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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!"828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfcji3gixRv
"Well..." Klef starts, and I rib him. He looks over innocently. "C'mon, Ride!"828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYsAFsbdKOg
"No," I tell him, looking at Bobbi. "Your girlfriend usually get this anxious about a spell?"828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvOVS3I0SiC
"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."828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjL8AbRhPb2
"I am not. Frazzled," Ama says through grit teeth.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPOQiS1Nt6Q
"Whatever you say, babe," Bobbi says with a slight laugh. "So long as it doesn't hurt you, whatever you say."828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsdU0orIOVV
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.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ63KxSXJdLV
"Is that even Human?" I ask. "It doesn't look like Human writing."828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQRVkDv8TJH
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."828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtSfVLWnTaB
I nod. "You're bilingual?"828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWDJxlETvSC
Ama nods proudly, grinning. "Yeah. Took me forever to read the scraggly handwriting of the other wizards, but it was totally worth it.:828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2bixfwvLME
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."828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu5lU1zMKjU
"Represent," Rythe laughs, holding out their hand, palm up. I high-five them and they grin. "That's what I'm talking about, Iri."828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaCFfrqPwqb
I grin a little and turn back to Ama. "Are you going to need me?"828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1n8m4FgNkw
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.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEhR1zU4vEW
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."828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKJlr3kJ78B
"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."828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3i0FRXjq9m
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."828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCOS1w8jRTn
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.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyhpf7fj10D
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.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgKvUQLFQH0
"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?"828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5VMHtwk2mo
I shake my head, biting my lip. I don't know what this means for me, but I doubt that it's anything good.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD7yW8ZoHJA
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.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡggs2z9u29X
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.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡibGNSAc5D9
"We're here," Flo says, pointing into the trees.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmevVWD4vb3
I squint, and see in the distance a building that looks like it's made out of growing trees. “Woah. That’s cool.”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQM9auPPRgi
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.”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEVFe4B3Dsn
“I can believe it,” Rythe says, walking toward the building. “It’s really intricate. Small scale for a Crusader’s base, but intricate.”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSMyoFNZuP8
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.”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTzDi4njG0i
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!”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwUkmlIYAD8
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.”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAg6EFSpQjK
Klef rolls his eyes. “Ha. Ha ha. You’re a riot, Ride.”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8s28ZQ4i3g
I laugh.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡepZNspNzQB
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!”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNS6jNDdBAf
“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.”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS41Nwpt2Lf
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!”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtc7GJ0WyZd
Ama smiles and walks the rest of the distance to Alar, hugging him tightly. “Hello again, brother,” she murmurs.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe8WaUrJ2Fp
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?”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEW5xnM4hZS
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.”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo6cj7SHj56
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.”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAvUniQRiXF
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.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZQRlGEFxPB
“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.”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbcWU7mTTQI
I laugh. “Oh, I totally understand aesthetic.”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdgjE2XfnlC
Alar looks over at me and smiles slightly. “You have a very nice voice,” he compliments. “Do you sing?”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuYMi2OluiV
“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.”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU3FYtUrvaW
“I would argue against that,” Klef says. “I’ve heard her voice, she’s beyond amazing.”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrkvkGHlOaN
“You’re biased. You’re my boyfriend!” I laugh.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsxyiUYb6dU
Klef shrugs.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL4CnBXEQAm
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.”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIA5c0chKSj
“Well that’s a relief,” I say.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDoscYTFnVM
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.”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9P7xsb6f9k
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.”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLjpS676IDG
“The barracks will be fine,” I say with a wave of my hand and a smile.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlqf2MVQcED
Alar nods but lightly slaps Ama’s hand as he passes her anyway. She turns and calls, “Love you too, bro!” after him.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs2XpQHjOwG
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.”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs687to6Uh1
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!”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoWgeQL8o3h
Klef barks in laughter. “Is that really all you think of me?”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDwV58jveYd
I shrug. Hibiscus shoves past us. “Stop flirting in the doorway and let us see where we’re going to stay!”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLkvffM94Gh
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.”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡefpxBHCLho
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?”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrwoKiuYYgl
“What, like a No Vacancy sign on an inn?” Klef asks.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGSzOKxpnk0
“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.”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4GKV0gpUWc
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.”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUNCmx6BcEe
Flo looks over at them, clearly torn. “But if these guys need our help…?”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlB6mMBUHQh
“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.”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlCQted6TQM
Flo sighs. “Oh, all right. Fine. But at the first sign of trouble, we come over here.”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5eBwnIUdWB
“Of course,” Rythe says.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡResOZYGzCd
They leave the room after saying good night to everyone, and Hibiscus jumps on the window next to the bed. “Dibs!” they call happily.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwlq6vdB7lR
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.”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxBluJqhoaX
I cross my arms. “Oh, c’mon, Treble, that’s a single bed! I’d have to sleep somewhere else!”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxPBnloZUFV
Klef waves a hand. “Bye.”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKbRoVSvFjg
“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!”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV7RjLhLwcH
“You two are children,” Bobbi says, picking a bed at random and flopping down on it.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdbwfMNPORE
Ama takes the one next to theirs. “Be nice,” they warn.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4VKY4AzQ3Z
“I am nice,” Bobbi says, sitting up.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOQZFDGOJRX
“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.”828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkhk6rNAXOz
"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."828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgNknCr53vB
"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."828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIsqRIMThXe
Hibiscus laughs. "I remember that!" they whisper, leaning forward on their bed. "That was so great!"828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTJpk4bkPwU
Klef looks between them. "Wils party?" he asks.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnw2ewfgU28
"Some say," Hibiscus says. "Others say that it was just Bobbi getting hopelessly drunk and doing all types of karaoke!"828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ25WvL2a868
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."828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXWLH08cw8A
"Sounds like a plan," Hibiscus says.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQloIBEu9qe
"Agreed," Bobbi seconds.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGBkk5Jln4w
"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."828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY5PxB4Z2Q6
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.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ52frQWlHW8
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