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English
Series:
Part 1 of Two Wolves
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Published:
2022-09-21
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2023-11-14
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232,628
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87/87
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Lunacy

Summary:

The adventuring life has a lot of hazards. Adaine Abernant is less than a month into her freshman year, and she's already picked up her first kill, her first dead party members, and her first life-shattering curse.

Now she just needs to hold this mess together for four years, somehow.

(Werewolf Adaine canon-divergence AU, with the changes mostly personal at first and spiraling out from there)

Now completed!

Notes:

I have no willpower to hold off and this is what I want to write right now. Whoops.

I originally had a note here saying this story was going to be 30-40k and update slowly; I'm a month and 19 chapters in and it's 100% going to hit 100k words by the time I'm done.

Reading the other story in this series - which this takes a few lines of dialogue and obviously the general plot directly from - will spoil stuff for the first nine chapters

I expect the story to be about 60-75% Adaine's POV, with the rest being Aelwyn, Jawbone, and the other Bad Kids, mostly because Adaine's self-view is maybe not the most accurate. Aelwyn's is probably worse, of course, but good news! She's our deuteragonist for this story.

January 2023 update: We're at 62 chapters and 170k right now. Best guess is around 250k total but I've become so bad at sticking to my estimates. It's worth mentioning here that the numbers mentioned above are more or less accurate, but the percentage of the story that's Adaine's PoV drops down in the later sections; for the latter parts of the fic, Aelwyn and Adaine are close to equal in PoV share and then other viewpoints continue to be sprinkled throughout.

Chapter 1: Flesh

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Music thumped through the Black Pit, and Adaine had lost track of her friends.  Fabian had rushed ahead, she had no idea where any of the others had gone, and no time to use any of her divinatory magic to find them.  She had much more immediate problems.

Specifically, the werewolf that was about to rush at her.  Adaine brandished her orb at it, trying not to let the fear that was gnawing at the back of her throat show, hoping to just scare it off.  To no avail.  A brief flash of the future that she had learned to trust went through her mind, and she ducked in time to avoid being raked across the face by the werewolf's claws.

Too short a flash.  Before she was even able to recover her footing, her right arm was caught in the fangs of the wolf, a pressure and sharp pain.

She had one thought as her arm began to throb:

Her shitty parents were going to be so angry with her.

Mercifully, the werewolf seemed not interested in finishing her off, or ripping more of her flesh off her arm than the already sizable chunk that he'd gotten with the first bite.  Adaine tried to push through it, to at least fire off a Message to call for help.  Instead she staggered forward, the music now blasting through her mind as well as her chest, her bleeding wound pulsing to the beat, her legs watery beneath her.

There was a thump as the orb dropped out of her hands and down onto the ground, and Adaine stumbled after it as it rolled away and under a barstool, uncertain why she'd dropped it even as pain ripped through every muscle in her body.  She fell to the floor, catching herself with her hands.  Not her hands, though.  Something bigger and more awkward, something covered in a silvery fur with sharp claws.

Her heart desperately wanted to find some help.  Her fear and worry wanted her to flee, and it felt like her mind already had.  Her gut wanted to turn and start taking bites out of everyone here, to feed and feed, then to find the people she was most angry at.  Fabian for running off without her.  The vampires that were making so much noise around her.  Her parents, her sister...

...She couldn't lose the orb.  Father would notice that, for certain.

She crawled after her orb, the lack of thumbs making it impossible for her to pick up, but managing to tug it in tight to her chest, resting her jaw on top of it and shut her eyes, trying to close out the pain and the noise, just herself and the orb under her head.  It was a cold pressure, almost anchoring her down, allowing her to think once more.

Or, no.  That was that the music had cut out at some point, and Adaine realized she had lost track of time in her crawl under the barstool.  Still, she couldn't move, terror keeping a grip on her lungs.

Voices were talking behind her.  Some of them were familiar, but they were all like listening through water when she was like this.  She whimpered, and the voices paused, before kicking back in, a little more clear.  She was starting to resurface.

"..That sounded more like her."  Kristen?  Adaine was pretty sure, at least.

"Is it safe to try to move her?  We've got to get out of here before the police come, I don't want to even start to explain this one to them."  Fabian, that one was certain.

"You should be safe to.  The music's over, and she doesn't seem like she wants to bite anyone...  Oh, and I think she's turning back now, you can see some normal skin on her feet.  Like I said, I'm real sorry, I don't want to intrude on her now but you kids should have her talk to me or to someone else who can tell her about how to manage it."  A.. familiar voice, somehow.  But she couldn't remember why, not with pain once more rippling through her entire body.

"Look, now's really not the time, we've gotta go and I don't know if she's going to want to.  Just come by the Aguefort Adventuring Academy before school one day, if someone asks you why you're there before you see one of us, just tell them you're there about one of the jobs that's open."  That was Riz.

She felt a hand on her back, and she whimpered again.  She looked back, and Gorgug was there, holding his hoodie out to her.  She shifted towards sitting, and then glanced down, realizing that she was at least vaguely back to normal, but her blouse was ripped in several places and bloody, and her arm was still bleeding profusely.

Fig noticed before Kristen, or maybe Kristen was just tapped out of magic, but either way the tiefling had healing magic in place and the wound no longer bleeding, at least, though still ghastly to look at.  Adaine tugged the hoodie over herself, picking the orb up carefully.  Her head was spinning still as her friends led her out of the club, Fig leading her by the hand.

It was all Adaine could do to not fall into a trance even as she was led away into the night.


It turned out that the plan her friends had worked out was to go to Fabian's nearby home to rest.  It was late enough that Adaine's best personal plan at this point was to hope her family just didn't notice she'd never returned home, so she decided not to object.

Right now they probably wouldn't even listen to her anyways.  She hadn't managed to say anything to any of them since they'd left the club, not even as Bill Seacaster had greeted them loudly and with tiring familiarity.  She couldn't look away, but she couldn't focus, either, jerking to sitting back up every minute or two as she felt herself falling into a trace.  At least, up until she noticed some of the clouds in the sky had cleared out.

By now, the pain of transforming had faded, and her arm had been bandaged by the kindly maid of the manor.  The waning moon above weighed on her mind as she glanced at it, feeling just a little bit of her exhaustion lift from her shoulders as she did, leaving her with slightly clearer thoughts

What could she do now?

Curses hadn't ever been of particular interest to her, but she remembered something about lycanthropy being much easier to remove before the victim's first transformation.  Would one caused by the music count, or was it just one caused by the full moon?

She resolutely tried not to think of what it would cost her to ask the most skilled abjurative wizard she knew.  Aelwyn would almost certainly know how to remove the curse, if it was possible.  She might even actually help, of sorts.

It would just cost Adaine the next four years until she could leave for college hearing every morning about it, having her parents bring it up, a reminder of how she couldn't take care of herself and what a disappointment she was, and on and on.  She'd rather find the werewolf and get him to rip out her throat, instead.

That was even assuming Aelwyn could remove it.  If she couldn't, all bets were off to what her parents would do, but it wouldn't be anything good for her.  Adaine was certain of that much.

A callused hand reached between her and the moon and snapped its fingers.  Adaine screamed and jerked back, looking down into the bearded, slightly mad face of Bill Seacaster.

"..Can't say as I blame ye too much for being distracted, but these are important lessons!  Just as much as my boy and the others shouldn't have let you fend for yourself, you need to make certain you're where they can protect you, and you can support them."

He was gazing at her, clearly expecting her to say something to that.  She hadn't spoken still since being bitten, and she felt her mouth working, finally managing a small.  "Okay."

He didn't seem satisfied with that, though, slapping her shoulder.  "Chin up there.  I've known plenty of great adventurers who had worse scars than being a werewolf.  Just think of it as a little surprise you can spring on them if you run out of spells, though you should still keep yourself protected.  Or see if you can learn to cast spells while a wolf, that could be just as big a surprise.  A scar like that, or ending up another species some of the time, you should just take it as a sign you survived the fight."

Adaine, not wanting to provoke him further, nodded.  Her gaze drifted back up to the moon, not willing to meet his eyes.

The same hand reached in front of her face again, and with a growl she slapped it away and followed through with a punch at his face.  Satisfyingly, unlike on her sister, she managed to land a blow on Bill Seacaster.  Who didn't seem to care, who barely seemed to notice, and who slammed her into the ground with an enormous grin on his face, pinning her arms and placing a knee on her back.

"Well well well!  There you are, then, Miss Abernant!  I was wondering if I'd get to meet you.  Take another swing at me without me permission and I'll gut you on the spot."

"Papa!" Fabian protested.

"It's good that some of your crew at least has some spirit, boy, but she'll need to learn not to pick a fight when there's no need and a lot more control.  All of you will need that, from the stories you told!  Your wizard shouldn't be charging and punching unless they absolutely have to.  Otherwise, she'll end up just like this, and if she escalates to being a wolf then some man is going to kill her in a panic."  He let her up, the tiredness washing back over her as she sat back up, looking around into the worried faces of her party.

She offered a smile, and tried to pay attention, and made it through the intense lessons without getting bodyslammed into the ground any more, which she counted as a win.

She was barely able to even walk by the time Bill Seacaster let them go, an even deeper wave of exhaustion sinking in.  She could probably make it home, but it was a school day, and going home would just get her in more trouble.  They might not have noticed that she wasn't there.

She managed to show up in time for her Enchantment class, a test she'd forgotten about waiting for her, the teacher giving her a slightly alarmed look.  It was probably the hoodie, or the blood, or maybe the smell given that she'd been a wolf and in a real fight and in a bunch of fake fights since the last time she'd showered.

She worked on the test, but only got halfway through the page by the time the class period ended.


Working for Kalvaxus on the Shadowcat's behalf was many things, some of them fun.  Not as many of those as she'd have hoped, but it was a thrill, feeling like she was getting away with something.  Setting up the Oracle, being right about who the next one would be, those had been great triumphs even if they were also horrible.

But what it was most of the time, when Aelwyn wasn't in her time off and getting blasted to the point that she couldn't think too much about it, was a headache.  Kalina was smart, but Kalina had also told her to follow orders from those above her in this plot, and Kalvaxus and Penelope Everpetal both shared fucking stupidity that their viciousness couldn't make up for.

Penelope was yammering on in her ear through the crystal about Johnny Spells being dead, as Aelwyn sat on a porch chair outside of her home and tried to let her talk herself out.  It wasn't working, however, and then...

"You want ME to handle the last ones?  We can't find someone else to do it?"  Aelwyn asked, with a sigh.  "Do we at least know where Nightingale is, or do I need to find her, too?"

"Divination runs in your blood, I hear." Came Penelope's response.  Trust a sorceress to not know a goddamn thing about how wizardry works.  Divination had never been one of Aelwyn's better subjects, and she'd avoided pursuing it too deeply.

It was one thing to be worse than the Elven Oracle in the area she would be naturally most prodigious in.  It would have been another to actively pursue the subject and still be beaten out by her sister.

Aelwyn really wanted at least one drink before she had to agree to kidnap two girls, but what was one more crime?  Refusing would mean death, one way or another.

She glanced up at motion down the street.  A dirty figure in a hoodie with the hood up, stumbling down Spelljammer Lane.  Not exactly a common sight, around here.  Wait, was that...

"I'll have to talk to you later, Penelope, but I'll get right on all of that."  She said, closing the connection, ignoring Penelope's protest.  Kalina wouldn't mind her being cautious about not being overheard, after all, especially by a skilled divination wizard.

Even if she looked like she'd been dragged through the mud, quite literally.  "What happened to you?"  Aelwyn asked, sincerely curious and even a little..  No, that couldn't be worry.  She turned her lip up into a sneer, trying to hide it.  Luckily, Adaine didn't look in a state to notice, anyway.  A bandage was hanging out of the sleeve on her arm, her eyes had bags under them, and she had grime all over, even ignoring the state of her clothes and hair.

"It was a practical lesson day."  Adaine said, after a few moments.  "Are mother and father home?"

"Didn't go well, did it?  Well, you're lucky, they're not home yet.  If you let me borrow a few divination texts, I won't even mention this to them."  Aelwyn added, deciding to kill two birds with one stone.

Adaine glowered, but seemed to be in a more talkitive mood today than normal.  At least there wasn't another Tasha's Hideous Laughter or Ray of Sickness coming her way.  "I..  that's fine, I don't need them, I've finished reading all the divination texts I have ages ago.  Very simple."  And then, after a hesitation.  "Do you have any books on curses I could look at?"

Aelwyn was taken aback; that was almost a reasonable request.  Adaine hadn't tried to make those in years.  "Well, I suppose I could, yes.  Though don't even think about trying to curse me, or I'll have to play a little less nice than I normally do with you."

They made the exchange, Adaine still glowering suspiciously but taking Aelwyn's most basic book on curses.  She seemed about to say something else, pausing and stuttering in the way she sometimes did before having one of those little episodes.  Best to shake her out of it or there'd be dirt on Aelwyn's floor, and evidently she needed to craft at least two spells to track down Sam Nightingale and find some more maidens.  "Now, then, maybe you should shower.  I could smell you before I even saw you, coming down the street."  And she clapped her hand to the outside of the divination texts that Adaine had provided.

Even that didn't draw an attack from Adaine, who just stormed off back to her room.

It wasn't until much, much later that Aelwyn even thought about the possibility that Adaine had been looking to remove curses, not add them.

Notes:

Adaine's rocking a full two levels of actual mechanical exhaustion and well on her way to a third by the time of the conversation with Aelwyn, and bone dry on spell slots to boot.

Chapter 2: Experimentation

Summary:

Adaine researches, but quickly resorts to the practical. The other Bad Kids are good friends.

Notes:

CW: Could be interpreted as self harm, or at least intense recklessness at best.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Adaine should start a trance right away, she knew after she had at least cleaned herself up.  Reading the book Aelwyn had against all odds provided her could wait until the morning; even if it had the spell that would cure her and she was able to cast it, she had no energy to do so and she had weeks until the full moon.

She forced herself to focus as she skimmed through the book for an initial reading anyways.  The book had no index, but it did have arcane diagrams at the beginning of each chapter that at least gave a sense of what that section was about, and as it went along it went from very general to more specific.

And.. there it was.  An entire chapter on lycanthropy.  Starting with the history,  but there was a section on methods used to contain the spread...

While the spread of lycanthropy can be contained with judicious use of the most basic of Remove Curse spells if caught in time, why has this disease not been eradicated?  This is primarily due to one of the nastiest side effects of the curse.  Once a transformation has been completed, all but the most powerful of magics or divine intervention will fail to remove the curse.

When dealing with a mass infection, it can be useful to determine which individuals may be healed of the curse with lesser spells without expending the effort of doing so.  Those who have been bitten but not yet transformed will show no reaction to the touch of silver.  Those who have transformed will experience mild and painful burns at the touch of silver.  Those currently transformed will find the touch excruciating, and silver restraints are extremely effective if painful on all lycanthropes, as are silvered weapons.

The book went on to recommend some rather harsh action against werewolves that had been transformed if no Gods or wizards capable of fully reshaping reality were available, but that was hardly surprising.  The text was from Fallinel, after all.

This would be easy enough for her to test, however.  Adaine stood, looking outside.  It was late enough that her parents had likely retired to their room after dinner by now.  No-one had bothered calling her down for dinner, but it had been multiple days since she'd been home in time for it.

She opened her door quietly, moving through the house making as little noise as she could, heading for the dining room.  Unseen servants were still at work packing things away, though the food was long since gone.  Adaine was vaguely aware that she was hungry, that she hadn't eaten since Bill Seacaster had fed the party, but she pushed that down.  She'd been sent to bed without dinner often enough to ignore that pang.

Instead, she eyed a fork that none of the servants had packed away yet.  She knew perfectly well that all of the silverware in the house was in fact silver.  She just needed to ignore the fear starting to weasel its way up her gut and into her heart.

In one quick motion, almost like swinging a ladle, she snatched the fork off the table and clinched it in her fist.  She couldn't help but hiss at the burning and the pain..

"Adaine, what ARE you doing?"  Came her father's voice from behind her, and she turned back to him, forcing herself to ignore the pain, the feeling like she was clinging tightly to a pan that had just been taken from the fire. He absolutely could not be allowed to see the burn mark, nor that she was in pain.

She lowered her voice instead, and said.  "Nothing important."

"You know the rules, Adaine.  If you can't be bothered to show up to dinner on time, you don't get to come back down for it after.  Your mother worked very hard to conjure the unseen servants that cooked the magnificent dinner we had tonight, and you cannot show her this kind of disrespect.  Back to your room, and I'll see you for breakfast if you want to eat."

Luckily, it wasn't suspicious at all for her to fling the fork back onto the table and storm back to her room after that, and he didn't seem to notice the red welt on her hand afterwards either.

Sitting on her bed after, still not taking the trance she desperately needed, she looked at the section of the book on containing the spread again.

Killing people just for being a werewolf wasn't legal in Solace.  But it still was in Fallinel.  Would her parents actually try to work with her condition, or find one of the vanishingly small number of people who could cure it?

It wasn't actually a question in her mind.  The answer was far too obvious for that.


Adaine dreamed, that night, her exhausted trance falling into an actual sleep, but it was a fitful rest, the dream being flashes.  More of a nightmare, really.  A moon, high in the sky above a tower.  Running through a forest on all fours, seeking out.. something.  Some horizon.  Water, all around her, in her throat and in her lungs.

An icicle, straight through her heart, and then a wolf's teeth around a unicorn's throat.

She missed breakfast, too, and barely made it out the door in time to make it to school at all.


In spite of the lack of food, and the burn on her hand having started to blister badly enough that she'd bandaged it up on her way to school to add to the one around her arm, Adaine was feeling a little bit better as she headed into school, even if she was just barely in time for class.  She stuffed the hoodie into her locker from her bag, resolving to give it back to Gorgug later.  She didn't even get a chance to say hello to her party until lunch, though she was rather surprised to see just who was operating that lunch.

"..Fig, isn't that your, um?"  Adaine asked, not knowing quite what to call the only balding elf she'd ever seen as she devoured her lunch while trying very hard not to either taste it or think too hard about it, made extra awkward by her right hand being covered in gauze and unusable.

"Yeah!  He's the new lunch lad.  I tried to get him the guidance counselor position.  Wait, you have seen who the new counselor is, right?"  Fig replied, squinting and sounding worried about that.

"No, why?  It's not like they could have done worse than the last one."  It might have been speaking ill of the dead to say, at least judging by how Fabian clucked his tongue and the others looked slightly awkward.

"Oh, um, right.  About that.."  Fig started, before Kristen looked up and frowned at her, interrupting as she seemed to notice Adaine's awkward eating.  "Hey, dude, do you want me to look at your hand?  You didn't have that bandage from the fight the other day, right?"

Adaine bit at her lip, and decided to admit to a part truth, not wanting to tell her friends she'd done it at least partly on purpose.  "My family uses silver silverware.  I had to hold on to it until I could make it not obvious to them that I was avoiding picking it up.  You can look, but I don't know if you'll be able to do anything about it."

Kristen reached across the table for her hand and started peeling away the gauze.  Adaine steadfastly looked away from the injury, though the smell was unavoidable.  It was a good thing she'd already gotten her lunch mostly down.

"I don't think it's a good sign that there's this much pus."  Kristen said, ignoring the amount of attention that Adaine was attempting not to pay.  Magical energy flowed from her hands into Adaine's, and there was a little bit of relief, but not nearly as much as Adaine had hoped for.

"..I think it might be more difficult to heal because it's silver and I'm..."  Adaine couldn't bring herself to finish that sentence, staring down at the remaining part of her lunch, still not looking at the hand.

"Right.  Well.  It should heal over time, and at least it isn't oozing anymore!  Riz, can you help me do the bandages a little better for her?"  Their rogue was the only one who really worked with a healer's kit, and between the two of them they had a much less awkward bandage onto Adaine's hand soon enough.

"Thank you."  She mumbled at them, at all five of them, though her heart swelled up that they were willing to touch her and dress her wounds even knowing about the curse.


Her good mood from her wonderful friends lasted about six minutes after lunch, right up until the tests from the Enchantment examination were passed back out.

She had known she'd done badly, but this...  She should have just skipped.

Right at the top of her test, a long block of text in red ink.  "F.  Miss Abernant, I am deeply concerned about the state in which you took this examination.  Please have a parent or guardian sign this and return it by the end of the week."

Her hands gripped at the paper, and her lungs tried to climb out of her throat, not wanting to be any part of the mess that was Adaine Abernant anymore.  She couldn't blame them.

"Bathroom."  She muttered as she stumbled for the door, determined not to collapse in front of every wizard in her year.  She made it to the closest bathroom, holding herself up by the sink, staring into her own blue eyes, trying to will herself into not thinking about asking for that signature, about not thinking about having to explain herself to her parents, about not having to hear about how much of a failure she was as a wizard and a daughter again..

She felt her arms slip off the sink, and pain wracking through her body, and a grey paw again for hand, the bandage dangling off it and not fitting quite right anymore.  She still couldn't breath, and couldn't move, and now she was going to have to tell her parents AND someone was going to find her in here and drive a silver sword through her chest.

Her mind shut off, her instincts fully feral, she pushed herself into the corner of the furthest stall and hid.  Her chest eventually loosened, the haze around her vision fading.

There were footsteps outside the bathroom.  The class period must have ended, and she was going to get caught in the bathroom as a wolf if she couldn't change back right now.  Or..

She snuck a clawed paw under the stall's door, yanking it shut as the bathroom's door swung open, then sliding the lock shut with her nose.  She tried desperately not to think about how unsanitary it must be, hearing others go in and out of the restroom, fighting back a whimper she desperately wanted to let out.  She could feel the tiredness washing over her already, and she hadn't even changed back yet.

Some time later, still in what should have been in the middle of class, the door opened once more.  Adaine pressed herself back into the stall, hoping this wasn't a teacher searching for her or anything like that.

A lighter was flickered, and the smell of a clove cigarette reached her far too sensitive nose.

Relief washed over her; that was as good as she could possibly have hoped for.  With the relief, with the anxiety and stress fading for the moment, she felt pain smash through her body once more, leaving her in a tattered blouse laying on the cold tile.

"..Fig."  She called out, wanting to shout but having it emerge more like a prayer into the room.

There was a hesitation, and then..  "Oh, shit, Adaine!  I didn't know you were in here."

Adaine climbed to her shaky feet, trembling hands undoing the lock, rather than trying to speak further.  Fig, cigarette in mouth for another drag, breathed out.  "Didn't think you'd skip classes, cool, girl!  You look pretty rough though; did you have another, you know?"  And she clawed at the air.  "Thought that was only a night thing normally.  And during the full moon."

Adaine was going to need to work up the energy to explain at least a bit.  "..Yeah.  I, um.  Got a little overloaded, and then it happened."  She didn't want to explain the surges that left her feeling out of control of her own body even before she became a werewolf, but she needed to tell Fig something.  "I brought Gorgug's shirt.  Is there any way you could go and get it from my locker for me?"  She asked, knowing Fig knew where her locker was.

Her head felt full of marshmallows, and her hands held onto one of the sinks, looking at herself in the mirror.

She may have never looked worse, she decided, a finger poking at one of the bags under her eyes.

Adaine had thought she had weeks to the full moon before she had to figure out how hide transforming from her family.  If it could happen just from her mind betraying her, just an extension from when she usually lost control over herself...

She had been sent into far too many of those in front of her family.  They usually ignored her or mocked her during it, but they would certainly not ignore it if she was a wolf.

Given the rapidness with which an unrestrained werewolf can spread the disease, it is recommended to put down any who cannot be readily cured if at all feasible.

Sometimes she wished she couldn't remember text quite so clearly.  A sob escaped her throat.  She could maybe pull off a few weeks of hiding it, maybe.  Making it all the way to college?  For that matter, going to college? 

She didn't think that her parents would actually have her killed, but they'd certainly do something horrible to her.

Her future had always been hazy at best, but it felt like she might not have one, now.  What was she going to do, what was she going to do, what...


Fig made it back with the hoodie soon enough, but she found a wolf curled under the sink and whimpering when she got there, one that she had to take far too long coaxing over into a stall before classes let out for the day.  She stayed there, speaking as softly and comfortingly as she could manage, a hand resting on Adaine's head until she eventually changed back again.

Notes:

Adaine's not doing super great, gang! It'll get better for her eventually, though; this is one of the low points.

It's a level of exhaustion every time she unwillingly transforms - and she hasn't figured out how to do so willingly yet - and she's stuck longer the more exhausted she is. At least she'll never knowingly hurt Fig or any of the others! This is a bit of a rough feedback loop, since eventually exhaustion makes it much more likely that she has a panic attack...

Chapter 3: Family

Summary:

Fig gains a family member. Adaine's week continues to not improve.

Notes:

This is probably going to be my least favorite chapter of this fic; the canon timeline right after the Black Pit is really tight and Adaine becoming a werewolf won't change it that much, and I'm not that interested in rehashing those battles at length, so we're going to glaze over like three episodes worth of mostly-canon stuff here before getting into much more serious divergence territory.

Sorry about the pacing here as a result, though!

Chapter Text

After Fig coaxed Adaine back into elf form and back out of the restroom, they met up with the group.  Adaine fiddled with the sleeves of the hoodie, which was far, far too large for her but did an excellent job covering her up.

Fabian glanced at her.  "What happened to you?"

She shot a look around the hall, wanting to make certain no-one was listening in.  "..Turns out if I lose control of myself, it doesn't have to be the full moon.  Or even nighttime."  She said, her voice as neutral as she could manage.  She really didn't want to end up a wolf for a third time today, and the best way to avoid that was not to think about it.  She was tired enough as it was, having trouble remaining out of a trance and focused.

Spotting the looks the others were giving her, she panicked and grasped for another topic, any other topic.  "Anyway.  There is something you all might be able to help me with.  I need to find somewhere I can get clothing that will survive, you know, for cheap.  Better yet if it's stylish, but..  Might be hard to get both.  My parents definitely won't, and I'm not planning to tell them about any of this anyways."

"I can just give you some money to go to a real store, you know."  Fabian said, with a sigh.  "But we can try that.  Though it might be best to follow up on Zayn at Cravencroft Cemetery today?"

With that, they fell back into the discussion, and Adaine tried to think about Zayn Darkshadow and their investigation, instead of her own problems.  This actually helped her, she found, as they walked out to the cemetery.  Her senses had always been sharp, and her eyesight was as good as ever, even in the dark.  But now her hearing and sense of smell seemed just as good, whether her eyes were open or not.  The cheap makeup that Fig was wearing, the scent of coffee still on Riz, the footsteps of each and every one of the people around her.

Was this temporary, just because she'd shifted earlier today?  Or was it going to last, a small benefit to make up for a little bit of the ravaging lycanthropy was going to do to her body and her life?

"What the hell is that?"  Came Fabian's voice, shaking her out of her daze and getting her to follow his gaze to some kind of..

"..Is that supposed to be a rat?"  She asked, before sniffing at the air.  "..Is it wearing perfume?"

"Yeah!  It'll draw Zayn's rat out if he's turned it and himself invisible!"  Fig said, brightly, triggering another argument that lasted right up through the rat being eaten by a soon to be disappointed owl.

The investigation went well from there, even if Adaine still felt a little out of it.  They spoke with the weird grave keeper, and found out that Zayn was most definitely dead, and his life sounded.. not great.  After they'd found more leads, after they'd decided to head to the mithril factory, after everyone else had clearly dismissed him and moved on to tracking down Johnny Spells' patron (and Fig's maybe-real-dad), Adaine couldn't help but still think about him.

Thrown out by his parents, emancipated from the foster system, and stuck in a cheap apartment he was presumably paying for with crimes and hanging out in a graveyard in his spare time.

Was that her future?  Not the hanging out in graveyards part - that seemed to just be something Zayn had enjoyed - but stuck resorting to desperate acts to try and keep herself afloat?  Her parents kicking her out was probably the best case whenever they found out.

Adaine rolled his Pearl of Life around in her hands and sighed, before tucking it away.  They still had investigating to do, and she couldn't afford this kind of distraction.


Combat had felt different, this time, versus the other times they'd gone into a battle, both personally and as a team.

As a team, they'd never been so coordinated.  They'd worked together, kept herself and Fig from being attacked too much to contribute, made great combination moves with Fabian's bike and just generally had acted the part of a real adventuring party.  Maybe Fabian's crazy father had actually done some good for them.

For herself, though...  Every other time they'd been in a fight, she'd been horribly afraid the entire time.  Afraid both for herself and of herself, after killing the lunch lady on her first day, because she'd felt more alive than ever while fighting even while she'd been struggling with the fear of it.

This time, the fear had been the same as ever, but her enjoyment of it had been on another level.  Something in her had all but sung at the fight, had wanted to grab those dwarves by the beard and slam them into the concrete until they learned their lesson once and for all.

She'd enjoyed setting them on fire, too, of course.

Kristen touched at her shoulder, and Adaine startled, looking around at the group at Basrar's.  The six of them, and an archdevil.  The others were all looking at her.  "..Ah, sorry.  I missed the question."  She admitted, blinking her eyes and trying to clear her mind.  The ice cream had helped for the start of the conversation, but she really should have had some real food and not just sugar, as good as it was.

"Right.  They were saying you were the one interacting with this possessed woman who had a hellmouth.  Did you breath in any of the energy or anything when it was destroyed?"

"..Do you think I have a hellmouth inside of me?"  Adaine asked.

"Well, let's see."  The demon said, his third eye opening, transfixing Adaine.  A future of torment, earned for her magic and for her newfound curse, left her pinned down in her seat, mouth slightly hanging open.

"A werewolf, yeah?  I didn't even realize from what I saw of the battle.  There aren't many werewolf wizards running around.  You don't seem to have much infernal energy on you, though, so I wouldn't worry that it's going to possess you unless you spend more time around whatever the source is."

Adaine sighed in relief at that; that would have been the last thing that she needed.  Hopefully Riz could recount this entire conversation to her tomorrow, once she'd had a chance to trance and maybe recover a little bit more.  

She had to be shaken to be brought back into the conversation three more times, including to Detect Thoughts on a rat, pointing them straight at a prime suspect to look into.


After ice cream, instead of being able to trance, there was another crisis.  Biz had been attacked, and Fig was insistent that they go see him in the hospital instead of just asking if he had lost the palimpsest containing Sam Nightingale through text.

"..You all can go without me, right?  It's just I'm very tired."  She said, which had the benefit of being true even though she'd also rather set her hair alight than voluntarily talk to Biz again.

"You don't have to go inside, but you can at least come to the hospital with us.  It sounds like Fig and Riz really want to have the conversation anyway, I'll wait with you.  Gorgug, too."

Which is how she'd found herself screwing with her friends, a mage hand grabbing the coin they flipped over and over to make certain that it landed on heads as she sat on the ground in the parking lot, listening to them count as they went, her head tilted back to stare at the tiny sliver of the moon that was visible.

"Forty heads in a row, what are the odds?"  Fabian said.  "Forty one, forty two..."

Adaine drifted off where she was sitting, not even into a trance, but into another full sleep.  

More dreams.  A massive pile of gold.  A decrepit looking mansion, with a tower jutting out the side and curling up into the sky.  Aelwyn, covered in scars, looking distraught in a way Adaine had never seen her.  A massive red beast, spitting flames right at her.  A full moon up in the sky.

Water, filling her lungs, the wreckage of her ship sinking to the bottom with her.

She sat up, yelping and gasping for breath...  And realized she had no idea where she was.  In an unfamiliar bed, and..  wearing a nightgown that most definitely wasn't hers.  She glanced around, eyeing the expensive decor.

The door opened, and a halfling woman in a maid's uniform stood there, holding her clothing, clearly laundered.  "Oh, good, you're awake.  Fabian left for school early, but he asked me to explain, dearie.  They couldn't wake you, and they weren't sure exactly where your home was, but your cleric determined you just needed the rest.  So he and your barbarian carried you here.  I can drive you to your school, but let's get you some breakfast first, okay?"

To Adaine's slight surprise, she did indeed feel better, even more so after breakfast.  Fabian's mother - somehow seeming at least slightly drunk this time of the morning - called her Aelwyn, which didn't help her mood, but otherwise it was a perfectly reasonable start to the day.

She just had to hope her absence had gone unnoticed at home.  It probably had.  She still needed to get her failed test signed, or get Fig to forge it and hope like hell that could get past the instructor.

Her day only continued to improve when she found a gift card in her locker for a clothing boutique for a staggering 45 gold pieces.  It was probably from Fabian - no-one else who had that kind of resources both knew and liked her, and he must have had a reason for leaving before she'd even woken up - but if he wanted to keep quiet about it she'd let him.

And it might not have been him, after all.  No good asking him if it wasn't.

Fig had a different theory, anyway.  "I think my dad gave me this sick gift, and he must have gotten the rest of you stuff too!"

"Why would your dad get all of us presents?"  Gorgug asked, reasonably.

"We all helped get him out, right?"  Fig asked.  "Oh, hey!  Adaine!  Are you feeling better today?"

"A little, yes.  Everything's healed except my hand, at least.  Thank you for helping get me somewhere safe; could you all really not wake me?"  Adaine had started to suspect they hadn't tried that hard, though if she'd stayed out through being moved all the way to Seacaster Manor then she really must have been out of it.

Kristen spoke up and said.  "Yeah, dude.  I didn't even think elves could sleep?  But you were definitely exhausted pretty badly, we could all tell even before you passed out."

Fabian added.  "Don't worry about it.  I just had to tell my dad you needed a place to stay for the night, as a member of the crew who'd been injured in battle.  It was close enough.  We should get your address for an emergency like that; I can't believe we forgot to get it before."

Adaine made a noncommital noise.  "I'll get in less trouble passed out in a hospital parking lot than if you all show up with me actually sleeping."  She admitted.  "Anyway, what did we get from Biz?  Anything we need to follow up on?


What they needed to follow up on made for another huge, huge day.  The hugest, really.  Shellford and the AV club had been a small start.

Much bigger?  Coach Daybreak had wound up every bit as bad as Adaine had suspected, and by the end of the day their party had another dead member of the Academy on their resume.  Riz's in particular, but it wasn't like any of them had tried too hard to stop him.

They at least had revived Ragh.  Adaine wasn't quite ready to leave another kid dead, not when he'd just been following after an adult, especially since it had become very, very clear that he had no clue of what he was actually doing.

They'd had to actually talk to the police at length about this one, in the form of Riz's mom.  Well, Adaine hadn't had to - she had diplomatic immunity, technically - but using it would have probably come at too high a price in that her parents would definitely have heard about it.  They'd probably hear about this one anyway, but Adaine could try.


Adaine was wrong about that much.  She walked in the door to the Abernant home, still in Gorgug's hoodie, still with her hand wrapped in a bandage from her wound from the silver fork, and her father was waiting for her.

"There you are, Adaine.  It is time we had a talk about the standards even you need to uphold, as a member of this family."  She hadn't even made it three steps into the door, yet.

Her throat went dry.  Why was talking to her shitty family so much worse than fighting a staff member of her school to the death to stop a potential apocalypse?  But she wouldn't let him cow her.  If she did, she'd definitely have a panic attack, and then...

"I helped stop all of us from maybe dying earlier today and.."

His expression turned more severe.  "Adventurers love to exaggerate the consequences of their actions.  I suppose you're at least learning something at that school.  Are you also learning how to break curfew, how not to dress, how to have no dignity at all?"

That itch in her chest was starting.  She couldn't let him do it to her, couldn't end up facing the consequences if she lost control here.

"My clothes were just damaged in the fight, that's all.  If you would just get me clothing more suitable for adventuring then I would be happy to wear it!  Instead of sending me in another school's uniform, a school that doesn't even have practical lessons!" Oh, that was her anger showing.  She couldn't push that too much, either, though at least it wouldn't end with her as a werewolf.  Maybe she could bait him into just sending her upstairs with no dinner.  Probably not; it was well after time that the other Abernants would have eaten.  She had to get out of this conversation.  Her fists clinched.  Maybe she could just deck him and run; it would get her in so much trouble, but it might at least let her hide in her bedroom.

"And now you're ungrateful for what we provide for you.  Did I not go out of my way to get you an arcane focus suitable for battle and adventure?  Do we not provide you a place where you could rest, if you ever bothered to come home at the appropriate times?  There is something wrong with you, to treat your family like this, to disgrace them by not showing the proper respect and dress.  I think I will speak with your mother to have her withdraw you from that school and see about finding somewhere in Fallinel.  There are boarding schools there that specialize in... wayward youths."

Adaine opened her mouth, then shut it.  If he did that, there'd be absolutely no chance of her hiding her condition past the first full moon. She'd be separated from her friends, of course, and then locked in some kind of secure institution at best and executed at worst for being a werewolf.  She had to talk him out of it, had to stay calm, had to stay calm, hadtostaycalm....

"No snotty response to that one, I see.  Clearly what we should have done from the beginning, once you demonstrated your lack of talent and drive.  My apologies for our mistake there, Adaine; we spoiled you by being too kind."

She snarled at him, and there it was; an undignified scream from him, as she felt the pain of a transformation start.  Her mother or sister's footsteps started approaching, and..  she definitely couldn't stay, not now.

Turning, she swiped at the door behind her a couple of times, but without thumbs was unable to turn the knob; instead, she wound up grabbing it with her teeth, fleeing back into the night, her stunned father left in her wake.

Chapter 4: Home

Summary:

Adaine loses everything and makes a very tiny home for herself. Aelwyn has both more and less information than her parents to work from.

Notes:

This is probably the worst chapter for where things get for Adaine, at least in freshman year. It's definitely, definitely not the bottom for Aelwyn - CW for drug and alcohol abuse, on that note, though it is tagged for the fic as a whole.

Feel free to leave a comment! I'm always happy to hear what's working for people and what isn't. But thank you for reading, regardless.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Adaine didn't make it far away from her house before getting tangled up in her clothing and bookbag.  Running with straps around her just didn't really work.  She squirmed, coming out of it, and gently tried to pull everything into her teeth.  

Easy enough with the bag, but not with the bag plus her clothing; she eventually managed, however.

She was going to have to figure out a better way to keep things on her.  Maybe bracelets or something that would stay on through a shift.

Her right paw was aching from where the burn from the silverware the other day was, the bandage lost somewhere between here and home.

She had avoided the road as best she could, ending up in a park that was nearby.  She curled down under a bench, hoping to turn back before too much longer, pawing at the dirt and resting her head on the bag

Not that it would necessarily make anything better.  She'd have to either hide out here, or confront her parents.  Probably better off just being a wolf; at least she was warm in the cool air.

She'd barely settled in when her mother's voice rang into her mind, a Sending spell reaching her.  

"No daughter of ours could fall to that curse.  Don't return to the Abernant estate under any circumstances.  We'll send the paperwork to your school."

She didn't reply.  She wasn't even certain if she could at the moment, and what was there to say?  It couldn't have been more than an hour since she'd left, and they'd already had time to have enough of a discussion to kick her out.

Adaine had known, couldn't help but know that her parents did not love her, but to have it proven once and for all still hurt.  She didn't sleep, didn't trance, and didn't change back into an elf for a very long time.


Not that she knew where to go once she was in her usual shape again.  She pulled back on yesterday's clothing - now, in fact, her only clothing - hitting it with a prestidigitation to clean it up, digging into her backpack and sitting on top of the bench she'd rested under.

Her crystal, her spellbook, a notepad, some of her texts, the book on curses Aelwyn had given her, her orb.  That gift card for 45 gold, which might have gone from being very nice to becoming a crucial lifeline.  None of her critical documentation other than her bus pass.

She could maybe ask for help from her friends, if she absolutely had to.  At least for the full moon, now fast approaching, if she really would lose control in addition to becoming a wolf for the night.  But she was also a wizard, and she could make plans for how to handle this, and maybe making those plans would make it seem just a little bit less bleak.

She scratched out plans onto the notepad, ideas for just how she could maybe get through the next few days.  She had to assume she was being disowned.  The ache of that hurt, but maybe it would be better to just cauterize that wound now.  The practical problems were the problems.

Adaine would have been in more trouble if she'd been a Hudol student, ironically.  The Adventuring Academy didn't charge tuition to its students.  She no longer would have diplomatic immunity, but she could probably tolerate that.  However, she was now effectively without a country; she wasn't a Solesian citizen, but she couldn't let them actually send her back to Fallinel.  Without her parents to protect her, they would definitely execute her.

Under to do, then.  Learn Tiny Hut, or find somewhere safe to rest, and some source of food.  Learn Sending, to have a way to get her friends in the case of an emergency. Get some kind of legal status, once she was disowned officially.  Find out if there were any actual school resources that could help.

It was all going to be bad, and Zayn's experience in the foster system wasn't exactly promising as an example.  Dwelling on it wasn't going to help.

She headed into school early, deciding that she'd talk the others into going with her for a shopping spree.  They'd understand why she wanted clothing that could survive moving between being worn by a wolf and an elf.

To her absolute shock, Fig and Kristen were already there before her.  Kristen was.. not looking great, either.  "...Is everything okay?"  Adaine asked, a bit of worry rising up.

"Yeah, um.  The cops raided my house, and I had a fight with my parents about it.  I'm staying with Fig at Gilear's for now."

Adaine nodded at that and tried to offer a smile of sympathy.  "I'm kind of glad someone else's parents suck, but it's good that you had somewhere to land."  Gilear did not seem like someone who could survive having a werewolf around, but it was a thought that she could ask if there was more room if she couldn't find anything else and couldn't learn Tiny Hut or some equivalent.

Not yet, though.  Best to see what the options would be.

"Miss Abernant!"  Vice Principal Goldenhoard's voice, calling over to her.  "For some reason, your parents sent you mail at the school, ultra express.  This is wildly inappropriate, and I don't really understand why they did, but please tell them not to do so again."

That was fast - it had only been about ten hours since she'd fled the family home.  Must have been delivered with the help of magic.  It was a manilla envelope, and Adaine took it from Goldenhoard, ignoring Fig flustering him by talking up their 'thing' and Kristen watching her look over the envelope.

It was probably better not to do this in front of everyone.  "Be right back."  She mumbled at Kristen, striding off to the closest restroom and hiding in a stall.

At least this was a little improvement from the last time she hid in the restroom; she was still an elf for the moment.

It was both better and worse than she'd planned for, upon opening the package and taking a look at the enclosed papers.

There was a handwritten note on top from her mother.  Scrawled on a piece of her Hudol letterhead, though.

Adaine,

My apologies for what your father and I must do, but surely you will understand someday.  This will be better for you as well as us, in the long run and the short.

Professor Arianwen Abernant

"I can't believe she signed it with her full name.  And title.  They suck so much."  Adaine sighed, flipping through the next page.  They had moved quickly, or maybe they had just been prepared against the day when they'd have a reason to remove Adaine from the family entirely.  A legal declaration that she wasn't considered a member of the family anymore, a sternly worded letter telling her not to continue using the name Abernant...

That last one was going rather far, she thought, before flipping to the next sheet.

An official declaration from her father in his role as Ambassador that, as she was a werewolf now and therefore a 'monster' rather than a 'thinking creature', her Fallinel citizenship was being revoked.  She was officially without family or country, as of just past four that morning, from the time recorded on the letter.

Last, a restraining order, threatening her with arrest if she tried to return home.

No support or anything of any kind.  No way for her to get her meager belongings that were still in the Abernant estate, though that was mostly just a very poor selection of clothing.

A spark of rage fired off in her chest.  She'd known for a long, long time that her parents hadn't loved her.  But this far?

Deciding the anger was better than wallowing and risking worrying about it, she tucked the envelope back into her bag and walked out.  She might need those documents later, as much as she wanted to light them on fire.

By the time she went to rejoin Fig and Kristen, Fabian and Gorgug were there, and Riz was probably hiding nearby as well.  But they were talking to a wolf man in a cardigan sweater holding a cup of coffee, and Adaine's anger froze in her chest.  In fairness, worry didn't replace it.  Her mouth hung open, shock undoubtedly clear on her face.

Fig was the first to notice and called over to her.  "Oh, hey Adaine!  Jawbone was looking for you.  ..We never got around to telling you about Jawbone being the new guidance councilor, did we?"

"...No."  Adaine managed to keep her voice even, shrinking down on herself within the hoodie.

Jawbone turned to her and said.  "Hell, I'm sorry Adaine, I didn't know you hadn't heard.  I thought you were just avoiding me, but there's time-sensitive information I need to give you, so whenever you have a minute."

Adaine glanced over to her friends and decided that this was at least an opportunity to not be questioned about the mail she'd gotten.  They'd forget about it by lunchtime, and then she could ask about going shopping and that would carry her through.  "Now's good, I think."  She waved to her friends, stepping away after Jawbone, who led her back over to the guidance councilor's office.

He offered her a seat, and then sat behind his desk.

"So.  I know it took, and I'm so, so sorry about it, but you're still coming up on your first full moon.  Have you made any preparations, or plans with friends or family for a safe place to stay?  Any other problems or questions you want to ask me?  This can be the last time we ever talk, if you want that, but I want to make sure you have the information you need to keep yourself and others safe."

Adaine shook her head.  "No plans yet.  ..I've, I've been having problems with staying an elf other times, though."  She admitted.  Maybe he'd be able to give her some help there.  "Any time I get too worried, I end up a wolf and I can't change back right away, even after I calm down."

Jawbone, in defiance of everything Adaine expected from a teacher or other authority figure, appeared to actually listen to her and frowned.  "You only should have to shift during the full moon, but you should be able to become a wolf or a wolf-ish bipedal form any time you want, once you're used to it.  Is there something that usually proceeds it, any kind of, you know, physical symptoms?"

Adaine hesitated.  "I just feel a sort of..  I can't breath right, and there's usually a tightness in me, and I just can't move, and then...  I'm a wolf and hiding somewhere.  Is how it normally happens, at least."  She admitted, trying not to cry.

Jawbone nodded, slowly.  "..Panic attacks are a serious condition, and it might be interfering with your normal ability to control your shapeshifting.  There are some breathing exercises I can teach you, but you really should go and get your parents to have you checked over by a professional.  They can probably get you anxiety medication.  If your parents won't take you, please, let me know, and I'll find a way for the school to do it.  If you ever think you're going to get stuck as a wolf in school, you're completely welcome in my office.  I'll find somewhere you can rest until you're ready to change back."

Adaine was not ready to admit to the man who'd turned her into a werewolf that she had no chance of being taken by her parents anywhere, at least not yet.  She just nodded, but added.  "I'll take the breathing exercises."  Anything that could help, at all.

Jawbone sipped at his coffee, watching her, and she could almost feel like he was seeing right through her.

"If you don't end up finding somewhere secure, my niece Tracker and I have places we can go during the full moon.  It's the time you're most likely to be dangerous, but it's also when you're most likely to get hurt by someone with magic or a silver sword even if you're not attacking them.  It's an open offer, anytime you need, okay?  And look, I think I'm going to be able to help kids here, and I won't lie, it's a big break for me to have steady work.  But if you don't want me here, if you need me not to be here, I'll walk right out and not look back."

She nodded and shut her eyes, deciding to take a leap of faith.  This man had hurt her, had maybe even ruined her future and her life, but at least he was making the effort to help her.  "...Don't do that.  It wouldn't fix anything, anyway, and I wouldn't want you to give up something good.  But I'll be there for the full moon, just tell me where to go.  I don't think there's anywhere safer that I'm going to find for it."

Jawbone smiled, and Adaine couldn't help but feel like she'd made a good choice.


Later that night, in an isolated wooded patch of a park, after a shopping spree and some time looking into the Evocation section of the school library, Adaine dug into her new, magical-and-thus-resizing, incredibly awesome Denim Jacket of Useful Things and came up with a few thin blankets.  It should be able to produce a sleeping bag or at least pillows, she was pretty certain, but she'd have to figure out a way to fit any of that through the pocket.

She pulled out her spellbook, turning to the page she'd added that afternoon and starting the ritual.  Ten minutes later, a dark blue dome snapped into being around her, leaving her able to see out but others not able to see in.  The cold air of the late fall night immediately turned to a more relaxing warmth.

She did love being a wizard.  The jacket was going to relieve her of needing to conjure food and water, too.

As she tugged the blanket over herself and leaned against the tree of her Tiny Hut, she felt true calm for the first time since.. at least since the Black Pit.  She had a plan for the full moon, she had a source of food and somewhere safe to sleep.  There were showers at the school she could use, or she could probably use invisibility to sneak into a gym if no other choice was available.  Sure, her friends would help her if she had to ask them, but...  There was no need to burden any of them further unless things got worse.

Adaine, homeless divination wizard of no country and no family name, fell into a deep and restful trance.


Aelwyn Abernant prided herself on her ability to measure what her parents were thinking and tell them just what they wanted to hear.

This made it even worse that something had clearly happened, and she couldn't track what it was.  They'd both been in a fouler mood than normal, and that would make it much too difficult to get out of the house without letting them sour on her in some way.  At the least, she could probably deflect their attention and maybe get out to a party tonight if she knew where the dangerous ground was.

God, she needed something to numb her brain for a day or two.

She swallowed another bite of the ghastly pea dish her mother's unseen servants had made, carefully schooling her face to a pleased but restrained smile, as though she were really enjoying the food in the proper way.

This was something like the sixth dinner in a row Adaine had missed, and she hadn't been to breakfast in a while, either.  It wasn't uncommon for Adaine to miss meals, usually because of being punished, but Aelwyn hadn't even heard her come in late in a while.  It was probably a safe topic to deflect to, and if they were steaming about Adaine they wouldn't mind if she went out to 'study' for a while.

"It really is a shame Adaine's stopped even pretending to obey her curfew, isn't it?"  Aelwyn said, just the kind of bait that she knew her parents would jump on.

Her father's fork drove into his plate hard enough to crack it, and Aelwyn knew she'd misstepped, sitting up primly and letting her eyes go wide to show her surprise slightly.  It was even really how she felt, for once.

It was her mother who spoke, however.

"Ah, yes, Aelwyn.  We were meaning to speak to you about that.  Adaine attacked your father and ran away the other day, after he informed her that we were considering changing her school."  What?  It's not like Aelwyn couldn't believe Adaine had the bloodthirst to do that, but she hadn't known they were thinking of pulling her out of the Adventuring Academy.  Had they figured out that she was the Oracle and decided to send her to Fallinel?

"Therefore," her father took over, a great anger clear in his voice.  "We have disowned her.  Adaine is no longer a part of this family.  We should have seen it years ago, with the way she acted towards you, and I am sorry about that.  She should no longer be any concern of yours, however."

Aelwyn opened her mouth, then shut it, looking over at her mother.  "I.. I see.  Are you uninjured, at least, father?"

"Yes, of course.  I'm afraid I've lost a bit of my appetite, however."  He stood, glowering down at Aelwyn with an expression mostly reserved for Adaine in the past.  "I trust you won't ever disappoint me anywhere nearly as bad as that, Aelwyn."

Arianwen followed off after Angwyn, and Aelwyn was left alone after all, simply calling after her mother.  "I'm going to be studying at Penelope's house for a bit."

She made it out the door before she started laughing to herself.  However it had really happened, her father definitely would not have disowned Adaine so freely if he knew she was the Oracle.

Aelwyn should be spending tonight working on getting closer to one of her leads for a possible Maiden worth targeting - that Wallace girl in particular seemed a good target.  The Shadowcat was watching far too frequently, and Aelwyn most decidedly did not want Kalina to decide that she was slacking off in her work.

Aelwyn wound up at a totally different party that night, doing lines of dragon spice off Corey Durden's living room table, but as that settled in and she dropped down to mere booze a smile came to her face, a rare natural one.

Adaine had already done what Aelwyn needed her to do for this little plot, and she'd never been able to learn the same songs and dances that Aelwyn had to keep their parents happy.  Wherever she was, whichever of her little friends she was staying with, Adaine was undoubtedly happier for it, and Aelwyn was on just enough drugs to admit that that was for the best.  Hopefully, she'd either have enough sense to get out of Elmville, or she'd be able to beat the dragon once he was free.  "Fly free, little sister."  She mumbled to herself, making a toast to the open air.  

Notes:

Of course I couldn't resist giving Adaine her most iconic item, especially given how much more useful it is for her here given her current living situation and the simple fact that magical items autosize to the wearer in 5E, something that I think is very in line with the theme of the jacket.

Adaine's desire not to be a burden and not to ask for help is definitely not total self-projection, no way.

Chapter 5: Sleepover

Summary:

Adaine adjusts to her new life, and then sees glimpses of one she could have. Why is the man who turned her into a werewolf the only adult to ever try to actually help her?

Notes:

A lot of Jawbone and Tracker hangout time here. Tracker and Adaine get remarkably little screentime together in the main seasons, given that they're adoptive cousins. Here, they have something in common, but quite a lot that they don't still.

Adaine is absolutely being irrational in this chapter about not asking for help and hiding her full situation from her team, but hopefully it's a believable kind of irrational! It will absolutely come to a head soon, so don't worry that she's going to be living as a homeless wizard the entire fic or anything.

Feel free to comment with any questions on mechanics or anything; I do have werewolf mechanics I'm loosely using here for Adaine, some of which specifically interact with trancing. Some of her problems are related to her other title, though.

Chapter Text

Adaine had built up a pretty good routine over the last week and change, if she did say so herself.  She'd relocated her camp several times, settling into the Far Haven Woods closest to the Adventuring Academy for the sake of her legs eventually.  Not that she left anything behind when she wasn't at home, and with trancing working again for now, only needing four hours wasn't too awful regardless.

Mostly working again.  She'd woken up four hours later than expected one morning, a wolf whining and curling under her blanket, not even able to remember what nightmare had trapped her in that form to begin with.

It had added to her theories on just why trancing hadn't been reliable for her, mostly revolving around her involuntary shifting.  Jawbone had given her those breathing exercises, though the thought of discussing her current living situation either with him or with any of her friends still made her feel short of breath.  As it kept getting colder, maybe that would change, but..  Tiny Hut kept the air nice and warm-ish, so as long as there wasn't snow it would be fine.

She wasn't sure just how she would have made this work if not for the Jacket of Useful Things.  She hadn't tested its resizing functionality yet, but it was providing her both with food and with all of her other clothing, which meant she was stuck with cheaper but at least passable clothes.  Between that and Tiny Hut, though, it was almost comfortable.

It also covered up the scarring on her arm from her bite.  A nice fringe benefit.

The cheap clothing she'd pulled out of the jacket had been burnt nightly with a campfire, not really having anywhere to store them.  She'd tried using that to cook once, too, pulling a sausage from the jacket, and had quickly decided to stick with food options from the jacket that did not require skills she absolutely didn't have.

She'd been getting to the Academy early enough to shower before heading to class, and given that the Bloodrush season was cancelled on account of the coach being evil and also murdered by Riz, there hadn't been much of a problem with it.  Prestidigitation had gotten her through the prior weekend, but she might need to find something better for this one. Getting to the Academy early had also let her sneak slightly less restricted books out of the library, Tiny Hut and Sending now proudly in her spellbook at the low low cost of maybe having done some minor crimes.

Really, it was just a matter of not letting her friends get suspicious of her if she wanted to keep it secret in general.  Which had probably been a bad idea to begin with, but now she'd have to admit that she'd been sleeping in the woods for almost two weeks rather than ask for help from the start.  Maybe she could justify it as practice for quests in the future; adventurers did often have to rough it, and if she got good at using spells to make that rough as comfortable as possible, all the better.

She couldn't hide it forever, though she'd delay the moment as long as possible.  Something to think about, after the full moon.

Adaine pulled a slightly stale cinnamon roll and a lukewarm hot chocolate out of her Jacket as she walked towards the school for Friday classes.  She wasn't certain if it was nerves or an actual effect of being a werewolf, but the full moon's approach had her antsy in a different way than normal, wanting to leap out of her skin, bouncing from foot to foot as she walked.  She needed to talk to Jawbone to arrange meeting up, and she'd promised she'd check in with everyone else on Sunday if she could.

For once, she wasn't the first Bad Kid to arrive at school.  Kristen, Fig, and Riz were all there before her, which would make it a little awkward; she hadn't had her shower yet.  She lifted her hot chocolate in greetings, however, making her way to join them.  "You three are here early."  She said, as cheerfully as she could manage.

"Some of Gilear's expired yogurt exploded in the fridge and the smell drove me and Kristen out, so we walked over with Riz."  Fig explained, getting Adaine to wrinkle her nose.

"Really?  I can come by after school if you need and try to help out."  She offered.  "Well, at least if Jawbone doesn't want me to go with him early.  I'm not certain where he's planning for us to be for the, um, for tomorrow night, just that his niece is going to be there too."

Kristen started paying attention at that, her eyes wide, her voice eager, leaning forward towards Adaine.  "Tracker's going to be there?"

She blinked at her friend's enthusiasm, leaning slightly back.  "Yes.  Do you know her?"

Riz was shaking his head behind Kristen's back warningly, but it was clearly too late.

"I.. haven't met her myself yet, but Jawbone told me about her?"  Adaine added, truthfully.

"Right!  Um.  I was going to hang out with her sometime, do you think I could come with you?"

Adaine looked helplessly at Fig and Riz, who did not seem inclined to help her with this.  She didn't really want to discuss just why she was going with the guidance counciller, but...

She glanced around, not seeing anyone listening, and tried to let her friend down gently.  "I don't know that it's going to be safe, um, tomorrow night.  For you, I mean.  You remember why I'm going there, right?"

Kristen's face fell, enough that Adaine sighed and distracted herself by tossing her empty hot chocolate mug into the trash for an excuse to look away.  "Look, I'm sure I'll be around her after that, I'll try to talk you up, okay?  It's probably going to be a bad time for me, at least, if not both of them too."

That seemed to cheer her up, maybe a little too much, and Adaine froze as she felt herself caught up in a hug from her cleric friend.

"Thank you!  Huh, you kind of smell like pine trees.  And smoke.  Is that a new perfume?"  Kristen broke off the hug, looking her up and down, and Adaine tried to think of a good reason she could give without really lying and without really telling the truth.

"Must have picked up something on my jacket during the walk here."  She decided on.  True enough, though the smoke had probably been from the bonfire the night before, rather than on her walk.

Unfortunately, that had drawn Riz's attention.  "Don't you take the bus?  Have the buses even arrived yet?"

Well, fuck.  Adaine glanced past her friends, lifting a hand up.  "Jawbone!"  She called, upon seeing the wolf-man heading towards his office from the entryway.

"Oh, hey kids, you're all here bright and early, huh?"  He said, pausing near them.

"Yeah! I just had a few things I wanted to ask you about this weekend and they needed to get away from yogurt."  Riz was still looking at her, Adaine saw out of the corner of her eye, but if she could get away until lunch maybe he'd drop it.

She really did need to talk to Jawbone, anyway, following him into the office and pulling another mug of cocoa from her jacket, taking a sip at it to match the energy of his coffee.  "...Is there anything I need to bring?  And where should I go?"

"Well, my apartment is set up to handle it.  Tracker and I can usually keep control during the full moon, too, and we can keep you in line if you need.  You can share Tracker's room, or there's the room where people used to shoot up when I sold them drugs before I got this job?"

Adaine had learned to not be completely taken aback and that wasn't nearly as detailed as Jawbone often went into.  Best to ignore it and move forward.  "I don't want to impose, whichever is easier.  Is it just Saturday night that I need to worry about?"

Jawbone sipped at his coffee, loudly, then looked at her.  "If your parents don't mind, you're welcome to come over tonight as well.  I know you're having some problems with transforming even normal days, and you'll definitely be more out of control the days right before and after the full moon.  You'll probably be pretty dead to the world on Sunday, too, though I don't know.  Maybe elves get off light on that!  Anyway, let me get you the address."

Adaine took the card he offered, glanced down at it, and couldn't help but laugh.  "..You're in the same building as Gilear.  Of course.  I'll be there after school, then."


Riz had not let it go by lunch, and she'd admitted that she was going to be staying in Strongtower that weekend to distract both him and Kristen.  "Guess it's four of us in there, then!" Fig said, brightly.

"Well, apparently I might be pretty out of it on Sunday, but I'll come say hello at least.  Or you all could visit me, probably; Jawbone doesn't seem like he'd mind.  We'll see how I feel."  Adaine said, her ears drooping back a little bit.  "I don't want to just give his address without asking first, though.  I'll send you all a message?  You two, too."  She added to Fabian and Gorgug, not wanting to leave them out.

"Oh, sure!  That'd be great!"  Kristen said, a smile on her face and a distant expression in her eyes.

Best for Adaine not to investigate that too far.  She prodded at her lunch and sighed, thinking what the perfect thing to say to change the topic was, a flash coming to her.  "It's funny, because Gilear is better at making lunches than I ever would have guessed he would be, but he's also still terrible at it."

Fig made a noise of protest, and that conversation carried them through the rest of lunch.


Adaine took the bus with Fig, Riz, and Kristen since they were all heading to the same place.  Evidently Gilear was not the most reliable to wait for a ride from, and his car wouldn't have fit all of them anyways.  She could have maybe ridden with Jawbone, but she wasn't actually sure if he drove or not and she hadn't thought to ask that morning.

"Your parents really won't mind you staying out all weekend?  I thought they were pretty strict."  Riz asked, and Adaine shrugged in return.

"They probably won't even notice."  That much was true.  How easy of a time had they had abandoning her?  Far too much for her comfort, for certain.  "Anyway, I'll check in with all of you through the weekend, and Sunday for sure, okay?"

"Which apartment is it, just in case we need to find you?"  Kristen asked.

"6-F.  I'll come visit you depending on how I feel, though."  Adaine replied, after double-checking the card Jawbone had given her.  Riz's ears tensed up, before he said.  "Makes sense.  There's a lot of sketchy people who tend to hang around that floor."

Adaine waved at her friends as she stepped off the elevator, which smelled somehow of rotting cheese, tugging her bag along with her.  Apartment 6-F's door had paint peeling off it and dents in it, much more worn than 6-D across the hall or 6-E down it, at a glance.  She hesitantly knocked on the door.  She could always go wait with Riz or Kristen and Fig if he wasn't there yet, after all.

But it wasn't Jawbone who answered the door.  A girl maybe a few years older than herself, who Adaine assumed was Tracker, answered the door instead.

"Oh, hello.  Adaine, right?  Jawbone wasn't sure if you were coming before tomorrow or not.  Come in, come in!"  Tracker led the way into the apartment, gesturing around.  "You can put your bag down wherever.  Tomorrow's obvious, if it's your first full moon, but if you can sleep tonight then we can make room for you.  I can't always, the night before the full moon."

Adaine hummed, setting down her bag.  "I'd say I don't sleep, but that hasn't been entirely true since I.. since the Black Pit.  But I haven't been able to figure out why I'm sleeping sometimes and still trancing others."  She admitted.

Tracker nodded, sitting on the couch, Adaine perching on the edge of a chair that was losing padding from several gaping wounds.  "Have you been able to transform at all, or have you tried?  It's a lot easier this close to the full moon, so I thought I might help you practice, if you want."

Jawbone really had been keeping their talks private, then.  It was nice, but also would have been nice to not have to explain.  Still, the whole reason she'd come here was to learn about being a werewolf, and how to keep safe.  "Not.. willingly.  I keep turning into a wolf if I get, um, nervous.  Or if situations get tense.  Usually I'm stuck that way for a while."  Tracker's unibrow was raising, which in turn was making Adaine nervous.  She looked away, trailing off and counting her breaths in one of the simpler exercises she had been given.

"I've heard of that kind of thing happening with anger before, but usually it's the sort of form Jawbone always takes.  The wolf form is a lot more useful on an average day, but..  Do you want to try to learn how to do it voluntarily?  It might help you with staying out of that form when you don't want to be, too.  Or at least with changing back.  And if you're stuck for a while, this is the safest place you could be stuck."  Tracker suggested.  "..Well, other than people coming by to get drugs at three in the morning.  But even they won't be bothered by a wolf here, and they usually don't come around the full moon."

Adaine thought about it for a moment, before replying.  "If you can help me learn, I would love that.  It's been.. really bad, so far, the times I've been stuck."   She couldn't admit to just how bad, not without it getting back to Jawbone, but she leaned on the second worst time for an example.  "I had to hide in a bathroom stall for half a day as a wolf after I failed a test."  A test she still hadn't taken back signed; she should have just had Fig forge a signature, because she was past the deadline now.

Tracker nodded, frowning and seeming to consider it.  "...You're afraid of being the wolf, aren't you?  I think that might be part of the problem.  It might help you to spend more time in it when you're not in a situation where it's dangerous to you.  You're fighting against the transformation every time it happens, aren't you?"

Adaine spoke slowly, thinking about it. "I am.  But I'm guessing I shouldn't, for this?"

Tracker stood up, a hand reaching out and resting on Adaine's shoulder.  "Right.  I know it's not what you wanted; it wasn't what I wanted, when I got bitten.  But it's healthy for you to accept that you're not just a human anymore.  Or, well, an elf in your case.  Even when you're not a wolf, there's a part of you that will be, and if you fight against it too much you're just going to hurt yourself.  I think that might be why you're getting stuck?  But to change when you want, you just find that part, and nudge it up to the front.  If you're feeling more aggressive, you'll probably end up with the half-transformation; that's what you'll get tomorrow, almost certainly.  With practice, you can control it a lot more, it's mostly a feeling.  It's way, way easier the days just before or after a full moon, but it is harder to change back to hu.. to normal, so it isn't all benefit."

Adaine bit at her lip, still nervous, but Tracker was demonstrating now, dropping down into a wolf form that was larger than Adaine's own, peering up at her for a few moments within that sleeveless shirt before gently reaching out with her teeth and tugging at her jacket's sleeve.

Something in the back of her mind made the meaning of that clear - Tracker wanted her to try.

Adaine took a deep breath, and tried to draw that part of her that she most associated with the wolf form up to the front, her nerves and her worries, her desire to hide from the world.

She felt the change snag, without the panic that usually came, and did not try to fight it.  It still hurt, but it wasn't the agony transformations had been to this point, and she found herself much more in control as she landed on her paws, the denim jacket resizing to fit onto her body.

Tracker melted back up into her normal form, looking down at Adaine.  "If you want to try to change back, it's very similar.  You just need to bring the parts of you that are an elf to the front of your mind, focus on them, and it should follow.  But like I said, don't panic if that doesn't work right away; it's harder in that direction, this time of the month.  Don't try to force it if it doesn't work, either, you'll just hurt yourself."

