The floor is covered in varying amounts of paper, candle wax, and string as Ama flips through the pages of the book she was looking through earlier. "It has to be here, I know it does," she mutters. "Teleportation spells don't just up and disappear!"725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSn42HMoI02
"Well..." Klef starts, and I rib him. He looks over innocently. "C'mon, Ride!"725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡropFv8G1Iv
"No," I tell him, looking at Bobbi. "Your girlfriend usually get this anxious about a spell?"725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhZ9FmhZRA8
"Not usually, but this one's a doozy," Bobbi says, putting a hand on Ama's shoulder from where they're perched on a table behind her. "It's going to take a lot out of her, and she knows it, so she's a bit frazzled."725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoUjUyMFUk8
"I am not. Frazzled," Ama says through grit teeth.725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKzWyCulHvK
"Whatever you say, babe," Bobbi says with a slight laugh. "So long as it doesn't hurt you, whatever you say."725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqmZw0Nxst2
Ama mutters in a disgruntled tone, but nobody catches exactly what she says, not even Bobbi, who just looks at us helplessly. "Okay. I think I've got it," Ama says, pointing to some wording on the book that looks like it's written in a different language.725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrV7eHM2lOi
"Is that even Human?" I ask. "It doesn't look like Human writing."725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKp7TKgnRdm
Ama shrugs. "Eh, it's not really. It's more wizard-based, though it has Human elements in it as well. But that doesn't mean that I can't read it. Just takes some more effort."725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdvJ8iPWsBY
I nod. "You're bilingual?"725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwRMeSgUJvV
Ama nods proudly, grinning. "Yeah. Took me forever to read the scraggly handwriting of the other wizards, but it was totally worth it.:725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFqmOkQWVso
I smile back. "I'm the kind of person to try and learn my Deuxlife's language but can never get the pronunciation right, and I figure my vocal chords are close enough to a human's that it doesn't really matter."725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrWncNOp7Jr
"Represent," Rythe laughs, holding out their hand, palm up. I high-five them and they grin. "That's what I'm talking about, Iri."725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡySA6cAcAe3
I grin a little and turn back to Ama. "Are you going to need me?"725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡER8jyRATlz
Ama nods and picks up a piece of string off the floor from a pile that hasn't yet been scattered around, pulling a face and putting it back. "Not long enough," she mutters, digging through the rest of the pile until she finds a piece that's to her satisfaction. "Give me your wrist," she says, holding the hand with the string out.725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoo6XM1l9HK
I place my hand in her palm and she wraps the string once around my wrist, before wrapping it around her own and tying it. "If this works right, the magic will learn to travel from you through skin contact to me, but it might hurt, so we have to force our hands to stay together."725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdRGvJfFrbw
"Okay," I say, feeling a little nervous. "If that's what we have to do in order to get this to work, let's do it."725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX7QHdCMFNM
Ama nods and looks over her spell book, starting to mutter an incantation. My hand heats up slowly, slowly, and then all at once, and it's one fire and I gasp in pain, instinctively trying to jerk my hand away, but Ama's hand stays tight against mine. Ama's speech rises in pitch and intensity and she taps her figers against the outside of her book. A wind starts to pick up through the room and the sailors and travellers who were talking to each other disinterestedly at the bar before glance over at us. Klef grabs everybody's things and hands out bags to anyone who has free hands to take them. The yarn and papers on the floor start to pick up and blow in the wind, and the candle wax is crawling across the floor to everyone's feet. Klef shies away from it, before Bobbi holds up a hand. "The wax will keep us together while travelling. Don't move away from it."725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGljnS4UT7V
Klef pulls a face but stays still as the wax moves closer and closer, entrapping his feet to mine on his left, and Flo's on his right. "This is going to be interesting," Hibiscus breathes.725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ68KXRNZySf
Ama is still chanting, until the yarn and papers have been flung to the far corners of the room, and the room itself seems to be fading from reality. I blink several times and try to focus on it, but it's becoming more smears of color than an actual room. And then those smears of color are starting to change, from the browns of the tables and bar and the varying skin tones of the people watching, to the browns and greens reminiscent of the forest. I look around worriedly. "You're just seeing a bunch of color too, aren't you?" I whisper to Klef.725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXVLMEB6Qjs
"Uh, in a way, yeah. But those colors are also shapes," Klef says worriedly. "I see two places at once, but they're both distinct. Why? Can't you?"725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnNi6qWTeBf
I shake my head, biting my lip. I don't know what this means for me, but I doubt that it's anything good.725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUIgLVw0YfZ
Eventually all the colors from before are gone and the green and brown I saw before solidifies. Ama sighs and unties the yarn joining our wrists. I blink rapidly, and slowly my sight comes back into focus. "That was a trip," I say shakily.725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4G620C30wL
Ama's legs wobble. "Someone, please... take me inside," she whimpers, before her eyes roll into the back of her eyes and with a soft sigh she falls forward to the ground until Bobbi catches her.725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgSSFqOt5aV
"We're here," Flo says, pointing into the trees.725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ60jW9hPHK1
