"I see. What kinds of magic can we expect other people we meet on our way out to have?"

"Nobody has magic. Some people might have Lost Technology, which can do stuff like let you see in the dark, make sugar from thin air, or shoot lightning and stuff, but it's rare. Is magic a thing where you're from?"

"It is and I've met people who could do most of those things."

"Well. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth."

"What's a horse?" asks Tim.

"Earth thing, just an idiom, don't worry about it. Most people can't do those things. People who can do something like that are using a tool and the tools are quite rare. Hence why you're terrifying."

...So if she finds a full set of all the kinds of magic tools she can be every kind of mage?

These people probably wouldn't have a useful answer to that.

"Do I need to follow any plan more complicated than 'look imposing, kill anyone who attacks, follow you out'?"

"Don't think so. Your idea of 'imposing' might be different from ours but it shouldn't be a problem."

"I suppose if I get it wrong enough to have to kill someone then that will be imposing enough."

"True enough. Alright. Let's all eat something, go over the route, and then we'll head out."

She passes out food from the sack - stale bread, mostly, though there's also some dried fruit and a few sad-looking vegetables.

Hard to guess which food is safe for her, but if any of the dried fruit looks familiar she could try a piece. Otherwise she might as well try the bread, since they have more of that.

Some of the dried fruit is familiar enough.

They take what sounds like a bag full of jewelry from the top of a cabinet and make to head back outside.

She follows. She keeps an eye out for anyone getting too close.

Nobody gets too close to them for the first half hour. They go up and up and up to nicer but still mostly abandoned parts of the city - it looks like the whole place is floating in the air somehow. A big group of ragged-looking people confronts them a bit but they tell blatant lies about Lanisal's magic and the slave rebels let them pass. The air starts smelling faintly like ash. "That'll be the fires..."

Charming. None of that shocks her after everything else, though.

"Do we need to stay away from the fires?"

"Yes, unless you can delete fire."

"I can delete things that are on fire, but if it's bad enough that might not leave a path through."

"Avoid them if we can, still. I think the fires are still contained in the garden quarter. They were going to just contain it and let them burn through all their fuel... If the fires are spreading this place is even more doomed."

"...Ah. Yes, I can see why that would be."

She'll follow them whichever way they think the fires aren't.

That's this way. They peek around a corner and see open sky. Beyond it, a few floating buildings float in an area clearly designed for much more than that. Her companions cheer - those are ships! There's a big barricade across the road, though.

As they approach the barricade a scarred man pops up from behind it. "Go the fuck away!"

"We're just looking for a way off this rock, same as you."

"Fuck that. We're full. Last warning - turn around."

"Surely you can find a little extra room for someone who can do this-"

She gestures at Lanisal where the man behind the barricade can't see.

And a structurally less important but very visible chunk of the barricade isn't.

The guy behind the barricade looks at the missing bit. He looks back at Rachel. He reaches for something behind the barricade and raises it-

-Rachel swears and everyone else starts to react-

-There's an ear-shattering BANG and Rachel is falling over backward, blood spraying everywhere, and barricade guy is pointing the weapon at John now-

The weapon disappears. Then for good measure a chunk of the man that she hopes is his heart disappears.

The gunman falls over.

Rachel's three friends have picked up Rachel's body - maybe she's still alive - and are running away down the street behind her with their bag of food and jewelry.

She follows them.

"Fuck, Rach, this was a shitty idea - god dammit - and now you're fucking dying - ah fuck she's following us-"

"Should I not be?"