Adaine tried to do what Tracker said, tried to envision herself the way she'd always been.  She mostly just succeeded at having a slightly wolfish headache.

The door flew open, and Adaine almost jumped out of her skin, a growl escaping her throat before she realized just who it was that had come in.  "Oh, hey Jawbone!"  Tracker called over.

"Hey there Tracker!  Oh, and that's Adaine, right?  Were you, um, showing her how, or did she get stuck?"

Adaine decided to take some of Tracker's advice and not try to force it, instead trying to send good vibes Jawbone's way.  He might just be helping her because of the guilt from having bitten her under the influence of that magic, but he was still the only adult she could remember ever trying to help her at all.

"A little of both, really.  She didn't have too much trouble with changing, but she can't get back yet."  Tracker's hand reached out to rest gently on Adaine's head, in a way that Adaine was surprised to find reassuring.  "Just relax, maybe take a nap, and you'll probably shift back when you're not thinking about it.  You just need more practice, that's all."

Jawbone slapped the back of the chair she'd been sitting in, and had been considering getting back into.  "Well, Adaine!  That's fine.  I was going to order delivery anyway if you came over tonight, I'll just get something you can eat as a wolf or an elf.  Go ahead and hop up if you want, we don't have a no wolves on the furniture rule."

It was a good night, good in a way that she couldn't remember having before, comfortable and friendly, Tracker and Jawbone both clearly cozy around each other in a way Adaine couldn't even imagine her own family being, and both of them treating her with nothing but kindness, talking to her, even seeming to understand her just from body language to some degree.  The dinner was a chicken dish, and Adaine ate rather more of it than she normally would, but noone seemed to mind.

She dozed off not too long after dinner was done, curled up in the chair, dreaming deeply.  Flashes, again, but mostly good ones for once.  If impossible, in some cases.

Walking into Tracker's bedroom only to find Tracker and Kristen together with one t-shirt as total clothing between them, to her mortification.  Aelwyn, covered in scars that made lines over her arms and legs, but resting peacefully in the same bed as her.  A girl with hair and eyes of flame, making a promise that she could not hear but warmed her heart regardless.  Her childhood home, ablaze and crumbling with no-one inside.

That last one probably shouldn't have counted as a good dream, but it was.

She had just started to dream of water and drowning when a loud noise woke her up, only to find she'd turned back to normal at some point in her sleep after all, in rather an awkward position that had been comfortable when her body had been a wolf.  Another knock at the door, and she was the closest one.  She made her way tiredly to her feet, stumbling that direction only for Jawbone to come out of his room.  "Don't worry, Adaine, it's probably just one of my old customers!  I'll take care of it; you can go back to sleep.  Hey, congrats on being an elf again, too!"

Sleeping instead of trancing when she was a wolf entirely at least made sense, but she made a mental note to add it to the list she'd been keeping.  She moved from the door to the bathroom, pulling a set of pajamas out of her jacket so she could change into something more appropriate for resting in.

A few more hours of trancing - trancing, not sleeping - was overkill but she took them anyway, just to get her mind off of Jawbone making offers to help his customer get into recovery.


Adaine was a little nervous the next day, but not as much as she'd expected.  Spending time as a wolf had helped; Tracker had been right.

She spent part of the day visiting her friends, after all.  A study session with Riz, and just hanging around Kristen and Fig.

Adaine tried very hard not to let anything show about having dreamed about walking in on Kristen with Tracker the night before, but luckily, she was pretty certain her awkwardness had been written off by the other girls as full moon nerves.

Adaine reminded Kristen that she could probably come by the next day, anyways.  She was trying to be a good friend, as awkward as anything to do with romance made her feel.

By the time she headed back to Jawbone's apartment, it was about an hour to moonrise.

"Oh, there you are, Adaine!  I was about to call you.  Normally, we don't fully lock up, but since it's your first moon we will just for safety until we get a sense for how you handle it."  Jawbone said.  "Tracker's probably setting up in her room." He added, as he started flipping on quite a large number of locks and bars.

She nodded, heading back to Tracker's room.  She hadn't been in there the prior night, but it was familiar anyway.  A wispy image of it from a dream came back to mind, and so she knocked on the doorframe before even looking.

It was kind of silly.  Kristen was definitely not here.

"Adaine, come in!"  Tracker called, and as Adaine peeked through the door, she blinked.

Tracker was chaining her own feet together, wearing socks and gloves to keep the restraints from touching her skin directly.  "..Are those silver?"  Adaine asked, cringing back.  Her hand had eventually mostly healed, but it still had a scar mark.

"Yeah.  They can't be broken by a lycanthrope."  Tracker said, enthusiastically.  "And I really tend to enjoy being chained up during the full moon."

Adaine's brain skipped a beat.  "..So, wait, are they not for safety?"

"Nah, I learned how to mostly control myself years ago, as long as somebody's not bleeding near me or something.  It's mostly safe once you learn to keep your mind, if your true nature doesn't include hurting people.  You should be fine without anything like this, it's all but impossible to undo the locks on the front door if you're not in your right mind and in a hybrid wolf form.  Hey, can you help me with my hands?  I can get it, but it's kind of hard to do without help and asking Jawbone's always so awkward.  He'll do it, but I'd rather not ask.  Wear gloves first, silver really stings."

Adaine, after putting on a pair of gloves she pulled from her jacket, helped Tracker restrain her hands and then put the keys somewhere she could reach before wondering back into the living room.

She could believe Tracker and Kristen would be good together.  They both managed to make her feel a kind of secondhand embarrassment that made up for all the shame they appeared to not feel themselves.

"About half an hour now, Adaine.  I figure I'll sit with you.  The moon affects me less than most others, since I stay this way all the time, but I'm not immune either."

She nodded, her mouth dry, anxiety rising up in her belly.  She'd managed to not think too much about it through the day, the distractions had helped, even preparing.  But now the moment was at hand.

Jawbone seemed to sense that she wasn't going to speak, though, and he filled the dead air.  "...This should be much safer for you than my first time.  I wouldn't be surprised if you just wound up sleeping there, from what I know of you, but if you don't it'll be okay.  If you need me to help you with telling your family or anyone or asking for an accommodation at school when the full moon doesn't line up with the weekend, just let me know, too."

She nodded, rubbing at her eyes and then listening to his story about his first time, which had seemed to involve a lot of hallucinogens and a group of campers.  She couldn't follow the story, not quite, but the sound of his voice was at least a little soothing.  She could tell he was keeping her updated on the time, too.  Ten minutes.  Five.  One.

Then, there was agony, worse than any other shift she had felt so far, and she remembered nothing until the next morning.

Chapter 6: Discarded

Summary:

"Many questions I can answer, and yet, one remains, as early as any in my life. I do not know why I was so easy to discard." - Fearful Symmetry

Jawbone helps a houseguest. Adaine's attempts to hide her situation come to a head.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Jawbone had never quite gotten over the feeling of the full moon.  He spent almost all of his time in a hybrid wolf form, had for years and years now through all kinds of terrible but necessary life choices.  He should be completely unbothered by that feeling in the pit of his stomach that his human form was inaccessible, but it still made him twitch ever so slightly.

Ever so slight twitching was not the experience for Adaine, of course.  The mental effects of the full moon were worst for newer werewolves and for those who tried to fight it, or those few who really enjoyed harming others.  But secretly, Jawbone had started to believe it was worst of all for people who were repressed, who didn't fully express themselves from day to day.  Staying in wolf form had made the full moons as smooth as they could be, for him.

Jawbone doubted Adaine really enjoyed harming others, even though he was aware she'd killed at least once before.  But she was having her first full moon, everyone's instincts were to fight it initially, and as for repressing herself...

"Hey, there, stay calm, okay?"  He said to the wolf-girl in front of him.  Much smaller than his frame still, her denim jacket resized to fit her, the loose clothing she'd been wearing before otherwise now tight around her.  She was growling in warning, standing above the chair she'd been sitting in.

Tracker howled from her bedroom, letting him know she was finished shifting and feeling okay.  Good, good.  Tracker was usually fine, but she could have bad moons sometimes.  It was excellent that he would be able to focus on nursing Adaine through.

He caught Adaine's eyes with his, and was taken aback, though he tried not to show it.  Most werewolves he knew had golden eyes in wolf form; he and Tracker both did.  Adaine's were pure, bright silver.  Worse, they didn't seem to have any recognition in them.  She might have fully dissociated, even without using drugs for the shift.

He had just enough time to think that before she turned away from him with a snarl, slashing with her claws at the chair that she'd slept in the night before, sending padding and fake leather flying.

"Oh!  Well, if that makes you feel better, go right ahead.  I need to replace a lot of this furniture now that I have a real job, anyway."  He offered, hoping just the sound of a voice would help her.  She'd been silent for a long time before the full moon, probably working it up in her head, in spite of his best attempts to keep her calm and distracted, but she'd clearly been listening to him then.

Adaine flung herself over the chair, knocking a shelf over on her way for the door, slamming into it claws-first, a horrid noise rising from the metal of the door.  Thankfully, she clearly didn't have the state of mind now to try to work the locks and bars, the entire reason he did that sort of security.

Enough presence of mind to think about how to undo locks and bars came with enough presence of mind to not want to, for fear that you'd do.. exactly what he'd done to poor Adaine, actually.

"Why don't you join me over here?  Tearing some stuff up is fine, just to burn the energy, but even if you make it through that door you're only going to regret it."  And he was pretty certain she wouldn't, even though she'd done far more damage to it than he would have thought her capable of.  Some real determination, there, even in her feral state.

Adaine did eventually leave the door, seeming to have worn herself out a bit - was that an actual hole through it, with light shining through from outside? - padding over and picking up the a piece of the padding she'd ripped from the chair, shaking her head and sending wisps of the cheap stuffing flying in the air.  At least her initial anger and energy had seemed to fade out, now replaced with whining, and still looking back at the door.  She was out of her head, not thinking clearly, but...

Body language and what that kind of whining meant could sometimes be hard to interpret, but what Adaine was saying now wasn't, not at all.

Abandoned was clear in every movement, and every sound.

Jawbone shut his eyes for just a moment.  He didn't know the full story there, shouldn't guess at it, and would have plenty of time to talk to Adaine about it tomorrow.  But... best case, she was hurt by needing to be here, homesick.  Worried about telling her parents why, maybe, but if she hadn't done that yet her being left to spend the weekend here was a bad sign.  Worst cases went from a little worse than that to much, much worse.

He wished he believed it was one of the less bad possibilities.  That she still avoided questions about an anxiety diagnosis, that she didn't have medication for what was obvious, that she was so blasé about getting permission from her parents for a weekend away, that even the mention of her family seemed to leave her almost unable to talk...

No, it wasn't likely to be one of the less bad possibilities at all.

For now, though, he thought he knew what to do to help her.  She might not even remember this in the morning, probably wouldn't, but if she turned her claws on herself or hurt herself trying to break out he hadn't kept his promise to her to keep her safe through this.

He stretched out, laying down next to her, hoping she'd follow his example and accept his company, not watching her and trying not to pressure her.  He felt her moving around, still whining, and then the pressure of her head resting against his side.

Adaine and her friends had repaid his losing control and biting her by helping turn his life around, but it wasn't just that.  The way she'd acted around him, the obvious fear beyond just being the weekend..  she was a sweet girl, one who deserved for the people in charge of her to care about her.  He would find out if she had that.


Adaine woke up in a fetal position, with a taste of cotton in her mouth and a thick blanket wrapped around her, including her head.  She had been...  listening to the stories Jawbone had been telling her, and then...  And then what?

Her entire body felt like she'd been beaten by Gorgug and Ragh with hammers, and her head was throbbing, too.  She tried to sit up, pushing the blanket off of her head, disentangling herself from her jacket.  She squinted into the bright light of the sun coming in through the window, hearing the clink of a mug in front of her on the table, and she realized she had either made it onto the couch or Jawbone had moved her there.

"Good morning, Adaine.  How are you feeling?"  Jawbone's voice was lower than normal; Adaine couldn't help but think that was probably for her sake.

"Terrible."  She admitted, conjuring a mage hand to take the mug and bring it to her nose to smell deeply without taking her arms out of the warmth of the blanket; a hot cocoa.

He chuckled.  "Not really a surprise.  You had a rough first moon."

She glanced around the apartment, which was.. mildly in disarray.  The chair she'd slept in Friday night was missing its back, a bookshelf was in two pieces, and the door looked rather in worse shape than it had been.

Tracker walked into the room, her hair even more disheveled than normal but otherwise not looking any the worse for wear.  "Good morning Adaine, Jawbone!  How did it go..  Oh wow, did you put a hole through the door?"  She sounded more impressed than upset, but Adaine felt mortified anyway, blood rushing to her face and neck.

"I can probably fix some of this with Mending, just give me a moment." Adaine offered, feeling a furry hand reaching down and patting her on the shoulder.

"No worries if you can't, and it'll hold for a few more minutes.  I'll have some oatmeal ready for us in a minute, too."  Jawbone said, and she wanted to protest but she also really didn't want to move any more than she had to, zoning out for a few minutes and just occasionally sipping at the cocoa with the help of her Mage Hand.

The food wasn't great, but it was warm and filling, and she felt a little better by the time it was done, Tracker sitting next to her on the couch, Jawbone standing and eating.

"You're welcome to stay as long as you need, Adaine.  Were your parents going to pick you up at a certain time or anything?"  Jawbone asked, and Adaine took another mouthful of oatmeal to buy time, running it across her tongue.

"Not really, no.  I think Kristen, Riz, and Fig might stop by, if that's okay?  They wanted to see me today, but I'm not sure if I'll feel up to going up there."  She had to admit.  She could have gotten up if she really needed to, if the building was on fire or something, but otherwise she wasn't getting off the couch anytime soon.

"Well, of course!  You're welcome to stay tonight if you need, too, I can give you a ride to school tomorrow."  He seemed not too worried about her family getting worried, which was a relief; it made it easier to lie by omission if she didn't have to keep talking about it.

She had a great day, the laziest she'd ever been allowed to be while ill.  Riz and Fig and Kristen did come, Kristen and Tracker being awkward together... well, mostly just Kristen being awkward at Tracker... being at least a little entertaining even if she didn't totally understand the appeal.

Mostly for Tracker, really.  Kristen was kind of a mess, even if she was a great friend.

By the time they left, it was late, and she still felt like shit but at least a little better, and she even managed to repair everything she'd damaged except for the door with Mending.  Easy enough to make a passing remark that it was too late to go, and she'd take the offer and stay.

"You're welcome anytime.  Really, Adaine, there's enough room for you anytime you need a place to stay, even if it's not the full moon.  Anything you need, just call me."

Adaine thanked him, and smiled, and resolved to herself not to push that past the point where he would regret it or she would be a burden on him.


She had to break that promise to herself less than a week later.  The weekend, despite how awful she'd felt and the wear that lycanthropy was going to put and had already put on her body, had been a good one.  The week, not so much.  She'd had another bout of anxiety before her enchantment class, and ended up missing it entirely again, hiding in the bathroom once more.  Riz definitely seemed worried about her, too, judging by some of the not-so-subtle questions he'd been asking her.  At least some of the attention they'd gotten for killing Daybreak was starting to fade.

And now she was being pulled out of her Thursday morning trance because someone was knocking on the outside of the dome of force created by Tiny Hut in the middle of the night.  The remnants of the campfire she'd set the night before were still smoldering a little.  Adaine stood up, brushing some dirt and leaves off of herself, and looked through the dome - it was transparent from the inside, and opaque from the outside, which had been well below the warmth and the protection from animals and such on the list of things she'd liked about the spell before now but was really rising at this moment.

Fig's mother was standing on the other side, in the uniform of a Ranger and wearing an exasperated expression.  "Whoever you are, this will be a lot easier if you just dismiss this spell and we can talk.  I'm willing to wait it out."

Well, fuck.  She couldn't hurt Fig's mom - even if she COULD hurt Fig's mom, which was kind of doubtful - but getting away from a Ranger in the woods was going to be hard at best.  She had another few hours left on the Hut, but they might bring more people in, or at the least it would be more difficult after dawn to get away unseen.  At least she hadn't used much energy the day before.

She gathered up her pack, cast Invisibility on herself, and as sneakily as she could exited the Hut at the opposite side from where Fig's mother was knocking, the Hut dissipating the instant that she crossed it.  

Two steps later, she felt herself being yanked by her feet into the sky, immediately aware she'd just stepped into a pre-prepared Snare spell that Fig's mother must have placed specifically to catch someone trying to run out the other side.  Her head smacked into the ground on the way up, her invisibility spell disrupted as Sandra Lynn made her way over with a loud sigh.

"You really should have just talked instead of trying to run, that's extra charges, you know?..  Oh, you're a kid."  She sounded somehow surprised by that, and Adaine tried to get herself out of the snare, to absolutely no success.

Sandra Lynn kneeled down, getting their faces level, and squinted.  "...Wait, you're one of Fig's party members, right?  Adaine?  Why are you out here?  I figured it was some criminal hiding out, setting illegal and dangerous fires and camping in a dangerous forest and all."

"Illegal?  I'm sorry, I didn't know, can you just let me go please?"  She could stop using fires, even if it would mean a lot less comfort.  And find another place to camp, though it hadn't really seemed that dangerous to her.

"Promise you won't try to run?"  Adaine nodded; she couldn't possibly get away, anyways.  And she was starting to get a little faint from the blood getting to her head.

The snare dispelled, dropping her down to the ground below, Adaine twisting to land on all fours even in elf form, looking up at Sandra Lynn and feeling almost feral and decidedly desperate.

"Now, please.  Why is a.. fourteen, fifteen?  year old girl sleeping in the woods for weeks at a time.  Don't try to pretend you haven't been, I've been tracking these fire remnants."

Adaine felt herself burst into tears, rubbing at her eyes.  This was maybe her worst case for being found out, and she couldn't even bring herself to speak, reaching into her bag and coming out with the envelope containing the papers from her family, offering them over and then looking away.  "I was.. discarded." She managed, finally.

Sandra Lynn cursed, taking the papers and briefly glancing at them.  "..I can't just let you stay out here.  I already reported that I was about to capture the person out here, for one.  Stay right here for a moment, I'm going to make a few calls..."

Which was how she found herself, an hour or so later, in the back of a police car driven by another party member's mother, Sandra Lynn in the passenger seat.  At least she wasn't handcuffed, but she didn't think the two of them knew she could hear them talking quietly to each other as they drove, even through the glass sectioning her off.  They were clearly friendly; maybe they'd even known each other before Riz and Fig had become members of the same party.

"Riz had a board up worrying about her.  I was getting close to intervening, he was.. convincing.  And right, it looks like."

"She's been out there for at least two weeks without telling anyone, as far as I can tell.  Your kid has good instincts for his friends."

Adaine shut her eyes, and could feel the panic bubbling up.  The party was going to think she didn't trust them; they wouldn't understand why she'd wanted to avoid being a burden to them.  Trying to avoid it was going to make just as much trouble, and..

Rather than fight the transformation, she took Tracker's advice and went along with it, the car swerving slightly as Sklonda spotted it in her rear view mirror before stablizing out.

"..easy to forget from her demeanor, yeah?"

Sklonda's murmur of agreement to that didn't really help Adaine's mood, and while it hurt nowhere near as much as it had in the past, the tightness in her chest remained.

She was still a wolf when they arrived at the police station, padding along after Sklonda, desperately trying not to be noticed by anyone else.  Sklonda led her into a small office, carrying her bag and the envelope she'd taken from Sandra Lynn, who had left after a brief conversation with Sklonda outside of the car while Adaine'd still been stuck in it.

Sklonda sat down behind the desk, frowning and looking over the papers, a hiss escaping her throat at one point before she looked up.

"Adaine, can you understand me right now?  Is there any way you can change back, so we can talk?"

Adaine whined, trying to figure out how to answer 'yes' and 'no' respectively; she was trying to change back, but it wasn't working currently.  She eventually jumped into one of the chairs and rested the bottom of her jaw on the desk, meeting Sklonda's eyes.

Sklonda took a deep breath.  "Okay.  I understand why you tried to hide this, truly I do, but you're in a bad position right now.  Technically, you committed half a dozen offenses.  Only some of what your parents did will stick under Solesian law, but one of those things is that your father can and has revoked your Fallinel citizenship, so you don't have diplomatic immunity.  Nor a country you belong to, effectively.  They can't actually stop you from using the name Abernant here, and they're still considered your parents, just.. in absentia.  I'd be arresting them for that, if they didn't have diplomatic immunity themselves.  But that still wouldn't really help you, immediately.  I can say that after seeing this, I myself would never allow you to be under the care of these people again."

Some of this was a slight relief to Adaine, and..  with that relief, she felt herself tumble forward, her balance completely thrown off as she shifted back into an elven girl, catching herself with her jaw and hands on the desk before she could really hurt herself, sitting more properly in the chair.

"Oh, um, thank you."  Adaine said, a little choked up at the evident support on that front from Riz's mother.

"Don't thank me yet." Sklonda sighed.  "I can't arrest them, and you technically already are under arrest.  I shouldn't even be on your case, but I can probably make do if we can resolve it now.  But to do that, you're going to need someone who can take guardianship of you that I can release you to, and it can't be me or Sandra Lynn, or anyone related to either of us.  Is there any adult at all who you might be able to stay with, who might be willing to at least sign for your guardianship?  If not, you're going to end up in the system, and while the people there try their best, the odds aren't good for a high elf or for a werewolf there."


"Hey, um, Jawbone?  You know how you said you could help me with some stuff?  I got arrested."

Notes:

If you were hoping this fic would involve less hanging out with characters and Adaine being both great and slightly pathetic, and move to more combat this chapter, bad news!

My outline always struggled between two different ways of this internal reveal happening, either Sandra Lynn finding Adaine's campsite (which is obviously the one I went with) or a later event. I had decided against the later event anyway, but really given Adaine's somewhat lacking ability to hide it, something like three or four people were close to figuring out what she was doing even as it was - Riz absolutely was going to finally just trail her after school by Friday, so Thursday is probably the latest she could have gotten away with it.

To be totally clear, Sklonda's statement is accurate from the Solace point of view; for Fallinel, Adaine would absolutely be a criminal for using the name Abernant, among several other reasons. Of course, they're not aware that she's the Oracle currently...

Chapter 7: Drawn

Summary:

Adaine needs an adult, specifically to sign some paperwork. Jawbone is there for more than what she asked for.

Notes:

Slightly shorter chapter, but the next one's going to be a doozy. This one's borderline fluff, if our main character didn't start it asking to be rescued from jail.

Chapter Text

"Arrested?  Is this for something with your party, or did something else come up?"  Jawbone sounded as surprised as she'd ever heard him, on the other end of the crystal connection.  Probably because by now it was well into the school day.

Given that he had to be at the Adventuring Academy by now, it was kind of him to ask.  "It was this morning, before I could come to school.  I..  they'll explain if you can get here, but I need someone to take temporary guardianship of me.  Just for a day or two would be fine, but if you can help me at all.."

"Of course I can.  I'll be right there, and then we can talk about it, alright?  You're in the Elmville Police Station?"  Jawbone asked, his voice dropping to try to calm her, which she appreciated.

"Right.  I'm in Sklonda Gukgak's office, if you get here soon."  Adaine said, before adding, in a tiny voice.  "Thank you."

She hadn't wanted to be a burden for him, but her other choices were bad, too, now.  She certainly couldn't hide from it at this point, and as appealing as the thought of running away somewhere was she didn't actually have anywhere to go.  So she folded her hands in her lap, resisting the urge to play with her jacket or anything like that.  She didn't know if Sklonda or Sandra Lynn knew what it could do, but there was no reason to give that away.

It wasn't very long before Jawbone ventured into the station, and Sklonda went to meet him, leaving Adaine alone in the office.  She glanced around, looking at some of the documents on the wall.  It was obvious, the relationship with Riz, if a little more ordered than his boards could sometimes be.

Mostly, she noticed the section talking about the missing girls.  Sam Nightingale, Katja Skullcleaver, Penny Luckstone, Antiope Jones, and Danielle Barkstock.  She hadn't realized Riz's mom was working the case, too, but it didn't seem to be going anywhere.

Maybe they should have just taken Sam's palimpsest to the police when they'd found it.  It wasn't like that creep Biz had gotten anything useful even before it'd been taken from him.

She glanced over at the door just before Jawbone and Sklonda stepped back through it, Jawbone immediately coming over to her and placing a hand on her shoulder.  "Are you okay, Adaine?"

She thought about it, actually thought about it.  "..Do you really want to know, like..  REALLY want to know?"

Jawbone knelt down, and nodded.  "I do.  Please, I want you to tell me the truth about these things."

Adaine shut her eyes, and breathed out, letting the shame of what she was about to say wash over her but deciding to push through it.  "I'm a criminal before I turn fifteen, I'm having to beg for help from people whose responsibility I shouldn't be, and my parents disowned me so quickly that it's obvious they were thrilled to have any excuse to do it.  I don't want to be a problem for you, but please, just for a few days until I can figure something else out?  I don't want to sit in jail."  She sobbed, feeling tears flowing down her cheeks.

She felt fuzzy arms around her, squeezing.  "Adaine.  We'll talk about all of this, okay?  But you're not a criminal just for camping out, and you're going to have a home for as long as you need to with me, and I don't want you to worry about anything like that.  Are you okay with me signing for your guardianship?  We can change it later if you really want to, but you need someone who can stand up for you, and help you get a Solesian residency, and honestly just take care of you generally.  I know you don't seem to feel like you deserve that, but you do.  Every child does.  So will you let me do that?"

Adaine sniffled, but nodded.  "Okay."  She didn't know if she believed it, that she deserved this, but what else could she do?  She knew better than to offer to keep camping out, even if they were satisfying the relationship on paper.  Jawbone might be open to that after he'd put up with her for a few days, but not right away, and she shouldn't ask about that in the police station anyway.

They had her sign part of the paperwork.  Sklonda and Jawbone had somehow managed to write her crimes up as having been for the adventuring academy as practicing survival camping, which she guessed was true enough.  The immigration law was apparently a lot more complex, but apparently an interest of Sklonda's; she was marked as seeking asylum, which was going to involve a trip to Bastion City at some point in the future for a hearing.

Sklonda had tried to talk down the odds of that being a problem.  Adaine hoped she was right.

By the time all the paperwork wrapped up and she left the police station, she was officially Jawbone's ward due to 'parental abandonment', the sun was starting to go down, and she had an enormous string of texts on her crystal from the entire party worried about where she was.  She stared at them for a while, trying to bring herself to reply, not even able to think of an explanation that could begin to be okay with them.  Finally, she just texted back 'got arrested ask rizs mom' to stop some of the really out there speculation that she'd been kidnapped or was dead, breathing deeply and trying to avoid another panic attack.


Tracker stirred the stew she was working on for dinner, sniffing at the beef.  It wasn't going to be anything fancy, but it was something she could cook while working on her self-schooling.  Plus, it was never a sure thing if Uncle Jawbone would be home, and something that could easily reheat for herself or for him later would be good.  There'd probably be leftovers anyways.

Things was better, lately.  Instead of not showing up because he was high somewhere, or selling drugs at the Pit, he was talking to someone's parent or trying to guide a kid through a crisis.  She glanced over at the door, where they'd taped up a sheet of cardboard over the hole Adaine had punched through with her claws the prior weekend.

Part of her resented that he hadn't been ready to be that when she'd shown up, freshly a werewolf and bearing a note from her parents.  Even at his worst, he'd tried, but she barely recognized him half the time now, in a great way.

She sipped at a spoonful of the broth, tweaking the seasoning a little bit and then sitting back at the small table in the kitchen where her scrolls were spread out when the scratch of the key into the lock reached her ears.  "Hey, Jawbone!"  She called over, without looking up, when she realized there were more scents than just Jawbone's.  A glance up, and...  

A shell-shocked looking Adaine was being led back into the apartment, Jawbone guiding her carefully.  "Why don't you get a shower?  You've had a long day."  He was speaking softly, but Adaine was still an elf, so from what she had said before she either wasn't quite in a panic attack or had made good progress with her problem of involuntary transformations.

Which wasn't to say she was doing well, clearly.  Tracker and Jawbone both watched her shuffle down the hall to the bathroom, the shower kicking in a moment later.

"That smells good, Tracker."  Jawbone said, taking the other seat at the table, and letting a sigh out.

There was no reason to beat around it; Jawbone was clearly going to tell her.  "What happened?"  She asked, starting to roll up the scrolls.  She was about done with the study for the night, anyway.

"She got found by a ranger camping in the woods near the Academy.  Her parents disowned her at least two weeks ago, and got her Fallinel citizenship revoked, and her legal situation is.. precarious, at best.  I think she would have kept camping other than the full moon forever if she could have gotten away with it, but from what I was told she was lucky to go unnoticed that long.  I'm sorry to make it more crowded here, but I couldn't just leave her with nowhere to go."  Jawbone said, a hand scratching at the back of his neck as he apologized.

"No, that's the right choice, of course.  Is there anything you need me to do?"  Tracker asked.  Leaving a fourteen-year-old werewolf with anxiety homeless was a recipe for her either killing someone or ending up dead when she transformed in front of someone, and the apartment wasn't that crowded anyway with less people stopping in to try and buy drugs.

"Try to make friends with her, if you can?  Or at least help me with trying to make her feel welcome.  I'm worried she'll get it in her head that she's being a burden again and make some rash decisions.  She seems to think, and I think she might be right, that her parents were thrilled at having an excuse to disown her."  Jawbone said, standing back up and starting to dig around in the cabinets.  "They certainly didn't hesitate once they found out."

Tracker nodded, that hitting a little too close to home.  Jawbone seemed aware of it, letting her have a few moments of peace before Adaine came back out of the bathroom looking at least a little better, in pajamas she'd gotten from somewhere.

There was enough stew for all three of them, especially since Adaine was not a big eater.  She was still clearly out of it, but the food at least helped a little, Tracker thought.

"Do you have any other belongings or anything you need to get, or should we go shopping tomorrow night?"  Tracker asked.

"Oh, no, no need.  This is everything, but the jacket can make most everything I really need and I know spells for most other things."  Adaine said, seeming to come out of her own head for a moment at being asked a direct question.  "It doesn't really have a charge limitation or anything, it just can't make anything worth more than a certain amount.  Or anything alive, morally."

That last was a cryptic statement that Tracker was not going to dig into right now.  But at least Adaine seemed a little more focused, so.  "..I know Jawbone was going to get a bed for you for the spare room, but I can take the couch tonight if you want my bed?"

Adaine shook her head.  "I couldn't possibly.  You're both being so generous to me, and a trance is a lot shorter anyways than a full night's sleep so the couch won't really bother me.  I mean, I slept in the chair just fine last time I was here."

Tracker laughed.  "Weren't you a wolf for that?  It does help."  And, deciding Adaine could almost certainly use the company, Tracker shifted into her own full wolf form, placing her head in Adaine's lap, pinning her in place.

"Oh, that's not fair."  Adaine said, a slight giggle escaping the back of her throat, which Tracker would count as a win.  

Tracker probably should be talking to Adaine about her parents, or about how she'd gotten over a similar situation.  All of that could come eventually.  For now, she'd just have to make certain to do as Jawbone had asked and make her new foster cousin feel welcome.


Adaine ended up trancing just fine on the couch, but she was worried about school the next day.  That text message had gone over like a dead oyster with her friends, who had bombarded her crystal without her noticing.  To the point that she didn't really want to scroll back through.

Facing her problems instead of delaying them as long as possible would be the mature, responsible thing to do.  She was in the same building as somewhere between one and three of them, even, depending on if Fig and Kristen were here or with Sandra Lynn.

She put her crystal back on silent and jammed it into her bag instead.

Jawbone gave her a ride to school, which was at least saved her learning new bus routes for the day.  She didn't even make it to the building before the others were intercepting her.

"You're making me look bad, getting arrested before me!"  Fig called over, and Adaine felt a little of the stress lift off her.  Maybe it wouldn't be as bad as she'd worried.

Riz spoke up, from right next to her, and Adaine tried to not jump out of her skin.  "...Mom said you were going to be staying with Jawbone for now?"

Adaine nodded.  "Yeah.  My shitty parents kicked me out.  And filed paperwork about it."  Maybe they wouldn't dig too deep into the timing.

"Right.  You know you can tell us things, yeah?"  Kristen asked, and Adaine bit at her lip.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to worry everyone.  I just...  I couldn't bring myself to say anything, that's all."

"No worries.  And since you're there I'll be sure to visit Tracker!  I mean, you.  With Tracker there."

Adaine sighed, and walked into school, still trying to deflect off some of the questions from her party, but she couldn't help feeling warm when they made it so obvious that they'd been concerned because they cared.

Chapter 8: Time

Summary:

The party gets some relaxing time after their defeat of the Big Bad Evil Coach Daybreak, and Adaine gets time to adjust to her new circumstances and her new home, with a guardian who actually cares about her, a cool, slightly older pseudo-cousin, and eventually her party's cleric.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"Can you lift that still?"  Jawbone asked, and Adaine was surprised to discover that the answer was yes, with just a little bit of straining as she helped lift and hold the heavy lumber in place.  Jawbone drove home a screw, and Adaine glanced down at her hands.  No claws; she didn't tend to show fur unless she'd fully transformed.

Jawbone eventually spoke up, stirring her out of her head.  "Something bothering you?"  She glanced over at him, and he was watching her with some concern clear on his face; she must have zoned out.

"I don't think I could have done that so easily a month ago."  She admitted.  "Not even close, really.  Do you know if it has any kind of, you know, benefit to that on normal days?"

"Well, I'm not sure.  I got bitten a long time ago, and Tracker was pretty young when she was.  And I spend all my time like this, anyway."  Adaine nodded, absently.  She didn't really have proof, anyway, one way or the other.  But it was nice to get some fringe benefits out of the deal.

They managed to assemble a bed and a desk by the time dinnertime rolled around.  In spite of the desk being ever-so-slightly not level, and the bed having a distinctly thrown-together look, with mismatched screws pulled from her jacket once it became clear they hadn't bought enough, Adaine loved them.


It turned out that one thing Aguefort students received was good healthcare.  Possibly because they were expected to do things like potentially get murdered in the cafeteria on the first day of school, Adaine thought somewhat cynically.

Thinking that helped her avoid thinking too much about things like that she could have been started on anxiety meds when she'd first started having panic attacks years ago, instead of now, if only she'd had a guardian who gave a single solitary damn.  It wasn't like the Abernants hadn't had the money to pay for it.

The appointment had not gone well, but apparently having a panic attack in front of the doctor and popping into a wolf was enough to ensure the diagnosis; thankfully, Jawbone had accompanied her and had been able to get her home.  It was a new moon, also to her benefit, and she'd been able to pop back to an elf well before she was fully recovered from the attack.

She just hadn't been in any state to do anything other than be bundled back into the car with a hug.  But the meds helped.  Some.


Adaine got another new experience - her first Solstice party where she wasn't one of two children.  If Aelwyn even counted.

It wasn't huge, but the entire party and their families were invited, and pretty much everyone showed up.  In truth, Adaine found it a little overwhelming and wound up falling back on her usual behavior at those sorts of parties, at her most respectful to all of her friends' parents.  Especially the ones who had arrested her; she still couldn't quite look either of them in the eyes.

It didn't matter that Sklonda and Sandra Lynn both seemed more pitying than anything when they asked how she was doing.  If anything, that made it worse.

Fabian had showed up with his maid, and Kristen had come along with Riz and his mom.

Still, she took a couple of Fig's offered hot chocolates, and felt a little more relaxed after.  A lot more relaxed, actually, and a little giggly, some of Fabian's jokes really landing.

Almost too relaxed to keep standing; the Thistlesprings would hopefully not mind her sitting on their couch.  It was a little small for her, though it had to not be as bad as it was for Gorgug.

She just needed to rest her eyes.

She woke up in her own bed, her mouth dry as a desert, her head dizzy.  She sat up, realizing to her surprise that Tracker was in wolf form on her feet, and even more surprisingly Fig was in the room, sitting in her office chair with her head on the desk.

Tracker got woken up by the movement of her sitting up, shifting up into her normal form, grabbing a blanket and wrapping it around herself.  Fig also woke up.

"Oh, hey girl, are you feeling okay?"  Fig asked, sounding worried.

"..What happened?"  Adaine asked, uncertainly.  Tracker was casting some sort of spell, clearly, but Fig was looking away in the same way she did every time she told the group how much she cared.

"Um, well.  I didn't know that you were on medication that you weren't supposed to have alcohol with, or I wouldn't have done it, but I kind of spiked your hot chocolate.  Everyone's hot chocolate, not just yours, but you were really out of it.  Kristen and Tracker thought it was better to just let you sleep it off rather than anything else, though.  I'm really sorry."

Tracker gave Fig a look, adding.  "This is why you should ask before you give people drugs and let them have the choice in the future.  Jawbone carried you back, by the way, but I don't think he's angry or anything."  That last seemed more directed at Fig than at Adaine, who was still trying to catch up.

"Oh.  Um, you didn't mean to, right?  And you won't do it again?  At least unless I know what it is and we can make certain that it's okay with the meds."  Adaine added, a hand moving up to cover her eyes.

Fig hugged her, and Adaine patted her on the back, and it was still the best Solstice she'd ever had.


The anxiety meds weren't perfect.  There were days where she still needed quiet more than anything, or times when small problems snowballed in her mind.  But they did help, and it happened less, and she started to find other things that could help when they weren't enough.  Hot cocoa, breathing exercises, or just making certain she knew how she could get away before turning if she needed to.

She did find herself sleeping instead of trancing some nights, waking up those mornings as a wolf.  Dreams were a strange experience, still.  Why had she dreamed of Fig's sad father in a suit of armor, for instance?  But they were way better than her trances.  Trances relied on memory, and most of hers were of an unhappy home and family.  Being dismissed.  Being made to feel unwanted, unloved, miserable.

Nights where she didn't have anything she needed to do with the extra four hours, she started going into wolf form so she could sleep for certain instead.  Some of those, if she was feeling particularly lonely, she started sleeping on the foot of Tracker's bed, resting on her pseudo-cousin's feet and keeping them warm.

At least on nights where Kristen wasn't staying over.

She only had to make THAT mistake once.


Adaine's second full moon was slightly more successful than the first one had been.  

Not that she remembered any of it, again.  It was a total blackout from when the moonrise had hit to waking up the next morning, laying in the laundry room on top of a pile of shredded clothing and towels, feeling once again like she couldn't even stand up.  It was a school day, this month, but she'd gone ahead and told her teachers she was likely to miss.  Her attendance record would be pretty terrible, except she was almost certain none of the class instructors were actually counting it.

Jawbone went to work, the day after, but Tracker stayed with her, the two of them watching bad movies until Adaine at least felt like she could move.

Her Mending cantrip got a lot more work the day after that, trying to stitch together the towels as best she could.  Several of them ended up as stitchflesh monstrosities that didn't quite match up, but it was better than nothing.


The amount of time Kristen was spending in the apartment kept going up, and Jawbone finally had a conversation with her, offering the storage room that was technically the fourth bedroom.  Kristen officially moved in, and Adaine's strange cousin-hood grew by one.  Not that Kristen actually slept in that fourth bedroom that much, which Jawbone had to know.  His hearing had to be at least as good as Adaine's, even if she was the one right across the hall.

Adaine was torn on it; she was glad to see both of them happy, but she did miss spending as much time with Tracker, even if a lot of that time was just sleeping at her feet.  It was good to be around Kristen more, at least, and always having company who liked her around was something she would hold close as long as she could.

It made her feel awkward, too, whenever they didn't contain themselves to Tracker or Kristen's room.  Or when they did, but Adaine had to get them for food or for school or anything.  She could completely understand how Tracker had lost any sense of modesty - being a werewolf, in addition to the obvious side effects, involved a lot of either magical or extremely baggy clothing or a lot of time ending up wearing rags or shreds, she was finding - but measuring herself against Kristen on this front made her wonder if she was a prude, or maybe just if high elves were slow developers.

None of that stopped her from hiding from it as best she could; it just made her feel kind of guilty on top of the resentment towards it she tried to not show.


Her third full moon came, with Kristen staying at Gilear's for the night.  Nothing was said, but Adaine was pretty certain that was mostly because of her; Jawbone was great at keeping control during the full moon, and Tracker would be safely chained up as long as Kristen didn't do something completely silly.

Though maybe not trusting in Kristen to avoid doing insane things was a good policy, generally.

Adaine was going to try to shut herself in her room to see if the calm environment that helped sometimes with her panic attacks would help her in wolf form, the door locked for whatever that was worth.  The constant mild buzz of her nerves still ran through her, some of it the moon and some the wolf and a lot just Adaine herself, how she had always been.

She woke up with just the faintest impression of a wisp of a memory of feeling trapped and alone.  She also woke up with an amused Tracker watching her, curled up at the foot of the bed again, body twisted up to avoid brushing against the silver chains.

It was slightly more awkward waking up that way as an elf, but it wasn't like Tracker really minded.  Once Tracker'd gotten loose, she and Jawbone had at least filled Adaine in on what had happened, and Adaine had managed to make her way to the couch to be sore and a little miserable there instead.

The door to her room, which had been wooden unlike the metal door that led out of the apartment, had not held up particularly well to her and was beyond Mending's ability to help.  She'd needed help cutting out a couple of splinters that had been healed over from her regeneration, too.

She'd then apparently spent time in the living room with Jawbone before eventually going and sleeping in Tracker's room.  Both of them found it cute; Adaine just hoped she'd eventually stop needing to worry about the loss of control.

At least her deepest inner instincts were apparently just to try to find people she liked to spend time with.


Adaine was laying in the grass next to Kristen in one of the practice fields outside of the Academy.  The entire party was there, mostly just as an excuse to hang out.  Adaine had a book out, Kristen was daydreaming, and the others...

"I don't actually understand why they're testing you on this."  Fig said.  "It seemed like just an excuse for Porter not to teach anything you could actually use to foil him for a few days.  He's up to something, I'm telling you!"

"I still don't understand why you keep coming to barbarian classes.  Aren't you going to fall behind on learning to be a bard?"  Gorgug asked, though it sounded more like concern than a snappy comeback, even as he fought with the longbow.

She glanced up, watching his motion and watching him overshoot the target again.

Fabian sighed and took the bow from Gorgug, firing a shot off and hitting the target in the ring just outside of the bullseye.  "It just needs to be a quick, smooth motion, right?"  He said to Gorgug.  "You can't treat it like your normal weapon, going harder won't necessarily help.  Don't let them get to you, I don't think any of them know anything about a weapon like this.  Fig'll fail that test if she takes it, for sure."

Gorgug took it back, even as Fig protested.  "Of course I can pass it!  I have to be able to or else he might catch on that I'm not a Barbarian."  Gorgug's next shot was better, at least hitting the target, and the next on the same ring as Fabian's.  "..I think you got it, let me have a turn."  Fig added, getting the bow from Gorgug.

"Oh, me next!"  Kristen said, and Adaine winced at the thought.  Hopefully Kristen wouldn't hurt herself.

"That'll be a laugh.  Who next, the Ball?  Or Adaine?"  Fabian said, derisively.  Adaine felt a slight fire light in her at the dismissiveness, even though she could understand why Fabian would say as much.

Riz rolled his eyes.  "That thing is way too big and obvious for me to have any interest in it.  I'll stick with guns, thank you."

Fig's first four arrows missed before she managed to get one to stick in the very edge of the target, as much by lucky accident as anything.

Gorgug very carefully took the bow from Kristen after she shot the first arrow into the dirt two inches in front of her feet, burying it deeply.  "Oh, come on, let me try again!  It's really so homophobic that you won't let me try again!"

Adaine got the spark of a good feeling, and glanced up at Fabian.  "..Bet you ice cream at Basrar that my shot's better than yours was."

"There is no way.  No magic, Adaine!"  He added, and she stood up, dusting herself off.  She took the bow from Gorgug, who was watching her with almost as much tension as he'd watched Kristen, clearly thinking she might also shoot herself in the foot.

Her mind went back to lessons from years ago, and she drew back on the bow, aiming carefully to where she knew the best result would be, breathing and trying not to let the pressure of the bet get to her.

She released the string.  The arrow flew true, landing right in the center of the bullseye, far more shallow into the target than Gorgug or Fabian's but undeniably more on target.

Kristen and Fig went wild, and Riz and Gorgug both cheered, while Fabian just stared at her.  "How?"

"I had to take lessons as a kid, it's a whole.. expected tradition thing for high elves to at least know how to use a bow and a sword."  She admitted.  "It was one of the few things I was better at than Aelwyn, but they always treated it like that was kind of a bad thing?  Like, we were supposed to learn it, but not too well.  I can't do it as well quickly anyways, the pressure kind of gets to me."

Fabian was quite upset to realize she'd actually tricked him into the bet, but he paid up, and they had ice cream just the same as they always did when she got to pick their activity.


It was the evening before her fourth full moon, and Adaine had the apartment to herself for the moment.  Kristen had had an invite to some party, and she'd offered to take Adaine along, but the thought of that many people the night before a full moon had given her pause.  At the best of times, a crowd like that would make her nervous.  Better to just not deal with it for the moment.

Tracker and Jawbone were both handling other business, so Adaine was taking care of some study even with the day off from school tomorrow.

At least, she was trying to.  The group text must have been going off with them trying to meet each other at the party or something.

Except it kept going, and she finally just grabbed her crystal to turn it off.

At a quick glance, it wasn't the group text.  People she hadn't heard from in almost a year were texting her pictures, plus one from Riz.

Aelwyn and Fabian, in a deep, deep kiss, Aelwyn dressed in a way Adaine couldn't have even imagined until this very moment.

She texted Riz back:  stay there im coming to kill everyone

Adaine barely remembered to grab her jacket before hitting the door and running as fast as she could.

Notes:

The pacing of season 1 is willllld if you actually look at the timeline. We're covering a lot of that space now! This chapter is more vignettes than anything, but hopefully these little flashes of the downtime are worthwhile? There's a few more times where this kind of thing will happen, and I think it's pretty fun to explore.

A couple specific notes:

Adaine's reaction to a couple of drinks with her meds is inspired by my own unintentional and unknowing hitting this interaction the first New Years after I started on mine. Fig spikes the drinks in the show, so yeah.

The scene with the bow is a) a joke about Adaine actually having those proficiencies as an elf, which I could definitely see her family doing and b) Adaine would ABSOLUTELY burn a nat 20 portent roll to win an ice cream related wager. I admit this one doesn't have that much plot relevancy but I really enjoy it.

As usually let me know what worked and what didn't for you! We're on to a meeting between sisters next chapter, but they haven't actually seen each other in three months at this point.

Chapter 9: Sisters

Summary:

It's party time!

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Aelwyn rubbed at her eyes, in one of her brief moments seemingly alone.  Kalina seemed to know what happened with her even when she wasn't actually there, but she seemed to find Aelwyn's 'indulgences' distasteful, other than the sex to spread her around and usually wouldn't speak of the parties or appear to her during them.

That wasn't the main reason Aelwyn did them, but it certainly didn't hurt.

This wasn't going to be just another one of her normal paid appearances, though.  She touched a hand to the palimpsest that she had been given.  Assuming Ostentatia had been telling the truth in their last truth or dare game, she'd have the first of the two maidens she was going to have to catch for this part of the plan by the end of the night, and she'd be able to leave the house in such disrepair from the party that it should never get tracked back to her.

There had been some fun in this plan, but she was really hoping Kalina was planning to fully betray Kalvaxus for whatever her scheme really was.  That guy was a twat, and Aelwyn hated everyone else she had to work with.  That upstart sorceress who kept bossing her around, sending her out to do this like she was Johnny Spells or something.  The little hacker cretin that kept talking about how into her sister he was.

It had not escaped Aelwyn's notice that the previous people to be the front edge of trapping maidens were all dead now.  She knew what was going to happen if she got caught; really, the only question was whether she had any chance of living if Kalina's plan went off successfully.

She'd grown to suspect not, but maybe that would be fine.  The alternative as an elf was an eternity living as herself.

At least she had confirmation from the hacker that whatever the hell had happened with Adaine and her parents, she was still around, at least as of the last time Aelwyn had talked to Biz.  Might be useful, if the Oracle was helpful with any other steps.  And Biz would hopefully be enough of a scapegoat for all of them when that memory kicked off.

Aelwyn tried to push down the part of her that wished Adaine would have run off to the Baronies or back to Fallinel or something.  She'd thought about trying to find a way to get a message to the Fallinel government tipping them off to the identity of the Oracle - she couldn't believe they hadn't managed to scry it so far, no wonder a fourteen year old with panic attacks and a predilection for trying to punch people for some insane reason was the best diviner of the elven people - but there was no telling how Kalina would take that, and even if Kalina didn't really have some other means to have Aelwyn killed for her misbehavior, she could still ruin Aelwyn's life in a variety of ways.

Aelwyn felt a twitch in her fingers.  She could really use that dragon spice, but it was much better as a way to kick the party off than used in the street.  She needed everyone to be much too drunk or hallucinating to be able to really understand what she was doing kidnapping Ostentatia.  Almost there, anyway.

Galicaea, not a single other Hudol girl was here, at least outside.  Percival really didn't pay her enough for making these parties less awful.

Showtime.

She blasted the door as hard as she could with a Knock, sending it flying into the wall and leaving a dent.  

Her spell research had been going well, at least.  If she somehow had a future, she could keep going on that.  No professional spell researchers seemed to spend their times on making spells more fun, and it was a real shame.

"Ah, you're here!"  Came Percival's voice from where he was standing next to some kids Aelwyn didn't recognize.

A flash of loathing came over her.  She hated dealing with Percival while she was sober.  But she was at the party now, so...

She snatched the closest bottle - a quarter-full jug of some kind of cheap whiskey, it looked like, good enough - and smashed it into Percival's head, mage handing the liquor up into her mouth, tilting her head back and feeling the burn on the way down.

"I came here to fuck!"  She yelled out, because what the hell, might as well make Kalina happy after she finished with Ostentatia.  Maybe she could find someone who at least wasn't a complete loser who she also hadn't already spread to.

She snapped her fingers twice, dropping two of her upper level spell slots into the air, a modified summoning spell for the elemental cheerleaders to occupy as many of the Hudol students as she could and the second a bit of divination magic she'd spent way too much time on over the last few months.

It was way better than her initial effort, though.  Touch was such an awkward range for a spell to detect virgins.

A relatively low number.  She'd fished through this pool of partiers a little too much, it seemed.  Hopefully Ostentatia was one of the ones she could sense from the rest of the house.

Her attention strayed over towards a mixed group of slightly younger students from, presumably, Aguefort who had been talking to Percival and were now staring at her in varying states of shock or delight.  Almost all of them were pinging off the spell, too, other than the redhead girl who was giving off a kind of hazy, confused reading.

An attractive bunch, too, definitely more interesting than the usual Hudol students here.  Might as well make some tries.

"You're a funny little man.  Have you ever played knifey fingers?"  He had the look of someone who would be good at it, and at least that might be something different.

"That sounds terrifying."  Ah, disappointing.  Usually Aguefort students were more willing to keep up with her at full speed.

"What are you, a little bitch?"  That seemed to delight the half-elf next to him.  Third choice out of the group, behind the goblin and the tiefling girl, but not a bad looking catch at all.  Definitely fit.

She stepped forward, driving a kiss into him, pushing him down into a dip flat enough to pour one of her bags of dragon spice out and snort it off of him.

That was the stuff, she thought, feeling all her worries about this plan and her probable impending death and seeking out another target fade.  Confidence and excitement washed through her, instead.  She could get Ostentatia, fuck this guy, and maybe make friends with the tiefling girl for the last maiden if she didn't find anyone better than that.

She opened her mouth to start a party game when the redhead cut her off, managing to rip her eyes away from the closest elemental cheerleader.

"Hey, you look familiar.  Are you Adaine's sister?"

That managed to cut through the high of the spice for a moment, and she put it together with some memories of half-listened to complaints from Penelope.

"...Oh, you're Adaine's little friends?  Well, yes.  I'm Aelwyn Abernant.  How..  is she coming?"  Because if she was, Aelwyn needed to accelerate.  Adaine would definitely be a problem for stealing Ostentatia away.

It definitely wasn't a question she asked because she was missing Adaine.  Not at all.

"Nah, too crowded." The cleric answered, which made Aelwyn want to sneer, except she could see the goblin on his crystal texting Adaine.

Best to get a move on, then, as much as she did want to find out where exactly Adaine was living now and how she was getting by.  If she'd managed to at least figure out herself that she was the Oracle.

She slapped the half-elf on the ass, dropping a few more bags of dragon spice on the closest table.  "Well, tell her hello for me.  I need to at least greet the hostess of this little shindig, but we'll meet back up after, yeah?"  She kissed him again, a perverse thrill running through her at just how worked up Adaine would be at the pictures that the goblin thought he was taking subtly, heading outside in pursuit of the most likely one of the pings from the spell.

She could probably get everyone blasted out of their mind before Adaine arrived.  It'd just take some special activities.


The desire to murder her sister, Fabian, and everyone else at this damned party carried Adaine through the streets; she could tell she was drawing on her wolfish side, because she normally wouldn't be able to run this fast or for this long.  Only the equally important desire to avoid being killed by one of the many, many adventurers in town kept her from going full wolf for the extra speed.

By the time she reached the Wallace house on Spelljammer Lane she was panting anyway, the sound of what had to be Fig's music coming from the backyard.  She flung the door open, spotting Riz.  Who she kind of wanted to punch, too, but best to save that for Fabian.  And her bitch sister.

"Where are they?" she demanded of Riz, casting a quick detect magic to see what she could see.

..What in the hell were those elementals doing?  There was some other spell she didn't recognize in the air, too, other than that it was divinatory.

"She went upstairs a few minutes ago with Ostentatia, they were playing some fucking crazy drinking games before that."  Riz said, and she felt a rush of warmth towards him.  She'd spare him from her wrath for this, after all.

He followed along with her up to the second floor, Aelwyn's voice drifting through one of the doors.  "..ood to know you were telling the truth, though.  Bye, Ostentatia."

She and Riz both moved to throw open the door, but too late for Adaine to even attempt to counter whatever it was that Aelwyn was doing, even if she had thought to prepare Counterspell today.  Which was...  drawing a shocked looking Ostentatia Wallace, jewelry and all, into a palimpsest.

"What the fuck?"  Adaine said, at the exact same time that Aelwyn did, Ostentatia vanishing before all of their eyes.

Riz moved first, rushing past Aelwyn to try to cut her off from escaping through the window, only to find that Aelwyn had pulled a knife and managed to slash at him on his way past, a wild look in her eyes Adaine had never actually seen before even at her cruelest, Riz's return fire slamming into an abjurative ward Aelwyn had running.

Aelwyn threw a firebolt at him, and yanked a pocket watch out of her pants before vanishing.  Misty Step, almost certainly.

Adaine let a growl of frustration out that had Riz looking at her in alarm, but brought it back in, casting Blink to try and pursue wherever she had gone, pushing her wolfish instincts back for now.

From there, the battle was fully on.


Adaine probably should have gotten the party together before confronting Aelwyn, she decided as she tried to pursue Aelwyn up onto the roof, her arms tugging to pull herself up there.  Riz and Gorgug were there, at least.  She'd seen Kristen and Fig trying to get up as well, but that didn't seem to be going quite as well.

Another snarl of frustration, and she managed to get her leg up and over the side of the roof, standing up to see Aelwyn standing over Gorgug's fallen body.

No.  No, she didn't get to do that.  Anger ripped through Adaine's entire body, a deep, abiding rage at the thought of Gorgug dead for a second time in front of her.

The pain of the transformation was getting easier for her to work through generally, but this time she embraced it, thinking of Tracker's advice that the more aggressive she felt, the more aggressive her form would be.

Aelwyn looked at her, shock spreading across her face.  Like that bitch hadn't known she was a werewolf, somehow.  Adaine covered the gap between them in two steps, driving her claws straight into her sister's gut, bringing her down to the ground in a tackle.  Aelwyn tried to fend her off with a shield spell, but Adaine moved her head down, sneaking her teeth in past it, finding purchase in Aelwyn's shoulder and lifting her up, just to slam her into the ground again.

A bloody haze came over her, and the next thing she knew Kristen was saying something to her, trying to calm her down.  "Hey, hey.."

Gorgug, back up at some point, as well.  "Adaine, stop, you're killing her!"

Relief.  She'd been mistaken about his condition, when she'd seen him, or Kristen had managed to revive him one.  She fell back onto the roof, her elf form reasserting itself as she calmed, Gorgug hugging onto her maybe to keep her from going after her sister again, but probably just to reassure and comfort her.

She was covered in blood.  A mix of hers and Aelwyn's.  Aelwyn had horrific injuries, blood spreading onto the roof from her gut wounds and shoulder, less serious cuts elsewhere.

Wait.  Oh, no.  That was a bite wound on Aelwyn's shoulder.  Adaine couldn't even remember doing that, through the haze.

"..Can you..?"  Adaine asked Kristen, not specifying what because she wasn't sure herself.  Keep her alive, certainly.  Hide the evidence that a werewolf, known to be such to the police, had done this?  Maybe.

Kristen just nodded, Gorgug continuing to squeeze even now that she was completely an elf.  Aelwyn's wounds closed up and stopped bleeding, at least meaning Adaine hadn't actually killed her sister.


They were still there, Adaine still half out of it, when the cops arrived led by Riz's mom.  Unfortunately, one of the Hudol assholes must also have contacted her parents because she was soon in the company of her entire family, with only half an explanation given from Riz about the palimpsest and the current state of Ostentatia Wallace.  They had barely had enough time to make sure most of her wounds were closed to make the werewolf attack part less obvious, and they'd had no chance to ask her questions or try to find out how to get the girl out of the palimpsest.  Sklonda'd already put Aelwyn into the back of a police car, and was now having a very angry conversation with Adaine's father.

"You cannot arrest Aelwyn; she has diplomatic immunity.  Release her at once and allow us to take her for medical treatment."  Angwyn was saying to Sklonda, both he and Arianwen not looking Adaine's way at all, even as her hand curled into a fist.

"Well, your diplomatic immunity comes from your position as a diplomat and goes to your family.  However, it can be revoked if a family member feels unsafe in her presence.  Do any of you feel unsafe, given that she just kidnapped a girl and tried to kill a whole lot of people including my son?"  Sklonda asked, getting increasingly obviously agitated.

It at least made it obvious to Adaine what she really wanted, though it seemed.. dubious to Adaine whether it would work.  "Oh.  I feel unsafe."

"Well, there you have it then!"

"This.. creature is no longer a member of the Abernant family.  Paperwork to that effect and a restraining order ordering her to maintain distance from the three of us were both filed.  If you are going to arrest anyone, it should be that.  I certainly fill unsafe, after it attacked me, leading to that restraining order."  

Sklonda was clearly thrown, and took a moment, checking something on her crystal.  "..You cannot remove a minor from your family under Solesian law.  But the restraining order is valid, since she has a different legal guardian.  That doesn't change that Aelwyn is still under arrest."

"Then I insist on pressing charges against the cur for the assault on me and for violating the restraining order, unless it will take back that declaration of 'feeling unsafe'."  Angwyn said, glowering at Adaine, who knew she was probably not helping her case with the growl that was in the back of her throat.  The embers of the rage that had led her to tear her sister apart were still burning.

Three months ago, she would have had a panic attack at that look from her father, or at least not been able to respond effectively.  And she was starting to form a very dumb plan, instead.  Fig would probably approve.

Sklonda was starting to get indignant.  "We'll put it on the docket, then, but you don't get to tell me who to arrest in my town.  Here, we stop people like kidnappers, not the adventurers trying to stop them."

"Oh, yes, creature solidarity between the goblin and the werewolf.  This is an act of war between you and Fallinel, officer, to side with a fugitive like that over a diplomat's child."  God, her parents were the worst, even if her mother was mostly just watching impassively.

She glanced around at her friends who were watching.  Fig would approve of the plan, but Riz was more likely to calm everyone else down about it after.  While his mom and her father were arguing, she shot a Message off to him.  "One of us needs to ask Aelwyn some questions anyway.  Don't stop me."

And, that cast, and him looking up at her with worry, she said.  "Fine.  If it'll keep Aelwyn from getting away with attempted murder and kidnapping, arrest me too."  And she offered her hands out to Sklonda, who frowned at her.  

"Are you sure, Adaine?  It might cause you some trouble at your next asylum hearing."  Sklonda asked, even as most of her friends were making much louder protests - ranging from Kristen's "Noooo!" to Fabian's "Adaine, please." to Fig's "Hey, no fair, you can't get arrested twice before I get arrested once!"

Adaine nodded and shot her eyes over to Riz, who rather reluctantly gave his mother a nod.  Adaine couldn't help but feel a spike of jealousy at the display of closeness, even as her father would clearly attack her on the spot if he thought he could get away with it.

Sklonda knew - had to know - that the definitely not magical or silver handcuffs she placed on Adaine wouldn't hold her if Adaine didn't want them to.  But she was willing to play along to spite Angwyn and Arianwen just as much as Adaine was.  And so, Adaine was pushed into the back of the police car, next to her semi-conscious sister.

Notes:

And so we've officially passed the point of the snippet I wrote up kind of laying out this AU, just short of 30k words later! Some bits and bobs of dialogue are still straight from canon, so credit there to the various people who spoke them.

This chapter and next I thought about combining, but they're both going to be as long or longer than the average for this fic apart. Let's just say I hope you like Aelwyn and Adaine conversations because there's going to be a lot of that. Also, in case you couldn't tell, this is where it starts going somewhat more heavily AU, though season 1 still is largely on rails. From there.. we'll see where it goes, yeah?

As always, let me know what you thought of the chapter or the fic as a whole in the comments!

Chapter 10: Interrogation

Summary:

Aelwyn and Adaine have a long overdue and mostly honest conversation. Adaine is greeted by the elven people.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Adaine's second time being arrested saw her much calmer than the first, for all that she was in an actual holding cell and had actually been booked into the system this time.

They had taken her crystal and her orb, but had left her with her jacket, not seeming to recognize it as magical.

Aelwyn, on the other hand, had had her crystal, the palimpsest with Ostentatia Wallace inside, a knife, two guns, and a truly staggering amount of drugs taken.

It had been late by the time they'd been processed.  They'd only been in the cell for a few minutes before the lights had been turned off for the night, leaving Adaine only really able to see within the cell.  At least she could still see; Kristen would have been out of luck, she supposed.

She and Aelwyn were the only two in the cell, which Adaine hoped was just Sklonda giving her an opportunity to talk with Aelwyn and not a general indication that the Elmville Police Department would lock two prisoners who had tried pretty hard to kill each other into the same room.

In fairness, she was chained to the bench by both her wrists and her ankles.  It was heavy, uncomfortable, and also distinctly not silver or magical so if she needed out of them she could be.  They were hefty enough that they might take a few seconds, but it would be doable.

That wasn't a measure specific to werewolves.  Aelwyn had gotten the exact same treatment, maybe six or seven feet down the bench.  She'd passed back out fully at some point, which was a little irritating for Adaine's plan to try and get some kind of information out of her.  Adaine had taken her own trance, which had already finished, then just waited to see if Aelwyn would wake.  She wasn't even in a trance or really asleep, just unconscious.

This might not have been the best plan, Adaine decided, just before a rattle of chains alerted to her Aelwyn starting to stir.

"Fuck, my head."  Aelwyn muttered, lifting her hands up, trying to reach her eyes and snapping the chains taut well short.  "..Oh, fuck."  Aelwyn was looking around wildly, seeming to pick up on just where she was, and then her eyes caught onto Adaine, an expression Adaine had never seen before on Aelwyn crossing her face.

Adaine sighed.  She should start with this.  It wasn't for Aelwyn's sake, or even for Adaine's.  It was for Jawbone's, and how he would feel if he found out his biting of her had continued to spread.  "If you have remove curse prepared, you should cast it on yourself.  Now.  The full moon is in about sixteen hours.  If you don't have it prepared, I can see if they'll let you get your spellbook, or me to get mine."

Aelwyn bent down, touching her shoulder with her other hand, feeling at the scar of Adaine's teeth in her shoulder.  "...You're a werewolf.  Ah, that's why you wanted that book.  I don't have it prepared, and I'm almost out of spell slots, Adaine.  It's not going to matter, anyway."

That brought a frown to Adaine's face.  "You didn't know?  And of course it matters, if you don't remove it before the full moon it's all but impossible to get rid of."

Aelwyn slumped against the wall behind the bench, groaning, even as she checked her own pockets.  Clearly frustrated by coming up empty.  "I really don't want to be sober for this conversation.  All I knew was that you attacked father and ran away.  And it doesn't matter because..  haven't you been investigating this?  How many people have you managed to catch that are still alive, exactly?  Oh, right, zero.  I expect I'm not going to be alive by the full moon, Adaine."

Adaine stuck her tongue out, before responding.  "We got you, didn't we?  You're not dead yet.  You could just tell me what's going on, you know.  My friends and I are going to stop it, either way.  Because I'm a great student at the adventuring academy."  She couldn't help but add, whether or not it was really true.

Aelwyn was trying to draw her legs up to herself, and being stopped by the ankle manacles.  "I really can't, Adaine."  And.. the look of defeat and fear, of resignation on her face was everything Adaine had thought she'd wanted to see from her growing up.  

It just felt empty, now.  

"You should at least help us get Ostentatia out of that palimpsest.  It's a difference of years for how long you'll be in prison, Aelwyn.  And it's the right thing to do, besides.  Her father..  actually cares about her."  Had been distraught, in fact, from the very little that she had seen of it while being arrested.

Aelwyn shook her head.  "I can't get her out of it, even if I wanted to, Adaine.  Why are you here, anyway?  Did they decide you'd gone too far, somehow?  I can't help but notice none of the rest of your little group is stuck with us."

Adaine felt herself growling, fought to push it back down. "I know you know that our parents don't love me.  As soon as they found out I was bitten, they kicked me out of the family and put a restraining order on me.  I didn't attack him.  He had me arrested for violating the restraining order by going near you.  Even though you weren't at home and were committing about three hundred crimes at the time.  And partying.  And doing hard drugs and liquor, of all things."

Aelwyn was silent, before shaking her head.  "I'm sure.. they thought removing you from the family was best for you, legally, little sister.  He could be recalled to Fallinel at any time, after all, and werewolves are not.."

