Carantathraiel

Wanderers

"I don't think he's enchanting anything for her." Envy responded. "He declined, from what I heard." He blew out a steady steam of gentle white smoke. When Kire mentioned a cousin who smoked and would be company the elf would enjoy, he turned toward her. He wondered about the sort of woman who would enjoy a Kartaian as a smoking buddy. But the giantess friend? Envy wondered what she looked like, not that he'd ever get a look of his own.

He bent his head in a silent nod as she asked about confessing something. And while her words were not quite what he expected, Envy showed no surprise on his face. An empress who lost her throne do to the very enemies she chased. So this was more than personal. This was a necessary justice. "Do they need space to sleep?" Envy asked, wondering. "I recall you mentioning your family before, if you'd like them to come here, we would find room. You'd know they're safe." Envy turned his head to give her a soft smile. "You're helped us enough. And a few more able hands wouldn't be frowned upon. Unless your family is not as willing to get their hands dirty as you are. It won't be a requirement that they punch trees to pieces." The Kartaian added with amusement.

Sobering, he sighed. "We have all been displaced and left without a home, then. I understand, now, your need to help us as much as you have. Anything more we can do in exchange, Empress Kire, let us know."

Wanderers

Ysaryn vanished after her discussion with Ruli, returning to the city in order to insist Bolym join her. She gave no details, but he couldn't refuse her, and the two returned to the mountains and set about in a light sparring session outside, to prepare without exhausting themselves.

It wasn't until after dinner that Ruli and Envy finished, the former wandering to the bedrolls to claim a small nap while Envy loitered in the kitchen until Sid handed over a bit of roast bird and sent him away again. In the dim light of the early evening, he sat outside the kitchen, listening to Ysaryn and Bolym fight, -sometimes sparring, sometimes arguing-, and took the moment to enjoy another of his cigarettes. As Kire passed him, the elf turned his head. "He'll be ready." Envy said without provocation. "He's in a bit of a mood, but give him an hour's sleep, at least, and he'll be tolerable again."
He set the cigarette between his lips and inhaled slowly, but controlled, trying not to burn through his vice too quickly. "And you? Are you ready?" A guarded question, as the elf knew one could never fully prepare for such a thing.

Wanderers

Ysaryn nodded once, and let Kire wander off while she remained in her crouch, staring at the water. When Kire was in the kitchen, Ysaryn rose and followed, passing through silently as she went to seek out Ruli.
She found him sitting in Envy's chamber, the two of them facing one another, hands locked in some eternal handshake, both gazing off to the side without really seeing. With a frown, she studied the two of them, curious, before she cleared her throat.

Envy was the first to turn his head, while it appeared to take Ruli a moment to notice her interruption.
"What?" Asked the blond.
Ysaryn raised her eyebrows. "I want to ask you a favour, if you have a moment."

Envy glanced at Ruli, now curious himself, while the blond rose and followed her out. When they were gone, Envy rose and followed a few steps, standing just beyond the enchantment that kept the sound out. He noticed Kire instead, catching her scent and hearing her steps as she approached. Beyond her, the moment she'd stepped far enough away to be out of earshot, Ysaryn broke into a rather somber request that had Envy raise a finger to his lips and beckon Kire into his chamber. He took a half a step back, placing himself in the middle of the enchantment so he could eavesdrop while, with a turn of his head, speak to Kire.
"Has she agreed?" Envy asked, his face turned into his room, while his good ear was pointed toward the duo. "Oh. Nevermind. I hear she has." Envy blinked, then furrowed his brow. "Oh." He blinked again, then he swept completely into his room, smiling approvingly.
He took his seat again, face turned toward Kire. "She's asked him for an enchantment of her own." Envy filled Kire in.

"I knew you were listening." Ruli snapped as he stepped back inside, his face flushed.
"I had forgotten how smooth you could be." Envy said, and Ruli's face coloured even deeper.
"There's nothing wrong with her face." Ruli stated defensively, then he faltered, looking at Kire. "I mean. Society is the problem, in her case. Y-your face, its the problem. I mean, its not your face, its Aku-"
"Forget what I said about being smooth." Envy interrupted, and Ruli fell silent, defeated. After a moment of standing in place, he reclaimed his seat, not speaking to either of them. It made Envy grin. "I could almost feel the heat in her cheeks, my boy."
"Shut up." Ruli snarled in the common tongue before he grabbed Envy's hand again and went back to practicing.

Wanderers

Ysaryn inhaled as Kire agreed, even if Bolym joining was a requirement. Not that Ysaryn had an issue with the male, but after he'd patched her up and gotten her home from her last narrow escape, returning felt like an insult.
No, he was a warrior. He would understand the need to go back. To get their people out. Ysaryn looked back toward the stream, silent.

