingle) it's so close that it takes your breath away.
Then Actaeon shifts under you, and you're forced to throw your arms around his neck with a squeak to try and hold on because there's no wings to support you.
Artemis giggles gently as she easily gets up behind you. "It's okay, Ryza, I got you," she says softly, pulling you back against her. "Please do not strangle my friend."
"Well if your friend would stop moving, I wouldn't have to," you say grumpily. Artemis just laughs again before nudging Actaeon's sides with her heels and oh wow you're moving forwards now this is so close to what things were like before but so different you felt like you were gonna be sick.
As you ride, what little of your focus isn't alternating between awe and terror keeps track of everyone. Lancel and Axton have been given their own horses; the riders that had been astride them relegated to riding with their fellows, while Kelton rides with Lancel. You wonder at this for a moment before you notice the two horses flanking Actaeon closely: keeping themselves between you, Artemis and the others.
It seems you and the Legerians aren't quite friends yet.
Thankfully, nobody stares at you too much; Sir Octavio and his people seem focused on keeping an eye out for any of the bandits as darkness starts to close in, the Mother's Light sinking down below the horizon. The stars are at least out, so there's more light to see by, and as the horses reach the path the journey seems to smooth out.
Finally, a little more than an hour later, Artemis speaks from behind you.
"Looks like we're almost there, Ryza."
You peer ahead into the darkness, you think at first that this Countess Mantrae lives in a mountain too. There's certainly a large, blocky shape with flickering lights coming from small holes all over it looming in front of you.
However, as you get closer, you realize that this is no mountain. Instead, a titanic structure of stone rises from the land, surrounded by massive walls and peaked by tall towers. At first, you convince yourself that surely the humans must have carved all of this out of a pre-existing rock, but eventually you are forced to recognize that this whole structure had been built from scratch.
"How…" you whisper, staring slack-jawed at the castle. How had they been able to do this: Even in dragon form, it would have taken years for Father and Mother to build something like this! You could have taken all the buildings in Miau and shoved them into a corner and barely even notice the lost space! Just how many humans were there that they needed something this big!?
"Impressive, isn't it?" Artemis asks, and you can hear her grin. "Just wait until you see Father's castle; it's even bigger."
They get bigger?!
Before your mind could fully process that statement, the massive walls of the castle are right in front of you, faint figures lit only by torchlight moving atop them. You weren't quite sure what to expect, but it seemed they were willing to let you in, as you heard a few shouts from inside, and the huge wooden doors swung open in front of you, allowing Sir Octavio to lead the way in.
As the group of you rode into a large, open area in front of the ginormous central building, you spotted a group of men and women carrying lanterns forming a pathway up the stairs. As your eyes followed them up, you saw a woman standing just before the doors, her own eyes gazing down at you all.
You fidget as Artemis dismounts before helping you down. There's something about that woman…
"It's okay, Ryza," Artemis whispers to you as the two of you mount the stairs. "She may look severe, but she's a good woman. We'll be safe here."
Before you can answer, you are all standing in front of the woman, and you shrink behind Artemis as Sir Octavio bows. "My Countess, I have found Lady Cartese and her surviving company, alive and well," he says dramatically.
The woman nods. "As skilled as ever, my knight," she says, her voice smooth as velvet. "Artemis, it has been quite some time."
Artemis steps to the fore of the group and curtsies, keeping her head lowered as she does. "It has, Countess Mantrae," she says in a tone you're more used to people using when talking to her.
Countess Mantrae gives a thin smile. "Do stand up straight, girl, there's no need for such ceremony tonight," she says.
Artemis rises to her full height, nodding. "Thank you, my lady, and my apologies for troubling you at this late hour."
"Do not concern yourself with that, Artemis, I was already awake. I am glad to see you; when I received word of Agrithian horses with no Agrethian riders, especially since you were running late, I feared that something unfortunate had transpired. It seems that I was correct to be concerned."
"You were, my lady," Artemis says. "Robert, one of my father's cavaliers, betrayed me to the bandits you heard of. My retainer, Selena, is dead, and I'm afraid I have brought trouble to your door."
Something passes over Countess Mantrae's face, but she shakes her head. "You have brought no trouble to me, dear girl. But we shall not speak of this further tonight: you and your companions look exhausted." She claps, and one of the women behind her steps forwards. "Maria, kindly see Lady Cartese and her entourage to the guest chambers."
"Of course, my lady," Maria says. "Lady Cartese, this way, if you would."
As you follow Artemis, you glance back at Countess Mantrae, who meets your eye. You're not quite sure what to expect: a friendly smile, a confused cock of the head, an annoyed narrowing of the eyes.
You don't expect a slight flinch and a quick aversion of her gaze. Before you can try to figure out what that means, Maria leads you around the corner and Countess Mantrae is out of sight, though you do notice that there are four men armed like Kelton who fall silently in behind your group
A few minutes later, as your eyes start to droop as the energy you'd gotten from your daytime nap begins to fade, Maria stops in a corridor that looks just like the dozen others you'd passed through. "Is there anything you need, my lady?" she asks Artemis, ignoring the rest of you.
"No, thank you," Artemis says. "Please convey once again my appreciation to Countess Mantrae."
The woman bows. "Of course, my lady," she says. "Rest well, you are safe now." With that, she turns perfectly on her heel and leaves. The four soldiers silently position themselves; two on either end of the corridor, facing outwards.
As you start to follow Artemis to her room, she gently nudges you towards the room next to hers. "There's enough for everyone, Ryza," she says. "You can have your own room."
A part of you wants to insist on going with Artemis; you haven't slept alone once since you woke in the shrine your father sealed you in, and you don't really want to start now, but if Artemis wants some privacy you'll respect that. "Okay," you say, allowing her to herd you into a bedroom.
It's… okay. It's a bit smaller than yours, but more than that it just feels empty. It has nice furniture, a window looking out towards the mountains to the east, but it's clear that this isn't used much. Everything is… cold. Sterile.
However, it has a soft bed, so it'll do.
Pausing only to push your backpack into a corner, you bury yourself completely under the covers and go to sleep.
You don't know exactly how long you sleep, but eventually even your tired mind and body can't resist, and you poke your head out with a groan.
The room, aside from being brightened by the risen sun, is much the same as before. The only difference you notice is a set of cloths that had somehow been laid out on a chair without you knowing (though with how deeply you'd been sleeping, Mother could probably have roared last night and you wouldn't have woken.)
Now that you're awake, however, you can hear the sounds from outside. There are some birds, but more than that, you hear voices. Countless voices, like Miau but so much louder. Carefully peeking out the window, you gasp when you see dozens, maybe even hundreds of people walking around outside!
For a moment, all you can do is stare. Intellectually, you'd known that there were more people in the world besides your family, and even if you hadn't Miau would have rectified that, but to see so many just… going about their daily lives, as if nothing strange was happening… it was an awe-inspiring feeling, but also a scary one. How would you be able to keep yourself from getting swamped, either here or at Artemis's home, which was apparently even bigger.
As you kneel on the soft, fluffy bed, staring out the window, you wonder what you're going to do now.
[] You're still so tired, and this bed is so fluffy. Roll over, close your eyes again, and go back to sleep. You don't have the energy to deal with this right now.
[] You're a bit tired, but you have some energy. Maybe you can read a bit, relax for a while.
-[] What scroll do you read?
-[] There are some odd papery things sitting on the shelves of the room. Are these the fabled tomes Artemis has told you about? You must know more.
[] Go find Artemis. You're feeling overwhelmed; Artemis has always been able to help with that.
[] Go find Axton and/or Lancel. Artemis deserves some sleep, but you don't want to be alone right now. Go see what they're up to.
[] Go find Kelton. Kelton's from around here, surely he knows best what this place is like.
[] Go find Sir Octavio. He seems nice, if a bit boisterous. Maybe you can go talk to him and he'll be a new friend!
[] Go exploring: This place is just so big! There's so many people! There's so much you can learn! Get out there and see what you can find!
As you shift, you glance at your bag. The cloths Countess Mantrae had left for you are nice, but you had packed those even nicer cloths Mother made for you. The ones she'd said for when for special occasions. You'd been planning to save them for when you met with Artemis's family, but it might be a good idea to look your best for Countess Mantrae.
Plus, it might be fun to look pretty.
Do you take the time to dress up?
[] Yes
[] No
EDITED AN: Note that there's a voting moratorium to encourage discussion. since this vote could have some long-reaching consequences.
[X] You're a bit tired, but you have some energy. Maybe you can read a bit, relax for a while.
-[X] Beyond your Stone: A Guide to Practical Magic
[X] Yes
"You have great talent. But talent without training is nothing."
-Archmage Mark Skystorm before defeating The Ascendant One
As you slump back away from the window, you glance down at the bed and grimace. It's not too bad; there's just some ugly stains from your own dirty clothes that you'd forgotten to take off in your sleepiness last night, but it still looked bad to be making a mess of the Countess's home.
As you carefully wiggle out of the garments you'd technically been wearing for centuries, you consider the clothes that had been placed in front of you. They're nice enough, you suppose; a bit heavier than what you're used to, a bit coarser spun, but it's clear that someone put a lot of effort into them. Really, you should show your gratitude by wearing them; as Mother said, a gracious guest accepts that which is put in front of them. She'd been talking about food at the time, but surely it applied to clothes as well.
However… you hesitate. A quick check shows that there's no careful slits at the back for your wings; if you needed to fly, you'd have to functionally destroy the back of this outfit to do so. Not only would that be painful and awkward, it would also be rude.
More than that, though, you remember how Axton and Lancel had said they weren't Artemis's friends because they weren't "nobility." You didn't want to have to pretend not to be her friend while you were here, but you didn't want people to be giving you scandalized looks when you acted like her friend. Maybe, if you wore nice enough cloths, people would assume you were noble and not be offended when you and Artemis talked.
Therefore, after carefully setting your old outfit on the dirty sheet so that you didn't mess up anything else; you pulled your backpack out from where you'd stuffed it and started digging. It took a bit to get past the scrolls, but eventually you found it: the really nice outfit Mother and Father had made for you on your ninetieth birthday; promising that you'd soon be old enough to go and visit other nearby families.
That had turned out… overly optimistic, you suppose.
Still, the clothes themselves might prove useful. It was a lovely outfit; a bright, sun-yellow dress that hung to mid-calf, leaving you enough freedom to move while still being presentable. Your legs were covered by a pair of light brown boots, more delicate than the ones you'd been wearing before, but still well made and far more comfortable. They also had softer soles, so they wouldn't clomp as much.
Tiny flecks of topaz were magically dusted over the dress itself, enough to make it sparkle in the light without so many as to be gaudy or blinding. Thin golden threads had also been carefully woven in complex patterns along the ends of the sleeves and hem, not only to add more decoration but also to anchor a few minor wards to prevent wear, tear and wrinkles. A similar weaving went down from your neck to your stomach, similarly protecting the outfit.
Rather than small slits for wings, this dress had no back, but it did have a fancy three-piece caplet that covered you while still making it easy for you to spread your wings if needed. You wouldn't lie, this caplet was your favorite part of the whole outfit.
Completing the ensemble was a pair of hair-clips to go right behind your ears; delicate golden wings modeled after the pegasi that you'd sometimes seen flying around. You hadn't seen any since you woke up, but Axton had mentioned "Pegasus Knights" so you hoped they were still around. They'd been pretty. You might have worried if they were the more traditional dragon wing clips, but Mother had said that your wings were more than impressive enough already.
Almost as soon as you finished getting dressed, you heard a soft knocking on your door. "Ryza, are you awake?" Artemis asks from outside.
"Yes," you say, pushing your backpack back out of sight before hurrying over to the door. "Good morning, Artemis, how are you?"
"I'm well enough," Artemis says with a tired smile. She starts to continue, only to freeze, her mouth opening and closing soundlessly as she stares at you.
Feeling a bit self-conscious, you fiddle with the hem of your dress. "Is it too much?" you ask awkwardly. "I just thought it'd be nice…"
"Oh, Ryza, you look adorable!" Artemis squeals, crouching down and pulling you into a hug.
You feel your face heat up as the guard that had been standing a few paces behind Artemis widened his eyes in surprise before carefully looking away. "Artemis…" you moan.
"Spirits, look at you! You're so shiny," Artemis giggles, pulling back enough to get a good look at you. "You've had this the whole time?"
You nod. "Mother and Father made it for me," you say.
Some of the energy fades from Artemis's smile as she nods. "They did an amazing job, Ryza," she says gently. "And you wear it very, very well. I'm sure they're proud of you."
"Thank you," you say softly.
Artemis grimaces. "That being said… maybe don't wear it out and about too much," she says. "Not only would it get dirty, but it would also… well, it would stand out. A lot." She glances down the hall. "I was just leaving to talk to Countess Mantrae. I'd invite you, I'm sure she'd love your outfit too, but her invitation indicated she'd prefer to talk alone. I hope you understand…"
You nod. "Of course," you say. "I was thinking of taking it easy for a bit; I'm still kind of tired from last night. Maybe get some reading done."
"That sounds wonderful, Ryza," Artemis says, squeezing your shoulders. "Is there anything you'd like sent to you?"
Your stomach rumbles a bit. "Maybe some food," you say.
"Of course," Artemis says. "And if Countess Mantrae asks to speak with you later, be sure to wear that: she'll love it."
"Okay," you say.
For some reason, it takes Artemis a few more seconds to finally let you go and stand. "Rest well, Ryza, and don't worry," she says before pausing slightly. "Everything will be fine." With that, she turns and leaves. The guard studies you for a moment before giving a small bow and following after Artemis.
As you peek out the door, you notice there are more guards now; the pairs standing on either side of the hall have been joined by a third each, not counting the one walking with Artemis. There is also a seventh guard standing in the center of the corridor, across from your rooms, and he steps towards you.
"Do you need to go somewhere… milady?" he asks.
You shake your head. "No, no, just looking," you say. "And hi, I'm Ryza. What's your name?"
The guard studies you for a second. "Castor, milady," he says finally.
Okay… "Well, thank you for letting us stay here," you say awkwardly when he doesn't elaborate. After he simply nods, still not speaking, you slowly close the door.
That… that had been weird, right? You didn't know much about human culture, but you were pretty sure that had been weird, though you couldn't really express why you felt that way.
As you curl up in a chair, you pull your backpack over to you and look down at the scrolls. You consider getting out The Dragon Within, to try and finally figure out how to properly explain to Artemis that dragon and manakete were not interchangeable concepts, but you decide that you want to do something fun today. You're relaxing, after all, and you've been really stressed recently.
It's time to read about magic.
Digging out A Guide to Practical Magic, you start reading. This one was written by several authors, not a common thing with manakete literature, but when High Lady Parythex had set out to compile the ultimate treatise on manakete magic (of which this was the first of several scrolls), she'd decided that it would be best for all the tribes to be able to give their input. Therefore, she had sought out the greatest magical minds of the five tribes (including herself on that list, of course).
As you read over the flowing, academic words, your mind drifts back to when Father explained magic to you.
You're forty, and you shiver as you press yourself up against Father's leg.
The two of you are standing just inside the door to your home, and outside a massive thunderstorm is raging. Black clouds fill the sky, blotting out the sun and throwing the mountains into a false night. The only light are the occasional flashes of lightning, followed almost instantly by a booming thunder. You know you shouldn't be scared; after all Father asked you to come here, and he'd never put you in danger, but still you flinch every time.