Adaine shook her head, not allowing Aelwyn to finish.  "That's bullshit and you know it.  Mother and father were glad to be rid of me, and at this point I'm glad to be rid of them."

Her sister seemed, for once, to have no response to that, folding back in on herself as much as the chains would allow.  "..I should have done more of the hard drugs and liquor before dealing with Ostentatia.  Might have carried me through to the end, at least."

It hardly seemed like something to encourage, but...  "..Trade you some liquor for some answers, then, if you won't just do the right thing for once in your life."

"You managed to hold on to some liquor into this place?  You HAD liquor to hold onto?  Fine, deal."

The jacket probably couldn't produce drugs anyway; those were supposed to be expensive, right?  But there were cheap liquors, Adaine thought.

This was the sort of thing Fig would know about.

She twisted her body, getting a hand into her jacket pocket, and thought about how incredibly useful a bottle of liquor she could trade her sister for responsiveness would be.  She wiggled the bottle in the air at Aelwyn.

Who sounded aghast, looking wide-eyed at the bottle.  "Galicaea, Adaine, I know you're homeless but I didn't expect you to be drinking something that poor quality.  Or anything at all, to be truthful, but I thought people mostly used that brand to remove paint."

Still, she held her hands up as much as possible, ready to catch.  Adaine sent a Mage Hand to deliver it, and in spite of her complaints Aelwyn tipped the bottle back, gasping after.  

"Oh, that's vile.  Don't suppose you want some, before we have to have this conversation?"

Adaine shook her head, and watching her sister's eyes closely, said.  "No.  Alcohol interacts badly with my anxiety medication."

Some surprise there, too.  Whether the surprise was that she had been placed on medication, or that she was willing to admit to it, Adaine wasn't certain. "Ah.  I see.  Very well, I will answer what I can, Adaine.  But when I said that I can't tell you much, I meant it.  There is a great deal that I cannot tell you.  Magically."

That was concerning.  Not an area Adaine knew that much about, either.

"Who are you working for?"  

A shake of the head.  

"Why are you putting girls into crystals?"  

Another.  

"How do we get the girls back out?"

"I don't actually know that one myself."

"You're really not being very helpful about any of this."  She decided, sighing and trying to think as Aelwyn shrugged and tipped back another gulp of her bottle.  Well.  Maybe if Aelwyn had been truthful..  She just needed to ask less direct questions. "...Where can I or my friends find out the answers to my other questions?  And why are you so unworried about getting your spellbook so you can cast remove curse on yourself, anyway?  I'm getting used to being a werewolf, but it's not a good thing, not at all."

A slow grin spread across Aelwyn's face.  Maybe the booze was getting to her.  "Very clever, little sister. I'm not worried about casting remove curse on myself because even if I had it prepared, I would not be able to cast it on myself.  And you could find some answers in the home of myself or Penelope Everpetal.  Well, you could find them in Penelope's house.  One of your friends could go to my home.  The place has been quite specifically heavily warded against vampires, zombies, ghouls, and werewolves recently.  I had wondered why."

That might have been a dig, or it might have been an actual warning, and Adaine wasn't sure which it was.  In any case, she traced arcane symbols in the air with her fingers and whispered into the air, Sending to Riz.  "Check my sister's room in my house, and Penelope Everpetal's in hers.  Should be evidence in both."

She trusted that he'd still be up.

It was only a moment later that Riz's worried voice came back.  "On it.  Let us know when you want us to try and bust you out of jail."

That was sweet of him.  Hopefully not needed, but sweet.  They couldn't keep her that long for the restraining order thing, right?

Aelwyn watched her cast, amused.  "Aah.  I wondered how you would do anything about it, given that you seem to be in nearly as much trouble as I am.  Didn't think about having someone who would actually care on the outside.  Anything else, or can I finish this bottle and then wait to be assassinated in peace?"

Adaine bit her lip, and then decided to take a chance.  "Who cast Geas on you?"

Eyes widening, Aelwyn said, "I don't remember.  One more question, Adaine.  I think that's plenty fair, for our deal."

It wasn't, and there was so much more she wanted to ask, Adaine thought.  Mostly, why.  Why did you kidnap girls, why were you so cruel to me, why couldn't you have loved me, why do you seem so ready to die, just why.

But this was the most cooperative Aelwyn had been in.. ever.  Years, at least, since they were tiny children.  "..What else can you tell me that I should know?"  She decided, finally.

Aelwyn, sniffing at the half empty bottle, coughed.  "..It just gets worse as I drink it.  Did you know, Adaine, that I laughed and laughed when I heard they had disowned you?"

There was that flash of irritation again.  It showed in her voice, this time, she was certain.  "I already knew that you revel in my misfortunes, Aelwyn.  I've known that a long, long, long time."

A hint of Aelwyn's usual smirk made Adaine clinch her fists even as her sister spoke.  "Only the funny ones, but in this case I wasn't laughing at you, Adaine.  That book that you stole on your first day.  You never got a chance to read it, did you, before you got caught with it and got detention?"

Adaine could feel blood rushing to her face, and tried to steel herself. "Are you really just trying to humiliate me now, of all times?"

"No, that was never the main point.  Of any of it, not of you stealing the book or my reminding you about it.  The thing that I can tell you that you should know is that only two people in the world could have taken that book out of the library without its defenses knocking them out.  One of them is your school's insane headmaster, and the other is the current Elven Oracle.  And so, father unknowingly removed the most important figure in Elvish culture from our family.  You can, and should, contact Fallinel and they'll go to any length to get you out of here, and cure your, ah, disease, and forget entirely about this mess.  It doesn't have to be your problem, Adaine.  You shouldn't make it yours, either."  Aelwyn was speaking faster, and softer, with a slight slur to her words now.  

That much alcohol on no food, Adaine supposed, as she stared at her sister in shock as she trailed off.  But, honestly...

"You're claiming that I'M the Elven Oracle?  I'm not even a Fallinel citizen anymore, Aelwyn, father had that stripped too.  They officially classified me as a 'monster'.  I've got the proof on official letterhead and everything, at home."

Aelwyn seemed delighted by that, laughing.  "Really?  All the funnier, then.  You should probably take proof with you, in that case.  Take that book, even.  And read it, for that matter, it should confirm all of this.  Go, have a good life in some tower having visions every few years, and you won't have to worry about kidnappings or being murdered or dragons or any of it.  Mother and father will be thrilled to attach themselves to it, I'm sure."

There was a crashing sound from somewhere in the distance, but Adaine was staring at her sister.  "What do you mean, dragons?"

But there was confusion on her sister's face.  The Geas, maybe, or whatever had clearly been done to her memory.  "What DID I mean, dragons?...  Oh, hells, they're here.  You should stay out of the way, Adaine."

More crashing, and a scream.  Four figures rushed up to the cell, the door flying open from some kind of upcast Knock if she had her arcane senses working right.

Were these really assassins, or were they here to get Aelwyn out?  Either way, Adaine couldn't just allow it.  She channeled all of the anger and rage she'd been suppressing during the conversation, growling and yanking at the chains, a satisfying pop coming from the ones on her feet as she rode through the pain of the transformation.

Two of them ran to Aelwyn, starting to work on her chains.  One turned to Adaine, a shortsword in hand with a slight glow to it.  Magical, at minimum.

"No.  Please."  Aelwyn said, sounding almost helpless, though whether she was talking to Adaine or the older elf Adaine wasn't certain.  A brief flash showed her the sword swing at her neck, dealing her what might have been a lethal blow.  She ducked under it, driving her claws up and putting a satisfying set of slashes into her attacker's armor and chest underneath.

Another flash of future memory.  The fourth elf, the one she had lost track of, driving a silvered knife into her spine.  She twisted, too slowly, the knife instead piercing deeply into her back for a less immediately lethal blow.

Still quite bad enough.

Adaine fell forward, first to her knees, then to the ground, hearing a scream.  Herself?  No, that was Aelwyn, and so was the growl after.

Talking, indistinct words in elvish that she couldn't quite hear, and then more yelling.

A popping noise, and Aelwyn and the other four elves all vanished from the cell, in what some academic part of Adaine's brain thought was a Teleport.  

Time felt fuzzy, but her hand - back to a hand, she must have lost the transformation - moved along her back, finding the source of the burning pain, the dagger that had been left there.  She managed one last effort to yank it out, hissing at the touch of the equally silver handle, sending it scattering across the floor.  

She tried to prop herself back up off the floor, slick with spilled alcohol and her own blood, but failed, darkness closing in from the edges of her vision.

Notes:

I've been really, really looking forward to this chapter, in which some of the clues that have been missed because of Adaine not living with Aelwyn are revealed, and Aelwyn mixes in at least tiny bits of good with the bad. Aelwyn also 100% thinks she's dying in the next few hours, which gets her all the way up to the level of care and honesty you see above.

Hey, everyone's got to start somewhere.

I'd apologize for ending on a cliffhanger, but Adaine's obviously not going to die permanently here. That would be a heck of an ending, though; she finds out she's the Oracle like five minutes before getting assassinated and spending the rest of eternity in Oracle Heaven.

Portents in this chapter, in a very brief combat as a level seven wizard against an elvish black ops squad: Adaine turns a solid hit into a miss on her first attack and a crit sneak attack that absolutely would have killed her into a mere hit.

Chapter 11: Investigation

Summary:

The rest of the Bad Kids continue the investigation without their arrested party member. Adaine eventually wakes up to pick up the pieces.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

After the party at Ostentatia Wallace's wrapped up, and both Abernant sisters were arrested, the group agreed to split up and meet back up later at Seacaster Manor.  Riz had at least passed along Adaine's message to the others, that she might not want to be broken out of jail right away, but Fig had insisted that she go take a look at the prison, and Gorgug had gone with her as backup.  Kristen had gone to tell Jawbone and Tracker where Adaine was, so that they could get started with her legal defense or at least wouldn't worry too much.

Riz hadn't told anyone else what he'd be doing, for deniability reasons, but Fabian had come along anyways.  After they'd been unable to return Adaine to her home when she had passed out earlier in the year, he'd gotten the address off her school files.  And quite a lot of other evidence about their friend.

All of their friends, but especially Adaine, who kept not telling them information that put herself at risk and doing stupid things like getting herself arrested just to ask a few questions.

He hadn't ended up confronting her about it the last time, but it meant he did now know where to get Fabian to take the Hangman.  "We've got to get in and get out; they disowned Adaine months ago now, so we're going to end up in jail too if we get caught."  He warned Fabian, as they pulled up.

It wasn't too difficult to get in and send the Hangman away in case they had to sneak out, wondering through the quite large house.  Portraits and pictures of Adaine's parents, and some of Aelwyn, were throughout the house.  

Not a single one of Adaine anywhere.  Riz wasn't actually sure if that was new or if she never had been.

Finding which room was Aelwyn's was also easy - what was presumably Adaine's once upon a time had been emptied of everything and locked shut, dust starting to settle on the floor.

Riz knew for a fact that Adaine hadn't kept much of anything.  It would have been nice to be able to get some of her things for her, but that wasn't the main purpose of their visit.

The bedroom across from that one, larger, was equally clearly Aelwyn's.  Which was an adventure.  Neither he nor Fabian knew that much about the arcane, so best to just take as much of that kind of thing as possible for Adaine or Fig or maybe Kristen to look at later, but he knew that the amount of drugs in this room was truly insane for a seventeen year old to just have laying around.  Not even getting into the handcuffs she had for some reason, or the guns.  Or the remarkable amount of cash, even given that the Abernants were rich.

Either she was getting paid for the girls she'd been kidnapping, maybe, or much more likely she was a drug dealer.  Riz found himself almost hoping she was dealing; the idea that the amount she had in the room was just for personal use was almost worse.

Around the vanity, there were pictures, more candid than the ones elsewhere in the house.  Mostly Aelwyn herself, looking far more prim and proper than the girl who had attempted very hard to kill him.  A few with people he didn't recognize, mostly Hudol students judging by the uniforms.

Tucked away in the very corner was a worn picture of two very young elf children on a ship.  The smaller was out of focus, but sobbing openly, sitting on her bottom several feet back; the older was leaning out and looking down at the water.  It was the only picture that included Adaine he'd seen anywhere in the house, and he strongly considered taking it just so Adaine would have some kind of record of herself as a child before deciding against it.

He left the drugs and the guns, which were both loaded and unsecured on top of everything else.  He tucked away the spellbooks, and after hesitating, took the cash to give to Adaine later.  They also found a model ship surrounded with arcane sigils, which Fabian frowned at for a while.  "...She didn't exactly seem like someone who would build model ships as a hobby.  Let's take this, too.  Get a picture of the runes, so Adaine or Fig can look at it later."

They had to make something of a hasty exit out the window but Riz at least considered that intrusion a success.

Fabian got them back to Seacaster Manor before the others, seeming in high spirits.  "I think I might marry that girl."

...What.  

"..Please tell me you don't mean Adaine's sister?"  Riz said, though he couldn't figure out who else Fabian could possibly be referring to.

"Who else would I mean, the Ball?"  Fabian asked.  Riz, who had some trouble understanding what attracted people to each other at the best of times, made a snap decision.

"You have to get Adaine's permission first.  It's just rude, otherwise.  Not just because she's her sister but because they tried pretty hard to kill each other."

"I don't need anyone's permission for pursuing an exciting romance!  But I will talk to her about it first, just to avoid having her try to kill my date when I show up, I suppose."  

Riz wasn't going to even talk about the amount of time Aelwyn was likely to be in jail.  Fabian had a long lifespan, and Aelwyn's was theoretically forever even if she seemed to be trying to destroy it.  He fell silent for a moment, desperately trying to think of another topic, and decided on one he knew the group as a whole needed to talk about.

"..We're going to need to make plans to break Adaine out, if things go bad.  Or at least try to get her legal help."  Riz said.  "I don't know if she was thinking clearly about how bad it was going to be for her to get arrested.  She might have, and been that determined to spite Aelwyn, but I've been keeping up with everything I can about her situation.  I've got some resources at home about it, if you want to swing by there before everyone else gets here?"

Kristen might still be over there, for that matter.  They could probably fit her on the Hangman.

Riz had at least been able to downgrade Adaine's situation from an active conspiracy board to a thick dossier, which made it a little less bad to explain to Fabian, who still seemed unimpressed.  "Are you keeping files on all of us, then?"

"...Yes.  But hers has the most.  I worry about all of you, though."  He'd admit that he'd paid more attention to Adaine, Fig, and Kristen, all of whom fit the profiles of the girls who'd gone missing.  When he'd realized that Adaine had been just camping for weeks after her arrest, he'd considered it incredibly lucky that nothing like that had happened to her.

Apparently it might have been more likely where she'd been before that, if her sister was really the mastermind.

They reached out to Kristen, who was apparently walking to Seacaster Manor, and swung by to give her a lift the rest of the way.  Fig and Gorgug were there by then as well.

"I snuck in in disguise close enough to get a look, but Adaine was trancing and I think her sister was just passed out."  Fig reported.  "Couldn't even ask if she'd had a chance to ask anything yet but I think the answer's no."

There was an awkward conversation with Fabian and his father and some bank asshole before they settled in to Fabian's room, trying to relax and have drinks.  It didn't really work to cheer them up with a party member missing, even though she wouldn't have been able to drink with her meds, and they quickly fell into investigating what leads they'd had.

Most of the rest of the group fell asleep over the next while, alcohol getting to them, or just exhaustion from the fight and investigation afterwards.  Fabian stayed awake for a while as Riz started using his computer to chase down information, and then switching to confirm some of the legal stuff for Adaine, cross-checking against the schedule he'd been tracking of Adaine's legal status in his dossier.  Her permanent asylum hearing had been scheduled for the week after the school term ended, still several months away.

"...Solace law is so weird sometimes.  If she gets convicted for violating a restraining order before she has her permanent asylum hearing, that's grounds for her to get deported.  If the hearing comes first, even if she's a fugitive who'd broken out of jail or was arrested for murder or treason or something, if she hasn't been convicted then they won't consider that as part of it and she's probably good, because once it's granted they won't send her to Fallinel.  So we need to either make sure she doesn't get convicted or break her out.  Or I guess get them to make a case against her that'll take a lot longer but then she'll just have more problems in the end."

He glanced over at where Fabian had not replied to any of this, only to find him asleep in his desk chair in what couldn't be a good position for his neck.

A look at the clock on the computer showed it was between three and four in the morning.  Good of Fabian to stay up that late with him, really.

He was considering trying to get at least a little sleep, an hour or so, when Adaine's voice sprung into his head.  "Check my sister's room in my house, and Penelope Everpetal's in hers.  Should be evidence in both."

He paused, and knew they only had so many words he could send back.  Aelwyn's room had had good evidence, but bringing Penelope Everpetal into it was new.  Too late tonight to break in there, but soon?  And he could investigate the link now.  "On it."  He replied, then, if Adaine could actually make requests...  "...Let us know when you want us to try and bust you out of jail."

There wasn't a further response, but the new lead and connection had him back on his investigation, finding Penelope's social media, finding links to all of the missing girls..  and a new friend in one Zelda Donovan.  He'd tell Gorgug in the morning, he decided, looking over to where the halforc was resting in a chair.

That investigation carried him through until just before dawn, when Kristen woke up and started stretching out.  Not two minutes later, her crystal started buzzing, and she took the call and started a conversation that she probably thought was whispering but that woke up both Fig and Gorgug.

He could only hear her side of it, but what he heard had him watching with worry.

"..Hey, Jawbone, what's up?  ...What?!  ...Uhhuh.  ...Yeah.  ...What's the room number?  I'll be right there.  The rest, too, if they can and want."  Kristen hung up, and noticing himself, Fig, and Gorgug all watching her said with a frown.

"Adaine's in the hospital now, something happened at the police station.  Jawbone didn't have the details of what, except she's in bad shape and the room number.  I figure I can go and see if I can at least help."

Riz's eyes went wide, his ears twitching with worry.  "..I just heard from her like.. two or three hours ago, and she'd gotten some information from Aelwyn that Penelope Everpetal was involved.  Whatever happened can't have been that long after that.  Wonder if Aelwyn got the drop on her, somehow."

Fig kicked the base of the chair that Fabian was sleeping in to wake him and they all started going much too early.

Riz, now worried, called his mom on the way to Elmville hospital.  Thankfully, she picked up.

"Hey, sweetie.  You heard about the attack, I'm guessing, but I'm okay.  I wasn't even here when it happened."  His mom was quick to try and reassure him, but that made it sound like it was a way bigger thing than just Adaine.

"The attack?  All I'd heard was that Adaine's in the hospital.  What happened?"  He asked, and he heard Mom moving to get away from a lot of background noise and probably from people who could overhear her.

"A Fallinel strike force hit the police station and broke Aelwyn Abernant out.  We're not sure if they were trying to kill Adaine and just didn't realize she was still alive or if she got in the way.  Maybe both, she'd broken loose of her restraints, but they put a silver dagger into her lung which suggests they'd come prepared specifically for a werewolf.  Last I heard, they expect her to be out for at least a few days, too.  They killed a janitor and one of the guards, the council is sending clerics to resurrect them.  Sweetie, just go be with your friend, I'll make sure the guards at her door knows you're coming, but I've got to go, it's such a mess here now."  

Riz shut his eyes and said.  "Okay.  Love you, mom."

"Love you too, kid."

If Mom was right, and Adaine was down for an extended period, they'd just have to continue the quest with the information she'd been able to get them for now.  Riz would start by talking to all of them about Penelope Everpetal and Zelda Donovan.


Adaine dreamed, deeper than she ever had before.

It was not a good experience.

She was trapped inside of a cage with her sister, as she had been two years ago, the same age Adaine was now.  Water was at their knees and rising rapidly, her parents jeering them from outside the cage and demanding that they fight.  Adaine tried, but every movement she tried to make, every spell she took, it was just a moment too slow until she snapped and bit at Aelwyn's neck.

Her sister popped into a rush of water, the cage sealing and becoming a transparent sphere completely filled with water, her parents now inaudible but still watching.

The water filled her throat, her nose, her lungs, smothering her and pushing her down, down...

She was in Elmville, near the Adventuring Academy, and the entire city was in flames except for an enormous pile of gold where a bank should be.  The roar of a familiar motorcycle drew her attention to Fabian in the distance, riding the Hangman, a slumped over redhead that could only be Kristen being barely held onto the bike by Fabian.  A red hulking form in full flight swooped down upon him, and Adaine felt herself scream, and...

She was in a forest she did not recognize, staring at another version of herself who was covered in scars and weeping, lost and alone.  She knelt down to try to comfort herself, to see if she could pull her out of whatever attack had left her in this state.

The other Adaine looked at her with eyes silvery white to the very edges and spoke.  "Take comfort in this:  Every other Elven Oracle has eventually died, too.  You're no worse than them, in that regard."  She crumpled to the ground, rotting away in a moment to a days-old corpse, alongside the corpse of a Tiefling with pointed ears, another young woman sobbing tears of fire over them both.

"I do not know if it was worth experiencing love or friendship for so brief a period.  Now I will have to know what the lack truly is."

A fierce pain seized at her back, and she was back in the orb of water, but there were holes in the top.  She managed to squeeze through one, and...

"Is she awake yet?" came a voice in the background, and Adaine wasn't certain if the answer was yes or no.  Was this another dream?  If so, the pain was a lot more normal, a throbbing still in her back, and the conversation way less ominous the the ones she'd just had.

"Seems so.  Surely this can wait?  She's been out for a week, I doubt she has any information you need to act on right away."

"Don't tell me how do my job, Doctor.  Do I tell you how to do yours?"

"You just brought me a court order to make me pull a fourteen-year-old girl out of a coma days before I probably should have."

That argument - which had clearly already been going on a while and also was going to keep her from being bothered - faded into a buzz as she tried to lift her hand weakly.  A restraint brought her up short, a silver cuff, though at least they'd put bandages under it to keep it off her skin.

"We can talk about this later."  The voice that wasn't the doctor said, and Adaine felt a hand on her shoulder.  She snarled up as a reflex, and found herself stopped short with the picture that the woman who was there was holding up.

The woman looked to be a half-elf in a suit, wearing a badge, but that didn't matter.  She was holding up a picture of Doreen's corpse, her head bashed in, Adaine knew, with a ladle.

"My name is Angela Worrel.  I have some questions for you about the murders of Johnny Spells and several other tieflings, this woman known as Doreen, "Coach" Daybreak, and a variety of other crimes on top of those you were already arrested for, as well as your association with the group responsible for the murder of Biz Glitterdew."

Notes:

We'll get information on exactly what the hell happened in between these two scenes when Adaine does, but no, this isn't good news for those rooting for Adaine to spend LESS of her time in prison.

Chapter 12: Incarceration

Summary:

The party finds the repercussions of their actions, and also gets reunited.

In prison, but reunited.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Adaine stared up at the woman accusing her of multiple murders, and at the picture of the corpse of the woman who had cursed her to think of her every time she closed her eyes.

When was the last time she had even thought of Doreen?  She hadn't been present in even her nightmares in months.  There were too many new nightmares she'd needed to have.

It took a while for her brain to catch up, and then she protested.  "Almost all of those people tried to kill me!  Or end the world, which would also kill me!  And what do you mean, Biz is dead?"  Not that Adaine would mind that much, but he had been supposed to be working on a way to get the girls out of the palimpsest.

Speaking that loudly caused an ache of pain in her back; her wound had not fully healed.  Thinking on how long she'd had the burn from the fork on her hand, gotten when she hadn't even been transformed...  Adaine was pretty sure she was lucky to be waking up at all.

The woman switched the photo she was holding, yanking away the picture of Doreen and showing a picture of Biz, instead.  He was dead on the floor of some place with bright lights in the background, clearly killed via a shot to the head on top of many other wounds.  Almost certainly Riz's work, and a closer look showed some of Biz's fingers were missing as well.

"I don't know anything about this, but I'm sure my friends wouldn't have done anything without good reason."  Adaine declared, confident in that much.  Biz was a creep; he'd probably tried to do something to Kristen or Fig, or one of the girls in the palimpsests, or something.

"Good reasons to murder people?  You can't just go around killing people all over the place.  You expect us to believe you all have killed over a dozen people in multiple locations out of self defense?"

Adaine was starting to get talked in circles, opening her mouth to complain, only to be talked over by the officer.

"Now.  I work for the council of chosen in Solace, not for this little police department here that seems to let you do whatever you want.  I'm offering you a deal, Miss Abernant.  You claim to have no country, but we are at war with Fallinel after that stunt they pulled breaking your sister out.  If, IF you testify against the rest of your group and admit to everything with no excuses, we'll grant your asylum, give you a reduced sentence and you can expect to be out in forty or fifty years.  Nothing to an elf, right?  If you don't, on the other hand... well.  No asylum claim means you're a citizen of Fallinel in our eyes.  Prison for being on the wrong side of a war until it ends, and then we'll send you back to them as a criminal werewolf once it does.  Now how do you think that will go?"

The unfairness of this staggered Adaine, her mouth opening and shutting several times, a stammer in her voice.  "They.. they just tried.. to kill me, in your...  You'd threaten to send me back.. back there?"  And something she'd never quite had before, a fierce combination of anxiety and anger and despair and rage burst forth in her, all of it directed at this woman, and the thought of Solace turning on her just as much as Fallinel had.

She twisted her hands up, as much as she could with the silver restraints, and flipped the woman off with both hands, the only appropriate response she could manage as her throat felt like it was closing.

She started to panic as she realized that whatever other treatments she had been getting, they had not been administering her anxiety meds while she had been in the hospital.  Imperfect as they had been, it had been months since she had been without them.

It was only in their absence that she was truly registering just how much they had helped.

And so, she fell back on the advice Tracker had had, not fighting the transformation that came on.  It wouldn't help her escape, not with the silver restraints on, but it would be a very definitive answer to the threats.  They wouldn't even be able to say for sure she'd done it intentionally, since it was in all of her files that she had trouble controlling it.

She twisted her head away not to look and angrily ignored the agent of the council's threats in a wolf form until a needle in her side sent her back into an oblivion of dreams.


Fig leaned back and looked around the cell the five of them were sharing.  Fabian had barely spoken since his fistfight with his father the first day; she'd been able to talk to her mother once or twice, but not to any good effect.  Kristen had reached Jawbone, who was apparently trying to get through some kind of paperwork nonsense the feds were putting up around Adaine to get visitation with her, but had stopped by to make certain they had everything they needed.

Gorgug had managed to reach his parents, who were apparently building a satellite.  Fig wasn't entire clear on if this was related to Gorgug being in jail or not.

Riz was the only one who'd managed anything actually useful; Sklonda had at least given him Adaine's jacket for safekeeping, which had been a godsend in letting them not be completely miserable in the cell and was also useful because it had come with Sklonda letting them know that it was likely Adaine would be joining them at some point, even though she hadn't been there for Biz's death.

Kristen had Mended the hole in the back from where the dagger had been stabbed into Adaine, but none of them had a spell to take the bloodstains out; Adaine would have to do that herself.

It was their third day in jail now, and Fig was starting to run low on ideas for jailbreaks, but she hadn't seen that Agent Worrel around of late.  Maybe she could get out if it was just the Elmville Police involved.  They mostly seemed like idiots, other than Riz's mom who would probably look the other way.

...Might as well try the plan that had been at the bottom of her list.

"Hey, guards!"  She called over - they'd stopped standing anywhere near the area the group was detained in, but she thought she could still hear them.

Oh, good.  It was one of the really dumb ones that was coming over.  Maybe this would work.

"It's been over forty-eight hours now, so our sentence is over.  Let us out already, I can't believe you forgot."  Fig said, hands on her hips, trying to project annoyance and authority.

"Oh, no, I'm sorry!"  The man said, scrambling and fumbling with his keys.  "..Oh these aren't even the right keys for this cell.  One minute, I'm so sorry!"  He scrambled away, the others all watching her with varying levels of disbelief on their faces.

She shrugged and grinned, whispering.  "Whatever works, right?"

Unfortunately..  "No, you fucking moron, that isn't true.  They won't even have their trial for months, do you have any idea how long it takes to do a trial for murder and terrorism?"  Looked like Worrel was back, more was the pity.  She walked into the room, not typical for when she'd stopped one of their escapes, holding the keys to the cell.

Four others followed, three of them aiming guns at the cell door.  "Back up!"  Worrel demanded of them, but Fig didn't move, watching as the last of the entering cops - these all agents of Solace, not Elmville - guided a Floating Disk into the room, atop which was a familiar, but unconscious wolf, with a muzzle and with paws bound together with silver wire.

At that sight, and a prod from one of the guns through the cage, Fig stumbled backwards to allow them to move Adaine into the cell with them, the disk lowering, then getting dismissed and dropping her the last few inches to the floor.  The cell slammed shut once more, but the group were all occupied with their friend, Riz working on removing the restraints and Kristen frowning.  

"I think they just sedated her.  Should I get her up or let her sleep, do you think?"  Kristen fussed, even as Riz got the restraints free.  They'd kept them from touching Adaine directly with cloth bandages, at least.  

"Wake her up, we should catch up with her as soon as we can."  Fabian spoke, for the first time in quite a while.  Kristen nodded, and with a Restoration purged the sedatives out from Adaine's system.

It was still a while before she woke up, and longer still before she was able to turn back into an elf.  Still, soon enough they had their wizard back for the first time since the fight with Aelwyn, wrapped up in a blanket and trembling slightly still in what Fig at least recognized as the aftermath of one of her worse panic attacks.  She was somehow even paler than she had been before, maybe because of the blood loss or the silver poisoning.  Fig sat down next to her, wrapping an arm around her and leaning against her.

"Hey, girl, how are you doing?"  Fig asked, everyone else watching but not overcrowding Adaine, probably for the best.  Adaine shook her head and licked at her lips, managing to speak up after a moment.

"Not..  the best.  What happened after the party?  Why'd you all get arrested too?"  Adaine said, looking up, and there was more focus in her eyes.  Kristen passed over her jacket, and Adaine started pulling some necessities out of it.

Fig started. "Well, Gorgug got a girlfriend and they went on just the cutest date!  Um, but she got kidnapped after, so we need to rescue her too.  Once we get out of here.  Oh!  Riz, you managed to hold on to that crystal, right?"

Everyone was moving closer now, and more openly paying attention, since Adaine was getting pulled out of herself and into the conversation.  Riz nodded, pulling a crystal out of his pocket and tossing it to Adaine, who started watching the video on it, a sharp intake of breath coming once the video started.

"Are you serious with this, Penelope?  You want us to record doing this just to make it so if we fail, your punishment isn't as bad?"  Aelwyn Abernant's voice came, at the start of the recording, sounding frustrated, before the camera viewpoint swivelled around to show Aelwyn and Biz Glitterdew in what Fig knew to be Penelope's bedroom.  Penelope herself stepped into view a moment later.

"Can't have anyone saying they weren't willing after the fact if it goes completely bad, you understand, Aelwyn darling."  Penelope said, waving a hand in the air.  "You first, Biz."

Biz snorted, and then spoke as though trying to feign a formality he couldn't carry off.  "My name is Biz Glitterdew.  I have agreed to both provide technical expertise and to have my memory modified to help make the plan work; Penelope isn't forcing me to do it.  She offered a certain, ah, prize for the effort, instead."

Aelwyn looked at Biz with an expression that Fig thought might be the purest contempt she'd ever seen - Adaine and Aelwyn appeared to have at least one thing in common as sisters in a disdain for Biz Glitterdew, not that Fig would be saying that to Adaine.  "Still not willing to admit you're doing this so you can make some fucking crystal game run faster or whatever?"

Penelope cut in.  "As amusing as this is, that's not your business.  Just say your lines, and cast your spells, and then get out of my house.  Mom's getting home soon, and she's been a wreck since Sam 'disappeared'."

Aelwyn paused, her eyes flickering away and to a part of the room that was offcamera.  After a few moments, she sighed, and said "Very well, Penelope.  I don't plan on failing, anyway, but I suppose some need a safety net.  I have aided with magical expertise in this little scheme so far, and will be taking a more direct role due to the loss of other assets.  Since I will be exposed in this position, I will be placing a Geas on myself requiring that I follow the directives of Penelope here as well as Kalvaxus, and that I do not dismiss the Geas or cast or seek to have cast upon me any spell that would remove it.  I will then modify my memory to remove certain elements of this plot, as well as my memory of casting Geas."

Her formal speech was much more prim than Biz's.

A series of spells that Fig hadn't recognized but that Adaine appeared to later, and the video cut out.

"That fucking bitch!"  Adaine said, as Aelwyn finished casting upon herself in the video.  "I can't believe I was almost feeling sorry for her!"

"You were?"  Fig asked, a little shocked.  Adaine had never shown any sign of feeling anything remotely positive towards any of her family.

"She was.. pretty convinced she was about to die.  I don't think she was lying about that.  Maybe it had something to do with how she modified her memory, to let her be more convincing."  Adaine shook her head.  "No matter, she's out of the country now.  Is this video why you all killed Biz?"

"I mean, it's why we went after him.  He'd holed up in some arcade with a bunch of gear, had all of the palimpsests, but he did something to them right as we were getting there.  Said he had sent them to their real bodies after we fought, somewhere else."  Fig said, not looking Adaine in the eyes.

"..And you killed him for that?"  Adaine said, not sounding opposed but a little surprised.  That was blood thirstier than the party usually was, Fig guessed.

"Nooooot exactly."  Fig said, trying to figure out the best way to say it when Riz cut it.

"He was going to kidnap you as his prize and leave you stuck in a palimpsest for good, he admitted.  He avoided saying it on the video because it was a deal between him and Penelope and they weren't sure whether Aelwyn would go along with it or not, but he admitted it to me, and I couldn't help but think about you in the hospital, and I kind of shot him for it."  Riz said.  "I don't know if the cops are going to resurrect him, but if they do you need to know to be careful about him.  Anyway, we got arrested on the way out from there for the whole Johnny Spells thing, and they found his corpse, and it's just gotten worse from there.  I think someone's pulling strings, they don't normally arrest adventuring parties for this kind of thing.  Solace's entire economy is built on adventurers doing exactly this kind of thing."

Adaine's mouth was hanging open and tears were at the corners of her eyes.  "You.. you all killed someone for wanting to hurt me?"  And she sniffled.  "That's the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me."

That sidetracked the story, and they'd have to go back over the details later, but the mood was changed from the last week; they were back together, and they'd be able to break out of this prison with Adaine's help soon enough, Fig was certain.

Everything was going to be fine.

Notes:

I thought this story way going to end up at like 15 chapters and I'm going to end up there just for freshman year it appears. Welp.

Chapters will slow at some point because I have to move soon, but honestly not sure when. This story has a grip on my soul at the moment.

Chapter 13: Foster

Summary:

Time passes in prison. Adaine has her cake, and eats it too.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Unfortunately, by the next morning, it was getting clearer to Adaine that they were going to have trouble getting out of jail anytime soon.  Fig had stolen her crystal back during an escape attempt while Adaine had been in the hospital, and they could use it when none of the guards were around.

They seldom were, according to Fig.  Apparently Worrel had decided the magical protections on the cage were much more reliable without the Elmville Police to screw it up.  After an examination of the cage with Detect Magic, Adaine was forced to agree with that assessment.

The one she'd been in with Aelwyn hadn't been nearly so resilient, judging by a Knock spell working on it.  This one was either hastily installed after the previous attack on the station or the party was considered a greater risk than Adaine and Aelwyn alone had been.

In any case, Fig let her borrow the crystal, and she was tucked into a corner of the cell under a blanket to hide in case a guard came in suddenly, wearing cheap pajamas her jacket had been able to provide.  Fig and Fabian had the jacket at the moment and were using it to decorate the cell, a sign that they too thought the party might be in this prison for the long haul.

"Fig?  Is everything okay?"  Jawbone's voice came through, far more stressed and worried then she'd last heard it.

...Was that because of her?  She put that thought aside for the moment.  Worry about how she should feel about having worried someone later.

She was pretty certain it wasn't supposed to be a mix of guilt, delight, and surprise, at least.

"It's Adaine."  She said, quietly.

"Adaine!  I'm so relieved to hear from you, kid.  They wouldn't tell me where you were, but you must be with Fig now?  And the others?"  Jawbone asked.

"Right, yeah.  I was in the hospital until last night, they brought me back here."  Adaine would just.. not tell Jawbone about having missed all the time between the hospital and here.  Or the threats from Worrel.

"It's good to hear that you're out of the hospital.  I should be able to get in to visit you there, at least."  Jawbone said, cheer in his voice.  Forced, Adaine thought, but it still helped her to hear it, a tightness she hadn't realized was in her chest loosening up.

"Can you try and get my anxiety meds to me?  I haven't been able to pull them out of my jacket, I think they might be too expensive.  It's been..  I feel a lot worse without them."  She dropped her voice to the barest whisper for that last part; she didn't want her friends to hear it, but Jawbone had always made it clear that he would listen and wouldn't make her feel bad for it.

"Of course.  We'll get them to you one way or another.  Are you all still trying to break out?"  Jawbone asked.

"Mmhmm.  Fig's come close a few times she said, it's just going to be hard for all of us to get out without outside help."  She took a deep breath, and then.  "They were threatening to send me back to Fallinel if I didn't turn on my friends.  I think there's someone pulling strings to keep us in trouble, but I really can't be sent back.  Even.."  She glanced around.  She should tell the others about the Elven Oracle situation, but she'd rather confirm it before making a claim like that.

She had to have faith she'd get back to the Academy soon.

"Of course, kid.  I'll be there later today, and I'll tear the place down if they won't let me in.  I can see if Tracker wants to visit, too, if you like?"  Jawbone offered.

"Sure.  Kristen'd love to see her, anyway."  Adaine said, though she had missed her sort-of cousin too.

With that, she stood up, joining in on the decoration and helping with planning the next escape attempt.  There were limits on the miracles the Jacket could do - both monetarily and just on the size of what could be taken from it.  More comfortable or just MORE furniture wasn't happening.  Fabian's complaints about the lack of good food were not going to be resolved by what she could get, either, though at least a hot chocolate had stopped them for a few minutes.

Fig was running a hammock in one corner of the cage, and Adaine stepped next to her, going around where Gorgug was starting to clip a blanket up in the beginning of trying to get themselves at least a few private areas instead of needing to change under blankets and such.

At least for most of them.  Kristen was shameless to a shocking degree, and Adaine had had weeks of living with her to get used to it.

Adaine slipped the crystal back to Fig, who pocketed it and smirked at her.  "Want to try?  I think it should be able to hold two or three of us without collapsing."

Adaine eyed the hammock, which was dangling loosely at about her neck height. "I'm not even sure I can get into it safely at all."  She admitted.  She'd be better off if she'd had Fly prepared.  Though, now that she thought about it...  The cell was warded against teleportation, her detect magic had made that super obvious.  How thorough was it, and could she move within the cell?  She tried casting blink, and popped into the Ethereal Plane.

This was a mistake, mostly - she was almost blinded by the magic of the cage on this plane.  This thing couldn't be an ordinary object to put a few highschoolers in, she decided, not even in a place with as many adventurers as Solace.  Still...

She floated up, just in time to drop down into the hammock in the Material Plane, startling Fig who was staring at where she'd left.  Dismissing the effect, she sighed, falling back into the hammock.  "No escape this way, but I can move within the cell freely."

"Yeah, that lines up with everything we tried."  Riz said, glancing up at her, having tracked the sudden motion; she grinned down at him for a moment.

"..Not sure how I'll get down from here without burning another spell or hurting myself, to be honest."  She admitted, laying back and sighing.  "Though I guess I don't have that much useful to use spells on.  If you could get my spellbook the next time you get out, it'd be a big help.  There's a lot I could maybe do with it that I don't have prepared right now, or that I'd be able to use a ritual to cast if I had the book.  Though I wish Sending at least could reach through this cage."  Adaine admitted, with a shrug.

"You can keep using the crystal if you want to reach someone?"  Fig offered, and Adaine shook her head.

"Aelwyn's crystal wasn't on her when she got pulled out of here, and she's probably out of Solace by now..  I don't think she was going completely willingly, even accounting for that recording.  I want to know if she's still alive, and if so, I have a bunch of questions I think she owes me honest answers to.  If she's not.. I guess that's its own answer, too."  Adaine shrugged.  "It'd be nice to know, either way, and it's not like I'm doing anything else useful.  There's..  a couple of other things we should talk about."  She stared up at the ceiling of the cell, not wanting to look at her friends when she asked the favor she was about to, raising her voice at the end to get everyone's attention.

"Yeah?"  Riz prompted, wearily, even as the others came over, Fabian and Kristen and Gorgug sitting on the bench near the hammock even as Fig climbed started yanking and tugging at it in an seemingly futile attempt to climb in next to Adaine.

"We have a few weeks until the next full moon, but..  if we're still here, I think you all need to make certain I'm out for the entire thing, before it happens.  I still can't control myself during the full moon, not really, and I don't think I could forgive myself if one of you got hurt during it."  Even thinking of Aelwyn growling at the end sent an unsteady pulse of guilt across her mind, and she had years of practice at hating Aelwyn; Aelwyn had been trying pretty hard to kill her or her friends leading into that.  If any of her friends got bitten or mauled because she lost control she might combust from the shame of it.

How did Jawbone even stand to look at her?  She'd spent enough time around him that she knew he hadn't brought her in just out of pity or guilt, even if that was a part of it.  She couldn't even look at her friends while she discussed the mere thought of it, though she could feel their eyes on her.

They all spoke at once, Fabian protesting that she shouldn't worry herself, Kristen that she had faith that Adaine wouldn't hurt them, Riz - a little more practical - that they did have some silver wire she'd apparently been dropped off in they could try to use.  Gorgug was far more restrained, saying just "I think I understand" and Adaine, knowing his rages, thought that he might.

A weight finally settled into the hammock next to her, Fig's elbows and knees jostling her and Adaine looked over out of sheer need for self-defense.

"Don't worry about it too much.  We'll figure something out even if we don't escape, okay?  But it's like three weeks to the next full moon, we'll get out of here for sure.  I've got that perfect escape plan, and another after that."

The hammock was spectacularly uncomfortable with more than one person in it, impossible not to end up smashed into them with every movement, or even just the sheer force of gravity over time.  

Adaine started sleeping in it in the nights where she decided to go with wolf form and sleep anyways, which was most of them, Fig or Kristen usually joining her.

It was both uncomfortable and the best bed she'd ever had.


Fig was wrong about them getting out for sure, Adaine thought as the full moon approached.

Jawbone had been able to get her her meds, and had started visiting several times a week, their most frequent visitor by far other than Riz's mom.  Who worked here, so she couldn't exactly act on their side even if she was.  The visits were through the bars of the cage; apparently Worrel had declared that under no circumstances was the cage opening until time for their trial or to be moved.

Adaine's prestidigitation cantrip had gotten a lot more work to keep things sanitary.

Sklonda had said they should have been moved to individual cells by now.  Adaine had started wondering if whoever was trying to make their lives harder by keeping them here was intentionally trying to keep the party in a cage with a werewolf during the full moon.

Either way, it was too late to change now.  The full moon was less than fifteen minutes away, now.  Everyone else had steadfastly declared they were not okay with her plan to have them knock her out and then get healed by Kristen in the morning; they'd at least wrapped the silver wire back around her wrists and ankles, though, and Kristen and Fig both said they had spells that they thought would maybe help.   Adaine had tried to get them to at least promise that if she got loose they'd take action, and sort of gotten Riz to agree, if nothing else.

The wire wasn't in great shape, and silver or not Adaine didn't feel confident it would survive her really trying to get out.

Adaine had moved to a corner of the cell, as far away from everyone as she could manage, sitting and almost vibrating with the energy from the moon.  As had become normal for her this close to the hour, she couldn't even bring herself to speak, or to look anyone else in the eyes.  None of them were showing any fear, and maybe they weren't feeling any.

Adaine herself was terrified for them.  She wasn't sure they believed her when she said she had no control during the moon.

Some of the other prisoners down the cell block had made fun of them for their preparations, but that was okay.  They had lame cells, with no hammocks or fresh hot chocolate.

Gorgug sat down next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.  She looked over at him, a whine in the back of her throat, her eyes going wide, her breathing shallow.  If he stayed there, she'd be able to bite him even if the restraints held.

"We're going to be okay, alright?  I know you're afraid, but.. sometimes when I'm afraid, I sing a little song."  Gorgug said, in a soft tone.

She whined again as he started to sing, but rested her head on his shoulder, anyway.  Against all odds, it helped.

They were still there when her memory stopped a few minutes later.

She woke up on the floor of the cell, blankets wrapped around her, the wire restraints gone.  She whined and coughed, looking up and around, half expecting to see blood on the ground and wounded friends.

Kristen was there, holding out a jacket-provided cup of hot cocoa to her instead.  Everyone else looked to still be asleep.

"Good morning!"  Kristen said, far too cheerily, though it sent relief through Adaine.  Surely she wouldn't be that happy if Adaine had bitten off a chunk of Gorgug in the night.

Adaine groaned in response, sitting up and feeling her body protesting in agony.  The cell floor was not nearly comfortable enough to be waking up on as an elf on the best of days, and the day after the full moon was always terrible.  She took the cocoa, sipping.  Lukewarm, like always from the jacket with hot drinks.  "..How did it go?  I guess the restraints didn't work."

Kristen shook her head.  "Gorgug took them off of you, the cloth ripped and they seemed to be hurting you.  Calm Emotions seemed to really sooth you, and you stayed pretty relaxed after that.  Everybody was super careful not to provoke you or anything, but it was fine!"

That sounded like it had been a recipe for disaster to Adaine, but she swallowed, looking at her wrists and seeing a faint burn scar.  "..Guess I had a little more restraint than I thought after all..  I don't remember anything after Gorgug started singing."  She admitted, looking away and sliding backwards to prop herself up against the wall.  "I'm usually pretty useless the day after the full moon, but I guess there's nothing much to do here anyway.  I wish we had more study materials."  The jacket could make some books, but most scholarly books were too valuable so it mostly could just turn out bad fiction and books of Fallinel poetry.

There was at least a small part of Adaine that was happy to not be associated with the country producing that dreck.

Adaine couldn't help but notice that everyone went out of their way to check on her that morning, and she smiled to herself, even with still being upset about the danger they'd put themselves in just for her comfort.  She truly did love having friends.


That warmth was nothing next to the surprise she got about a week after the full moon, though.  Jawbone and Tracker both came for a visit, Tracker carrying a box that Adaine could tell smelled of something sweet.

"Hey, Jawbone, Tracker!"  Adaine called as soon as she saw them, Kristen bounding over as well, the others all hanging back just a little.

"Hey, babe."  Kristen said with a stupid grin on her face for Tracker, who had only been in for a couple of visits, and always seemed a little weary, as though she was going to get tossed into one of the cells as well.  She was doing a good job hiding it now, though, smiling back at Kristen.

Unfortunately, while they could pass objects back and forth out of the cage, magic and body parts both were stopped by the wards.  Kristen and Tracker would be able to look but not directly touch.

Jawbone spoke up, and said "We couldn't help but try and celebrate someone's special day, even in circumstances like this.  Happy birthday!  Um, they wouldn't let me bring candles in here, though."  And, opening the box there was a cake, with 'Happy 15th Birthday Adaine' written on it in frost.

Fig slapped at her back.  "Hey, how come you didn't tell us your birthday was coming up, we definitely could have worked out a scam to get a bigger party going?"

"Because we're in jail..?  And honestly, I've lost track of the date; the only reason it matters to me is because of the full moon, and I don't need a calendar to know when that's approaching.  It's not that big a deal, anyway, usually.  Last year I just got a study guide for the Hudol entrance exam."  Adaine said, shrugging.  Though her eyes kept drifting back to the cake.

Fabian gave her a disgusted look.  "Your parents should be in here, not us, just for that.  We'll have to do something bigger after we get out, but happy birthday, Adaine."

From there, it was by far her best birthday of her life.  Certainly the first one involving cake, even if the cake was passed slice by slice through the bars because the whole thing couldn't fit.  There was plenty for everyone, vanilla with some kind of mint frosting, and Adaine savored every bite of it and every moment.

And then it got better.

"There is, uh, one more thing I wanted to make sure to talk to you about, kiddo."  Jawbone said, Tracker looking at him, then moving down the cell some to give the two of them as much privacy as they could possibly have.

Adaine glanced up, now worried.  He seemed so nervous, and Adaine couldn't help but worry that someone had managed to cut loose his guardianship of her after all, leaving her completely unprotected legally again.

"You know, there's been a lot of trouble with your guardianship, with them not wanting to recognize it for this reason and that reason.  But there's a guy whose girlfriend I helped smuggle across the border with the baronies back in the day so she could escape an arranged marriage, and it turns out he's a family court judge up in Bastion City.  So I reached out to him, and, well."  Jawbone rubbed a hand at the back of his neck.  

"It's a lot more permanent than guardianship, and I don't want to put any pressure on you at all if it's not something you would want, but I have some papers we can sign, and you'd get Solesian citizenship..  You know, you and your friends have changed my life, right?  And it's not just in gratitude that I want to do this, if you want.  I want you around, to stay, I want to be there and celebrate when you graduate from high school and get back out into the world and.."

Adaine felt tears prickling at the corner of her eyes, a wave of affection washing over her.  She wanted nothing more than to give him a hug right there, and the circumstances wouldn't allow, but..  She spoke up, as clearly as she could manage.  "..Can I change my last name, too?"

"..Of course you can."  Jawbone said, digging an envelope out from his cardigan.

They were both openly weeping by the time they finished signing the papers.

Notes:

New character tag on the end there. :D

Obviously this is accelerated compared to how long Adaine was fostered by Jawbone canonically, and Jawbone probably wouldn't have worked up the nerve to ask for a while yet if not for it being also incredibly useful legally.

I trimmed a scene from the beginning of this chapter that we will probably see in flashback form later.

As ever, comments are welcome and I do try to answer questions if things are ever unclear!

Chapter 14: Prom

Summary:

The Bad Kids leave jail and go to prom. Threats aren't very effective when the target would also want the thing to happen.

Notes:

A couple more chapters that are pretty close to canon, and then we're through Freshman Year and things may diverge a lot more! Also, Adaine gets to leave a state of either being in jail or being in the hospital while arrested for the first time in several chapters!

We're going to gloss over a lot of the events of prom/Family In Flames because they're not all that different, though there's a pretty important difference I think you'll notice: Adaine's already had anxiety meds for months, and much more of a support system. Is it enough to have no issues with Dragon Fear?

Chapter Text

Jawbone, true to his word, managed to get the adoption filed within three days of her filling out the paperwork, taking advantage of the academy's spring break to get it done.  Adaine hadn't found out directly from him but instead when the judge in question called the police station via crystal so that she could attest to her desire to accept the adoption and change her name, Worrel looking put upon as she stood there and held up the crystal to the cell but evidently unwilling to risk letting anyone else talk to Fig again.

Apparently, that was good enough under the circumstances, and Worrel counted as a witness.  He'd even ordered Worrel to change her name to Adaine O'Shaughnessey on her arrest record.

After the call had ended, she'd spoken to Worrel directly.

"Hey, about that offer to help me not get deported to die in Fallinel by betraying my friends."  Double middle fingers to the agent who held way too much of her future in her hands was probably short-sighted, and she'd left in enough of a huff, but it had made Adaine feel better in the way that defying her parents always (temporarily) had.

She'd have gotten deported and killed before snitching on her friends anyways but it was nice that she didn't have to.

After far, far too long in jail, including another harrowing (for her; her friends remained very seemingly unconcerned) full moon, it wasn't even them truly responsible for getting out.  Fabian's motorcycle had been reached at some point - Adaine wasn't totally certain on when, but probably early on before she'd arrived - and had been helping with gathering allies.  Jawbone was probably involved on some level, along with most of her friend's parents, but it was the adorable halfling postal worker who was most directly involved.

Bombs and automatic rifles and all.

"Let's go by the evidence room, we need our stuff if we're going to get clear!"  Fig called out, and Adaine certainly agreed with that, everyone getting the weapons they hadn't been able to hide on their ways into the cell, including Adaine's own crappy orb, spellbook, and crystal.

They left with the sound of gunfire between the halfling army and the police behind them.

"..Hope mom was off today."  Riz says.

"Hope Worrel gets in the way of a halfling bullet.  They'll all probably get raised after, anyway."  Adaine replied, with a mutter.  She was still bitter about the threats.

Maybe she should look into finding a different focus.  Something to talk to Jawbone about later, if they got free and clear, found the missing girls and stopped this plot, and didn't die.


It had been literal months, but the best leads everyone else had involved the school, and Adaine herself wanted to look at Watches and Wards.  Confirming what Aelwyn had said would be a good idea, either way; she hadn't even brought it up to the rest of the party yet.

When they got to the school, it was locked, noise coming from the gym where everyone was preparing for prom.  Riz was able to pick the lock, and Fabian kicked down the door to Aguefort's office.  The principal's office seemed like it might not have been touched since the first day of school, a layer of dust covering everything.

An identify and detect magic later, and it was clear both that Aelwyn had been telling the truth and that her sneaky fucking sister had screwed them by getting her to move the book; with it in the proper place, none of Daybreak's plans could have worked, nor the people behind him.

Sort out that later, figure out what happened to Aelwyn later, move now, while they could work in the school without worrying about Penelope Everpetal.

"You all keep searching, I'm going to take this back to the library.  I've messed it all up by taking it from there to begin with."  Adaine fretted, hugging the book to her chest and rushing towards the library.  One of them had ignored her request and was following her, she could tell by the footsteps, but she didn't dare look back.  Them seeing her cry would hardly be the first time, but right now that wasn't what she wanted to show.

Of course, immediately it was obvious that she shouldn't have done that alone.  As soon as she placed the book down, silver light started pouring out of it, and she felt herself being raised up into the air, her eyes going wide.

A ghostly elven woman appeared in front of her, kissing her on her forehead.  "...I must entrust it to you, for now.  Every oracle eventually dies, whether a shipwreck or in battle.  You can carry it forward, until the time for the next to take it from you."

Adaine sighed, shutting her eyes for a moment.  "Every oracle does?  There's no way to avoid it?"

"No, but hey, I had a good run.  A thousand years, almost.  Just needed another decade or so, but I forgot to stock water breathing when I got on that ship and oops, that was it.  Sometimes, things just don't work out for you."

"..Right.  You're not going to haunt me if I don't work for Fallinel, are you?"  Adaine said, now decidedly worried about this becoming a regular feature of her life, still not sure how to stop floating.

"How you guide the future is for you to decide.  Until you die, at least."

"What the hell?"  Fabian asked, from where he'd followed her into the library. "Who the fuck are you?"  

"I am Eleminthindriel, the Oracle of days past!"  And she poofed out of visibility, Adaine dropping back down onto her feet and shivering.  As important as this was for her, and as much of a hint as it was that Kalvaxus specifically could not even touch the book, something told her that they needed to figure the riddle out in full.  Now.


By the time she and Fabian rejoined the others, they had found a vital prophecy for the future of the world in Arthur Aguefort's trash.

If he wasn't dead already, she'd be much more annoyed about this.  Still, between Riz and the prophecy and the information that she had from the book and from Aelwyn, they were able to piece it all together pretty well:  The kidnapped girls were sacrifices, likely somewhere in Kalvaxus' old lair.  Kalvaxus was their vice principal.  And for the stupidest reasons she could think of, it all hinged on stopping a prom king and queen from being crowned.

Adaine kind of wanted to summon back the ghost of her predecessor just to scream at her, but she probably hadn't really had control over the wording of the prophecy anyways.

..Had Adaine already given a prophecy and she just hadn't remembered it?  This one might have only been recorded because it had been given to an insanely powerful - also maybe just insane - wizard.

Something to worry about later, and she knew she was just thinking about it to avoid thinking about that they were about to have to fight to stop KALVAXUS, one of the most powerful foes ever to exist against Solace, from rising again.

Her crystal buzzed, to her slight surprise.  Jawbone or Tracker, maybe.

She picked it up, and stared at a video of the Abernant house from a number she didn't recognize, her friends receiving their own texts as the announcement system cut in.  The house was being set ablaze, as Goldenhoard spoke.  "Welcome, students, to your last day at the Aguefort Adventuring Academy!  You may be receiving an incentive to leave, now, yes? There's no reason to pretend you have loyalty to each other; it's best to just go your separate ways.  If you don't bother coming back, you might even survive in my new world!  But not as students.  Every student here fails forever, because I'm going to burn this damned place to the ground and disassemble it brick by brick."

Adaine snorted.  "You expect us to let you take over just to keep our houses from burning down?"  It wasn't even her house, not for months now, but she was hardly going to incentivize them to go after Jawbone and Tracker instead.

"I'm sure your parents will respect your decision from their graves, Miss Abernant!"

"We're going to come over there, and we're going to stop you, right guys?"  Adaine said, looking around.

Her friends were already gone, left to save their actually good parents, other than Kristen who was fingering her phone and looking torn.

"..I think they're going to come back in time for prom.  We just have to have faith in them, right?"  Kristen asked, Adaine deflating a little bit.  "Right.  We can at least look into the AV club and see if we can find out exactly where the girls were sent."

Eventually, Kristen's mother called screaming, and Adaine decided to help her friend out.

Even if they were somehow still in the country, her former parents could burn.


Prom was probably intensely weird for people who didn't know what was going on, Adaine thought.  A group of freshmen who hadn't been on class for months rushing in, throwing bombs and riding motorcycles and flying, and murdering the prom-king-to-be on stage.

Unfortunately, it went poorly from there.  In spite of Gorgug's very best efforts, they weren't able to keep the near-death Penelope from putting the crown on her head, and with that...

Kalvaxus was a thing to read about, a legendary enemy she wouldn't ever run into.  Aelwyn had, in her drunken and wild rambling at the end, trying to get Adaine to get herself sealed away in some tower, mentioned dragons as a possible problem in her future.  Nothing had actually prepared Adaine for the reality of a red dragon taking up most of the gym.

She froze for a moment, when it happened, wanting to break and run, wanting to find somewhere to hide.  The tightness that rose up in her chest, the rage as Gorgug took a blast of fire...  Jawbone's breathing lessons couldn't stand up to this.  Her anxiety meds couldn't stand up to the sight of a dragon whose claws were almost as big as she was.

But Tracker's advice came to mind.  If she couldn't hold on, if she couldn't do the smart thing of staying back and casting and supporting - and she was low on spell slots, anyway - then she just had to give in to the wolf and hope for the best.

She focused on the part of her that was angry, trying to bring it to the front, pushing it over the part that was scared.  "You..  you were supposed to teach us, to protect us, and you're murdering a bunch of children."

The dragon wheeled over to face her.  "You..  you're trembling in your boots, Miss Abernant.  Mediocre at everything, aren't you?  Too impulsive to be a good Oracle, too cowardly to be an adventurer, too slow-witted to stick to the library.  A second rate elf and a second rate werewolf."

She snarled, leaping forward, her claws out, the wolf fully unleashed.  She couldn't take the dragon like this, but if it kept him from attacking Fabian or Kristen, from finishing Gorgug before Kristen or Fig could get to him, from breathing fire wherever Riz was hiding out..  It was better than her running out the door and not looking back and those were the only two choices in the world to Adaine.

She managed to gash through the scales on his side and his leg, at least seeming to do some damage, a glimpse of the future letting her dodge out of the way of the first swipe of those claws.

She wasn't so lucky with the second swipe, knocked off her feet and to the ground, pinned under the massive dragon.

"I'm getting really tired of all of you getting each other back on your feet.  Look on the bright side, Oracle Abernant.  At least you won't need to See your friends die."  The dragon purred out, not even seeming to notice Adaine's struggles.

She really should have tried to learn casting while in either wolf form.

Adaine snarled up at Kalvaxus, trying to show defiance and hope a friend could help, or at least that she could continue being a distraction.  It's Oracle O'Shaughnessey, she wanted to reply, if she'd had full control over her voice in this form, if the air wasn't being pressed out of her very lungs.

The pressure on her chest increased, with claws driving down into her lungs and heart. The bitter smell of blood grew stronger in her nose, agony coursing through her body.

Adaine O'Shaughnessey was dead on the floor within seconds.

Chapter 15: Afterlife

Summary:

Adaine finds her spiritual home. The Bad Kids are briefly free agents, then scrape a passing grade.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Adaine woke up as a wolf laying in a field of grass, a starry sky overhead, the memory of Kalvaxus' claw piercing her heart distant at worst and all but gone as soon as she chose not to think about it in a way she'd never been able to move past things before. Dew was at her feet, and she could no longer smell the flames from the dragon's breath nor her own blood, previously gushing out. In fact, she seemed to have no smell at all, herself.

She stood, and with the slightest thought, she shifted painlessly and effortlessly back up into an elf, with a dress forming from nothingness and draping itself around her.  She stared at the incredible distance, grass and the occasional trees for as far as she could see in every direction.  Shifting had never been a hundredth as easy as what she'd just done for her.

"When I told you that every Oracle dies, it really was supposed to take more than four hours.  I think everyone else got at least a century out of it."  Eleminthindriel spoke from behind her, Adaine nearly jumping out of her skin.  She managed to hold on to her shape, opening her mouth to protest the unfair judgement.

Her predecessor wrapped less ghostly arms than before around her, hugging her.  Or maybe Adaine was just equally ghostly now.  "Don't worry about it.  You did your best, I know.  We should go and find your successor soon, but you can at least swing by High Elf heaven to meet the others."

Adaine managed to find her voice once more, swallowing before asking.  "..This isn't heaven?  I'm not in hell, am I?"  It was a very.. calm sort of hell, if she was.

"Oh, of course not!  This is a lycanthrope heaven.  You must not think of yourself as much of a High Elf anymore, but that's fine.  One of the perks of the job is that you can commute between afterlives and the material plane to visit and advise the current Oracle."  Eleminthindriel at least didn't sound very upset about that, for someone who had been a key part of the Elven government for a millennia.

She sounded so compassionate, in fact, that Adaine decided against picking the fight that she wanted to over whether it had been her or Fallinel that had made her not think of herself as a High Elf.  The paperwork casting her out as a monster still weighed in her mind, even in death.  "Right.  Well, can we check on my friends, at least?  It's just they were fighting Kalvaxus too, and I don't want any of them to die."

"Time works unpredictably here.  The fight may already be over, or it might just be an instant or two since you passed away.  You can take a few moments to yourself, if you need, or I can try to check in on them.  You should not, unless you think seeing your ghost would inspire good actions from them."  Eleminthindriel warned, though with a slight smile, and then froze into place.

Adaine frowned and stared, Eleminthindriel's hand was mid-gesture, her mouth open but silent, and her long, flowing hair was completely motionless.  Around her, the grass, which had been rustling in the slight and pleasant breeze, was perfectly still.

"..Yes, if you could check on them?  Hello?"  She snapped her fingers in front of Eleminthindriel's face a few times.  Nothing, not even the tiniest reaction.  "Did my afterlife break somehow, too?"  It would be in line with how the day had been going, with dying and all.

Why wasn't she more upset about that?  Maybe it was the lack of glands.  Something to research later; it seemed likely she'd have plenty of time.

As she looked around, wondering if there was a way to fix this, she felt a tugging somewhere in her chest.  Except she didn't really have a chest anymore; this body wasn't real.  Somewhere in her soul.  Something she could follow, or not.

It felt like one of her friends, asking her to come home.  She gave into the tug, and the field of grass vanished around her, Eleminthindriel, trees, stars, and all.

She woke up coughing up blood, Kristen kneeling over her, an enormous fucking dragon looming just overhead, unmoving.  A diamond in Kristen's hand disintegrated and blew away onto a mystical wind.

"Hey, dude, you're back!  I was worried I didn't get to you in time and I shouldn't have included you in the pocketwatch."  Kristen said, with a smile, seeming in no way worried about Kalvaxus directly over their heads.  "How was your afterlife?  I made a new god in mine!  They kind of suck!"

Adaine was covered in blood, almost all of it hers this time, and she could hopefully be forgiven for being a little disoriented.  Looking at her hands, she was an elf at the moment, and she sat up.  "It..  was quiet, mostly.  What's with him?"  She asked, gesturing at Kalvaxus.  She felt awful, but his claws hadn't been silver; even with the Revivify leaving her very wounded, she was already starting to heal the wounds.

Fig and Riz were nearby, looking pretty badly roughed up.  Fig was crying, but trying to hide it; Riz just looked resigned.

Adaine started Mending her clothing to make up for both being impaled by a dragon's claws and transforming into her wolfgirl form as Kristen explained.  "Oh, well, I rescued Principal Aguefort from the afterlife, and he told me that the watch I took from your sister could stop time for a select number of people for twelve hours, so we've got about eleven hours and fifty..  eight and a half minutes now until he unfreezes.  Enough time to rest up, maybe get better spells ready for this.  We're hoping Riz's mom will get here, too, I included her in not being frozen."

Fig had apparently decided that it had been long enough since she got up to be okay to approach, pulling her into a tight hug.  "You're not supposed to be the one who gets into a melee fight with a dragon, Adaine!"  Fig was crying and still trying not to show it, like that was a betrayal of herself.  Adaine glanced up, letting her friend have her pretense, but deciding she owed her and the rest of them an explanation.

"..It was that or I was going to run.  I couldn't leave all of you here to fight a dragon without me, just because you're braver than I am."  Adaine admitted.  "I was hoping I'd be a little better at dodging than I was."

"Well, I think Fabian's planning on yelling at you later about it too, so be ready for that.  We almost all died, after you went down.  And Jawbone was...  He's around here somewhere.  But he didn't react great to seeing you, y'know, like that."  Fig said, gesturing with her hands wildly.

The idea of Fabian getting upset with her about it didn't bother her.  That the only adult who had ever treated her particularly well had seen her dead on the floor ached, though.  Adaine glanced around, not spotting him.  "..Guess I should find him, then."  She decided, starting to walk around the gym.

She could always trance instead of sleep, as much as she'd started to prefer the version of rest with proper dreams in prison and even before.  One night of dwelling on memories wouldn't kill her.  Or whatever a 'night' was in a time stop.

"Adaine!"  Came Jawbone's voice, somehow muffled as she glanced around for him.  "Up here!" 

She looked up, into the face of Kalvaxus, mouth mostly closed as he was frozen in time.  Jawbone was in his mouth, propping it open.  There was just enough space between the teeth to really see him, or maybe pass small objects around.

