He watches it all, impassively, almost expectantly...

Matkina's quick, at the end of the cave, at grabbing the jahk. Tash watches as she snatches the jahk from above the pedestal, as an arc of energy misses her by half an inch. She is much too quick for it, and he almost laughs. But instead he nods, and starts leading the way out without waiting, knowing she's following.

At the gate, back outside the cave... they're waiting. Paj Rekken and her bodyguard, and half a dozen castoffs with drab armour. Down below, past them in the village, the Sand Knights have arrived and are meeting with Neng and the villagers.

"Paj!" says Matkina, breaking into a smile. She holds the jahk in her hand. "Good, you're just in time—skist, what are you doing up here? We need to be down there, at the village. They're here! You know they won't play nice unless we make them!"

This is like a nightmare. This is like a nightmare, and she's stuck here, screaming from the inside. Probably any attempt she makes to struggle is pointless, this is all a simulation, right, this all already happened. But she can't just not. She has to try to, to find the edges of this cage that's holding her, has to wiggle her way out, has to do something because this is not fair—!

Tash twitches, just a bit.

...no. She twitches, just a bit, wearing Tash's body. But Paj either doesn't notice or doesn't care. At no visible signal, instead, one of her bodyguards lowers his weapon at Matkina and fires.

"What—?!" gasps Matkina, but she's already enclosed in an anti-gravity forcefield, suspended off the ground. She's fast, but she wasn't expecting to need to dodge. Wasn't expecting to be betrayed. Trapped. "No!"

The jahk escapes her grip as she flails, trying to find some purchase in her prison. She has her knife out, but it's useless, she's spinning impotently in the air.

Meanwhile, her sister—asserts—control.

This is not a simulation. She doesn't know how she knows that, but she does. Matkina was wrong. This is, this is an actual connection to this moment in the past, this time when Tash was feeling this, and, and. For some reason, she thinks she can change it.

Probably she should think about this more, consider whether or not this might break reality, err on the side of caution and do what she was here to do, but she has leverage over this incredibly unfair thing and she—won't—just—stand aside!

She twitches again, as Tash, but then it's her, not him.

She swallows, and tries to figure out... what to do now. It's not like she can fight them all, even if she managed to free Matkina. It's not like she knows what changes she can or can't make. Realistically, she should, she should aim small, do as little as possible but try to do as much as possible.

The bodyguard and other castoffs are focusing on Matkina and completely ignoring Tash. Paj herself, after making sure Matkina is well and secured, aims a tiny device in the direction of the jahk, activates it and—

—the flute disintegrates.

Fuck.

She shuts her eyes and hisses through her teeth.

"NO!" shrieks Matkina. "No, how can you do this, Paj how can you do this, they believed in you! I believed in you!"

Paj ignores her and looks at Tash. "Now, if you please, brother, wipe her mind. Then we'll release her and see if she finds her way home to us, where she belongs."

...and if nothing else had convinced her that this was more than a simulation, that this is her—she can't. She can't do it. It's within Tash's power, wiping Matkina's mind like that, she can sense it, feel it, remember it. When the Tides surge through him, he can destroy memories.

She can't do it. Even if she wanted to, she cannot access Tash's powers at all, here. She is, in all but appearance... herself.

She hopes that just being herself is enough.

"Yeah," she agrees. Realistically speaking, there's nothing she can do for the villagers in this—this state. She wants to, and she can hear them screaming, beastial and horrifyingly human, but. She needs to focus on what she can do, not what she can't. And what she can do is save Matkina's mind. Probably. Maybe. As the person controlling the one who fucked her up in the first place.

She steps towards Matkina (Ugh, this body feels so wrong now that she's properly controlling it, if she had any doubt that she was a she, it's well and truly gone now, this is a stupid thing to notice right now) and holds her hand out near her head, leaning her own close.

"What! No, fuck you, fuck all of you, you're the real monsters—!"

"This will be easier," she says, gently, "if you don't struggle."

"Wh—" and something in Tash's tone causes her to look up.

Play along, she mouths, where none of the others can see.

Matkina's eyes widen, then she obeys. She's lied before, she can lie now. She gurgles in her throat and twitches in the forcefield—then she slumps, as if drugged.

She sighs. Is she shaking? She might be shaking. "Good luck, sister," she murmurs. It makes perfect sense as something to say for her in character. They didn't want to kill her, right? This is the kind option.

Paj watches it all with only slight interest. When Matkina slumps she nods to him and says, "Good. Leave her. We'll see if our lost tremulan returns to the flock." Then she turns around and looks down at the battle that's broken out in the village below. Neither side has the upper hand, and between the now-turned-monstrous hill-people and the cornered Knights, it is nothing short of carnage. "It's time to go home," she says, nodding to herself in satisfaction. "The airship awaits."

Can she—no, should she? Is there anything else she could do? Realistically? With her unknown powers and her complete lack of knowledge about how her reality bending whatever it is works?

Probably not. Probably she should quit while she's ahead. This is... not enough, but it's as much as she can get safely. Actually it's probably as much as she can get unsafely, this was in retrospect very dumb. She doesn't regret it, precisely, but. Very dumb.

She obediently follows Paj onto the airship. Trying to block out the screams.

By the time they board, the few Sand Knights who remain—thirty or so—have managed to get the upper hand, forming a defensive square and burning what buildings they can. The still living hill-people skulk in the shadows, only a handful left now, torn between mindless revenge and terrified flight.

Paj watches it all impassively, be it because her senses are not as good as Tash's and she can't make out the individuals or because she simply doesn't care. When she notices him watching, she smiles at him. "I'm proud of you," she says, with what looks like a genuine smile.

And Paj leaves, back to her cabin, to plan some new battle, as she always does.

And the castoff leaves, slipping out of Tash's body and mind, coming back to the present, the world changed by her hand.

"Yeah," she murmurs, with her own lips, "me too."

To Aleks's eyes, everything is very boring, with his castoff sleeping in his arms peacefully, until she returns to herself, and Matkina twitches.

"What... what did you do?" she whispers, clawing at her own head.

...eh? What did she do?

But most importantly, is she alright?

"I'm fine. I um. Did something that probably in retrospect was kind of dumb," she mumbles, opening her eyes. "Not that I regret it for a second. If it worked. Matkina, are you...?"