"No, she knows." Ruli confirmed. "She offered an opinion on the matter, though I'm not sure what to think of it. I think she's trying to be funny." He nodded as she went on to say she'd go home, withholding the fact that she'd asked to watch him work. He'd feel comfortable without her face watching his every move. So, her point was proven. It would make many people far less on edge.
"Safe travels." Ruli said idly to her back, remaining where he was to await the two elves.

The next morning, everyone was sound asleep. Or at least those Kire knew well enough to strike up a conversation with. After Ruli and Ysaryn returned (without Bolym, for the time being), Ruli had gone to work on the enchantment while Ysaryn and Envy had gone out to where they'd decided to build. By the time they'd returned and gone to sleep, Ruli was still working, and when Kire stepped into the caves, all were still sound asleep.
Sid, however, was in the process of making breakfast without Ruli's help, her progress slow and cautious out of fear of burning something. They hadn't found many eggs, so she was grilling one of the birds Kire had caught with more root vegetables. She glanced up when Kire stepped in, fear flashing across her face for only a moment before she put on a smile. "Good morning." The woman greeted, her dark eyes following Kire curiously.

When Kire saw somebody was busy in the kitchen, she stood by the entrance for a moment, knowing how people usually reacted to her face and not wanting to startle them. “Good morning—Sid, was it?” She remembered seeing her with Rulitus here in the kitchen as well, fretting over how she cooked the venison. “I’m going to get some coffee brewing, if you don’t mind? Hopefully I don’t overly burn it,” she added with a small smile, stepping inside. “Do you have a mortar and pestle lying around?” She found what she was looking for not long later and proceeded to prepare the beans they had bought in Cordon. Kire worked silently, stewing in her own thoughts, then went to fetch water for the pot.

“That smells good,” she commented upon her return to the kitchen. “I’d offer to help, but I’m not particularly gifted in the kitchen.” She waited politely for Sid to finish cooking before she took over the fire for the brewing. “You’re one of the people who lived with Envy before?” she asked after starting on the coffee. “I think I saw you the first night I was here, with Aeron. Are you the one taking care of him?”

Sid offered another small grin. "Yeah, that's me. Go on ahead." She invited, lowering her head back to the work she was doing. When Kire asked about the mortar and pestle, she looked up, thinking. "Uh." Sid thought aloud. "Yeah, its in that pile to be washed, Ruli used it last night, I think." She pointed to the mentioned pile, watching Kire move after it, rinse it, and get to work.

As Kire returned, Sid looked up again, turning the last of the poultry carefully before removing it and tasting a little. It was dreadfully plain, but no one would really complain. If they wanted seasoning, they could add their own. If Sid made an attempt to do so, she would likely ruin it.
"Kind of." Sid said quietly in response. "I mean, yes, I lived with Envy before. Since I was six." She tucked a strand of her dirty blonde hair from her face. "But, Aeron, he's mostly capable of caring for himself. That doesn't stop me from hovering." She twitched a shoulder. "I was close with his mom, so. Its a little more for me than it is him. He just puts up with me."

“Envy’s like a father to many of you, isn’t he?” Kire smiled, understanding how Sid felt to some extent about taking care of Aeron. “Aeron is an intelligent boy. He’ll grow into a fine young man, hopefully.” She turned slightly towards the fire, listening for the sound of water boiling, before continuing. “Did he lose his mother at Ziad?” she asked, taking a guess. It fit in with what Sid had just said, and with the conversation she had with Aeron yesterday. “I’m sorry.”

She looked about to see if anybody would overhear, before she continued. “I may be out of line with this question, and you’re welcome not to answer it if you don’t want to. And it’s not exactly breakfast conversation.” Kire smiled a little, then stopped, remembering the coffee. She stood, removed it from the fire, and looked for clean cups for them to use. “Would you want one?” She poured out two, went to look for sugar, and found some honey instead. Content with that, Kire put in a spoonful and went to sit back down by Sid again, taking a sip. “Ah. A little too much water.” Kire made a face for a moment, then shook her head, drinking it anyway.

“Anyway. I wanted to ask if you’re able to talk about it—what did Rulitus do that made everyone turn away from him? Or at least made him think he wouldn’t be welcomed by anybody here at all. I’ve an inkling it has something to do with this.” Kire gestured at her own face.

Sid only nodded to her assumption that Aeron would grow up well, 'hopefully'. She hoped so, as well. The tragedies of losing parents young often left marks on someone. Everyone under Envy's care had lost family young, sometimes pieces, sometimes all of it, and not always without choice.
"He did." She answered about his mother. "Alais. She was a great cook. Always had the kitchen running, no one went hungry, and it was worlds better than what I manage." Sid answered remorsefully. "Ruli is a close second, but its hard on all of us to take her place."