Father gently wraps his arm around you as he kneels down. "You have been asking about magic, Ryza," he says softly. "And you're old enough to start to learn about it." He gestures. "Tell me, what do you see, looking out?"
You do as Father asked, but all you can see is darkness and flashes of lightning. "I don't know," you say. "It's so dark."
Father nods patiently. "It is, isn't it," he says. "Most of the time, at least."
You think for a few seconds before venturing: "I… see lightning? I see the mountains, but not very well, there's a lot of clouds blocking everything. I don't see a lot of creatures; they all seem to have run away."
Father considers for a moment. "All of those things are true, Ryza, but perhaps a different approach. Close your eyes, and tell me what you feel."
You frown, but don't question your father and do as he says. At first, you're distracted by the continued flashes of light past your eyelids, but eventually you get used to it and try to figure out what he's looking for.
You feel the wind against your face. You feel your father's arm around your shoulders, holding you close. You feel the stone beneath your feet, you feel your hair whipping behind you.
You… you feel a tingle. An instant later, a flash in front of you signals another bolt of lightning.
"I… I feel the lightning…" you say. "I feel it like I feel your magic, if I'm touching you when your casting something… like I feel when I touch my stone…"
"Excellent, Ryza," Father says. "It seems you're a tactile learner, more than a visual one." You feel another tingle, but this time there is not flash, simply a steady light, and when you peek you see Father has created a ball of lightning.
"Magic, in its simplest form, is nothing more and nothing less than energy, seeking release. Those clouds are heavy with energy, and when they can contain it no longer, it escapes, forming the lightning that splits the sky and rumbles the earth. A fire is full of energy, constantly seeking to feed and grow itself. The wind is also full of energy, driving it ever onwards. Even light and darkness themselves are energy, once perceived and given meaning."
You look up at Father. "But how do we make it?" you ask.
"The same way you make the energy to walk and run and jump: by living. Energy is a natural thing, it is all around us, and we in turn generate it as easily and naturally as we breathe. That is the inheritance of all manakete" He gestures, and the lighting ball in front of him explodes into shapes. "This is why Yellow manakete are the most in touch with magic; we are of the element that is closest to magic's natural form as energy. Fire needs fuel, wind needs direction, light and shadow need stabilization. Lightning is, by its very nature, energy, and thus as we touch it, mold it, we can in turn mold the energy of other magics."
You slowly nod but you still have questions. "What do you mean, when you say light and shadow need stabilization?" you say, pointing. "It's plenty dark out there, and it gets bright when the sun is out. Aren't those energy as well?"
Father nods, smiling. "An excellent question, Ryza," he says. "And you are correct, but they are a different kind of energy. While the elements of lightning, fire and wind are of this physical world, light and dark magic are tied more to the spiritual, the conceptual. They are energy, but of a sort that is at its strongest when interacting with animated beings, as they inherently stabilize it simply by perceiving it." He gestured with a hand, and a big flash of light magic struck the wall, causing you to flinch away. "Rest easy, my child, and see that there is no mark," he says.
"Okay… so light and dark magic only work on living things?" you ask.
Father pauses for a moment before nodding. "Close enough for now," he says. "But let us focus on the fundamentals; for that is how we learn." He gently reached down and grabbed your hands, pulling them up in front of you. "Cup your hands in front of you, then look within yourself. Find that tingle you feel when the lighting flashes, that spark of energy, and bring it to your palms…"
You shake yourself out of your memory as you feel a prickle in the corner of your eyes. Even now, days later and with so much happening around you, thinking of your parents still hurts. Rubbing at your eyes, you skim over High Lady Parythex's basic description of Yellow magic.
It's much the same as Father's, though lacking his warmth. Yellow magic is energy given form; as close to pure as possible of a physical process. However, near the end, she starts to go into detail about what else Yellow magic can do besides shoot lighting.
As energy, Yellow magic is excellent at disrupting the magic of others, allowing a manakete to form barriers to resist hostile spells, or reach out to completely smother the magic in an enemy caster. With care, energy can also be directed into an ally, allowing them to regain lost stamina and keep going through the toughest of challenges.
… that would have been really useful last night.
Eventually, however, your eyes drift down the scroll to the section on Red magic.
…
More than other colors, Red magic is immediately associated in the mind with fire. This is an apt comparison, though not for the reason many non-Red manakete will think. More than wanton destruction, fire represents balance and duality. One the one hand, fire can warm us, cook our food, light our caverns, and countless other tasks. On the other, it can rage and destroy, burning all in its path. It is only by counterbalancing fire's need to spread and feed with careful control that it can avoid burning itself out and be put to good ends.
So too is Red magic based on balance. All manakete struggle sometimes to keep our emotions under control, it is the nature of our draconic heritage. Red magic draws upon this upwell of emotions to power itself, and when properly balanced it allows Red manakete to accomplish wondrous acts. If balance is lost, however, the manakete will either find their power fading or raging out of their control. Only with a steady hand and iron will can Red magic be used safely.
However, even as its nature makes Red magic difficult to learn, it gives it its power. Beyond simply conjuring firestorms, Red magic can whip up storms of emotion. Feelings of bravery, anger, fear, and countless others can be stoked by a talented Red manakete, either helping their friends find emotional balance or throwing their enemies into chaos, driven by emotions they cannot control or overcome.
Before any of these spells can be attempted, however, the basics must be mastered. Begin by…
…
You pause as the Red author starts to describe the basics of casting Red magic, their version of the lighting ball Father had taught you all those years ago. A part of you wanted to press on, to immediately start trying out some new tricks, but you remember Father's advice. Rather than trying to learn a dozen things at once, you should take the time to learn one thing well before moving on. Better to decide what type of magic you wanted to focus on, then commit to it.
With that in mind, you skim your way down the scroll until the Green author begins.
…
Freedom.
More than any essay or treatise, this one words describes Green magic. Not just a breaking of restraints, but a willful ignorance of them. As the wind obeys no master and accepts no limits, neither does Green magic. Those who ignore this truth, who attempt to rigidly control and command the forces of the sky, will find themselves endlessly frustrated, unable to do more than call the simplest of breezes.
And yet, it seems there are those who command the wind. Every day, Green manakete fly on air currents of their own making, reach speeds unattainable by wing alone, and even twist space in such a way that they can travel leagues in a single step or yank a distant friend out of harm's way with a flick of the wrist. If the wind and Green magic have no masters, how can this be?
It is because the wise manakete does not seek to subjugate or control Green magic, but instead calls it friend and works with it. Fight the gale, and you get torn apart. Fly with the gale, and you soar at speeds unimaginable. When you seek not to control Green magic, but instead accept it and follow its flow, you will find that more often than not you can find some part of it that seeks the same end you do, and with that, you will achieve great things.
To begin-
…
You stop there, skim further, and find the White section.
…
Magic need not be fierce. When most young manakete think of it, they think in the context of battle, of repelling some threat to themselves or their families. They forget the countless times they have and will use magic without any malice or worry, indeed, use it to prevent malice or worry. This is the core of White magic. The magic of hope, the magic of healing, the magic most tied to the Mother's love.
As the first of the spiritual magics, White magic does not concern itself with the base elements of the world, instead focusing on bringing aid and succor to those in need. When a wound must be healed, a poison removed, a spirit lifted, White magic will serve the task. No other color of magic can provide as much boon to a manakete's friends and allies as White magic.
Do not, however, mistake kindness for weakness. When the cause is noble enough and the greater good be served, light can be summoned aggressively to burn away the darkness before it. Indeed, for the monsters that roam the dark places of the world, nothing is more dangerous than White magic, as it will fill the emptiness they revel in and sear through their defenses as if they were not there. Even Black magic, though not corrupted, can be undone when a White manakete goes to war.
For those who are not of the White tribe, but wish to summon the Mother's blessings nonetheless, first-
…
And onto Black magic.
…
To those who do not understand it, Black magic may seem to be kin to the evil magic of powerful monsters such as gorgons or mogalls. While it is true that the two share some superficial similarities, Black magic is far more nuanced and wholesome than the fearful would think. While monsters are capable only of domination and destruction, a manakete attuned with their shadows can use their power to minimize and avoid battle, and should conflict be inevitable end it in a way that allows all involved to walk away alive.
As a spiritual magic, Black magic is the equal and opposite of White magic. Where the light will clarify, the shadows will distort. Where the light will heal, the shadow will hinder. Foes will find their minds clouded by exhaustion, tormented by illusory terrors, and slowed by the limitations of their own mind. Should the need arise, a Black manakete can even twist the shadows to cause direct harm to their foes.
Perhaps the strangest power of Black magic, however, is its ability to part the fog of the future and grant its wielder insights into what is to come. Of all the gifts of magic, of any color, this ability is the least understood, even by Black manakete. Elders can practice for centuries and receive no visions, while a youngling might have many without ever understanding what they are.
…
You pause, thinking. That man in Miau, Trinicus… he'd had Black magic around him, especially when he'd spoken. Had he… been telling you the future? Not that what he'd said had made much sense, but if it had been prophecy…
…
What is known is that, no matter how clear a vision may be, the future is ever in motion. No destiny is set in stone, no fate sealed. Thus, as you take your first steps into the night, focus on what is, not what might be.
…
You take a sharp breath. For a moment, you thought that the manakete who'd written this had foreseen your confusion and been talking directly to you, but after a moment you feel your face heat up: that's just silly. This scroll and its fellows have been read by hundreds, probably thousands, of manakete over the centuries. The idea that the author, one of the most talented Black manakete of history, had been talking to you was not just absurd, but arrogant in the extreme. You're not that important. No, it was clearly just advice to all to not get too tied up in thinking about the future.
As you look back over the scroll, you decide that, as you continue with Artemis, you want to continue learning magic. It'll be harder, without Father or Mother around to ask questions of, but you believe in yourself, and you know that they would not want you to give up just because they're not around to help.
On that note, you decide to focus on (Choose 1)
[] … continuing your education in Yellow magic. You think you've pushed your lightning powers as far as you can for now, but the scroll spoke of other powers, such as the ability to resist hostile magic. If humans have started picking up magic, that might be a good thing to learn. (Focus on learning the Barrier spell)
[] … beginning to learn Red magic. While it sounds kind of scary, getting a better handle on your emotions might not be bad, if the world keeps throwing nasty surprises at you. (Focus on learning the Fire spell)
[] … beginning to learn Green magic. You always liked flying, and from what you remember Green manakete are the best flyers. It'd be cool to get even better at that. (Focus on learning the Wind spell)
[] … beginning to learn White magic. You remember Ardan saving the life of that man who'd been hurt during the fight with the bandits who'd kidnapped her. You want to be able to do that too. (Focus on learning the Heal spell)
[] … beginning to learn Black magic. The idea of being able to fight without really hurting people sounds nice; and maybe one day you'll be able to figure out what Trinicus had meant. (Focus on learning the Flux spell)
You were distracted from your reading by another knock on the door. "Lady Ryza," a woman says from outside; not Artemis, someone you don't know.
"Yes?" you say, rolling up your scroll before trotting over to open the door. "Hello."
An older woman, dressed in clothes similar to the ones the one who'd walked you all to your rooms last night slips in, skillfully balancing some sort of covered plate on one hand. "Lady Cartese mentioned that you were hungry," she says, bustling over to one of the tables and setting her load down. "As the usual breakfast time has passed, Countess Mantrae asked that we bring you a late lunch."
Late lunch? Glancing out the window, you blink as you realize that the sun that had been shining directly into the room was now gone, the sun having moved on. You must have been reading and thinking for hours and you hadn't even noticed!
"I'm sorry for troubling you," you say, suddenly realizing just how hungry you were.
"It's no trouble," the woman says, turning to look at you, only to freeze just like Artemis had. "Those…"
"My mother made them for me," you say quickly. "Artemis said they looked nice, and since we're safe here and I don't have to run around I thought it'd be okay."
The woman's eyes sweep up and down your form, a small frown on her face. "They are certainly distinctive," she says. "Your mother must be a very talented seamstress."
You nod. "She was…" you say.
"…I see. My condolences, my lady," the woman says softly, a note of pity flickering across her face. "But… forgive me, I had heard that you lived in the mountains until Lady Cartese discovered you."
"I did," you say.
The small frown deepens slightly. "I have never been to the mountains, but I had heard that they are hard to live in, and that the clothes of those who do tend towards the practical."
"They do," you say, carefully lifting your old outfit. "This is what I wear most of the time; this was just for meeting important people."
The woman studies you for a few seconds, seeming to consider her words. "You mentioned that your mother has gone to the Sentinel," she says, moving to fold up the dirty sheet. "What of your father?"
You lower your eyes. "Father… Father's gone too," you say, folding your own clothes and offering them to her. "That's why I'm with Artemis; she's taking me home to meet her family."
"I see," the woman says, a tiny note of coolness entering her voice. "If there is nothing else, I will leave you to your rest. If you should need something, feel free to ask the guard outside and it will be sent to you."
You pull yourself out of your memories to nod. "Okay," you say. "What's your name, by the way. I'm Ryza."
The woman considers you for a long moment before inclining her head. "My name is Daria, handmaid to Countess Mantrae."
"It's nice to meet you," you say as Daria backs to the door. "And sorry about the mess,"
Daria glances back at you, a faint smile finally appearing on her face. "A little dirt never hurt anyone, my lady," she says. "And with what happened last night, this is nothing. I'll see that these are washed and returned to you."
"Thank you," you say, waving as she steps out. You faintly hear her talking to the guard outside, and while you probably could have focused your hearing on listening in, you decide to focus on the food she brought instead, wondering if there's any more of that bread and cheese.
There is, though it looks lighter and fluffier than what Rebecca in Miau gave you. There is also a container of an odd white liquid that seemed cool to the touch, and you faintly noticed a series of runes written around the lip that seem designed to keep the interior cold.
As you study the runes, they seem… off. They're clearly based on the sort of runes Father made, but they're almost clumsy in their application, and are leaking energy at a steady rate. How were these things still working?
Your stomach grumbles, seemingly annoyed that your brain was getting distracted with things that did not involve filling it. Refocusing, you find an oddly thick golden liquid. Tasting a little, your eyes widen at how sweet it is. Carefully, you put the various ingredients together into a tasty, if somewhat sticky, meal.
After you were finished, and you'd cleaned your fingers so as not to make a mess, you consider your options. You haven't heard anything from Artemis or the others, but there was still plenty of time in the day.
What do you want to do for the second half of the day?
[] Find Artemis. See how her conversation with Countess Mantrae went.
[] Find one of your other friends. See what they're up to.
[] Start practicing your new magic. You're in a magical mood today.
[] Go exploring the castle. You'll have to be sure not to get lost.
[X] … beginning to learn White magic. You remember Ardan saving the life of that man who'd been hurt during the fight with the bandits who'd kidnapped her. You want to be able to do that too. (Focus on learning the Heal spell)
[X] Go exploring the castle. You'll have to be sure not to get lost.
"Servants, in my experience, always know everything."
-"Lord" Turner, Imperial Spymaster
You're fifty-five when you stumble, sobbing, into Mother's room. You're clutching your oddly-bent arm to your chest as if hugging it would make the hurt go away, even though you know it won't.
Mother looks up from the scroll she'd been reading, her eyes widening. Before you could even open your mouth, she's across the large room and kneeling at your side, the wind of her swift movement almost causing you to stumble as she pulls you carefully into her lap.
"Ryza! Sweetie, what happened?!" she asks, tenderly stroking your head as she studies the bruised, bloody bundle of pain that seemed to have replaced your arm.