"Jawbone!  Are you okay?  Do you need out of there?"  She asked, though she didn't really have any spells prepared that could do it.  "I mean, I can't now, but if you want I can trance and prepare Dimension Door to get you out of there before the time stop ends."

"Nah, I'll be okay!  I'm stopping him from using his fire breath.  I'm real glad to see you up and about, and out of jail, too!  We just have to win this, and your room is still waiting in the apartment."  Jawbone said, with a smile.  "And I heard they were talking about getting food, which would be really good.  I'm starving."

"Well, I'm not sure anywhere's going to be open, with this bubble of time and all.  But.. here we go."  Adaine thought hard about the food she knew Jawbone liked from staying with him, and pulled a long sub sandwich out from her pocket, offering it up to him.  He pulled it in through the teeth, breaking it in half and offering part back out to her.

"You should eat more, fighting a dragon takes a lot of energy."  He offered, and she chewed on it, the smell of mustard reaching her tongue.

"The food from the jacket's always fine but never the best."  Adaine admitted.  "It's just not quite fresh by the time it comes out, somehow."

"Seems good enough to me!  You shouldn't worry too much about it, it's still food."  Jawbone smiled at her, already through his sandwich.  "It'll be good to have you back at home.  You've been missed."

Adaine smiled, and looked away, not quite certain what to say.  How could she express her gratitude for that?

They set up with more blankets and other supplies pulled from the jacket, Fig for some reason insisting on sleeping under Kalvaxus' torso.  Adaine passed Jawbone a blanket and a set of pajamas as well, smiling.  "We should really talk.  It's been a horrible few months, and I didn't want to tell you everything in that cell.  I wasn't sure who might be listening.  Also, I found out what my afterlife is going to be and it's very confusing."

"..Of course, kid.  We'll have the whole summer to talk, I promise.  I know Tracker and Kristen will be glad to have you around again, too."

Adaine smiled and nodded, starting to force herself into a wolf form.  Still the easier direction and form by far, but nowhere near the trivial matter it had been in her ghostly form earlier.  Stepping between where Kristen and Fig had set up blankets, letting them pull the jacket off of her wolf form so that they could make pillows out of clothes pulled from it.

She whined as they were settling in, the light shining down into her eyes, burying her head under one of Fig's blankets to block it out.  Fig rested a hand onto her back, and Adaine eventually fell into a restful sleep.

From there, they made careful plans, all getting into position as the stopwatch - Kristen's, maybe, or Principal Aguefort's - started to tick down to the last moment.  Riz's mom had shown up at some point after Adaine had gone to sleep, apparently very confused about the time stop.

They'd had the dragon on the ropes, it seemed, before they'd started to drop.  Or maybe just before the others had; Adaine hadn't made it that far into the fight once the dragon had transformed.  Kalvaxus didn't hold up very well against the barrage they unleashed, Adaine herself adding a Lightning Bolt from a slightly safer distance.

"You're all expelled for this!"  Were Kalvaxus' final words before Riz put the last bullet into him.

Somehow, after that, Arthur Aguefort remained alive, with Kalvaxus dead on the ground.  Questioning him got a really, really uncomfortable story about his relationship with a phoenix, and Adaine couldn't help but remember the marking of the prophecy..  That it had been between the Oracle and her paramour, Arthur Aguefort.

She wasn't totally sure if this was something she could do, but she might as well try.  "Eleminthindriel, if you're free, I could use your guidance."  She whispered to herself.  "And there's an old friend of yours here, too."

She had a momentary flash of the future warning her that this had been a terrible idea.  Not a dangerous one, just...  a terrible one.

A swirling cold, and Adaine felt herself lifting off the ground again, the ghostly figure of Eleminthindriel appearing before her, speaking.  "Arthur Aguefort.  It has been many years, and long have I waited to tell you this."

That appeared to stop their principal mid-rant.  "Oh, Eleminthindriel.  It's been, what, two hundred years?"

"Two hundred and sixty-two.  I knew you were cheating on me with that hussy bird, and it was I who destroyed your collection of musical spells.  I wished for you to know this, now that I am dead and you cannot do anything about it."

Adaine, still floating in midair, still with silvery light pouring out of her, tried not to die of embarrassment at having sparked this quarrel, and missed some of the details from there.  Eventually, ghostly arms wrapped around her once more, a whisper breaking through her embarrassment.

"Very well done, but I entrust this to you.  I will be in High Elf Heaven, but I don't want to see you for at least a century, dear girl."

Eventually, after the dragon was revived and reslain by the recently rescued maidens, Fig's mother with them, and after a celebration ice cream, and after everything else, Adaine found herself back at home with Kristen, Tracker, and Jawbone.  

In spite of everything, she couldn't help but smile as Jawbone and Kristen recounted the story for Tracker, a much more dramatic version then what she could remember, all of them seeming to sense that she needed nothing more right now than the company and the ability to keep quiet.  She did, through Tracker's gasps at Adaine's own death, through the dragon being slain, right up until they reached the point of what had happened after the end with Aguefort.  Both Kristen and Jawbone were clearly confused by it, but neither put pressure on her to answer.

And so, freed of the burden of being required to, she did speak up.  "..Right.  That's what I was meaning to talk to you about."

At the end of her freshman year, what would - according to Arthur Aguefort, during the portion of the rambling where he'd readmitted them to school after their impromptu expulsion - be the easiest year of school she would have, Adaine O'Shaughnessey told her true family the story of what she was:  a lycanthrope now to the soul, an adventurer, and the Oracle for all of Spyre.

Notes:

And that's a wrap on freshman year! We're at the chapter count and well over the word count I expected for the full fic, oops.

Adaine's afterlife changing is less about her embracing being a werewolf and more about her rejecting her High Elf heritage and government and family, falling into that portion by default.

Hope you enjoyed this ride so far! It's going to get weirder from here, I suspect. I'm not sure if anyone's picked up on the one really, really nasty change for Sophomore Year but it'll be fun to find out; before that, though, we have time for some summer shenanigans.

Chapter 16: Summertime

Summary:

A check in with each of the Bad Kids early in their summer breaks.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Fabian Aramais Seacaster desperately tried to not get stabbed by his mother, wishing all the while that he'd known such a trainer existed just laying around the house in a haze of alcohol.  

He would be better, the next time his crew needed him.

It had been two weeks since the most helpless feeling of his life.  Not when his papa had died, tragic as that had been, as hard as his mother had taken it.  Not even just the dragon fight, horrifying as that had been.  He'd been readying to try to draw the dragon away when Kristen had worked her miracle, in hopes that it might give the others time.  The Ball had been dying from burns and Adaine's blood-soaked corpse had been staring up with unseeing silver eyes and none of the others had exactly been in the best of shape but he was fine and the Hangman was fine.  Getting the dragon to chase him, to at least give Fig and Kristen and Gorgug a chance to get up and flee, to live somewhere hidden from Kalvaxus...  That had been the closest thing to a plan he could manage, then.

He ducked under a thrust that might have taken out his other eye.  "Mama, I cannot fight if you blind me!"  He protested, throwing out a counterattack that did not even come close to connecting.

"You are letting your mind wonder again, Fabian!  There must only be the fight when there is a fight at all!"

His friends, smart as most of them were with magic and books and such, were all idiots who would get themselves killed trying to spare another of them a small wound, most especially Adaine, and Kristen.  The Ball might be a little wiser, but he still needed others to be loud and bright so he could skulk around. He needed to get good enough to keep all of the enemies' eyes where they belonged, on him.

He just needed to get better.  His mother could help.

At least, when she wasn't busy with Fig's pathetic sort-of father.


Adaine sat on top of her bed in the Strongtower Luxury Apartments, flipping through her spellbook and putting off what she had planned for this morning.

It didn't help.  She kept landing back on the page with Sending. 

It had taken her long enough to steel up her resolve for what was going to be at the very best an awkward conversation, or finding out that her sister was dead after all, or...  She'd held her spell slots closely since Kalvaxus had died, worried that his forces might go for revenge.  Maybe that had just been making excuses, but it had been long enough now.

So far, the most dangerous thing that had happened was Jawbone slightly scorching the eggs he'd made for breakfast yesterday.

Adaine traced her right hand over the copper wire that she had prepared for this, making a gesture with her other hand and thinking of her sister.

Twenty-five words was nowhere near enough; she'd planned meticulously for what to fit in them, then decided Aelwyn might not respond best to her really pushing the limits of the spell.  She could do five of these a day if she really needed to, but best to not tap herself out.

This wasn't the best tool to interrogate someone, but it would let her know if Aelwyn was still alive, at the very least.  Even if she didn't reply, Sending would let her know if the recipient got it.

"Aelwyn, it's Adaine.  Kalvaxus, Penelope, and Dayne are dead.  Did you remove the curse? Are you and I enemies, the next time we meet?"

Not that Aelwyn would say yes to the last part, but it might be clear in her response, Adaine giving it a moment.  In spite of her prioritizing this spell when she'd been camping out as an emergency call option, she hadn't cast it that often, and she wasn't certain if the distance would impact the response time.

Apparently not.

Her sister's voice was neither her normal, confident self nor had the manic but resigned energy that she'd had in their prison conversation.

It was a trembling uncertainty in Aelwyn's voice that Adaine was not sure she'd ever heard before, and it certainly wasn't a useful response.

"Adaine?  Are you here in the tower?  I don't know..  You set off an alarm, be careful if you're here.  It's good that you killed..."

The message cut off there, and Adaine wrote it down, frowning.  Aelwyn should have known how the spell worked, but she would have been coming at this cold.  Maybe she'd just not counted her words from the start.

The mention of an alarm was a little worrying, though.

She considered using another Sending, but Aelwyn probably could if she wanted to finish the message, and if she had set off an alarm better to give it time to reset.  Given that Fallinel was hours ahead, she couldn't necessarily expect an answer if she Sent at the end of the day, but she didn't really want to drain too many spell slots either.  And, most pressingly, she could smell bacon and coffee from the other room, a siren call getting her to put off more of this.

Tomorrow, she promised herself, as she slid off the bed and went to see if breakfast would be burnt today, too.


Kristen rested her head on Tracker's stomach, sighing contentedly as she stared up at the ceiling.  She sometimes snuck back down to the tiny room that was theoretically hers, but most mornings she didn't bother.  Jawbone and Adaine weren't idiots; Jawbone also didn't mind, as long as they were being 'emotionally safe', and Adaine...

...Was presumably the one knocking at their door.  "Breakfast is ready, and I'm meeting Riz at the library later if you want to come!"

Kristen smirked, looking back at a very much undressed Tracker, then back at the door.  "You can just come in, you know!  What, do you think we're having sex this early in the morning just because we're lesbians?  I didn't think you were homophobic, Adaine."

Like two days before, and four before that, and every other time Kristen had said anything similar, that got Adaine to come inside protesting that she was an ally, take one glance at the two of them naked on Tracker's bed, and then flee while turning beet red.

It must have been a good morning for her emotionally, though.  As far as Kristen could tell while she fled back to the kitchen, Adaine had managed to keep her shape as an elf this time.  She'd ended up hiding under Tracker's bed as a wolf, the last couple.

Tracker laughed from under her.  "You probably shouldn't try to kill her like that, you know.  She's officially my cousin, now."

Kristen shrugged in response, sitting up and starting to get dressed.  "I'm just trying to help her work out what her deal is, that's all.  It's a key duty of ours!  There's no shot she's straight, at least, so she's family.  Even if she wasn't actually your family, which she is.  Double family."

Tracker kept that grin on her face, the one that Kristen could get lost in for hours, but..  "C'mon, babe, let's get out there before your uncle and cousin eat all the crispy bits."

After just one kiss.

Maybe two or three.


Adaine let her leg bounce as she drank down the juice Jawbone had been kind enough to set out for her, trying to forget her embarrassment.  Kristen and Tracker still hadn't made it into the room, but she'd told them food was ready, so it was on them.  Jawbone didn't ever really mind, at least.

And it let Adaine pick out the best slices of bacon for her own sandwich.

"Any big plans today, kiddo?"  Jawbone asked as he continued cooking, though Adaine knew he was listening even with his back turned.

"I was going to help Riz with looking into some stuff about the Nightmare King in the library; he found some books he thought were relevant that were in languages he doesn't read that I do.  And then we were going to meet up at Basrar's, maybe."  Adaine said, trying to ignore that itching in the back of her head that said that she wasn't doing enough, that those weren't plans she could pass as being enough for a summer's day, that she should be spending the entire day in study.

Jawbone wasn't going to mind.  And no amount of studying could have ever been enough, anyway.

"Well, that sounds good!  Hey, I was thinking we might actually take advantage of you being off of school and the good weather and actually go into the wilderness for one of the next few full moons.  You made it through being in prison with your friends for two of them; I think you're ready, but if you don't feel ready, no pressure, okay?"  Jawbone asked, turning around and putting more food onto her plate.

Adaine took a moment to consider it.  "If there's somewhere that's far enough out that's completely safe, sure.  I can probably try and divine if anything will go wrong, too."

Jawbone slapped her on the shoulder.  "It'll be the month after this one, I think.  Probably want to plan it a little better than I can for next week."

Adaine nodded, snagging one more slice of bacon off her plate and standing up.  "I better head over there, we were going to meet pretty early."

"See you later, Adaine!"  Jawbone called after her.


Riz was pretty certain he was going insane as he looked for the books he'd hidden behind others on his last trip.  "I know they were in this section.  I should have stolen them from the library."  Adaine made a noise that might have been agreement and might not have been as she looked over the world history portion of the library, clearly close to just grabbing some books and going in on them.  He coughed, and she pulled her attention away and then back to him.

"They probably just got refiled elsewhere.  You could ask the librarian?  And we could look into it at the academy's library, once it reopens."  Adaine suggested, Riz frowning and climbing up the shelf.  "There we are!  I was starting to think they'd all been taken."

"Someone probably just checked them out, you know."  Adaine added, but that didn't feel right to Riz, who handed the one book that wasn't in Elvish or Common that was left on the shelf to Adaine.  "Do you know what this is in?"

Adaine flipped through the first few pages.  "...It's primarily in Elven High Arcana, for some reason.  Not a very common thing to write a history book in.  Looks like there are some excerpts in other languages?  ..Is that Infernal?"  Adaine asked, her attention clearly fully on the book now.

"..I noticed that too, but I can't read Infernal or High Arcana.  What's the book about?"  Riz asked.

"It's really quite dry at a glance, but might be useful for me.  It's a history of Fallinel's foreign policy on.. quite a wide variety of topics, actually.  But it looks like both Kalvaxus and the Oracle are mentioned, see?"  Adaine said, clearly distracted as she tapped words that he most definitely couldn't read.  Well, he'd lost her to that book for the moment, at least unless he found something more actually useful.

Riz left Adaine to her reading, instead heading to the front desk to see if he could find out who if anyone had checked out the other foreign-language books he'd wanted Adaine to check over, either by asking or by finding the records.


Adaine flipped through the book Riz had saved for her.  It was maybe a quarter-century old, so not that out of date by High Elf standards.  Sections on the relationships in the past of Fallinel and Solace, and the Baronies, and Sylvaire before it had become cursed.  It had obviously been written from the Fallinel perspective, but it was still at least a little interesting, and she started with the section on Solace just to see if there would be insight into how the war might end.

"Oh, that book should have been removed.  We tried to get everything out of here that might count as Fallinel propaganda when the war started."  A voice sounded, and Adaine glanced up to see a Tabaxi woman watching her.  Must be a librarian, judging by that comment.

"There's no need to remove the book just because the country's rotten."  Adaine said, with a shrug.  "I find it kind of interesting, anyway."

"Do you really?  You should probably just check it out, then, and get out of here instead of reading it in public."  The woman leaned on the table, looking around, then speaking to a whisper.  "Agents of the council are monitoring high elves' reading particularly closely.  It's not right, but that's the government for you, yeah?  You might find that useful, if you ever want work back in Fallinel, but you should probably just take it and go.  Get your friend before he gets into trouble breaking into the library records, and then just do me a favor and sneak it back in once the war is over, okay?"

Adaine flicked her eyes back up to the woman, surprised, and then glanced back down to the book, even as the woman put a finger over her mouth and then moved away back into the stacks.  

She wasn't going to fall for the same trick two years in a row, though.  First she checked and made sure the book was mundane with detect magic.  THEN she stole it.


"Look, Adaine, I'm telling you there's real chemistry between them!  It just needs a chance to spark!"  Fig insisted, even as Gorgug put his head in his hands.

"You cannot try to set your parents up with all of our parents."  Adaine said, just as stubbornly as she thrust her spoon down into her ice cream.  "If Jawbone and Sandra Lynn really have chemistry, they'll figure out something on their own.  If they don't, then no, you shouldn't set the school on fire - AGAIN - just to get your mom in the same place as the guidance councilor."

"It doesn't have to be a big fire!  I bet I can just set a little one, like my locker or something, and it'd be great, they'd be in the same place, and then..."  Fig trailed off.  Adaine typically would zone out if you went into too many details on that sort of thing, Fig had learned.

"School's not even in for months.  You're more likely to set up Sklonda and your mom with that plan.  And end up back in jail, you wouldn't even be able to say it was while being an adventurer."  Adaine countered, 

"...You're right.  Fine!  But if they don't figure it out by then, I'm setting the school on fire our first day back."

Adaine shook her head, but Fig could tell there was real fondness to it.  Somewhere deep inside, maybe.

"You're not going to be happy until we're all related, are you?  But I'm still not certain how you're planning to get Gorgug into it.  The Thistlesprings seem much too happy with each other for anything like that."  Adaine said, sparking a protest from Gorgug.

"Hey, I wasn't involved in this, you don't need to bring me in."

Fig shook her head, though.  "Adaine, really!  He's my drummer.  The relationship between a bass player and her drummer is closer than any brother and sister bond imaginable!"

"..Right, of course."  Adaine was hiding a grin at that by going for another spoonful of ice cream.

Might as well try to do this now.  "Hey, that does remind me, we've got a show in Bastion City in a few weeks, and it'd mean a ton to me if you and the others were there."  But she mostly meant Adaine; Gorgug was in the band, of course, and all the others had promised to make it to at least one of the Sig Fig's bigger shows.  "We can even give you a lift."

Adaine glanced up, and put her spoon back into the dish, folding her hands in a way that Fig could tell meant she was especially nervous. Damn it.

"I..I don't know that I'm ready to be around that big a crowd.  If the wrong thing set me off, if could be really dangerous, you know?"  And Adaine had been bitten in a loud club, of course, Fig remembered.  But she'd planned for this.

"I know.  And if you really don't think you can, that's okay.  But this particular venue, I'm asking you because the layout puts the dressing room right behind one of the walls near the stage.  And if you wanted, you could stand on the edge of the stage, or near that way, and if you started to feel like you couldn't handle it anymore you could just Misty Step out of there before things can go too wrong, and I'll have it set up for you to be alone and okay, alright?  We can even look at it before the show, so you know you have everything you need."

Adaine nodded in response to that, looking thoughtful.  "You.. really want me to go, don't you?"  A pause, and she added.  "I'll try, for you two.  But I'm bailing out the second I start worrying I might transform, okay?"

"Right, great!  We'll get you info on when we're leaving and all, road trip in the van!"

The smile that drew from both Adaine and Gorgug was worth the extra effort it had been to find a venue with somewhere within misty step range.

Notes:

:D

A nice mix of fluff and setup, I hope. Summer is going to be a period of relative relaxation, which isn't to say rest at all. Adaine's got people who want to DO THINGS with her and she would also like to do the things!

Nothing can possibly go wrong with any of this. Just ignore those new character/relationship tags up there.

Kudos and especially comments always appreciated!

Chapter 17: Assistance

Summary:

Adaine decides there's a problem and looks for some help. Arthur Aguefort provides.

Kind of.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

There was always a nervous energy that built up in Adaine in the time right before the full moon, she'd found.  It eventually got to the point of being overwhelming, to where she couldn't make herself speak or do anything productive other than wait.  When wasn't always the same, but somewhere between an hour and half an hour ahead of time she liked to just find where she was going to stay until the full moon.

Two hours or so to go.  Plenty of time for what she wanted to get done before then; the spell would only take a minute.  She just had to brace herself for it.  Getting too emotional right now could make for a really bad full moon.  She'd already changed into very loose pajamas that had managed to mostly survive the last full moon here, so she really didn't have an excuse to put it off anymore.

Adaine sat down on her bed, grabbing her notebook and pen off her table.  In the last week, since she'd originally used a Sending spell to reach out to Aelwyn, she'd been repeating it with as many of her spell slots as she dared, mixing up the times of day as best she could to try to get any sense of Aelwyn's routine.

Adaine was growing increasingly worried about her sister with every passing set of messages, something she wasn't particularly happy to admit to herself.  It would have been much easier and more satisfying if she could just continue hating her as much as she did her former parents.

Aelwyn was absolutely a liar, and wouldn't hesitate to tell an untruth to humiliate Adaine; she knew that to the corner of her soul.  Every piece of her childhood told her that much.

But Aelwyn wouldn't have acted so.. pathetic, not for that.  It would have been beneath her prim and proper dignity.  Half the messages, she'd responded like it was the first time she was hearing from Adaine at all, or like she had seen Adaine die.  Alarms hadn't been mentioned again since the first one.  She'd been unable to get Aelwyn to answer any direct questions about her location, but Adaine thought it might be because she didn't know, not because she didn't want Adaine to know.

The worst, by far, had been a bare whisper, begging for a reason why Adaine hadn't just killed her instead.  Or maybe requesting killing her now.  It wasn't totally clear, but it had left her with guilt rotting in her stomach.

The most recent one, a mere six hours ago, had been terrifying for other reasons.

"Adaine, is that really you?  I can no longer tell what is true. They got from my mind who the Oracle is.  I'm so sorry."

Aelwyn had been sobbing during that one, but it sent chills down Adaine's spine.  Her best guess was that the Fallinel government was holding Aelwyn, and Adaine had been very hopeful up until that point that her identity was not known to them.

The book she'd gotten recently from the library had not had much of anything useful about the Nightmare King, in the end.  What it had contained, between the lines, was a long, long history of Fallinel bullying concessions and going to any lengths to get their way in their relationships with other countries.  Solace was standing up to them now in this war, and from what Adaine had been able to follow it had fallen into a cold war heading towards a negotiated settlement, and there were plenty of deals in the past that were sketchy at best between the two countries.

Would the Solace government be willing trade her away if that was the price for peace, or for some other concessions?  Given that they'd thrown her in prison for almost three months, Adaine certainly wasn't sure they would not.

Quite the opposite, really, since they might not want to go to war again if another elven strike force kidnapped her, or killed her.  Adaine had gotten Solesian citizenship when she was adopted by Jawbone, but that was going to be a fragile shield if the government wouldn't actually protect her.

That was a problem for another day, though.  The problem for today was that Adaine hadn't been able to confirm through Aelwyn's.. uneven responses whether she was currently a werewolf or not.  And while she still had time before the full moon here, everywhere in Fallinel was at least two hours ahead of Elmville.

She waited another ten minutes, just in case..

"Aelwyn, it's Adaine.  I'm sorry to intrude, but I need to know if the curse took or if they've removed it.  Hope you can respond."

The response, as ever, did not take long but it was a clear answer to her experiment.  A whining sound.  A wolf in pain, Adaine knew, and sharp enough that she did not think it was pain from the transformation alone.

Adaine breathed out.  She'd expected this.  She would not let herself imagine just how Aelwyn was being treated for the full moon, she would not allow the guilt to overwhelm her, and she could do absolutely nothing about it, not yet.

She scratched the time into her notepad, and started working on the math of the exact longitude at that time for this time of year.  It would not be a quick method, but every attempt Adaine had made to scry on Aelwyn had been completely blocked; if Sending was the only tool she had for the moment, then Sending it would be.  It might take months, but she could use this to greatly narrow exactly where Aelwyn was being held.  As long as they didn't move her.  And it would still only give her an approximate longitude.

It was better than doing nothing.

Once she'd written out all of her notes, and gone ahead and planned for next month a timetable anticipating using all but one of her higher level slots and laying out the best times to try to use them, it was getting closer to the one hour mark for her own full moon deadline.  She packed everything carefully away, just in case she was more destructive this month, and then got back to her feet, heading into the living room.

"Oh, hey Adaine!  How'd your wizard work go today?"  Jawbone asked cheerfully, Adaine glancing away guiltily.  She needed to talk to him about this, and he'd be supportive, but.. not now, at least not fully, she could already feel herself about to shut down.  But he deserved more than he'd told her so far.

"...I've been using Sending to check on Aelwyn.  We should talk about it, soon?  But not right before the full moon, I already feel like I'm about to overload."  She admitted.

"Oh, of course.  Whenever you want to talk, we can, you know that."  Jawbone said, still sounding happy enough.  "Decide where you want to ride out the moon?"

Adaine nodded.  "If you don't mind keeping me company.  I don't think wolf me likes being alone very much."  She rubbed at the bite scar on her arm absently.  Hardly her only scar at this point, but during the summer certainly the most visible.  The one on her back from the elven silver dagger and the ones through her torso from Kalvaxus' claws were nastier, but hidden under her clothing.

The ones from the claws were starting to fade a little bit, at least.  The silver dagger and the bite mark were all as clear as the day the open wounds had healed.

Jawbone chuckled, and stood up.  "I'll make some tea for us, then."

Adaine gave a thumbs-up, then ventured back down the hall to check on Tracker.  Kristen was spending the night at Fig's, just in case; Adaine was pretty certain that was still because of her, rather than Tracker or Jawbone, but it made her feel better that Kristen wasn't at risk if she lost control and got aggressive.

A softly sweet smell reached Adaine's nose before she even opened the door to Tracker's room.

"Oh, hey Adaine!"  Tracker waved from where she was sitting on the edge of her bed, a lit joint in her other hand.  Adaine raised her hand up, mumbling a "Hey" quietly, stepping in and tilting her head.

Luckily, Tracker knew enough to pick up on it, and offered a smile.  "Aah, pre-moon jitters?  Do you want to try a hit of this?  It should be safe with your anxiety meds; Kristen and I looked up the interactions after that Solstice party."

That alone was enough to fill Adaine with warmth, that Kristen and Tracker had not only bothered going to that extra effort, but had done it without even going out of their way to mention it at the time.  Adaine gave a bit of a hesitant look, not certain what it was, but ended up nodding and taking it, placing it to her mouth and breathing in.  She'd seen Fig smoking often enough, it couldn't be that hard.

She wound up coughing while Tracker laughed, not unkindly.  "Kristen always coughs, too.  I suspect she's got more practice than you do though, cousin.  It's weed laced with anise, if you're curious.  It really helps with the pain from the transformation.  Help me get my chains on?"  Tracker asked.  "You can keep the rest of that if you want, or just put it out into the tray on the desk."  Tracker laid out on the bed, gloves on as she started to work with her chains.

Adaine nodded, swallowing and mouthing the incantation for Mage Hand, which allowed her to help without going and finding another pair of gloves, taking another couple hits.  By the time they'd finished and Tracker was secure, Adaine was starting to feel the effects, grinning down at Tracker.  She took a deep breath to steady herself, and then said, softly.  "Thank you."

Tracker laughed, not unfondly.  "If you wind up sleeping in here, I'll see you then, then.  You're always welcome, Adaine."

Adaine took the ashtray from the table, heading back into the living room where Jawbone was waiting with a cup of tea.  He gave her an amused look, saying.  "Is that your first time smoking?  Those aren't weak for us, not with the anise in them."  Adaine just smiled back with a slight nod, taking another drag before offering it over to Jawbone.

"No thank you, I'm trying not to do anything like that anymore.  Not because I'm opposed to it, just as a personal choice these days.  If you're going to, you should make sure you stay safe with it, okay?  Tracker and I can both help with that.  A lot of dealers are going to put things that are dangerous, and I know Tracker was looking into things that might cause trouble with your meds."  Jawbone said, even as Adaine took a seat on the couch next to him, putting the joint out for now and changing over to drinking the tea.  The time was getting close, and the last thing she wanted to do was start a fire if she froze up in the last few minutes as normal.

Jawbone started telling a story, the details of which would have been hard to follow for Adaine even on a normal night, even without the drugs in her system, but she curled up against his side and listened anyway, feeling the vibrations of her dad's gruff voice going through her.

Her memory from there was hazy, but still existed the next morning, feeling like actions she wasn't truly in control of, her body separate from her mind.  Luckily, it didn't do anything too terrible, this time.  A lot of moving around the apartment, time spent running back and forth down the hallway that her and Tracker's bedrooms were down, time spent howling with Jawbone to a song she didn't actually know, before she eventually had curled up at the foot of Tracker's bed.

Nothing destroyed, no attacking anyone, and she did hurt a little less than normal the next morning.  Not enough that she was willing to move for now, still sore from head to toe, nowhere near as good at handling it as Jawbone was or even Tracker, but just having any memory left the next morning was such an improvement that it cheered her up.

There was a slight headache on top of the other pain.

Tracker still was awake before she was, too.

She used her Mage Hand to let Tracker out of the chains, asking "Okay if I stay here for a little bit?"  Tracker waved a hand, putting it on top of her head, and Adaine directed the Mage Hand over to snag a blanket from her bedroom, pulling it over her entire body and head to block out the light coming through the window, falling halfway into a proper trance but not quite reaching it.

A daydream, maybe.

Kristen came back from Fig's place early, flopping onto the bed next to Tracker, and Adaine whined in protest from under the blanket.  "Oh, sorry!  Didn't realize you were down there."

It was a good day, as good as any day after a full moon had been since she was bitten, but while she steadfastly ignored whatever heavy petting Kristen and Tracker might be doing and just appreciated the time with her friends and new family, she knew just how lucky she was to have this.


True to her word, she did lay everything out about both her status as the Oracle and what she had gathered from her.. conversations, for lack of a better word.. with Aelwyn for Jawbone later in that week.  True to herself, they came out as a nervous mismash of words as she convinced herself she'd made many huge mistakes.

"..So I think she's at best being mistreated in some way and more likely being tortured, and I still kind of hate her but also think she should just be in a normal prison for a while for kidnapping those girls, and the only ways I can think of to find her location right now are going to take months.  And there's almost certainly nothing I can do, even once I find it, so I'm kind of maybe just making it worse by sometimes making her think that there's a chance she's going to be rescued.  Or killed.  She's asked for me to kill her a couple of times now and that seems not great..."  Adaine ran her hands through her hair, sighing.  "They found out I'm the Elven Oracle from her, too.  So there's a chance things will be bad from that.  More than a chance.  I need to start looking into protecting the apartment, I think."  Which wasn't her type of magic at all; somewhat ironically, that was exactly the type of thing Aelwyn had been best at.  "Maybe see if I can find a more experienced diviner to try to break through whatever the protections against scrying are there, or..  I'm not sure."

Jawbone sipped at his coffee, allowing her to ramble, listening and considering everything she said, which was maybe her favorite thing about him on a long list of things she really liked.  "...I think some of these are things you might not be able to do anything about right now directly.  We need to get you back with a therapist who isn't me, for one, especially now that the adoption's gone through; I'm still happy to talk, of course, but you should really have more than just me.  But I think you also should speak to Principal Aguefort about all of the magical side of this."

Adaine drummed her fingers, thinking about all of that.  "I wouldn't mind doing that, but is he even available?  School's not in session for months yet, and I assume he has to do a lot of paperwork and the like to come back from being dead for like nine months.  I guess I can talk to him in September at the worst..."

"Well, I'm supposed to meet with him tomorrow for some of that paperwork; apparently there's a grant the school can get for having a werewolf on staff or attending classes.  I'm sure I can get him to take a few minutes to talk to you afterwards?"


Meeting with the principal was a rare opportunity to run her Divinatory work past someone who could probably help lift it up, and who almost certainly knew a lot of other powerful diviners and practices from around the world.  It was also a little mortifying, given what had happened in the aftermath of prom, but she took Jawbone up on it anyway.

She took her backpack with her, mostly so she could take her spellbook and her notepad along without just holding them, bringing along a book to read in case she had to wait long.

When Jawbone left the office, he gave her a thumbs up and gestured for her to go in.  She did, glancing about before refocusing her eyes on Aguefort.

He had a drawer of his desk open, digging through it and not giving her so much as a glance as she stepped in.

"Aah, Miss O'Shaughnessey.  Our guidance counselor tells me you are on a personal sidequest this summer?  It is so good to see students actually possessed of the adventuring spirit!"  This complement was somewhat offset by the way he was staring at a spindle of thread in the desk, though.

Being meek was not going to let her ask her favor.  Steeling herself, she said "Um, yes.  Do you think you can help with my spellwork, to locate where they're keeping my sister?  Or that you can get me in touch with other diviners who I could learn from, maybe?"

Aguefort did finally look up, frowning and folding his hands together.  "It is one of the rarer schools of magic to specialize in, I'm afraid.  One moment to let me think."  And then, to her slight alarm, he cast a spell she did not recognize other than it being a powerful chronomantic effect before adding.  "The highest level diviner I know who would not kill you on sight, does not personally despise me to the best of my knowledge, and has not requested that I no longer contact them is the Elven Oracle."

"...I'm the Elven Oracle."  Adaine said, trying to wrap her head around the implications of that.  Either she was already quite high on the food chain of diviners in the world or Professor Aguefort had managed to irritate a whole lot of others over the years.  Or, perhaps, both.

"Oh, yes, that is true.  Can you consult with your future self, when you're likely to be more skilled with your divination magic?  Or perhaps even already know the answer to the exact question you seek to discover?"

"No.  At least, not in a way that I can really control yet."  Adaine said, thinking of dreams from last year about a gym in flames well before the events of prom.  Still, she thought maybe she could be a little more charming than Principal Aguefort, or at least less offensive.  "Can you maybe just help me get in touch with one of the ones who asked you not to contact them?  I don't have to pass along a message or anything, I can try to talk them into teaching me myself."

Arthur Aguefort nodded, thoughtfully.  "A wonderful technical detail for you to notice, Miss O'Shaughnessey.  I believe I can do something for you, after all.  There is one who asked that I not contact her hundreds of years ago, but I believe you may be able to approach with relative safety."  And he resumed digging through the drawer, adding after a moment.  "Also, our guidance counselor told me you were concerned about the elves of Fallinel kidnapping you.  I assure you, so long as I draw breath and it won't cost me too much, no government will fuck with my students.  Hold still."

"My party and I spent months in prison this past spring?"  Adaine said, still slightly bitter about it.  "I was almost murdered in a cell, too."

"Yes, but I wasn't drawing breath then.  Do you trust me?"  He asked, suddenly not looking through the drawer but instead staring intently at her in a way that made her feel like she couldn't lie.

"Er, kind of?"  She asked, more than answered.

"Good answer!  I shall inform your father of the status of your quest, and trust that you shall be able to make your own way back to Elmville in time for the start of term!"

Adaine's brain skipped a beat, and she got a sudden flash of future memory just in time to start asking.  "Wha..."

Aguefort cast another spell that she did not recognize, and then she was tumbling, sliding down some surface, and a crash of her face into a surface of rough wood.  

The next thing that hit her, almost as hard as her face hitting the ground, was the smell.  Even when not transformed, her sense of smell was far, far more sensitive than it had been before she'd been bitten and while that was usually okay or even a benefit it was distinctly unpleasant right now, the smell of dirt and shit and saltwater, of booze and rivers of vomit all smacking straight into her.

She pushed herself up off the ground, feeling at her face to see if she was bleeding, and looked around.  A vast wooden city, with buildings all made from what seemed to be scrap material, and an incredible number of people passed out in the street, with at least three fights going in the immediate area that she could see.  Behind her, a wall that looked like it had once been the deck of a ship rose up; on the center of it, runes she managed to recognize might have been a rough teleportation circle at one time were fading.

"...What the fuck."

Notes:

Hopefully I'm getting even remotely close to the chaotic essence of Arthur Aguefort, and people are going to enjoy this little personal side quest of Adaine's.

..I mean this whole thing is about personal quests of Adaine's, but you know what I mean.

To be clear, I 10000% believe he'd drop students who asked for help off on quests for personal growth with little notice or safety net. My worry is that he's far too sedate in the scene.

Confession time: I haven't watched PoL yet, so this is going to be working off just FHSY material and the wiki for reference. Hopefully there's nothing too horribly contradictory!

As always, comments and questions welcomed and invited!

Chapter 18: Mark

Summary:

Adaine sees the sights of Leviathan and does what no Bad Kid has done before. She also cannot resist something free.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Adaine made it almost four minutes before being accosted on the street of the city she had found herself teleported to, most of which she spent trying to figure out just where in the hell she was without spending any spell slots and just what it was she was supposed to do here to find another wizard in this mess.

From the outside, this looked a lot like being frozen up with her back to the wall she'd been teleported out of.

She did at least pull out her crystal, which very, very quickly confirmed to her that she'd been taken outside of the borders of Solace, and thus had no signal for her arcanotech.

Luckily, she'd been at least a little bit paranoid about her meeting with Principal Aguefort and hadn't Sent to Aelwyn yet that morning, so she had her full complement to work with.  Even more luckily, one of those spells WAS Sending, so she wasn't completely stuck waiting for an opportunity to study her spellbook.

A total of twelve spells - maybe more if she used some divinations, she was better with those - and however many cantrips she needed did not go a long way towards making her feel better.  She had mostly not prepared for combat today, either.

Burning one of those precious spells on sending a string of curse words at Professor Aguefort would be counterproductive.  The city couldn't be that dangerous, just because it smelled worse than the scent had been when she'd actually killed people, or when she'd actually died.

She almost certainly should send to someone in her party, but it would be way more useful if she actually knew where she was so she could tell them to come get her in the event she couldn't get out of wherever this was herself.

The fight closest to her ended with one of the men driving a sword through the guts of the other, leaving him bleeding out in the street while she watched.  That wouldn't have been too bothersome - she'd killed too many people herself by now, and this fight had seemed to be wanted by both sides - except the winner turned to her, a group of those who'd been watching, cheering, and betting on that fight turning along with him.  They were all dressed very, very piratey, and if she had to guess may have had a collective several years since their last baths.

"What're ye staring at, lassie?  Ye dunna look like much of a pirate!"

Adaine paused and considered that for a moment, glancing down at her very cool denim jacket over the oversized Yes? t-shirt that she'd gotten from Kristen.  "..Am I supposed to look like a pirate?"  She asked, finally, uncertain.

"If yer no pirate, we can hold ye ransom and sell ye back to your highfalutin' elf country!" The man said, licking some of the blood off his sword while the others cheered.

That was just unsanitary.  Still, better not to give them any ideas about selling her back to Fallinel.  "I'm actually a citizen of Solace?"  She tried, raising her hands up in a soothing motion.  None of the Bad Kids had ever really been any good at avoiding fights, but she still wished they were there as backup; she didn't really want to try to take on a half-dozen stinky pirates by herself.

Also, none of them being any good at avoiding fights definitely included her.

"Then we'll sell ye to Solace, or just strike ye down here and now and take whatever's on yer corpse if ye won't come along quietly!"

Oh, that did it.  It had been a very distressing day so far, but that was just pushing it too far.  She shot a Firebolt straight into the air, growling for a moment before she could pull that back in - that was too much, she definitely couldn't transform here or she would almost certainly die.  She did lift both her middle fingers up as she shouted though, post-Firebolt.

"I'm not letting you turn me back in to some new prison.  I'm fucking sick to death of being kidnapped and of prisons!  Take one more step towards me and I will turn this entire wreck of a city into a pyre, and we can both end up as ashes among it, you fucking cowards, but you're never going to take me alive or get one copper from my corpse."  She snarled by the end of it, and the men looked at each other, seeming to consider her words and whispering in hushed tones that she could completely still hear but might not have been able to before she'd been bitten.

"That sounded pretty piratey to me.  What do you think?"  "Yeeh.  She just needs some practice."  "Is that some kind of infernal magics, though?"

One of them, not the particularly stabby one, spoke louder and more directly to her.  "What kind of dark magics are you usin' to threaten us so?"

She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself, managing to bring herself down from about an 11 to an 8.  "I am a wizard.  There are no dark magics, I will just kill ALL OF US with the power of my mind."

Another hushed conference, and then they seemed to reach a decision.  "Fine, then.  If you can at least dress like a proper pirate, ye can probably find yerself a crew before someone calls yer bluff."

She reached into her jacket, coming out with a piratey tricorn hat and putting it on her head.  "There."  She said, through gritted teeth, sliding along the wall to start to get away.  Cursing had seemed to help, too.  "..Just out of curiosity, where the hell am I?"

They all gave her a look of confusion, before one at least answered.  "Yer in the free pirate city of Leviathan, missy."

Oh, hell.  She knew very little about it, but nothing about that sounded good.

Once she'd managed to back away and the group had gone to bother someone else - a pretty great victory for her, really, maybe the first ever averted fight in the history of her party - she found a place among the outer hull where she could just take a minute to cast.  There was something else she could do, but..  Better to have some kind of idea what she was looking for before burning another slot, and this hiding spot didn't seem good enough to commit to staying in for an hour.

There was really only one of the Bad Kids who would maybe know something about this city, but knocking herself down a third level spell slot was going to suck.  Though if it came to it, one upcast Lightning Bolt at fourth should be enough to light the city ablaze at least a little.  It was just wood.

She hadn't been completely bluffing.

"Fabian, it's Adaine.  I'm stranded in a pirate city called Leviathan.  Do you know it?  Is there somewhere safe here I can go?  Please help."

She realized her mistake just before the response came back, Fabian's voice sounding scandalized.

"Adaine!  How did you get there, and why didn't you bring me?  My papa used to take me there. The safest place you can go..."

She'd never explained how sending worked to Fabian, because she mostly used it to Send to people who knew already.  Even in Aelwyn's frequently maddened state, she knew the limit to the spell.

Shutting her eyes and cursing herself, she burned her second of three third level slots.

"You only get twenty-five words.  And I can only cast this a couple times.  Professor Aguefort sent me here without warning.  Where's safe?  Please."

There was a longer pause before the response this time, so at least Fabian was considering his answer carefully.

"The Gold Gardens is safe-ish. Most of the city is pretty dangerous if you're not a pirate.  Tell them all you're part of my crew."

Adaine did not think she would be doing that by choice, but she'd keep it in mind as an emergency option if threatening to burn the place down stopped working at some point.


The problem with having gotten directions from Fabian was that he'd given her the name of the place but nowhere in this ship had maps that she could tell and asking was going to be fraught with dangers that she really wasn't prepared enough for.

But even beyond getting somewhere safe to gather herself and her thoughts, she had to wonder what kind of a divination wizard would set up in a pirate city.

She had stopped wondering why every divination wizard in the world more powerful than herself was furious at Arthur Aguefort.  That had become rather obvious.  She hadn't decided if she'd pass the title of the highest leveled one on speaking terms with him down to the next highest one yet.

Depended on just when she was going to get home.  She was already pretty certain she was going to have to cancel the plans with Fig in a couple of weeks for that road trip to Bastion City, because Aguefort wouldn't have talked about making it back by the start of term if it was likely to be a quick fix to get there.  School didn't start back up for almost three months.

Hopefully she wasn't going to be later than that.  She was already going to have to figure out how to contact everyone she knew who might worry about her.  Fabian might not even think to mention it to anyone, Jawbone and Tracker would probably be worried as soon as she didn't come home depending on exactly what Aguefort had told Jawbone, and she'd made plans for the summer with almost everyone.

Plus she hadn't even figured out if this was going to count for her grades or not.

She thought she'd figured out a way to get the time she needed to really examine this city, though.  She found an alley that did not currently have one of the many, many unconcious pirates in it, and started digging through her bag, taking inventory of what she had.

About three weeks worth of her anxiety medication, her spellbook, the book on Fallinel diplomatic relations, her notepad of her communications with Aelwyn.  Her orb hadn't made the cut today for the meeting with the principal, but she had gotten into the habit of pulling material components from her jacket instead of using the damned thing anyways.  She had a little over twelve gold worth of coins, and... while she could pull those out of the jacket, too, they were minted by nations that only existed in the Jacket and, much more worrying, if anyone here realized what the jacket was really capable of she would most definitely be murdered for it.

She did still have Tiny Hut in her spellbook, and could cast it given enough time, but that was definitely a last resort option.  Even if no-one who could Dispel it was here, she'd probably end up needing to make a getaway from a crowd of pirates surrounding it in the morning.

Instead, she whispered to herself, gesturing and disguising herself as just another drunken pirate, vomit down the front of her shirt, a vacant expression on her face.

She then pulled a little bat fur from her pocket, pushing her mind into an Arcane Eye, starting to explore the city without having to smell it or negotiate her way past any pirates.  An hour wasn't nearly long enough to search every nook and cranny, not by any means.

Luckily, she hadn't needed more than an hour.  The Gold Gardens, it turned out, did have a sign outside.  The path there would be treacherous, at least if she hadn't been a wizard.  As it was, the sun was already starting to go down as she planned her way there, in spite of her body thinking it should be earlier than that.  They must be to the east of Solace, somewhere on the Celestine Sea.

An invisibility spell later, and she was en route, careful to avoid bumping into anyone on her way through the city.  Given that she saw at least three more stabbings, even through what seemed to be the nicer part of town, the invisibility spell was well worth it.

She still had about fifteen minutes left on the spell when she walked into the Gold Garden, glancing around.

There was a giant, muscular, shirtless, intimidating aasimar staring straight at her from a corner table, clearly seeing straight through the spell.  And, with a smirk, waving her over.

Adaine let the spell drop as she walked up; it had probably been rude enough to have it on walking into the establishment at all.  The aasimar stared at her, further, and she awkwardly shifted on her feet, not wanting to be the one to break the silence.

"..Aah.  I wondered what a Solesian teenager was doing here by herself, but I think I see now.  I am sorry, deary, but I am not able to remove your curse at this point.  If you unintentionally bite anyone, you can send them here before their first full moon."  A smooth voice, almost comforting.

Adaine flinched, not having thought it even a possibility that she would get clocked on that here, and glanced around the room furiously to see if anyone had overheard.  "That's not..  that's not why I'm here.  They're not going to start shooting me with silver or something now, are they?"  She asked about the other pirates, now distinctly worried.

"No, no, I didn't mean to worry you, love.  Welcome to the Gold Garden.  I am Garthy O'Brien, the owner of this place.  Is there anything we can do for you, if not your curse?"  Adaine glanced at the schimitar that they had and sighed.  


Might as well go for it; a higher-level divination wizard could definitely see through her invisibility spells, so maybe... "I just came here looking for a safe room for the night; I've been stranded here by my school's principal.  He thought there was an extremely skilled wizard focused on divination that I should meet.  That doesn't happen to be you, does it?"

"Oh, no, lovey.  But..  the principal of your school, that wouldn't be Arthur Aguefort, would it?"  Adaine nodded, a little worried.  "I see.  I know who he was probably referring to, but you look terribly tired.  Did you know you have a black eye?  Sit down, have a drink.  The most basic rooms are two gold a night.  Nicer rooms start at ten and work their way up.  All of them have excellent magical security."

"I don't drink; it interacts badly with my medications.  I'll take one of the basic rooms, please."  Adaine decided, digging out two of her twelve gold and handing them over.  Just being able to use her last couple higher slots to send messages out without worrying about getting attacked in the night was worth it, at least tonight.

Garthy nodded in response to that.  "..You're very restrained, compared to most your age who come here.  The room also comes with a tattoo."

Adaine paused.  "..An optional tattoo, I hope?"

"You do not have to get it, but it is included with the room regardless.  It'll go on your tab until you want it."  They glanced at her arm, where - on the other side of her jacket - her bite scar was, then ran a finger over their own chest, where a scar was mostly hidden by a series of elaborate tattoos.  They then continued, softly.  "However, lovey, do think about it.  It is an unfortunate reality that things will happen with our bodies we do not want.  Scars, changes...  It's the finest tradition to force things we do want to happen, instead.  We'll talk in the morning about your search for the great wizard of Leviathan, yes?"

With that, Adaine had split off, heading to what was a perfectly nice if basic room, a hand running over her spellbook.  She hadn't wanted to stay in the crowded bar room.

Two messages left she could send, and she knew who they had to be to.

"Fig, it's Adaine.  I'm stranded on Leviathan and I'm not sure when I'll get home.  If I miss your concert, I'm sorry.  Miss you already."  There was so much more she wanted to say, details she wanted to expand on.  It would have to wait.

A year ago this time, she would have had exactly nobody worth Sending to who would have cared at all that she was off in the middle of the ocean.  Her parents clearly would have celebrated.  Now, she had so many, no matter how much some part of her thought they only pretended to like her out of a form of pity.

Fig's response was slow to come, but reassuring.  "Hey!  Don't even worry about it, I don't think it's your fault or anything.  We'll find a quest we can take together soon.  Have fun!"

Adaine smiled involuntarily at that, and started on the harder one, but the one she'd wanted to send more than anything else since she'd arrived face-first in this city.

"Jawbone, it's Adaine.  I don't know what Aguefort told you, but I'm stranded here a while."  Nine words left.  She swallowed, then continued, saying for the first time what she had wanted to say for months.  "I love you and Tracker.  Tell her?  Miss you."

Jawbone's message was incredibly slow to arrive, and he had obviously been sobbing after receiving hers, holding it together long enough to get a reply out.

"Hey, kiddo.  Adaine.  I love you too, so much.  He told me you were seeking a great wizard.  We'll be waiting for you at home."

Adaine sniffled, and thought of the full moon of a few nights prior, and of the first place she'd ever felt like home, and the first people she'd ever thought of as family.  She lay there for a while, not sleeping, the raucous noise from not just the bar but the entire city intruding but not the main reason why she couldn't get into a trance.  She stood from the bed, dusting herself off and quietly sneaking back to the entry room.

"Hey, I will take that included tattoo after all, if you can do this?"

Later, back in her room, lower right leg in agony, she looked at the epicenter of the sensation.  Just above her ankle now was a tattoo of two pawprints.  One was slightly larger than the other, reading within it in text more delicate than she'd have thought the tattoo artist capable of the word "Jawbone".  The other, with font even smaller still, read "Tracker".

Notes:

I didn't realize when posting but the previous chapter actually took this story over 50k words in under a month. It isn't currently nanowrimo but I always thought that pace was completely impossible for me, so that feels pretty great.

Hilariously the idea that visiting Leviathan on her own with zero prep would go at least a little smoother than the actual visit they made is pretty supported by the events of those episodes, where the trouble that they get into is like 95% Fabian or Kristen going out of their way, and Adaine is being the sole responsible one (though here she's got more reasons than that to not join the drinking.) It's also almost ten months earlier than Spring Break.

Chapter 19: Librarian

Summary:

Adaine gets a summer job and handles some legal paperwork.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Adaine came out of her trance early in the morning, shaking off the memory she'd been running through of some of her 'character building' cleaning of the Abernant home as a smaller child.

It was nice for practical reasons to still be able to trance when she needed to, but she'd grown used to sleeping in wolf form most nights now.  Some of her dreams had clearly been prophetic, from the fragments she could remember, but that was really just an excuse to not focus too much on the past.

But she was still trying to hide her werewolf status as best she could, even if the Gold Gardens' owner had noticed as soon as they'd laid eyes on her.

Adaine grabbed her paltry few possessions and left back for the main room, hoping she could catch Garthy before the bar started to fill up with drunken pirates.  Or drugged-out pirates.  Or, just in general, pirates.

She could afford five more nights here without finding some way to earn money or resorting to pulling coins from her jacket, if she spent absolutely nothing else.  Hopefully the tattoos would be optional, but more realistically she needed to find something else, whether it was work or some kind of quest opportunity.

Luckily, Garthy was already in the main room, and didn't seem to be too busy.  She made her way over to greet them, though she mostly just hovered nearby until they finished what they were doing, or just got tired of her hanging about like that, and gestured her over.  "There's no need to be shy.  I see you talked to our artist after all.  It looks good."  Garthy said, and Adaine offered a smile back.

"Thank you."  She managed, after a moment.  She was feeling a little self-conscious about it the morning after, but the emotion behind it was still there.  She wouldn't regret it, she decided.

Garthy turned the full weight of their gaze on her, and she shuffled from foot to foot.  "...The woman you are looking for is the head librarian of the Compass Points Library, Ayda Aguefort.  I think you will find it a place you enjoy, here, lovey.  I will give you a letter introducing you, as well, but it will be up to you to explain to her what you need.  If I might recommend, you should be as forthright as possible.  She will appreciate that."

Forthrightness should start now, Adaine decided.  And she didn't want to burn through more Arcane Eyes.  She would just guess from the woman's age once she got there   "..Can you give me directions to get there, as well?  I did not run across any libraries exploring the city yesterday, but there's a lot I missed and I'd rather not get stabbed trying to find it."

"Ah, yes.  You'll need to go climb through the neighborhood of Riggaba, as the library is in the Crow's Nest, above the rest of the city."  Garthy said.  "You may want to try wearing a more pirate styled outfit than just that hat, though, dearie."

Adaine considered that.  She'd moved through the city invisible for getting here yesterday, and just going through the city still felt like a bad idea, but she didn't want to go through spell slots recklessly.  Might as well ask.  "Is it safe to Fly up there instead?"

Garthy shrugged.  "Probably not less safe than the other routes.  There's always a chance of someone using violence on you in this city."

That reassuring advice out there, she thanked Garthy and stepped outside, pulling an eagle's feather from her jacket.  If violence was about as likely, getting lost seemed a lot less likely through flight, and the city felt like it had a hungover vibe at the moment.  Maybe that would stop anyone from getting shooting-happy.

She wasn't getting used to the smell.  If anything, it was worse for day two here.

Lifting up into the air did not help matters; the stench from the entire city seemed to chase after her.  Still, she rose slowly over several minutes near the mast, trying not to draw too much attention to herself, only having a minute or so left on the fly by the time she came even with the neighborhood overseeing the city.

From there, the library was pretty obvious, and she knew Garthy must have sent her to the right place.  The school libraries for Hudol's lower classes and Aguefort, the town library of Elmville..  they were all pathetic next to even the entry room of this, and there were exits and more going in every direction she could see.  Even better, while the pirate smell wasn't completely gone, it was greatly muted.  There weren't just shelves visible, but places that people were hanging out, reading, playing games against each other without drinks involved..

...She could get distracted with this later.  Now was not the time for her to be unfocused.  She stepped up to the entry desk, where an ancient pirate with a spellbook at his side was sitting.  "Ahoy, welcome to the Compass Points Library.  Do you want to sign up for a library card?"

She could get a little distracted now, it would be fine probably.  It wasn't like she was on an immediate deadline.  "Oh, of course.  Yes."  She took the form he offered, starting to fill it out.  "I'm actually looking for Ayda Aguefort, I was told she runs the library?"  She asked, as she handed it over.  "Also, it's not a problem that I'm not from this city, right?"

"Very few people are actually from here, that's fine.  There's no cost to you, but we get more funding from the city for foreigners since it's seen as attracting victi... tourists."

Right.  Pirate city.  She took the offered library card, adding it to her rather paltry current inventory.

"Mistress Aguefort is in the observatory, mapping the stars.  Or, I suppose dawn has passed, she's probably taking a nap.  That area is open currently; please do not go into any areas marked as forbidden to the public."

Adaine nodded, slowly, at that.  "Right, I won't.  Of course."  At least not until after she'd found out if she could get help with finding Aelwyn from this woman.  If she couldn't, it would hardly do for her to leave empty-handed, and as great as this place was what were the odds she would be back later?  A book or two on the way out was almost certainly worthwhile.

She wound her way through the library towards the observatory, which had a monstrously large spyglass, with arcane runes she had to stop and look at, kneeling down to get a closer look.

"..I shouldn't get distracted.  I should be looking for Ayda Aguefort."  She muttered to herself as she traced the runes out, trying to work out just how it was functioning.

A swooping sound from overhead, and as Adaine looked back over her shoulder, from a perch overhead a bird-like woman descended, her eyes ablaze, her hair a fiery red, and Adaine was struck dumb from a memory of a thing that had not happened yet.  One of the fragments of her dreams that had embedded itself in her mind because of how terrible it had felt.

This woman, who she had never seen in any picture or anything at all she could remember other than that dream, sobbing tears of flames over the corpses of Fig and herself.

She landed by where Adaine was kneeling, and Adaine climbed back to her feet, still far shorter than the woman.  "You were looking for me?"

Adaine nodded, and tugged out the letter.  "I was sent here looking for a skilled divination wizard who could help me with an issue of magic I was having.  And by sent here, I mean I was teleported to just over the middle of the city with no warning and no real way home."  She admitted, offering over the letter.

"Are you giving me this in an attempt to trick me into your debt?"  Ayda asked, seemingly serious.

Garthy's advice to be forthright flashed through her mind.  Laughing at that would not be a good idea, she thought.  "No, I don't even know what it says, Garthy - the owner of the Gold Gardens - gave it to me to pass to you when I got here.  The headmaster of my school didn't even give me your name, just said that there would be a divination wizard currently more knowledgeable than I am here that had asked him not to directly contact her long ago."

Ayda took the paper, and squawked after reading it.  "Aah.  My dearest friend Garthy O'Brien has said that they find your situation pitiable and requested that I negotiate a deal to help you.  What school is it you go to?"

Being pitied was not exactly a surprise, but it still didn't feel great.  She'd still take it, at the moment.  "The Aguefort Adventuring Academy."

"That is the name of the school that my father runs."  The librarian hardly sounded happy about admitting that, however.  "Are you here on his behalf?"

"No.  I went to him looking for help with a personal matter of magic, and he sent me here.  Abandoned me here, really.  Here meaning the middle of this city, through a teleportation circle that was on one of the shipwrecks, not here to the library."  She clarified, as Ayda started looking around with alarm, as though Arthur Aguefort might step out of the shadows at any moment.

"I see.  There is a slight obstacle then to my helping you."  Ayda said, her voice much more severe.

Adaine tilted her head, looking up.  "What is the obstacle?"

"I do not want to.  You are welcome to learn any spells from any of the available spellbooks for fifty gold per spell level, which is the fair and standard rate."  Ayda offered.

Adaine nodded slowly.  "May I ask why you do not want to help?  My issue is more one of spellcraft than it is of learning a new, existing spell, I believe, so it would be your expertise I would be wanting to consult with."

"I do not want to help because I have been abandoned by my father and helping you is indirectly helping him."  

That, at least, Adaine could certainly understand.  Both the motivation and the spite.

"If it makes you feel better about it, I think he mostly sent me here so that I wouldn't bother him again?  I don't really have any way to get home from here, certainly not quickly.  In any case, I'm sorry, I should have introduced myself first.  I'm Adaine O'Shaughnessey."  She said, offering her hand out.

Ayda took it, her hand almost hot to the touch, and then examined the back of it.  "..You're the Elven Oracle.  I thought you had died?"

A memory of claws and fire at that.  "Only briefly.  Or maybe you mean my predessor?  I only became the Oracle less than a year ago."

"Oh, you were reborn?  Like a phoenix."  That seemed an interesting comparison, and a memory of one of the more humiliating moments in her life that didn't involve her birth family sprung to mind, with the ghost of Eleminthindriel screaming at Arthur Aguefort for cheating on her with a phoenix...

Oh.  Right.  Best not to get into that at all, while she was trying to be friendly with Ayda.

"Not precisely the same, but I'd be happy to explain in more detail later.  I do not have much in the way of money here, but I do have three months until I need to be back in Solace.  Is there a way we can negotiate work for me in trade for help?  It's a matter that won't help Arthur Aguefort at all to my knowledge, and I'm seriously considering never speaking to him again anyways."  Adaine added.

The tension seemed to leave Ayda, so Adaine felt like she might have taken the right approach.  It was all true, anyway.  "I am less opposed now, but the library does not have the budget for any further workers unless we get many more library card signups.  Did you sign up for one?"

"I did!  And, hm.  You don't have to directly pay me in gold.  I could be a summer intern instead?  I'm only fifteen, I'm probably too young to have a job legally anyway."  Adaine decided.

"No law like that exists in Leviathan.  Laws barely exist at all.  This is a filthy pirate city."  Ayda explained.  "What would your requirements be for being an intern?  Do you have any special needs?  Are there any enemies of yours who might attack the library because you work here?"

Adaine tapped her fingers on her side, considering what to ask for.  "Help with my studies, and in particular the research project I mentioned.  I'd need somewhere to stay, too, I don't have enough money to stay in the Gold Gardens for months and I don't have room for that many tattoos, either.  I think if I'm working most of the summer I'm going to need help getting back home, either passage on a ship or if you can teleport me or anything like that."  That seemed to cover it, but the melancholy of being alone the prior night, and the dissonance between seeing this woman mourning her and the way this conversation had gone, made her add.  "I'd like it if we could become friends, too, but that's not a requirement or anything."

Those flaming eyes turned to her.  "..Would you truly like to be friends?  I've been told I'm very off-putting."

Adaine smiled and realized that she did recognize how this had gone because she had been on the other side of it far too often, unable to make herself clear, desperate for friendship but unable to figure out how to get it.  "I have been too.  And I would.  Even if you can't or won't hire me."  She added, before taking a deep breath and maybe ruining it.  

Jawbone had talked about his trouble finding steady work because of the next part, after all.  

"As for special needs and enemies..  I'm a werewolf, so I can't do very much for a day or so after the full moon and I'm not good at controlling myself during so you will probably need somewhere you can contain me for the night of the full moon.  And I'm pretty certain that if Fallinel found out that I'm here they'd send someone to either kidnap or kill me."

Ayda paused and seemed to take that all in.  "Very well, I believe we can agree on this.  I will draw up a contract, if you want?  Two contracts, actually.  We should keep being friends separate from work.  Would you mind showing me your werewolf form?  It would help in finding a place for you to stay for the full moon."

Adaine hummed, not wanting to either say no or to change and attack Ayda.  "I can't really get into that form without getting aggressive, but I can show you my wolf form?  I sleep in it, most of the time, and it should give you some idea for it at least.  I was kind of worried about how the pirates would react?"

"It will likely be fine.  I do not allow employees here to be harmed permanently.  Sometimes, people steal Rawlins' book and he turns into a pile of bones until we get it back, but that is only temporary."

Adaine decided not to mention that she'd been planning to at least steal a look at that book later.  In fact, as a distraction from the whole book-stealing conversation, she shoved the thought of how much she did not want to talk about that into her anxiety, feeling herself shift down into her wolf form, the height difference now all the greater.

Her tri-corn hat fell forward over her eyes, her head no longer quite the right shape for it.  She shook it off, only to see the flaming eyes above her.

"You're too cute like that!"  Ayda yelled.  Or maybe it was just Adaine's even furthered hearing in this form, but it certainly seemed loud.  "And your jacket moved to fit you too!..  not really the rest of what you're wearing, but still cute.  Yes, this is all fine.  Let's take care of the contracts, then."  Adaine grabbed the hat and her bag in her mouth, following after her friend and boss to be.

She was still stuck as a wolf when Ayda finished drawing up the contracts both for their friendship and for her internship, but she managed to come out of it before she finished reading, so she wasn't forced to try to sign them with a pen in her mouth at least.  She could do it, she knew from trying, but her penmanship was terrible.

The terms were just as Ayda had said, though she was pleased to see that Ayda'd included a bit about protecting her as much as possible from being located while working in both the friendship contract and the work one.

While she was reading the contract, Ayda had been digging through a drawer, bringing Arthur Aguefort unbearably to Adaine's mind, then fiddling with something.  She took the signed contracts from Adaine, and handed something back out.

A pendant on a chain of a cool metal that was not silver.  The pendant was large, and eye-catching, with the logo of the Compass Points Library on it.  Adaine looked at it, then back up; neither Rawlins nor Ayda were wearing anything similar.  "What's this for?"  She decided to ask, rather than casting detect magic or anything else.

"You did not seem able to speak while a wolf.  That should identify you even then to patrons as an employee of the Compass Points Library.  I suggest you may want to find something more piratey than just that hat to wear while an elf, but it should suffice then as well."  Ayda explained, and Adaine closed her hands around the pendant before fumbling with the chain's clasp and pulling it on.

"Thank you."  She said, trying to infuse it with as much clarity as she could.

Ayda nodded, seriously.  "No thanks is required, as it is part of my contractual duty to you both as a friend and as your employer.  Now.  Shall we take a tour first and see where you might be able to assist in the library best, or do you want to start by showing me your project?" 

Notes:

Ayda's another character whose voice I very much want to get right and very much am not certain I will. Hopefully she comes off well here! I'm really excited for this stretch of chapters, though we're going to have a checkin with some of our friends back in Solace soon.

Yes, Adaine's going to be literally living in the library for the time being. Yes, this is maybe something that would have been her wildest dream and desire back in, say, chapter 5.

I think this is maybe the last specific relationship tag to be added to this fic? We'll see. The ones that are up there are the really important ones through the end of sophomore year at least.

Chapter 20: Research

Summary:

Adaine settles in to her temporary home. Ayda and Adaine conduct research, both practical and impractical.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"...And here is where I was thinking you could stay."  Ayda finally said, at the close of a long tour, in front of a bookshelf in a far-flung corner of the library.

Adaine glanced around.  It wasn't any worse than elsewhere in the library, though there weren't any couches or chairs.  She could trance without any of that, or sleep on the floor for that matter, but it was a little exposed.  "..Just, right here?"

"Well, no.  Within the room hidden behind this shelf.  There is a reason I think this is a good choice.  Would you like to know what it is?"  Ayda asked.

"I would, very much, yes."  Adaine said, slightly amused and also genuinely curious.

"This passageway can be sealed from either side with an arcane lock.  It is trivial to undo utilizing a Knock spell, but from what you have told me you will not be able to use that during the full moon.  The room it leads to is also deeply cozy and I think you will like it, when it's not sealed.  It is a little short for me to get into easily these days, but I used it often when I was younger and will again the next time I'm younger and I believe it will work well for you.  Please watch and I will show you the method by which you may open the room."  Ayda said, before pulling two books at the same time on the shelf, sending the bottom three shelves worth of books sliding open.

Adaine glanced over, then ducked under the shelf before realizing there was a full passage of that height rather than just a short section.  She crawled, but resisted the instinct at that point to shift into her wolf form.  It seemed to run along behind the shelf, and at one point started tilting up.  She eventually came out into a small room with an extremely high ceiling, running all the way to the top of the library, books lining every wall.  Children's books, mostly, it looked like.  There was a small perch dangling from the ceiling, and small windows up high, allowing some light in but clearly unreachable for her and too small for her to fit through in any of her forms.