As Kire mentioned a desire to ask something, Sid's dark gaze rose to her, her expression full of apprehension. She shook her head when offered coffee, waiting for the question she knew was coming.
But instead, she asked about Ruli. Sid blinked, surprised she hadn't asked about Envy, himself, or how they all came to be in his care. "Ah." Sid said, pulling another bit of poultry off the skewer and setting it aside. Her eyes lingered on Kire's face for a moment in thought before she focused on her work.

"That's," She began slowly. "-a complicated question, I think." Sid offered first. "In short, he brought her into our cistern. The 'Tunnels', we called them. In Ziad. Where we all lived. Ruli met her, the woman with your face, and convinced us to trust her. Because he did. He's always been our first line of defense, and because of her..." Sid shrugged one shoulder. "We lost everything. A whole city."

She swallowed thickly, her eyes watering. "Its not as though we don't forgive him. We know it was a mistake, and that he's trying to make amends. But some things you can't erase so easily."

Kire cocked her head as she nursed her cup of coffee. Was she expecting me to say something else? But she kept the question to herself, listening to Sid’s reply. She saw the tears threatening to fall from Sid’s face as she recounted how Ruli trusting Akuma had led to them losing everything they had held dear in Ziad. Given the pieces of information she had learned from Ruli, Envy, and Zeke, the heavy darkness that followed them around, it made sense. She nodded when Sid talked about the difficulty of leaving things in the past. “I never really believed in ‘forgive and forget’. It’s understandable. What you lost isn’t a trivial thing.” She paused for a while, drinking the rest of her cup, then shrugged a shoulder as she spoke again. “Makes it all the more surprising, honestly, that you’d let me in here after he brought me. I would’ve shot me on sight—though to be fair to him, Ruli did try, when he first saw me. I was just a hair quicker.”

She had many other questions for Sid, mostly to do with Envy, and their life in the Tunnels. But not now, not after she had asked this heavy a question. So, she kept silent, thoughtful over a second cup of watered-down coffee. “Looks like you might need more fowl,” she said after a while, glancing around the kitchen, then standing up to clean her cup. “I was supposed to look for Ruli; he must have used the mortal and pestle for the enchantments I asked him to do. If nobody else is awake just yet, I’ll see about replenishing some of your stores first.” She put away the cup and turned to Sid. “Thank you for answering my questions.” She paused, then gestured at the bird Sid had cooked. “That’s a lot better than I ever could manage by myself.” Kire grinned for a moment before going out to hunt.

Kire returned a while later sometime before noon, the task having woken her up much more than the rather wan brew she made that morning. After leaving the fruits of her labor in the kitchen, she went into the main cavern, hoping to spot Ruli.

"No, it isn't." Sid agreed about their loss not being a trivial thing. They had been abandoned and damaged long before, and losing Ziad was like tearing open the wound and letting the vultures gorge.
"Believe me, we're not thrilled. I mean, I- sorry." Sid looked up. "You're just ... different." Sid's dark eyes penetrated Kire for a moment. "She was grace, and smiles, and gave off this aura that beckoned you. It made it easy. He brought her in, but we all smiled back at her. But you..." Sid pursed her lips. "You look like we feel. That you've been beaten and battered but you won't stay down. You look as distrustful underneath as we feel. Which ... oddly, makes it easier to accept you."

She shook her head, looking back down. "Its hard to describe. Just. We all feel like you belong because you're wounded."

Upon return, Kire found not Ruli, but Envy, who was circling in the main chamber with a few of the small kids, playing a game of capture the rag. They kept silent, trying to sneak up and steal the rag he held, but with his elven hearing and his blindness, it was easy for him to hear their approach. Not to mention the fact that the cave amplifies their footsteps.

Ysaryn sat on the edge on her reed mat, bent in a stretch to keep herself limber. Seeing Kire enter, she grinned and winked. "Hello Kirai."
"Kire?" Envy spun slowly to face her direction, coincidentally pulling the rag out of the grasp of a five year old, who laughed. "I wondered where you'd gone off to. I have something for you. From Ruli." He grinned, and Ysaryn chuckled as she bent into a lunge.

Kire stumbled upon what clearly was a game Envy played with the children. Even after everything he’d suffered, the Kartaian cared for his wards so much. He’d love my cousins. She felt a pang of longing to see Etta and Percy; she hadn’t been able to for days now. She stood there for a while, watching with a sad smile on her face, then spotted Ysaryn nearby. At her wink, Kire grinned back. “Hello, Ysaryn.” She looked at Envy when the elf called her name. “I was out for a bit of a hunt.”