Still crying, you try to choke out an explanation. "Went flying," you whimper. "Up near the top, and I was doing fine but there was a big breeze and I hit the mountain hard and my arm went snap."
Mother winces. "Ryza, didn't your father and I ask you not to fly too high without one of us around?" As she says this, gentle light plays around her hand as she strokes your injured arm. It hurts for an instant, but before you can try to flinch away the magic seeps into your body. As it does, the pain starts to fade.
"Yes," you say glumly. "But you're busy, and Father's busy, and there's nobody else around…"
Mother signs, continuing her work as she cuddles you. "I know, Ryza," she says softly. "Usually, manakete raise our children communally. When I was your age, whenever my mother wasn't around, I still had my aunts and uncles to look after me." For a moment, a strange mix of anger and pain crosses her face, but she smooths it out into gentle warmth as she leans down and kisses your arm. "There, all better."
Looking down, you see that your arm is in fact mended. You were pretty sure you'd had at least two broken parts, and there'd certainly been a lot of bleeding and mess, but with your mother's and The Mother's love, you were as good as new. Sniffling, you smile.
"Thank you, Mother," you say, hugging her back.
"You're welcome, dear," she says, picking you up and carrying you over to the desk. "I think you've had enough flying for today. Why don't you rest here for a bit?" she says, pulling a smaller chair over with her foot before setting you down in it. "There's a nice scroll that I found when I was looking for this, I think you might like it."
Distracted by the thought of getting to read (and spend some time with Mother) you smile. "Sure!" you say.
It's a silly, impossible little story about a manakete and human that go on adventures together, but you enjoy it. You're even able to pull Mother from whatever was making her frown as she read by convincing her to let you read bits of your story to her, so all and all, you count today as a win.
You smile sadly at the memory as you read over the section on White magic. At the time, you hadn't realized just how much effort Mother must have put in to so perfectly and swiftly heal your injury. It had been a bad break, a result of your heart-forms frailness. Mother, however, had wiped it away as if it had never been. Just a bad memory.
Ardan had done the same, in the forest outside Miau. There had been people who would have died, their already too-short lives cut even shorter just for trying to help, but she'd prevented that.
Wasn't this a better kind of magic? Not the magic to destroy, but the magic to heal? Father said that any magic could be used for good: could help those you loved, but White magic seemed to be the best at it. You wanted to be able to be like Mother and Ardan. You wanted to be able to be the kind of manakete who made the world better, not worse.
Artemis had said that humans had lots of stories about manakete destroying things. You figure that they needed some stories about manakete fixing people.
With a firm nod, you read on.
…
As all magic is drawn from the soul, they are shaped by your state of mind. To hope to cast White magic, you must get in touch with the Mother's blessing that is the core of all manakete. To begin, find a place where you can feel at peace. This will be different for every manakete: for some it might be at the top of a tower, under the sun. For others, it might be gathered around a fire with family and friends. Wherever you find peace, wherever you feel loved, enshrine yourself in that place.
There, do something you love. Sing, dance, read, whatever you wish, so long as it brings no harm to others. Then, as you remind yourself of the joys of the world, reach within yourself. Find that sparkling light, that link between heart and dragon, and coax it out. It may take time, but eventually, it will come to you. This is the core of your White magic; the heart of your heart and the soul of your dragon.
In this way, you will find the peace of the Mother, and you will take your first step towards White magic. Return once this stip is taken, and we will begin the process of shaping this light into healing energies, the first true spell of White magic.
...
As you consider getting started right away, you glance out the window again. There are still countless people milling about, though there do seem to not be as many.
You ponder. It makes some sense that you're spending your time up here in Countess Mantrae's castle; this isn't your final destination. However, from what Artemis said, her home will be even bigger and more crowded, and there you will be expected to interact with people, since they're Artemis's friends and family.
You're nervous, but you knew that the best way to overcome nerves is practice. You need to practice being around large numbers of humans so you wouldn't embarrass Artemis, and that means you should probably go out there and spend some time with people. Who knows, you might even find some new friends like Kelton.
Taking a deep breath, you tuck your scroll away, carefully put your backpack under the bed to keep it out of the way, and square your shoulders. You consider changing; Artemis had said that you maybe shouldn't wear your nice outfit out and about, but something makes you stop. Everyone who had seen you so far has liked it, and you weren't going anywhere unsafe, just around Countess Mantrae's home.
Besides… you want to feel pretty, at least for a little while.
After a minute of fussing, carefully recharging the woven runes on your dress even though you'd just done it this morning, and other acts that even you could tell were driven by procrastination, you march to the door, trying to channel Father's calm and Mother's grace into your steps. You're not sure you succeed, but you're going to do your best anyways.
The guard across the hall looks up, confused, as you step out the door. "Milady?" he asks.
"I was just going for a walk, Castor," you say.
The man blinks, surprised for some reason, before straightening. "Forgive me, but I had thought from your talk with Lady Cartese that you would be remaining in your room today," he said.
"I was going to," you say. "But it's a really nice day out, and the castle looks very pretty, and I wanted to see more of it."
Castor seems to think, glancing down the hall at one of the other groups of soldiers (they're back down to two on either end of the corridor, for some reason.) They shrug. "If you truly want to…" he says, stepping forward. "Countess Mantrae has insisted that all of you receive escorts while you are here; to ensure that nothing happens to any of you."
You cock your head. "I had thought we'd be safe here," you say. "That's what Artemis said."
Castor nods. "Of course," he says quickly. "My fellows and I have simply been tasked with making sure you remain safe. You are guests of Legerius, after all. If word were to get out that ill befell guests of the Countess, that would be unacceptable."
You suppose that made sense. "Okay," you say. "So, do you know anyplace nice here? Is there a library?"
Castor's jaw works oddly for a moment before he nods. "I… know a few places, milady," he says. "If you're sure…"
"I am," you say. "And you can just call me Ryza, Castor."
The soldier studies you for a few more seconds before finally nodding. "Very well," he says. "If you would follow me." Nodding happily, you trot after him as he leads the way back out into the rest of the castle.
As you walk, you expect to start running into people. After all, there had been so many outside when you'd been looking. Surprisingly, however, it takes nearly five minutes before you see someone: a group of men dressed in clothes of a similar make to Daria's, who seem to be trying to move some sort of heavy object down the hall.
Before you can even think if there's any help you could offer, Castor gently grips your shoulder and tugs you down a different hall, leaving the three behind.
You quickly notice a pattern: whenever you start to hear or see other people, Castor tries to redirect you away from them. Every now and then, one or more of them will spot you despite his efforts. Some would simply nod, while others would start to wave, only to glance at Castor and carry on with whatever task they'd been doing. Either way, they are clearly doing their best to ignore you, which is a bit upsetting.
The one exception is when you happen to run across a dark-haired, well-dressed man walking down the hall so quickly and quietly that you nearly bump into each other.
"My lord," Castor says, bowing.
The man nods sharply before his eyes find you. "What's this," he asks coolly, his grey eyes sweeping up and down your body, taking in everything over his narrow nose.
Swallowing some nerves, you try to curtsy as you'd seen Artemis do. "Hello," you say. "My name's Ryza. What's your name?"
The man raises an eyebrow delicately, not speaking. You stand awkwardly for several seconds before he finally looks back at the guard. "Your answer, guardsman?" he says, his voice taking on a silky tone that makes your skin crawl.
Castor grimaces, but answers. "This young lady is a guest of Countess Mantrae, Baron Rickman," he says with a lot more bravery than you think you would have managed.
The baron's other eyebrow slowly rises to join the first. "I see," he says. "I had not heard that Her Ladyship was expecting… guests."
You start to muster your courage to answer, but Castor beats you to it. "Her arrival was not exactly planned, your lordship," he says. "More than that, I'm afraid I cannot say, on my Countess's orders."
"Hmmm…" the baron says, his piercing eyes seemingly trying to stab the truth out of Castor's brain as he stares at him. Finally, however, he sweeps past the two of you without another word or even a glance in your direction. He's so close that his black, billowing cloak seems to try and knock you over as it flutters against you.
You keep your mouth fearfully shut until Baron Rickman sharply turns a corner and vanishes from sight. "Who…" you whisper, listening to his footsteps retreating.
"Baron Silvin Rickman. Her Ladyship's cousin by marriage," Castor says, his hands shaking slightly as he grips his spear. "A baron from the Southlands duchy in the Empire." He seems to consider his words for a few moments before grimacing. "I… think it best we pretend that never happened. For both our sakes. Come on, before he thinks to come back."
Thankfully, nobody else bothers you for a while, giving you time to regain your bearings. However, as you do, you start to realize something.
"Aren't we going in circles?" you ask.
"Milady?" Castor asks.
"Ryza," you correct. "And we are, aren't we! I saw that picture five minutes ago!" you point to a (rather ugly) portrait of an old, fat man who had somehow been squeezed into fancy armor. "I thought we were going to the library?"
Castor sighs. "You did mention that, yes," he says. "However, the library is perhaps…" His eyes light up slightly. "Actually, I have a better idea. I think you'll like this." With that, he turns and leads you down another corridor. You consider insisting that he take you where you want to go, but curiosity gets the better of you and you follow after him.
After a few minutes, he stops at a heavy wooden door, cracks it open, and peeks through. You can see light filtering out, and smell fresh air. "I think you'll like this, Lady Ryza," he says before opening the door fully.
You gasp as you stare out at a fancy looking garden. It is clearly very nice and well-maintained, but what really gets you is that you're sure your still high up in the castle! How…
"Countess Mantrae's family garden," Castor says. "She hasn't used it much… recently, so it should be empty. Feel free to look around, though do be careful, we are very high up."
You nod; looking around. There are well-trimmed bushes, beds of glorious flowers even more vibrant than the herb gardens Mother kept. You don't recognize anything, but it all looks beautiful.
"Thank you," you say.
Castor nods. "Your welcome," he says. "Feel free to stay as long as you like. I'll wait here; to give you a little privacy."
As you start to move past him, the question that had just started to worm its way into your mind before you realized what was going on resurfaced. "Before I do… Castor, why don't you want me to talk to anyone?" you ask. "I… had kind of wanted to meet people here."
The man studies you for a few seconds before sighing. "I… cannot say, milady," he says. "Countess Mantrae has ordered that news of your arrival be kept as quiet as possible, and I do not question her orders. She must have her reasons."
You slowly nod. "Okay…" you say, making a note to ask Artemis what the countess had to say about that when you see her next. "Well, thank you for showing me around," you say.
Castor nods. "Of course, Lady Ryza," he replies.
You sigh. Work in progress, work in progress. With a final wave, you move deeper into the garden.
The warm, earthy scents surround you; even though you're pretty high up, the bushes have been carefully placed to provide windbreaks. The sun shining down managed to warm everything up, and as you look around you wonder why Coutness Mantrae wouldn't be spending as much time here. It was gorgeous.
Carefully making your way to the edge, you peer over, down into the courtyard. It's much as you remember it, lots of hustle and bustle. You briefly imagine yourself down in the middle of it, and decide that maybe it's a good thing you didn't push too hard to go: maybe you and Artemis could go together before you leave, so at least you'd have a friend.
Something interesting catches your eye, and you look over to an area that seems to have a lot of horses milling about. In front of the is what looks like a small house on wheels, and standing next to it is Sir Octavio, who seems to be arguing with an older-looking knight. Sir Octavio is gesturing at the rolling house, but the other knight shakes his head and says something to the unarmored men who were looking between the two of them. After a moment, they shrug and start to roll the house back under the roof.
The older knight, meanwhile, had turned to walk away, but Sir Octavio grabs his arm and says something. The older knight wrenches his arm out of the younger knight's grip, points his gauntlet at the man's face, before storming off. Sir Octavio stood, seemingly frozen in shock, before glancing back at the rolling house. Finally, however, he stomps off towards the main building, soon leaving your sight.
You frown: they'd been fighting about something. You hadn't been nearly close enough to hear anything, but you could tell by their body language that they disagreed about something, something to do with that rolling house. Was Sir Octavio not supposed to use it? Who even was the other knight, you hadn't seen him before.
Something odd was going on.
As you ponder this strange event, your ears perk as you hear a faint sound from behind you. Glancing over your shoulder, you don't see anything different, but as you focus, you hear it again.
Is that… giggling?
Curious, you quietly pad deeper into the roof garden, following the sounds. It takes you only a minute to find the source of the giggling. Peeking out from behind a bush, you spot three girls, all around your own age (or size, at least; since humans are apparently all really young.)
They're dressed in clothes nearly identical to the ones that you'd been given but ended up leaving behind: long skirts and blouses in black and white. However, while the others you'd seen wearing this sort of outfit had been moving with purpose on some task or other, these girls seemed to be relaxing. The largest (thus probably the oldest,) was carefully weaving the stems of a bunch of small, white flowers together into a chain of some sort. The other two are trying to do the same, but it's clear they're not as good at it. Looking closely, you see that the youngest is wearing a ring of these flowers around her head like a crown, though you're pretty sure it's the older girl's work.
You hesitate: none of them seem to have noticed you yet. You've never actually interacted with anyone your own age before; the youngest manakete you'd ever met was a three-hundred-year-old Green who had been passing through, only staying a night. You… don't really know how to interact with other children. Would they be nice? Would they think you were weird? Was there something different you were supposed to do when talking to children rather than adults? Would they peer down their noses at you like Baron Rickman?
You…
[] Carefully approach: you're curious, oh so curious, and you've always wanted to have friends your own age…
[] Leave them be: you're not ready for this yet. Besides, they seem to be having fun by themselves, you don't want to intrude.
[X] Carefully approach: you're curious, oh so curious, and you've always wanted to have friends your own age…
"Let me give you a little advice: they're just girls. Show up with a nice-looking face and a few compliments about how nice-looking their faces are, and it's no problem."
As you watch the three girls chatting, you suddenly feel very old. Not just because they're probably less than a decade old each, with humans being so short-lived. No, it's because they're… calm. Happy. No, more than that, they're at ease.
You're not petty enough to begrudge them that happiness, but it reminds you of before: before you went to sleep, before you met Artemis, before everything became so tense and dangerous and you had to hurt people and be careful with your every word because of things you'd been asleep for. These girls are innocent, in a way you're not sure you are anymore, after everything that happened. After some of the things you've seen and done.
More than just practicing being around other people, you realize that you want to find that sense of peace again, and these girls seem a good place to start. Steeling yourself, you stand up fully, brush your skirt off (even though the wards have done their job and repelled any dirt) and begin carefully making your way towards them.
It takes the girls a few seconds to realize you're there, seconds you use to listen in on their conversation to try and get any hints of how you should handle this.
"-how you're so good at this, Daniella!" the smallest girl whines as she accidentally breaks one of the fragile stems of her flower chain.
The oldest girl smiles as she gently takes the damaged piece and starts fixing it. "Mother taught me a lot about weaving, and I've had a lot of practice," she says. "Don't worry, you'll get better. I tore a lot of these when I was growing up."
The middle girl, not being involved in the discussion, is the first to spot you. To your surprise, after a moment of shock, a wide smile crosses her face.
"Lady Sypha!" she cries, leaping to her feet. "You're back! We were-" She stops mid-word, peering at you as the other two girls clamber up as well. "Wait… you're not Lady Sypha…"
Swallowing your nerves, you wave. "I'm afraid not," you say. "My name's Ryza; I'm new here. Who's Lady Sypha?"
