"Not especially. Good morning, little one."

She jumps and presses herself against the wall.

"...hi."

"-remind Aarethil that there's a reason plague gods went out of style," he mutters.

"What can I do for you?"

"I don't know."

"We're worried that her father will see us on the way out - he's that acolyte from yesterday. Can you keep an eye out for him for us?"

"Certainly."

"What will you do?"

"My power is seeing around myself like it's my domain, even when it's not; I can already see where he is, and I can tell you how to avoid him if he starts getting close."

"...okay."

"And Ruel, I think I should keep an eye on things there - you should be out of their domain by nightfall anyway, I can make a claim while you sleep."

"Mmhmm."

"Make a claim?" she asks despite herself.

"Mmhmm. If you're flinching at me, that's worse than I thought. So I'll claim that nice highway we saw coming in, so I can start keeping an eye on who comes and goes and see if they need any help with that."

"-people who're leaving bad situations often need more help than people who just want to see the world; having that help available makes it easier and safer for them, so we do that."

She nods. "Okay."

"It won't affect us much, I'll just empty my vial out before bed and refill it in the morning, and then that patch will be part of him and he can expand from there."

Nodnod.

"You could take a vial of your own, if you'd like."

"...why?"

"Some mortals find it comforting; I suppose you might not. It does mean that if you get separated from Ruel you can still talk to me."

She shrugs.

"Okay. Well, I'm ready to go, is there anything else you need to do here?"

"No. Let's go."

And off they go. They stop for the promised pastries - Ruel has Kaede pick out two for herself - and then take a quick detour through the clothing district, where he directs them to a store he noticed during the previous day's tour and gives her a budget suitable for one reasonably nice outfit. ("We'll get you more later, but it's going to be a few days.") He ducks into another store as they're leaving the district, to look at child-sized packs, but passes them up - too fragile, Kiraavi will have something better in storage. And then in short order they're out of the city and back on the road.

Well. On the road for the first time, for her.