Ayda appeared from a Misty Step into the room, occupying a decent amount of the space.  "..Will this do?  We can figure out a way to get a cot in here, if you want one.  Do you like to have a cot as a wolf?  Or as an elf?"

Adaine glanced around, considering the size of the space.  She couldn't really fit a cot and a desk in here, anyways, and the room was cozy.  She wouldn't have Fig or Kristen to share it with, but...   "...Actually, since you're in here anyway, want to help me put up a hammock?"

Ayda paused.  "..Do you have a hammock we can hang in here in your bag?"

Adaine shook her head.  "In my pocket."  She pulled a matching hammock to the one they'd left behind when they'd broken out of the Elmville Police Department all those months ago, handing it over to Ayda.  "I'm not sure how you got the perch up there, but at a similar height would work well.  Lower could, too, but that seems nice."

Ayda flew up and helped Adaine with arranging her room, Adaine placing a few blankets she tugged out of her jacket in the hammock as well.  She'd have to use a spell to get up to it, but that was okay; she could afford to keep a Misty Step to get into bed.

After they were done, Ayda looked through one of the windows at where the sun was going down.  "It is time that I get back to the observatory.  Get comfortable, and then when you wish to discuss duties further tomorrow please seek me out."

Adaine lifted her hand up to wave goodbye, not even getting a chance to decide what to say in response before Ayda vanished in another Misty Step.  Adaine turned away, glancing into the room that was rapidly becoming lit only by the waning moon above.  More than enough for her to see just fine in, well enough to read at least.

Or to go through her spellbook.

She stopped on the Identify spell, keeping one hand on the pendant she had around her neck still, a suspicion that had been there since she'd gotten it worth investigating.

A mere ten minutes of work later, and...

"Aah, yes!  This nameless pendant officially marks that you are the Summer Intern of the Compass Points Library, a position invented entirely for you.  It also has magic on it to alert one Ayda Aguefort should the pendant be removed from you against your will, or should you become severely injured while wearing it.  This has been another use of the Identify spell."

The voice of her magic left her head, and Adaine felt warmth spread through her.  The only reason for Ayda to have layered those effects onto the pendant was because she'd taken seriously Adaine's concerns about the elves of Fallinel, and her safety in general.

She Misty Stepped up into her hammock, and weighed out the number of Sendings she could still do and where to put them, a rationing she desperately wished she didn't need to do.

Four, if she wanted to leave herself potentially very drained if something went wrong.  Three if she wanted to save at least one slot against some disaster.

Not nearly enough, even if she didn't have such a stringent word limit.  She should try to figure out a magic to make her crystal be something other than a paperweight here, except she was pretty certain she'd need to be an artificer of some vast experience to do that.  Gorgug's parents, maybe, could do it if they were here.

Best to rotate through the recipients until she'd at least contacted all of her friends and family once.

Speaking of which, the most obvious one first, now that she had some sense of how long she'd be gone for.  Best to keep starting her messages the same way; it would be awful for someone to miss half the message just because they didn't realize a magical message was happening.

"Tracker, it's Adaine.  Found a safe place to stay and passage home, but I won't be home until near to September.  I got a tattoo."  She added, hoping that Jawbone had passed on her love before.

The response she got was fairly cheerful.  "Adaine!  It's good to hear you're safe.  Jawbone and I both miss you already.  Can't wait to see the tattoo, Kristen will be shocked.  Love."

She followed that up with a similar message to Riz, who was probably missing having someone else study-inclined around if nothing else.  She did not explain she was now living where she worked, worried about giving him ideas.

And last.. it had been a few days.  She'd probably forgotten, anyway, but..

"Aelwyn, it's Adaine.  I'm still trying to find you.  Do you have anything new that you can tell me?  Has anything changed with the weather?"  These types of questions never actually got helpful information, but they'd been a good barometer for how lucid her sister had been in the past.

Today it turned out was a bad day.  Aelwyn's voice came back in confused mutters.

"No, no, I saw you.. I saw her die.  I won't fall for it, I won't.  Another trick.  Or another ghost. I deserve this haunting."

Not a good sign; not even a remote answer to the questions, and she sounded more delirious than the apologetic she often fell into.

Adaine stared up and out of one of the small windows at the top of her temporary room as she sent her mage hand down to make notes on that interaction; completeness was important, even if she wasn't feeling like studying the puzzle for the moment.

There was every chance that all three of her birth family would outlive her.  She had already died once, after all, and both her dreams and the simple fact that she was the latest in a line of Oracles had made it very clear; every Elven Oracle eventually died, and she would be no exception.

It would be nice, on some level, for one of them to mourn her once she had gone.

In spite of the waste, in spite of the dozen other people she should be getting messages to if she were planning to send one at all, Adaine cast a second Sending into the void towards Aelwyn.  "I used to hate you so much, and sometimes, I still do.  But we can change that.  I will find you."

Aelwyn's voice, slightly clearer, came back.  "You made the right choice to hate me.  I don't deserve anything else from you but this haunting, but you should rest peacefully.  Please, Adaine."

A futile effort, of course; Aelwyn almost certainly would not remember that exchange by the next day, from past evidence.  She didn't always believe Adaine to be dead, either.  But Adaine felt better for having sent it anyway.


The next morning, in the pleasant little hidden room that she was being given for now of a lovely and safe library, Adaine had the worst panic attack she'd had in months.

It wasn't because of her communications with Aelwyn, horrid as they were, or because of her situation as it was at this moment.  She believed that Ayda would do as she'd said, and that it would be as likely to be okay as things in her life ever were.

No, it was just that in the night, everything that could have happened to her over the last two days had had a chance to settle in.  She'd been careful, mostly, after arriving, but she'd also been incredibly lucky, and all the scenarios of how she could have ended up dead somewhere in this filthy city without her friends and family knowing where exactly she was went spiraling through her head.

She wasn't certain how much time had passed, but by the time she came out of it, still trembling slightly, the sun was overhead.  She managed to shift out of her wolf form, changing into the slightly more piratey loose-fitting white blouse to go under her denim jacket, with a skirt that she knew she could move in as a wolf.  Hopefully with the hat, that would be enough.  She tugged her pendant out from under her shirt to make certain it was on full display, hit herself with a few quick prestidigitations and resolved to find somewhere to take a proper shower in this city, and headed down the tunnel to exit the room into the library at large and find Ayda.

"Are you unwell?  Did you consume any of the food or water from this city?  I highly recommend you start to conjure your own."  Ayda asked, right away upon seeing her.  Which was better than if she'd gotten angry Adaine had slept in, she supposed.

Jawbone would encourage her to share if she was comfortable.  Ayda would also want her to be forthright, Adaine reminded herself.  "I did not.  I have panic attacks sometimes, and I had a bad one this morning.  I'm mostly recovered now, just sometimes it has physical effects for a while afterwards."  The trembling had been greatly reduced already, at least.  "Sometimes I need to rest afterwards, but I think I'd rather study or work today."

Ayda nodded.  "I see.  I will take that into account.  There are a few types of work that I was thinking you might help with, but I think you may be interested in this as an adventurer.  You are much more spry than Rawlins is, and have far less of your time tied up with navigating the stars than I do.  We have not been able to work collections very much and so there is a backlog of several decades."

Adaine listened intently and followed as Ayda started heading through the library, eventually pulling out a very, very large handwritten tome.  "These are those who we know to have stolen books.  They are all banned from the library, but we would like to reclaim as many of the books as we can.  I suggest liberal use of the Invisibility spell, rather than trying to talk them out of it or anything of that nature.  A few of these a week should be as much time out of the library as you might need, and give you a chance to explore the city, and then we can discuss guard duties and your studies.  I also thought it might be something an adventuring school would want its interns to do."

Adaine flipped through the pages towards the back of the book - the most recent entries.  Images had been formed of most of the offenders, as well as the book or books they had taken.  "Should I just start with the most recent and work my way back?  Those are the most likely to still have the books."

"Yes, mostly.  You should run your targets past me first, just to make certain they would not kill you and that you ending up killing them would not cause us too much trouble."

Adaine started copying a list of potential targets into a notebook of her own; of the most recent ten in the log, Ayda only told her not to go after two.  One was a wood elf woman who had taken several books on magical music theory; the other, of all things, a beholder wearing a giant eye patch over his main body, who had stolen a book whose title was in Abyssal.

"You can start on these at your convenience.  If you stay around the library, just try to organize things, and chase after anyone you see trying to run away with a book."


The book hunt turned out to be far more difficult than Adaine had anticipated, not really because of the difficulty of taking a book back as the difficulty of finding the thieves to begin with.  It turned out that an ungodly number of people lived on this mess of a city, and all of them were suspicious of anybody who was looking for someone specific, especially someone who had as much trouble looking like a pirate as Adaine.

She missed Riz.  And Fig.  Both of them were much better equipped for this type of mission than she was.  The few messages she'd managed to send her friends really weren't enough, especially since she'd been burning through most of her spell slots for work or for research since that first night in the library.

For her, it took a week to have her first successful retrieval, tracking down a teen pirate who had stolen an entire seven-volume young adult series.  She hadn't even needed to confront him; she'd just snuck invisibly into his home and stolen away with them.  Her next two retrievals had been similar stories, though one of them she'd put Sleep on a dog that had started growling at her when she'd snuck in, which at least sort of counted as a fight.

Her sessions with Ayda were maybe the most productive study sessions she'd ever had, certainly for the school of divination at the very least.  Ayda could keep up with her thought process, wasn't dismissive if she went away from by-the-book theory, and had tremendous insight into the reading of omens.  As long as she remembered to not fall into old, bad habits of making herself small and unheard during lessons, they made good progress.

Unfortunately, there hadn't been an easy solution to the problem of tracking Aelwyn, or at least not a better one than what Adaine had come up with.  Ayda had cross-referenced with what the library had on known significant Elven government buildings, and they had adjusted the times Adaine had scheduled for her Sendings that day based on those.  There was still another week to go before the first full moon of Adaine's stay in Leviathan, however.

Her other main project, attempting to learn to cast at least some spells while a wolf, was going better.  Ayda hadn't been assisting as much with that one, but she'd come up with two key pieces of insight that Adaine had taken further.

Until she had at least some control over her mind in her werewolf form, there would be no spellcasting of any kind there.  Given her level of aggression every time she'd ended up in that form, that might be for the best.  She had no idea how Jawbone did it all the time.  If she ever reached his level of control, her ability to cast should be essentially unchanged from normal, though.

Her mind was much more her own as a full wolf, but it came with a number of practical limitations, primarily related to the total lack of thumbs.  That was going to leave spells that required using material components or gestures right out, and verbal wasn't exactly possible in the normal way either.

Ayda's first suggestion for what to practice was casting a spell on herself as an elf, then shifting, and trying to maintain it through that.  Given how long it took her to change back, still, it wasn't something she could practice as much as she'd like but she'd gotten to the point where she could hold on to Invisibility more often than not.

The other, she'd had to spend quite a lot of time working on before she could even make an attempt at it.  The only spells she had any chance of managing were those that only needed verbal components.  Ayda's opinion was that she just needed to translate the incantations into something she could do as a wolf.

This would mean having two version of the spell in her spellbook, and mean either taking twice as much time and memory to prepare it or only being able to cast it in one form or the other.

She only even had three spells that were verbal only in her spellbook to begin with, but all three were ones that might be incredibly useful as a wolf:  Knock, which opened doors locked or otherwise.  Misty Step, a fast, lower energy emergency teleport.  And, last but certainly not least, Dimension Door, a much longer ranged battlefield teleport but a higher cost one.

Each of them was going to take a ton of individual effort to work through.  She'd decided to start with Misty Step, mostly because it was much shorter than Dimension Door and being able to teleport at least a little away seemed very useful to have if she was stuck in wolf form, especially while chasing after some thief in the library.

She had finished her Misty Step (Wolf) the night before, and had prepared it this morning, and it was only because Ayda had asked to be there for the first try that she hadn't gone straight back into her four-legged form to give it a shot.

Instead, she made her way along the now-familiar route to the observatory, pulling a half-stale bagel and a cup of lukewarm tea from her jacket pocket on the way there, trying to sooth her nerves down for the moment.  Ayda wouldn't hold it against her much if she wasn't successful, but this still had the feeling of marching to an exam, and there were no good memories of that for her.

That anxiety would make it easier to push into wolf form, at least.

"Good morning, Adaine.  Were you able to prepare both versions of Misty Step?"  Ayda asked, landing next to her.

"Yes!  All ready to go."  She demonstrated the normal version by teleporting to the middle of the room - the observatory was large enough that the mere 30 feet it could go wouldn't reach all the way across.

"Good.  Whenever you're ready to try, please proceed."

Adaine sent the teacup off to a table with a mage hand, allowing her anxiety to spread in herself, making for a particularly easy transformation.

She was certain of one thing - unlike the whispered incantations she often got by with, there was no chance anyone in the area wasn't going to hear a spell she cast as a wolf.  This one had translated into a growl leading into a bark, and she tried it a few times, the noise echoing around the room.  Finally, a little frustration in it, she managed to get the tone just how she'd known it needed to be when translating it in her head and committing it into the modified spell, and she popped through space to land back next to Ayda on all fours, her jacket and skirt dangling behind her.

Ayda turned her head down to look at her, and said seriously.  "Your spellcraft is among the finest I have ever seen.  We shall have to see about getting you something you can do with some stopping power in that form, though, since I know you do not wish to bite anyone."

A warm hand rested on her head for a moment, and Adaine could feel an Invisibility spell being placed on her.  "Now, if you would, go surprise the thief that's about to try to steal from the Pirate Lore section in twelve minutes, and later today there's a children's storytime I would like you to be there for."

Adaine padded away towards the Pirate Lore area, the single largest subject covered in the library, and the pleased Summer Intern of the Compass Points Library started preparing herself to stalk and startle a thief.

Notes:

I'm not really sure how much people care about the mechanical stuff (which all is referenced in character all over the place in Fantasy High) but for the record, Adaine's level 8 currently and likely will be 9 before the end of the summer. I'm actually tracking her spell slots and such as best I can, too, and for plot points where it doesn't really affect the long run plot I'm occasionally rolling dice to see how it goes. For example, her intimidate check to avoid the fight with the pirates a couple chapters back - if she'd failed, she would have ended up fleeing and using Invisibility.

Next chapter we'll be getting some PoVs from back in Elmville, baby!

Chapter 21: Descent

Summary:

Fig has nefarious plans in motion. Previous requests that Aelwyn not speak with her ghosts have come back to the forefront.

Notes:

Some minor CW for most of the bad stuff in the fic tags as a whole for the last scene here, and it's also stylistically and intentionally a little unclear to read because the PoV character's mind has badly frayed. I'll be providing a neutral PoV summary at the endnote for anyone who wants to skip it or who finds it a little too hard to follow.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Tracker O'Shaughnessey stretched out after getting out of bed, in what was for once not a particularly crowded apartment.  Kristen was absent on a non-full moon this morning, off on a trip to Bastion City to watch her party members' band play, and Adaine had been gone for weeks and as of her last message still wasn't sure when she was getting back.

Tracker far preferred the crowded mornings, both for the time with her girlfriend and because the apartment being empty reminded her a little too much of some of the bad old days, when she and Jawbone had been just barely managing to hold on to the apartment by any means necessary.  Jawbone had been out when she'd fallen asleep, too, but it hadn't been at the Black Pit or any of his other old hangouts, she was pretty certain.

She pulled on one of her favorite outfits, sleeveless shirt and all, and walked down to the kitchen.  Jawbone was there, with a fresh pot of coffee, and poured her a cup as he saw her.  "Good morning, Tracker."

He sounded awfully chipper today.  And he smelled faintly of a familiar perfume that she knew Fig's mother wore sometimes when she wasn't working.

Fig was going to be insufferable.

"Good morning, Uncle Jawbone.  Good night?"  She asked, taking a sip at her coffee.

"Uh, yeah, it was.  I wanted to talk to you about something, though, if you've got a minute?"  Tracker glanced up at that, and then nodded.  Jawbone had given her bad news before, and this didn't feel like his energy when that was coming.

"So it's been a little cramped here with Adaine and Kristen, and I've been saving up some of my money from work, since that's a thing we can do now.  I'm thinking about trying to buy a house, but I didn't want to do that without knowing how you'd feel about it."  Jawbone said, and whatever Tracker had been expecting that wasn't it.

"I don't know why I wouldn't want that?"  She asked.  She'd worried, more than once, that their newfound stability was just temporary, that it could vanish one morning the same way Adaine had into some adventure.  A house instead of this apartment where people still occasionally showed up looking for drugs at three in the morning would go a long way to making that more real.

Jawbone gestured with his coffee cup around at the apartment, which they had admittedly been settled into for years.  "Well, wherever we go, it's likely to be a real fixer-upper.  Somewhere that needs a lot of sweat and love.  I'm probably going to have trouble finding somewhere that will sell to me."  He admitted, and of course.

Tracker had always loved Jawbone's complete refusal to hide what he was at all from anyone, even if she couldn't bring herself to do that same - people just treated you different, treated you worse if they knew your disease before they knew you.  Jawbone knew it and pushed back against it defiantly and wearing it proudly at almost all times, whatever it had cost him and then them for years.  Tracker knew it, and only shared her lycanthrope status with people she knew and trusted, if at all possible.  

She wasn't actually sure if Adaine knew it, not yet, and not just because she'd only been a werewolf for about nine months.  Adaine still always seemed surprised whenever anyone showed her basic respect, let alone kindness; the way too many people treated werewolves was more in line with her base expectations, as far as Tracker could tell.

She swallowed the mouthful of coffee she'd drank in order to have a moment to think, before saying.  "I don't think any of us are scared of a little effort.  Thinking you might need more room than for the four of us soon?"  She asked, even though she could hardly tease him too much about thinking of moving in together early into a relationship given Kristen.

Jawbone's amusement at that was clear.  "Maybe.  But mostly I want somewhere that you kids will know you can always come back to, and I don't think this apartment is it."

"You take all the fun out of teasing you when you say something that cheesy and sincere, Uncle Jawbone." Tracker said, sulking over her breakfast coffee.


Riz Gukgak hated to waste so much as a single moment, no matter how much it bothered his mother when he called sleeping a waste.  But she hadn't come home tonight, so he was able to stay up and work until whenever she did.

The Nightmare King investigation had dead-ended for now.  Really, they'd probably need to be able to leave Elmville at a bare minimum to have any chance of tracking down the crown, and that was Professor Aguefort's problem more than his.

The kidnapped girls investigation was totally complete.  They were apparently planning to form a party together, according to Zelda.  There had been secondhand rumblings that Ostentatia Wallace might be planning to murder Adaine's sister, but Riz was pretty sure that was justified and also currently impossible unless she was willing to travel to a country they were in a shooting war with to get it.

He'd had a few minor cases, nothing terribly exciting, but had mostly used the time so far this summer to catch up on his general dossiers.

One for each of the other bad kids, with colored tabs marking the level of current concern of external threats (Adaine's was at orange currently since she was out of the country and might also have her country of birth trying to kill her; everyone else was at yellow since Kalvaxus might have had revenge-minded minions) and letters marking the risk he thought they might each pose for doing something foolish and getting hurt as a result.  On those, Gorgug was at a C, Fabian was at a B, and the girls were all at As, though he thought he might need to recalibrate the scale soon on the upper end to give Kristen room to fall behind the other two.

He hadn't yet added anything for the general bloodthirst in combat.  It was about in line with the letter grades, anyway.

Those were just the summaries; supporting documents were within each of the folders, all of which had started to grow quite large with copies of some of the legal paperwork around them.  Adaine and Kristen both had horrifying amounts of this around their family situations, and Fabian's was starting to get complex with some of Bill Seacaster's estate.

There was nothing to really update in Gorgug or Adaine's tonight.  Gorgug had just been on tour with the band, though they were back in town today, and it had been a while since his last Sending from Adaine; besides, she'd only move when she either came home or people began actively attacking her.

Fabian seemed to be making good progress in his training with his evidently incredibly deadly mother.  It might be worth downgrading him from yellow to green, if he was staying near her.

Kristen was mostly trying to spread her new, incredibly annoying god, to some degree of inexplicable success.  After some consideration, he decided to up her to orange to match Adaine.  Religious wars were dangerous.

Fig..  Fig was why he was up this late to begin with, he suspected.

Did it count as orange if he might be the one to kill her?

He drummed on the desk, finally breaking and just calling Fig on his crystal.

"Do you have any idea what fucking time it is, Riz?  Tieflings need, like, eleven hours sleep a night to make up for all the partying and drinking."  

"Are you trying to wrap my mom up in your weird plot to get all of us to be related to each other?"  He hissed out.

"Hey, I just gave her a free ticket, same as I did for all of our legal guardians.  If she's perfect for and struck it up with my dad, that's between them."  Fig said, somehow radiating both annoyance and smugness over the call.  "Guessing they haven't gotten back from their date yet?"

He hissed through the crystal at her and hung up.

But when his mom got home the next morning, she was too happy for him to really stay upset with Fig.


She was in jail and Adaine was bleeding out on the ground with a silver knife in her back and she was fighting the people sent to save her and blood and rage and...

A thump, as she'd moved far enough up the orb to be sent tumbling, back down to the bottom, staring at the blurry tiled floor of the chamber she was being kept in, laying in loose fur that had collected in the orb over the.. months?  Years?  Decades?.. she had been here, the feeling of burning in her ankles and wrists familiar and no longer even a source of hope that they might be enough to kill her.  Everything hurt.  Nothing would let her die.  Nothing would let her rest, not beyond momentary flashes of memory or maybe imagined memory in the few seconds where she could not move before the orb's rotation sent her falling again.

She could no longer tell what was real and what wasn't, but she was pretty certain by now that she had betrayed her sister right into her death.  Whispers from her ghost reached her mind, from time to time, sometimes dangling pity and forgiveness, sometimes promising to haunt her forever, sometimes just whining about unfair treatment and how mother and father had sent a squad into a cell with a rescue for one curse-tainted daughter and a knife for the other.

Aelwyn couldn't begrudge her ghost her wrath, but did not wish that for Adaine.  Adaine at least should have a peaceful afterlife, somewhere far away from anywhere their parents or Aelwyn herself would be.  When she could remember to, she tried to tell her that.

The orb continued its rotation, and she started to slip along it.  She believed there had been a point where she'd tried to position herself, or roll with the motion, or anything to reduce the pain caused by it, but the restraints placed on her as a werewolf had given her no chance to keep up with its turning and so she had eventually simply given up and allowed it to do as it would.

She could fall into a trance or even what might have been a sleep for, at most, a minute or so.  Not enough to get even a single bit of rest out of it.

She was ten and Adaine was eight and alive and not a werewolf and yet already so angry and so afraid, all at once, bursting with everything, and they were getting their socially expected Elven weapons training.  Adaine hadn't caught on yet, would never catch on, that the point was to look good but certainly not to be good at something as common as a sword, and she was definitely better even with less training than Aelwyn was, and so rather than concede the duel that their instructor had brought them into she dropped a magical puddle of grease under Adaine's feet, leaving her on the ground and proving, to mother and father's delight, the victory of magic over brute force.

She tumbled again to the base of the orb, the fall cushioned just enough by the magic to not break anything, just little enough that it still hurt.

Maybe she had been killed, after all, without even noticing.  Maybe this was her hell.  Adaine still deserved free of it.

She was at the aftermath of a party, of the last party where she'd been there just to see what she could get away with and how far she could push herself, on a cot in a guest room with some shitty elf boy she'd never even bothered getting a name from.  She wouldn't even make it out the door before the tabaxi woman would approach her, and talk about potential and placement and opportunity, and also about failure and death and punishment for not complying.

She was tilted back up by the movement of the orb, and while her eyes could no longer really focus, she saw three dark shapes at where the entrance to the room maybe was.  More people coming to scour her mind.  She'd never been allowed to have her mind to herself, but it had seldom been so literal as it had these last weeksmonthsyearsforever.

"Aelwyn."

Another tumble, another fall, this time ending up on her back staring through the orb at a ceiling now too far away to see.  Another familiar voice, this one not a ghost.  A demon, maybe, if she was in hell.  She opened her mouth, but it was too dry for her to want to speak.

"Daughter.  We had warned you, repeatedly, that you must not respond to those Sendings that are coming in to you.  And yet, you continue to do so."

Aelwyn tried to think.  When had they asked her something, instead of simply doing it to her?  And why?  If it truly was her father, why the extra torment?  She had known she would earn death by failing, though failing at what she could no longer recall exactly.

And what Sendings were they talking about?

"I.. have gotten no Sendings."  She said, uncertainly.  Had she forgotten them?

A sigh, even as she tumbled again, landing face-down once more once she settled in the bottom of her prison.

"I know that you believe that. We are still attempting to find someone who is willing to utilize Wish for your curse, but we need to keep you completely contained until then, both physically and mentally.  This will only be temporary."  He said.  Adaine would have spit defiance at him.  Aelwyn almost couldn't believe that her ghost wasn't here now to do so.  Aelwyn just prepared to endure it more.

One of the other shapes lifted their hand up and began an incantation that sent some remaining shred of her academic's mind into a full panic, recognizing what this spell beyond her own peak abilities must be.  A force, unseen but obvious, smashed into her psyche, and her mind under the preparation of months of torment washed away, leaving her senseless, whatever plans she had gone in that moment.

Notes:

How long Aelwyn spent in the orb in canon gets called different amounts of time in different places by different people (Five months, nine months, and 'almost a year') and I think they're all actually short of what the timeline shows? The party at Ostentatia's is explicitly called out as being at the end of February and she's in there within a couple of days. Spring break happens in the next year's April, so it's more like 13-14 months of no rest for Aelwyn. Not that it really matters, and it's definitely a side effect of actual play that timelines can be a little wonky, but it's been interesting to track down.

Here it's only been about four-five months (which is still a horrifying amount of time regardless) but she's also going through a monthly werewolf transformation and isn't able to crawl around the orb, instead getting tossed by it, both of which have been not good at all for her condition.

Last scene summary:

Aelwyn's stuck in a sleep/trance deprivation orb, with her hands and ankles tightly restrained in silver chains, both burning into her skin in a way that hurts but doesn't do enough damage to ever kill her and preventing her from really crawling in the way she does in canon. As such, she's more of a jacket in a drier than a hamster in a ball, especially since she's given up on even mitigating the pain of the motion.

She's reached a point where she's having constant delusions, most of which are events from her life - times she made the wrong choice, times she helped be cruel to Adaine, times when she helped Kalina or Kalvaxus. She's of the belief that Adaine died in their shared jail cell and is haunting her, and in addition to the Sendings Adaine has actually been sending her she's started imagining other, more accusatory messages from her sister. Her captors are aware of all of this, as they have been digging through her mind frequently with detect thoughts.

Angwyn and two unknown others come into her cell, and tell Aelwyn that they know she keeps getting Sendings, that they are also aware that Aelwyn can't tell that that's what is happening, and that they are going to take temporary action to prevent this communication while they seek out someone both capable of Wish and willing to use such a powerful spell on Aelwyn to remove her lycanthropy.

One of the others with Angwyn casts Feeblemind on Aelwyn, and our PoV character's mind and intellect is washed away under the spell.

Chapter 22: Visitor

Summary:

Adaine finds some family, retrieves a lost song, and meets a colleague from the Elmville Public Library.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Adaine was sitting at the bottom of her bedroom, under her hammock, Ayda having already sealed the entrance.  Adaine had intentionally not prepared Knock, Misty Step or Dimension Door that morning, just to prevent her werewolf form from somehow stumbling into escaping with them.  Better safe than sorry, even though she'd never cast anything during the full moon before.

She tapped her pen against her notebook, waiting for the exact times Ayda had helped her plan for, watching a carefully calibrated timepiece.  She was a lot closer to Fallinel than Elmville was, and the gap between Aelwyn hitting the full moon and Adaine doing so might be as little as fifteen minutes here.  Adaine had an incredibly hard time focusing that close to the full moon, or speaking.  She had to be able to push through that, or else she wouldn't be able to make this plan work until after the summer.  For that reason, Ayda had suggested focusing on the timing of specific Elven government buildings closer to the east side of Fallinel.

Even if she could cast, this might not work.  Aelwyn had stopped responding to Sendings two days prior; Adaine could tell she was alive and receiving them, but there were no words coming back.  There weren't really any good possibilities for what had happened there, but Adaine was hoping that growls would come back still if Aelwyn was transformed.

She had five castings available for this, the copper wire already retrieved from her jacket and laid out on the floor in front of her.  The first was forty-three minutes before the full moon arrived here.  Luckily, she didn't need to fill the full twenty-five words, if Aelwyn wasn't going to reply to all of them anyway.

"Aelwyn, it's Adaine.  Are you there?"

No response.

The same at thirty-five minutes.  Adaine tilted her head back, looking up at the sky through the small windows at the top of her room.  The next three were very close together, targeting specific sites and then the capital.  Above her, the sky was tinged with the sunset.

No response again at thirty-three minutes.

Only ninety seconds to the next one, Adaine's hand trembling as she picked up the fourth piece of wire and watched the clock.  This was hellishly difficult this close to the moon, and she desperately wished she was with Jawbone or Tracker instead, or even with her friends if it could have been done safer than it had in prison.

"Aelwyn, please.  I don't know.. please answer me."

A growl back in response, with a whine of pain included.  Just like she had the prior month, when Adaine had tried this in Elmville.

Adaine circled the time and the location it made by far most likely, Calethriel Tower, then used a Mage Hand to put everything away high up and out of reach for her wolf self.  She was a little worried about how much damage she might do to Ayda's childhood bedroom, but hopefully Ayda would be understanding.

She'd tried to warn her, anyway.

Adaine considered her remaining Sending, trying to decide if she could manage it.  The tension and pressure of the full moon was overbearing, but...

She picked up the wire, trying to fight off that feral part of her brain that was spreading through her, making it harder and hard for her to think in words, let alone speak them.  She needed a friendly voice right now.

"..Wish I was there.  Miss..."  She managed, and just had to let the spell go with that.  She was pretty sure he would understand, anyways.  This was the full moon they'd been planning to travel out to the woods for.

"Hell!  We wish you were here, too, kiddo.  Hope you found someplace safe to ride it out.  Let one of us know when you can?"  Jawbone's voice brought a smile to her face, and she laid back on the carpeted floor, looking at where the sky above had started to go from the colors of sunset into dusk.

She forced herself to stay there until the full moon came.

The next bit of awareness she had, she was collapsed in the tunnel between her room and the main library, having apparently made a serious effort at attacking the sealed doorway.  A little disappointing; she'd managed to remember the last one.  Being around others must help.

"Adaine?" came Ayda's voice, from back in the room.  Must have Misty Stepped or otherwise teleported.

It was a physical effort to form a response, and the eight feet of so of crawling between her and the main room seemed impossible at the moment, too.  "I'm here."  She managed, rolling over to start out towards the main room anyways, her back and shoulders screaming at her in pain.

"You look terrible."  Ayda said bluntly as she managed to make her way out into the light from the tunnel, falling over on her side and then rolling onto her back to look up at Ayda.  "The room worked?"

"I probably feel worse than I look."  Adaine admitted.  "Seems the seal worked well, though.  I'll just need to rest most of today."

Ayda nodded.  "Did you have any luck with the Sendings last night?"

"She's most likely in Calethriel Tower."  Adaine said.  It was good news, that they'd gotten an exact location, except it was also awful news because that was a heavily secured facility from what little the library had had on it.  "I'll need my party and a plan to do anything about it, but it's better to know."

Even with her party, it'd be hard.  She'd need to talk them into it, for one.  And probably wait for there to not be a war between Solace and Fallinel.  And even then, it was a terrible idea...

Ayda watched her with blazing eyes.  "Is there anything you want from me to help you today?"

A consideration.  Ayda wouldn't offer if she didn't mean it, probably.  "..Company helps, if you have time at all today.  And if you can help me get up into my hammock, I didn't really think that part through.  I don't have a slot left for Fly and I didn't prepare Misty Step.  Otherwise I'll probably just read most of the day."  Adaine said, shutting her eyes and taking a deep breath.  Standing up sounded like hell right now.

She wasn't quite prepared for warm hands to lift her into the air, depositing her carefully into the hammock, the blankets and pillows she'd left up there cushioning her.  She opened her eyes up, grinning at Ayda.  "Thank you.  The day after is almost worse than the day of."  She admitted, resting her head back.

"I can be your company for a time before I need to get back to work.  Would you like for me to read to you?"  Ayda asked, curiously.  "Several of my favorite books have copies in this room."

Adaine wasn't certain what she expected it to be, but what seemed to be a children's book about pirates enjoying friendship wasn't it.  There was still something nice about it, and she shut her eyes and just listened to her friend read to her.


It was two weeks later, on the day of the new moon in fact, when Adaine ran into real trouble on a retrieval mission for the library for the first time.  She'd found that they were generally very different from anything she had done with the Bad Kids, entirely dependent on stealth and cunning and not getting caught, because far too many of the pirates had whole pirate crews and Adaine did not have interest in fighting pirate crews by herself.

She had also found, somewhat to her surprise, that she was both good at them and mostly enjoyed them, even if she occasionally had to go have a panic attack somewhere afterwards if there was a close call.

By now, with Ayda's help, she also mostly fit in to the city of Leviathan, at least in terms of fashion.  The visible tattoo helped, even if it wasn't of anything nautically themed the way the vast majority of pirate tattoos were.  Her jacket still stood out, especially with the summer heat, but she was hardly going to give that up.

Today's mission was against a captain of a ship, Ruthless Ramsay Boothe, who she had reason to suspect had his book in his quarters on his ship, the Hellish Delivery, anchored a quarter mile off Leviathan.  She'd flown low and slowly to get close, then placed an Invisibility spell in place before climbing onto the ship.  Most of the crew were on Leviathan proper, and hopefully she could be in and out before they got back in their dingy.

She'd had a little trouble locating the captain's quarters, which were on the opposite side of the ship than she'd expected.  Still, once she'd found them, thankfully free of any occupants, she'd not needed long to find his shelves, with a ship's log and the library's sole copy of 101 Simple Pirate Shanties sitting right there.

She had just picked up the book and opened it to make certain it was undamaged when the cabin door opening, a young crew member carrying cleaning supplies on the other side.  She invisibly stared at him for a moment, and he stared at the floating book, and Adaine was reminded that of course only things she'd been carrying when the spell started were also invisible with her...

"AHOY, THERE'S A GHOST IN THE CAPTAIN'S QUARTERS, TO ARMS, TO ARMS!"

...he hadn't looked like he had lungs like that, but she hadn't wanted to just attack him either.  He'd been at least a few years younger than she was.

Adaine had what she needed anyway, so she Misty Stepped straight up to the deck of the ship, the Invisibility fading as she did, and there were a lot more crew around then there had been when she'd gotten to the ship and a lot of them were screaming that they'd noticed her.

A Lightning Bolt into the sails later and they would hopefully be distracted enough with that as they burst into flames; Adaine ran for the edge of the boat, avoiding one of the crew who tried to tackle her to stop her with a quick hop to the side and a flash of the future, the book under her arm.

A few seconds later, and she was off into the air with another Fly spell, a narrow but clean escape from the pirates...

Or so she'd thought, right up until an incredibly unlucky crossbow bolt caught her just below her ribs at what must have been the far edge of their range.  Not prepared for the blow at all, she lost focus on her Fly spell, tumbling down towards the water.  At the last moment, her thoughts entirely on not letting the book be destroyed, she managed to use a Mage Hand to take the book and keep it in the air.

Then she plunged down into the ocean, the salt water hitting her open wound, splashes from several other, not as unlucky (for her) crossbow bolts going up around her.

By the time she managed to resurface, gasping for breath, the pirates were no longer firing at her, instead busy dealing with their ship being on fire and maybe assuming she was dead.

Rather than correct that, she used a higher level slot for another Fly, shaking her hand off of as much water as she could before taking the book back from her Mage Hand, flying back towards Leviathan and the Library, water and blood dripping off her all the way.

Adaine had dropped the book off with Rawlins at the desk, then immediately dropped onto one of the couches in the entranceway to have a rest, but overall it had been successful in spite of that.


She'd been asked by Ayda to stay in the library for a week or so after that until they were certain the crew weren't going to come after her for setting the Hellish Delivery on fire, and also to prestidigitation her blood off of the couch.

Today, this meant she was working the welcome desk, with Rawlins having some ritual he was conducting.  Thefts in the library were down a good amount, since word had gotten around about needing to deal with both a teleporting wolf and an angry half-phoenix Wizard in retribution.

That mostly meant they weren't getting new people coming in at all, and in fact no one was in the entrance area at the moment, Adaine occupying herself with reading on the history of Leviathan.

The face that interrupted her was a vaguely familiar one, clearing her throat to see a Tabaxi woman standing there.  All black fur, more in the style of a housecat than the lion-like features other Tabaxi that Adaine had seen had.

"Oh, hello!  I mean, ahoy, and welcome to the Compass Points Library!  ..Do you work at the Elmville Library?  Also, do you want to sign up for a library card?"  Adaine asked, cheerfully.  This was the woman who had warned her that Solace might be monitoring what she read due to the war, she was all but certain.

"We did meet there, didn't we?  I'm glad to see you thought to escape before things start getting really bad, miss..?"  The woman asked, in a steady and calm voice.

Adaine supposed that they never had introduced themselves to each other, in that brief conversation.  "Adaine O'Shaughnessey, at your service.  I'm only here for the summer, though.  What do you mean by escape?"

"You can call me Kalina.  And I thought a clever girl like you had figured it out.  The war between Solace and Fallinel is an opportunity for some in government with a disdain for High Elves to attempt to remove many of them from Solace.  You're likely in for a very bad time should you return there.  You seem to be doing well enough for yourself here, or you could return to Fallinel, but I have to encourage you not to return to Solace anytime soon."  There was just a hint of condescension in this advice, Adaine thought, her nose wrinkling a bit automatically at it.

"Thank you, but I have my school headmaster's word that he won't allow them to fuck with me, and I'm a citizen of Solace now, anyway.  I don't have citizenship either here or in Fallinel."  Adaine explained, rather patiently for someone who didn't know her.

Kalina paused, and said.  "Well, if you can trust in Arthur Aguefort.  I would maybe look into how many students of that academy die every year before I got too confident that somehow, I would be the one who he chose to get off his ass and save, Adaine.  And nobody's a citizen of this city, anyway.  That would require that they track those sorts of things."

Adaine nodded, slowly.  It wasn't as though she didn't have her own doubts about either Solace or Arthur Aguefort, and this woman seemed to be only trying to help.  It would be unfair to get angry with her.  "I will think about what you've said, I promise.  Now.  Do you want to sign up for a library card?"

"I make this trip somewhat frequently.  I already have one."  The woman said, holding up her card.  

Adaine just gave a thumbs up.  "Enjoy your visit to the Compass Points Library, then."

The Tabaxi put the card away, and sighed, seeming to consider before she resumed speaking, in a soft tone of sharing secrets.  "...Think about it, please.  Your identity is known to more people than you think, Oracle, and Fallinel will give you concessions to get you back."  A tingling down Adaine's spine as her eyes went wide.  Was that panic?  It didn't feel like her usual panic, and yet she couldn't move, almost couldn't breathe, frozen in place by the woman's words.

"Are you truly surprised they would have had agents working in Solace, in places like the library, like the government, Oracle Adaine?  Everything I've told you is true.  You can look into it yourself.  Just go home, and they'll move heaven and earth for you, whatever you want.  Your disease cured, of course.  Your sister freed?  Your parents' heads on a pike?  Whatever it is you need to go home and stay there.  Or I even won't tell them so long as you just stay here, though they'll undoubtedly find you eventually.  Going back to Solace just means you're going to have two governments both trying to kill you in their own ways."  Kalina clicked her tongue, shaking her head.  "I do hope you'll make a smart choice."

And the Tabaxi walked straight out of the library, while Adaine was still frozen in place in her chair, only able to move once she was out of sight.

THEN she had the full panic attack.

Notes:

Absolutely nothing to worry about in this chapter, simply more summer pirate adventures!

Comments always welcomed and honestly viewed with excitement. I hope people are enjoying this ride.

Chapter 23: Reunion

Summary:

Adaine's time in Leviathan includes a hot exit. Ayda learns just how many friends she's attached herself to through Adaine.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The summer's end approached, with only a week and a half left until the start of term and Adaine was surprised to realize that she was more than a little conflicted about it.  Not because of Kalina's threats, or worse the thought that she might have been telling the total truth, but because she was going to miss having a wizard friend's constant company.

Not just because it had been great for her studies, either, though it had, receiving instruction from another gifted diviner.  She was pushing her divinations further than she'd ever been able to before, and had used one earlier that week called Legend Lore to learn quite a lot about Calethriel Tower - the building itself was magical, and quite a lot about its history, and now it was the principal headquarters of the Court of Stars.

That did not make her feel any better about their chances to break Aelwyn out without overwhelming force, but it was better to know than not know.

She'd mostly been staying within the Library since Kalina's visit the prior month, because on top of her worries about Fallinel it turned out that she HAD been identified by the crew of the Hellish Delivery.  The captain had sent threats to Ayda about the damage to his ship, which Ayda had responded to as considering it deducted from his late fees.

She had never actually gone back to the Gold Gardens after that first night, and with her time in Leviathan coming towards an end she felt like she still needed to go and properly thank Garthy; her visit to Leviathan could have gone much worse without their help.  She decided to go early one day, when the majority of the city was too hungover to usually bother her, especially now that she fit in much better.  Hopefully the Hellish Delivery's crew wouldn't confront her.  She prepared her spellbook a little more for combat than normal just in case.

Taking her bag with her, planning to give Garthy the gold she'd had left, she waved a hand to Rawlins behind the desk.  "Should be back soon!"  She called over.

"Go well, me hearty!"  Rawlins called back as she stepped out of the library, heading straight for the edge of the Crow's Nest closest to the Gardens, jumping off and pulling a feather from her jacket pocket as she plunged down towards the deck below.

Featherfall was a lower spell than Fly, after all.  She just had to ignore the part of it where she had to get closer to the ground in freefall.

She erred on the side of caution still, spending about thirty seconds drifting down and landing softly, then walking off towards the Gold Gardens, ignoring the stares of the half-conscious pirates in the streets and also stepping around as much of the vomit as she could manage.

She was not going to miss this city's smell.

Unfortunately, it turned out Garthy hadn't woken up yet when she got there, and the guards weren't seeming very friendly today.  She tugged a page out of her notebook, scribbling a thank you note out and addressing it to Garthy, offering a favor back in the future if they needed it, telling them to reach out to her through Ayda and a Sending spell.  Probably more valuable than the gold, and she didn't trust the guards to give it to them.

She'd try to make it back down, but she was planning to get Ayda to take her back in a couple of days, to give her time to at least catch up with her friends before the first day of school.  She might come back out here sometime, anyways.

She Flew back up to the Crow's Nest, taking in the sight one more time.  Stinky and awful as it was, the place did have a certain charm.  She could see why Ayda stayed, even if she also seemed almost only to care about the Compass Points itself.

Landing outside of the Ramble, Adaine rubbed her hands together, then reached into her jacket and came out with a cup of lukewarm hot cocoa, looking out over the ocean towards Fallinel as she drank.  This was the closest she was likely to get anytime soon.  She had no idea what the state was of the war between Solace and Fallinel, nor whether she might be able to organize a rescue party even if she could talk them into it.  An excursion into Fallinel was going to be incredibly tricky to be able to do on a legal level even before worrying about the actual incursion, even to recover someone who should rightly be a prisoner of Solace.

A flash of movement from the corner of her eye, and she turned to see two elves, very much not in pirate clothing but instead in long robes, the white light of some kind of teleportation dripping off of them.

"We've located the Oracle.  We'll be returning with her momentarily."  One of them, the younger one, was saying into a Will o' Wisp.

Adaine turned more fully towards them, moving her hand into her pocket.

"...I really don't think you will."  She said, glancing back behind her to see if she could maybe make it off the edge.  Probably wouldn't help, but as an emergency exit plan.  She'd go with that as plan C.

"You can either come with us willingly, or will will take you back by force.  Whether you are executed, or we find you a cure depends on your cooperation, Oracle Abernant."  Smugness, and calm, and everything she expected.  Two wizards, both probably more powerful in combat than she was.

This was going to be very difficult, but she just needed to get away or maybe get Ayda's help.  Copper wire now in hand, she started the message.  "Ayda, please help.."

A Counterspell slammed into her, her Sending evaporating, unsent.

"None of that, now.  Will you cooperate?  I assure you, we need not be enemies."  The young maiden asked, her companion's hand still outstretched from the casting of the counter.

She didn't reply, instead just trying to Misty Step straight off the edge to plummet.  Another Counterspell caught that, and she started just running for the edge.

Another elf in black robes, with black hair came out from under the effects of Invisibility between her and the edge.  "Not so fast, Oracle," casting a spell she did not recognize.

Her own attempt to Counter that did not work out, and her feet froze beneath her mid-stride, stuck to the ground.  Her skin was starting to change, in a different way than during the full moon.  She growled at the man but wasn't able to lift her feet up off the ground anymore.  She would need to take now three Wizards on without being able to move, almost certainly an impossible task.  She threw a Firebolt at him, hoping to disrupt his spell in that way, but it missed wide.

Then, things got worse.  Behind her, her former father's voice sounded out an incantation, a Dominate Person that slammed into her from behind, trying to get her to give in to the spell she was fighting off now.  Rage pulsed through her, pure and raw, and she could feel her teeth starting to grow just a little sharper.  "I will do nothing that you say."

"Clearly.  I see you went and sullied yourself further with those.. skin markings, Adaine."  His voice sounded, Adaine not turning to face him as anger continued to flow through her system, her hold on her elf form feeling tenuous at best.

The maiden, who had not been involved in any of the spell casting so far, stepped forward and sighed.  "You said you could control your daughter, Mister Abernant."

"I'm not his daughter.  Or your Oracle.  He disowned me, and you all cast me out of citizenship, you might remember?  I'm a Solesian citizen, now."  Adaine said, trying to dispel the magic working on her flesh now.  They didn't counter it, but it also didn't work, though she didn't feel it taking any stronger hold.

"Now, see, isn't it easier if we just talk?  Fallinel does not recognize that removal of your citizenship, as your status as the Oracle was unknown at that time, but as the Oracle you outranked the one who removed it.  Thus, Fallinel also does not recognize you as a Solesian citizen.  It's time to come home, Oracle Abernant."  The maiden said, in a patronizing voice.

Adaine felt her skin hardening, a little more.  She needed to get Ayda's attention, but they seemed to be holding counterspells for anything she did that would get her away from this place or get a message out to get herself help.  Unless they removed the Compass Points Intern pendant before taking her, or actually hurt her severely, the pendant's alarm wouldn't notify Ayda until she was already somewhere in Fallinel.

Well.  If they weren't going to hurt her, but they weren't otherwise going to let her notify anyone, and they were satisfied with letting her just use damaging spells...

Adaine brought forth a Fireball to her hand, pushed with every ounce of energy she had, and threw it directly at her own feet, forcing herself to stand there and take the brunt of it even as the elves around her attempted to avoid the worst of the blast.  She wasn't certain just how injured she needed to be to have the pendant's magic kick in, but a crossbow bolt to the ribs hadn't done it the other month.  She had to be as sure as she could that she would take enough. 

There was heat and pain, of course, but at least that clearly unnerved the maiden for the first time, even if she seemed to avoid the worst of it.  "That's quite enough of that."  And Adaine felt her body lock up even further, a Hold Person snapping into place on her, even as a warm pulse of magic echoed from the Compass Points pendant over her heart and pirates began to yell out about the flames that were now spreading over the deck from the fireball.  "If you want to die, you will do it properly, after a trial for your treason.  Try to get Mister Abernant up while your flesh to stone spell continues to work."  That last was directed to the dark-haired wizard.

Out of the corner of her eye, to her surprise and satisfaction, she could see that Angwyn Abernant was down on the ground and covered in wounds, seeming far more grievously hurt by her Fireball even though Adaine had purposefully taken as much of it as she could manage.

If she could move, she might try to finish him then and there.  Unfortunately, it looked like he'd get treatment, instead of being left to die as he deserved.

The spell continued to work on her, her skin now even more pale, even more hard, in spite of Adaine's best efforts to push back against it.

And next to her, Ayda Aguefort appeared through a dimension door, grabbed her around the waist, and started flying straight up, her flaming wings flapping.  Spells streaked past them, Adaine just an observer in this moment, unable even to speak to Ayda.

Ayda, flying out of Counterspell range of the elves below, cast Teleport, and the two of them vanished from the skies of Leviathan, even as Adaine's awareness began to fade as the flesh to stone spell took full effect.


Adaine came back to consciousness in the middle of a street, the pavement underneath her cracked, Ayda looking at her with concern.  "...Are you recovered?  I was able to dispel the magic on you, but it took several attempts.  You were too heavy for me to fly with after that spell took effect, but I tried to keep you from falling too fast and coming to harm."

Adaine glanced down at herself: her shoes had been lost at some point in the scuffle and flight and teleport, her clothing all singed and her skin burnt from her own fireball, but her feet and legs were intact.  She swallowed before tossing her arms around Ayda.  "Thank you thank you thankyou!"  She called out, her entire body trembling.  That had been an impossibly close call, and without Ayda's intervention it could only have ended one way.  Adaine was pretty certain that only the remaining rage against the elves was keeping her from having a panic attack now, and that was going to wear off soon.

Or maybe it was just that her emotions needed a moment to get going again after however long she'd been a statue before Ayda had fixed her.

A car leaned on the horn, and Ayda said.  "I did promise you your safety as your boss and your friend, Adaine.  This land dingy seems very upset at us."

"Yes, right!  We should get out of the street."  She took Ayda's wrist, leading her over to the sidewalk.  Her bag started vibrating and buzzing like crazy, while Ayda glanced around.

"Is this Elmville?  Teleportation is not very reliable when traveling to places you have only read about."  Ayda mused.  "But it seemed safer for you than remaining there."

"It's not.  I'm not sure where we are, other than somewhere in Solace.  Bastion City, maybe?  It seems big enough."  Adaine said, digging all the way down into her bag, coming out with her crystal, which had spent the last almost three months while she was outside of Solace as a fancy looking paperweight.

It was now displaying a lot of missed calls, texts, and chats, up over a thousand already and still going.  The Bad Kids must have left her in the group chats.  She ignored those for the moment, looking at location services, and... 

"We are in Bastion City, after all.  I think I'm going to have a breakdown when this all catches up with me in a minute."  Adaine determined.  "I'll try breathing exercises but first we should call for help.  You can't teleport again now, right?"  She asked, knowing the answer was no even as she called Fig, feeling her breath going shorter and shorter.

"ADAINE!  Are you back in town, girl?"  Fig answered, excitedly.

"Kindof going to give you to a friend about to have a panic attack."  Adaine said, laying down flat on her back on the sidewalk and taking a deep breath in.  They were in broad daylight, in the middle of Bastion City.  This was a terrible place to turn into a wolf, which made it all the more likely that she would.

When Adaine had dreamed of Ayda, long before they had even met, she'd been mourning both Adaine herself and Fig.  Hopefully they'd be able to get through a crystal conversation.

"Yes, I am Adaine O'Shaughnessey's friend.  She is my best friend, in fact."  Ayda said, Adaine no longer able to hear Fig's side as she tried to calm herself.

A pause, and then.  "Yes, I think that does make us friends, too.  Friendship has transitive properties.  She said we were calling to get help, but I believe she is currently trying not to change into a wolf.  ...No, we're in Bastion City.  ...Yes, that would be good.  ...Yes.  I will look forward to meeting you.  ...How do I end this conversation so that you can start to travel?"

Adaine, knowing from that that they were being retrieved, just gave in and let herself drop into wolf form at Ayda's feet, the shaking fading a little as she did.


They'd managed to find a park not too far from where they had arrived, with multiple people giving the both of them strange looks but noone saying anything to them, and Ayda had sat down next to her to keep her company.

"This is a strange place, but I have not been many places that are not Leviathan."  Ayda offered.  "It seems.. nice enough.  It is good that you have other friends who will be closer, to help you quicker if you get into trouble, next time.  You seem to draw it, Adaine O'Shaughnessey."

She could hardly argue with that.  Ayda was curiously poking at her crystal, having never seen arcanotech like this functional, and they both took the chance to rest.

It only took about an hour before she was able to shift back up into her elf form, sighing.  "...Did Fig say how long it would take them to get here?"

"Four hours.  My new friend seemed nice.  Do you have other friends who I should consider transitory friends?  I'm sorry that I only have Garthy to share with you.  You continue to bring more than I in the trade of our friendship."  Ayda said, a slight hint of moroseness to her voice.

Adaine shook her head.  "No, no, you can't think of it like that.  First, you did save my life, like, earlier today.  But even if that weren't so, you're offering you, right?  And that's plenty.  It might be a little crowded in the apartment, but I'm sure my dad and everyone would love to meet you before you go back to Leviathan.  However long you want to stay."

Adaine took her crystal back, going through all her many texts to let everyone know that she was alive - though from the group chat it looked like Fig had gathered all of the Bad Kids who could be reached on short notice to pick them up already - and started telling Ayda about all the new friends she had made by making friends with Adaine without even knowing it.

Notes:

And our Leviathan mini-arc draws towards a close! There's a little time left to summer back in Elmville - including Ayda meeting her new transitive friends - but Adaine's time in the Compass Points is done for now, and Fallinel is pissssed at her.

DND nerdery below, you're definitely free to skip this part:

As mentioned a few chapters ago, when it won't change the overall arc of the plot I do sometimes roll dice for the details; this chapter included a few of those. Canonically, Boggy's around and helping Adaine with her saves here; without that and with my rolls, she did manage to take it to 2-2, but failed on the last one against the Flesh to Stone. This succeeding or failing didn't particular matter, since Ayda could dispel it and if Adaine didn't get rescued by Ayda she was completely screwed regardless. For the 5th level Fireball, I rolled 39 damage on 10d6; we know for a fact that at absolute most Angwyn's got 38 HP. The trigger point on the pendant was below half HP for Adaine, which this also cleared (She needed it to do 34) but she would have managed to do enough damage through some other means if that hadn't worked.

For Ayda, and for Aelwyn for that matter, I'm not sure we ever get explicitly told their levels but they both appear to be either level 13 or 14 - they both demonstrate having a 7th level spell slot but no 8th from what I can tell. I'm treating them both as 13th, not that it matters right now for Aelwyn, who was out of spell slots, had five levels of exhaustion, and is under the effects of Feeblemind now to boot.

Chapter 24: Return

Summary:

It's not the road trip Fig wanted, but it's the road trip she could get. Adaine gets the badly needed hug that was advertised in this fic's tags.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

By more or less any rational definition, the summer had been a smashing success, Fig knew.

The tour and gigs had all gone really well.  They'd wrapped them up with a little bit of time to spare before the first day of school, but Fig and the Cig Figs had a smash hit album and she and Gorgug (and their biological parents who hadn't raised them, who made up the rest of the band) had made a shitload of money.

Her other plans had also shaken out well enough.  Sklonda and Gortholax had something not-exclusive but apparently fun going on, and Sandra Lynn and Jawbone's dates had gone well.  She didn't really want too many details on anything to do with any of that, just the knowledge that she was succeeding in bringing the whole group closer together.

The only kind of failure part of it was that she just hadn't gotten to see the other Bad Kids very much, besides Gorgug of course.  Adaine had vanished onto her pirate adventure, of course, and none of them had seen her all summer, but even the other three it had been a rare treat to run into.  Kristen was tied up with her new church and her girlfriend (or rather, Kristen was tying up her girlfriend - Fig hadn't really needed to know that much), Riz was close to impossible to talk away from his investigations if Fabian or Adaine weren't going to be there generally, and Fabian had been being trained into the ground by his mother.

She'd managed to get each of them to come to a couple of the nearby gigs, and it had made it easier to admit to it.  She liked all of the Bad Kids, as much as she tried not to show that or show vulnerability, but Adaine was her best friend of the group and while she knew Adaine hadn't wanted to go out of the country on no notice without any of them she was still feeling a little abandoned.

She was just dwelling on this, resting in her room at Sandra Lynn's, when her crystal started ringing, and she was ready to hang up on what was probably another spammer when she spotted the contact - in her crystal now as 'were-elf'.

She screamed right into the crystal, because a call via crystal meant Adaine was at least in the country, but hopefully it meant she was actually home.  "ADAINE!  Are you back in town, girl?"  It was probably too early to be that energetic, but to hell with it.

Adaine's voice came through, not the same as in her Sendings where she'd always clearly preplanned every word.  This was in a rush, a tone Fig hadn't heard from her in quite a while, the same way she'd sounded after she'd killed Doreen or after she'd realized that her panic attacks would send her back into a wolf form, the same way she all too often sounded when she was about to try to find somewhere to hide and be miserable for a while, the whole statement coming out in one breath.  "Kindofgoingtogiveyoutoafriendabouttohaveapanicattack."

"Oh, okay."  Fig said, managing to parse out about half of that.  Adaine couldn't hear her, anyway, because Fig could tell from the sounds coming on her end that the crystal was being passed to someone else.  "Hey, are you Adaine's friend?"  She asked, after a moment.

"Yes, I am Adaine O'Shaughnessey's friend.  She is my best friend, in fact," came a blunt and clipped voice from the other side.

Fig hesitated, and frowned.  Did Adaine replace her during the summer, too?  "She's my best friend, too.  Guess that means we should try to be friends, right?"

"Yes, I think that does make us friends, too.  Friendship has transitive properties.  She said we were calling to get help, but I believe she is currently trying not to change into a wolf."  ...That was about right.  Fig relaxed; this was clearly a very different person than she was.

"That does sound like her.  Are you two somewhere in Elmville?"  Fig asked.  "I can try to get there to help her."

"No, we're in Bastion City."  The name was spoken as though it was unfamiliar, and Fig's eyebrows rose.

"I'll get Gorgug and get him to borrow his parents' van to come and pick you two up, okay?  It'll be about four hours, though."  Fig offered.  That was assuming Gorgug would be ready to leave right away, but he should be.  

"Yes, that would be good," the response came.  Still hard to get any kind of read on her; it was hard to even tell her age over the crystal connection.

Maybe if she tried to hint at it a little more.  "Well.  I'll get to see you in person soon, new friend."

"Yes.  I will look forward to meeting you."  That wasn't a name, either.  She clearly knew Fig's name, because Fig knew Adaine had everyone in her contacts under their actual names.

"Yeah, cool.  I'll see you soon, then."  Fig said, sighing.  No real luck.

"How do I end this conversation so that you can start to travel?"  

"Oh, you just hang up, it's what all the cool people do.  Like this."  Fig said, disconnecting the call.

Hopefully whatever her new friend's name was would find it cool.

Fig flipped over to the group text, which Adaine was still on, and started typing into it.  adaine's stranded again, bastion city this time, who's free today to go get her?

Of course, Gorgug had the access to a van, so he needed to be available or else she was really going to have trouble.  Everyone but Riz responded within a couple of minutes, and Kristen said Tracker wanted to come too, and if they were going to be in the Strongtower Luxury Apartments they could probably drag Riz out too, and...

It was going to be the group road trip she'd wanted all summer.  There just wasn't going to be a concert on the other side.

Within half an hour, they were peeling out of town, Gorgug behind the wheel, Fig laying back in the passenger seat and watching the countryside pass.  Fabian was pretending like this was a hassle and Riz was drinking from a coffee he'd been nursing when they'd dragged him out and Kristen and Tracker were making out in the back and everything was perfect.

"..You know the train to Bastion City takes like ninety minutes max, right?"  Riz asked, at the two hour mark when they were still less than two-thirds there.

"I don't think Adaine had any money on her."  Fig replied.  "Anyway, who cares if this takes a little longer, this lets us all meet her, right?"

"Didn't you say she was stranded?  She'd probably be happier being stranded for less time, but we're already this far, I guess."  Riz shook his head, getting Fabian to speak up.

"Oh, she'll be fine, the Ball.  She'll definitely be better off not being stuck using public transportation, you know."  Fabian said, waving a hand around the van.  They'd barely been able to convince him not to ride the Hangman separately and he'd whined about that choice for the first half hour of the drive.

Fig realized she probably should have mentioned this sooner, but Fabian would have definitely whined more about how cramped the van was going to be.  "Oh, yeah!  Adaine's got a friend along, I assume somebody from Leviathan.  I'm pretty sure she'll be coming along for the trip back, too, but we didn't really have a full conversation."

A few texts, outside of the group thread, and she'd managed to arrange with Adaine where to meet, some park in the middle of Bastion City.  That done and the course set with Gorgug, she added another question into that text thread.

whats your friend's name?

Adaine's response had her staring at the phone instead of the suburbs of Bastion City for a good minute or two.

ayda aguefort, yes she's his bio daughter, no you probably shouldn't bring it up

How strange to think of Arthur Aguefort as having any family, strained as that message from Adaine made it sound.  It would be interesting to meet her, anyway.

Another hour and they were there, Gorgug managing a mostly-legal parking job that was better than anything she could have managed.  They piled out of the van, Fabian still grumbling about how crowded it was going to be with two more people, and then there Adaine was on a bench near a fountain, her eyes shut but clearly awake.  

Her hair was tangled and windswept, she was dressed as though she had been given fifteen seconds to pick an outfit from a particularly pirate-y thrift shop, and the clothing that she had had scorch marks on it.  Other than her jacket, the sole nice item she was wearing was a pendant around her neck, a compass with a book etched into the front of it.  She was still too pale, somehow having managed to avoid a tan or sunburn during her adventures.  She was barefoot - not really a surprise if she'd transformed at some point - and hadn't noticed them yet, talking to the girl who must have been the one from the phone.

That girl was the most striking looking person Fig had ever seen, with eyes of actual flame, wings, and fiery red hair, dark skin, and yet still a strong family resemblance to the man who Adaine had claimed was her father.  

"Ad-daiiine!"  Fabian said, in his most extreme, scandalized voice.  "You got your first tattoo without the rest of us?"

That was enough to draw Fig's attention away for a moment.

Adaine grinned back at him, looking around the group.  "I did.  I told Tracker when I got it?"

"I thought it would be more fun to watch them find out in person.  You didn't tell me what it was, though."  Tracker said from beside Kristen, stepping forward and hugging Adaine, looking and sounding like she might start crying.  Fig would have to see what that was about later, because everyone else was crowding around Adaine.  She had already accepted it for longer than Fig thought she might - Adaine generally got really anxious if more than one or two people were that close to her, something the bad kids should have learned during their stay in jail - so Fig would wait her turn and bother Adaine on the ride back, especially about whatever tattoo she might have gotten.

Instead, she turned back to the tall girl.  "Hey!  They've just all missed Adaine, they'll probably introduce themselves in a minute.  I'm Figueroth Faeth."

"I see.  Adaine O'Shaughnessey did tell me about you, Figueroth Faeth.  She said that you could be trusted to be kind but that you would lie about being worthy of trust, which seemed a paradox to me.  You are also the one I conversed with on the strange device Adaine had, are you not?  I am Ayda Aguefort."  

Fig smiled, the tension she'd been feeling all summer starting to fade.  "..Well.  We already agreed we were friends, then.  No taking it back now."

Ayda paused.  "...I would never renege on a contract of friendship.  So long as you remain Adaine's friend, you are my friend."

"Cool, cool."


Fabian had a slight point in his whining, Adaine decided halfway back to Elmville.  The van really wasn't made to hold this many, at least not without unloading some of the tools that were piled up in the back seat, especially since Ayda had to take a lot of care not to set anything on fire with her wings or hair.

Tracker was helping, by sitting in Kristen's lap, which was going to be really unsafe if Fig had to break suddenly. Ayda had, in the end, taken the passenger seat - it was a little easier to not burn anyone or anything there - and Fig had insisted on driving after that, telling Gorgug it wasn't safe for him to do all the driving.

Adaine didn't think Fig had her license, but she also was pretty certain Gorgug didn't either, so it was probably fine.  Fine enough.  This was less criminal than most of her life had been recently.

She'd been shuffling back and forth in the van, mostly sitting on the edge of seats or in the floorboard, catching up with everyone.  Fabian had been both doubting and incredibly interested in her experiences recovering library books from pirates, and Tracker had cried at her tattoo and promised that Jawbone would cry even more.  Riz had made her promise never to ask for help from Arthur Aguefort again - Ayda had overheard that one and fervently agreed.  (Adaine was reserving the right to do it anyway; angry as she had been, it had all worked out pretty well.)  Kristen had promised her a new Yes? shirt, her old one rags somewhere in Leviathan.

She'd had to promise Fig they'd get piercings together sometime to make up for getting a tattoo without her and also missing Fig's entire tour.  She was and wasn't looking forward to that; it might look good, but ear piercings were famously painful for elves - though half-elf Fig already had several - and Tracker had said it would take either magic or very careful use of silver to get it to stick for a werewolf.

Definitely not impossible - Tracker had several piercings - but apparently they were ALSO more painful than normal ones.  It seemed like an unfortunate combination.

Gorgug had been able to tell that she'd been worn out after all of that, and after the fight and flight she'd had this morning; he'd curled his legs under him, taking up as little room as possible, and allowed her to shift into her wolf form and relax in the floorboard by him for about an hour of the ride, talking about the gigs he and Fig had done while she just listened.

Adaine had just shifted back as they reached the outskirts of Elmville when a voice sounded into her mind, and she immediately, magically, was certain who it was.

"You did not kill me, daughter.  Fallinel will have her Oracle.  You should be obedient and be that Oracle, but there will be one. Soon."

She felt the Sending spell within her mind, waiting for her to speak a message into being.  The smart thing to do would be to say nothing.

"Fuck you."  She hissed out loud, drawing alarmed looks from Gorgug, Tracker, and Kristen even as she closed the spell early, leaving the remained twenty-three words unspent. The threat to kill him could be implied.

There wasn't a follow up Sending, so hopefully the message was received.


It was almost sunset by the time they reached the Strongtower Luxury Apartments.

("It does not appear to be particularly luxurious compared to the other residences we drove past."  Ayda said.  "Dishonesty like that is not exclusive to Leviathan, then?"