I squint, and see in the distance a building that looks like it's made out of growing trees. “Woah. That’s cool.”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxIRob8pTLH
Flo looks over at me and smiles. “It is good woodwork, isn’t it? Beautifully crafted. There’s this one Yeti who can make wood look like it has come to life, it’s truly amazing. I think he helped with the work on this site.”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVwbTkLJA6r
“I can believe it,” Rythe says, walking toward the building. “It’s really intricate. Small scale for a Crusader’s base, but intricate.”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmQjg6cf2WY
No one’s outside that I can see, so I walk forward a few steps to get a better look. It’s at the edge of a clearing in the trees, but the branches from old trees stretch over any open air that might have been there, so the whole area is cast in shadow, with only small shapes of light sifting through the leaves. “It’s… fantastic,” Klef breathes behind me. “The descriptions of it just don’t give it justice.”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt7E7PlRD6I
I nod and continue walking. Klef’s footsteps are quick to follow. “Hey, Ride, let me go in front! You never know when you might be attacked!”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Dp95wpj3X
Before I can retort, my stomach lurches and I’m falling backward, my arms flailing wildly before I land squarely on Klef’s chest, at which point he wraps his arms around me. My feet feel for the ground and find a small circular rock where I was just walking. “Congratulations, Treble,” I say, extracting myself from his grip. “You protected me from a fall where I tripped on a rock. You know, you couldn’t have done that if you were in front of me.”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ59S8gIpF2Y
Klef rolls his eyes. “Ha. Ha ha. You’re a riot, Ride.”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH43gS01SWs
I laugh.725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKANWUawPFZ
Klef rolls his eyes at me again and walks next to me the rest of the way to the base, a silent compromise. A someone walks outside the door to the base as we’re approaching, with a cross between a scowl and surprise on their face. “Eh? Who goes there? No one ever appears here anymore!”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcxbYEEheJP
“Hey, Alar!” Ama calls. “It’s me, Ama! I brought a few friends, we have things we need to talk about!” Ama turns to me. “Alar’s not one for sharing pronouns, so I’ll beat you to asking. He/him.”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJBej8OZ0Lf
Alar brightens and walks over. Upon closer inspection, it’s clear that he’s actually a dwarf. “Ama! So good to see you, my dear!”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW0SZBvdTnN
Ama smiles and walks the rest of the distance to Alar, hugging him tightly. “Hello again, brother,” she murmurs.725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLO8uRunUeG
Bobbi looks on with a slight smile of approval. After a minute, Alar breaks the hug and leans back. “What is so important you had to show up in person, sister?”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzRopCp1E8M
Ama looks over to me. “Well, you may have heard of the Oracle? She is here, and it was proven to us that there is a network of traitors within the Crusaders. We have come here for her own safety, as well as the safety of our most important assets.”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGs7CC2no0X
Alar scowls and rubs a weathered hand over his face. He has dark brown skin and prominent frown lines which have only worsened since Ama spoke. “I wish we could be meeting under better circumstances, then, sister,” he says finally. “Let us go inside.”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0nSlsZ0oqh
All of us walk to the base. In addition to the tree-like look it had when I first saw it, I now notice several platforms stretching into the tree branches, and different cabins built into the trees. Some people are staring out windows, or paused on platforms as they watch us approach, eyes marred with distrust. I swallow. “Not a very friendly bunch,” Klef notes.725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSDgvnbS48E
“Eh?” Alar says, glancing up into the trees. “Oh. Nah, they just like to act hostile until they know what you’re here for. It’s ‘for the aesthetic’ last I heard from some of the younger ones.”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpghrLhNHyi
I laugh. “Oh, I totally understand aesthetic.”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtgC91TMLER
Alar looks over at me and smiles slightly. “You have a very nice voice,” he compliments. “Do you sing?”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyrgT6TS0oh
“Oh! Um, thank you,” I say, taking one arm and rubbing it against my other shoulder. “I’m not a good singer, despite what everyone seems to think when they hear my voice. I like singing, I’m just not that good.”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdtqAmmFDzj
“I would argue against that,” Klef says. “I’ve heard her voice, she’s beyond amazing.”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡux9EsMiOU4
“You’re biased. You’re my boyfriend!” I laugh.725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd1rY3zCDr0
Klef shrugs.725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFRUmXEcmN9
We walk inside and are immediately met with the smell of sawdust and the sound of hardware being used. “We’re a small base,” Alar says as he walks around. “No one greatly minds. Our main function is to build and invent tech that the rich either are working on or were working on but stopped. We’re pretty tight-knit, as well. I can tell you that it would be hard for one to not know if there was a traitor in the group.”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyKIwR0wo81
“Well that’s a relief,” I say.725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRsdcI6KJF4
Everyone in the group murmurs agreement. Alar nods in thought. “It’s almost night here, everyone is just getting to their quarters. Let me show you to some empty rooms.”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDEZHZ73iWI