She raised an eyebrow at his other remark, noticing the way they were grinning. “Uh-oh. That doesn’t sound good.” She stepped closer, shaking her head. “Is it the enchantment? Did he plan on making me look like an absolute hag? Wouldn’t put it past him, but he’d better be ready for me to match it with attitude.”

"I mean, we haven't seen how it wears, yet, but Ysaryn tried the ring on earlier." Envy admitted, twisting again as another kid, nine, went for the rag.
Ysaryn only chuckled again. "I look like my father, instead of my mother." She said, bent downward with her hands and feet on the mat. Her voice was muffled by her stretch. "Bolym would have shit his self."

Ency chuckled in response, fishing into his pocket and holding out the plain silver band. "Here. Try it on. Ysaryn, tell me how she looks."
"She looks very well." Ysaryn answered before Kire had even taken the ring, or she had unfolded from her stretch.

Eyeing the band with suspicion, Kire stepped towards Envy to take it, avoiding a few children who had decided to take advantage of the moment to try and swipe at the rag. She looked from Ysaryn to Envy, then down at the silver ring, eyes narrowed at it as if it would spit sparks at her. With a huff she slid it onto the ring finger on her left hand, then turned to Ysaryn. “Well?”

The children stopped running around, their faces zeroing in on Kire. "Whoa." The five year old said.
It prompted Ysaryn to kneel on her mat and raise her head. She looked from Kire's short ebony hair to her lightly sunkissed skin, illuminated by her grey hued eyes. "I prefer the gold." Ysaryn admitted. "But is hard to tell you are you. Details different."

Indeed, aside from the change in colouring, Ruki's enchantment made Kire's eyes appear slightly more slanted, the kids heavier. Her nose was less sharp, and her lips slightly more rounded. She looked as if she could have been born and raised in Ziad, as Kire had requested.

"So her hair isn't gold anymore?" Envy asked.
"No. Black. Grey eye. Dark skin. Not like mine, though. Pity." Ysaryn went back to her exercise.

The moment Kire slipped the silver ring onto her finger, she felt a tingle pass throughout her body, followed by the faintest scent of cinnamon, similar to when she had first encountered Ruli up close. It was gone in a moment, though, and she didn’t feel any different. Judging from the children’s reactions, however, she knew that there definitely was a noticeable change. She noted Ysaryn’s reaction and her description, now very curious what she looked like. “I don’t suppose anyone has a mirror around here?”

She settled for a shallow basin of water. Kire looked at her reflection, or rather the face of the stranger reflected back at her. Ysaryn was right; she looked totally different. “Huh. Fascinating.” She touched her left brow lightly; it was even more uncanny to feel the scar yet not see it at all. Daryll would love this. “Incredible work,” she finally said. “Did he have to work through the night to finish this?”

Envy, shaking his head about the question of the mirror, suggested a basin of water. Ruli's enchantment was well made. While ti removed the scar on her eye to avoid people possibly recognizing her through that, he had given her new face a small, linear scar on the underside of her chin so her face wasn't absolutely perfect.
That had been the issue with Akuma. She was perfect.

"Considering he's still out cold in the sleeping chamber, I'll assume yes." Envy grinned, finally moving too slow and having his prize stolen by the five year old, who shrieked and ran off in his victory. "Could also be that he's just used to being up all night and snapped back easily. If you offer him coffee, feel free to wake him."

Kire was still admiring the illusion as Envy replied. She tilted her chin to get a better look at her new “scar”, then looked back up at Envy, satisfied. “I doubt the coffee I made would wake anyone properly, but I’ll give it a try,” she said, smiling as she watched one of the children finally claim victory over the elf. “Thank you, Envy.” She looked at Ysaryn for a moment and grinned before fetching a fresh mug for Ruli. She hoped he had a better time waking up than she usually did, though if he had been up all night, that probably wasn’t the case.

Once inside, Kire nudged his leg with her foot then stepped back a couple of paces. “I’m back,” she declared, trusting that he’d know his own handiwork and not be startled at the sight of a stranger. “Good work on the illusion. The scar’s a nice touch. Ysaryn was disappointed, but this should work nicely.” She held out the mug and waited for him to get up properly. "It is not strong," she warned. "But a second or third cup might do the trick."

"Enjoy yourself." Envy said, and Ysaryn chuckled again.

Ruli, when nudged, grunted and lifted his head from the ground, blinking his blurry eyes at the dark haired woman. He didn't recognize her at first, but he knew the voice. After that, it took his tired brain only a few seconds to catch up and figure out who the hell was waking him. With a heavy groan, Ruli sat up on his straw pile and took the mug. "Thanks." He said tiredly, drinking half of it at once.