"No, I am not hungry." Ysaryn answered with a simple shake of her head. Her braid dragged in the dirt behind her with the motion. "I will not go far. Find me when ready." Ysaryn said, remaining in her crouch. Then, slowly, she tilted her head and glanced back toward Kire. "Where is Rulitus? I should ask him a favour."

Wanderers

Ysaryn fell quiet, her expression dark, pulling her lips together in a vain attempt to cover the darkness that haunted her mind. "No." She answered. "I saw no one like that. No one but you Gem-men-ai and old man. But if he did help, I owe him much." She recalled the memory, regardless, trying to see a figure in the dark, anyone or anything that would have been near the door. There had been nothing but blurred shapes in the darkness, boulders, pillars, crates. If there had been someone else there, someone helping her, they had hidden themselves.

"If I can, I would like to go." Ysaryn said after a long silence. "My people are in there. I cannot leave them again." She turned her head back to Kire. "I need to. This hunt. This one is mine, also. It is my people they take and sell, my people they hunt down to cut open. To make dolls. You cannot deny me this, Kirai."

Wanderers

Ruli pressed his lips thin, then nodded as he stepped past Kire and into Envy's chamber, looking a little nervous.
Ysaryn mirrored that expression shortly before she blinked and it was gone. Her chieftess instincts took over, erasing all emotion from her face as she bowed her head in agreement and followed Kire out. As Kire sat against a tree, Ysaryn remained standing, her long braid swaying slightly.

As Kire delivered the news, Ysaryn's mask cracked and concern was written on her countenance, her brow furrowing as she gazed down at Kire. Taking everything in. The tone of her voice, her body language, the words she chose. Instinctively, the elf twisted, glancing behind them to make sure they were not overheard.
When Kire made her request, the mask flickered back into place, giving away none of Ysaryn's thoughts. Not until Kire said they needed her in order to hunt, and Ysaryn's lips pulled down into a subtle frown.

Her braid lay on the ground behind her as she crouched, folding her arms over her knees. "It is hard." She stated. "Much is erased, thanks to the drugs. What else, I try not to recall." Ysaryn admitted.
And she fell silent for a long time.

"I was out in the morning. Just before the sun. In the shore to dig for clams." Her eyes moved along the ground, remembering the morning, trying to sort through the pieces. "Hard to sneak up." Ysaryn admitted, gesturing to her ears. "I heard no one. But suddenly, everything went black. I was cold. Wet. I think I fell onto the sand. And then, nothing. Just black."

Ysaryn inhaled. "I woke in a cage. Iron bar." Ysaryn pinched her index and thumb to portray how much space was between the bars, little more than an inch and a half. "Cramped. Bruised. Half .... half dressed." Ysaryn shuddered. "Everywhere, more cages. More elves. Many female." The elf glanced toward Kire, her expression saying more. Abused. Violated. Inspected like meat. Humiliated.
She inhaled, looking away again. "Days. Weeks. I did not know. Bolym says little more than week, but felt like more. Man with green eyes, I see him a few times. Haze of drug. Never sure what he does. The females, they shrink away from him. He is frightening. Empty. Nothingness. A few times, I wake on table, strapped down. Naked. Untouched, but ... pain. I recall pain. I do not know why. How. I began to shrink from him, too. Every time he appear, I see his eyes, I remember pain."

Another deep breath, the elf calming her nerves. "Then I wake up on table again. Straps. And pain. Alot of pain. Green eyes, and old man, standing over me. Knife held." Ysaryn raised her hand to show how the blade was held; like someone would hold a knife while cutting meat. "Mind clear enough for me to fight. Like, drug they give not enough. Or my body knew to fight. I do not know. But I fought. And bled. Is blur. So much at once. I think I got knife. Cut straps. Cut one of them. Man, maybe. Green eyes barely reacted. I did not stay to look. I fled. And bled."
She licked her lips. "Underground. All dark. The smell. Like rot. Wet dirt. Stale air. Hear water, but no find. I hear weeping, too. Females. Crying in fear and pain. I search for way out, and find a door open. Unguarded. And I do not believe my luck. I run through. Find surface. Escape more men. More knives. And then." Ysaryn inhaled. "Bolym." She grinned, recalling the relief that flooded her when she saw his face, when he had flown forward to defend her, to get her away. "I slept for three days. Woke up home. Recall it is like a nightmare." She turned her eyes toward Kire again. "I left them all there. My people. My females. Like a coward, I run."

"I not see Itallo. But elves know he is the hand that pulls the men's leashes. Makes them take us. He takes coin for our flesh. Green eyes, you Gem-men-ai, I not know what he did. Not until you story of gem." Her eyes dropped to Kire's abdomen, where Kire had stated she had a matching scar. "I do not know why pain. When I see him. Why I was to be cut into, and not ... to sell." A shudder swam through her. "We never know how they take us. How they get us out of the city. No ship. No boat. Not in Cordon. Never see our kind in the city. They have a way out we do not know."