"Not at all."  Adaine had replied.)

Ayda was going to stay at least overnight to get her teleport back; Adaine would have liked for her to be able to stay longer, but Leviathan had been left with flames spreading near the library.  Whatever was going to happen with that would have happened by now, but Adaine couldn't blame Ayda for being nervous about it, or for being nervous about being in a new place, as much as she would miss her.

Fabian got back on the Hangman, and Riz and Fig broke off for their own apartments, Fig having tried to wheedle a promise out of Ayda that she would get a crystal before teleporting back so that she could add her to her contacts.  Adaine hadn't bothered pointing out that Ayda wouldn't have service.  Fig presumably knew that.

The remaining four headed towards the apartment, which was going to be even more cramped than normal with Ayda along but that was okay.

Adaine wasn't two steps into the apartment before she saw Jawbone, and without even realizing the decision, she was hugging him, tightly.  There'd be introductions to make and stories to tell and a breakdown to have, plans to make about what to do about the fact that a whole country badly wanted her captured or dead, but right this second none of that mattered.

"Welcome home, Adaine."  Jawbone said, the crushing warmth and gravelly voice all she really needed.

Notes:

Okay one more relationship tag, you can't run from fate.

Though it's going to be a while before it's a real relationship because there's travel problems!

Fallinel is very much still a threat for Adaine, even if she were willing to just forget that something horrible seems to have been done to Aelwyn.

Thank you all for reading, as always! The move slowdown will happen at some point here, and I really should be writing chapters for my other fics, but this one just really flows for me currently.

Chapter 25: Farewell

Summary:

Adaine has a sleepover and a nightmare. Ayda says farewell, for now.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The apartment was crowded to overflowing that night, Ayda having been surprisingly shy on being introduced to Jawbone, Tracker, and Kristen.  Thankfully, they had met her with kindness and careful plans about what to feed her.

Adaine had also convinced her it was part and parcel of their friendship, and a meal and a place to stay for the night would not be something that would indebt her to anyone.

They all crowded around the kitchen table, really made to seat two and fitting five in tight quarters tonight, and ate the stew Jawbone had made, the small talk taking a turn when Ayda spoke in a serious tone.

"Adaine, I did not see much of your fight other than right at the end, and then I was focused on getting you out.  Are you willing to tell me what happened, and why they attacked you?  You had mentioned that Fallinel might be after you.  Was that confirmation?"  

Adaine gave a glance around, because neither she nor Ayda had mentioned to her friends or to Jawbone that she'd been targeted and attacked at the way out; all of them were looking at her.  She'd known she needed to actually talk to her friends and family about this, but had hoped to put it off just one more day.  And then another, probably, not forcing her problems onto them until it crashed down around her again.

Ayda was doing her a favor by asking.

"..I guess we should talk about that.  And a couple of other things, related to that.  They were there for me, and I don't think I would have ever been coming back if I'd gone with them.  Said if I cooperated they'd find someone to cure me, and that if I didn't they were going to put me on trial and then execute me.  Three I didn't recognize, and... And Angwyn Abernant."  Adaine said, quietly at the last.

She would not call that man her father in front of Jawbone, not ever again, she decided, even if she had to look away from the eyes she could feel on her from everyone else.

"Only two of them were visible at first, so I tried to send for help and then teleport away, but they were Counterspelling everything that gave me any chance to get away.  One wizard on four is a really awful situation.  I tried running without magic, and they hit me with that flesh to stone spell.  Think they were going to teleport with me once I lost consciousness, one way or the other.  But I noticed they didn't bother stopping the damaging spells, so I put everything I had into doing enough damage to myself with a Fireball to alert Ayda through the monitoring spells she had on me before they put more restrictive spells on me.  And she came, and she saved me, and now we're here."

She dared to sneak a glance back at the group.  Ayda was watching her, as was Kristen.  Tracker and Jawbone were both looking away, and she thought she knew why; Jawbone usually was past this, but the mention of a possible cure might set off a wave of guilt, she knew.

Or maybe it was her blowing herself up as a combat tactic?  Either way, she'd rather not look him in the eyes just this moment.

"Do you think they'd really cure you, or was that a lie to try to get you to go along?"  Kristen asked, giving Tracker a worried look.

Adaine sighed, and considered what to say to that, staring down at the table.  "It would be a worse curse to make that trade, to end up part of that..  I don't know how much power my predecessors really had.  But it doesn't matter, anyway, because that's not the main problem.  I've looked into this pretty thoroughly.  The only magic that the Court of Stars is likely to be able to bring to bear that could do that is a casting of Wish.  And what a waste, to use a spell like that to remove a disease that's affecting one person.  A disease that doesn't really even stop her from living a pretty great life.  A lot better life since she got removed from the alleged care of anyone associated with Fallinel.  If I had the spell to cast right now, even without selling the rest of my life, a selfish use like that wouldn't be what I would spend it on."  And, as she said it, knowing that it was true, she felt a certain peace settle into herself.

"That's a.. mature outlook, kiddo."  Jawbone spoke, choked up.

Adaine shook her head, trying to gather her thoughts.  "We'll have to figure out if we need protections specifically here, sometime.  I got a Sending message from Angwyn on the ride back from Bastion City.  He made it pretty clear they're not going to give up just because I'm back in Solace.  And even if they were, I..  I think I want to try to rescue Aelwyn.  I think something..  really bad has happened to her, she won't reply to my Sendings anymore except when she's transformed in the full moon, and I don't think it's because she doesn't want to.  Even though she's been a terrible person my whole life, even though she's committed so many crimes, I still..  I still don't want to leave her with them."  She wanted to talk to Jawbone about the rest, but that would have to wait.  She couldn't bring herself to discuss with Kristen or Tracker or Ayda the fact that her sister had seemed to have a death wish at the age of seventeen.

Ayda did speak up, then.  "When you do that, if you need help, contact me.  I will consider it a part of your internship, since finding her was your goal with me.  It does sound like you should not come back to Leviathan with me to finish the rest of the summer."

"No, they'd make another attempt there, for certain."  Adaine said.  She just wished she could be sure that they wouldn't make one here.

From there, the conversation moved on to happier topics, everyone catching her up on what was going on in Elmville.  Adaine gave Ayda her bedroom for the night, initially planning to sleep on the couch. 

Tracker and Kristen didn't seem at all surprised when she wound up climbing onto the foot of their bed in wolf form to sleep.


Adaine dreamed, that night, not at all like either her visions of the possible future nor the dreams she'd grown used to and enjoyed having but rather a nightmare fusion of both.

A tower along the coast, a tower she had never been in but knew all too much about.  A tower she was trapped at the top of, on a pedestal right at the edge, unable to move, unable to breath, a crowd of elves climbing the stairs to stare at her and ask her questions.  There were skeletons strewn around the roof, five of them of different sizes, shattered and trampled under the bare feet of her visitors.

The one reaching the front of the line now was familiar, scars wrapped around her wrists and ankles.  "Little sister."  Aelwyn said, sounding as though she might cry, her usual sarcasm completely absent.  "Why did you not save yourself when you could?  I don't understand you, and I never have."  The last, clearly frustrated, clearly wishing she could.

Adaine wanted to explain, wanted to try to make Aelwyn understand.  She stayed frozen, even as Aelwyn vanished into the crowd, replaced by two others.

"It was bad enough when you were simply an inept monster.  Now, you have potential, a real ability, but still you refuse to contribute to this family?"  Angwyn Abernant said, his arm around his wife in a way that Adaine had never actually seen them display affection for each other before.

"Why couldn't you take more after your sister?  She, at least, has the sense to do what is expected in front of us, no matter what she might do behind our backs.  You should know that perception is everything, darling."  Arianwen added, shaking her head.  "We'd be better off if you weren't the Oracle, the way you treat it."

No matter the rage that flowed through her veins at this, she was stuck as a statue at the top of the tower, not even able to transform into the half-wolf form that came whether she wanted it or not when she gave in to the anger she felt so much of the time.

Kalina was there, too, the sole non-elf she had seen.  "Well, kid.  I did tell you you should cut a deal with Fallinel while you could, didn't I?  Fighting back against fate only makes it all the worse.  Don't worry; you're going to be the first Oracle who doesn't ever have to pass on the mantle, now.  You're too useful for me to give up."

She struggled and fought to try to move at all, to cast any type of magic, and in the flash of an instant that was also an eternity saw eons of herself standing there, asked questions while her answers were ignored, until the tower one day crumbled to the ground beneath her.

Adaine woke with a whine and a whimper, what would have been a soft scream had she vocal cords at present, her body still frozen in place by the fear of the dream other than a trembling that she could not control, a full panic attack coming straight out of a dream.

It was still enough that she'd woken Tracker, though.  Her cousin mumbled, "Okay there Adaine?" sliding away from where Kristen was snoring face-down into the pillow.  Adaine couldn't respond, couldn't move other than shivering, and she certainly couldn't change back into elf form.

She felt a warm weight around her as Tracker wrapped her in a blanket and a hug, still shivering for a long, long time before she calmed enough for both of them to be able to sleep.


There was one more thing Adaine wanted to offer after Ayda had rested but before she teleported back to Leviathan, walking outside into the cool of the morning with her friend, taking a deep breath.  The area around the Strongtower Luxury Apartments were not the nicest, not by any means.  Not the safest, either.

There was still something to really be said for fresh air after three months in a city that smelled of pirates, booze, and the hangover that resulted when the two met.

It turned out Ayda had wanted to speak before leaving, anyway, as eager as she was to make certain the fires that had been set hadn't spread to threaten the city or more importantly the library.

"I want to keep you on staff for the Compass Points, even if it's as an honorary position.  We can get you a different title.  Official best friend.  But mostly, I want you to keep wearing the pendant, at least while you're being hunted.  It would help me worry less about you.  You lead a very worrying life in some ways, Adaine O'Shaughnessey."  Ayda said, her hand twitching slightly.

Adaine reached up and closed her hand around her Compass Points pendant with a smile, though she did point out.  "I am an adventuring student.  I will get hurt; it's just part of the educational process.  I'll try to Send to you after the fight if it happens, though?  I would like to be able to see you more, in the future, but I don't want you to have to teleport any time I run into normal trouble."

Ayda nodded, considering that.  "I will give you time to send me a message should it be needed before I come.  I will also think about ways I can visit more often.  You should not visit me until your issues with Fallinel are resolved."

Which brought Adaine around to what she wanted to offer, as sensitive a topic as it was.  "I want you to know I can never ask about this again, if you want, but I feel like I should offer.  Just tell me if you want me to stop."

Ayda gave her full attention, nodding.  "I will."

Adaine took in a deep breath.  "Before I got teleported to Leviathan, Principal Aguefort told me that the reason he had not contacted you was that you asked hundreds of years ago for him not to.  You seem to still dislike him, but do you want me to tell him that is no longer the case?  I don't know if you might have changed your mind from your prior self.  It might also be the last thing I say to him, because I'm still pretty angry about not getting some time to prepare, even though I'm happy to have met you and to have spent my summer there."

Ayda froze up, and Adaine gave her time to work through it.  "My father is a known liar, and I am hardly the only one he has deceived...  but if I truly asked him, then it was so long ago that I do not even have notes of it.  I believe I had my reasons, but I would discover them anew if I can.  Please, tell him that I no longer object to him contacting me, but I cannot be the one to reach out, Adaine."

Adaine nodded, and also asked.  "Do you want a hug before you go?  I would like one, but I understand if you would not."

"Yes, desperately."  Ayda said.  "You will be missed."

Adaine and Ayda shared a deeply awkward and elbow-filled hug, the warmth coming off Ayda remaining intense to Adaine.

"I'll try to send letters.  They'll probably be unreliable, but we can always use Sendings to coordinate and supplement."  Adaine offered.

"Yes.  I hope to have more time on my next visit, both with you and with my transitive friends.  They seemed nice.  If any of them would like, I would also exchange attempts at letters with them."  Ayda said.

"We'll see, most of them aren't really.. writing sorts."  Adaine said, with a shrug, even as Ayda took in a breath and clearly prepared to make the leap.

"Until we see each other again, fare well, my best friend."  And, without waiting for a response, perhaps knowing that goodbye would be far too difficult if allowed to drag on, Ayda vanished into the motes of fire of her Teleport spell.

Notes:

And this officially closes the summer arc; next chapter, it's back to school.

Chapter 26: Ghost

Summary:

Adaine makes friends with the new elvish ambassador and averts half of a disaster for her school. Fig laughs.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The week between getting home and starting school included an adjustment to Adaine's anxiety prescription - or, really, more of a cocktail now, several medications that were more targeted than her prior but now meant she had a dizzying schedule of what to take and when and what could go wrong if she ran out of particular medications.

She gave the full information on her new dosages to Tracker and Kristen, trusting that they would help keep the rest of their friends from giving her any drugs that would put her at risk of a bad interaction, wittingly or not.

The week also included a sequence of Sendings from Ayda notifying her that in the just under twenty-four hours that she and Ayda had been absent from Leviathan, pirates had broken in and stolen a great many works from the Compass Points.  Ayda was considering options for new locations and protections, once she murdered all the pirates and took back the stuff.

On the first day of school, Adaine got woken up by a call on her crystal from a number she did not recognize.

She, of course, ignored it, burrowing back under her blanket and pillow.

The second time, and third time as well.

By the fourth time, she started to wonder if Ayda had somehow actually gotten a crystal, gotten it working, and gotten her number from Fig, so she started concentrating on changing back to her elf form and pulled a nightgown on before the fifth call.

On the other end of the call was a High Elf she'd never seen before, in the outfit of a magistrate of the army of Fallinel.  Adaine strongly considered hanging back up, and while she was thinking about it the elf started speaking.

"Greetings, Oracle Abernant.  I am Kal..."  Adaine hung up, her finger moving the moment that name came from the elf's mouth.

A call back.  Adaine answered, trying to make her disapproval clear on her face.

"You will want to hear me out, Oracle Aber..."  Another hang up.  Another call back.  "Why are you picking up if you're just going to hang up?"  The elf finally asked, frustration clear.

Adaine glared into the crystal, then shrugged.  "You're calling me by someone else's name.  You must have the wrong number.  This number is for Adaine O'Shaughnessey, not anyone named 'Abernant'."  That sent tension into the elf on the other side, their diplomatic poise broken.

"..Very well.  Oracle Adaine.  You may call me Kalari.  As I am sure you are aware, an armistice has been reached between Fallinel and the nation of Solace.  This allows an opportunity for you to return home, free and clear of any charges of treason."

Adaine went back to weighing her 'hang up' options, before deciding to just have the conversation and make it every bit as miserable for this elf as it was for her.  "You say that as though the nation of Fallinel did not try to have me kidnapped on the streets of Leviathan a week and a half ago.  Or have me stabbed with a silver dagger not that long ago, for that matter.  Which is, y'know, potentially pretty fatal to anybody, but especially to a werewolf.  Which I am.  Which, give me a minute, actually."  She conjured her Mage Hand, sending it to dig back through one of her shelves, even as the elf started talking.

"Yes, well, if you come home we can probably find someone to fix that, and even if we couldn't there's a dwelling traditionally reserved for the Elven Oracle and we can probably find enough people who are willing to help contain a potential werewolf plague to staff it...  Are you listening, Oracle Ab.. Adaine?"

There was a knock at the door.  "Hey, Adaine, breakfast is ready!" came Jawbone's voice.

"Just a minute!"  Adaine called, before her mage hand came back with the relevant folder.  "Let's see.  Here's the page declaring that I'm no longer considered either an elf nor a citizen of Fallinel, but rather a monster.  Here's the legal declaration - legal in Fallinel, at least - that I'm no longer an Abernant.  I don't see that we have anything more to talk about.  I'm a citizen of Solace, and I'm the Oracle for the continent of Spyre.  If Fallinel decides to behave and go maybe a year without trying to kill me or kidnap me, maybe one day that'll even include them.  But I'm never living there again."

Jawbone and the elf spoke at the same time.  "It's just, I don't think this breakfast is really going to hold up if you let it cool off, it's pancakes today and they're best straight out of the pan..." was Jawbone's contribution, while the elf was saying something less important about how none of that had really counted.

"I'm going to hang up on you now.  My dad made me pancakes."  Adaine declared, loudly, hanging up a third time and leaving the crystal in her bedroom, where it began to ring again.

Jawbone's pancakes were great, at least up until she felt herself pitch face-first into her half eaten stack of them.

She was floating about the Adventuring Academy, which was currently on fire.  Zombies were shuffling through the bloodrush field, among them Fabian and Fig, Gorgug and Zelda, slowly advancing towards the school.  A figure surrounded in darkness was directing them, waving their hands wildly in celebration...

She came back to herself with her face covered in maple syrup, far from the worst indignity that she'd faced over the exactly one year since starting at Aguefort but among the stickier.  Jawbone was hovering over her worriedly, having gotten a leather strap from somewhere and seeming to be debating about using it to keep her from biting her tongue.

"...Wonder if the elf lands would start getting overrun with zombies if I was there, instead of here."

That was going to throw a real crimp into the plans the Bad Kids - which was to say, Fig had pushed it and noone else had really fought against it - had decided upon of seeing which of them could get the others into detention on the first day without getting it themselves.  Privately, Adaine was of the belief that they'd either all end up in it - they were certainly all bad at avoiding trouble - or none of them would get it because Gilear didn't have the nerve to give any of them detention.  It'd be a little mean to make Jawbone sit through one with them, anyway.

After reassuring Jawbone she was okay and that they'd probably be able to handle the zombies she was talking about, and knocking on Tracker's door on her way to take a shower in the dingy single bathroom of the apartment, Adaine got herself into the shower to try and get the smell of maple out of her nose.  

Feeling somewhat refreshed after that, Adaine got ready for school.  No need to dress like a pirate anymore, and it would probably be counterproductive; back to the more normal outfit from the end of the prior year.  She did give a glance to that damned orb, still sitting - now slightly dusty - where she had left it at the start of summer when getting ready for her quick meeting with Arthur Aguefort.

There was something really satisfying about using material components, even if she was just pulling them from her jacket as she needed them.  But more importantly, there was something very satisfying about not using the orb.  It was, by now, almost her sole possession that came from her birth parents, if you didn't count the paperwork disowning her.  None of her clothing was left over from then, and everything else had been either lost in her scramble to move or in one of her various arrests.

She shut her eyes, reading the future, knowing that this was a waste of effort on a day where there might be a zombie horde later.

No harm would come to anyone if she did it now.

She opened the window next to her bed and hurled the orb out of it into the overcast morning, waiting until she heard the shattering sound of it hitting the concrete below to finish preparing herself for school.


"...Anyway, keep an eye for any liches or necromancers.  You should be good against zombies, right?"  Adaine asked Kristen on their way over to school, playing with the lining of her jacket as she did so.

"Yeah, yeah, I got this.  Are you sure you're not just trying to get out of Fig's contest?  Because I've got a great idea for how I'm going to win that but I'm not going to be able to do it if there's going to be a zombie invasion.  Wasn't that book you put back in the library supposed to keep this sort of thing from happening, anyway?"  Kristen asked.  Which was.. a good point, now that Adaine thought about it.  

She frowned, considering what might be going on there.  "Well, I'm not going to remove it again, so either Principal Aguefort has for some reason or just putting the book back wasn't enough to fully restore it.  Prom did happen after the book was put back, too.  I'm going to feel kind of guilty if I made this place more dangerous forever."

"I wouldn't worry about it too much!  The deaths were mostly off campus even last year, if you don't count me and Gorgug.  Or Doreen, Mister Gibbins, and Principal Aguefort.  Or Ragh, that one time.  Or Penelope and Dayne.  Or me again and you, actually!  At least half of those people got resurrected, and half of the other half deserved it.  I'm pretty sure that's still less than died off campus."  Kristen said, counting on her fingers just to make certain she was right.

"I think you still need some work on your speeches, Kristen."  Adaine said, since Gorgug wasn't around to say anything about it.  

"You think so?  But I thought they were really getting better."  Kristen said.

"The sad part is, you might be right.  Anyway, I didn't really get a good look at them in the vision, so just keep watching."  Adaine suggested as they entered the building.

Principal Aguefort was standing near the entrance, so Adaine decided to kill three birds with one stone and go ahead and speak to the man.

"Hello, Principal Aguefort."  Adaine said, folding her arms, still a little mad.

"Oh, Miss O'Shaughnessey!  I see you made it back from your personal growth sidequest.  Very good!  We're still missing three others and the school board gets very upset if we don't have at least a fifty percent success rate."  Arthur Aguefort seemed unfazed by the glare of a fifteen year old elf, Oracle (and werewolf) or not.

"...Yes.  I need to talk with you sometime soon about Ayda, and about some personal business, and also about that Fallinel is probably going to try to steal me away in my sleep or have me murdered.  Oh, and I foresaw a zombie uprising on campus today."  Four birds, actually, now that she thought about it.  Though she should just get an appointment, because none of it seemed like something she should discuss with god only knows how many rogue students listening in.

"Hmm, yes, I see.  Well, we shall have to try and prevent that!  Ah, I know."  He reached into his pocket, handing Kristen a scroll.  "Here you are.  An official minor quest for you and your party to prevent any zombie uprisings on campus today.  Oh, also, Miss O'Shaughnessey, one thing."

She reached out and took the object he held out for her, which turned out to be a red slip of paper.

"You've detention for the first week of school for never returning two library books last year, including my autobiography.  I'm afraid attempts to recover the books during the summer revealed they were both destroyed in the ruins of your birth parents' house.  Since our guidance counselor has adopted you, I'll be monitoring your detention myself to avoid the conflict of interest.  Did you actually read my autobiography?"

Slightly shell-shocked at having evidently lost Fig's contest over eleven months in advance when she'd been kicked out of her parent's home without those books, Adaine had to be honest and shake her head.  "Very well!  Then I shall have to retell many of the stories to you myself, once we have discussed the other matters."

It took a while for everyone else to show up, Adaine lifting a hand up in greeting to Gorgug, Kristen somehow being the one to spot Riz skulking.

Fig was noticeable because she started braying laughter as soon as she saw the detention slip in Adaine's hand.  "Oh, I didn't even get the chance to sabotage you yet!"

Finally, Fabian turned up, not punching Gorgug this year at least.

Adaine swallowed and spoke up.  "So we got a quest for today.  Besides the detention thing, I mean.  I Saw someone raising a zombie army and so we got assigned to stop it."

Kristen, who had finally gotten around to opening the scroll.  "Good news is we're excused from the assembly today!  I'm not sure I could take another speech from Aguefort without hurting my brain!  Anyway, did you see where the zombies were coming from?"

Adaine shook her head.  "No, but the school was on fire.  Some of the zombies were students, including..  er.  Don't worry about including.  But I think some of the zombies must have come from off campus?  Which means the attack probably started elsewhere."

"Well.  Seems obvious where to start, right?"  Riz asked.  "Where else has a bunch of corpses?"


Cravencroft Cemetary was not as imposing as Adaine remembered, but she mostly had been there when it was dark, she'd been a werewolf for about a day, and a murderer was on the loose so she thought she could forgive her past self that one.

It was the right place, anyway, and they arrived in the nick of time, Adaine snapping a counterspell off to interrupt the ritual that was being cast to bring back the corpses as zombies en mass.

"Hey, come on!  ..Oh, it's you all."  The ghost of Zayn Darkshadow said, moodily.  "What do you want?"

"..You to not attack the school with a bunch of zombies, mostly."  Adaine said, glancing at everyone else, who seemed to be considering how to kill a ghost.  "Why were you even doing that?  We know Daybreak was blackmailing you last year, but he's long dead now."

"Yeah, but I still don't have my diploma.  Figured I could smash into there and grab one.  Not sure how much of a future a dropout ghost would have, you know?"  Zayn asked.

Adaine shook her head and sighed.  "...Look, how about this.  I have a meeting with Aguefort later today.  I can ask if he'll let you back in school as a ghost?  They'll probably get grant money for it.  I know they get a little bit because they have me as a werewolf student on campus."

"You'd do that for me?"  Zayn asked, brightening.  He looked much happier as a ghost than he had the few times she'd seen him alive, Adaine decided, trying to ignore the kissing noises that Kristen and Fig were making behind her back for some reason.

"Ssuure.  Just no attacking the school until I can, right?"

An agreement made, the zombie catastrophe was averted.

They got back to the school partly in flames anyway, Adaine not having realized the portions of her vision were unrelated until that moment.

Notes:

Adaine's largely in a pretty chipper mood in this chapter! She's also made several bad choices and a few good ones in here, so it could be a lot worse.

Thank you for reading, and for the kind comments and kudos!

Chapter 27: Stage

Summary:

The Bad Kids fight an iconic monster and Adaine rolls terribly. She also serves a spicy detention.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"You didn't actually set the school on fire again, did you Fig?"  Adaine asked as they returned to compass, staring and remembering a conversation from the beginning of summer.  It really wasn't the whole place that was ablaze, and the faculty seemed to be containing the situation at least a little. Professor Aguefort was nowhere to be seen, however.

"Of course not!  Jawbone and Sandra Lynn are dating without that.  Anyway I would have done it from my locker and it looks like the fire started in the theater section?"  Fig said, squinting and looking at the main activity.  "We should probably help, right?"

"..The what?" Fabian asked, sounding slightly confused by the idea that the Academy had a theater department.

"We should probably go help, right?"  Riz asked, but Kristen had already started towards the burning building even as the students stopped cheering and started fleeing.

It because a little obvious why after a moment, Adaine gazing through the hole that was disintegrated through the wall.  "Is that a fucking beholder?"  She asked, glancing around to see if everyone else saw it.

Gorgug and Kristen were already charging in.  Through the hole, Adaine could see a few bodies on the ground on what had been a stage in the theater department; one student, a goliath, was still up and fighting it.  At least up until he got caught by a blast from the beholder, dropping him.

As she might have expected from the prom, most of the students were not big on helping, but it seemed that maybe the theater kids had been trapped with the creature and forced to fight.  They'd at least done some damage to the beholder before it had blasted through the building, and..

Oh, that goliath student was bleeding but not dead.  They'd need to help him.  "Hey, Kristen!  Want to help him?"  Adaine asked.

"I'd need to touch him and that monster's in the way, can you do anything about that?"  Kristen asked, and Adaine considered.

The only way she could get Kristen there was with a Dimension Door, but she'd only prepared the wolf version of that today.  It'd be taking her mostly out of the fight - she'd never been able to change back to an elf in less than ten minutes after turning into a wolf - but she didn't have much that would be very good against a beholder prepared anyways.  "On it, stay still a second!"

She'd noticed, in the week or so since she'd declared that she wouldn't waste a Wish on removing her curse even if she had one, that she now had a much easier time changing into the wolf even when she wasn't especially anxious, even though it wasn't near the full moon yet.  Something to discuss with Jawbone, but whatever it was hadn't helped with her problems with the hybrid form at all yet.

She was relieved to find that stuck even in the heat of combat - though she WAS incredibly anxious because she was doing this to get closer to a beholder and teleport into a burning building.  She'd only be able to take one of them back out if she needed to, too, so they'd need to fight through the beholder.  At least they'd be surrounding it.

Now a wolf, and faster than she normally was, she caught up to Kristen and placed a paw against her foot, howling the incantation into the sky, the spell ripping them instantly through space to the stage within the theater department.  Kristen knelt down immediately, healing the goliath even as Gorgug and Fabian reached the beholder, starting to lay into it with their weapons.

It was good to have a team again, Adaine decided.  Sneaking and stealing back books and fleeing fights had been fun in its own way, but facing off against someone who was trying to bring harm to the innocent or manage some evil plan with your friends at your back was the way she wanted to go with her life.

Besides, even if the only spell she really had access to was another use of Dimension Door, beholders couldn't become werewolves, so she could use her teeth for once without worry.

The sound of Riz's gun going off and Fig's bass showed her friends were still fighting, and the goliath was clambering to his feet unsteadily.  

Adaine threw herself at the beholder, catching one of its eyestalks in her teeth and shaking her head to rip at it, the goliath joining her, Kristen's spirit guardian philosophy students not far behind.

Several of the eyes blasted rays out, and Adaine caught through her keen ears Riz crying out in alarm, and then one of the eyestalks turned to her, and...

..What was she fighting for?  This creature couldn't have wanted to hurt anybody.  It spoke up, in fact, in a feminine voice.  "...You, wait for me to be done with this fight in the corner of the room, I'll deal with you then."

"What, no!"  Kristen called out, but it seemed a very reasonable request to Adaine.  She could just go wait, it wasn't like she had to attack her friends or anything.

She wasn't laying in the corner very long before whatever haze had come over her mind went away, and turning back to the group they had cut the beholder down; Fig was just waking up from sleep and Gorgug was paralyzed and Fabian was stabbing into the beholder to make certain it was finished.

A chill sank over the building, the flames all extinguishing.

"Well!  It looks like you've all taken care of things.  Excellent."  Arthur Aguefort's voice came.  "It's good to trust that I have students who know how to go wild and fuck shit up when shit being fucked up is needed.  Miss O'Shaughnessey, I'm here to collect you for your detention."

Adaine couldn't exactly protest that at the moment, but Fig took care of it on her behalf, still rubbing sleep out of her eyes.  "...Really?  With the school half-destroyed?"

"It's only the extracurriculars section, and insurance will pay for that!  Good work, however.  Yes, you too, young Mister Hargis."  This sparked another minor round of Fig and Fabian trying to talk Aguefort around - Adaine thought they were wasting their breath - but it did take long enough that Adaine was able to shift back up into her elf form, not meeting Kristen's worried look as she tugged her clothing back in order.

She had to get better at handling mental attacks.

"Right.  Let's go, I guess.  I'll see you back at home?"  She offered to Kristen.

Then something she hadn't really noticed while a wolf caught up to her, and she spat several times, trying to get the taste of beholder eyeball out of her mouth.


It turned out that the detention that Aguefort had planned for her was to, in fact, fully transcribe a copy of his autobiography to replace the destroyed one while he read it to her from his memory.

This would have been embarrassing enough if it was just an ordinary book and not one that went into the quote Fervent Passions of My Life unquote.  She also didn't think she could actually finish it in a week of detentions; she was hoping he would just let it go, rather than extend the time.

Or, god forbid, use Chronomancy to make her detentions longer after this one.

...That was almost certainly what he was planning to do.

"I needed to talk to you anyways, Professor.  If you don't mind a few more minutes?"  Adaine asked, though she was going to get through these topics this week if it killed her.

"I suppose I can make some time.  Heh.  That's a chronomancy joke, of course.  What do you need, Miss O'Shaughnessey?"  Arthur Aguefort folded his hands together, peering at her.

"Well, a few things, most of them not for me.  First, Ayda said to let you know that she doesn't remember or have notes about asking you not to contact her, and she would appreciate it if you did."  Adaine had promised to bring these first couple up, so best to get them done quickly before he could throw her out of the office or anything.

Aguefort nodded, a frown on his face.  "..I know this will perhaps come as a horrible shock to you, but I am not well-equipped to be a father who is present constantly in someone's life.  Still, I do miss her, and I will reach out if her mind has changed."

Adaine carefully decided not to ask why she would possibly be shocked about that.

"Yes, well.  She's a dear friend of mine now, so please treat her as kindly as you can.  She saved my life."  Adaine said, before shaking her head and marking that off her mental list, heading on towards the next topic and the next person she'd made a promise to.

"Second, one of the students who died last year, Zayn Darkshadow?  He's a ghost now, and I promised I'd see if you can let him back into school so he doesn't have to raise a zombie army to smash in and steal a diploma.  I don't even know if he can physically hold it, honestly."  Adaine admitted, but it hadn't seemed worth arguing with him about.  He'd seemed a lot happier dead, at least.

That one just drew a nod.  "Of course.  If he can still utilize magic to interact with the world, he is welcome to finish his education here.  I've been dead too many times myself to hold it against someone."

Now to the maybe more controversial ones.  "..Two more things, but they're kind of related.  Fallinel is torturing my sister in the headquarters of the Court of Stars, and even though she's committed quite a lot of crimes here, I think I want to bring her back.  Can you help with any of that?  And Fallinel also made it pretty clear they're going to keep trying to capture or kill me even within Solace, even with the armistice."

That drew more consideration.  "..If you can rescue your sister, I can help her with securing an asylum, if she's willing to agree to certain terms such as community service and not working for any more dragons.  However, I cannot directly attack Fallinel for the sake of a Fallinel citizen who is not a student here.  If you come up with a plan of action yourself, and you can convince me it's likely to work, I will help you with any resources or indirect actions I can."

That was as reasonable a response as she could hope for.  She just had to think of a way to make it work.

"As for you being attacked, I would be happy to help place wards on your home against scrying and teleportation.  I will speak with Jawbone about getting access, and about anything else we can do to secure your home so that you can at least be safe while there and at school.  Also, in the event that they do take you, unlike your sister you ARE both my student and a citizen of Solace, Miss O'Shaughnessey.  They would be freeing me to act, by taking you.  At least a little bit."

That was warming enough that Adaine decided not to bring up that four students and a teacher were going to need to be resurrected after events on campus just that day.


The warming feeling passed when it turned out that he was going to abuse Chronomancy, and her detentions for the week crossed the thirty-five hour mark, and her embarrassment level hit a point Tracker and Kristen could only dream of sending her to, no matter how they tried, before she was finished with the transcription.

 

Notes:

Slightly short chapter but it's where the break fell.

This was another fight where I ran with dice knowing that it wouldn't change things too much, but this time it made Adaine look really terrible. She'd blown her good portent roll last chapter (throwing the orb out the window and making certain it wouldn't hurt anyone on the way down from the sixth floor).

The Dimension Door did get Hargis back on his feet, but I actually rolled randomly for the eye beams from there and Adaine got the charm one, which she then immediately rolled a nat 1 on the save for, not getting her normal elf advantage because she was a wolf at the time. The beholder then rolled a nat 20 on its persuasion with advantage roll, and that's a recipe for Adaine to go sit in the corner for the rest of the fight. Everyone else did good against them, though, so it worked out fine, though Adaine missed her martial friends truly going to town on the monster.

Chapter 28: Bait

Summary:

Adaine comes up with a plan that she can't remember. The group goes to fight slimes in the mountains.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Adaine quickly realized in her sophomore year that she was not learning anywhere near as much in class as she had over the summer studying with Ayda, or even from the practical exercises with retrieving books.

It probably didn't help that, in addition to her week worth of (extended) detentions, between her theft of Watches and Wards last year and the two books that had been burned in her parent's home she had been banned from the school's library.

Well.  Not officially banned.  But she'd tried stepping into it and the librarian had given her a death glare so severe that she'd been forced to leave, reminded too much of Ayda's policy when she was working collections of shoot to kill as opposed to Adaine's own sneaking about.

It wasn't that the wizard instructors were useless or anything; they just focused on areas that Adaine had very marginal gifts or interests in, and there wasn't a single other diviner either on staff or in attendance in the school.  If anything, and she would never admit to this, it was kind of making her itch for another attack on the school.  Rebuilding had started already on the theater, so it wasn't as though there'd been permanent harm.  More practical experience was always nice.

Maybe she would have to see about getting them more quests.  It was mostly the junior and senior parties that took them on throughout the year instead of just a big one, but killing a dragon at prom last year would hopefully qualify them to start early.


The next full moon fell on a Thursday in the middle of September, meaning for Adaine at least it was going to be a long weekend.  Even if she hadn't both publicly transformed at last year's prom and been adopted by the incredibly open about being a werewolf Jawbone, Adaine was pretty certain anyone in her classes would have long since figured out her condition from the timing of her absences from school.  While she'd gotten used to or better at managing large chunks of her disease over the last year, the day after full moon continued to leave her almost helpless.

It was still early enough in the fall that they had plenty of time between leaving school and moonrise, so Kristen was still in the apartment for the moment with Tracker.  Jawbone knocked on the doorframe of Adaine's tiny bedroom, calling out.  "Hey girls, household meeting real quick."

Adaine stood up, a little anxious what this would be about even though she knew it couldn't be anything too bad - Jawbone wouldn't spring anything that would really upset her on her in the hours right before a full moon.  She wasn't quite to the point of being unable to speak yet, but that feral energy was definitely rising up in her, and she fidgeted with her hands as she took a seat at the tiny kitchen table.

"So, I'd talked to Tracker about this back during the summer, but I started looking for a house a while back.  This place is kind of cramped for the four of us, I know, and also we haven't quite stopped getting people looking for my old profession, but it's become a little more urgent than that lately."  Jawbone started.  "Arthur Aguefort talked to me about helping set up wards to protect us from intruders looking to hurt the three of you, but they're not really going to work in an apartment building."

Adaine stared up, mostly because she hadn't necessarily expected Arthur Aguefort to lift a finger to help, even if it was just talking to one of his school's employees.  It was kind of Jawbone to talk about the three of them being protected, and she supposed Kristen did have people after her, but Adaine knew this was primarily because of her and Fallinel.

She knew Kristen and Tracker knew it, too, though.  If they all wanted to maintain a fiction about it, Adaine wouldn't complain.

"Anyway.  There aren't many people that will sell to a werewolf, or banks that'll loan to one, but..  Aguefort put his thumb on the scale for me, and there's a house that's been on the market for a few decades that I found out after work it looks like we'll be able to get a mortgage for in the next month or two.  Might have been able to eventually anyway, but it should be sooner rather than later now.  The place is super haunted and cursed, but it'll be ours, and it's big enough for the four of us and then a whole bunch more if we ever need more space."  Jawbone said, Tracker gasping at the mention they would have a mortgage that quickly.  "Something to celebrate, so I wanted to let you know.  Also, maybe start brushing up on your ghost handling and curse skills."

Adaine made the active decision not to look too deeply into or ask how Aguefort had "put his thumb on the scale" because it probably involved mind controlling a banker in some way, and the banker probably was anti-werewolf if they'd needed to be controlled to begin with.

Instead, she bounded to her feet, giving Jawbone a hug even as Kristen said "Coool.  Don't worry, two clerics and a wizard should be able to handle a few curses and ghosts!"

Tracker laughed, clearly cheered up by this news, and even though Adaine would normally tell Kristen not to tempt fate like that she just smiled instead.

Kristen left for Fig's not long after that, and Strongtower's werewolf family settled in for what was looking to be one of their last full moons in the building.

The next morning, a hazy memory in her head of the prior night, Adaine was curled up at the foot of Tracker's bed, too drained and sore to move but appreciating Tracker's quiet company.  Her cousin didn't suffer nearly as badly as Adaine herself did from the aftereffects of the full moon - something Adaine was still trying to understand the reasons for - but in turn had it much worse than Jawbone did, who barely seemed any different the day after the full moon than he did any random day of the month.

Adaine could usually bring herself to read with the help of a mage hand, but today she was just laying there and thinking about the problem rescuing Aelwyn represented.  Even once the peace treaty was fully negotiated, she wouldn't be able to strike out at Fallinel, if she even could find a way to sneak in to the tower.  Being direct certainly wouldn't work out for her, not unless Arthur Aguefort himself was willing to bring his full power to bear, and maybe not even then.

And then a thought came to her, like a bolt out of the sky.

...Her party were maybe going to actually kill her for this one.


After school the next Monday, Adaine went into a meeting with Arthur Aguefort with a plan, a way to convince him to risk quite a lot on her ability and guile.

She came out an hour later rubbing at her head in confusion, not completely certain how it had gone but having burned through almost all of her arcane energy and somehow having agreed that the Bad Kids would take care of a quest that weekend, which she now had to tell them about.

She didn't remember casting anything at all.  Aguefort must have been fucking with her with chronomancy again.

Still, if all she had to do to secure his agreement was get her party to deal with some oozes just across the border with the Mountains of Chaos, she would take that trade happily.

Adaine made her was out to the Bloodrush field, where practice was still going, Riz and Fig hanging out in the stands.  She could catch Gorgug and Fabian afterwards, and maybe get in touch with Kristen and get them all together for dinner.

"Hey, guys.  Did you have any big plans this weekend?"  Adaine probably should have done this in the other order, but they probably could get by with just four or five of them if they had to.

Fig shrugged.  "I was hoping the band might get a gig at the Black Pit but it looks like they're going with some electronic act this weekend.  We really might need to go on tour and take some time off school to get to some new spots, but I don't know if Gorgug will be willing or not."

Adaine nodded, privately thinking that was because Gorgug had willingly gone to the classes he was actually supposed to, and said "I kind of accidentally agreed for us to go do a quest this weekend, just over the border in the Mountains of Chaos.  Some oozes that are apparently encroaching.  Hopefully you can all come?  But I have to go, and I don't think I can do it without you."

Fig lifted her hand up and gave a thumbs up, but Riz gave her a worried frown. "..Aren't you supposed to stay in Solace to keep Fallinel from coming after you?"  He asked.

"Yeah, but this is just across the border briefly, and the school will be providing transportation.  I'm supposed to come and get nondetection spells put on me by Aguefort before we go."  Adaine said, with a shrug.  "It should only take us a day, and it'll be more interesting than just hanging around here, right?"

"..Riiight."  Riz said, still looking suspiciously at her.

Luckily, he was quickly outvoted in his skepticism by the rest of the party once Bloodrush practice let out, everyone excited by getting to go out of the country even if it was only by a few miles, even though all of them except Riz had been out of the country at some point.  Kristen had done mission work, Fabian had gone on trips with his dad, and Fig and Gorgug had left the country for a few gigs in Highcourt.  Adaine herself had been born in Fallinel, though they'd moved to Solace before she could really remember, and had of course spent the most recent summer in Leviathan.


The rest of the week passed with her anticipating the quest, letting Jawbone and Tracker know that they'd be gone, and otherwise making preparations and utterly failing to focus on her normal classwork, though she did at least do well enough on a necromancy examination to get by.

The plan was to leave right after school on Friday, with Adaine stopping by Aguefort's office first for the nondetection spells.  It turned out that the transport that had been arranged through the school was actually Sandra Lynn, who would be taking them all on Baxter and picking them up Sunday morning.

Before she knew it, Adaine found herself leaving Aguefort's office to meet up with the others feeling like she'd been hit over the head, a painful tightness in her chest as though she'd had a panic attack she couldn't remember, a twisting in her gut as though she was about to throw up something she didn't get with even the worst of those.  She was holding on to a pouch of simple material components, without her jacket or her bag - meaning no spellbook, no crystal, and none of her usual ability to pull items from nowhere.

"Hey, Adaine, there you are!"  Kristen called over, near where Baxter and Sandra Lynn were waiting by the Bloodrush field.

"Where's your jacket?"  Riz asked right away.

"Ah, Principal Aguefort decided I should have to work with just the spells in my mind for this, as a surprise.  I think he's testing me before I get his help with a project."  She admitted, feeling like that was correct even though she couldn't remember the conversation with Aguefort, though she still hadn't brought rescuing Aelwyn up to the others.  Mostly, she didn't want to talk about it with Fabian.

It was kind of gross, for one, but also she wasn't certain how much the image he'd built up in his head of Aelwyn was what she'd actually be at this point.  It was now over seven months since Adaine had last seen her sister in person, in prison back in February, and three months since Aelwyn had last said anything in response to a sending that wasn't a growl during the full moon - Adaine hadn't even bothered during the most recent full moon, and only Sent every week or two to check that Aelwyn was still alive, now.

"Right, I guess that makes sense.  It's like how you're expected to steal the answers to all the rogue exams."  Riz decided, before adding.  "Does that mean he's decided you're under direct tutelage or something?  I know you're the wizard in the party, but that still kind of sucks, he's completely crazy."

"Something like that, I think.  I don't know, maybe he's just rewarding me in his weird way for reuniting him with Ayda?  I didn't want to ask how that went, it's kind of personal and I'd rather Ayda tell me if she wants me to know."  Adaine replied, taking a hand up onto Baxter before they took off.


"Have fun kids!  I'll be back to pick you up Sunday afternoon, whether you're done with all the oozes or not!"  Sandra Lynn called, before taking back off into the night, leaving the Bad Kids to walk across the border and into the mountains.  Adaine sulked a little as she realized that Aguefort taking her spellbook meant she wouldn't be able to put up a Tiny Hut, and nobody had thought to bring an actual tent, expecting to be able to get one from her jacket.  "This might be more annoying than I thought."  She admitted.

They'd only have another hour or so before nightfall, just enough time to find somewhere to camp for the night.

She had it the easiest, since she could just transform into a wolf, and most of the others could put up with just sleeping on the ground for two nights.  Maybe they could find some better shelter for tomorrow, at least; tonight, it was a matter of picking out the coziest looking cave they could find, unless they just wanted to sleep in the open, not very advisable.

Fabian certainly wouldn't shut up about it once they'd found one that didn't currently have any monsters within.  "I could have had Cathilda bring my mattress if I had known this was how it would be!"  He complained, and Adaine dropped into wolf form just so she could maybe not have to pretend to tolerate it anymore.

Kristen and Fig ended up resting with their heads against her, and the others all chattered even as Adaine herself drifted off, her stomach still aching.


She woke in the night, a feeling of dread washing over her, Fig snoring right near her ear.  She carefully shuffled out from under Kristen and Fig, both thankfully heavy sleepers, before shifting back up into her elf form and glancing around.  Gorgug and Fabian were asleep nearby, but Riz wasn't in the cave.

The waning moon provided a little bit of light as she ventured out of the cave, spotting Riz not far from the entrance, swinging his sword at the air halfheartedly.

She took a few steps over, the air more chilled than she had realized.  "Riz..?"

He stopped, looking at her, and for a moment Adaine thought there was no recognition of her in what she could see of his expression.

Then he spoke, and she let her breath out in relief.  "Adaine.  I thought you'd be asleep for a while longer."

"Something woke me up.  You probably shouldn't be out here by yourself, Riz.  You need more sleep than I do, I can just trance the rest if you want to have someone keeping watch."  Adaine offered, trying to hide her worry.  Something had been wrong, there, and she was missing exactly what it was.

Riz stepped closer, looking up at her and frowning.  "...Hey.  Adaine.  You know you can trust us, right?  It's just..  you had said you weren't going to ask Aguefort for any more help like, last month, and yet you're agreeing to leave the country for him when there are actual assassins after you, and there's clearly more going on you haven't shared with the rest of us.  There have to be dozens of quests in Solace that are of about this difficulty, and you might be the worst choice of any Aguefort student to send here right now."

Adaine shrugged, feeling a little helpless, her head starting to ache as Riz pushed at that topic.  "I can't say why he does what he does, but even if it makes me angry, going along has mostly worked out for me.  You, too, right?"

Riz stared at her, seeming to be seeking something out in her expression.  It made Adaine want to squirm, being examined that closely; it was better when people didn't look at her.  She finally just added, just to get him off the topic.  "Even if it's not that difficult a quest, he must be looking for something.  I'm doing this to prove to him that he should help me with, um, with retrieving my sister."  Adaine added, glancing down at her hands.  She should go back to bed, and hope that the headache faded by morning.

Riz waited until she looked back up, then shook his head.  "..That's not all of it.  I'm sure of it.  But if you're not willing to tell me, tell all of us, we're not going to be able to help you.  Adaine, I don't want to lose you because you couldn't trust us, that's all.  You should be immortal, the one to outlive all of us, not the one who gets killed because of keeping secrets to try to protect us."  She didn't, couldn't, reply, frozen in place by those words.

He seemed to realize no answer was forthcoming, sighing and turning away.  "Think about it, okay?  I'll go get some sleep and trust you to keep watch."

Adaine watched him head back into the cave, shaking her head, trying to clear it of the headache that had started the moment he asked about why she was here.

A few moments out in the air would help, probably.  She stared up at the moon, halfway to the new, three weeks out from the next full moon.  She was always aware of just how long it would be without even thinking about it, but the moon held an attraction that was beyond the normal, all the time.  She could see why Tracker had fallen into worshipping it in the form of Galicaea, even if Adaine herself couldn't see fully giving herself over to a god like that.

Maybe that was what made a wizard a wizard, in the end, not being able to hand things off to others, even if they were gods.  Arthur Aguefort had fought Sol himself, the last year.  She could get to that level of power, with enough time; the prior Oracle had been someone who could stand with him against Kalvaxus, after all.

She didn't even realize she wasn't alone until the clearing echoed with a Power Word: Stun, sending her reeling as an Invisibility spell faded and revealed six figures surrounding her in the clearing.  She tried to open her mouth, even as the young elf who had led the last attempt to take her spoke.

"This time you will cooperate and there will be no escape, Oracle Adaine.  If you do not allow us to teleport you back to Fallinel, my companions will blast the place where your friends are resting with enough magic to surely kill all of them, and then we shall take you anyway.  If you comply long enough for us to teleport you, then you have my word we shall leave your friends alone so long as they leave us alone."

Adaine had had a headache even before that Word had started echoing in her mind, the nausea she'd had this entire mission coming back and then some.  She managed to speak, barely, in halting words.  "...No.. promise.. my.. safety..?"

"I do not lie, Oracle."  The maiden said.  "Will you allow it, or not?  Decide now, or they die."

Adaine reluctantly, slowly, nodded.  This was what she'd just promised Riz about not ten minutes ago, but with that choice she would always go the same way.

Any one of them were more important to keep safe than she was.  Five for one just made the scales easier.

She allowed the teleport spell to take her, leaving the clearing outside the cave quiet and empty.

Notes:

*taps the unreliable narrator sign*

Thank you for reading! I'll try to have the next chapter up within the next day or two.

Chapter 29: Escape

Summary:

Adaine continues her seeming quest to personally piss off every authority figure she ever meets. Aelwyn reappears in the flesh in our narrative proper, a mere 19 chapters later.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The teleport finished, and Adaine arrived in a tiled, walled-in courtyard facing a tower.  The other wizards all backed away from her and faced her, keeping their distance as though she were a plague-bearer.

Which she supposed she was, from their point of view.

She shook her head, managing to finally shake the Stun from her mind, even as the maiden before her started to speak, Angwyn Abernant stepping up next to her.  He had not been one of the six who had attacked her; apparently, they had gone for a much stronger force than they'd had the first time, which was kind of overkill in her mind.

Even with the Stun gone, she had a headache that made her feel like her skull was going to crack like an egg.

The maiden was starting to speak, a pompous, official tone to her words.  "I am Kir, speaking on behalf of the Court of Stars.  Oracle Adaine Abernant, you are under arrest for.."

Adaine tried to Misty Step; she still only had Dimension Door prepared in wolf form, and that would get her killed right away she was pretty certain.  This set off a flurry of activity around her.

Her father Counterspelled it, and Kir didn't even break stride in her speech. "..treason against the Elven people and the crime of knowingly having and spreading the curse of Lycanthropy to one Aelwyn Abernant.  The punishment for these..."

Adaine used an Invisibility, starting to run.  It was dispelled within instants, and one of the wizards dropped a Wall of Force around her, her attempt to Counterspell it eating several return Counterspells.

Wall of Force couldn't be dispelled; this was bad.  Not that it hadn't already been bad.  She Blinked, only to find that the Wall blocked travel on the Ethereal Plane anyway, a detail she had forgotten.

Kir was apparently unrattled and intended to get through what she had planned to say regardless of the arcane battle raging around her.

"...crimes is death, via decapitation with a silver weapon in the case of Lycanthropy..."

She tried a Fly spell to go over the Wall of Force, dropping the useless Blink to do so, and there was another Counterspell.  Her own Counterspell back dissolved under several more in return.  They could probably go longer than she would, but she could hardly just stand here and wait for her death.

"...in order to prevent all practical forms of resurrection.  Your trial is scheduled to start in three days time, once we can gather..."

She dropped a darkness onto herself, so that they wouldn't be able to see her and thus wouldn't be able to continue to counter her casting.  It got one counter, and her own counter back got another, and she was starting to run low on spell slots.

"...the full council.  Your execution is scheduled for sundown in five days, to allow for..."

Deciding at least to take him down with her, she aimed a Lightning Bolt for Angwyn.  He was the only one to counter it, and with her final upper-level slot, her counter to his counter was allowed to go through, pure lightning thrusting forth from her hands and slamming into him.  

He didn't go down, but she felt rather better after that, and it did cause Kir's speech to stumble for the first time.

"...a full and fair trial.  Really, Mister Abernant, can you not control your daughter?  I know it must be a disappointment to have ended up with two mongrels, but this behavior still reflects very poorly on you."

Angwyn stood, shaky on his feet from the damage, glowering at Adaine.  "That's quite enough, Adaine.  Show some dignity, at least, and know when you are beaten."

Kir smiled.  "It's just as well.  Normally, we have to compel the spellcasting prisoners to make them run through their resources before we place them in an orb.  I suppose the lycanthropy kept her from having the wisdom normally shown by our Oracles, though that should have been obvious enough simply from her not taking the original offer of a cure when it was available.  Take her; we will follow momentarily."

Adaine felt her body freeze up, a Hold Person taking effect as one of the spellcasters surrounding her cautiously approached, placing silver shackles onto her wrists where she'd had them in front of her.  They were right up against her skin, Adaine hissing as they started burning into her wrists, and then, with the Hold Person dropped, she was led into the tower by three of the casters, the others remaining behind in the courtyard.

On the way up, she spotted Aelwyn for the first time since the last time they'd both been imprisoned in the same place, seven months ago.

Aelwyn had definitely been better off in that cell, drunk and paranoid, then she was right now.  Adaine had been worried about her in spite of herself, and from what she could see she hadn't been worried enough.

Aelwyn was clearly alive, and awake, and other than that utterly vacant.  She was trapped in an orb floating in midair that appeared to be slowly spinning, fur that could only have been shedding from her hybrid or wolf forms collected almost an inch deep in the bottom of the orb.  Her blonde hair was tangled and matted, her lips were chapped to the point of bleeding; her hands, unlike Adaine's, were cuffed behind her, and her ankles were also cuffed.  The skin around those cuffs was thickly scarred from where it had brushed against the metal.  As Adaine passed by, Aelwyn was sent tumbling down into the bottom of her orb.

There must be some magic on the orb, if she'd been in that for seven months, trapping her from actually just dying to the lack of food, water, or rest, or to the silver constantly burning into her.

Adaine took a moment to allow herself to feel anxious about how hellish this was about to be for her as well, before remembering that at most she had five days to worry about if Kir was to be believed.  The three casters seemed to still be giving her a wide birth, probably worried she would make an attempt to bite one of them.

With her hands bound, she wouldn't have been able to counter the spell that came next, even had she had a slot.

An orb formed around her and lifted her up into the air, beginning to gently spin underneath her, sending her walking slowly.

It was only a minute or two after that, one of the wizards who had led her there still checking on some of the spells after the other two had left, that Kir and Angwyn entered the room.

"Now then.  Before you go on trial, there are some answers we must ascertain."  Kir said.

"I demand to speak to a lawyer, and to the Solesian ambassador.  I am a Solesian citizen as of April of this year, and I therefore cannot be a traitor to Fallinel."  Adaine said, as haugtily as she could manage.

There was a brief sidebar while Kir tried to understand from Angwyn what a lawyer was, before turning back.   "No.  You are going to answer our questions, Oracle."  And Adaine could do nothing but raise her middle fingers at the woman in defiance as the maiden cast Detect Thoughts on her.

Giving that a second thought, she concentrated on thinking of ripping out Kir's throat with her bare teeth.  Not even in a wolf form; if the orb weren't there, she thought she could manage it with her elf teeth.

"...Yes, Oracle, it's good to see confirmation that executing you as a monster is the right decision.  Not that I needed convincing.  Now, when did you last see your mother?"

Images of the last time she'd seen Arianwen floated in her mind, atop Ostentatia Wallace's house as she'd been arrested.

"Will your friends come and try to rescue you?"

Yes, if only they had a way to.  But Adaine could not see the how, could not think of any method her friends could use to assault this tower on such short notice before she was executed.

"Do you have any magical items on your person that could lead to your rescue?"

The pendant, if it was removed from her and Ayda got very very lucky.  Or if she could get hurt enough, again.  She should have brought everything else, she didn't even have her spellbook with her, why had she let herself try this test of Aguefort's...

"I see.  A pathetic excuse for a wizard, to allow herself to be separated from her spellbook like that.  If it had been up to me, Oracle, we would have just struck you down in the woods and gotten on with the business of finding a proper replacement.  Instead, I suppose we will get to show any of the elven people who care to see just how much better off they'll be with the next one."

Adaine licked her lips, and spoke out loud now, her thoughts focused on making it clear that she was speaking truly.  "You can kill me, but I learned the last time I briefly died that Oracles are allowed to freely travel back and forth to the material plane.  Theoretically to train their replacement, but my predecessor used it to shout at an unfaithful lover.  I will use it to haunt you, Angwyn, forever.  Until the end of time, or until your miserable life ends, and then I'll find the next person most responsible.  Mother, perhaps.  Then you, Kir.  You will never know any peace as long as a single scrap of my soul exists anywhere."

"We will find someone to handle that, as well, should we need to."  Kir said, and they both stood up and left.  A moment after that, the remaining wizard left, leaving Adaine alone with a handful of first level spells, some cantrips, and a rising tide of nausea as the orb kept slowly spinning.  Her headache had only gotten worse, too.

And then, about ten minutes after she was left alone, she felt something in her mind crack and reshape itself, memories that had been repressed and hidden coming back into being as the trigger of being alone and imprisoned by the elves for enough time was met.  A remembered question in the back of her mind, from...  from sometime recently, everything was still knitting together.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Miss O'Shaughnessey?  It is possible they simply execute you out of hand."

She gagged at the memory, her stomach now in full turmoil, and then she was on her knees in the orb and being every bit as sick as if she had used her favorite necrotic spell on herself.  There was a pressure, a lump in her throats, and then in the vomit.. a small leather pouch.  Which seemed to grow in size as it sat there, Adaine's eyes growing wide as she remembered Principal Aguefort shrinking it down and herself swallowing it, not a full day ago yet.

She reached down, managing a prestidigitation to clean up the illness before she opened the pouch with trembling fingers.

Two potion vials, and a pocketwatch.

"It's just, it takes months for this thing to regain charges, I hate to use them.  This is a big favor you're getting."

She opened one of the vials, carefully tilting a bit of it out onto one of the cuffs of her shackles, the ooze within eating away at the silver but not at her flesh.  A repeat with the other hand, and she was free within the orb.

Footsteps were approaching, and Adaine snatched up the stopwatch even as Angwyn Abernant appeared through the doorway.  "Adaine, I have come to convince you to at least confess..."  And he'd noticed she was free.  He lifted his hand, even as she slammed down a finger on the pocketwatch's button.  "Twelve hours, Adaine O'Shaughnessey, Aelwyn Abernant, and Ayda Aguefort!"  She called out, not waiting for the prompt that she had been told it would give.

The orb went still below her.  Angwyn's spellcasting was frozen in place, mid-incantation for Dominate Person.  The world completely stopped, other than herself, and presumably somewhere Ayda and just down the hall Aelwyn.

She had twelve hours.  Ayda knew to teleport about four miles north of the tower right away when time stopped, then immediately rest so she could teleport the three of them out.  Adaine would need to trance to get her spells back, then she'd have eight hours to get herself and Aelwyn to where Ayda was.

No time to delay.  She couldn't get out of the orb with her current spell slots.

Adaine managed to trance right away, in spite of the unpleasantness of it.  Every month that passed, she preferred sleeping in wolf form to trancing more and more, even as her library of happy memories had grown.  She'd had the handcuffs on only briefly, but they'd still left angry red welts along the top of her wrists; the pain from that bothered her throughout her trance.

This was not an environment suited to happy memories.

She stood up in the orb after she was done, her spells refreshed, though with no spellbook she couldn't change which she had prepared.  That was okay, though, because she'd brought what she really needed.

It was really her third level and higher slots that would matter.  Seven total.  One of them gone right away, on a dispel for the orb she was trapped in.

She walked out of the room, squeezing past Angwyn, wishing it were possible to harm someone not included in the spell within this magic.  She couldn't be anywhere near here by the time it was possible again, not if she wished to live more than five days.

Adaine instead ignored one alleged family member and headed to another.  Aelwyn's state did not look better up close, though now, with her orb's spinning stopped, she was in what must have been her first trance in far too long.

They wouldn't be able to wait for her to get more than the needed few hours, though hopefully that'd be enough to help.  Adaine lifted her hand up, murmuring out a spell she had prepared mostly out of habit, not one she'd necessarily expected to be useful, and her own detect thoughts landed upon her sister.

Aelwyn's mind, within, was covered by a blizzard.  Whatever there was there was buried underneath impenetrable ice and snow drifts, leaving it effectively completely barren.

When Adaine had pulled back from her mind, her sister had stirred awake, staring at her through the orb, eyes wide and uncomprehending for a moment before something kind of like recognition came over her face.

Adaine was pretty certain that this effect was going to need Kristen or Tracker to be rid of.  Hopefully it wouldn't stop Aelwyn from walking, or following her; the clock was ticking before the clocks everywhere started ticking again and four miles of wilderness with an ailing Aelwyn was going to be be hard enough to cover in the time they had.  A resistant one and they might have to take some other measures.

The orb was dispelled with her second third level slot, and Aelwyn crashed down into the ground below, cushioned a little by the fur.  Adaine took the second jar of ooze and very carefully used it on Aelwyn's restraints, her Mage Hand tugging them away.  The skin directly underneath was horrifyingly blistered and scarred, but not bleeding, and Adaine couldn't do anything about that.  Aelwyn pushed herself up off the ground, her entire body shaking as she unsteadily made her way to her feet, eyes turning to stare one more at Adaine and a whine escaping her throat.

At least Aelwyn seemed willing to follow her, in the feral state she was in.

They made it slowly down the winding stairs of the tower, Adaine keeping an arm around the trembling Aelwyn to at least try to steady her, other than when they had to step around a single elven guard that was frozen on the stairs.  Eventually, they came back out into the area in front of the tower.  Kir was back down here, mouth open from where talking to one of the other mages.  And to...  Kalina, of all people, who was standing with them, arms folded where she was stopped in place.

Adaine stepped over closer to that group and Kalina in particular, frowning.  Aelwyn seemed not to like it, whimpering and tugging at her arm as though trying to pull her back towards the tower or at least away from this trio.  "Just a second, Aelwyn, and we'll get going."  She hadn't expected Kalina here at all, agent of Fallinel or not, and started looking to see if she had anything on her that might explain her role or presence.

"If you get too close, Oracle, I might bite."  Kalina's voice came from right next to Adaine's ear as she bent down to see if there were pockets or anything on the Tabaxi's outfit, instantly sending Adaine screaming and flailing backwards, falling flat onto her ass, panic washing through her as she stared with wide eyes.  Aelwyn, shaking as though she might be about to fall into a panic attack of her own, interposed herself, standing in between the Tabaxi and Adaine, an actual growl sounding from the back of her throat as she bared her teeth at the Tabaxi.

Kalina sighed and shook her head at Aelwyn.  "Idiot girl.  You were much more interesting when you were smart enough to be afraid.  Hopefully you at least remember soon, and we will speak when you do."

Adaine opened and shut her mouth, breathing in deeply.  She could not have a panic attack here and now, not with Kalina present and acting, not with only seven hours and change until the flow of time would resume for everyone and not just, somehow, Kalina in addition to the three people it was supposed to be moving for.

Kalina seemed to sense she wasn't going to be able to reply, and Aelwyn certainly wouldn't in her current state, because she continued on. "I have a proposition for you, Oracle, since you've made such a mess of my prior advice.  The Court of Stars could stand to be replaced, as a system, for one much more driven by the true traditional leader of the elven people.  Which is to say, you.  I would just need for you to do me small favors every once in a while, and we can make this happen.  This country could be revitalized, to some degree.  You and she could be safe.  Just think about it, because you won't be so long as the Court is still in charge.  I'll even spot you a favor in advance: I won't stop you, here and now, because I believe you will be much better alive and in place then the entire Court of Stars would.  Both for me and for Fallinel, as odd as that may sound."

Adaine swallowed, and then just asked, because a lie would be better than learning nothing yet again about this woman.  "...Who do you work for, really, if not Fallinel or the Court of Stars?"

"Me?  I'm a servant of the Nightmare King.  THE servant, really, first and most important, given great power by him.  You wouldn't have to do nearly as much as I do, but if you're at all interested, someone like you could go a really long way.  Think about it, kid, because if you keep pissing off everyone powerful it's just going to be a race to see who gets to put that silver greatsword through your neck after all."  Kalina said, waving a hand around, and then..  she vanished.  No spell.  Not a potion.  Just gone.

Adaine took almost fifteen of the all too precious minutes remaining to them to be able to gather herself before leading Aelwyn out into the woods in the twilight of stopped time.

Notes:

Happy Halloween! I didn't put the jumpscare for Adaine in here because of it being Halloween; this scene of a Feebleminded Aelwyn, stripped of everything but her most base instincts, trying to no real purpose to put herself between Adaine and Kalina during their escape from the tower is one I'd had planned from the start, but the timing of it working out to be on Halloween is quite nifty I think.

Posting this chapter first thing in the morning because I'm going to be busy tonight and I had it mostly done already.

Chapter 30: Flight

Summary:

Adaine takes a cross-country walk with her sister. Riz has a bad dream, and seethes.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Adaine was pretty certain that the magic she was using was well beyond her comprehension any time soon.  Maybe ever, if she didn't start studying Chronomancy at some point.  Aelwyn was unsteady on her feet, and slow going through the rough terrain of the wilderness around the tower; Adaine was keeping a hand on her.  Adaine herself would have transformed into a wolf if she was travelling this distance alone, both for the steadier feet and for the speed, but she wasn't certain whether Aelwyn would be able to do the same.  She'd had to be taught by Tracker, after all, and Aelwyn did not seem to be in a place where she could learn anything.

Though judging by the only noises she'd made being very.. wolfish, maybe Aelwyn was closer to transforming than Adaine thought.  She looked well and truly terrible, and Adaine wished they hadn't needed to travel quite so far from the tower to be safe to teleport out.

The tower almost certainly had ways to redirect teleportation in its vicinity, though, and they were only going to have one shot at it.  There'd been an outside chance that Aelwyn herself would have been able to use the spell - it was still beyond Adaine's technical abilities - but that was clearly not going to be happening, and Aelwyn's spellbook was god only knew where in the tower, anyway.  There had been no time to try to find it, and giving it back to Aelwyn might have been dangerous even if she ever recovered to the point of being able to use it, but Adaine couldn't help but feel a little sad at leaving it. Aelwyn had had an obvious and real gift for spell creation and modification, even if she'd used it for awful purposes, and there might be something real and powerful they were leaving behind for Fallinel to keep locked away.

