noct
patreon
100. Let's, Together
🕑 Added 2024-03-04 15:00:05 +0000 UTCOz landed behind Loup with the crunch of dried grass. She whirled about, baring her teeth in wolf-form, hackles bristling. Her eyes darted back and forth, searching for the sound.
“Loup, it’s me,” Oz whispered.
Loup jumped, then lowered her head. She sniffed, edging closer to him.
Oz held his hand out, letting her sniff it, then retracted it. “See? O…Fflyn.”
Loup sat. She looked at about where Oz stood and tipped her head.
“I may have come up with a way for us to reveal the camp in a way no one in the Mages’ Quarter can ignore it. Can you find Aisling? I need her help to accomplish it.”
Loup lifted her nose. She sniffed, then dashed off, racing through the camp.
Oz watched her go. I’ll take that as a yes.
Sitting down in the shadow of a tent to wait, he consulted his library, searching through it for hints. That idea I had…I need to do as much research as I can. I want to be as absolutely sure it’ll work as I can be.
I don’t think anyone’s ever tried this before, but I can still find peripheral indications as to whether it’s possible or not. Unfortunately, it’s fey magic, and I can’t afford to retreat to read the actual fey books, but at least I can read the human perspective on how it works. It isn’t nearly as good as reading the actual source material, but I can treat it as a flawed mirror, a distorted reflection of the truth that isn’t true itself, but which holds crucial hints to the truth. As long as I have a guess as to the shape of the truth, I can form a dim reflection of reality from the glimpses I can search out.
Fflyn stretched in his mind. I’ll take over while you read. Don’t go too far, though. You have way more qi than me. I won’t be able to run as far without your help.
Really? Oz asked, startled.
Fflyn nodded. You have a ton of qi for someone who isn’t at the first stage. It’s honestly a bit intimidating.
Oh. Uh. I don’t really have any sort of basis for that, but it’s good to hear, Oz said, nodding.
They sat there beside the tent, invisible, Fflyn watching while Oz read. At last, a wet nose touched the back of their neck.
Both Oz and Fflyn jumped, whipping around. Loup stood there, a wolfy grin on her face, tongue hanging out. She lifted her head, nosing at the air beside her, and an invisible hand petted her ruff.
“Aisling?” Oz asked.
“Oz…Fflyn?” Aisling replied.
Oz put his hands on his face. It was obvious, I guess. Too obvious.
Yeah, she’s known for a while, Fflyn confirmed.
I knew that, but still, we could at least pretend…sigh.
He stood, looking about at where Aisling stood. “Aisling, did you find anything?”
There was a pause, and then Aisling cleared her throat. “No, unfortunately. Pools and pools full of zombies, but nothing that could reveal them.”
Oz nodded, then immediately understood what Aisling had done. She shook her head, didn’t she? It’s hard to communicate without visual cues. “Understood.” He took a deep breath. “I found something. In the central tent. Loup’s mother…isn’t as dead as she appears to be.”
Loup jolted. Her ears swept forward, eyes alert.
Oz gave her an apologetic look. “She herself said that she’s dying, and she can’t be saved.”
Loup’s head lowered. Her tail drooped. A moment later, she lifted her head and leaned it on Oz’s waist. Big liquid eyes stared up at him, and her tail wagged a little.
Reassuring me? She’s too sweet. Oz petted Loup’s head, playing idly with her ears. “But she is still alive, and she still has some control over her qi. She said that she can destroy the glamour that hides this place, but we need a way to allow her to cast magic without using her body…since her body is too ruined to withstand it.”
Aisling hummed under her breath. “Could one of us cast for her?”
Oz paused, then shook his head. “I don’t think so. I was sitting on her tail when she told me. If she could, she would have done it then. I suspect…I suspect that if she cast through us, she’d just destroy me in the process.”
“Ah…no. It was foolish of me to suggest it. She’s a fey, and a powerful one at that. Of course. Her qi is too powerful. It would destroy us as it passed through. We would melt from the inside out from the sheer force of its flow.”
Oz pursed his lips. He nodded. “Right, let’s not do that, then.”
“But if you want to allow her to cast magic, without using one of us as a medium…what’s your idea?”
Nodding, Oz stepped forward. “It’s a little flashy, so I’ll need someone to distract the two mages. There’s these black pools full of dangerous monsters…Loup, if you help me, I think I can distract them.”
Loup bobbed her head up and down and turned to him, fully alert and intent.
Oz took a deep breath. “As for the actual casting…that’s what I need you for, Aisling. Well, and the distraction, too, but that’s only the setup. Listen. Here’s my plan…”
Comments
linkhyrule5
... Huh. Interesting that Loup couldn't see through Oz's glamour.