Without another word, Alar changes course down a hall and up a stone stairway to a second floor of the base. He waves to the first room on the left that appears down the hall we walked into out of the staircase. “Here we are,” he says. “It’s more of a barracks than a guest room, but if someone had actually told me you were coming,” he glances pointedly at Ama as he stresses each part. “We could have avoided all this and have rooms prepared.”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtZecTh3uL8
“The barracks will be fine,” I say with a wave of my hand and a smile.725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC6ooCxug0v
Alar nods but lightly slaps Ama’s hand as he passes her anyway. She turns and calls, “Love you too, bro!” after him.725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXsZY95ZvGG
Klef chuckles and shakes his head. “Sometimes I wish I had a brother or sister to talk to about that. But if Latro happened to give me any half-siblings, I don’t know about them.”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWR0pC16oRM
I wrap a hand around his shoulder. “If you ask me, siblings would probably not be worth the hassle. To be honest, I’m just gald I get to be with you. You’re like an annoying younger brother half the time rather than my boyfriend, anyway!”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSshHFNmnq6
Klef barks in laughter. “Is that really all you think of me?”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlj98rYxwWb
I shrug. Hibiscus shoves past us. “Stop flirting in the doorway and let us see where we’re going to stay!”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMByHwIHgSS
We do stop, and walk into the large room. There’s 5 beds on either side of the walls, and a window, with tinted glass, in several different colors. “Huh,” I say. “Haven’t seen these kinds of windows in ages. Never at a Crusader’s base, though.”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdX7mEWa6My
Flo walks over and inspects it. “That’s interesting. Especially considering you can’t get a lot of sunlight to filter through it anyway. Unless it’s used to send a message to those approaching from eslewhere?”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtHxBxfJhyS
“What, like a No Vacancy sign on an inn?” Klef asks.725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB0Ik7rKlbe
“Probably,” Flo agrees. “Okay, enough talk. I know it only feels like early evening, but if we don’t at least try to go to sleep now, we’ll keep everyone up half the night trying to entertain ourselves.”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaRyHFi9nLn
Rythe walks over to her and hugs her. “Sweetheart, there’s a bed with our name on it the next room over, it’s another barracks.”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9pn78RUM2p
Flo looks over at them, clearly torn. “But if these guys need our help…?”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPzV7b2c6bs
“It’s 5 feet away, babe. No harm in it,” Rythe reasons. “Besides, I know you don’t like sleeping where you think people might be able to watch you. Even with me, though I’m glad that’s not as extreme as it was.”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGrvODQibQc
Flo sighs. “Oh, all right. Fine. But at the first sign of trouble, we come over here.”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKMhUC2inAl
“Of course,” Rythe says.725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6N2fi17qLj
They leave the room after saying good night to everyone, and Hibiscus jumps on the window next to the bed. “Dibs!” they call happily.725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcwxfcHFriG
Klef chuckles and plops down on the bed that’s on the opposite wall and closest to the door. “I’ll sleep here, y’know, in case anyone sleepwalks.”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrT5XVtszng
I cross my arms. “Oh, c’mon, Treble, that’s a single bed! I’d have to sleep somewhere else!”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTLlhU3DBKN
Klef waves a hand. “Bye.”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQcV7RVtFcd
“Oh, I see how it is!” I say in mock-offense, going to the bed next to Hibiscus’. “I’ll just sleep over here, then!”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0zV3Ic7fmc
“You two are children,” Bobbi says, picking a bed at random and flopping down on it.725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcC8oigAnOn
Ama takes the one next to theirs. “Be nice,” they warn.725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtzgb69giNG
“I am nice,” Bobbi says, sitting up.725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkUjJi5vYrH
“You’re really not,” Ama laughs quietly. Then she sighs. “I’m still drained from using all that magic. I’m going to sleep. Good night, all of you.”725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0nko6JoND8
"Night," I respond, before Ama rolls over. When she does, I shift on my own bed. "You know, sleep doesn't sound like a bad idea right now."725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGWBnWrtfca
"Mm," Bobbi hums. "I can understand wanting to take a 12 hour nap at 3 in the afternoon. 3 in the morning is when all the really wild parties start to get good, anyway."725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQKaQukcR3O
Hibiscus laughs. "I remember that!" they whisper, leaning forward on their bed. "That was so great!"725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvvBO1oYh82
Klef looks between them. "Wils party?" he asks.725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4C60EKEBEI
"Some say," Hibiscus says. "Others say that it was just Bobbi getting hopelessly drunk and doing all types of karaoke!"725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVt4xryyEHn
Everyone in the room giggles, save Ama, who is already asleep. I lean back in my bed and stare at the ceiling. "I think I'll try to get some sleep too. We have to figure out our plan of action in the morning."725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTcAMPtgLIA
"Sounds like a plan," Hibiscus says.725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡacRFXyTGvg
"Agreed," Bobbi seconds.725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcE9YYeuyqm
"I'll try to sleep, but I'll most likely be guarding the door for several hours instead," Klef says. "But you guys can sleep now if you can manage it on your own."725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsqDiJHU3KR
I lie down fully, and roll ove onto my side so that I'm facing the window, and I'm out like a light before I even realize what's going on.725Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvYxhLPnnmI
Penana
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