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Prime brings Aya to Tayane, when he has enough mana for the trip and she's reviewed her old notes about the things she'll need to know. They split up once in town - she speaks a few sentences of Esevi so he'll be able to communicate, and she heads to the market office alone so it doesn't look like he's trying to steal her.
She goes barefoot, blank-heeled.
No time has passed. The fellow behind the counter recognizes her. "What are you doing back here?"
"I claim Aelare's blessing," says Aya firmly. "I want my papers updated."
"Your cart fell into a magic?" surmises the clerk.
"Yes, and I'm -" She lifts her foot to show off her clean heel.
This makes it much easier for the security guard manning the door to knock her over and get her hands and feet in shackles.
They pat her down; they take her necklace, they take the mirror Prime gave her in case she ran into any trouble, they take her holy water and hit her when she tries to speak to Prime or Perinixu for help and she doesn't get any words out. They haul her into a side room.
"AELARE'S BLESSING," exclaims Aya. "Look at my -"
"Wrong province, as of last week," says the clerk. "In Tharlo the gods aren't allowed to steal any recoverable property anymore. Were there any other survivors from the accident?"
Aya stares at him.
He slaps her hard across the face and repeats his question.
Aya murmurs, "No, sir."
-------
She doesn't look like she's pushing a century of age.
No time has passed.
She has - she still has? - her grace, when she's made to shuffle into a different holding pen. But the magic could have done that.
Magics can do anything.
No time has passed.
Magics can do anything. A magic could give her minor augmented abilities. It would be trivially easy to find a new outfit and a necklace and little bottles of water inside one.
Magics have been known to alter memory. They won't give her her belongings back to check to see if the water and the mirror really connect to people on the other ends.
And no time has passed.
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namesthesky
darkest_evening
Still alive, though. Prime gets a cookie. Well, an imaginary one.
He goes to retrieve the keys and Aya's stolen magical items.
He goes to retrieve the keys and Aya's stolen magical items.
Aya's stolen magical items are undamaged and not hard to access. The keys, though, are themselves in a locked cabinet.
namesthesky
Aya hugs him hard once she has her arms free to do it with, and then takes half the keys and helps.
darkest_evening
Prime hugs her back, of course.
Then, once everyone is free of the chains, off goes the awning.
"Right, have any of you had secret, unspoken dreams of flying?"
Then, once everyone is free of the chains, off goes the awning.
"Right, have any of you had secret, unspoken dreams of flying?"
namesthesky
(Aya clips her necklace back on and pockets her mirror and puts her holy water where it belongs.)
The other slaves mostly look confused.
The other slaves mostly look confused.
darkest_evening
"The staff lets people fly," sighs Prime. "And I need someone that is not either me or Aya to hold it and fly with it so they can carry other people."
darkest_evening
"I am known to be a rotten, cheating, paranoid bastard," says Prime wryly. "Of course I have a second thing."
He hands the staff to the person! It is a staff.
He hands the staff to the person! It is a staff.
namesthesky
"All you need to do to fly is to concentrate on meaning to. It gets very easy very quickly," Aya tells that person. She divides everyone else up into three groups and has them all hold hands. She cannot resist the urge to give Adarin a kiss before she collects her group and flies up through the awning gap with them to lead the way out of the province.
darkest_evening
Prime's fine with the kiss. He even returns it! Behold, him returning it.
And then, off they fly.
And then, off they fly.
namesthesky
The fellow with the staff gives his passengers a slightly bumpier ride, but wheeeeeee!
Eventually Aya spots a flag on the ground and says, "Viore."
Eventually Aya spots a flag on the ground and says, "Viore."
namesthesky
They can't really raise their hands, since they are in long handholding chains. There are murmurs of assent.
darkest_evening
Right then! They land (Prime gives instructions for their third, less experienced flight enabler) and then Prime starts turning relevant tattoos to the color of skin around them. He frowns at the new one Aya's gained, but doesn't comment. He just looks vaguely upset.
namesthesky
She leans on him, whether to give or take comfort is unclear.
"Do you have spending money on hand for them to get started with?" she asks.
"Do you have spending money on hand for them to get started with?" she asks.
darkest_evening
"Sadly, no," sighs Prime. "I sort of. Used just about all of it." Awkward pause. "But I can probably mirror Cypress or something and ask him to send a large chunk of gold."
namesthesky
"Have him get Revelation to make local currency and send that," she suggests. "Just the once. We'll come back and get everyone else as harmlessly to the economy as possible later. Two hundred seo per person should be plenty and not a major cause of inflation."
darkest_evening
"Sure."
He goes off to mirror someone who can solve this problem, rubbing at his temple absently. Yes, hello, headache, how are you today? Yes, thank you, he knows he's flirting with mana deprivation, go away now, he has work to do.
He goes off to mirror someone who can solve this problem, rubbing at his temple absently. Yes, hello, headache, how are you today? Yes, thank you, he knows he's flirting with mana deprivation, go away now, he has work to do.
namesthesky
"I can make it stop hurting -" She reaches for him. "Only while I'm touching you, but still."