The girls looked at each other, their backs going unnaturally straight in the way you've seen people stand when Artemis is around. The youngest is drifting to hide behind her fellows, seemingly without realizing she's doing it. You try to give her a smile, but she just retreats faster, peering out from behind her friends.
The oldest girl takes a breath before stepping forward and dipping into a curtsy. "My apologies, milady," she begins.
You flinch: this isn't going how you hoped. "Please don't do that," you plead. "I'm not a noble or a lady or anything, I'm just Ryza. I was just looking around the garden and I heard you and you all seemed to be having fun so I thought I'd come over and talk to you."
The girls all blink in tandem. You hope that's a good sign, that they're confused and thinking about you rather than worried or scared of you. "You're…" the middle girl said.
"Ryza," you say again, hoping against hope that if you repeat your name enough times they might use it and make this all less awkward. "I just got here with Artemis. She's off meeting with Countess Mantrae, and I didn't want to bother them so I tried to go to the library, but the guard walking with me suggested I come up here." You gesture around. "It's a really beautiful garden. Do you spend a lot of time up here?"
Slowly, the smallest girl comes out from behind the older ones, though she still isn't quite meeting your eye. "A little," she says. "One of our chores is watering everything when there isn't enough rain, so we get to look around."
You give her what you hope is a reassuring smile. "It looks really nice," you say. "So, what are your names, if you don't mind me asking?"
The three glance at each other again before the middle one takes the plunge. "My name's Manuela," she says, starting to curtsy, only to stop when you flinch, instead gesturing to the youngest girl. "This is my little sister Sara." Sara waves shyly.
"My name is Daniella," the eldest says. "It's nice to meet you, Ryza."
"It's nice to meet you to," you say truthfully. "Do you mind if I sit with you?"
"If… if you want to," Daniella says, carefully kneeling down by the bed of flowers again. The other girls joined her, leaving a space open for you.
As you settle down, Sara looks you up and down. "Your dress is really pretty," she blurts out.
"Thank you," you say. "My mother made it for me, but this is the first time I've gotten to wear it around other people." You point towards her head. "I like your flower crown."
Finally, she smiles. "Daniella made it," she says, holding up her own effort that she'd recovered at some point. "I'm still not very good at it."
"You'll get better at it, Sara," Daniella reassures her again, seeming to settle down a bit as she resumes her own work.
Manuela, however, is still clearly sizing you up. "If you're not a noble, then how'd you get such a shiny dress?" she asks, her voice not quite sharp but certainly more wary than the others.
"My mother made it for me," you say, picking a few of the flowers and starting to try and copy what Daniella is doing. You almost immediately break the stem, but at least your fingers are occupied and you seem to be trying to fit in. "Well, Father helped too."
For some reason, Manuela doesn't seem satisfied. "But how did she get all the fabrics and gems and stuff?" she asks, abandoning her own flower chain to stare at you. "All those things are really expensive, so if you're not noble where did you get them?"
You frown as you think it over. Father used quite a bit of precious materials in his work, and you remember he'd said something about where he got it once… "I think they got it from the mountain," you say. "I wasn't allowed to go down there; Mother said it was dangerous, so I don't know for sure, but I think that's where everything came from."
Manuela starts to open her mouth again, but Daniella cuts in. "Manuela, be polite," she chides the younger girl. "Ryza is a guest, and as Countess Mantrae's people it is our responsibility to be gracious."
"Hey!" Manuela whines. "I was just curious!"
You nod. "It's okay," you say. "I'd never actually thought about it before, so I had to try and figure it out." Glancing around, you quickly try to think of a question of your own to move past this bit of awkwardness. "How do you get the water up here for everything? There's so many plants, surely they take a lot of water."
Distracted for the moment, Manuela points towards the tower you'd just come from. "There's a rain-catcher up on the roof of the tower that leads down here," she says. "Which means that we just have to carry it from there to the plants that need it. It's still a lot of work, though." You nod; it certainly sounds like it, though the rain-catcher is a very clever idea. "But on the good side, when we're done, we get to stay up here a bit longer."
"We're not really supposed to," Sara says conspiratorially. "But since it takes so long to water everything, nobody really notices if we're a bit late."
Both Daniella and Manuela shush the younger girl. "She doesn't need to know that!" Manuela hisses before looking back at you. "Please, don't tell anyone; Mama would tan my hide if she found out we were being unproductive on the Countess's time!"
You cock your head: why would anyone tan something other than an animal they'd hunted? That seems like it would be very painful. Not to mention the fact that Manuela clearly still needed her skin attached, so it wouldn't have any real use to anyone else either.
Truly, humans were strange creatures.
However, she seemed worried about it, so you nod. "Okay, I won't tell anyone," you say earnestly. "I'm sure everyone's happy with the job you do. The garden looks very nice."
Finally, Manuela smiles at you; seemingly deciding that if you were willing to keep a secret for her, you were alright. "Thank you, Ryza," she says.
The four of you sit in silence for a few minutes as you try again to copy Daniella's movements. You do a bit better than you did before, but you still quickly find yourself with a bunch of broken stems. "Do you need some help, Ryza?" Daniella asks as she hands another completed flower crown to Sara, who puts it on her head alongside the first one.
"Yes, please," you say. "I've never done anything like this before."
As the taller girl picks a few more flowers and starts demonstrating how to weave the stems together, Sara peers at you. "So how did you get here, Ryza?" she asks. "I've never seen you before, and you didn't come with Baron Ri… Ricky…"
"Rickman," both you and Daniella correct at the same time, causing you to glance at each other. "I met him earlier," you say as Daniella raises any eyebrow. "He was… intimidating."
"Yeah, him," Sara continues. "How'd you get here?"
"I came with Artemis," you say. "She found me up in the mountains, and I helped her get down. She's taking me back to Agrithe with her, but we had to stop here first, and Countess Mantrae was nice enough to let us stay."
"Who's that?" Manuela asks.
You mentally bop yourself as you remember that Artemis wouldn't have given these girls permission to use her name. "Oh, right, she would go by Lady Cartese," you say. "She-"
All three girls gasp. "La-Lady Cartese?! The princess of Agrithe!?" Daniella squeaks, accidentally tearing the flower chain in half. "She's here?!"
You blink; you hadn't expected quite this reaction. "…Yes?" you say.
"And you came with her?!" Manuela asks, staring at you with wide eyes.
"Is she pretty?" Sara squeals as you try to formulate an answer. "Lady Sypha said that she was really pretty when she went to visit, is she?"
"Forget that!" Manuela cuts in before you can even start turning towards Sara. "How are you friends with-"
As the three girls all try to talk over each other, asking you a dozen questions you struggle to keep track of them in your mind. You'd heard them talking about a Lady Sypha, so you thought they'd have been used to nobles and how they weren't really all that different, just with longer names. Apparently, you'd miscalculated. "Yes, yes, I came with her," you try to get a word in edgewise. "But it's not really that…" They ignore you. "She's pretty, I guess;" you try again, hoping that if you can answer a question they might listen to you. No luck.
Finally, you get fed up.
"Hey! I can't tell you anything if you don't listen to me!"
Silence falls as you flinch at the sharpness of your own words. You hadn't meant to be so rude; you'd just wanted them to listen to you, and now they were all staring at you again. "I'm sorry," you say. "I… I just wanted to talk to you all…"
Surprisingly, it's Sara who reaches over and pats your hand. "I'm sorry," she says. "I was just really excited because Lady Sypha talked about Lady Artemis a lot when she got back from Agrithe, and I was really sad I didn't get to go as well. We shouldn't have been bad- bager- talking over you."
Daniella nods. "Sara's right," she says. "We should not have been so discourteous."
"It's okay," you say. "I… I'm still new to all of this; I just wanted to be able to talk and make some friends. I haven't really met anyone my own age before." 'At least, my own mental age.'
Manuela studies you, but before she can say anything Sara elbows her in the side. "Okay, fine," she says finally, sparing a glare for her little sister. "So, what did you want to talk about?"
There are a lot of things you want to talk about, many of which are light topics that would hopefully create less of a fuss than this. You could even focus on those things; things that would hopefully just set these girls at ease and make it more likely that they'll like you.
On the other hand, you could push for a few more serious questions, if you wanted to.
[] Choose as many as you wish. -[] Ask about Countess Mantrae.
-[] Ask about Lady Sypha.
-[] Ask about the bandits outside.
-[] Ask about nobility.
-[] Ask about the guards following you.
-[] Ask about Baron Rickman.
-[] Write-In
[] Keep the conversation light.
However, if you do this, you get the feeling that the girls (Manuela especially) will take it as an invitation to ask a few more probing questions of their own. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, though you will need to be careful with your answers to some of them, like Artemis would want you to be.
You could also put a hard limit on a topic, though you don't think you'll be able to get away with vetoing more than one without putting a strain on what you hope will grow into a friendship.
(For every serious topic you broach above, the girls will press you on one of their curiosities. You'll have to tell them something if you want this conversation to go well.)
[] What one question do you want to veto?
-[] Questions about your clothing.
-[] Questions about your special talents.
-[] Questions about your social status.
-[] Questions about Artemis.
-[] Questions about your parents.
-[] Questions about your journey here.
-[] Write-In
[] Leave all potential topics open.
AN: To be clear, Ryza isn't going to blurt out anything too incriminating. For example, if the girls ask about her special talents, she's not going to mention that she can turn into a dragon. She might, however, talk about her magic a bit too much, since she's still not sure the exact limits of what is normal for human mages.
"Every little girl wants to be a pegasus knight when they're growing up. If we had as many mounts as we had aspirants, we would rule the world."
-Sky-Marshal Fiona of the Whitewing Alliance
As Daniella, Manuela and Sara stare at you, your thoughts race. You're curious about a lot of things. You're curious about Countess Mantrae and Lady Sypha. You want to know what makes Baron Rickman so intimidating, or if it's just you. You're still trying to figure out all this nobility stuff, why they seemed so excited and surprised that Artemis was here, since from Axton's explanation they weren't in her particular pyramid, being Legerian rather than Agrithian.
However, you hesitate. If you start asking really probing questions like that, that would make them want to ask equally probing questions. Questions that you would have to be very careful in answering, since Artemis told you not to talk about your manaketeness. You didn't want to lie to these girls, or tell the technical truth in a deceitful way which is as bad as lying.
Besides… you've been stressed this past week. Better to have a nice, calm talk with no alternative meanings or underhanded designs.
"This castle's really nice," you say, going back to your flower-weaving. You've gotten better at it, you notice with some pride. "I've never been in a castle before, it looks really big."
Manuela smiles proudly. "It is," she says.
"How do you deal with so many people being around?" you ask. "Everywhere I went this morning, there was people, and that was with Castor trying to avoid people. Don't you get overwhelmed?"
The middle girl shrugs. "You get used to it," she says, picking her own flower crown back up and continuing to work on it. "We were all born here, so we've never known anything else. I'd probably be lonely with fewer people."
Get used to it? Get used to it?! How!? "Oh," you say.
"Where'd you grow up?" Sara asks before Daniella can stop her.
"I lived in the mountains," you say, shifting to point back the way you came with Artemis. "I don't think you can see the exact one from here, the tower blocks it, but everything was carved into it."
The girls all cock their heads at you. "But wouldn't it be cold up there?" Sara asks. "I remember the winter last year, it snowed so much we could barely go anywhere and a lot of people got sick. Wouldn't it be freezing all the time?"
You nod. "It could get pretty cold, though we didn't live on the highest mountain," you say. "That one had snow all the time, it'd be impossible to live in. But yes, there was a few winters when it snowed so much that we were stuck inside until spring came." All the girls give you shocked looks, causing you to look nervously down at your flower chain. "It was okay, Mother would always have plenty of food stored up, so we just had to sit tight until the snow melted. The hardest part was if it started leaking: there were a few times when some of the lower areas were kind of flooded."
"That sounds ho-" Manuela starts, only to glance at Daniella, who gives her a warning look. "Well, I'm glad you made it out okay."
"Thank you," you say before nudging the ground with one foot. "It must have taken so long to build all of this from scratch," you say. "I mean, with everything carved into a mountain, the rock's all there and it just needs to be dug out. With this, you have to dig the stone out of somewhere else, move it here, cut it into smaller pieces, then stand them all on top of each other in a way that it doesn't fall down! It must have been so much work!"
Daniella nods. "It was," she says. "Master Cassian says that it took nearly a decade from the beginning of construction to the finishing touches, though I think part of that was due to there not being a good source of stone around here. Apparently the Countess's ancestors had to buy the rock from elsewhere."
A decade?! Mother and Father constantly in dragon form and freely using their magic might have been able to make it that quickly. Maybe. How had the humans done it? "How do you keep it all from falling down?" you ask, pointing to the nearby wall. "I mean, all the little blocks are right there, if you push on them hard enough wouldn't they come out?"
Manuela laughs. "No, silly, they're stuck in place," she says, hopping up and going over to the nearest wall and pushing on it. It didn't budge. "Besides, even if they weren't, they're really heavy, so it would take a battering ram to knock them down. Not even a wyvern could do it!"
Wyvern... wyvern… Oh right, you'd read about those. Distant, distant cousins to manakete, they only had two legs, didn't have a heart-form, couldn't use magic and weren't sapient. Still, they could fly using their innate connection to fire. Some older ones were said to be almost as big and strong as a young dragon form. "I didn't think wyverns lived around here," you say. "I've only read about them, but I thought they liked the warmer climates further north."
"Don't worry, they don't," Daniella says. "But I've seen one once, when an emissary from the Empire came to talk to the Countess." She shudders. "It was scary… Mama told everyone to stay away from it or it would eat us. Jeremy said he touched it, but I'm pretty sure he was lying. It was just so big and mean-looking. I'm glad they don't live around here; pegasi are so much nicer."
You frown: from the pictures you'd seen wyverns looked rather elegant, but you didn't want to argue with your new friends. "I like pegasi;" you say. "I've seen them flying around a few times; they're so beautiful."
Sara sighs. "They are. I wish I could ride a pegasus.
Daniella and Manuela nod, sighing themselves. You can't help but find yourself nodding along. While you had no great desire to ride one: your memory of being on Actaeon's back still fresh in your mind, you would love to fly with them. You'd tried once, but they'd been too fast. You'd asked Mother about it, and she'd laughed. "Green manakete are the only ones who have ever consistently managed it," she'd said, "and I'm pretty sure that's at least half because the pegasi, being blessed by the wind, see them as spiritual cousins."
As you mused, you notice Daniella frowning as she studies you. "Ryza, your hairclips… are those pegasi wings?" she asks.
"Yes," you say, carefully tugging one out to show the girls. "Father made them: he knew how much I loved watching the pegasi, so he thought I'd like them."
"Wow, your dad's really good," Sara says, holding out a hand. You hand the clip to her, and she carefully runs her fingers along it. "It looks like he put every single feather in!" You simply nod, not having the heart nor desire to tell her that your father's with the Mother now.
Manuela, meanwhile, cocks her head. "Are you a Whitewing, Ryza?" she asks.
You didn't think so. From what Lancel had said when he'd been arguing for going and talking to them as a way to get back to Agrithe, you were pretty sure they were humans if nothing else. Before you could answer, however, Sara perks up. "Are you? Are you?! Do you know Lady Seryph!?"
"Sara, hush," Daniella says. "Let Ryza answer."
Shooting her a grateful smile, you shake your head. "I'm not a Whitewing, or at least I don't think I am. What's a Whitewing, and who's Lady Seryph?"
