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This is the wrong building. She could have sworn the RA said "take a left at Emily, first on your right", and Bella did exactly that, and here she is and the rooms in this place don't even seem to be numbered, it's all letters and names. She's not going to find Intro to Subtle Therapy in Room 206 like that. Maybe the RA meant take a left after Emily, not before Emily? Maybe she was supposed to go the other way around the quad and approach Emily from the other direction? She's going to be late.
Bella tries to get out of the letter-named-rooms building to go ask Emily for directions, but that's not a stairwell after all, and there's someone shouting at her not to come in and she flinches back and clonks her elbow on the door and boots or no boots she's down and she -
- is falling -
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subtly_artistic
You can walk if you prefer.
All right. Travel safely.
I'll assign you an escort, I'm considering who right now. Is there anyone you'd particularly desire as an assistant?
He'll go, Finwë says, and then picks out a dozen others, some of them present and some of whom messengers scurry off to find.
subtly_artistic
Bella works on calming herself down, for lack of anything else to immediately respond to.
A summons like this must be urgent, because all the requisitioned people arrive within a few minutes.
Not yet. They start gathering supplies to leave. After a few minutes someone comes in with the textbook and with Fëanáro clinging to it.
subtly_artistic
"I need that," Bella tells him. "There are other books I don't need in a stack in my house plot. You can look at the ones with bindings like that but please don't take the ones with spiral wire on the edges."
You said I could have it.
The King says something to him in Quenya. He drops the book. He stands there looking utterly miserable, not looking at her at all.
The King hands her the book.
The King hands her the book.
subtly_artistic
She takes it. "Sorry," she tells Fëanáro. "If I had another copy of this one I would let you have it."
He still doesn't look at her.
Thank you, Finwë says. Let me know when you've arrived. Let me know at once if there's any news. Come back here if things get worse, whether or not she did it.
Thank you, Finwë says. Let me know when you've arrived. Let me know at once if there's any news. Come back here if things get worse, whether or not she did it.
And they hurry off.
In your world, Rúmil asks, if the emperor gets unwell, does no one treat him for fear of the retaliation if he gets worse?
In your world, Rúmil asks, if the emperor gets unwell, does no one treat him for fear of the retaliation if he gets worse?
subtly_artistic
No, they treat him, but I think some people cope better with being afraid than I do. And they're usually - retained long term in the capacity as the Emperor's personal healers, not called suddenly in an emergency, there's a background relationship and trust.
In a world as dangerous as yours I'm surprised you get by without a way of coping with being afraid.
subtly_artistic
The best strategy I'm aware of is avoiding the scary things, not learning to deal with them. Trying to learn to deal with them has a high fatality rate. I was going to be a therapist and read a lot of books and give to charity and probably on balance decide the place wasn't fit to have children in and that was going to be it, no royalty or gods or anything.
He nods. Then I'm all the more grateful you offered to help here.
subtly_artistic
Well, if I didn't do anything scary here I'd probably just curl up in a ball and cry constantly, so. Anyway, I do have professional ethics even if I don't have conventional courage.
Valinor seems strictly less terrifying than your world, our deeply unhappy and frightened King notwithstanding. And - you wondered aloud, in there, at what point we'd stop him, if he tried to hurt you - immediately.