Wanderers

Envy lowered his head, accepting her promise. It should have made the ache in his chest lessen its grip, or made it easier for him to allow Ruli to leave his chamber. But it didn't. He felt the absence of his cherished family member more than he missed his eyesight.
"Go prepare, then." He instructed, a gentle dismissal.

Ruli returned with Zeke and Ysaryn hardly five minutes later. Zeke was pink in the cheeks thanks to the sun, while Ysaryn looked a shade paler, like her skin bleached in the sunlight. As Zeke limped away at once, Ysaryn glanced from Ruli to Kire before offering her an uneasy grin. She could tell something was up, and had no luck getting the blond to open his mouth.
Her fuchsia eyes searched Kire's expression. "You find them?" The elf asked.

Wanderers

They each lowered their heads in agreement when Kire pointed out it was harmless in the right hands. Undoubtedly true, considering what each of them were able to do, and had once done before they'd traded hostile lives for peaceful ones. Ruli glanced to Envy, who glanced back. Or tried. The elf instead looked to the wall just over Ruli's left ear, but at least he was close and Ruli took it as a reassuring glance.
As Kire asked for it to be a strong memory, Ruli froze, trying to sort through the endless stream of memories in his head to find one that would be appropriate. Good. Personal.

"So." Envy said thoughtfully, looking toward Kire again. "These gems call to one another when in close proximity. Would that not, when you come into close proximity with any dolls that have them implanted, alert them to your presence as well?" He shook his head. "I dislike that idea, too, though not as much." He cast another look at Rulitus, who was still lost in thought.

So much so, that he didn't hear Kire's question at first. "Ruli." Envy said, pulling him from his labyrinth of thoughts.
"Hm?" He glanced up, peering from Envy's pinkish eyes to Kire's unnatural grey ones. He froze, retracing what he'd heard. "Oh. Yeah, I'm sure. Too stubborn to die but also too stupid to avoid danger like this. I've had my fair share."
Envy inhaled, looking displeased, but offered no further comment on the matter. "Ruli, go and collect Ysaryn. Bring her back here. And Zeke, please. Don't leave him stranded."
Ruli twitched an eyebrow, silently remarking that he was glad Envy had specified, before he rose and left the chamber.
The moment they were alone, Envy turned toward Kire. "Bring him back." He whispered, pleading. "I know you have a long list of promises made to us, and none of them I will hold you to, save this. Bring him back to me."

Wanderers

Ruli glanced at hear, debating on how to answer. Envy kept quiet, letting Ruli sort it out on his own. "I can do what the Kartaians can." He stated at last. "The compelling. Touch control."
"I taught him." Envy said, as if this helped soften the admission. "It was once his way of getting information for me in Ziad. Helpful. Harmless."

Swallowing, Ruli nodded. "Before we go in, I could show you Ziad as it was. A strong memory. Something peaceful. I would make no commands, but give you a better idea of what to track." He rubbed his face, unenthusiastic. "Trying to find the items in Ziad wont be easy. May not even be possible. And invited far more risk, especially if they know you're here, and that kid has your blade. He wore that for show. They're going to expect something, and that is too easily playing into her hands."

Wanderers

Envy's brow furrowed again, wondering about the ring she mentioned. The one Ruli had made for her? He couldn't understand why a piece of jewelry wasn't worth losing, when she would consider sacrificing his foster-son.
Ruli, noticing the annoyance in the Kartaian's face, muttered quickly in elvish to catch him up. While frowning less deeply, Envy still looked annoyed.

"If I got my hands on supplies, and pulled an all-nighter, I could get us a tracking spell." Ruli admitted. "Or," he hesitated, visibly stumbling on the words, the offer. "...or, I could use magic on you. Harmless, but potent. With your permission."
"Are you practiced enough?" Envy wondered. "Its been years."
"It's..." Ruli was about to argue, them reconsidered. Now was not the time to be cocky and overestimate himself. "I could practice." He muttered instead.

Envy's furrowed brow remained pointed at Ruli for a time, as if weighing the options and possibilities. "What if you had items that were already enchanted? Beacons to one another?"
It was Ruli's turn to look annoyed. "You have something? Here?"
"No." Envy said. "But in Ziad."
Ruli's face fell. "Not an option." He said instantly. "I can't get in there."
"You could."
"Well, I don't want to." Ruli snapped. "Besides, going back there is like sending up a giant signal to the Kartaian."

Envy fell quiet. He hadn't seen the city after the assault. Only knew it was in pieces, the city collapsed over the tunnels he had taken years to form. He knew, somewhere in there, was gold, gems, supplies, and much else that would help them. But he also knew there were people inside. Their corpses resting in what had once been the safest place to be.
"Alright." Envy said. "Practice on me, then, if you choose that option."