The girls all look at you like you're crazy. "You've never heard the stories of Lady Seryph?!" Manuela gasps. "We were always begging for stories about her, she's the best!"
"No," you say. "Could you tell me some of them. I love stories."
Daniella grins. "Of course," she says. "Which do you think she'll want to hear first?"
"Oh, oh, tell the spider one!" Manuela says, her eyes shining.
"Eww! No, not the spider one!" Sara squeals. "The spider one's scary!"
"But everyone comes out okay in the end," Daniella says reassuringly. "And it's the best one to show how brave Lady Seryph is." She looks back at you.
"Lady Seryph is the current leader of the Whitewings, but she wasn't always. Once upon a time, she was just another young pegasus knight mercenary making her way in the world. She was hired by-"
"That's not how Dad tells it!" Manuela says.
Daniella frowns. "My mother tells it this way, so that's how I'm gonna tell it," she says. "Anyways, Lady Seryph was hired by a minor lord to help deal with some strange disappearances among the people. She was meant to be a scout, but not much else, since the lord's own troops would handle any fighting." She leans in close. "But one day, as the group was traveling, they were approached by a dark stranger. He said that he had kidnapped those people, and if the lord wanted them back safely, they had to meet his demands, and if those demands weren't met, then his monsters would eat the people!"
You blink. "What were his demands?" you ask.
"The lord would have to release an important bandit leader he'd imprisoned," Daniella says.
"The lord would have to give his daughter to the stranger!" Manuela says at the same time.
Sara just scoots over to sit next to you, grabbing your arm. "I don't like this story…" she whines, pressing her face into your shoulder.
You awkwardly wrap your arm around her shoulder. "You can tell me a different one," you try to say.
"No, no, this one's the best," Manuela says. "Don't be such a baby, Sara!" The youngest girl simply whimpers.
Gently, you press your hands over her ears. "Is that better?" you whisper. She doesn't respond, which you take as a good sign.
"The knight leading the troops refused, of course," Daniella continues. "And he sent Lady Seryph out to find the people who'd been kidnapped. Surely, he said, there would only be a few zombies. Maybe a skeleton or two. Lady Seryph would be able to keep the people safe until his troops arrived."
"It was a foggy night, that night," Manuela cuts in.
"I thought it was day?" you interrupt, confused.
"The story's better when it's nighttime," Manuela says. "Anyways, Lady Seryph was all alone, since the lord had been too cheap to hire her entire squad. She flew through the darkness, barely able to see a thing, into the mountains where the stranger had pointed when making his threats. Then, over the sound of fighting from behind her, she heard a scream, a little, six year old girl's scream." Sara shuddered, and you press your hands tighter over her ears while shooting a dirty look at Manuela. Even if you were really curious about the story, she shouldn't be scaring her sister like that!
Daniella, however, seemed to have getting into the story. "She flew down and found a bunch of people tied to an old, scraggly tree among the rocks. She asked if they were the people she'd been sent to save. They said they were, but they begged her to take the little girl and run away, since the monsters were coming and they wanted her to be safe. Lady Seryph said no, she was going to save all of them."
"Then, there was a sound behind her. Slowly, she turned around, and she saw eight glowing red eyes glaring at her from the fog. Then there were sixteen. Then twenty-four, and a moment later, three enormous baels stepped out of the gloom."
You shudder. One of those monsters during the day had been bad enough, but three at night? That would have been horrible. "What did she do?" you ask.
Daniella smiles. "I'm sure everyone expected her to run. After all, she was one pegasus knight against three of the biggest, strongest monsters around. But she knew that if she ran away, all those people were gonna get eaten, and she wasn't going to let that happen. She also remembered that baels, while big and strong, are also stupid. So she grabbed her lance and flew up just out of their reach, yelling at them."
"Just as she expected, the baels all tried to swat at her, forgetting about the people completely. She would dart in and out, jabbing at them with her spear, throwing rocks at them, anything to keep their attention on her. She couldn't really hurt them, she just had a flimsy old lance her aunt had given her, but she was hurting them and keeping them busy so they couldn't get anyone else."
Manuela jumps in. "They nearly got her a few times, but she was too fast and too brave. Finally, nearly an hour later, the knight and his men arrived to find three exhausted, bleeding baels tottering about, with an equally tired but victorious pegasus knight flying around them, still stabbing at them. They lept in, killed them all, and finally Lady Seryph was able to land. 'Told you I'd save you all,' she said to the people before slumping over her pegasus and going to sleep."
"I don't remember that last part of the story," Daniella says as you uncover Sara's ears now that the spiders are gone. "But what did you think, Ryza?"
You nod slowly. "I agree that Lady Seryph was very brave," you say. "I met a bael once, and it was-"
"YOU MET A BAEL?!"
You flinch back as all three girls shriek at you. "Ye… yes. Once. And I ran away from it and Mother killed it for-"
"Your mother killed a bael!?" the girls all squeal.
"Uhh…" you say. Right, you hadn't been supposed to talk about things like that. You'd forgotten. "Yes?"
All three of the girls are staring at you again. "But… but… I thought you said you weren't a Whitewing?" Sara says. "How did your mommy kill a bael?"
Desperately, you latch onto a technical truth. "Magic," you say quickly. "Mother was a mage, she zapped it with lightning until it stopped moving." You leave out the part about how she'd then ripped it into little pieces with her claws and thrown the pieces down the mountain.
Sara stares at you in awe. "Wow…" she says.
"Did your mama come with you?" Manuela asks eagerly. "Can we meet her? Mistress Flarestone and her apprentices are always super busy, so we never get to see magic!"
You flinch, but before either you or Daniella, who looks like she's recognized your use of the past tense and drawn the correct conclusion, can speak, a woman's voice calls from the entrance to the garden.
"Lady Ryza? Are you in here?"
All three of the girls freeze. You, meanwhile, barely take the time to recognize that it's Daria before responding. "Here!" you call, waving a hand to try and get out of this awkward situation you'd gotten yourself into. However, you blink as you realize just how pale Daniella has become.
"Oh no…" she moans.
You're just about to ask what's wrong when Daria comes around the corner of a hedge. "There you are!" she cries. "I've been looking all…" her voice trails off as she takes in the fact that you're not alone.
"Hi, Mama," Daniella says weakly. Manuela and Sara don't say anything, since they're both looking at their feet and seemingly trying to sink into the ground.
Daria's eyes sweep over the scene, taking in the scattered flowers, the crowns atop some of your heads, and the guilty looks of the girls behind you. "So this is where you've been playing tardy," she says, her voice taking the coolly-disapproving tone of a mother upset with her children's' naughtiness. "With so many things that must be done to keep this castle running, you chose to spend your time in idleness?"
You remember Manuela's words from earlier in the conversation, and you realize that she hadn't just been talking about her mother, she'd apparently been talking about all human mothers. You had to do something, you didn't want to find out what "tanning hides" meant!
"It's my fault," you say quickly just as Daria starts to open her mouth to continue her lecture.
The woman blinks. "Lady-"
"I came up here with Castor, and he let me look around. I found Daniella and the others finishing up with the watering, and I went to talk to them because I was curious, and we ended up making flower crowns and telling stories because I distracted them. It's my fault they're late." You meet Daria's eyes, praying that the girls behind you are keeping up. Lying may be wrong, but surely sometimes it was acceptable to protect your friends?
Daria's brow furrows as she studies you, before glancing behind you to her daughter. "It is partially my fault, mother," Daniella says. "I should have paid more attention to the time."
Slowly, the woman's face softens. "I suppose it is courteous to entertain guests," she says. "We will speak more on this later, Daniella. Take Manuela and Sara downstairs and get them started on helping their mother with the preparations for tonight's dinner." Glancing over your shoulder, you see Daniella curtsying before grabbing her friends' arms and quickly hustling them towards the door.
"Bye, Ryza!" Sara calls as she's led off, waving at you. You wave back. "It was nice to meet you!"
You and Daria stand in silence until the sound of their footsteps fades. "Daniella helped me make this," you say, holding out the flower crown you'd finished during the story. "Do you want it?"
Daria smiles. "She did always have a gift," she says, tenderly touching the woven flowers. "But I think you should wear it; it looks good on you."
"Okay, if you're sure," you say, carefully putting it on your head. "How's Artemis doing? Is she done talking to Countess Mantrae yet?"
The woman pauses for a second before speaking. "They were still in conference when last I saw her, but that was some time ago," she says. "However, I think it's time you got back to your room: it's starting to get late."
It wasn't that late, you note as you glance up at the sky, but you don't argue as you allow her to gently guide you out of the garden. Castor falls into step behind the pair of you as you take the direct route back to the rooms, cutting out the going in circles that Castor had done. You're careful to take mental notes on the path: while you're still interested in seeing the library, if you and Artemis spent much more time here you'll want to visit again.
As you step back into the last corridor, you notice that, in addition to the four guards spread between the two ends of the hall, there are two more standing right outside your door. Daria's steps falter for a second as she sees them, but only barely, and she continues forwards without a word, pausing only to receive a nod from one of the soldiers. As you glance at them, it might just be you, they seem… a little more tense, than before?
As Daria opens the door and gestures you in, you notice something strange.
[] Countess Mantrae herself is standing at the window of your room, fiddling with something in her hands.
[] Baron Rickman is sitting in one of the chairs as if he owns the place, his cold eyes fixed on you.
[] There's a sound of arguing voices from around the corner opposite the one you came down. Is that Sir Octavio's voice?
[] You… can't put your finger on it. There's just… something off. Didn't you put that scroll away?
AN: Bonus points to anyone who can figure out the inspiration for the Lady Seryph story.
[X] Countess Mantrae herself is standing at the window of your room, fiddling with something in her hands.
"The only thing more dangerous than assuming a dowager is speaking without thought is assuming you know what her plan for her words is."
- Attributed to Emperor Thaddeus II, Year 972 after the Fall of the Fell Dragon
You cock your head as you notice that Countess Mantrae is standing by the window, gazing out with what you'd imagine is a pensive expression, though you can't see it. "Hello, my lady," you say, curtsying again. It still feels odd, and you're pretty sure you're not doing it right, but Artemis did it, so it must be the right thing to do.
The woman doesn't immediately turn, continuing to fiddle with whatever it is in her hands, though from the tilt of her head you're pretty sure she's not actually looking at it. Finally, however, she turns to look at you, slipping the object into her sleeve as she does. You briefly catch a glimpse of what looks like a length of light, goldish-colored rope with green woven through it before it vanishes. "I see you found our wayward child, Daria," she says mildly.
"Of course, my lady," Daria says. "She'd gone to the rooftop garden upstairs."
You nod. "It was really nice," you say. "I know I told Artemis that I'd stay here, but I wanted to look around, and Castor suggested that I'd like the garden. Sorry if-"
Countess Mantrae smiles slightly. "There is no need to apologize, child," she says, gliding over to settle herself in one of the chairs. "There is also no need to stand at attention like that; come, sit." You hurry to obey as Daria gives one last curtsy before stepping out, closing the door behind her.
The two of you sit in silence for a few moments as Countess Mantrae studies you. "Artemis was right," she says finally. "Your dress is quite lovely. Daria said that your mother made it for you, is that true?"
You nod. "Yes," you say. "She and Father made it, for when I needed to go visiting. I… I'm glad I'm getting the chance to use it."
The countess nods slowly. "So that was an expectation for you?" she asks, delicately picking up a small, tapered glass with some dark red liquid from the table beside her. Glancing over, you see that the magical container is back, and there is a cup of the white liquid sitting beside what looked like a collection of hard pieces of bread.
"It was, yes," you say. "But… well, things change."
Countess Mantrae nods again. "That they do," she says. "Your parents, might you tell me a little about them?"
You don't really want to talk about your parents much, especially not after you were inadvertently reminded by Daniella and the others that they were different than humans. Looking for a distraction, you point towards the white liquid. "Is that…" you start, hoping that she won't take offence.
"Yes, I had that brought for you," Countess Mantrae says. "After all, it is only polite to feed one's guests when speaking with them."
Carefully, you reach out and take the cup, noting that the runes seem to have been recharged, though they're still leaking energy. Someone should really do something about that: maybe if Countess Mantrae left it with you, you could use the Runewrighting scroll to try and clean up some of the errors. Shaking that thought out of your head, you refocus on the woman in front of you. "Is Artemis doing okay? Did your talk go well?" you ask.
From the slight raise of her eyebrow and faint upturn of her lip, you're pretty sure Countess Mantrae noticed your clumsy dodge of her question. However, she seems willing to play along with it, as she sits back in her chair. "Yes, our conversation was very productive," she says. "Artemis told me about some of your adventures. It is a miracle that you all made it here safely."
You nod. "It was," you say. "But… but I am glad that I got to meet Artemis and the others, even if things were hard sometimes. And I'm glad I got to see all this; the castle's really nice, and I look forward to seeing her home as well."
Countess Mantrae sips at her drink again, studying you. "Hmm…" she says, seeming to consider her words. "Would you be willing to discuss your account of what transpired these past few days?"
You cock your head. "Didn't Artemis tell you everything?" you ask. Well, hopefully not everything. Hopefully she left out your manaketeness (and the spider incident); but other than that wouldn't she have told her friend everything?
"I have found that children often see the world more clearly than adults," Countess Mantrae says. "I am interested in your thoughts on what transpired."
"…Okay, I guess," you say. Artemis had said that she trusts Countess Mantrae, so surely it couldn't be that bad. You wouldn't tell her any of the things Artemis had said to keep private, which meant you'd have to be a bit clever with some parts of the story, but it shouldn't be too bad. "Well, I first met Artemis when she found me in my home…"
You don't try to hide the fact that your parents were magical; if nothing else you'd told the girls in the garden about that, and from what Artemis had said in Miau humans like to gossip, so Countess Mantrae would probably hear about that anyways. However, you did downplay your own abilities significantly, since young humans were apparently not yet able to use magic well.
Instead, you play up your knowledge of your home as how you got Artemis safely off the mountain; leaving the fighting to her in the story. Once the tale took you off the mountain, you're forced to all but write yourself out of it, since without magic you wouldn't have been much use. You don't talk about the fight to save Ardan in Miau, and on the nighttime trip you simply have everyone working together to keep each other on track.
Countess Mantrae doesn't say a word throughout the entire story, simply sipping at her drink as she listens quietly. Several times, you falter, expecting her to have some question or comment, but she simply gestures you to continue, a faint frown on her face. You hope you aren't deviating too much from the version Artemis told; hopefully if you were, the countess will understand that Artemis told you to be careful with what you said and not be too upset with you.
Finally, after several minutes, one refill of your cup, and a few of the hard pieces of bread used to give you time to think without being obvious; you finish with your arrival at the castle. For almost a minute, Countess Mantrae continues to study you without a word.
Just when you're about to ask if there's anything else she wants to know, she finishes her drink. "Certainly an interesting story," she says softly. "However…" she pauses. "Are you… quiet certain, that it was only the five of you? Yourself, Artemis, her men, and the militiaman from Miau?"
You frown: why would she think there'd been someone else? "Yes, I'm sure," you say. "Artemis found me at home, and we saved Axton and Lancel, and then Kelton wanted to help after Artemis helped his sister. It was just the five of us." You pause. "Oh, and Actaeon. Artemis wouldn't want me to forget Actaeon: he was there too."