Aelwyn's pace was slowing further as they got away from the tower, too.  She'd been a powerful wizard, of course, but Aelwyn wasn't a trained adventurer and one night's worth of trancing was nowhere near enough to restore her condition anywhere near normal.

Adaine checked the pocketwatch.  They were still on pace to reach the distance before time resumed, but that was solely if Aelwyn didn't slow down further.  If they were still in Fallinel in..  three hours and thirty-five minutes, she was going to die and Aelwyn was probably going to too.  A risk was going to need to be taken.

She kept her eyes out, eventually spotting a bird's empty nest.  "Stay here, okay?"  She said to Aelwyn, worriedly, before letting go of her hand and climbing the tree.

It took a while, but she managed to get her hand up into the nest and come away with a feather.  She should have packed more material components into the pouch, tight as it had been and horrid as both swallowing it and regurgitating it had been on her.

Getting Aelwyn as well would take some extra effort, but that was okay.  If they got out of there, it wouldn't matter; if they didn't, one higher spell slot wasn't going to make any difference in the fight that ensued.  The problem would mostly be getting Aelwyn to fly in the right direction.  Adaine dropped back down from the tree, and there Aelwyn was, almost back into a trance in the mere minute or so since they'd stopped.

"We're almost there, you can rest once we're back in Elmville, okay?  I just need you to follow me, please?"

Adaine didn't think that Aelwyn could actually understand what she was saying, but she did seem to react to the sound of Adaine's voice, and hopefully as Adaine herself lifted up off the ground she'd be able to follow.

There was another set of whimpering sounds that were not at all dignified and not very humanoid either, but Aelwyn was eventually coaxed into the air, and they made much, much better pace even with Adaine having to keep Aelwyn on course.  Ayda wouldn't be too far, and was supposed to send a sending once her own rest was over and her spells were refreshed.  Should be any moment now, in fact...

"Adaine O'Shaughnessey.  Are you on route, or were you unable to escape the elvish holding facility with your sister?"  Ayda's clear voice range into her mind.  The backup plan if necessary had involved Ayda coming to the tower once her long rest was done, but the timing on that had looked awful and it had been reserved solely for if Adaine was in a cell that she could not get out of.

"Yes, we're almost to you, I think.  It was touch and go on the way in, but the plan worked well enough.  See you soon."  Adaine responded, breathing out in relief.

Ayda had set up camp in a glade outside of the nearest village to the tower, her wings ablaze as she waited, betraying that she was as nervous as Adaine had felt when she'd been confronted by Kalina.  Adaine landed twenty feet away or so, the Fly spell released.

Aelwyn stopped moving as soon as she saw Ayda, tugging at Adaine, trying to pull her behind in almost a protective motion, the same as she had with Kalina.

"..Your sister appears to be growling at me, Adaine O'Shaughnessey."  Ayda said.  "I am trying to not be offended by this, but we will need her to be willing for me to teleport the three of us out of here."

"Aelwyn, please."  Adaine said, putting a hand on her sister's back, which did not seem to help.  "...They've got some kind of spell effect on her, I can't get her to understand me at all.  Can you take a look?  I was thinking I'd need Tracker or Kristen to, but maybe you can do something about it."

Ayda nodded, a Detect Magic spell winding up.  Adaine hadn't prepared that, and without her spellbook couldn't ritually cast it.

"...Ah.  This appears to be a Feeblemind spell.  It will eventually wear off on its own, but it reduces the target to an animal level of intelligence, other than being able to recognize if someone is their friend or ally.  It can last years, Adaine, and neither of us will be able to remove it.  You will need to somehow convince her to cooperate with the teleport, or we will need to knock her unconscious."  Ayda determined, speaking in her teaching voice.  "There may be other effects under that.  I think I felt something, but the Feeblemind is suppressing everything else beneath it."

Adaine frowned, looking over Aelwyn, who at least wasn't looking like she was going to attack Ayda anymore but still seemed suspicious at best.  "...I didn't want to try this on the way here, but be ready to stop her if she runs?  I don't want to knock her out if we don't have to; from what I can tell she's had one trance in the last seven months and I'm honestly worried any attack like that might kill her even if it's not supposed to be lethal."  And she handed the pocketwatch over to Ayda, definitely not wanting to drop it when she lost her thumbs in a moment.

Ayda replied, "I will endeavor to not slay this sister of yours," and stood there watching patiently.  Adaine tugged on the back of Aelwyn's tattered shirt, gentle as she could manage about it, just trying to pull her attention away from Ayda.

Aelwyn looked back towards her, and Adaine dropped to all fours in wolf form, trying to communicate purely through body language, circling around Aelwyn and approaching Ayda.

Friend, she was trying to broadcast to her sister.  Anything to get her to trust just enough in Ayda to go along with the teleport.

Aelwyn took a hesitant step forward, and then sat down on the ground, next to Adaine, near enough to Ayda.  Adaine couldn't talk to Ayda for now, and it would be a while yet before she could change back, but Ayda caught on to that much.  "Do you think she will cooperate now?"  She asked, and Adaine touched Ayda's foot with her paw, the signal they had used during the summer when she was in wolf form for 'yes'.

Teleportation magic caught the three of them up, and they were teleported from the frozen glade with time to spare.


The sleep after Riz had a long-needed conversation with Adaine about not keeping secrets and not putting herself in danger above and beyond the rest of the party, he had a dream involving her and the rest of the Bad Kids.  She turned to her wolf form and ran, and they chased her, mile after mile as she tried to avoid them.

She didn't harm them, not directly.  Instead, they fell into traps along the way; Gorgug's leg was trapped in metal, and Fig fallen into a pit.  Fabian slowed to the point of being unable to follow after stepping on nails, Kristen distracted by some kind of mental trap.  Riz avoided and dodged, closing the distance, following Adaine into a cave.

There was a flash of black fur - not like Adaine's silver fur at all - and glowing eyes and a knife, and Riz woke up with a gasp.

Unfortunately, it wasn't just a bad dream.  Adaine had vanished in the night, never having woken anyone to take over the watch.  Kristen had actually been the first up, rising with the sun as ever, and it hadn't been until they'd all been up and getting ready to travel that they realized Adaine hadn't just stepped momentarily away from the camp.

It was enough to make Riz actually angry, the dream of Adaine leading the rest of them into danger with her secrets still atop his mind.  "I told her that it wasn't safe out here, and now she's either left us without warning, or she's gotten stolen by Fallinel or something else, and we're not going to be able to find her because she's the one who's good at finding things!"

Fig was searching the area while he did that, frowning.  "..Hey, this isn't good, there are way more footprints out here than ours and they're mostly bigger than us."  And then she jolted upright.  "Oh, fuck, really?  Like, right now?"

"What?"  Riz asked, impatiently.  He recognized someone receiving a mental message, even if Fig had responded aloud.

"We're supposed to drop the quest and head right for the border, Adaine's back in Elmville already but we might be in danger until we're back in Solace, apparently, Mom's going to meet us right at the border."  Fig said, grabbing her pack.  

"..What?" Riz repeated, thrown off his anger but still upset.

"I don't know, I only got twenty-five words from her.  But she thought we were in danger and should head back right away."  Fig replied, with a shrug.

The group of them headed back, Sandra Lynn there and ready with Baxter, and Riz seethed the whole way about the secrets that the party was keeping from each other.  If Adaine was doing it, when she was such an awful liar, what about Fig, or Fabian?

He needed to find more, to watch them closer.  Trust could only go so far.


Adaine, Ayda, and Aelwyn teleported into the O'Shaughnessey living room, exactly where they wanted to land.  Jawbone was standing by the stove in the tiny kitchen, frozen in the middle of cracking an egg.  Tracker, she quickly determined by running down the hall, was probably in bed still.

Aelwyn was trying to hide herself in the furthest corner of the room from Jawbone by the time that Adaine ran back to the main room a few moments later, her eyes flickering around the unfamiliar and crowded space of the apartment.  Adaine moved over near her and felt her sister's hand reach out and rest atop her, as though seeking reassurance, even as Ayda tried to give the two of them space.

It took another fifteen minutes for Adaine to turn back into a humanoid, Aelwyn still staring even though she almost certainly had made at least similar transformations with the moon.  Judging by Adaine's own hazy at best full moon experiences, and the state of Aelwyn's mind, she might not even be aware she was a werewolf right now.

Rather than wait out the remaining hour and change on the pocketwatch's affect, she took it back from Ayda, pressing the button to dismiss the stopped time early, Jawbone losing his grip on the egg and sending it flying with a small scream of surprise as three wizards were in his home where none were before.

"Oh god, Adaine, you startled me there.  Weren't you going to be in the mountains all weekend?"  Jawbone asked, grabbing a towel to start wiping egg off the floor, then noticing that third person.  "...Who's this?"  He asked, stopping in his movement when Aelwyn cringed back even though he was halfway across the room.

Adaine glanced at Ayda, then replied.  "..We rescued my sister.  Can she stay here a while, at least until she can recover enough to get an amnesty or go into a normal prison where they won't torture her constantly?  She can have my bed for now and I can sleep on the floor or in Tracker's room, or bunk beds maybe."

Jawbone, in spite of knowing what Aelwyn had done, in spite of the apartment already being overcrowded with just the four of them, replied with his eyes softening.  "Of course, kid.  Was this planned?"

"Yeah.  Nobody knew except Aguefort and Ayda; I need to Send some messages to get my party out just in case the elves retaliate by going after them.  I don't think they will, but it's better to be safe."  It'd be risking an escalation back into war for sure; they wouldn't have the justification, thin as it was, of still considering any of the others a Fallinel citizen.

She burned through two more slots, Sending a message to Sandra Lynn that they'd need a retrieval that morning, and another to Fig, the Bad Kid most likely not to get incredibly angry at her when she realized what she'd done.

Tracker, evidently awoken by all of the noise, padded into the living room in bare feet and a long shirt that was effectively a nightgown, rubbing her eyes.  "Adaine?  I thought you were supposed to be on a quest all weekend?  What time is it?"

"..Not sure, it's a little complicated for me.  My sister has a pretty terrible spell on her.  Can you cast a Greater Restoration today?"  Aelwyn was clearly on the verge of falling back into a trance, and Adaine wanted to at least be able to see what magic was underlying the Feeblemind before it turned out to be some sort of tracking signal.

"Huh?  Sure."  Tracker said, not asking for any more details, just stepping up at the request and murmuring a prayer to her goddess.  The same goddess Aelwyn at least theoretically worshipped, though like much in their childhood attending the occasional service to Galicaea had been more about appearances than any sort of actual devotion.

Adaine could tell when the spell worked, because Aelwyn immediately collapsed onto the floor in the corner and started sobbing.

Notes:

A slightly short chapter today, but the next one's going to make up for it and if I go any further they'd need to be combined.

Slight preview: Next chapter's title is Mind.

I am moving this weekend! I'm going to try to get the next chapter up before I have to go into radio silence for a little bit (or least writing silence, because I'm not writing while my computer is packed away, but I'll have my phone) but honestly even when it's silent it'll probably mean like a week at most without a chapter.

Chapter 31: Mind

Summary:

Adaine explores some childhood memories, many of which she already has. Aelwyn disagrees with herself.

Notes:

Content Warning: Suicidal thoughts and statements, child abuse, and truly staggering amounts of self-loathing.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Adaine knelt down next to her sobbing sister, everyone else giving looks of alarm other than Ayda, who seemed a little upset herself.

"Ayda, can you check her with detect magic again?  I'll have to get my spellbook back from the principal before I can ritually cast it, and I want to see if that was the only effect active on her."

Ayda, evidently relieved to have direct instructions, incanted the spell even as Adaine listened to Aelwyn's sobs stop, more from a lack of energy to keep that up than anything else, and be replaced with a murmured.  "mmsorrymmsorrymmsorry", definitely not an improvement or anything more like the normal Aelwyn.

She'd almost seemed better off with the prior spell in place, even if she seemed to have at least a little language back now.  "Aelwyn?"  Adaine tried, seeing if she could get Aelwyn's attention, maybe break her out of what looked uncomfortably like a panic attack to Adaine.  She didn't touch her sister, knowing that contact was only sometimes okay for herself and could be quite bad.

Aelwyn didn't respond directly, trembling and continuing her apology.  Adaine's eyes widened as she caught a slight change in it.  "mmsosorryadaineplease"

"There's..  the slightest hint of something, something buried in her mind, but I do not recognize it or know what it is."  Ayda reported, seeming bothered by having to be so vague.

Adaine frowned and nodded, considering that.  "Okay.  Okay.  This might be a bad idea, but please don't shake me out of it unless it seems to be going really badly."

And then, without waiting for anyone to let her elaborate, she cast Detect Thoughts on her sister again.


Adaine knew, immediately, that something different had happened than was supposed to happen with Detect Thoughts.  Whether it was for weal or for woe, she was uncertain.

She was standing on the edge of a city that had been at war, in winter.  Everything looked destroyed, fragmented.  Cracks in the ground and pavement below, no life anywhere...  There were free floating clouds of toxic-looking gas hanging in midair.  Even as she looked out, another brick fell from the husk of the nearest building.

This place must be Aelwyn's mind, but if so, it wasn't exactly promising.

Adaine walked forward, glancing up.  It was the brightness of daylight, but it was the moon hanging overhead, a waning half-moon that matched its current state in reality whether by luck or as an indication that even out of her mind Aelwyn had the same sort of awareness of the moon that Adaine and Tracker and Jawbone did.

There was a flash of motion in the corner of her eye, over near one of the ruined towers.  "Aelwyn?"  She called over, cautiously.  Something had to be left of Aelwyn in here, something that at least knew Adaine's name and seemed to know that she should be sorry for something.  Adaine approached, reaching a hand out and touching the tower to steady herself along the way, and...

She was in a place that she did not remember and yet was somehow familiar.  It must have been huge, anyway - the halls were enormous, the doorways wider and taller than even a giant, the carpets plush beneath her bare feet.  She was not in control of this body, and she was not the one feeling everything, and yet she was.  A passenger, for this moment.

An infant was crying, through the nearby doorway.  Adaine felt herself moving to peek through it, hands holding to the doorframe to keep on her surprisingly unsteady legs.  There was a crib there, enormous, and an infant with pufts of blonde hair was screaming out for anyone to come and look at her and help her.

Adaine felt a hand on her shoulder, tugging at her roughly away from the door.  Angwyn Abernant was there, enormous but otherwise looking just as he had right before she had thrown a lightning bolt at him not too long ago, and his expression was neutral.  "Aelwyn, love, you mustn't reward Adaine with attention when she's being unreasonable like that.  Your mother's unseen servants check on her regularly; she has everything she needs."

But I want to see her was the thought that Adaine could feel as though it were her own, knowing for certain that it wasn't but that it was Aelwyn's, even as she gave a nod, and a quiet "Yes, father" instead.  At absolute most Aelwyn was three and she was already talking like that and somehow sounding so polite and walking away after Angwyn instead of doing what she'd wanted and looking to make certain Adaine was truly okay.

A flash of light, and Adaine found herself back in control, back in her 'body', such as it was.  A projection of her body, somewhere else in this ruined city, no longer along the outskirts but instead surrounded by ruined buildings on all sides, the ruins forming a maze.

Aelwyn was there, next to her.  Sort of.  She was maybe ten, in the lower school uniform for Hudol that Adaine had worn and then worn a knockoff for for her first few weeks at Aguefort, before she'd been kicked out of home.  Thick scars covered her arms around her wrists, and her legs near her ankles, matching the ones she had in reality.  "Oh."  She said, eyes wide as she looked at Adaine.  "You're alive, after all."

"Did you think I wasn't?"  Adaine asked, uncertainly stepping forward, trying to approach the kid version of her older sister.

Another flash, and she was somewhere she very much did recognize, the jail cells of the Elmville Police Station.  Not the one she'd spent months in, but the one she'd been in for a single night, and she was staring at herself in her jacket.  Too stubborn to take a rescue, how do I get her to get herself safe?  If she ever would have listened to me, she won't now.  A sound, in the background, and blurs of motion; Adaine's own memory of this was crisper, didn't have the haze of drink over this as the cell was assaulted.

Raw, complete panic washed into Adaine, a familiar feeling when it was her own but this version alien to her.  Aelwyn had tried to kill her less then twelve hours before this point, Adaine knew, but the horror as an elf drove a silver knife deep into Adaine's back was real, and a growl escaped from her throat, a transformation racking through her, though Aelwyn had kept her mind more than Adaine typically did in that form spite of her drunken state.

"We are taking you out of here or executing you as a werewolf as well.  Submit to the teleportation and do not approach any of us, or else."  A glance down to where blood was spilling forth from Adaine, who with the dagger in her had fallen back into elf form from the hybrid form she'd briefly been in, and then the feeling of a teleportation kicking in.  I can't even die right.

The memory left, and Adaine was again elsewhere within the city.  This had been a fountain once, and Aelwyn was sitting there, her feet kicking at the dirt where water had probably once been.  She was about the same age as Adaine now, still scarred, and couldn't quite seem to look at her, and when she spoke it was clearer and as free of sarcasm as Adaine had heard, her tone one of a deep and abiding sadness, if anything.  Nothing Adaine could remember ever hearing from her sister, not even in the jail cell where she'd pronounced her own impending death  "...I had a plan, you know.  If you ever got in here.  A way to try to fix all of this, the best I could."

Adaine glanced around at the ruins.  Fixing this seemed beyond imagining, and when she looked back to Aelwyn in the light of the sun-ish moon she was transparent, only very thinly present at all.  "..Yeah?"  She asked, cautiously.

Aelwyn looked down.  "Mmhmm.  Not that I should know it at all.  Part of the point, really, that I wouldn't know it.  Something happened to me that cracked the shell; it's leaking out.  I think things from out here might be leaking in, too."

"You were under a Feeblemind spell.  For about three months, if we have when it happened right."  Adaine offered, not certain if she was really speaking to her sister.  "..Also a bunch of other torture, too."

"It was meant to be recovery from most torture, but a spell like that... might have done it.  I didn't think they'd use something that would make it impossible to get information from me without just killing me."  Aelwyn seemed to consider it.  "...All of me could maybe figure out something to do about it.  All this part of me has is that maybe if you get there soon, you can save enough that it'll help.  If you want to.  I don't blame you, if you don't.  I wouldn't in your place."

Adaine frowned at that, looking at the rubble around the fountain, no longer certain where she had come in.  "I do want to help you, Aelwyn.  I wouldn't have gone to so much trouble to get you from Fallinel if I didn't.  Where is this plan of yours at?  What happens if I don't get there soon enough?"

"...I made a backup, that night.  Right after I got teleported to Fallinel, before whatever else happened, because I knew whatever was going to happen wasn't going to be good and I wanted a way out of it.  And then I made myself forget how to get there, or that I had a plan, so they couldn't get it from me.  But I knew if you were alive you could find it, and if you weren't then I didn't deserve for it to be found.  Maybe I don't, anyway.  It just means that this will stay... like it is, and the parts of me that aren't here will fade away."  Aelwyn, or this Aelwyn, at least was growing more and more transparent, only visible now as a slight reflection in the air, less solid than Zayn had seemed at his most ghostly.

Still...  "How I am supposed to find my way around your mind if you don't know it?"  Adaine asked, a little frustrated by that.

"You always know where to go, even if you don't know it.  You always have.  It's how I knew you were going to be the next Oracle."  And... she was gone, leaving Adaine alone in this plaza.

No choice but to pick a direction.  No information to pick a direction from.  She was still concentrating on the detect thoughts, in spite of all of this, and she didn't think she could cast another new spell regardless in this form.

She decided to just go with her instincts, stepping into an alleyway that was niether the clearest nor the most blocked by rubble, stepping down it.

She found herself looking at herself once more, except she couldn't believe she'd ever been this tiny, and she instantly knew exactly what this memory was.  She would have guessed looking at the tiny version of herself before her that she was like five or six, but she was eight and Aelwyn was ten and they were having the last spar with shortswords for their weapons training they would ever have, because Aelwyn's would be considered complete after this.  

Adaine had known she was winning from her own side and she found that from Aelwyn's side that her sister knew that just as well and mother and father were watching and the fear of losing to Adaine in front of them and the fear of accidentally looking too good at the sword to be reasonable for a researching mage were making her even sloppier, even worse than normal, and Adaine was simply more talented at this to begin with.  Adaine, who somehow seemed to know far too often just the attack or defense that was going to be made before it even happened and who swung the blunted weapons with a force belying her weak, eight-year-old elven form.

"Aelwyn, focus!"  came mother's stern voice, and desperate for any way out that wouldn't displease their parents, she resorted to magic, Grease forming underneith Adaine and sending her head-first into the hardwood floor, to cheers from mother and father at the clever solution, Aelwyn worrying that Adaine was hurt but not going to check on her even as their parents chided her for making a scene about a minor fall.

Adaine knew she'd been dizzy and had a headache for a week, after.

She came back into the city closer to the center, she thought, though there was no way to be certain.  Looking back the way she came, there was no plaza, no anything that seemed to indicate that that was the way she'd come from.  In fact...

This was a trick, not a place with real geography.  Aelwyn's mind, or maybe her soul, or maybe there wasn't a difference.  Adaine, feeling eyes on her from persons unknown - or, really, Aelwyns unknown - turned and walked firmly in that direction.

She was at the dinner table, in a seat she'd never actually sat at, looking at herself across the table.  Older than in the last memory, and that anger still there, but now instead of mere fright there was what Adaine knew was her true anxiety, which had really started up after that weapons training incident.  Ten or eleven, maybe?  She didn't remember this in particular, though, not from her own point of view; they'd had this meal, with father and mother conversing and snide comments about Adaine's activities and fawning over Aelwyn's far too many times for any one of them that wasn't truly wretched to stand out, though this was past the age where she'd started somewhat frequently been punished through being forced to skip meals.

"See, Adaine?  Your sister is already studying advanced abjuration tomes.  You aren't even getting through the beginning material.  That's far more than a mere two year gap, you know."  That, too, was a far too common discussion.  Except, when she looked down - or when Aelwyn looked down, rather, because Adaine was still a passenger in her memory - Adaine felt her world tilt.  The book wasn't about abjuritive magic at all.  Or any kind of magic.  There was a minor illusion magic to change the cover, but.. this was a psychology book, and Aelwyn was reading about panic attacks.  In fact, the passage from this book was describing a breathing exercise that the Adaine in this memory wouldn't learn for literal years, not until Jawbone coaxed her out of the apartment's bathroom one morning with it.

To look it up was certainly more than their parents would ever have done, but Aelwyn had had information that could have helped her, could have REALLY helped her, years in advance.  Long before she'd bombed out of Hudol, or before most of her years of ending up hiding in closets or under her bed or just in her bed, weeping and shaking and losing time.  And she hadn't given it, hadn't helped even with the breathing exercises, which wouldn't have been anywhere near as good as real medication but which would have been better than what Adaine had had, which was jack shit.

Why?

And, because it was Aelwyn's memory and Aelwyn's feelings on the memory, tied into it for years afterwards, she knew the answer:  She was worried that mother and father would find out, and that somehow that would make them associate Aelwyn with the weakness just as much as Adaine.  Because, in the end, Aelwyn considered herself a coward.  And she hated herself for it.  Hated herself with a passion that made any dislike that Adaine had had for her, that Adaine had labeled as hate at the time, that had driven Adaine to the point of losing control and turning into a werewolf and biting her sister, that was a shadow of the amount Aelwyn despised herself.

And worse, Adaine could understand why.

She came back out of that memory, and now she was truly lost because she was on the flat bit of a stairway, inside what remained of one of the buildings.  A door to nowhere, stairs down and up that looked equally likely to collapse, a hole in the tower she could maybe leap out of.  Not one, but two versions of Aelwyn were on the landing with her.

One was maybe eleven or twelve, standing there and giving her a guilty look.  The other was a little younger, dead on the ground and fading into translucency fast, a dozen stab wounds in her chest.

"In my defense, you really wouldn't have wanted to talk to that one, little sister."  The living Aelwyn said, with more of her normal tone of voice than any other she'd encountered, and Adaine instinctively knew this conversation was at least as important as what direction she chose to go next to trying to help.

"..And why is that, Aelwyn?"  She asked, trying her very best to imitate Jawbone's calmest demeanor from their meetings and not show the horror she was feeling.

"She was the best liar of us.  Or, at least, the best at tricking people into loving her.  Never could quite earn it; had to make them think I was the perfect student, perfect daughter, perfect girl to throw your party.  Fake it until you are it, or something to that effect, because the things I could be perfect at weren't good enough and so I had to find ones I could fool them into."  Aelwyn sighed, and waved her hand with the knife out, blood staining her hand.  "Though maybe you'd have been fine.  For all the tricks I could pull on you, getting your love never was one I thought to try, or thought I could manage.  You should let that magic you're holding onto go.  I'm not worth this, no matter how much I'd want for you to remake me."

Adaine swallowed.  "Aelwyn, you're... you're too smart to believe any of that, but it's not your fault that you do.  You never tricked mother and father into loving you.  Not at all.  They never did, not you and not me.  They tricked you into thinking there was something, anything you could do to make them love you.  Love is something that can only be given, not tricked or earned or any of that.  It's the sort of thing that gets someone to save a girl they barely know who's been thrown out of her home, and take them in.  Or... the sort of thing that could cause that girl to risk her life to save a sister who had mostly only been cruel to her, Aelwyn."

The stairway and building collapsed under her.  She smashed into the brick, and then...

Vice Principal Goldenhoard, in the fake dragonborn flesh, was standing before her, snorting down at her.  "You say you know who the next Oracle will be?  It only helps me if they come here.  Really, if this is the best help the Shadowcat has to offer, I'm not sure why she bothered."

"My parents are looking for a new school for her.  She has anxiety attacks, and flunked out of Hudol for them, but she will be the next Oracle if the current one dies.  Her talent for divination is unmatched, the greatest natural talent for a school of magic I have seen of any student or professor at Hudol.  You could send them an offer, perhaps?"  Adaine felt herself, felt Aelwyn saying, a mixture of sheer raw terror and a strange kind of excitement and anticipation in her.

"I see.  And just what, beyond this little tiny piece of information, do you have to offer for me?"  Kalvaxus asked, lounging back in his chair.

"I.. isn't that enough?   I can give you a line of communication with the Shadowcat, and arcane knowledge.."  She was flailing, now, just trying to not get dragged into the dirty work.

"Mm.  You're not a Solesian citizen.  And neither is your sister, Miss Abernant.  So here is how it is going to be:  You will kill the current Oracle, with a little assistance with resources from me.  You will get your sister here, you will get her to remove that damned book, and you will do anything else I tell you to do or that people I tell you to listen to tell you to do to make my comeback a reality.  If not, even with my current... limitations, I can still gut you like a fish and leave you to bleed out and watch while I devour your sister whole.  Got it?"

No, she felt herself wanting to say, she felt her heart aching to have the bravery to say.

"Yes, sir."

Adaine popped out of that memory in what she knew was the dead center of the fortress city.  Floating in midair, cracked in several places and leaking some sort of gas, a metallic miracle of abjurative magic stood.  A perfect daughter or student she might not have been, a perfect sister she sure as hell wasn't, but Aelwyn Abernant had made this while drunk off ninety percent of a bottle of the world's cheapest liquor and being kidnapped from prison by agents of the country she technically belonged to.

It had almost been good enough, if not for the Feeblemind.  The Feeblemind that Adaine was pretty certain she had provoked, by continuing to Send to Aelwyn in prison.

The outside of it had writing, damaged and faded.  This read, in High Arcana, "I know things have not been the best between us, but if you are willing to use this properly, I will owe you more than the one drink, little sister.  If not, please just kill me."

Adaine looked around.  There were watchers, dozens..  no, hundreds and hundreds of copies of Aelwyn, of all ages and dispositions.  There was no telling if she would remember any of this after, but this was Adaine's last, best chance to try to speak to the whole of her mind, the entirety of her soul.

When she spoke, though she worked no magic that should do so, her voice reverberated, carrying across the entire city and the entire mindscape.

"Aelwyn.  I've found a new family, since I was kicked out.  Adopted and everything.  Family is a choice, it's not something we're stuck with forever, just because.  We can pick and be picked by people who love us, who we love.  But..  just because family is a choice, doesn't mean we can't still choose each other.  Please.  I want to be your little sister, and try everything I can so that you can choose to be my big sister.  I can't remake you, I won't remake you, but here's what I can do and will do:  I will give you love, and support, and every chance I possibly can so that you can remake yourself."

And then she hit the orb with a Dispel, unleashing the remaining magic within in the flood that was intended instead of the slow leak in Aelwyn's mind.

Notes:

Honestly there might be a 10,000 word version of this chapter in me somewhere down the line with revisions. This is one of the two I most looked forward to writing, the other being Adaine and Aelwyn in prison way back in chapter 10.

I absolutely identify with Aelwyn and she deserves for this to work out. Will it? Well, we'll see soon probably.

Chapter 32: Clean

Summary:

Aelwyn gets cleaned up. Adaine is confronted with everyone else's fear.

Notes:

I'm putting this chapter up in between loads of furniture because I can't move right this second otherwise, y'all. Enjoy, it'll still be a few days until the next one probably unless I have more energy than I think.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

It was obvious, the ways in which the magic that she had unleashed hadn't had the power behind them that was attempted.  Adaine was pushed backwards, out to the edges of the city, out of the way of where rubble began to clear and fountains began to flow and walls reassembled themselves...  

...Partway.  Because the magic ran out of steam, and the rebuilding was uneven.  In places and streaks, it looked like a pristine fortification formed from memory and masks, a false personality long since built up as a defense of the more honest Aelwyn.  And in other places, alarmingly large places, only rubble remained.  But in the overwhelming majority of the city, it was somewhere in between those extremes; buildings that were half-rebuilt, that had been started, that were damaged but not beyond repair.

If the mindscape Adaine had arrived into had been the rubble of a city bombed to oblivion, this was a city that had been besieged but might someday, with great effort, be rebuilt.

Adaine had promised to help with that, but this wasn't the place for her to do it from, not anymore.  

She finally allowed her spell to drop, feeling herself gently being pushed back by the magic.  The force of it was not such that she could not have fought against the tide, but it was time to see the results of her work so far.


A moment existed where her world was only blurred agony.  That moment could have been seconds, or it could have been months, or it could have been years, and she was uncertain she would have had any ability to tell one from the other.  Nor was the pain over, it was just.. dampened.  Her entire body felt desiccated, as though every ounce of moisture had been wrung out of her, from head to toe.

Focus returned to her eyes, at least momentary, and she realized she was eye-to-eye, mouth hanging open, with the dingiest looking carpet she had ever seen.  There was a sound from somewhere to her side.  Quite a few different sounds, but one was closer, and much more familiar.

"..wyn?  Aelwyn, can you hear me?"

..Oh.  It was just Adaine.

That thought was followed with a flash of guilt through her entire body, and she wasn't certain why.

Aelwyn pushed herself up off the floor, managing to prop herself up against the wall and turn towards the room as a whole.  That effort was as far as she was going for right this moment, she decided.  Besides, it was a strange sight that waited for her, and she needed a moment to deal with it.

Adaine was kneeling next to her, with an expression of such sincere concern that Aelwyn thought it might burn her soul at to look at it.  Now that guilt was joined by shame; they'd just been in a prison cell together, after all.  Hadn't they?

No, that wasn't right, her ghost had been speaking to Aelwyn and taunting her.  Had been for months.

No, that couldn't be right either.  Especially since she was right here.  They'd wandered through an all too still forest together, the grass motionless around them, until they'd taken flight and...

...And something.  None of these felt correct, and Aelwyn's head felt like it was going to split, and maybe Adaine had been haunting her after all, but Aelwyn needed to look away.  There were others there, the next closest being a slightly roughed-up looking human girl Aelwyn was certain she had never seen before this moment.  Definitely not one of those friends of Adaine's she'd fought yesterday months agowhenever it was.  Not bad looking, though not really Aelwyn's type, and in any case the thought of trying to flirt right this moment made her want to curl up and die.

Kalina didn't seem to be around at the moment, anyway.

The next closest figure was far, far more striking, which made it all the weirder that Aelwyn felt like she had met her before and couldn't remember where, somewhere in her hazy mess of memory.  Hair and wings and eyebrows of flames, maybe some sort of fire genasi?  Not really the look otherwise, and genasi didn't usually have wings.

Aelwyn's eyes had lost focus again, while she was thinking about that.

Adaine was talking, still in hushed tones but clearly meaning to include both Aelwyn herself and the human girl, and Aelwyn startled when she felt a hand against her shoulder.  "..her up?  It might help..."

The human agreed, and with a shocking amount of strength between the two of them Aelwyn felt herself being lifted up from under her shoulders, getting a good look at the last person in the room as she was half-dragged, half stumbled towards.. wherever they were going.

Huh.  She knew this one, at least a little bit.  He was the first dealer she'd ever scored dragon spice off of, back when she'd still used disguise self before she'd figured out that as long as you had the gold, the drug dealers didn't give a shit if you were a high schooler.  Or maybe she'd just needed the extra thrill of the risk of looking like herself, once buying drugs had become mundane.

...Was she dead after all and her Hell was shared with her sister and one of her drug dealers?  She couldn't even imagine Adaine using, though if she'd had some in moderation it really might have helped her anxiety.

There was a dead stop in their movement and she realized both the others were staring at her.  Had she said something out loud without realizing?  She stared down at the floor and tried not to think too loudly of anything for the moment, her legs trembling beneath her as she tried to support any of her own weight for the sake of her dignity.

Not that that lasted long, as she saw herself in the bathroom mirror, focusing her eyes on herself for a moment.  She was in unrecognizably dirty clothing, with her hair so matted and tangled that she couldn't begin to imagine how to fix it, short of shaving the mess off.  Her face was coated in dirt and the leftovers of long ago sweat and Galicaea only knew what else.  The human girl left, and Adaine started to help Aelwyn with undressing.

Soon enough she was sitting in the dingy tub, the showerhead on and Adaine helping with a washcloth.  The hot water brought back a little focus, and Adaine's words started to make some sense again.

The splash of some of the hot water reaching her mouth made her aware of just how badly she needed a drink.  Not in the alcoholic sense; just any sort of moisture.  She tilted her head back, and...

"You're not trying to drown yourself, I hope."  Adaine said, not sounding amused so probably not joking.

"Just trying to wash that booze you had out of my mouth.  I think it's the last thing I had to drink."  Aelwyn said, after a moment, though of course she couldn't taste that long-ago liquor anymore.  She couldn't remember anything else in the way of food or water, at least.  In fact, she might as well ask..  "How long has it been?  My memory is.. not what it was, I think.  Everything's blurred together."

Adaine shook her head.  "Of course you'd remember that, of all things.  It was seven months ago.  I think we might have to coax you back onto food, though.  I'm not sure what magic they were using to give you enough nourishment to not die, but I doubt very much it was made with your long term health in mind.  I'll talk to Jawbone about it."

Aelwyn watched the rivers of dirt head for the drain, shivering and glancing down at her body.  She'd been doing everything she could to hurt herself for a long time without directly harming herself, only to end up with her ribs showing and absolutely covered in scars, with only a sister who she'd never been anything but cruel to to shelter her from even more consequences for her actions.

Though, now that she thought about it, and realized that at least some of those memories from her moment of torment were real...

"...Guess that curse did take on me, too.  And I've presumably been expelled from Hudol by now."  She'd been most of her way through the junior year, but there were all sorts of moral clauses that they'd have used for a justification when the real reason would have been that she'd become an embarrassment.  Though being a werewolf also wouldn't have helped if they'd known that; Hudol was a heavily High Elf run institution.

Besides, she somehow didn't think Mother and Father would pay the tuition now.

Adaine had moved on to trying in vain to untangle some of Aelwyn's hair.  "..We may need to cut your hair, but I can have Fig look, she's pretty good with this.  And yes, I think you were, though I obviously am not on any of Hudol's mailing lists.  Our old house was burned down, but the wards they put up against werewolves were still active the one time I tried to go by there."

Aelwyn frowned at that, something about it not seeming right.  "..Why was the house burned down?  Was it someone angry about what I'd done, or the war..?"

Adaine hummed.  "It's never made complete sense to me, either, but I had more important things to worry about at the time.  Kalvaxus had all of my party's homes attacked the day of prom, to try and distract us from his plot.  I was not worried about saving that house, and even if I had been I couldn't have gone there anyway."

She allowed herself a deep sigh.  "I was hoping some of my things might still be there.  None of my spells are still in my head after all this time, and I don't know what happened to my spellbook.  So until I can figure out something to do about that, if you're even interested in letting me do something about that, I'm a criminal, homeless, high school dropout werewolf with a handful of cantrips and a mind that is..."  She trailed off, not even wanting to speak it aloud.

What was a wizard that couldn't trust her own mind?  "What am I supposed to do now?"  She finally asked, shame washing over her that she even was asking Adaine, made worse by the hope that she might actually have an answer.

Adaine bit at her lip, seeming to give the question a real consideration before speaking.  "You're not homeless, at least.  I already talked to Jawbone about you staying for as long as you need - we're moving out of here and into a bigger house pretty soon, too, but for now I can just sleep as a wolf and you can take my bed to trance.  Or you could sleep for that matter, I'll show you how, it's actually kind of great.  Principal Aguefort is going to be by at some point to talk about what you need to do for asylum, too, and please do it so that Fallinel can't just take you back.  But if you really want to know what I think, it's that you need to rest and think and try to decide what you want to do.  What YOU want to do, not what they demand of you or even what I'd like or Jawbone would like.  Because I don't think what you've been doing is it.  Even if you could get back into Hudol, is that what you'd really want?  I wouldn't go back there at this point, certainly."

Aelwyn fell silent at that.  Adaine had been adopted, she knew from.. somewhere.  Some fragment of memory that she couldn't bring to mind.  That it was apparently by a drug dealer was hardly something she could judge, of course.

The water started growing cold, and Adaine turned off the shower, then vanished for a moment, coming back with pajamas and the human girl.  Or, no, now that Aelwyn was ever so slightly less shaky..  That girl gave her the same sense that Adaine did, under the surface.  Werewolf.  "It's a good thing I usually wear everything a little baggy these days, should make up for some of the height difference."  Adaine remarked.  "Tracker will be around if you need any help, but you look like you need to trance for a week.  I'm going to be busy soon being murdered for my party for not telling them any of that plan before I did it, but I'll be back after that, okay?"

Hopefully not an Oracular prediction.  Aelwyn tried her best to stand and carry her own weight, but even though she felt like half her body weight had melted off into the drain, she still mostly got carried by Adaine and.. Tracker, presumably.   They led her to a tiny bedroom that had Adaine's fingerprints all over it in the way the sterile room she'd been made to maintain in their childhood home never quite had, little touches like a stuffed frog on a bedside table and books left out on the desk.

Whether it was a true trance or not, Aelwyn was out of it before she finished laying out in the bed.


Adaine closed her eyes for a moment as she shut the door to her bedroom behind her, leaving Aelwyn in her bed.

"You okay?"  Tracker asked, and Adaine gave a shrug in response.  

"..That's actually kinder than Aelwyn's ever been in a conversation with me where neither of us was in jail, so maybe there's hope yet.  We'll see how she does once she catches up on rest, some."  Adaine added, as they made their way back to the living room.

Ayda and Jawbone were deep in conversation with each other at the kitchen table, both sparing a glance over to Adaine who gave them a smile, happy to see them getting along and not wanting to interrupt.  She made her own way over to the couch instead and laid out on it.  Tracker picked her feet up long enough to take a seat at the other end.

It was probably true she should be figuring out a good way to explain her choices to everyone, and just pointing out that they had worked out was probably not going to be good enough.  For now, she let herself fall into listening to the sounds of Ayda and Jawbone talking.

She didn't really make a choice to fall into a nap, but rather a blink of her eyes at some point and the door was open, the rest of her party all crowding in Jawbone's apartment, Tracker already halfway across the room to greet Kristen.  Adaine sat up, rubbing at her eyes, and glancing between the five of them.

Kristen was distracted by Tracker.  Fig was glancing over at the kitchen table, where Jawbone and Ayda still were, but Fabian, Riz, and Gorgug were all staring right at her with three expressions that spiked her anxiety right up.

Gorgug's was the easiest and also the hardest.  He just looked a little worried.  Fabian was harder to read; he looked a little betrayed, if anything.

Riz, on the other hand, was pretty clear:  He was angry.  And not in the usual way where he was going to stuff it down and keep it at least to a private conversation later.

He made that obvious enough by hissing out, "What the hell, Adaine?", sending her heart sinking.

Notes:

Next chapter: Time for the group to hash out that most of them think Adaine getting herself intentionally kidnapped by a group that wants to probably kill her is Bad, Actually.

Chapter 33: Trust

Summary:

Adaine and Riz both have good points, they think. Aelwyn learns about unintended consequences of helping dragons rise to power.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Adaine stared at Riz, her heart close to stopping as she took in the anger in his voice and expression.  She'd joked that her party would probably murder her for this, but she hadn't actually expected them to be as upset as he seemed to be.

"You should let her explain."  Gorgug said to Riz, softly, giving Adaine a worried look.  Maybe her nerves were showing.  They usually were.

Why was she so much more scared to talk to her party about fighting the Court of Stars than she had been to actually do it?

Riz was still glaring at her, and now Kristen and Fig's attention had returned too, and Riz said.  "Fine.  Go ahead and explain what you were doing, then, and why you just lied to me during that bogus quest you had us on."

So he'd figured some of it out beyond what she'd been able to Send to Fig, or guessed.  That was going to make this worse, probably.  "I didn't know I was lying at the time.  So it probably doesn't count as lying, exactly..."  Adaine started, wanting to make that much completely clear from the beginning.

"What does that even mean, Adaine?  Please just explain it from the beginning."  Oh, Fabian sounded more frustrated with her than she'd thought he'd be too.  She tried to force herself past that; it wouldn't do her any good at all to dwell on just how angry they each might be at her.  They'd understand once they heard all of it.

"So you know how I've been worried about Aelwyn for a while, right?"  Riz stared blankly at her, but the others nodded, Kristen with the most sureness.  Maybe she hadn't even explained all of that to everyone?  "Well, I knew she where she was in Fallinel, but I couldn't get there without it being a major incident and maybe getting into real trouble for restarting a war by invading them.  So the plan I came up with was that I'd get captured by them, but with the tools to break Aelwyn and I both out and then with Ayda cooperating get all three of us out of the country."  Riz opened his mouth, but she raised a hand to let her finish, and he snapped it shut, clearly still seething.

"...But the thing is I knew they'd probably use magic to compel me to tell the truth or read my mind as soon as I was captured, and if they found out about any of that they'd be able to stop it and then I'd just be captured."  And almost certainly dead within a few days, but she definitely wasn't going to spell that part out for them.  "So Principal Aguefort helped me with using a triggered modify memory spell that would undo itself when certain conditions were met.  He also helped me get back in contact with Ayda to arrange for transportation back to Elmville, and most importantly he loaned me his pocketwatch, which I used to escape with Aelwyn while the elves were time stopped.  From their point of view, the two of us just would have vanished, with some magics they were using to contain us dispelled."  That had actually been Aelwyn's modify memory spell that Riz had recovered from the old house, but Adaine thought it might be a bad idea to bring it up.

"So, you know, at the time of the quest and when I was talking to you I didn't know any of this, or why I'd agreed to let the principal 'test me' without my spellbook or my jacket or anything else that I would have really hated to lose.  He, um, also helped me with some spells so that I would get the pocketwatch and some potions to help me out of silver restraints after I recovered the memories."  Adaine said, not really wanting to explain that she'd had to pick them out of her own vomit.

Ayda spoke up, then.  "It was a good plan.  I knew it was time to enact it and go to Calethriel Tower when everyone else in the world but me froze in time.  My father is not very good at being a father but his magic is extremely impressive."

Riz waited to see if she was going to continue, and when she didn't he cut back in.  "What was your plan if they executed you right away?  Or if you weren't put in the same place as Aelwyn, for that matter?"

Adaine shuffled on her feet and carefully looked at a point on the floor that wasn't anywhere near any of her friends or especially near Jawbone or Tracker..  Aguefort had asked the same first question, but he'd seemed excited by her willingness to take the risk in a way she didn't think her friends would be.  "Well, I would have tried what I could to get away, of course.  But I probably would have died."

There was silence for a moment, and then..  "Right.  Exactly my point!  Adaine, you keep making plans like you don't value your own safety and like you don't want our help.  Like risking getting deported to get Aelwyn arrested in the first place.  Or even back when you were sleeping in the woods, instead of staying with one of us."  Riz said.

"..We are supposed to be a party, Adaine."  Fabian added in.  "The Ball is being a little dramatic, but you do seem to be in constant danger, which is fine!  But you should let the rest of your crew know, so that we can support you.  We shouldn't just be props for you.  Were there even any oozes to kill?"

Adaine thought about lying, even by omission, but..  a flash of the future warned her it wouldn't work.  She'd be making it worse in the long run.

Adaine nodded.  "It was a real quest, I'm pretty sure.  Just in case Fallinel looked into it.  Just..  not one we were really meant to complete."  She was starting to tremble, because even Fig and Kristen looked a little disappointed in her and she still couldn't look at Jawbone or Tracker.  "It was the best plan I could think of, the only way I could think to get her out and stick a fork in the eye of Fallinel.  They want to kill me, but they're going to put me on a trial first for show."

At least, they had this time.  Adaine chose not to think about - or certainly not volunteer - that next time they might not wait.

"Right.  And retrieving your kidnapper sister who, let's not forget, made a pretty good try at killing all of us was worth you maybe dying while the rest of us thought we'd let you get captured when it was really your plan to begin with?"  Riz said.  "Do you remember what you said about why you let yourself transform at prom?"

Jawbone finally cut in at this point.  "Okay, maybe it's time to cool off a little bit, and then you can talk about this like the friends you are after everyone's less upset."

Riz whirled around, turning to him, and he sounded close to crying now.  Adaine couldn't remember ever seeing him cry before.  "I keep putting it off, or trying to talk to her calmly about it, and she keeps doing it.  You should be just as upset as I am, I saw how you looked when Kalvaxus killed her!  If she'd died in Fallinel, we couldn't possibly have gotten to her body in time this time!"  ..She had seen him shout, though.

Adaine couldn't help but see Jawbone, now, couldn't look away from the complicated expression he made at that, and her trembling got worse.  She was very aware that she'd experienced, personally, at least a day since her last dose of her medications, but she wasn't sure if they'd have helped here, anyway.  They usually - not always - smoothed over the small, day to day problems, but they'd never really been adequate for a big crisis and her friends being this angry almost certainly counted.

Fabian finally asked.  "..Did you succeed, at least?  Did you rescue Aelwyn, after all this?"

He sounded just a little too eager at that last part, but at least there was happy news on that front.  Maybe the mission being a total success would reassure Riz, and for that matter everyone else, who hadn't really objected to what he was saying.  Adaine opened her voice to reply, only to get cut off.

"She did."  Aelwyn said, and when Adaine turned over towards the hallway her sister was at the entrance to the living room from the hall, leaning on the wall to support herself, with a stricken expression Adaine couldn't recall seeing her make before.  In spite of that, and in spite of wearing pajamas with frogs on them that were both a little too short for her while also being kind of baggy, she looked a little more healthy than even when she'd come out of the bath, standing mostly on her own, the bags under her eyes slightly faded.  Adaine mentally rewound the conversation, trying to think what she could have heard to upset her that much.

Oh.  Right.  Aelwyn wouldn't have known that Kalvaxus had temporarily killed her.

A fresh spike of worry from thinking of how to explain that went through her, and this time Adaine couldn't hold it back, the transformation her most painful in a long time since she'd been fighting it off the entire conversation, her control of her breathing being lost, and she'd blown it and everyone was going to hate her and.. 

The world around her went blurry with a lack of focus, Adaine scrambling back into a corner of the room she liked, curling up and hiding her head as best she could and taking panting, horrible breaths.

There were noises and there was motion and she just couldn't put any of it together, had to escape, maybe if she could bring herself to howl out the incantation to Dimension Door (Wolf)?

A calming voice eventually broke through, and a hand placing gentle pressure on her side, just the way they had practiced.  Jawbone.

Adaine eventually managed to regain her patience, and her focus, and lifted her head back up to find the apartment less crowded than it had been the last she could remember; the Bad Kids who didn't actually live here had left. Jawbone was right by her, of course.  Kristen and Tracker were both sitting on the couch, trying politely not to seem like they were watching her.  Ayda, who had witnessed and helped Adaine through more than one panic attack over the summer, was reading a book at the kitchen table.

Aelwyn was in the oft-Mended chair, clutching the arms of it tightly, staring at Adaine now with an expression she couldn't make heads or tails of.

"Back with us, kiddo?  There you go, then.  Do you want a hug?"  Adaine tapped a paw down onto Jawbone's foot, the hug actually helping - it didn't always which was why he asked every time - before she hopped up onto the couch next to Tracker.  From past experience, after a transformation accompanying a panic attack that she fought the whole way, she was probably going to be stuck like this for a few hours and feel almost as bad as she did the day after the full moon afterwards.

She looked at Tracker, hopefully making her request clear, and Tracker did seem to realize what she'd want.  "The others left to give you some space.  I think Riz was still upset, but he apologized for pushing you too far.  Fig said to call her tomorrow if you're okay with it, something about getting those piercings you promised with her?"

"Hey, I can come too, right!  We should make sure that anyone getting a tattoo or anything is sure they want that forever."  Kristen said, getting a snort out of Tracker.  

"You just want to find a good tattoo to get, don't you?"  Tracker asked, and Adaine, satisfied that maybe they didn't all hate her forever (but they'd still need to talk more) circled around once on the couch before laying down and listening to Kristen and Tracker's banter.

Except, after a moment, Aelwyn's voice cut back across it.  "..How did you know what she wanted?  Is it just some kind of body language, or is there a magical communication aspect to it?"

Kristen gave Aelwyn a dazed look, as though still not sure what she was doing in their living room.  Tracker looked bemused, but also thoughtful before she replied.  "There's a little bit of body language to it.  Adaine's is pretty expressive, which is good since she gets stuck when she changes for a while.  Might be because she's on the small side for a wolf, too; she's much smaller than Jawbone or I are.  But as for how I knew what she wanted, mostly it's just what I was pretty certain she'd want to know about before anything else."

Aelwyn frowned heavily at that, before giving a nod.  "I see."  She said, plainly, before laying back and resting her eyes.

Probably likely to trance again soon, Adaine thought.  How much would it take to make up for more than half a year?  There was no chance it could be done in a day, but Aelwyn might take a shot at it.

Eventually, now calmer, certain Aelwyn was out of it, and with Tracker and Kristen tied up with each other, Adaine hopped off the couch.  She moved into the kitchen to sit next to where Ayda was reading with Jawbone sitting at the table with her, wanting to keep her company... only to find that to Adaine's surprise, tears were running down her face.  

"...Oh, Adaine." Ayda said, brushing away the tears.  "Your guardian is a wizard of emotions.  He's given me something I didn't know to look for.  I've grown so much wealthier in both friendship and knowledge from knowing you."

Adaine, who had no way at the moment to truly express her own gratitude towards Ayda, started to feel her remaining anxiety unknot itself in her chest.  She'd talk to Riz, and to Fabian, Fig, and Gorgug too, and they'd understand, in the end.  Maybe she would need to promise some more caution, but she didn't have any other goals she needed to risk herself for, not right now.  She needed to talk to her least favorite Aguefort to get her spellbook and jacket back and return his priceless artifact, and then she could just be a normal student the rest of the year.

She could almost convince herself it was true, in this room with the family she was choosing.

Notes:

I should mention that I think Riz has a fair point from his point of view! And that they still care about each other a great deal; it wouldn't even be a fight if they didn't. It's not completely resolved here, either, just at a detente.

Aelwyn has never actually been in her full wolf form (full moons send them into the hybrid one in this story), and I'm not sure thinking back on it that I've ever given a full description of Adaine's since I think we've mostly been in her point of view when she's transformed; Jawbone saw her hybrid at one point, but I'll have to go back and check if we've seen her wolf one. As Tracker mentions here, she's less physically imposing than most wolves are (not surprising given that her wolf form is at least partly driven by her anxiety, with her hybrid getting her mindless rage) but even a very small wolf would be very large for a dog.

Adaine burned some okay-ish portent rolls here into making the conversation at least not a COMPLETE disaster.

Edit: I did set up a Tumblr since Twitter seems to be going down in a blaze of glory! Also, and I forgot to post this question when I posted the chapter, I do have some little snippets that I think are decent but that didn't quite fit into the story's pacing or the like that I'm thinking about throwing on Tumblr or as a third story in this series that'd just contain that kind of errata. The most interesting of these to me are: Aelwyn's POV immediately after being rescued/captured by the Court of Stars, Adaine's POV of the cleanup last chapter (incomplete, because I did decide before it was finished that it would be better from Aelwyn's), and several of Aelwyn's memories that got trimmed from Mind, the most interesting of which to me is Aelwyn's memory of Ostentatia's party before Adaine crashed it, not because of what's in the memory so much as that it's something deeply weird to Adaine. Would people be interested in that sort of cutting room floor kind of thing?

Chapter 34: Bounty

Summary:

Adaine gets judged, and makes up with a friend for now. Aelwyn adjusts to her new prison.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Aelwyn was deeply uncomfortable with how easy it was to be comfortable in her new prison.

Not that any of the others staying there would call it that, and certainly she would take the chance to recover.  She even might choose to stay, once it wasn't a prison.  But at the moment it was, simply because there was nowhere else she could go.  Until her asylum came through, going in public would end with her in a Solesian prison (again) or back in an orb.  Or, if she was lucky, just dead.

She'd spent the first few days mostly trancing to try and let her body recover, which it had started towards.  Adaine or Jawbone had done their research on how to ween someone back onto foods after a long time of being fed through other means; she was still on broths, but pieces of toast were in her near future. (not slices, frail Aelwyn couldn't handle slices anytime soon; tiny little cubes)

Adaine had, indeed, spent a lot of that time asleep as a wolf in the same bed, resting near Aelwyn's feet like she was guarding over her.

It made Aelwyn sick to her stomach, and not for a reason that she thought she could bring herself to say out loud to anyone.

She was the abjurer, and she was the older sister, and if anyone was supposed to have the power to protect anyone else she should have had the ability to protect Adaine.

Instead, she'd gotten her killed, even if it was temporary.  And she hadn't even known about it, unless that part of her mind that was still insisting Adaine was haunting her was right.

Instead, she'd needed Adaine to pull her out of a prison of torture, to help her piece back her mind even if only partway, to provide her with this (prison) sanctuary full of people who didn't go out of their way to remind her just how hard and how often she'd fucked up.  They'd even probably understand if she admitted that she kind of desperately wanted another drink, or another dragon spice hit, either of which would almost certainly kill her given that her system currently was stuck climbing Mount Toast.

It wasn't even a physical need.  Whatever physical withdrawal she had gone through was mixed in with every other indignity the orb had inflicted on her, impossible to sort out of that combination of hell.

Today was the first day that Adaine had gone back to school, after skipping a couple of days for staying with Aelwyn; apparently, Jawbone also worked at the school, which..

Aelwyn knew she didn't have much room to judge.  And she certainly didn't have any room to judge about someone selling drugs, especially to high schoolers.  But it still felt strange to her that a drug dealer with a record would have a job apparently giving advice to teenagers.

In any case, it meant that her prison was almost empty.  If she wanted to escape, now would be her best chance; only the one cleric to deal with, with her mighty range of spells consisting entirely of six cantrips that she couldn't even switch without her spellbook.

The worst part wasn't that she knew Tracker could almost certainly stop her.  It was that even with her full spellbook, even if she was left alone, she still wouldn't leave.

Instead of dwelling on that, or trying to get even more rest, she shuffled down the hall.  Water was all-you-can-drink even in her current state, thankfully, though anything else was rationed carefully at best and even more likely just forbidden.

Tracker was already in the main room, instead of the one the clerics seemed to be mostly sharing.  Aelwyn couldn't help but ask.  "Are you missing school to watch over me, or..?"  Tracker was maybe older than Adaine by enough to have graduated, but she might also just have dropped out, and Aelwyn was curious which.

A shake of Tracker's head, as Aelwyn dropped into the chair across from her. (but she'd managed to make it down the hall without having to stop to catch her breath or leaning on anything for support so it was an improvement, she thought as she carefully held her glass of water with both hands to hide the shaking)  "I haven't gone to school in many years.  I was bitten.. a lot younger than you or Adaine.  I fell into being a cleric for Galicaea, but I'm mostly self-taught."

Aelwyn took a drink of the water to buy a moment, going for a small sip (polite elves don't gulp, dear, her mother whispered somewhere in the back of her head).  Kalina hadn't even bothered her, though surely that was coming at some point if she didn't just send someone with a silver knife, and still felt like her mind was in disarray.  Navigating a conversation when she really didn't want to provoke any of the people she lived with was much more awkward then when she'd known she could always deflect her parents' horrid attentions elsewhere.

Then, she admitted.  "I wouldn't have pictured Galicaea as your deity.  Services always were very... formal and stuffy, growing up.  I mean, if I was asked who I worshipped, she's who I would have said of course, I think she is for most elves of Fallinel."

Tracker hmmed.  "Adaine's never mentioned being a follower of Galicaea to me before, though?"  That it was a question was clear in the tone.

Aelwyn shrugged, shifting in the chair to bring her legs up next to her.  This was at least familiar territory, and...  maybe it was good to have proof that while these other people had clearly connected with Adaine on a level she had utterly failed to for fifteen years, they didn't necessarily know everything about her that Aelwyn did.  "Adaine is very..  steadfast in her ways, and has been since she was just learning to talk.  And very big on defiance.  She attended plenty of ceremonies, of course, but I can't imagine her admitting to worshipping any god, and definitely not the one our parents told her to."

That actually got a laugh out of Tracker, which Aelwyn would count as a win.  "I guess I could see that.  But I don't really recognize the worship of Galicaea you're describing when you say formal and stuffy.  Most of the followers I know are other werewolves, so maybe we're worshipping different aspects of her, but formal is maybe the last thing I would call it.  I don't know much about Fallinel's church."

Aelwyn nodded, weighing asking.  She hated asking questions she didn't already know the answers to, but there were much more important ones she wanted to work her way up to with Tracker.

Questions like... How do you and Adaine transform when you want, outside of the full moon?  What is it like, needing to build a future from nothing?  Can you teach me how to understand my sister, too?

...She wasn't ready to ask any of those.  Besides, best not to step on any toes if Tracker was going to be the closest thing to a permanent guard on her.

"Maybe tell me about how you worship, then?  I probably should try to know all aspects of my god, after all."  And every bit of knowledge was still precious; that, at least, she'd held onto from her Hudol training.  Maybe that even made it a sincere belief, she thought, as Tracker started to describe a god very different from what Aelwyn had grown up with.


Adaine's first day back at school after the weekend adventure had her more than a little nervous.  She'd stopped by Aguefort's office, trading the pocketwatch for her spellbook and jacket and a "We'll talk more later" and a finger over the mouth - not alarming at all.  

Ayda had returned to Leviathan after resting that first night, but she'd mentioned working on ways to visit more freely.  Hopefully the pirates hadn't noticed her absence this time quickly enough to loot the Compass Points again, Adaine thought, running her hand over her pendant, the sleeves of her jacket sliding down as she did enough to expose the bandaging on her wrists.  

She probably wasn't going to have severe scarring from the silver restraints the Court of Stars had used, not having put pressure against it or having been stuck in them for terribly long, but Kristen had insisted upon making certain that they were properly cared for anyway even though magical healing didn't really work on silver wounds.

Her morning classes were all Wizard-specific today, so at least she hadn't had the awkward experience of sitting next to Riz and needing to pretend everything was okay.  That would be reserved for the afternoon's Esoterica elective, which they were the only two Bad Kids attending and which they'd sat with each other for every lecture so far.

She hadn't spoken to him since their fight, and she didn't think it was really over.  Maybe he'd be willing to just drop it.  She certainly was.

That was a problem for two periods after lunch, though.  The problem for right now was getting through lunch, where all of them usually sat together.

They didn't always take the same seats, but there were certain combinations.  If she sat there, then Fig would be there, and then Fabian, and the Riz would end up next to her..  No, that was no good.  She worked through a few iterations in her head, finally settling on one that would have her between Fig and Gorgug, which would probably mean a lot of band talk but that was okay.

Riz was apparently willing to not force the issue for now, at least, and she managed to mostly stay withdrawn as she ate.  Gilear had - against all odds and frankly any sort of reasonable vetting of the position - been promoted to vice principal, but that hadn't actually made the meals any better.

Her crystal started buzzing, and she frowned, taking a look at the message.  Aelwyn didn't currently have a crystal, Tracker never messaged her, and everyone else who usually did was at school.

It was from the Elvish ambassador she'd spoken to at the start of term, with a subject of "Please feel free to surrender yourself at your convenience."

"Oh, fuck."  She swore, seeing the scans of documents attached, starting to flip through them and skimming the text, which was all in Elven.  Not the most upsetting official Fallinel documents she'd ever received, but that was a high bar.

"What is it?"  Riz asked, his tone carefully neutral, but she didn't really want to answer anyway.  He'd probably see this as proving his point.

This wouldn't be something she could hide for long, though.  Best to just pull the bandage off.

"The Court of Stars held my trial in absentia after I escaped.  They sent me the transcript and a request I surrender.  Added me 'abducting' Aelwyn to the list of charges, too."  Angwyn had testified against her, she noticed.  Arianwen seemed to be absent entirely, but she probably wouldn't have cared anyway.

She wasn't going to read this too closely for now.  Giving in to a full rage in the cafeteria could be a disaster.

Riz nodded, but it was Fabian who asked the question.  "..What was the result?  They'll probably try to enforce it, but I don't think Solace would sell you like that."

They'd sentenced her to death, of course, in quite flowery language about 'betraying the eternal trust of the elven people that were promised an Oracle from the gods themselves' and on and on.  Rather than read that out, she just passed the crystal over to Fabian.  

"Goodness, Adaine.  You expected this, right?"  He asked, glancing over that portion, then continuing to flip through from where she'd left off.  "..Oh.  Maybe not this part about a reward for your capture."

She hadn't seen that.  She gave him an uncertain look, not wanting to ask and also not wanting to not know.

"They're offering..  I'm pretty sure this means they're offering your body weight in gold for your corpse or double that for capturing you alive so that they can execute you."  Fabian said.  "I think that's still less than they were offering for papa at his peak, but that might just have been because he weighed more than you."

A growl escaped her throat, and she slapped her hands to her mouth in horror, just before feeling a wave of indifference washing over her, suppressing that anger for the moment.

She glanced over to Kristen, who had to be the source of that, and mumbled out a "Thank you," slumping in her seat slightly.  Calm Emotions didn't last long, but it would hopefully break the steam enough that she could avoid an unwilling transformation.  She managed to speak, even, her voice unsteady.

"I knew they were going to kill me quickly if they caught me again.  I didn't think they'd make any kind of public proclamation about a reward for me, thought they'd find it too embarrassing.  Going to go to Jawbone's office while this is still in effect, just in case."  She said, pushing to her feet and starting off that direction, leaving her crystal with Fabian.  Calm Emotions only lasted a minute, but that was plenty of time, his office wasn't far.

Just in case turned out to be a great idea.  She gnawed through one of Jawbone's chairs not five minutes later.


She missed the rest of lunch and her entire Practical Arcana class in Jawbone's office, between both the time spent destroying the furniture and the time spent telling him about the reward while she tried to Mend as much as she could. He was going to try to accelerate the house purchase even further so they could be somewhere at least a little more secure before people started making serious attempts at the reward.

She still managed to turn up to Esoterica only a couple of minutes late, Riz wordlessly handing her her crystal as she took her seat next to him near the back, a note wrapped around it in their code.

The lecturers for Esoterica rotated between different faculty and guests of the school, giving lectures that went deep into particular points of increasingly obscure knowledge.  Adaine had arrived late enough to miss the introduction to today's, but none of them ever seemed to mind messages being passed around so long as the students were subtle about it.

She was pretty certain this was Antiope Jones' sister, who was one of the Fighter instructors and who seemed to be giving a lecture on recognizing the origin nation of weapons from their construction.

The note was simple enough, after she glanced at it for a second and decoded it.  Are you ok?  She just gave a nod back, hesitating and then starting to write out her own reply on the page.

Written words were so much easier then speaking them, for her.  Hopefully, they'd be clearer, too.

I'm sorry for not telling you.  I'm not sorry for risking myself.  I'll always value my friends and chosen family's safety over mine, and that isn't going to change.  I hope you can forgive me that.  She underlined always repeatedly, knowing she was probably going to have to have a fuller talk about why she considered Aelwyn to fall into that category sometime, but that wasn't really what Riz had been angry at her about, she didn't think.

He read the note, and gave her a long stare that she couldn't read much into, long enough that she started to feel uncomfortable about it, before scratching out his response.

Fine.  But if you're not going to value yourself properly, you can't blame those friends and family for doing it for you.

She broke out into a smile at that, relief washing through her, and just nodded again in response before falling back into actually listening to the lecture.

Notes:

Riz is completely adjusting Adaine's files to be permanently Red for external threats, S++ for threat of doing something foolish and putting herself in harm's way after this.

As mentioned last chapter, I'm publishing a few snippets of cut material to tumblr! These will eventually get added to this series as a third fic, so don't worry you're missing out if you don't read there. Here is the first, which is Aelwyn just after her 'rescue' by the Court of Stars.

Chapter 35: Ward

Summary:

Aelwyn gets a spellbook, and has some trouble with it. Jawbone serves breakfast for dinner.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

It took almost a full week after she had been rescued for Aelwyn to work herself up to asking for another spellbook.

The thought of starting from scratch was a hideous weight, for one, but she was also afraid of hearing them say no, that she wasn't trusted with access to magic beyond those cantrips still in her head.  There was no chance she'd be getting her full book back from Fallinel, and the house had burned down with her backup notes presumably still in it.

She needed to start somewhere, if she wanted to ever be anything other than helpless and protected again.

