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Shara is getting very tired of this horse and this forest and the map which has clearly marked hills and rivers and nothing labeled adventures via which to satisfy picky artifacts sold wholesale here. Kayam doesn't seem to mind, but Kayam's more patient than her to begin with, and Kayam's horse is more placid - Shara would trade but she's supposed to be gentling this one as long as she has a long consecutive while to do it in.
Her horse veers off left. Shara steadies it - but looks left, why not, to see what's distracted the horse.
Well, that's one hell of a garden. It's got residual magic over it - the raveler's equivalent of lint, nothing Shara can mess with while the plant raveler's not actively working on it, but there is definitely a plant mage here.
The house has the same property.
And so does - something else.
Three different kinds of raveler-residue over the same property. All recent, though the house, requiring no active maintenance, less so than the garden and the - other thing.
Shara raises a hand; Kayam comes to a halt while Shara squints.
And then the unfamiliar something inside the house flares and Shara gets a very clear look at what's making the third kind of lint.
She promptly loses her breakfast onto the excuse for a trail they're riding on before she can even think about interfering with its work.
"Whoa, milady, what's - what's wrong, were the rations bad -?" asks Kayam
Shara shakes her head. "Some kind of raveler I don't recognize in that house. They're - I don't even know how to describe it. Raveling people."
"...The way you say that I somehow don't think you mean like healers do."
"Not like healers do," shudders Shara, swigging water. "Raveling their - feelings, I guess. There's people in that house and I don't know if there's a thing keeping them all together except the magic."
"Could... you... stop them, if they tried to do it to us?" asks Kayam slowly.
"I think so. I was caught off guard - there, they're doing it again, I can't reach from here but I can see the stitching. I think I could counter it."
"You think."
"If it was coming at me, absolutely - I'm less sure I'd grab it in time if it was aimed at you. It doesn't feel long-range, though."
"Okay. So - what do you want to do, milady?"
Shara thinks.
"Tie up the horses. You hang back here and watch through the window. I'll - knock on the door and see if I can fix the problem by talking. When I've figured out who it is, if I've decided they can't be reasoned with or I'm worried they're going to keep raveling at me until I'm too tired to stop them - I'll let off a flashball and you fold straight in - don't walk through the garden, it'll turn on you if the plant mage wants - and then I guess you kill this particular raveler. Maybe their work will dissolve when they die and the others will be okay."
"What if their work, um, does not dissolve when they die, as a for-instance?"
"Then," says Shara, "we'll be in a house with a bunch of people who just watched us kill their best friend, and you will fold us back to our horses smart-quick and we will run away very fast, but at least no one else will get - mindraveled."
"This sounds a bit more dangerous than your usual sort of idea," says Kayam.
"It's pulling double duty," says Shara, and she dismounts, and approaches the house, and knocks.
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in_tatters
Adarin thinks that's a pretty fair thing to do.
He doesn't start any sort of conversation or do much of anything, really. He will just be there, in his shield. Curled up around himself and not moving. Occasionally his fist clenches, then he takes a deep breath and it relaxes.
He doesn't start any sort of conversation or do much of anything, really. He will just be there, in his shield. Curled up around himself and not moving. Occasionally his fist clenches, then he takes a deep breath and it relaxes.
"Is there anything we can do for you, Adarin?" asks Shara. "I do feel - responsible, there might have been a gentler handling available if I'd thought about it harder..."
in_tatters
"No, thank you," he says. "It was not - you are not at fault. I would be freaking out just as badly if you'd sent me a pretty letter with flowery calligraphy."
"Okay. Are you going to want to come with us to Casasha?"
in_tatters
"Possibly. It's - not like I have anywhere else to go," he murmurs.
"There's always work for ravelers, and if you aren't up for it for a while I can put you up to start out."
in_tatters
He doesn't have the heart, to try smiling. So he won't. Back to silence.
"Seems to add insult to injury to take the contents of the kitchen. If - the gardener, I guess - offers we can accept but let's not presume."
try_me
"I don't think any of us care," calls Zeviana, as she returns from her packing upstairs. She packed quickly, she doesn't want to stay here any longer than necessary. Two bags - one for her, one for Adarin. "'Cause I'm definitely raiding the kitchen."
Adarin's bag is deposited next to him, outside of his radius of 'no touching.'
Adarin's bag is deposited next to him, outside of his radius of 'no touching.'
try_me
"Suit yourself," she shrugs.
She heads off to the kitchen, for raiding purposes.
She heads off to the kitchen, for raiding purposes.
in_tatters
Adarin does not move to pick up his bag. Shield bubble of angst, that is the thing he is going to focus on.
"Let's go see if the gardener's going to kill us if we step out," says Shara to Kayam.
The gardener doesn't kill them when they step out, so they retrieve their horses and tie them up nearer by, and then Shara circulates through the house, shadowed by Kayam. Jony's staying with her plants, uncontested, so she can pass the news to those who are out shopping when they're back, and expects they'll go to Quel's family in Antaurb. Anlon's staying, and Jony doesn't seem to object. Everyone else seems to have a place to go that they can get to by themselves - Tima doesn't but she's tagging along with Dayree. It's only the brother and sister who'll be wanting guidance back to Casasha.
She circles back to him.
"We don't need to wait for the shoppers to get back. When do you want to go?"
The gardener doesn't kill them when they step out, so they retrieve their horses and tie them up nearer by, and then Shara circulates through the house, shadowed by Kayam. Jony's staying with her plants, uncontested, so she can pass the news to those who are out shopping when they're back, and expects they'll go to Quel's family in Antaurb. Anlon's staying, and Jony doesn't seem to object. Everyone else seems to have a place to go that they can get to by themselves - Tima doesn't but she's tagging along with Dayree. It's only the brother and sister who'll be wanting guidance back to Casasha.
She circles back to him.
"We don't need to wait for the shoppers to get back. When do you want to go?"
try_me
His sister is nearby, packing food into bags for traveling purposes. Water, too, because she's done this sort of thing before.
"Well I'm ready to go now. C'mon, Rin, do you really want to be here any longer than necessary? I packed your stuff, we can just leave right now."
"Well I'm ready to go now. C'mon, Rin, do you really want to be here any longer than necessary? I packed your stuff, we can just leave right now."
try_me
"No. Don't you dare, you son of a bitch. You damn well know the truth. So stop it, right this instant, or I swear I will find a way to punch you if you keep it up. Shield raveler or no."