"She wouldn't, would she?" Countess Mantrae says, another faint smile flickering across her face before her face settles back to contemplative coolness. "However…" After a moment, she shakes her head. "However, you never did answer my question about your parents. I like to keep up with the current fashions; and even if she never became a major name, surely your mother's work would have garnered some reputation, with the obvious skill she possessed. Not to mention the fact that some of the magic you described is… exceptional." Her eyes turn piercing as she stares at you. "I do find myself very curious."
You squirm as you look away. "I…" you say. "I… don't know all the details. Father and Mother were… very talented. More than I'll ever be." Especially if Artemis is right, and all the other manakete are gone. You wouldn't have anyone to teach you. "But… to me, they were just Father and Mother. Mother made this for my birthday. Father… he just knew magic." You grip your cup more tightly. "I… I don't know what to say."
"Is there a reason you don't want to talk about them?" Countess Mantrae asks.
"I… I guess I'm still not completely used to the fact that they're gone…" you say. This was even true: even after a week, there's still a part of you that refuses to believe that you're alone now.
Countess Mantrae flinches slightly. "I see…" she says. "My apologies, I did not wish to force you to recall painful memories." She seems to consider for a moment before leaning back. "Are there any other interesting things that you recall from the journey?"
You shake your head. "Not that I can think of," you say.
"Hmmm…" Countess Mantrae says. "Very well."
The two of you sit in silence for another minute before you look around. "So… how is Artemis doing? I haven't seen her…"
"Artemis is very tired," Countess Mantrae says gently. "Although she tries to pretend otherwise, the journey took a great deal out of her, both physically and emotionally. She is resting now, and I would not expect to see much of her tonight. As for tomorrow… there is more that she and I need to discuss, so don't be concerned if you don't have a chance to speak until you leave."
You frown. "But… I want to talk to her…" you say.
"I understand, Ryza," Countess Mantrae says. "But please understand, that things are… different, down here in the lowlands. In fact, it would likely be best for everyone if you were to remain in these rooms for the duration of your stay. If there is anything you need, say the word and it will be provided."
As she gets to her feet and starts towards the door, you stand as well. "Countess Mantrae, may I ask a question?"
She pauses before turning fully to face you. "Of course, child," she says.
"…Why don't you want me to talk to anyone?" you ask finally. "When I went out, Castor tried to keep me going in circles, when all I really wanted was to go to the library and maybe see some people. Why don't you want that?"
Countess Mantrae studies you before stepping forward to gently run her hand through your hair. "There are many eyes and ears in this castle, child," she says. "And not all of them answer to me alone. Artemis told you about her father's man, did she not: the one who betrayed her? I do not wish for anything like that to happen here."
You slowly nod. "I suppose that makes sense," you say. "We met him, on the way over here. He seemed to want to talk, but Artemis wasn't interested in listening to him. Do you know why he did what he did?"
The countess pauses for a few seconds before shaking her head. "I never met the man," she says. "And Archduke Letoro is usually skilled at choosing trustworthy men. I do not know what could have caused this Robert to take the path he did." She turns back to the door. "Please, remain here; get some rest. You are quite tired yourself, after all. Anything you need will be sent to you tomorrow." Before you can formulate a response, she makes her way out of the room, closing the door behind her.
As you sink back into your chair, you hear Countess Mantrae saying something to someone outside. You could probably move closer to hear her, but you have a lot to think about. Idly picking up the scroll that was sitting on the table to fiddle with, you consider what to do next as the sun starts to sink below the horizon.
Night Action:
[] Figure out how to talk to Artemis. You know she's tired, you're tired to, but so much has happened, and you need her guidance. It won't be easy, Countess Mantrae will probably tell her guards to make sure you stay in your room and get some sleep, but you're sure there's a way.
-[] Be reasonable in your attempt.
-[] You will talk to Artemis tonight.
[] Figure out how to talk to the others. Countess Mantrae never said that you shouldn't talk to Axton, Lancel or Kelton. While you know this is loophole abuse, you do want to talk to someone, if you can only figure out how.
-[] Be reasonable in your attempt.
-[] You will talk to someone tonight.
[] Go exploring. There's still so much of the castle you haven't seen. If you can figure out how to slip out, you're pretty sure you'd be able to find something interesting as night falls.
-[] You just want a general idea of what things are like.
-[] You want to find something specific. (What do you want to find?)
[] Ask for some things. Countess Mantrae said that anything you needed would be sent to you; you might as well take advantage of that.
-[] Some more food. You're hungry.
-[] Some books from the library. (What topics interest you?)
-[] Write-in
[] Get some sleep. You're still tired, and a lot has happened today. The bed looks re-made and fluffier than ever: close your eyes and rest.
[X] Figure out how to talk to Artemis. You know she's tired, you're tired to, but so much has happened, and you need her guidance. It won't be easy, Countess Mantrae will probably tell her guards to make sure you stay in your room and get some sleep, but you're sure there's a way.
-[X] You will talk to Artemis tonight.
"If Sol Invictus had intended for men to fly, she would have given them wings."
"…I don't recommend saying that around a Whitewing."
"I said men. Never said anything about women. We can do whatever we want."
- From the Divine Realm comedy The Priest and the Valkyrie
As you pick up your scroll from the table and start to put it away, your mind is too busy racing to pay much attention to what your body is up to. 'Didn't you put that away?'
Artemis had always kept you close. Ever since the two of you had met, she had told you several times to not wander too far from her, even after she learned what you were capable of. Maybe it's just you, but it seems a little odd that she'd go to sleep without at least checking on you. True, you hadn't been around; maybe she'd checked in, seen you were gone, and assumed that you were okay. Maybe she'd been disappointed that she hadn't gotten to see you.
'Or maybe,' a small, nasty voice whispers in the back of your mind, 'Mother was right. Now that the human doesn't need you anymore, she can afford to just leave you behind.'
You freeze in the middle of retying your backpack closed, turning that thought over in your brain. It was true that Mother had spent more time dealing without outsiders than you or Father. She'd certainly spent more time observing humans than you had. She would know more about them than you did.
Artemis had also kept you at arm's length from the moment you arrived here. You'd been going to share a room with her, but she'd told you to go in here. Maybe she'd already been thinking about getting rid of you now that she was back among her own people. Maybe the rolling house had been her leaving. Maybe-
You shake your head firmly. Or maybe Artemis had just wanted a bit of privacy while she slept. You'd had your own room back home, that didn't mean you hadn't loved your parents. Artemis had been sure to check in on you in the morning, and she'd certainly seemed happy enough to talk to you.
'I'm being silly,' you think. Really, the most likely explanation was that Countess Mantrae was being completely honest: Artemis had been really tired last night. You'd certainly been, and you'd gotten to sleep through the day in a way she and the others hadn't. She'd probably checked in when she got back, maybe even with Countess Mantrae, seen you weren't there, and gone to take a nap. Maybe Countess Mantrae had even told her to: she seemed like the kind of person who enforced bedtimes.
However… you do really want to talk to Artemis. Not only to silence the niggling doubt that's still lingering in the back of your mind, but because you want to share some of the things you'd found today. Ask her if there was a way to convince Castor or Countess Mantrae to let you go to the library. Tell her about your new friends: maybe Artemis would be willing to meet them, which might distract them from thinking too hard about what you'd let slip about your mother.
Well, who says you can't? Besides Countess Mantrae, but all she'd really done was suggest you stay here: she'd never really said you had to.
Hopping off the floor, you creep over to listen at the door. It takes a moment, but you hear the faint grinding of metal on metal as one of the guards, probably Castor, shifts outside your door.
You frown: if Countess Mantrae has decided that it's your bedtime, she'll probably have told her guards to stop you from leaving. That will make it… difficult, to get out. You're sneaky, you've proven that, but you're no Black manakete: slipping past a ready guard right outside your door would be functionally impossible.
So you had two options: go to sleep like Countess Mantrae wants, or find some other way of talking to Artemis.
As you lean back, you glance out the window at the rapidly darkening sky. It's a nice window; it even has glass, which from what Father had said was not easy to make. It could also open… slowly, a cheeky smile spreads across your face.
After all, you had been meaning to go for a fly at some point. Now you have a legitimate reason to!
Still, it would be best to wait a bit: after all, you're still trying to keep your manaketeness secret, and heart-form wings are… were… rare even among manakete. Best to wait until things get darker. That would also give Artemis time to finish her nap.
Getting up from next to the door, you hustle back to your bag: while you like your shiny outfit; if you're going to be sneaky shininess would be counterproductive. Best to put that away, get your normal clothes on, and go flying when it gets fully dark.
After getting re-dressed and putting your bag back under the bed, you take a moment to quietly spread your wings and gently roll them in their sockets: proper stretching is an essential pre-flight habit. Then, you take the time to study the conditions: the wind seemed to be coming from the south-west: should make takeoff easier since you were facing east, but you'd have to be careful not to get blown too far away from the building.
Finally, as darkness truly falls, you feel ready to get going. Just one last thing to do.
Grabbing the blanket from the bed, you wrap it around yourself like an oversized cloak, like you'd done when you'd woken up during the night at home and wanted to go do something without getting dressed. Properly disguised, you walk back to the door and gently knock on it. A moment later, a guard opens it. Sadly it's not Castor.
"My lady? Do you need something?" he asks.
"No," you say. "I was just going to wish you good night. Well, I was going to wish Castor good night, but he seems to be gone."
The man blinks a few times before nodding. "Yes; he's off-duty. He'll be back tomorrow."
You nod. You like Castor, even if he had assumed you wouldn't notice him leading you in circles. "Okay," you say. "Well, good night."
The new guard seems to ponder his words for a moment before simply nodding. "Sleep well, child," he says before quietly closing the door. A moment later, you hear a faint click from it.
You frown: had he just… locked you in? Not that it mattered, of course, since you were leaving by flying, but it was still weird.
Shaking your head, you creep back to the bed. Grabbing your cloak and one of the pillows, you make a rough facsimile of yourself in the bed, just in case someone glanced in. With humans' poor night-vision, they hopefully wouldn't realize that it isn't really you.
Finally, with all your preparations complete, you carefully ease the window open and take one last look out. While there are lights further down along the outer walls of the castle, there's nothing up here that will expose you.
Spreading your wings, you resist the urge to let out a whoop as you step out into air: sneaky, you need to be sneaky. Still, being able to fly without the existential terror of a fight clouding the fun makes you smile. Despite wanting to go see Artemis, you take a few moments to just glide around, enjoying the wind in your hair, the way your membranes strain against the sky. You love flying, you always have, and it's so good to be back!
As you do, you look around. You see so many things: even this late at night, there are people moving about. Most are armored men and women like the ones outside your door, patrolling along the walls and occasionally in the courtyard. You see a pair of more armored men riding out of the gate. You see two more seeming to have a mock fight; pausing between spear thrusts to talk.
Hovering in place (one of the benefits of your flight being powered by magic as much as proper wing dynamics, though it is a bit more tiring,) you take a moment to just breath the clear air. A part of you wants to just go flying for a bit longer, it's been so long, but you have a mission. Besides, while you're hopeful nobody will check to see if you're actually asleep in your room, you can't be sure they won't. The sooner you find Artemis and have your chat, the sooner you can get back and get some sleep.
Leaning back, you glide back towards the window you started at. You'd been right next door to Artemis, so just shift a little to left, and you'll be at her window. The room is dark as you approach, but even through the window, you're able to peek in.
It takes you a moment to realize that something's wrong. Everything's neat; but there's something about the neatness… it's like when you first arrived. The sort of cleanness that comes from a lack of use.
More importantly, the bed, which is right by the window, is empty.
You frown: had you mis-remembered? Quickly, you beat your wings and shoot past your own window to the one on the other side, where you thought Axton had been staying.
It's also empty. It's also super clean. There's also no sign of the pack that Axton had been carrying: though he might have just shoved it under the bed.
Moving back to Artemis's room, you pause to consider. The window is closed; while it would be easy to break the glass and get in, you don't want to cause any damage. If you could just use wind magic, you could probably trigger the latch from this side, but as it was, you'd need something sharp and narrow… wait a minute!
A minute later, you're back with one of the narrow files from the runewrighting kit Father left you; and with a bit of jimmying you're able to get the window open without any obvious damage (well, aside from some scratches, but those are on the outside, nobody will notice.) Slipping in, you look around.
Just as you'd thought; there was no sign that Artemis had been in here. Her bow was gone, her pack was gone, there was nothing here.
Had… had she actually left you?
No. No, there had to be another explanation. She wouldn't do that to you, not without saying goodbye at least.
Something isn't right.
Slowly, you slip back out into open air, gliding in circles in midair as your thoughts race. Now that you think about it, you haven't seen anyone since this morning. Not Axton, not Lancel, not Kelton. A quick check shows that his room is also empty, though at least there are still some signs of habitation in there. However, of the man himself, there is no sign. You're all alone.
You need to find Artemis. Something's wrong, and surely she'll know what it is.
[] Go grab your bag: Something's wrong, and you don't want to leave anything behind if you have to do something drastic.
[] Go grab Thunder's Cry: Something's wrong, and you want to have a weapon if things get worse.
[] Go find Artemis quickly: Somethings wrong, and you need to know your friend is safe.
Flying upwards, you consider your options. If Artemis isn't in her room, she could be anywhere in the castle. You want to go ask, but that could be dangerous: Countess Mantrae didn't tell you that Artemis had moved, in fact had pretended she hadn't. If she wasn't telling you things… then either she didn't trust you, and so her guards wouldn't answer you, or you couldn't trust her, which meant they wouldn't answer you anyways.
'Whenever you're hunting, sweetheart, always seek the height advantage.'
"Thanks, Mother," you whisper to your memories, beating your wings and shooting upwards. If you could get high up, you could see more of the castle, and maybe figure out where to look for Artemis.
As you rise higher, you scan the windows. While most are dark, there are some with flickering lights in them. Not steady enough to be rune-light, maybe just candles? That meant those ones had people in them, so if all else failed you could just start checking all of them to see if Artemis was in any of them.
In fact, there was one of those windows near the very top of the tallest tower in the center of the castle. Pausing, you decide to test your theory: if humans can't fly normally, then they would be less likely to be paying attention to the outside if they were high up. Shifting directions, you pass the window before flipping yourself upside-down in midair to carefully lower your head down to peek in from the top.
The first thing you notice is the fact that, while this window also has glass, there does not appear to be a way to open it.
The second thing you noticed is the heavy iron mesh preventing anyone from even touching the glass from the inside.
The third thing you notice is Artemis, sitting on the bed in the corner.
You're about to congratulate yourself on how easy this was, but then you take a closer look at her. She's curled up, hugging her legs and pressing her face to her knees; her shoulders shaking slightly.
"Artemis?" you whisper. Why is she crying? Why is she up here?
What is going on?!
Quickly, you drop down to hover fully front of the window before knocking on the glass. It takes some effort to not slam too hard: you don't want to cause any damage. There could be a reasonable explanation for this, there had to be!
It takes a few tries, but finally Artemis looks up, and even through the dim light past the glass you can see she's been crying. Her jaw drops as she stares at you.
"Hey, it's me!" you say a bit louder, waving.
"Ryza?" you think she says: you can't hear her, but you see her lips move. She bounds off the bed and over to the window, clambering onto the desk in front of the window while barely avoiding the open book and candle. "How… how?"
"I didn't see you in your room," you say, pressing a hand against the glass. "And I got worried, so I went looking for you. What's going on? Why are you up here?"
For a moment, it's clear Artemis is struggling to keep her emotions in check. Her mouth moves soundlessly, tears start leaking from her eyes again, and she grips the metal barrier hard enough that you're worried she's going to hurt her hand. "Oh, Ryza," she finally whispers. "I'm so sorry… I thought they'd hurt you…"
"Who?" you ask desperately. "Artemis, what's happening?"