"Why is Ysaryn disappointed?" He asked once he'd finished it, turning his head to look Kire over. It did fit well. She looked like a Ziadi, minus the eyes, which had been his own decision. He closed his eyes and opened them slowly, willing the tired blur to ebb. "She probably liked your real face better. Well, she will just have to be patient."

Rubbing his face, Ruli stood, then brushed his hands through his unruly hair to comb it away from his face. "Your family okay?"

“Probably the only one around here who prefers that,” Kire commented, amused. “She likes my hair. And she was hoping you’d make my skin like hers.” She grinned, amused at the thought. As he stood, her eyes went to his unruly hair and her mouth twitched. “They’re as alright as one can be when your whole family’s exiled,” she answered, hands clasped behind her. “They’re also convinced I will get myself killed here anytime now. Not wrong, but still.” She huffed at that.

“Now that I’m wearing this, I suppose I can return to Cordon soon,” she remarked, heading back out the sleeping chamber. “I was wondering though, had no other city been informed by what happened in Ziad? I imagine something that catastrophic should raise an alarm among cities that are familiar with the place. And I can’t imagine Ziad is the only city that’s been threatened by Kartaians before.”

Ruli exhaled a puff of air in amusement at Ysaryn's preference for her own dark skin. Holding his empty cup, he glanced down at her when she asked about Ziad and the news reaching other towns. He frowned, pursing his lips. "Yes and no." He answered, beckoning for her to follow him as he made his way back to the kitchen for more coffee. "Ziad was condemned for settling so close to hostile elves and putting themselves in harms way. It was a nothing city until Envy found his way in and secretly helped to boost its progress. Only then did it show up on trade routes."
Pouring himself a cup, he took a drink immediately. "We're going to need more of this. Anyway." He looked toward Kire. "When Ziad fell, the word got out, but the majority of the cities just shrugged and said 'we figured it would happen' and went back to their business. The only colonies that cared were the elves; Ysaryn's, and, possibly, one other, but we haven't heard from them. For all we know, they were wiped out as well."

Kire listened, intrigued at his explanation about the beginnings of Ziad’s prosperity. She must ask Envy sometime how old he was and how he had stumbled upon Ziad in the first place. “He’s practically the king of Ziad,” she put in, following him into the kitchen. She noted with some amusement how quickly he gulped down the second cup, then went to measure out a new batch of beans to brew, making a note to adjust this batch to make it stronger. Kire frowned as she worked, though, hearing about the apathy of the other cities. “Ysaryn did mention that they answered the call. The silence from the other elf colony is unfortunate, however. But given that Ziad had survivors, perhaps they did, as well.”

She went to prepare the second pot of coffee and set it over the fire. “Did you know any of the elves from that other colony?” she asked, crossing her arms as she leaned against the cavern wall. “If they know about Kartaians and have the kind of magic Envy knows about, surely there must have been a way they could’ve defended themselves at least?”

"The uncrowned king, yes." Ruli agreed. When they settled at last, he firmly believed the 'two' Ziads would split, and the one lef by Risa would fail unless she managed to marry, and even then, little would be done to help the city prosper. Whatever was led by Envy would flourish undoubtedly.
Horrified, he wondered for a moment if Envy and Risa would ever condemn one another to wed each other for the sake of the city they each loved, but he shoved that thought aside instantly.

"We did, yes. One of them wound up in our care for a while some twenty years ago." Ruli answered, remembering her. "She went back home maybe five years ago, I can't remember. We haven't heard from her since." He drained his second cup, waiting patiently for Kire to brew more, approving of how strong she appeared to make it.
"I've no doubt they can defend themselves. They're related, the Kartaians and her colony. As all the elves are, really, out here."

Ruli rubbed his face again, remembering she wanted to know about all the elves. "Do you still want a history lesson, or were you just making conversation?"

Kire didn’t reply at first, waiting till the coffee was ready. Once it was, she poured herself a cup, drizzled honey on it, and tasted it. Better. Wish we had milk or cream. “Why not both?” she replied, arching a brow at him. “It might be tedious for you, but remember, there are no elves in my world. Given that my enemy’s gotten into bed with elves, so to speak, it wouldn’t hurt to know more. Besides, now that I’ve got a new face on, figured a conversation with me this time would be a fraction more pleasant. Sounds like an acceptable way to spend the morning over a cup of coffee.” She smirked briefly at that, before sipping from her cup.

“If you’d rather we get to work, though, I’m ready when you are. Supply run at Cordon, and I could poke around and see about this Gemini lead.”