Katherine pulls through the entrance of the car park, distractedly sipping from a coffee in one hand and staring at the phone in her other hand.

She has been trying to suppress the inner voice saying I fucked up I fucked up oh god I fucked up for quite a while now. The coffee is arguably not helping.

A movement in the car park draws her eye up from the phone, but... was she imagining something? She's easily stressed enough to be imagining things...

When someone pulls into the car park Iomedae drops flat to the ground and tries to slide under the nearest car; it's too short, so she just lies still next to it. Thankfully cars don't move on their own so it can't betray her by kicking her or neighing.

Yeah, she was definitely imagining it. 

Katherine pulls her car up in the middle of a relatively open space where four people have already left, because that's easy. She yanks her parking brake on, turns the car off, and puts her head in her hands. 

She doesn't want to get out of the car for a bit. She can sit here and finish her coffee and rehearse what she's going to say to Raoulin and what she's going to say to Elynor and oh, jesus, what if she has to talk to the queen or... 

Haley's in the ditch when Katherine pulls the car in, and she freezes. The light of the headlights is right on her - even looking the other direction she can feel it on her back, as if every photon was an arrow etched with I CAN SEE YOU, and she's pinned to the side of the ditch by the beams. 

Her backup plan was to stroll right up to troll and pretend that she was definitely here legitimately, was retrieving something on orders from Nicole, was deeply sorry for coming back to site so late, and that she'd just like to stop by and pick up her essentials please so she can return to Iomedae-hunting. That backup plan really doesn't work if someone has to ask her why the hell she's hanging out in a muddy ditch.

She's tired and she's cold and she's hungry. She isn't going to be able to outrun anyone, not anymore. There's no use taking off running.

Haley's hand creeps into her belt pouch and clutches her little feasting fork for dear life.

What now? What can she possibly do now? 

...well, she was looking for a car that had a key in its ignition, and there's one right here behind her. 

Katherine cracks the car door open and puts one hand out on the roof. "Haley, why are you lying in a ditch?" 

"Uh. I was just a bit tired! Had a nice nap. No big deal. You don't nap in ditches?"

She clambers back to her feet and approaches Katherine, praying that Iomedae is hearing or paying attention or can somehow figure out what the plan is. 

Iomedae has figured out that Haley's plan is pretending she's not helping a slave escape! Iomedae can probably help with that plan by remaining hidden!

"There's straw all over you and - is that mud in your hair? No, I don't want to know. Haley, I'm pretty sure you can't be on site right now. The event is over, site is closed." 

"Oh yeah sorry, I just... I've had a very long day. Can I take a rest in your car for a bit maybe? I'll head home, just... I could use some air conditioning for a bit." 

"Your car doesn't have air conditioning? - anyway no, you really do need to go home please. We could lose the site if non-staff aren't off site when the event ends, and our insurance won't like it."

Katherine hasn't really caught up on all the messages and calls on her phone but she's pretty sure the site is currently hosting a lot of private meetings figuring out what to do about the horrible situation that is entirely her fault. Haley knows nothing about magic and Katherine can't deal with any more headaches today. She needs to be gone. 

Haley squares her jaw, straightens her spine, stares Katherine down and... thinks really hard about punching her.

She wants to punch her right under the chin and knock her out in a single blow and steal her car. But Haley's hands chicken out. And now that there's no longer an invisible guy making her scared for her life, she finds herself remembering that she doesn't actually know how to throw a punch.

The fork in her hand is cold hard steel. She grips it so hard that her knuckles hurt.

"I'm sorry but I'm going to need your car." She swallows.

Please please Iomedae sneak up behind her and hit her in the head with a rock, please tackle her to the ground and let Haley tie her up with her jacket, please save her idiot ass somehow... 

- wait they're doing what now? 

Iomedae pops up from behind a nearby car. "We give you Haley car! A strong car, not too old, good steel." She isn't sure it compares actively favorably to Katherine's in those respects but it doesn't look side by side like an outrageously unjust trade.

"...Iomedae? I thought you ran away and everyone was looking for you - I am so, so sorry for what I said earlier, genuinely, I really wanted to apologise. I wanted you to know I really do believe you so I've brought you a whole bag of - foods I thought maybe you might be more similar to what you're probably used to, quince pie and honeyed almonds and - I - wait a second."

Katherine looks slowly from Iomedae to Haley, then back again.

"Are you two trying to steal my car?" 

"Trade you car! For Haley car." This is....so so much less violence than Iomedae was expecting and also that speech seemed important and was delivered as if it was important but also she didn't ...understand it?"

Haley waits until Katherine is distracted by Iomedae, and then shimmies forwards and slams her elbow into the small of her back and tries to shove Katherine away from the car door. 

"What the fuck?" 

Haley has the element of surprise, and her elbow lands in just the right spot and she has her feet planted just like the knights taught her to plant her feet to get underneath someone trying to knock her over in a shield wall charge, and somehow despite Katherine being quite possibly half again her weight she manages to knock her back three paces. 

There's no time to try and stab her with the fork even if she had definitely thought through her position on murdering members of evil conspiracies. Haley slips past her, gets inside the car, slams the car door and immediately locks it. 

God may well have sent Haley because Iomedae was going to be unwilling to do enough crimes to survive this but this doesn't make it less vaguely upsetting when crimes are done on her behalf.

"Haley car yours now!" she tells Katherine, and  - the door's locked - jumps astride the car.

Haley was going to wait until Iomedae ran around to the passenger side and then unlock the door! She just didn't want Katherine immediately dragging her out of the car and possibly killing her!

"Iomedae -" she starts yelling. 

"Open that door right now!" 

The two figures by the shed have realised that something is up that really shouldn't be. 

They are running towards the parking field now. "Stop!" one of them yells. 

Furious and not thinking, Katherine tries the car door handle and then tries it again harder. It's locked. 

Haley changes her mind about telling Iomedae to get off the car roof.

"- hold on tight!" she yells, hopefully loudly enough for Iomedae to hear her, and she starts the car and immediately throws it into reverse.

It doesn't move. 

She takes the handbrake off and throws it into reverse, and the car jerks backwards across the field. It's much bigger than she's used to driving, but how hard can it be? 

Katherine scrambles back to avoid her toes being run over.

How the hell has her day managed to get worse? How did she find a way to be in even more trouble than she already was? How on Earth did she annoy Haley badly enough that the ditzy, cutesy, silly chatelaine is currently stealing her car?

"Stop them! Please!"