"Mantrae betrayed us," she says, her shoulders shaking with a combination of sobs and fury. "She's planning on giving me to the bandits chasing us."
Your heart stops. "W… what?" you gasp. That didn't make any sense, Countess Mantrae had seemed so nice when she talked to you. Why would she… how could she…
Artemis, meanwhile, continues talking. "Her daughter… they have her daughter, and I'm apparently the key to getting her back." She snarls. "How dare she, how dare she! I trusted-" she shakes her head. "No, there's no time for that. Ryza, you have to get out of here!"
"What?!" you squeak.
Artemis's hand clenches even harder, and even through the glass you can see blood starting to well around her fingers. "You can't fight them all," she growls. "There are just too many of them, and we're in the middle of her land. Just… just go. Tell my father what happened. It may be too late for me, but at least you can make sure Mantrae pays for her betrayal. Leave me: just fly northeast; follow the road from above. Tell Father what happened, and if he asks for proof, tell him that he gave me my bow on my thirteenth birthday since I kept breaking the toy ones I got."
You stare at Artemis in shock. How... what...
[] "…Okay. Stay here, I'll be fast. I'll go get your father, then we'll be back to save you."
[] "No! There's got to be another way I'm not going to leave you here! I'll think of something…"
[] Write-In
[] "You underestimate my power." Rage flows through you. AN: To be clear, leaving is not a trap option: it is a completely legitimate choice. I'm not going to force you to try and save Artemis here; the story will just go in a different direction.
[X] Plan Grab and Go
-[x] Go grab your bag: Something's wrong, and you don't want to leave anything behind if you have to do something drastic.
-[x] Write in: "No, I'm taking you with me." Shift, smash the window, rip out the mesh, help Artemis jump on your back, hand her your bag, and fly like the wind. Hopefully in the darkness no one will see exactly what happened. Get as far northeast as you can before putting down somewhere horses can't go, away from people. You can make the trip in hops as often as you're able at night, and walk or hide when you need a rest or you'd risk being seen by people below.
Dragons do not plan. They act.
Dragons do not consider. They act.
Dragons do not hesitate. They act.
-The Dragon Within
You stare at Artemis in horror. How… how could she ask that of you?! How could she ask you to leave her behind to die!? How could she think that you'd… that you could… that…
Mantrae… curse her… curse her curse her curse her!
Through the crackling haze that is starting to descend over your mind, you see Artemis recoil, knocking you out of your anger. As much as you want to just give in, to let your draconic self make these liars and manipulators pay, that won't help Artemis. You know you have to try to think. You don't know how many of them there are, you don't know what weapons they have. You don't know if you can fight them all, but Artemis clearly doesn't think so, and she would know more about what humans can do. Besides, all that really matters is making sure Artemis is safe.
"No."
Artemis blinks. "What?"
"No," you say again. "I am not leaving you here. I'm not going to leave you behind. That is not an acceptable outcome."
"Ryza, you can't… I can't ask you to die for-"
You pound a fist against the glass, tears starting to prickle in the corners of your eyes. "No! I can't lose you too!" you sob. "I just lost Father. I just lost Mother. I can't lose you too. I can't handle that. I can't be alone. I wouldn't survive alone. You promised you'd take me to your home! I'm getting you out of here, whatever it takes!"
Then, before Artemis can try to argue, you grab your dragonstone and focus. Faint memories of Mother's explanations drift through your mind; how you have to find a single emotion, drive all others from your mind and soul. You don't want to transform in rage; that was the most violent of emotions. After all, you need to get Artemis away, not risk standing and fighting. You need something else…
1 Determination, 2/3 Fear
You try to focus on your determination. On the will, the desire, to get Artemis out safely. You thought it'd be easy; you so wanted to… but no matter how you try, you can't banish the fear. The fear of loss, the fear of betrayal, the fear of the unknown, the fear that the next boulder will drop the second you let your guard down.
You're too scared to be determined.
Lightning flares through your dragonstone, brighter and hotter than ever before.
But that's okay.
Your wings wrap themselves tightly around your body, containing the power in your stone as it is unleashed into your heart-form.
After all, fear is an emotion too.
Your body begins to warp, lightning flowing through your shifting veins like blood, but there is no pain.
If that's all you have…
Your flesh hardens into scales stronger than steel. Your fingers and toes curl into claws that can rend stone.
Then that's what you'll work with.
Your stone settles in your throat, thunder coursing through your being. No need for a tablet to cast, magic is your very breath.
"Please… Artemis and I need to flee. We can't stay here!"
Your wings rip apart, revealing your dragon-form. Flying sounds good. You're scared, you can fly, and nothing's going to stop you!
As your heart-mind subsides, you smile on a face that is no longer physical.
You've played at being a human; now it's time to remind the world what you really are.
(2 + 4 + 6) + 2 (Fear)
Your eyes flick wildly around. You can smell them. The humans are everywhere. Can't see them. They want to take Artemis away! You can't let them. Won't let them!
Artemis looks worried. "Ryza?" she gasps. She's right to be scared. There are two humans right on the other side of the door. Other humans, bad humans. Male, both male. Metal armor. Metal weapons. Talking.
"Wonder how long it'll be before we can get rid of her?"
They're talking about Artemis. They want to hurt Artemis! You have to get her away from them!
Glass in front of you. Metal behind that. Breath? No, no, would hurt Artamis! Unacceptable! Claws, claws, they'll do. You grip the wall with three legs, raising the last with talons extended. "Stand back, Artemis!" you say hurriedly, your voice shaking the stone around you despite your attempts to keep it low. She stumbles away, covering her mouth. Good, fast reactions, she's out of the shrapnel zone. You can still do this.
Your armored foot lashes out, shattering glass like badly-made pottery. You try to be quite, but you can't, it just breaks, so you'll have to be fast! Sweeping the rest of the glass out of the way, you rip into the soft metal of the grate, your razor claws ripping and tearing. The iron squeals as it parts. You flinch, that was loud, too loud!
"What was that? Hey, what are you doing in there?!"
No no no! They'd heard you! The two outside! Have to get Artemis! Have to fly! No time no time no time! Key in lock, only seconds… "Get down!"
"What-"
No time! You reach through the ruins of the window, shove Artemis to the ground with the back of your forefoot. Out of the way, she's safe now! Door opens, two soldiers, weapons raised, want to hurt want to kill no no NO!
Dragon!Ryza: Lvl 2 (3d) x2 (Fear) + C Support (1d) + Magical Supremacy (1d) + Monster out of Myth (4 a.s.) + Tenfold Shields (1 d.f.) + Advantage (Ambush) = 8d + 4 a.s. + 1 d.f.
Event: Win by more than 6: Both instantly die, no warning.
12 - 1 (1 Round of Combat)
You're already in mid-breath as the first human starts to open his mouth. Lightning flows from your maw. Not the precise, ordered bolts that Mother or Father would have made. Instead, wild blasts of electrical magic flay the entire wall of the room. Stone scorches. Wood burns.
Most importantly, flesh chars and metal melts. Both soldiers are thrown out of the room as unrecognizable heaps of cooked meat, the scent of them filling your nostrils and causing you to gag. Still, you're pleased. Neither had time to yell or attack. Good, good, they can't call their allies. They can't take Artemis away from you!
The girl herself stares at them. "Spirits…" she whispers. "It's okay, Artemis, you're fine. We'll protect you, just like we promised"
"Are you hurt? Did they hurt you?!" you ask desperately. Had you been too late? Stupid, stupid Ryza, you shouldn't have wasted time who cares about a bag Artemis is so much more important…
Artemis looks up at you, and forces a smile. "I'm fine," she says, but you can tell she's lying. Her heart is beating so fast she must be so scared because you left her to get captured when you were supposed to protect her! "Let's… let's go. Let's get out of here."
Best idea you'd heard all day. "Yes, yes, leaving is good," you say. You shift so that your neck is just outside the window. "Climb on, quick!"
Artemis gingerly approaches, carefully clambering over the shards of glass that got inside as well as the candle and open book. "O-okay…" she says. "Hold still, Ryza… this is gonna be tricky…"
You press yourself against the wall, claws digging deeply into stone, holding you steady. Can't drop Artemis, can't drop her, won't lose- Your head cocks, you hear something…
"No time!" you squawk as you hear footsteps coming up the tower on the inside. Many footsteps! Someone must have heard you or seen you! "We need to go now!" "Wait those are too slow to be rushing what are you-"
"What are yo- Eeek!"
Lunging up, three legs scratching and clawing at the castle wall, you reach through and wrap your free foreleg around Artemis, yanking her into a hug against your belly. "I'll carry you," you say, pulling her out the window as you push away from the wall, starting to tumble downwards. "Be gentle with her! You can't just-"
"Ryza! Ryza what are you doing!?" Artemis squeals.
"Rescuing you!" you say, spinning and spreading your wings to catch the air. "Hold on!"
Then you're flying. The wind howls against your face, but you're not afraid of that. You're afraid of the humans below you. You're afraid of dropping Artemis. You're afraid of a lot of things, but not the sky. Never the sky. You're safer up here.
"Oh spirits oh spirits preserve me-" Artemis says as you beat your wings, pushing yourself northeast as fast as you can fly. You look down, any moment expecting to hear alarms and see bows and spells being thrown your way. "It's okay, Artemis, it's okay, you're going to be okay."
However… there's nothing. You see people moving, there are humans down there, but none of them look up. Or maybe they're just pretending not to look up, to make you fly lower. "Very tricky, humans, but I'm not falling for it!" you mutter, angling yourself upwards towards some clouds. Clouds are good, clouds will hide you.
"Spirits of flame, embolden us…" Artemis whimpers, her voice a bit muffled since she's pressing her face to your tummy. You get the feeling she's not really talking to you anymore. "Spirits of wind, free us. Spirits of lightning, energize us. Spirits of light, protect us. Spirits of shadow, guide us. Spirits of flame, embolden us…"
You rise up into the cloud, feeling the wetness against you. Artemis splutters a bit, but you force yourself to ignore it: better that she's safe and wet than dry and gone. "At least try to keep her dry!"
Still, you hug her close, wrapping your legs around her to try and protect her.
You fly from cloud to cloud for what feels like hours, though really it could only have been a few clawfuls of minutes. Finally, however, you start to feel safer, and you warily dip down into open air to take a look around. No sight of any humans. No scent of them except Artemis. Good, that is good.
It was then that you realize how tired you feel. The panicked fear that's driven you out of the castle is fading, and you realize that as soon as that goes, you'll turn back into heart-you. "Uh oh…"
Heart-you can't carry Artemis. She'll fall. She'll die.
Another surge of terror drives you downwards. You can't lose Artemis at all, but you certainly can't bear losing her to your own stupidity! You have to get on the ground! Now!
A moment later, you flare your wings for final descent, flapping hard to shed speed as you aim for the top of a rocky outcropping. It would be very hard for humans to get up there, you'll be safe there, you and Artemis.
Touchdown. Your back legs grip the ground tightly as you use your tail to balance, your forelimbs too busy cradling your precious cargo. Slowly, you settle down, gingerly placing Artemis on the ground. Her legs immediately buckle under her, and she slumps to her knees.
"Are you alright, Artemis?" you ask. The human girl doesn't immediately answer, instead staring up at you, her mouth moving soundlessly. New fear holds your form solid as you cock your head. "Artemis?" Had you hurt her? Had you squeezed too hard? You didn't smell any blood, but you could still have damaged her insides. It's us she's scared of. The danger has passed, let me back out.
You lean down to press your muzzle against her chest, hoping you could smell whatever you'd done. She flinches away, falling onto her back without a word. "Artemis?" "Please, please just let me try to fix this!"
You sense your energy starting to fade, but you have to know. "Artemis!?" you cry.
She yelps. "Ah!" she cries, covering her head. "Ryza!"
Good, she remembers you. You haven't broken her. "Are you okay, Artemis?" you ask, settling back on your haunches, though you don't take your eyes off her.
Slowly, she peeks out from behind her arms, nodding. "I… I think so…" Your eyes widen: she thinks so?! She blanches as you hurriedly lean forward before nodding quickly. "I'm okay, I'm okay!"
Finally, you nod, satisfied. "That's good… I'm glad you're okay…" you say. "You're okay… we're okay…"
The last of your manic, terrified energy fades away. As you feel your body shrinking and softening, you sink back into torpor, satisfied that there's no reason to be afraid anymore.
You are your heart again, and you're kneeling in front of Artemis as she lays on her back, staring up at you with wide, terrified eyes. "I'm sorry…" you whisper. "I didn't mean to scare you."
Artemis takes a short, shaky breath as she sits up. "Ryza? You're… you're back?" she asks warily.
"I never left," you say. "That was me, just like I'm me. She's just the me that is a dragon." You grimace. "I… guess you didn't exactly have the best introduction to her, but she'd never hurt you. She was just scared."
"She was scared?" Artemis squawks. "She was scared?!" She was a twenty-foot dragon! How could she be scared!?"
"I'm thirteen feet at most," you correct. "And I thought I was going to lose you. I thought I was going to be all alone. Why wouldn't I be scared?"
Artemis starts to open her mouth, only to close it, close her eyes, and take a few deep breaths. "I… apologize, Ryza," she says after a moment. "That makes sense. It's just… it's one thing to know, in my head, that you're a dragon. It's another thing to see you transform and start ripping things apart and breathing lightning right in front of me without a word of warning."
"Manakete."
Artemis huffs. "You are not going to let that distinction go, are you?" she asks.
You frown. "Of course not," you say. "It's important to me. It'd be like if I kept calling you…" you pause, since you realize you don't know enough about humans to come up with a good comparison. "Anyways, just… please try to remember."
Slowly, Artemis nods. "I'll try," she says. "But… forgive me for asking, but were you… aware, for all of that?"
"Yes. No? Kind of?" you say. "I mean, it was me the whole time, but…" you shake your head, trying to think. "It's like… I was aware of everything: I could feel my dragon-self's fears and thoughts and I knew what she was doing, but I couldn't control anything: she was in charge."
Artemis flinches. "That sounds awful!" she says. "Trapped in your own body…"
"Why would it be scary?" you ask, confused. "She's me, and I'm her. We're one being, why would I be worried that she's controlling our body."
After a moment, Artemis sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Ryza, you're a sweetheart, and I'll be forever grateful to you, but you are strange." You're not quite sure how to respond to that, so you simply ease your bag off your shoulders and curl your knees up to rest under your chin as you watch Artemis.
The pair of you sit in silence for a minute before Artemis sighs again. "Now what do we do?" she mutters, flopping back onto the ground and throwing an arm over her eyes. "I thought we were making progress. I thought we were getting somewhere. I thought we were safe. Now we're right back where we started." She snorts. "No, we're worse off than when we started. At least when we started, I had my bow so I could shoot people. Now I don't even have that."
You crawl over to sit next to Artemis. "I can protect you," you say.
"That's not the point!" she snaps. "I thought we were done with this. I thought everything was okay. I TRUSTED HER!" You flinch back as Artemis's voice rises to a scream. "I thought she was ON OUR SIDE! I thought she'd be able to get us home! Then she STABBED ME IN THE BACK! After everything Legarius and Agrithe have been through together, after all the promises we've made to each other, how could she do this!? Why?!"
With a start, you realize Artemis has started crying again. Gingerly, you reach out and pat her on the arm. "Didn't you say something about her daughter?" you ask carefully.
Artemis snorts. "Oh yes, Sypha," she says bitterly. "The sweet little girl who'd rather be Imperial than free, and who is now the apparently reason I had to betray my own word to not leave Axton and Lancel behind! I promised them I'd get them home, I promised them, and now they're probably stuck in a dungeon cell being tortured for information because they were with me." She chokes on her words, her shoulders shaking. "So many dead because of me. So many hurt because of me. All I wanted was to go visit my little brother, that's all I wanted! Why… why did this all have to happen."
You don't know what to say to that. You don't think there even is anything you can say to that. You simply lay down and curl yourself up next to your friend as she sobs. You soon find yourself crying along, and before long the two of you are just hugging each other and crying.
You don't know how long you both lay on the rough stone like that, taking solace in shared misery. Finally, however, when all the tears are cried and Artemis is just laying spread-eagle, staring morosely up at the stars, muttering something about a book, you clamber back over to your bag, pull out some of the rations you still had, and bring them over to her. Then, once you're sure she's getting some food in her, you finally open your mouth.
[] "Let's just go to Agrithe. We've both had a really bad week, but we can still make it."
[] "I'll go get Axton and Lancel and Kelton. I got you out, I can get them out too."
[] "I met Sypha's friends. They seemed nice. If we can find her, then maybe everything can still be patched up."
[] Write-in
AN: I've added what you've experienced of Ryza's dragon form to her combat mechanics on the front page.
[X] Let's just go to Agrithe. We've both had a really bad week, but we can still make it.
"Screw you guys, I'm going home!"
- Cartkith's dragon-self in the manakete children's story Marikara's Friend
Gently, you settle yourself next to Artemis. "Let's just go to Agrithe," you say softly. Artemis turns to look at you, but doesn't speak. "We've both had a really bad week, but we can still make it."
The human doesn't say anything for a few seconds before letting out a long-suffering sigh. "You're right," she says. "Not only is that the safest option, but it's also the smartest one. I know that, but…" she sniffles. "I… I still feel like I'm failing them. Axton. Lancel. Kelton. Spirits, I even feel like I'm failing Sypha, no matter how furious I am at her mother right now." She hugs herself, turning back to stare at the sky. "They're all in this mess because of me. It's all my fault-"
You gently start running a hand through Artemis's hair, just like Mother did for you when you were sad. "It's not your fault, Artemis," you say softly. "You didn't ask Robert or Mantrae to betray you. You didn't ask the bandits to hurt your friends or take Sypha away. Nothing that's happened is your fault."
Artemis lets out a weak laugh. "If convincing people of that were so easy, Ryza, survivor's guilt would not exist," she says. "But… thank you, for trying. For being so sweet." She reaches out and pulls you into a hug. "However bad things have gotten… I'm glad I met you, Ryza."
You nod, allowing the bigger girl to cuddle you. "I'm glad I met you too, Artemis," you say. "I'm glad I met you too."
The pair of you lay in silence for a few minutes before Artemis finally lets you go. "I'm sorry, I'm not usually this clingy," she says, sitting up. "It's just been a bad week, like you said."
"I'm fine with it," you say. "Father and Mother cuddled me all the time; it shows that you care."
Artemis smiles slightly before looking out over the horizon, her frown taking on a thoughtful air. "Now what do we do?" she asks, seemingly talking to herself as much as you. "It was dangerous enough on foot with just the bandits after us; with a full county's resources arrayed against us it'll never work. Even if not all of Countess Mantrae's people understand exactly what's going on; if she gives the order to bring us in her people will obey. We're also in more open ground, fewer forests around…"
You point up. "I can fly us there," you say. "I would have offered when we were at my home, but then we met Axton and Lancel and I couldn't carry all of you. Also, I still thought humans didn't like it when people bragged about having wings, so I didn't show them off."
Artemis grimaces. "I was worried about that," she says. "I… Ryza, please don't take this the wrong way, but your dragon-self seemed a bit…" She stops talking, but you nod.
"I understand," you say. "Dragons are emotional by their very nature. But I think I remember Father mentioning that there was a way around that; I'll have to take a look." You pat her head. "You should get some rest; you've had a long day."
"So have you, Ryza," Artemis says. "If this works out, I'm just going to be riding you all the way back to Agrithe after this: you need sleep far more than me. You can look up how to do it in the morning; but it'll be better for both of us if you're fully rested." She grimaces. "Besides, I was drugged and spent at least half the day sleeping; I'm not in the mood to sleep more today."
You're pretty sure that's not how the biology of sleep works, but as a yawn pulls itself from your throat, you nod. "Okay," you say, pulling your cloak out and wrapping yourself it in. "But if you get tired, feel free to wake me up and take a nap, I can use the time to read."
"I will, Ryza," Artemis says softly, reaching out and stroking your hair as you lay down, using your backpack as a pillow. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," you yawn again before closing your eyes and doing your best to drift off.
Despite your assurance to Artemis, you're a touch grouchy when she shakes you awake in what you hope is a few hours. "What?" you grouse, poking just enough of your head out from the relative warmth of your cloak for your eyes to be visible so you can glare at her.
"It'll be morning soon," Artemis says, rubbing slightly at her eyes as she does. "We probably won't be able to move safely during the day, but it will be warmer. Hopefully it won't take more than a day to figure out how to stabilize your transformation so we can get out of here."
You nod, reminding yourself that, however much you like to sleep, there are important things to be doing. "Alright," you say. "Close your eyes, get some rest. I'll see what I can figure out."
Artemis nods back, yawning herself. "Okay," she says. "May I use your backpack?"
"Sure, sure," you say, digging through it to pull out The Dragon Within before passing it over to her, along with your cloak. "Sleep well," you say.
Despite your words, it clearly takes Artemis a while to settle, especially as the sun starts peeking up over the horizon. Finally, however, you're able to get her down with a bit of humming of her mother's song. With a final gentle pat of her head; a reminder that no matter how much older she looks than you she's still only seventeen (Seventeen! Really, why had her parents let her go wandering?!), you carefully open the scroll to look for a solution to the current problem.
It takes a while to find it. You were sure you'd seen something when you were in Miau, but before you could look at it Artemis had gone out and started shooting the tree and you'd gotten distracted by talking to Axton about nobility and why humans did such weird things around each other. You frown, you hope Axton and Lancel and Kelton are okay. Mantrae… surely she wouldn't hurt them: she hadn't seemed like an evil person, even if she had lied to you and wanted to give Artemis to the bad men. She'd just been doing that to try and get her daughter back.
You'd do a lot of bad things to get Artemis back. You'd do even worse to get Father or Mother back.
Shaking yourself out of these thoughts, you refocus on the scroll: you need to get Artemis home, and to do that you need to get your dragon-self to work with you. Mother had just been starting to teach you about how to properly interact with that aspect of yourself when everything had gone wrong.
Finally, however, you find a section that looks promising. With one last glance at Artemis to make sure she's okay, you happily sink into the words.
…
On Half-Shifting
Even for older, more experienced manakete, there are times when a properly awakened and partnered dragon-self will be too much of a risk to unleash. After all, our dragons are our emotions given form and will, and thus will react immediately to any new situation, and not always in ways that our steadier hearts can predict or plan for. If you have been following the steps of the path, you will know that your heart can force a de-transformation if necessary, but doing so will leave you in your more vulnerable form, something that could also be disastrous. So what is to be done when you need your dragon's power but cannot risk their emotional outbursts?
As with all things, there is a solution to this conundrum. Through a special ritual, it is possible to induce what is known as a half-shift transformation. While your body will assume the shape of the dragon, your dragon-self's mind will remain in its usual state; be it torpor for a young manakete or passive for a manakete that has awakened. You will gain some of the benefits of your dragon form while still maintaining your heart's ability to plan and give measured responses to unexpected occurrences.
There are, of course, drawbacks to this ritual, or every manakete would use it continuously. The first and most obvious drawback is that your dragon-self will not appreciate your use of this ritual without good cause. They are you and you are them, and as such will accept that there are times when their emotional reactions will be to the detriment of your shared self. However, by their nature dragons wish to be allowed to fly free, to not be constrained or restrained. This is why young manakete's dragons are in torpor until their heart grows mature enough to awaken them; or they would too easily overwhelm their young heart and put everyone around them at risk. For awakened dragons, overuse of half-shifting will chafe and damage the trust between your twin selves, and thus should be used only when truly needed.
The second obvious drawback is the time and focus it takes to cast the ritual. Truly shifting into dragon form is an act of will that most manakete can do in an instant, as easy as breathing with even rudimentary training and emotional control. This careful, minimal transformation, however, can take tens of minutes if not hours of careful concentration and arcane focus, something that is ill-suited for an emergency.
The third drawback, less obvious than the others but still important to consider, is that half-shifting will severely weaken your draconic strength while in effect, both magical and physical. While you will still be superior to your heart-form's power, it will not be nearly as wide a gap as when you allow your dragon take the fore. After all, it is from emotions that dragons draw the power to carry out their wondrous and terrible acts. With a more tranquil transformation, that drive and energy will be lost, leaving a weaker dragon behind. Your magic, especially, will be as a trickling spring compared to a raging river, as much of your power will be tied up maintaining your half-shifted form.
With all these serious drawbacks in mind, a reader might ask why any manakete would ever take this path. However, there are several benefits to consider. First, of course, is the greater ability to remain calm in tense and unexpected situations. Where a dragon-form might instinctively lash out against an unpleasant surprise or threat, a half-shifted form would be able to take the time to assess the situation and determine the wisest course of action. After all, remember, dragons do not plan: they act. Careless action can and has led to terrible tragedy in the past. A steady heart, however, can avert trouble with a calm, reasoned response backed by the relative strength of their partial draconic form.
Another boon of half-shifting is the ability to maintain a semi-draconic form for a longer period of time. While true dragon-forms are tied to emotional upheaval and will fade as soon as the emotion is spent, a half-shifted form can go on for hours. There have even been recorded cases of half-shifts that have lasted for days, though those were exceptional circumstances that should not be undertaken except in the most-dire of emergencies. This is especially true of younger manakete: those who have not awakened their dragon-self. Not only have their powers not fully developed, but their dragon will not be able to advise them as to the limits of their form, potentially leading to overexertion.
…
You nod along as you read through the steps of the ritual. It'll be hard: even with all the practice you've had with Father and your natural magical talent you think it'll take an hour or so for you to actually carry it out. However, it sounds perfect for what you need! You won't be fighting anyone, and the warning about not using half-shift for too long can easily be rendered moot by simply flying in short bursts of two or three hours, stopping to rest, then re-shifting to keep going. You'll still make a lot more progress than if you were walking, and it'll be safer than letting your dragon take control and do whatever she wants to do.
Twisting the scroll back to the proper place, you kneel and pull your stone out: no sense in waiting. After all, taking into account re-reading the steps of the ritual, doing a few safe test-runs, then finally casting it in full, it will probably be nearly nightfall by the time you're ready.
As your wings extend and your ears lengthen, you can't help but feel a giddy smile splitting your face. Artemis will be so pleased with you!
"AAAAHHHHH!"
You flinch back as Artemis screams and scrambles to get out from under your cloak. "It's okay, it's okay, it's just me!" you say quickly, your muzzle twisting oddly as you speak. You're not quite sure how dragon-you does it so easily.
The human peeks out from behind her arm, her mouth opening and closing. "Is… is that heart-Ryza, or dragon-Ryza," she asks finally, pressing a hand to her rapidly-beating heart.
"Both! I'm half-shifted. I figured out how to make it so we can safely fly to Agrithe," you say proudly, turning in place so she can look at all of you. "Do you like it?"
From what you'd been able to puzzle out, you wouldn't look that much different from if you truly shifted. You still have your big wings, your shiny yellow-gold scales, sharp claws, and teeth. More than that, you feel strong. You'd been able to lift a rock that you didn't think you'd even have been able to budge in your heart-form, and that had felt good. You'd be able to pick up Artemis easily! Who cares if fully-shifted you could probably have lifted triple that.
Then you'd heard Artemis shifting, and you'd decided to go show her what you'd accomplished. In hindsight, maybe doing so by nudging her face with your muzzle so that you were the first thing she saw when she woke might have been a bit much.
Clearly still trying to catch her breath, Artemis shifts to sit up against your bag. "Ryza, I'm not sure where dr… manakete culture stands on the issue," she says, "but for humans, waking someone up by staring directly into their faces from an inch away is considered rude. Doing so when you look like you could eat me in a single bite is… unnerving."
… yeah, definitely a bit much.
"Sorry," you say sadly, laying down and lowering your head in contrition. "I just thought you'd like to see what I'd accomplished."
Artemis takes a few more deep breaths before looking you over. "I will admit, you do look quite beautiful," she says.
"Thank you!" you say, unable to stop yourself from preening a bit. "You look really pretty too!"
Artemis laughs. "Ryza, you don't need to lie for my sake," she says, gesturing to her tangled hair and the bags under her eyes. "We both know I'm far from my best." Her face takes on a more serious expression. "So, will this 'half-shift' work for flying?"
"Yep," you say. "You look pretty light, so I should be able to carry you for a few hours at least. I can't spend too long in this form; according to Smagishi it's not safe, but we'll still be able to go for quite a while."
Artemis nods, glancing up at the sky. "Well, it's getting dark, so if you're willing we can get started," she says. "But there is one last thing we should think about: flying during the day." She gestures at you. "You stick out, Ryza. A lot. While from the ground it would probably be hard to tell you apart from a wyvern, especially if you tuck your front legs in-"
"I do not look like a wyvern!" you say. "My tail isn't as long, my torso's wider, my-"
Artemis raises a placating hand. "My apologies, Ryza, I did not mean to offend you," she says.
You shake your head. "I'm not offended," you say. "Wyverns look really elegant, but they look more like Green manakete than Yellow manakete."
"Really?" Artemis says. "I would have thought they'd be more like Red…" she shakes her head. "Never mind; I don't want to waste your transformation's time, but it is important to talk about this." She leans back. "The safest thing to do would be to fly only at night, resting during the day. That would make it harder to track us, and it would certainly make you nearly invisible." She grimaces. "However… it will be slower. If we fly during the day, then we'll go a lot faster. We'll almost certainly be seen, but if you tuck your front legs in, almost nobody would be able to tell the difference between you and a wyvern. While wyverns are rare, they're not unheard of, so it might not be catastrophic if you were seen flying overhead."
You cock your head. "Do you want to go faster?"
Artemis takes a breath before reaching out and running a hand along your muzzle, causing you to lean instinctively into her pat. "Ryza, this should be your decision. It's your life, your nature, that would be at risk. There are benefits and risks to both sides, and whichever you decide I will support it fully, but it should be your choice."
What do you decide to do?
[] Travel only at night. You will be less likely to be spotted, and in general you'll be better rested. However, it will take noticeably longer to get back to Agrithe. You will have time to do some fun things while you're resting (Choose one activity).
-[] Read a scroll (What scroll will you read?)
-[] Begin practicing White magic
-[] Talk to Artemis about what the world is like.
[] Travel as fast as you can, resting only when needed. This will make your journey far shorter; it will also be nearly impossible for Countess Mantrae's people to catch up. However, you're almost certain to be spotted, and may even have a notable encounter (Choose one encounter).
-[] A wing of curious Pegasus Knights intercept you.
-[] You get the drop on a group of bandits.
-[] A mysterious stranger runs into you while you rest.
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