As much as she hated to do it, she knew Adaine would be the one to ask.  None of the others could understand just how devastating the loss of years of work were - The spellbook she'd lost was the same one she'd had her entire training; even if she somehow had one of the backups, it still would have been largely incomplete.  She'd had two; one had been devoted solely to her experimental magic and spellcraft, the other solely to the art of abjuration, but both less than a quarter of what had been in her main book.

It was Friday after school, with Jawbone not home yet and Tracker and Kristen both out somewhere, before Adaine was to go watch her friends in the Bloodrush game, when Aelwyn finally managed to get the words out.  Being alone with the person she was going to ask definitely helped.  "Adaine."  She said, drawing her sister's attention immediately.

"I was.. wondering if you might have a spare blank spellbook around that I could have.  Or if there's some way you could get one for me, otherwise."  Aelwyn still could not leave the apartment, not until her asylum came through.

Adaine seemed to hesitate herself at that.  "..Are you ready to do that, then, you think?"  And Aelwyn could understand the hesitation, both for trusting herself and for doubting her mind, but it still hurt to see.  It hurt even more to have to swallow her pride enough to just nod in response.

"Then..  I think I know where there's one you can use.  Give me a minute."  Adaine said, pulling out her crystal.

"..Anything you're willing to let me copy would be helpful, too.  I.. at some point, I lost the spells I had prepared in my mind before my arrest."  Aelwyn admitted, though Adaine had surely figured that out.  Aelwyn couldn't look up from her feet at that admission, however.

Adaine, still pecking away at her crystal with rather more energy now, nodded and paused in the typing long enough to pull her spellbook from her bag.  "Some of it may not be useful to you, though, until you get used to transforming and can do it when you want to.  A lot of my spells lately are for wolf form."

Aelwyn, not wanting to interrupt what seemed to be a fierce discussion - quite possibly about her, with Jawbone - nodded and took her sister's spellbook.

She'd seen it hundreds of times, around as kids, but she'd never actually looked through it before.  After all, Adaine had always been behind her in everything but divination, and those had mostly been spells Aelwyn wasn't interested in pursuing.

Some things immediately caught her eye, however, as she skimmed through.  Adaine was unsurprisingly organized, but the curation and selection of spells.. it was far narrower on the simpler spells than what Aelwyn had had even at an age before entering the upper classes, as though she'd had limited researching resources.  Even more..  

Counterspell was in there.  Aelwyn didn't see a single other spell intended to protect the caster.

"..Has another wizard ever looked through your spellbook before?"  By which she mostly meant Mother, who had been the one to teach Aelwyn the most basic of shield spells back when she was ten.

"Ayda did, when we were working on the wolf form spells and finding..  Well, finding you."  Adaine said, cheerfully enough, tucking away the crystal.  "She's been a huge help. She'll charge if you want to copy anything from her, though, it's a whole thing with her so don't take offense at it."

Aelwyn, who had absolutely no prospects at all of paying for anything anytime soon, simply nodded, her mind wondering.  She knew their parents had been cruel to Adaine, but given that Adaine had always shown signs of being more of a practical caster than a researcher...

Even a researcher should have a Shield available.

"Well.  I think I can derive Shield and Mage Armor from first principles, at least.  Would you.. let me teach you them, in exchange for some of the help you're giving?"  It was better than offering nothing, or worse having to admit that she was now starting to join in Adaine's friends' concern about her not taking her own safety seriously enough.

Adaine paused, looking at her with a softening expression that made it clear that she wasn't exactly being fooled.  "I would like that, yes."

There was a knock at the apartment's main door before Aelwyn thought of any way to shift the conversation, and she looked back at the spellbook as Adaine went to get it.  There was a remarkable focus on utility - conjuring of food and water, the Tiny Hut spell, Sending and Detect Thoughts and all kinds of other things useful when not in a fight.  A lot of short range movement abilities, and several of those were in the book twice, half with incantations in a notation that Aelwyn wasn't familiar with.  

Those must be the wolf ones.  Interesting, but not yet useful to Aelwyn.  Clearly developed by Adaine herself, maybe with some assistance from Ayda Aguefort.  Exactly the sort of spell modification their parents had derided as beyond her, and not even on divination spells.

She'd have to be pretty picky about what to copy, since the ink needed to get it right was fairly expensive and she didn't want to have to beg too much, but at least there was something she could start from.

She couldn't help but overhear a discussion going on in the main room, now, with Adaine having left the door to their currently shared room open. 

"Are you really sure about giving her this?"  The goblin of the party, the hot one who had been most angry with Adaine for her rescue of Aelwyn was there and talking to Adaine.

"It's cruel not to, and anyway that one should be safe.  There's nothing in there that's particularly offensive, Riz, it's almost exclusively a defensive school."  Adaine replied.  "Thank you, though."

Adaine came back, Riz trailing behind her, and...  Aelwyn felt herself gasp as she saw what Adaine was holding out.

"Riz had searched the house for evidence before they all ended up in prison."  Adaine explained, though it was news to Aelwyn that Adaine's party as a whole had BEEN in prison at any point rather than just Adaine.  No matter.  She hesitated, then took her backup Abjuration book, squeezing it tightly to her chest in a hug of relief.  It was a tiny subset of the spells she had had, yes, but it was infinitely more spells then she'd had access to, and it was the ones she saw as her own even more than her other original works.

"Thank you."  She murmured, hugging the book to her chest as though she was a child with a stuffed animal before opening it.  She couldn't even remember the exact contents, wasn't certain she had all her latest work in here.  There was the formula for switching which cantrips she knew.  Shield and Mage Armor wouldn't need to be derived from first principles after all, and even some of her modified work WAS in here, like her twist on Counterspell.  It even had Symbol and Globe of Invulnerability, which were the most recent abjuration spells she could remember learning.

Offering over an attempt at a smile to her sister and the goblin, she sat down on the bed, starting to try and bring those spells into her mind - there were few enough that she shouldn't need to be picky, though it would take her quite a while to do, starting from nothing prepared in her head.

She didn't even notice when Riz and Adaine left to give her privacy for the process.


Jawbone O'Shaughnessey had never expected to be responsible for anyone but himself, for most of his life.  And barely that, in truth.  And then he'd had Tracker to care for, but even when she first moved in she took care of him as much as the other way around.

Kristen and especially Adaine had changed the picture, their group had changed his entire life, and that it had all grown out of something he still felt horrible about when thinking about it did not taint the joy that it brought him to see them at least somewhat flourishing.

Now, he was holding the paperwork for the fourth life he was going to be responsible for, the fourth person whose emotional well-being was his responsibility, though he was absolutely certain she wouldn't see it that way.  It didn't have to be for long, if she didn't want it, though.

Aelwyn's birthday was in the middle of November, less than two months away, and then she'd allegedly officially be an adult.  A great many things needed to be resolved by then, legally, or they became a lot worse for her.  He at least had the start of one of those here; a temporary asylum, lasting until a hearing shortly after her 18th birthday, with certain restrictions in place.

No leaving the country, and it would be revoked in the event of any criminal behavior, and she was to live with a legal guardian.  In this case, him.

He knocked on the door to the small bedroom the sisters were sharing, where Aelwyn had spent most of the last week, and there wasn't an immediate response.  She might have been trancing again, but it was only about six in the evening and she needed to stick to the regiment for weening her back onto solid foods, so he'd need to wake her regardless.

"Aelwyn?  I have your asylum paperwork."  He offered, knowing that that at least might draw her out.  She had to be eager to be able to get out of the apartment, after all; he wouldn't want to spend a full week inside of it.

The door slowly creaked open, and Aelwyn was standing there, with maybe the least convincing fake smile he'd seen her give.  She'd quite obviously been crying, and a hint of distress was underlying her entire body language.

Maybe she and Adaine had simply had an argument, but it seemed deeper than that.  He held out the paperwork, and tried his very best to exude trustworthiness as he said.  "It's okay if you don't want to talk about what's bothering you, but you should eat."  He'd hoped she might be excited by that - today was when she was moving up to oatmeal, from broth and toast - but whatever it was that had her upset seemed to overcome any good mood that might bring.

She took the paperwork, reading over it and frowning.  "..You'd be my legal guardian under this?"  It wasn't something they'd explicitly discussed, but he'd thought she'd realized that.

"Unless you have someone else you'd prefer who is available, yes.  It's only until you turn eighteen, though you're more than welcome to stay for as long as you'd like or need.  We should be moved into the house by then, too."  She would be required to have somewhere, given that she wouldn't be able to afford a place on her own, if she could even find a job.  But pointing that out, making her feel trapped... that was the last thing he wanted to do to her.  No kid was so prickly and fragile at the same time because of all the good things that had happened to them.

Aelwyn kept reading, even as he headed for the kitchen; she hesitantly followed, and when he glanced over his shoulder she was continuing to look at the document, though if he had to guess she was done reading it.

"I suppose..  you should know the kind of damaged goods you're getting yourself involved with."  She muttered, and he didn't think he was supposed to hear that but it broke his heart anyways.

"Hey.  I know you've done some things you regret, with Adaine and otherwise.  You're trying to do better now, right?  That's all you can do, is let yourself heal and grow the best you can."  Jawbone said, even as he started dinner for the two of them.  Oatmeal was something he could just eat alongside her.

"N.. no, well yes, but that's not what I mean."  Aelwyn said, her ears going flat, the distress only growing clearer as she took a seat in one of the chairs at the kitchen table, a hand reaching up to touch at the side of her head.  Maybe planning to run through no-longer-long hair; when Tracker and Kristen had cut it for her to get rid of the damaged and unrepairable hair, they'd had to go almost all the way down on their clippers.  "..I.  Adaine gave me one of my backup spellbooks, earlier."

Jawbone turned towards Aelwyn, giving her his full attention instead of just watching from glances and the corner of his eye.  "I see.  That's good, right?"  He trusted Adaine to handle wizardly business; if she'd thought that was a good choice, he would trust in his only official daughter, no matter that he had at least two others in his heart.

"...My.  My mind has, um, atrophied since I last had a spellbook.  Some effect of everything I did, maybe, or everything that was done to me.  The most powerful, most useful spells I had, they won't stick in my mind as they're supposed to.  As they used to.  I don't know if they ever will again.  I'll still be able to put up some protections on the house, and on here until we can move, but nothing like what I was hoping to do."  It was obvious this was a source of great pain to admit for her, and she was stammering as she spoke, but Jawbone felt at least some relief - some part of him had been worried she'd reached out to Fallinel, or her parents, or something along those lines, which would have both been bad for them on a selfish level and almost certainly dangerous for Aelwyn herself.

Then he realized something.  The source of distress was obvious, but.. she looked almost as anxious as Adaine did sometimes, right now, admitting it.  Replaying the conversation in his head, and what he knew about Adaine and Aelwyn's upbringing...

"Principal Aguefort will be taking care of the wards on the house, though you're welcome to add some if you'd like.  That was the plan even before you were rescued.  Aelwyn, you don't have to provide magic to be able to stay here, I want to be clear on that.  You deserve a chance to heal, as I said, whether it's your body or your mind or both.  Please don't think of yourself as anything like 'damaged goods'; you're just a kid."

She didn't reply, looking back at her paperwork, but he hoped the words got through to her regardless.  He sat across from her once the oatmeal was finished, taking a spoon for his own bowl.  "Did Adaine tell you any of my stories?  I know you know I used to deal, but that was far from the worst thing I did to survive..."

Hopefully, a few stories about his own bad old days could make her feel better about hers.

Notes:

With this very Aelwyn-centric chapter, we've crossed the 100k word mark, which is frankly unimaginable to me as the author. Thank you all so much for reading this far.

Aelwyn doesn't specify in the text, but specifically she can no longer memorize spells higher than 5th level; she is, for the moment, a 10th level Abjuration wizard. Which is still pretty good! But there have been some ill effects from everything she's been through.

We're likely to be focused on Aelwyn's short term recovery for much of the next few chapters, as well, so hopefully people will enjoy that!

Chapter 36: Lesson

Summary:

Adaine keeps a painful promise. Aelwyn and Adaine have a rematch.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Adaine hissed in pain while one of her best friends in the world watched on and cheered.

"Halfway there, Adaine!"  Fig called out.  Not that Adaine didn't appreciate it, but maybe she would have minded the yelling less if she weren't worried about the technician Tracker had recommended messing up because of an over-enthused tiefling.

 "..You okay there?  I've done elves, and I've done other werewolves, and those are usually bad enough, but you're the first elf werewolf I've run into wanting her ears pierced."  The technician said, her voice pitched low to not carry over to Fig.

"Wanting is kind of strong.  It's fine, I've had worse, just.. sometimes bigger pains are easier to deal with than small ones."  She admitted.  "Best to go ahead and get the other done now."

She hissed again once the partly silvered needle drove in, and again once the stud was put into place.  They were each a very small percentage of silver, just enough to stave off the healing factor, but she'd still been warned that she needed to give it at least a month to become permanent before taking the studs out for more than a few minutes or she'd probably have to do this again.

She'd asked about the full moon, only to be told 'don't worry about it', which mostly meant that she now knew exactly what she'd be worried about in the leadup to the full moon.

On the other hand, it would be Aelwyn's first full moon not in a torture orb, so maybe she had multiple things she should be worrying about.

She stayed in the chair for a few minutes more while the technician checked to make certain the silver wasn't either too strong or too weak for what it needed to do, and eventually took the hand up, offering Fig a wan smile as she did, her ears still tingling slightly but no longer screaming at her in pain.

"Your turn."  Not that she expected Fig to have as much trouble, but fair was fair.


It was really good to get time to just hang out with Fig again, even if it had included some at least slightly unnecessary pain.

"It'll make it easy to pick out a Solstice present for you this year, at least!  Besides just not making you pass out this year."  Fig offered, as they sat outside Basrar's place for ice cream afterwards at Adaine's insistence.  "Assuming Gorgug's parents even host a party again.  We could find somewhere to do one if they don't want to, maybe."

Adaine shrugged.  "I still haven't seen the place we're moving into soon, but it's supposed to be pretty big?  Last I heard we were supposed to be able to move in about a week after the next full moon, anyway."

Fig nodded.  "I'm looking forward to seeing it!  Maybe my mom and I will move in soon, too."  She added, with an enthusiastic wink.  To Adaine's knowledge, Jawbone and Sandra Lynn had been getting along pretty well, but it might be awkward given four werewolves already sharing the space.

"I'm just relieved we can get the place.  It's really hard for werewolves to get loans, and for people with criminal records to get loans, and we're at four out of five on the former and a solid five out of five on the latter."  Adaine admitted with a shrug.  "Even if Tracker's are all really minor, and mine and Kristen's don't have any actual convictions in this country.  Neither does Aelwyn's, for that matter, though I think starting a war might count as extra bad."

Fig finished a spoonful of her ice cream, looking amused.  "Other than Jawbone, you're all minors, they're probably not considering your records anyway, right?  Otherwise they probably would be worried about the house getting destroyed if someone tries for your bounty."  Fig's record (and most of the Bad Kids') was the same as Kristen's, though a tiefling probably had it even worse than a werewolf for being judged.

"I mean, I think Principal Aguefort might be mind-controlling some people to make it go through anyway?  Especially since I think Kristen and I - and you, and the rest of the party, for that matter - are all still technically fugitives?  It's better not to ask too many questions sometimes."  At least when he was working towards the same goal that they were.  Though asking questions might be why she got dumped in Leviathan for the summer.  She brushed a hand against her ear, feeling at the stud, the silver in it just enough to bring a slight tingling sensation to her fingers but too diluted to cause her any pain beyond that.

Fig hummed, and they ate at their respective ice creams quietly until Fig perked up.  "Oh, look who it is."

Adaine glanced backwards to where Fig was pointing; Gorgug and Zelda were making their way across the street, and Gorgug had already noticed them, so Adaine joined Fig in waving them over.  She had spent very little time around Zelda, having been already in jail (or, technically, arrested and in a coma in the hospital) when she and Gorgug had had their first date and then missing most of the summer, but the two of them seemed very sweet together.

Even if Zelda was shyer than Adaine herself could remember ever being, a fairly high bar.

"Hi Fig, hi Adaine."  She mumbled from behind Gorgug, even as Fig insisted the two of them join their table instead of going elsewhere.  That was a fight their barbarian had no chance with; soon enough, the four of them were crowded around the table, with Zelda and Gorgug splitting a sundae.

It left Adaine feeling a little awkward, really, like she was intruding on their date even though she'd been there first.  Fig certainly seemed unbothered, though, and was enough to drive a conversation on her own, drawing Gorgug and Zelda both out by talking about something to do with the band and upcoming gigs.

Adaine zoned out a little, she had to admit, up until everyone was looking her way.  "..Sorry, what was that?"

Gorgug didn't seem too upset, at least, by her lack of attention.  "Oh, I was just wondering if it was safe for you to be out here, with Fallinel and everything."

Adaine touched a hand to her pendant, now even more of a lifeline.  "Oh, yeah.  Ayda and Principal Aguefort helped me there; I've got Nondetection now as well."  Against everything but the other effects of the pendant, Adaine suspected, but she wouldn't have kept wearing it if she didn't want Ayda to have an alarm if she were to be hurt.  "We're looking into options for Aelwyn that won't require casting it constantly or her remaining places with divination protections.  They aren't familiar enough with Jawbone, Tracker, or Kristen to use them for scrying."  Nondetection itself was well within Aelwyn or Adaine's abilities, but was quite pricy in material components if used to get by on a day to day basis.

Zelda spoke up at that.  "For.. Aelwyn?"  She asked, sounding a little confused.

Adaine was happy enough to explain, anyway.  "My sister.  I pulled her out of a Fallinel.. prison."  Best not to go into the details too much.  Zelda probably wouldn't want to hear about torture on a date, and it wasn't really fair to Aelwyn to spread that around to people who were borderline strangers.

"Oh."  Zelda said, returning her attention to her ice cream.

It didn't seem to really get any less awkward from there, and after finishing her ice cream, Adaine made her excuses and headed for home.


To Adaine's absolute shock, in terms of clearly communicating a spell and teaching its limitations, uses, and quirks, Aelwyn turned out to be the second-best teacher she'd ever had, behind only Ayda.  Certainly, better than their parents, or any of the evocation-heavy Aguefort instructors who had long been bewildered by her follow-up questions, her focus on Divination and other more subtle magics, and that she every once in a while wanted to be able to also punch someone in the face.

This was in spite of the way that Aelwyn would sometimes lose her thread of thought midsentence now, or that two things would clearly fail to connect.  Maybe it was even because of it; she showed a sort of patience she never had before.

"We should get you to test this under practical but not dangerous circumstances.  Maybe one of your friends who likes hitting things could try?"  Aelwyn suggested with a frown, from where she was sitting at the kitchen table.  There wasn't quite enough room at the small desk in their shared room for both of them to set up with their spellbooks.

Adaine nodded to that suggestion, knowing full well that Fabian had been trying to get her to practice with the sword ever since she'd revealed she at least had some basic knowledge of it.  "..I think I know who will.  Will you come?"  Aelwyn's asylum had come through, at least temporarily, but she still wasn't venturing out of the apartment much, and even Adaine was starting to think she could really use some sun.

Aelwyn hesitated, before nodding.  "I should keep an eye on your technique, though you seem to have it down here at least."

It was a fairly basic spell, but Adaine wasn't going to say that because she didn't really want another set of questions about why she hadn't had a basic protection spell in her book to begin with.  Explaining that she'd had to focus on things like Tiny Hut so that she wouldn't freeze while she was living outside were true, and that at least hadn't really been Aelwyn's fault, but it would just make both of them feel miserable.

She got a response from Fabian on the crystal with a time to meet at Seacaster Manor, and stood up.  "Well.  Time for me to teach you a lesson, too."  Adaine said, cheerfully.  "Because I know full well you've never learned how to ride the bus."


Aelwyn had, in fact, not done super well with the bus, Adaine had to admit to herself as they walked the remaining distance to Seacaster Manor from the nearest bus stop.  It hadn't even been that crowded; Adaine thought it might have something to do with being in a contained space after the orb.  

That was something for Aelwyn to choose to talk about, with her, or with Jawbone, or once they had her to a not-Jawbone therapist with them.  Adaine just led the way to the manor.  "..I don't really know why he's so insistent on me sparring, admittedly.  Even as a way to prepare against the Court of Stars, it seems a bit weak."

Though stabbing Angwyn might not be counterspellable.  At least that was something.

Aelwyn did speak up at that.  "...He probably just doesn't know anything else he can do to protect you."

A glance over, and..  Adaine did not think Aelwyn was truly talking about Fabian, then.  She offered a smile, and said.  "Well.  Anything can help, yes."

Fabian, to Adaine's slight surprise, had practice swords ready for both herself and Aelwyn once they arrived, looking like he'd just run from Bastion City.  "Mother was..  intense, today.  I thought I might watch your forms better if I'm not struggling to stand myself."  She didn't entirely believe this, shooting him a look, before turning to Aelwyn who was holding the blunted shortsword with some bemusement.

They both remembered that long-ago final spar between them, Adaine knew.

"It's probably good for us to get the exercise."  Adaine offered out as an olive branch, though Aelwyn seemed skeptical still.  Adaine glanced over, then whispered, knowing Aelwyn would likely be able to hear with the enhanced hearing their werewolf sides still brought even as elves, but that Fabian wouldn't be able to.  "We can build a new memory, Aelwyn."

That seemed to work, the tension flowing out of Aelwyn a little bit.  "Right.  Well, don't forget why we're here, use a Shield if I'm about to hit you."

Both of their techniques had thick layers of rust on them, it was obvious; Adaine hadn't actually used a sword since her lessons had stopped at eleven, and it had been three years longer than that for Aelwyn.  Fabian called instructions here and there, but both of them mostly just missed, being focused more on evading attacks than trying to actually hit each other.

Adaine was the first to sneak a hit past other defenses, and Aelwyn's free hand flashed up, a Shield popping into existence around her and deflecting the blow.

"That seems a little like cheating to me!"  Fabian called from the sidelines, but Adaine stuck her tongue out at her friend.

"It's why we're even here to begin with."  She explained.

Aelwyn, who evidently hadn't lost ALL of her fucking sneaky nature, used that distraction to smack her sword into Adaine's side.  It wasn't actually all that painful - it hurt far, far less than getting her ears pierced had, for instance - but the force drew her attention back to her sister.

"...What are they teaching you at that school, turning your back on an opponent?"  Aelwyn said, mournfully, though the way her eyes were flickering she was clearly worried she'd gone too far.  Adaine just lifted her own sword back up to strike back.

Further back and forth, and this remained something Adaine was better at than Aelwyn, forcing another two uses of Shield from her sister but not landing a hit cleanly.  Finally, she overextended, and Aelwyn's sword snuck under her defenses, and her own free hand interposed itself as a shield of her magic appeared and held back the sword from reaching her.

Aelwyn smiled, delighted, whether at her own success or Adaine's.  "..There we go. Maybe that's enough, for now?"  And while Adaine was still feeling okay, Aelwyn was looking a little flushed, clearly having pushed herself to get through the spar to that point.  Adaine nodded, and Fabian came over to point out all the more subtle things they'd been doing wrong.

He also insisted that they keep the practice swords, and that they might be useful at least to scare people off from attacking them, though he was mostly looking at Aelwyn when he said that.  Still, Adaine chalked up the session as a success, even though they ended up just walking the entire way home instead of getting back on the bus.

Notes:

These sorts of chapters - where not that much plotwise happens but there's nice setup and some fun interactions between characters - are actually among my favorites to write.

This also kind of completes the mini-arc of Aelwyn and Adaine's weapons training - Adaine mentioned it waaaay back when as to why she was okay with a bow, we got a flashback from Aelwyn's PoV while she was in the orb, we got a more complete flashback with Adaine's commentary from her memory of it in the Mind chapter, and now we see them doing a (mostly) nicer version of it as their current selves, instead of Aelwyn giving Adaine a concussion by cheating.

There was a question in comments about everyone's current levels, so a brief rundown:

Riz, Kristen, Fig, Gorgug, and Fabian are all the same level 8 they'd canonically be at at this time, but are very close to level 9 and will probably be getting there soon.

Adaine is level 9, having gotten a lot of experience both from Ayda's lessons and more importantly from running missions much of the summer stealing books back from pirates. In day to day, she currently mostly uses her level 5 slot for upcasting, but she does have Legend Lore. She gained another decent chunk for her successful Rescue Aelwyn plan but is still quite a ways away from 10.

Aelwyn is currently Abjuration Wizard 10 with 13 hit dice worth of XP. Her canonical self is a little easier to pin down than Ayda is, and is almost certainly exactly level 13 - she gets treated as a PC in terms of class features (see the various scenes featuring her ward), uses Teleport which makes her a minimum of 13, but definitely does not appear to have the incredibly good Spell Resistance feature Abjuration gets at level 14 that gives you advantages on saves against spells and resistance to damage from them. Resisting damage from a lightning bolt to the chest might have been good, Aelwyn, should have grinded that out.

Ayda is a Divination Wizard 13, though canonically she could easily be 13 or 14 - the divination level 14 ability "just" gives a third portent roll.

Chapter 37: Walk

Summary:

Aelwyn sees an old friend. Another, angrier but less scary old friend sees Aelwyn.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

It was a mere three days before the full moon, the first time that Aelwyn left the apartment without anyone else accompanying her.  Weeks after her rescue, almost two weeks after her asylum coming through, and when she'd asked Jawbone (in a voice trying to hide her nervousness about even asking) if it was okay for her to walk down to the grocery store without waiting for Adaine or Tracker to get home, he'd chuckled like she hadn't needed to ask and handed her money and a request to pick up some eggs while she was there.  

The money had been far more than was needed for some eggs.  When she'd tried to point that out, he'd suggested she get something for herself, too, now that she'd worked past oatmeal and applesauce all the way up to actual solid foods. She'd just been wanting to try going, and it seemed like somewhere well lit and safe.

Her new prison might have only ever been one because she hadn't asked, at least since the asylum came through.

She'd strapped on the practice sword that Fabian had given her (it might be enough to scare someone off from harassing her, after all), tugged on some of the warmer clothing they'd gotten her from Adaine's jacket that hadn't already been packed away in preparation for their move the next week, tried to make certain her still far, far too short hair wasn't doing anything too terrible (at the current length, it definitely was) and went.  Nobody stopped her.  No police came rolling up as soon as she hit the door, or elvish hit squads plotting for her destruction.  She ran a finger along the Ring of Nondetection she'd finally been given, cutting out the need to burn through diamond dust every time she wanted to go anywhere with Tracker or Adaine before now.

The closest grocery store to the apartment building was almost three-quarters of a mile away, and normally they'd take a bus.  Aelwyn just started walking, the crisp afternoon air on her skin, the near-full moon still several hours from rising and days from making her lose herself for a while even more than she already was.  A few blocks away, and the streets were all but empty.  Jawbone - and Adaine, and her, she guessed - were living in a very different part of town then where she'd spent most of her childhood.

Though she supposed that place was probably even more of a burned out husk of a building than some of the maybe-businesses with boarded up windows around here, now.  Adaine had claimed the wards against werewolves were still active as of a few months ago, so Aelwyn probably wouldn't be able to go see herself.

She wasn't certain what she would do, if she could.  Cry over the ashes?  Spit on them?  Maybe both.

"Hey, kid," came a familiar voice directly in her ear, Aelwyn almost tripping over her own feet at it.  She'd been looking around every corner for weeks now, and...

She managed to recover from the stumble, turning back the way she'd come from, and Kalina was there.

"Come on, you know the drill.  Just keep walking.  You can't look like anything weird is happening."  Kalina advised, and Aelwyn turned back, but she was no longer paying any attention where she was going.

"...Are you here to tell me you're having me killed, finally?"  She asked, after a brief period of silence while she walked.

"Do you really think I would give you a warning about that, kid?  You know better than that."  The Shadowcat replied, the tension building in Aelwyn even as cars went past and they moved out of the rougher areas immediately around the Strongtower Luxury Apartments.  She was pretty certain she'd gone the wrong way at an intersection, but groceries were not exactly her priority right this moment.

It was several more minutes before she worked up the nerve to reply, Kalina clearly happy to let her stew.

"What do you want from me, then?"  She finally asked.  She just had to work up the nerve to say no, to commit to her own death after all.  The last few weeks had been.. a pleasant reprieve, even with her mind still unreliable at best, even with the distrust of those around her other than Adaine and maybe Jawbone.

"Got a couple choices for you, actually.  But I think I already know the one you're going to make.  Your mother is working for me, now, on a critical mission that she could most definitely use the help of another powerful wizard on.  I'm just not sure you're that, anymore.  Can you even Teleport, Aelwyn?"

Aelwyn, who was pretty certain Kalina had seen the excruciating conversation between herself and Jawbone and already knew the answer to this, just shook her head.  "..It won't stick in my mind, anymore.  Maybe if you'd kept the Court of Stars from doing quite so much to me?"  She managed, one hand rubbing at the scars around her other wrist, the place where she thought the skin would never again be the same.  Elves could live a long, long time, but severe silver scars were supposed to be forever.

Kalina gave a chuckle that was so obviously forced for politeness' sake that it wrapped back around to rude.  "I only have a very limited influence over the Court of Stars.  I used far too much of it just to keep them from executing you.  They considered it, when it turned out the prodigious wizard they'd set out to save was a werewolf, you know?  The vote was close enough that my influence could keep you alive, for your mother's sake if nothing else."

Aelwyn wasn't certain if that was supposed to have been a mercy, given what the Court of Stars had been doing.  The part of her that still felt like she was in the orb, that still thought she might stop having this delusion about Adaine saving her and having another chance and any of that and just smash face-first into the bottom of the orb after another rotation any second now...

Maybe Kalina wasn't happy enough with her to just kill her.

Aelwyn really should have paid more attention to where they were going; she could Send in the worst case, but she didn't have a crystal yet and she only had so many spell slots available.  Asking for help finding her way that way would look really bad, too.

"Still.  Doesn't sound like you're suited for helping your mother, for now, but you could try to fix whatever is wrong with your mind and go do that.  Family is important, right?"

Aelwyn licked at her lips, not quite able to bring herself to say aloud 'No' to the thought of voluntarily going anywhere near either of her parents right now, but.  "...You said I had a choice?"

"Oh, sure.  Not up for that one, I get it.  Luckily for you, the other one is something I think you've already worked yourself up to do in that mess you're currently calling your mind, Aelwyn."  Kalina stepped forward, starting to lead their walk, and Aelwyn followed over one of the bridges across the river Marigold.

"See, I mean it when I say my influence in the Fallinel government is more limited than I would like.  Little nudges, here and there, a few spies.  Nowhere near what it could be.  You know what could change that, could make things a lot better for me and for the people who work for me, like.. I don't know, you?  We could even call this a form of retirement for you, other than a few small favors from time to time."  Kalina added, a carrot with an enormous string attached.

Besides, Aelwyn wasn't a moron.  It was obvious, what she wanted.  "...You want Adaine to end up taking the role as the Elven Oracle in Fallinel, obviously.  They did convict her of treason and order her execution, you realize?"

"That's right.  Nothing that can't be fixed with a little time and the right nudges, and I'm very patient.  All I need from you is what you seem to want yourself.  Protect her, keep her safe from any of the workings of the Court of Stars that manage to spring loose, and most of all don't let her put herself into a position where I'm forced to pick between your mother's mission and keeping the potential of a friendly Oracle alive.  Keep her here, or in Leviathan, or in other countries that don't matter.  Not Fallinel, not Sylvaire, not doing anything at all about the Shadowcat or the Nightmare King or any of that.  And then I don't have to have you or her killed, or any of those other fools you're staying with.  Easy, right, kid?"  Kalina asked, and Aelwyn tried not to visibly tremble.

Not that she was really hiding it from Kalina, of course.

They had, during all of this, somehow wondered into an area that Aelwyn did vaguely recognize as being near Adaine's school, with quite a few more people around.  She stopped, no longer certain how to get back, and glanced up at where the sun was starting to set.

She'd been walking and having this talk for almost two hours, if she had to judge it.  Had she lost time, or had the gaps in the conversation with Kalina been that long?

"...Also, say anything to her about our little deal and it's off.  Enjoy your vacation, otherwise, Aelwyn.  I'll talk to you later."

Kalina vanished, which was never to say that she was gone.  Aelwyn let herself put her hands onto her knees regardless, feeling like she was going to wretch, taking in big, gasping breaths of air, a tightness in her chest letting loose now that the Shadowcat wasn't so obviously looming.

Some footsteps; some of the people approaching, maybe because of Aelwyn's own obviously poor condition.  She must look a fright.  She'd stand up straight and greet them in just a moment...

"You FUCKING bitch!" reached her ears just a moment before Ostentatia Wallace's hammer smashed into Aelwyn's orbital bone just above her eye.


Aelwyn, for all that she'd been expecting to be attacked on stepping outside, had not expected it right then, she admitted to herself as she started to push herself up off the ground.  Started, because Ostentatia was there, grabbing her by the front of her shirt and lifting her partway up, awkwardly.

"Zelda told me you were back in town, but I didn't think you'd actually have the nerve to show your face here."  Ostentatia said, and that was enough of being this helpless; there was a sharp pain coming from around her eye that told her she almost certainly had something broken, though it would probably heal quickly enough since no silver was involved.  Aelwyn Misty Stepped a few feet away, turning towards Ostentatia wearily and lifting her hands up.

"I wasn't looking for you or anything, Ostentatia."  She tried, because she really wasn't sure where she was but maybe she'd wondered a bit too close to the Adventuring Academy or Spelljammer Lane.  Blood was running down into her eyes, and maybe Ostentatia really was planning to try to kill her.  

That was probably fair, if anyone besides Adaine was going to go for it, and Adaine had made clear that she was going to pass.

"Shut up and draw that sword, if you're not too much of a fucking coward."  Ostentatia said, hammer at her side, jewelry hanging off her, and..  Just no.  Aelwyn could probably get away, could maybe land a banishment spell on Ostentatia and then run if nothing else...  But she was so tired, no matter how much rest she had, and so she held her hands together in front of her, forcing herself despite her instincts to not put up any shields or the like, her sight a little hazy from the blood and maybe from a concussion from that hammer hit.

"I'm not going to fight you." Aelwyn made the declaration as calmly as she could manage, "And unless you're actually going to kill me you aren't going to do anything worse to me than what's already happened.  Probably not even then."  She added, rubbing at the scars on her wrist.  "I won't insult you by apologizing, but it was never anything personal, and I'm not coming after you or anything."

Ostentatia growled, and reached back out to snatch at her collar, but she wasn't leading with the hammer at least so maybe Aelwyn wasn't really about to die in the street.  "You ever come near Zelda or any of my sisters again, I won't be so nice next time."  And she threw Aelwyn down to the sidewalk, where she lay crumpled for a moment before just sitting up.

"..I don't know who Zelda is."  She admitted, finally, because she didn't really want to get murdered later for not realizing she was antagonizing Ostentatia.

The dwarf looked down at her, eyes flickering to her wrists.  "Better find out, or maybe just never hurt anybody and then you don't have to fucking worry about it.  Go get some fuckin' therapy, bitch."  That seemed like it was supposed to be an insult, except it was spoken in a voice that almost seemed to have genuine concern, and then Ostentatia left.


Aelwyn eventually broke down and forced herself to take the bus back to somewhere near the apartments when she realized the first direction she'd picked after Ostentatia had taken her even further from home, Sending to Jawbone before she did.  "I'm okay, just got a little lost.  Will be back before too much longer, I'm sorry."  She didn't exactly want to apologize, it wasn't really her fault... but she didn't want to upset him more than being late already would, and she didn't want to lie too much either.  It wasn't like she could hide that something had happened.

Jawbone's response came back. "Don't worry about it, I know it's a new neighborhood for you.  Be careful getting home, and let us know if we should meet you somewhere."

She at least got the eggs before heading home, the flow of blood having stopped.  She didn't dare look at herself in the mirror, but she had to still look better than she had when first arriving back in Elmville.

The clerk at the store's look of horror at her suggested it wasn't great, though.

It had been at least four hours since she'd left the apartment by the time she made it back there, and the others were all home by the time she got back, though only Jawbone and Adaine were in the living room slash kitchen area, both of them looking up at her as she came in.

Adaine bounced to her feet from out of the chair she seemed to prefer, eyes wide.  "What happened to you?  Kristen!"

After her less favorite of the two clerics had mended her wounds, and the eggs had been given to Jawbone (who had refused the remaining change, reminding her he'd given it to her to pick something out for herself.) and Aelwyn had been given a warm cup of tea and her nerves had admittedly settled down a little bit, she had to give some sort of story.

And it certainly wasn't going to be the Kalina parts, not when telling that would probably get all of them killed.

"I, ah.  I ran into an old friend who was very upset about something I had done to her."  Aelwyn admitted, knowing that would be enough for them to know who she was talking about but not wanting to make a bigger thing of it.  "I don't think she'll do it again, probably.  Unless I go anywhere near her, at least.  Or near someone named Zelda.  Should I know who Zelda is?"  That last question was unfortunately quite sincere, and directed at Adaine; Aelwyn knew there were still gaps in her mind.

Adaine winced.  "She's Gorgug's girlfriend.  The last girl who was kidnapped, after you were arrested, but Ostentatia probably doesn't know about the timing of any of that.  It was Ostentatia, right?"

Aelwyn nodded, thinking it over.  "..I don't think she'll do it again.  Don't make a thing of it?"  She requested of the group, but especially of Adaine who went to the same school and unlike Kristen would probably confront Ostentatia about it.  "I probably deserved it, and she did stop on her own."

They all eventually agreed, even Adaine, and Aelwyn ended up falling into a trance on the couch partway through dinner, half-aware as Jawbone carried her back to the bedroom she shared with Adaine.

Notes:

I mean, of course Kalina isn't just going to leave Aelwyn alone entirely! But she IS interested, for now, in having Adaine live. Probably good for Adaine's sake, in the immediate term.

Hopefully I got Ostentatia's voice right; it's a little bit since I saw the Seven. She firmly deserves the chance to hit Aelwyn one good strike, even if Aelwyn's trying to choose peace.

Chapter 38: Moon

Summary:

Aelwyn has her first moon with any freedom. Jawbone makes an offer.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Preparing for the last of many, many full moons in this apartment was one of the most hectic.  None of them, including Aelwyn, were certain how Aelwyn would do with her first moon not in silver restraints and a prison orb, and even Adaine was still something of a crapshoot on property damage, so they'd moved as many of the boxes packed for moving to Kristen's miniscule room as would fit in hopes that they'd have at least some glasses still intact by the time they moved next week.

Jawbone had made what he hoped would be a soothing cup of tea for Aelwyn, with just over an hour to go until the moon hit.  Adaine was hanging out with (and probably helping cuff) Tracker; the smell of anise in the air meant she was also probably taking Tracker's standing offer of minor amounts of drugs to help with the full moon, too.

It would be helpful if Adaine had one of her better moons.  If Jawbone's theory on people who repressed themselves having it the worst was true, he was pretty certain Aelwyn was a powder keg tonight.  She hadn't transformed even once in the just over three weeks she'd been in the apartment.

To some degree, he'd been expecting Aelwyn to react to the approaching moon in the same way that Adaine did, exuding nervous energy and eventually starting to shut down leading into it.  At some point around now, Adaine would slip into barely being willing - or maybe even able - to say a single word, something he and Tracker had adjusted to pretty quickly.  Keeping her company went a long way, and they had learned that trying to leave her alone during the moon was a mistake if there was any other choice.

That..  did not seem to be how it was going for Aelwyn, who grabbed the cup of tea as soon as he sat it before her like it was a lifeline.  Her eyes were wide, and wild, as she looked up at him.  "Please, I'll be good, I can not be a werewolf or anything you need, just don't put me back in there."

Whoever she was looking at, it probably wasn't him.

"Aelwyn.  It's okay.  Nobody's going to put you back anywhere, just drink your tea, okay?"

She nodded in response to that.  "Right.  Right, whatever you want."  At least she managed to drink it without spilling it on herself.

Adaine walked back down the hall, an ashtray in one hand and the joint he had smelled in the other, leaving Tracker's door open.  As usual for the full moon, she'd dressed in very loose clothing she didn't mind destroying, a blouse and skirt this time.  He spared her a glance, amused, before looking back at Aelwyn.  Who was staring at Adaine as though she'd never seen her before.

"Adaine!"  She said, in a whisper, glancing around as though someone might leap from the shadows of the room and attack.  "Have you lost your mind?  They're going to kill you if they see you with drugs.  And with ear piercings!  And a tattoo!  They might kill me just for not stopping you!"

Adaine paused at that, so the words must have at least gotten through to her, as she took another drag off the joint.  She tilted her head a moment, considering her sister, then hesitantly offered out the joint.

He intervened at that point.  "...Let's let her get through one moon sober before trying that, it can be unpredictable in its effects."  He suggested to Adaine, who shrugged and snuffed it out in the tray, apparently done with it for now.  She sat down on the couch next to Aelwyn and rested her head against her sister, who glanced around one more time.  

"We can.. maybe we can cover it up for a while."  Aelwyn said, tugging a blanket off the back of the couch and tossing it over Adaine, an approach she could not possibly have expected to work in any mental state, though at least Adaine seemed unbothered judging by her not immediately trying to dig herself out from under it.

There were still like fifty-five minutes to go until moonrise; if Aelwyn was this high-strung now, he needed to find a way to keep her calm at least to get to the full moon.  And while his stories were usually good for that, he thought she might benefit from one connecting her back down to her current reality more.

"..Adaine, can I tell her about how I adopted you?  I don't want to tell this story if you wouldn't want me to."  Jawbone decided, knowing there were parts of it Adaine found embarrassing, though they were at their core the same as the parts of her behavior that sometimes upset her friends.  

Adaine pushed her head up and out from under the blanket at that, looking at him questioningly for a moment.  Whatever she saw in his expression, she gave a thumbs up a moment later.  "And I assume you don't know it, Aelwyn?"

"I..  No. "  Aelwyn said, hesitantly.  "At least, I don't think so."  But the fear was lightened a little bit, in her voice.  Maybe that was getting through to her, that Adaine WAS safe and they were out of the control of their biological parents, at least outside of their own heads.

"Well.  She'd stayed with me for her first full moon already at this point, so she knew me and I had offered a place to stay longer if she needed, but she was hiding from everybody that she was actually homeless by then."  Jawbone said, and Adaine pulled the blanket back over her head where she was resting against Aelwyn.  She might not even listen to his story, exactly, he knew; she'd said before that during the periods of being overloaded, it was just the sound of familiar voices that she found soothing, not what they were saying in particular.

Aelwyn, meanwhile, was looking at the lump next to her that was Adaine with a frown back on her face, before turning back to Jawbone.  "...She didn't tell anybody?"  That question seemed to be at least a little more.. attached to current reality than some of what she'd been talking through.

"She didn't.  She's not very good about asking for help, though she's gotten a little better since then."  Jawbone said, looking at Aelwyn and trying to think of the best way to make this clear.  Maybe towards the end of the story.  "In any case, she did eventually reach out for help, at a point where she'd gotten into some small trouble with the law; it's not very kind to those without shelters generally, and to kids in particular, and I ended up becoming her legal guardian at that point.  This would have been just over a year ago, now."  He clarified, gesturing at the window where the sun was going down.

Aelwyn frowned, considering that.  "..Seems a little thin, if you just knew her a little bit?"

"Well.  That was just her legal guardian, the same way I am with you now.  I adopted her a few months later.  After..  after you and her were in that jail cell, she wound up pretty hurt."  He said, as gently as he could.  "And I had some trouble getting in to see her, and the police were giving her and her party a lot of trouble in turn.  They all ended up in jail till the day of prom.  But they were making threats to deport Adaine in particular, even though she was in the hospital at the time of some of the things they wanted to charge them all with."

Aelwyn placed a hand on top of her lump of a sister, glancing around.  "...Probably Kalvaxus trying to interfere."  She decided, though she still looked troubled at the news.

"Right, maybe.  You'd know about that better than I would.  But the important part was..  I know a guy who could push some paperwork through.  So we filed for adoption because of it being practical, because getting Adaine the shield of being a citizen of Solace mattered, in addition to it being something that I'm thrilled to have gotten to do."

And maybe Adaine had kept her awareness a little later than he'd thought, this month, because she sat up sharply at that, her head poking back out from under the blanket, hair wild and eyes wide.  Aelwyn glanced over at her, as though reassuring herself that her sister was there and unhurt.

"I'm glad you were there for her, at least."  Aelwyn said, eventually, but the guilt in her voice was obvious.

Jawbone nodded, and said seriously.  "I am, too, because every kid deserves for there to be an adult in their corner.  But, Aelwyn...  That includes you."

Aelwyn looked almost panicked at that, as she looked away from Adaine and over towards him.  "I..  I had that for a long time, until I blew it.  You don't have to worry about me, I'm an adult soon enough.."

"Next month, right?  Almost exactly a month, in fact."  Jawbone said, sipping at his own coffee.  They were down to about forty-five minutes, and he hadn't really been planning to bring this up until after the full moon, but...

"Right.  I'll try to find a job, or something, by then.  So that I can help out, and not be a burden or anything..."  Aelwyn said, desperation at the thought of that clear in her voice.

Jawbone shook his head, and chuckled a little in spite of himself.  "..The two of you really do share more than I think you realize.  Aelwyn, that's not why I brought that up, okay?  You don't need to find a job, or anything like that; if you want to go back to school, I'll try to help you, though I think Hudol might not be on the table.  If you don't, and you WANT to find a job, you can do that too.  I'll warn you that it's likely to be hard, as one high school dropout werewolf to another, but you can do it."

Aelwyn bit her lip.  "..I don't know what I want, right now.  I don't feel like...  I don't know."

Jawbone nodded at that, and sighed.  "I wish I could just give you more time before making this offer.  And I can give you a little, but..  Aelwyn, adoption only conveys Solesian citizenship for minors.  Once you're eighteen, while you still could be adopted, you'd have to get citizenship through the normal process.  So I want to at least offer, entirely your choice, that we can file the paperwork anytime until about a week before your birthday.  But just like with Adaine, just because it's practical reasons that rush it, I don't want you to think I wouldn't do it otherwise, okay?"

While Adaine had clearly seen the direction that this talk was going, Aelwyn looked as though a bus was oncoming, her mouth hanging open, before she shook her head.  "I..  you shouldn't waste your efforts on me, just a place to stay is already so much."

Jawbone nodded again.  "Well.  I'm not going to force you, but I want you to know that the offer is there, and it can be as close or as pragmatic as you want it to be.  If you say no because it's not something you want, that's fine.  But please don't say no because you think you don't deserve it.  No kid doesn't deserve someone to care about them, and you're going to be a kid for a long time after the government says you aren't, okay?"

Adaine was back to laying halfway across the blanket, and did seem to be losing some of her focus now, though he suspected she'd talk to Aelwyn about it the next day.  Jawbone stood up, taking the empty teacup from the table, planning to give Aelwyn and Adaine some time.  "As I said, you have a few weeks, and honestly Aelwyn the offer will be open after that.  I would love to do it, even without the practical aid it will provide.  Just think about it, and ask me or Adaine if you have questions?"

Hopefully, that at least would give her something other than a prison in Fallinel to ruminate on heading into the full moon.

He packed away the teacup into the mostly-empty cabinet, very briefly wondering back to make certain Tracker was okay - she looked like she was doing fine, unsurprisingly - before going back to the main room.  The blanket Adaine still had half-wrapped around her was one that had been pulled from her jacket, but he still felt the need to ask.  "Do you want me to store that away or are you okay with it getting damaged?"

Adaine glanced at him, shrugged, and otherwise didn't move off the blanket.  Enough of an answer, so he sat down to watch them, ready for the full moon himself.

With about fifteen minutes to go, Aelwyn started talking, not looking at either him or Adaine as she spoke, but clearly meaning the words for Adaine, who visibly made an effort to focus, though how successful she was this close to the full moon was doubtful.  "Little sister.  Adaine.  ...I don't think I'm as strong as you.  Is it wrong to want for someone, or something, to at least be a guiding light?  I..  need to find something, because if I try to follow just myself I'm going to stay lost.  Your friend.. your cousin's version of her.  I've been thinking about my talks with her.  Does it count as converting if it's a different vision of the same god?  I want to be a better person, I really do, but..  I need a map."

Jawbone felt his own eyebrows raise at that - he hadn't realized Tracker and Aelwyn had been talking that much, and certainly not that Aelwyn was thinking of following Galicaea in that manner.  Not that he'd object, not that he hadn't met plenty of addicts who felt the same sort of distrust of themselves, but to feel that lost at seventeen...

Tracker would be delighted to help her out, at least.  Or maybe she already knew this, if they'd been talking that deeply of it.

Aelwyn kept talking for a while, but it was clearly nervous, directionless chatter at that point, wondering about the fates of various people that Jawbone didn't know, and a few who he did, though he didn't think telling her Penelope and Biz were dead this close would help, even if her dislike of them was clear in her tone.

That lasted right up until a minute or so before Jawbone felt his human form seal away, his eyes carefully on the sisters.

It was obvious within a few moments that this wasn't going to be one of Adaine's less active full moons, though thankfully she continued not to go for the front door; that had been exclusive to her first moon.  Within a few moments, she was sprinting up and down the hallway, a not uncommon move that had him incredibly excited that they'd be in a much larger house by this time next month.

Aelwyn, on the other hand, did go for the front door, pushing at the latches and making him glad she clearly lacked the dexterity for it in that form.  She didn't seem inclined to try to punch through it the way that Adaine had, if nothing else, and after realizing that he was watching her and that she wasn't escaping she moved into a corner of the room and tried to make herself as small as possible.

Adaine finished sprinting for the moment, and jumped back onto the couch, howling loudly at the ceiling.  That drew Aelwyn's attention, and then Adaine lept off the back of the couch, knocking it onto its side, and Aelwyn fixed it and then chased after her sister, and...

He winced at the loud sound of a particularly bad crash, even though any chance of them getting their deposit back was years in the rear-view mirror, and went to chance a look.

Adaine had skidded through the door to Kristen's room, it looked like.  Nothing to do about it now, and she was already getting up; there was no silver in the apartment other than the very slight amount in Adaine's earring studs and quite a lot in Tracker's room.

At least they seemed to be getting along like this, he thought with amused resignation as Aelwyn pulled Adaine to her feet.  Pity they probably wouldn't have any glasses to take to the new house by the time the night was done.


Adaine woke up in an excess of pain, even by the standards of the morning after full moons, laying down in the hallway that her and Tracker and Kristen's bedrooms were down.  Usually she found herself waking up in Tracker's room, or sometimes the living room; this was a new spot.  She tilted her head back, and... oh.  The door to Kristen's room was shattered, splinters of it all over the area.

"..Does it always feel this terrible?"  Aelwyn gasped out from where she was laying a little further down the hall, but she couldn't have been that bad off because she was pushing herself to her feet and Adaine knew if she herself tried to do that she would probably fall back over today.  Aelwyn, in any case, looked over at Adaine and gasped again.  "You're injured!"

Was she?  Huh.  She couldn't tell over the normal pain of the day after, but..  Oh, maybe there was something.  The blouse she'd worn was sticky with blood, which was probably hers, and...  Oh, yes.  There was a large shard of wood shrapnel that was sticking from her side.  Well then.  She tugged it loose, even as she heard Aelwyn call out.  "No, don't!"

Aelwyn was by her side within a moment, hands reaching down to put pressure where the splintered wood had been and blood was now flowing more freely, but Adaine looked up at her uncomprehendingly.  "..It's not silver, it'll regenerate."  She finally said, though Aelwyn didn't seem to believe her, keeping pressure on, her hands warm against Adaine's skin.  It already hurt much less, though, and..  As Aelwyn let her hands off the wound, coming away bloody, there was already unbroken skin underneath.  Faster than normal, but it was close to the full moon.  "See?"  She asked, smiling up at her sister.

"..I'm still going to get Tracker to look at you."  Aelwyn said, making her way unsteadily to her feet and stumbling off towards Tracker's room.

Adaine laid her head back and smiled up at the ceiling.  It was good to be cared about, still.

Notes:

Aelwyn's still not exactly of sound mind, but she's definitely recovering from the parts that aren't Kalina related.

Next chapter has a couple of things I've been desperately excited about getting to! So did this one, for that matter.

For Aelwyn's birthday, if we take timeline info given at face value we know she's 18 and Adaine is 16 in the immediate aftermath of Spring Break. Adaine's birthday is heavily implied to have taken place during the Spring Break, with Jawbone giving her the birthday presents she'd missed over the last 16 years. We don't really have anything to go off of for Aelwyn's birthday beyond that she's somewhere between two and three years older than Adaine - it's not ever actually established in story whether she's a Junior or Senior at Hudol during Freshman Year from what I can find, either.

For purposes of this story, her birthday is November 17th and Adaine's is the 14th of April. She was a Junior at Hudol, though she's been expelled for months now and given being a werewolf has a better chance of burning Hudol to the ground than she does of resuming studies there.

Chapter 39: Tuesday

Summary:

Adaine checks out a library book. Aelwyn babysits.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The space between her first full moon free of the orb and their move into a new house - or, rather, a new to them house, because the way Jawbone had spoken of it made it clear that it was in fact a very OLD house - was mostly free of obligations for Aelwyn, who had thrown herself into helping with packing away everything.  Unfortunately, among the many, many utility spells that Adaine had picked up while planning for a life of homelessness, Floating Disk had not been among them.  Aelwyn had known it at one time, but it wasn't in her current spellbook either.

A little bit of a shame, and Aelwyn had suggested trying to track down a copy to Adaine if she was able, but they'd make do without.  Aelwyn didn't exactly have many possessions to contribute to the moving truck, anyway, once it came.

Her time was MOSTLY free of obligations because one specific day - today - had an obligation she'd been trying to put out of mind.  Part of her asylum agreement had included community service, to be fulfilled with any 'special abilities' she might have had.  The use of Teleport would have cleared up a lot of those, even at one per day; her inability to handle that spell anymore meant she had to scramble a little bit more, and finally turn to Jawbone just to help her find enough to get by for now, to show she was working to meet her obligations.

His offer of adoption, a hazy memory from during those terrifying moments before the full moon was best not to think about too much.  Made from obligation, undoubtedly.  It would be gauche of her to take an offer like that, made from politeness, when he'd be stuck tainted by her forever.

Unfortunately, she had a number of limitations on the community service she could do, the most restrictive of which was that she was not to leave Elmville other than to go to Bastion City for any necessary hearings.  That eliminated most adventuring possibilities.  She was still looking for something she could do ongoing; for now, she'd taken a job she was deeply not looking forward to.

"Ready to go, Aelwyn?  I can drop you off on our way over to the Adventuring Academy."  Jawbone suggested.  Aelwyn was not feeling at all ready, but she'd strapped that blunted sword on, prepared all of her best group protection spells just in case (and avoided preparing any that might hurt someone if she lost control, just as importantly), and had as much breakfast as she could manage.  At least she was no longer on any dietary restrictions, even if she was still far too underweight.

"Yes, well.  I'll do my best.  I'm still surprised they're going to let me take this one."  Aelwyn admitted, a little awkwardly.  She was signed up to be one of the chaperones for a museum field trip for Elmville Preparatory School, whose students would mostly be going to either the Adventuring Academy or to Mumple.  Hudol tended to be much more self-contained, students who flunked the entrance exams for the upper classes aside.

It was probably better to have made it into the upper classes and gotten expelled - she'd found out that officially her expulsion had been for the drug dealing, not for the kidnapping, the murder, or for not showing up for classes for months because she was being tortured in Fallinel - than to have flunked the entrance exam still, but she no longer really had the stomach to hold it over Adaine.  She seemed to belong much more to Aguefort, anyway.

"You'll be great, and it's not like you have to be in charge or lead the tour.  You're mostly just there in case something happens, as backup, right?"  Jawbone asked.

"Right.  I just wouldn't have thought all the parents would be okay with their kids being chaperoned by a criminal werewolf, that's all."  Aelwyn admitted, with a shrug.

Jawbone chuckled.  "If they complained, they'd have to do it themselves.  You'll do great, I promise."

Aelwyn wished she had that type of confidence.  Judging by how she'd gotten along with Adaine during her pre-high school years, and for that matter how she'd gotten along with her own classmates, she wasn't so certain.


In fairness to Aelwyn, Adaine was pretty certain she hadn't known that she was effectively asking her to steal a book from the library again in order to learn Floating Disk.

Aelwyn couldn't have known about Adaine's ban from the school library, after all, because Adaine had definitely not ever told any of her family about it, not even Jawbone.  Only Fig and Riz really knew, Fig because Adaine had known she'd think it was cool, Riz because he had kept asking about studying there sometime until she'd been forced to explain.

The good news was that unlike Watches and Wards, or for that matter several other books Adaine had been strongly considering stealing, there were many copies of Conjuration texts that would include that basic of a spell and they wouldn't be particularly guarded.

The other good news was that she'd gotten very, very knowledgeable about the magical retrieval of books over the summer.  Ayda would maybe fire her from her role at the Compass Points if she knew about this, but maybe she wouldn't care since the Aguefort library was, after all, not the Compass Points.

Adaine dropped her Arcane Eye as soon as she saw the steely-eyed librarian heading to the back room.  From her scouting, if she was retrieving a book from there then Adaine probably had a solid seventy-five seconds to get in and out, though the spell she wanted to use wouldn't last that long.  She placed a Greater Invisibility over herself and her backpack, rushing through the door, tiptoeing around two students who were near the front of the stacks, and ducking into the conjuration section.  She glanced around, making certain no-one was looking in the direction of this shelf before picking up one of the books, which was visible until she dropped it into her bag.

But.. the librarian was already coming back out, empty handed.  Shit.

Adaine started for the door, but clearly something was wrong there, a dispel magic incantation already being started by the librarian, who seemed to be following her footsteps even with her best effort at sneaking.  Maybe..  oh.  Indentations in the carpet.

Adaine, desperate, kicked out for the nearest shelf, knocking it over and making an enormous racket to cover up her Counterspell incantation, the Dispel Magic fizzling even as Adaine rushed a little further, Misty Stepping the remaining distance to outside of the library before her Greater Invisibility wore off.

Adaine pressed her back up against a locker behind her, listening, and then started walking off towards her next class when no one was immediately yelling to apprehend her in specific instead of just about the mess within the library.

Mission success.


It probably was necessary that she was here, Aelwyn admitted to herself from near the back of the group on the top floor of the Elmville Municipal Museum of the Arts.  One of the parents who was supposed to have come along had been a no-show, leaving their group just with her and the teacher trying to wrangle nearly twenty disinterested eleven and twelve year olds, some of whom were preparing for life at an adventuring academy.  The halfling teacher, she was pretty certain, was a Mumple graduate.

Aelwyn had been introduced to her, but had already forgotten her name, and she'd really tried to remember it.  Her mind had been affected for more than just spellcasting.

In other words, it was one fairly skilled but damaged Abjuration wizard attempting to contain all the damage that twenty bored, creative preteens could do to an art museum.

She had been doing pretty well so far, in that no-one was seriously injured, and no artwork had been destroyed.  Aelwyn wasn't certain how much learning or appreciation was happening, however.

They were supposed to be ending the tour with a brief play in a theater in the museum; she would get Adaine to retrieve a hat from her jacket and eat it if half the students managed to sit through even five minutes of that.

Aelwyn's mage hand caught a student gently by the wrist right before they could reach all the way out and get fingerprints on a painting of, somewhat ironically, elves dancing under a full moon.

"Look, but don't touch."  She whispered, realizing only too late that that had been a distraction and three of the girls had just broken off from the group and sprinted for the stairs.  She gave a desperate look to the teacher, who gave an equally desperate look back.

Damn.  Aelwyn took off running after the students, knowing she'd have to just hope that the teacher could keep the remaining seventeen contained for a few minutes, and yes she'd started to recover from her confinement but it still had been just around a month and these fucking kids were making her sprint and...

Fuck it.  She spotted them down the stairwell, and stepped through a Dimension Door to right in front of them, wheezing for breathe.  "..You.. are in... so much... trouble."  She said, though she could really only speculate on what the teacher might do.

That seemed to quell two of them, but the third, a half-elf who seemed like she was probably the ringleader, folded her arms under her chest.  "This place is boring.  And we needed to use the bathroom."

"Then just ask!"  She said, unable to keep the frustration and sharpness out of her voice.

"Why should we?  You're not our teacher."  The ringleader said, in a tone of voice that couldn't help but remind Aelwyn of a younger Adaine, refusing to go along with any and everything as a protest for how she was generally treated.  "And even if you were, teachers shouldn't get to control when we go to the restroom!"

"You still should let them know, we're trying to track a whole bunch of you.  Come on."  Aelwyn said, with a sigh, trying to let her frustration go.  She was trying to be better, after all.  "I'll take you to the bathroom, then back to the rest of your class."

By the time they made it through that trip and back up to the top floor, there were thankfully still seventeen other students with the teacher.  There were also a trio of men speaking to her, two half elves and a human, none of whom exactly looked NOT sketchy.  She directed the three girls back to the group, and moved up to the front of the room, where the teacher was shooting a nervous look at the girl who had been the ringleader of that little escape crew.

"It's just, we need explicit written permission in advance to take any students out of school for anyone other than their legal guardian."  The teacher was saying.  "No matter what kind of emergency you say they're having."

"Well, you're in luck, then!  We're here on behalf of her father."

"Miss Glitsk's mother has sole custody, as he very well knows.  Trying this off school grounds is no different than if you'd come to the school."  The teacher said, and.. oh.  That made it rather obvious what was going on.  But...

"Miss Glitsk?"  Aelwyn interrupted, giving the three men another glance.  Muscle, for certain, and no surprise that.  Aimer Glitsk was a major supplier for the drug trade in Elmville, with a whole gang of people; she'd been downstream from his supplies more than once in her days dealing to Hudol, once she'd graduated from buying from street dealers like Jawbone.

She hadn't known that he had a kid.  Or a custody dispute.

These three would probably murder the teacher, if it came to that.  He was big on 'the mission at any cost' sorts among his enforcers.

Aelwyn stepped forward, in between the three of them and the teacher, who took the opportunity to take a few steps back towards the students.  "Why don't we discuss this calmly?  She's on a field trip right now, and any emergency could wait until after."

A fist, with brass knuckles wrapped around it, lashed out, slamming into her abjurer's ward but not breaking through it.

Unfortunately, the other two started straight for the class and the teacher.

Aelwyn shut her eyes for the briefest moment, wondering if she really was willing to risk getting seriously hurt or even dying over doing the right thing.

Well.  Why not?  She'd gotten seriously hurt and probably should have died doing the wrong thing often enough.

Her Wall of Force slammed into place between the four of them and the class, and Aelwyn yelled over to the teacher.  "Get them out of here, I don't know how long that will hold."  Which was a lie; the wall would hold for ten minutes, left alone.  It couldn't be dispelled.

However... it DID need to be maintained by her.  And she was on the wrong side of it to not be a weakness of that.

The two of them tried to push through it, before realizing that that certainly wasn't going to work, and Aelwyn pulled her blunted sword, cursing herself for not trusting herself to at least have a Lightning Bolt or a Ray of Frost or ANYTHING that could maybe actually make these people back off.  Even of her defensive abilities, many of them couldn't be used while maintaining the Wall of Force.  Maybe once the class was away, she could flee as well.

She felt her ward shatter under the force of the man's brass knuckles, and swiped at him, not even coming close to landing the blow.  

"..Is that a practice sword?  Are you seriously a wizard with a practice sword trying to fight us?"  The man mocked in disbelief, laughing.  "Look, girlie, we're not here to kill you, but we will kick the shit out of you for this.  Take that barrier down and we can let you off."

But the students were still visible; it took time for twenty students and a teacher to get away, much longer than just a few students. Maybe it had just needed to be the girl they were after to run, but Aelwyn wasn't ready to take chances with children's lives, especially when she'd made a promise to protect them.

No matter that the protection had been supposed to be from wondering off and getting lost, or from other hazards of a field trip, not actual skilled fighters.

The other two had seemed to realize that they had access to the key to the barrier as well, and had actually pulled knives.  Three on one was a bad spot to be in, and while she managed to dodge one of them, a knife caught at her side, sending blood flying.  It wasn't silver, it would heal, but that wouldn't help if they decided to really try to kill her or if they just got her enough that she lost focus on the Wall.

"Galicaea, if you could let me learn how to transform at will right now, or ANYTHING."  Aelwyn muttered in desperate frustration.  Claws could have made for a real weapon, if a horrific one to use.  This was a delaying effort, at best, but it wasn't going to be much of one at this rate.  Spotting an opening, she swung the blunted sword at the man using brass knuckles, heading right for his side.  If she'd been using a sharp sword, it could have been a great blow.

Warm energy flowed from her arm into the sword, a drain upon her arcane reserves just as strong as bringing the Wall of Force up had been.  A burst of white light and energy, almost blinding...

The gangster collapsed, unconscious, his ribcage smashed clean in as Aelwyn stared at what she had done without knowing how she had done it.  The other two backed up a step, looking weary now, clearly not having expected that.

"...Surrender or else you'll get the same thing he got!"  Aelwyn called out, attempting to disguise the verge of madness in her voice as she made the threat she had no idea if she could back up or not.

Notes:

:D

I think people probably saw this one coming, but it makes me very happy anyway.

Also, don't actually do this multiclass, it's a terrible multiclass mechanically unless you rolled stats and got ungodly lucky. Good news for Aelwyn? She did.

Chapter 40: Familiar

Summary:

Adaine talks Aelwyn through a crisis of faith. A frog appears and also helps talk Aelwyn through said crisis.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Adaine stretched out with her back to her bed, flipping through her stolen Conjuration spellbook from earlier that day.  Floating Disk was going to be easy enough to learn, now that she had a place to take it from.  She had enough ink around for it and maybe a few others if they were straightforward.  She closed the book, looking back to her own, which had a spell in new ink that was not Floating Disk.  They wouldn't need that until next week.

This one had caught her eye, in particular, especially now that they were going to be somewhere with more space.  She now had this in her book, and she wouldn't need to prepare it if she just followed the directions carefully.

Adaine reached into her jacket, coming out with the right mixture of incense and herbs and other materials that the spell called for.  It wanted a brass brazier for burning them in, but she was pretty certain she could substitute that with a simple brass bowl.

She started the ritual by lighting them aflame, the scent filling her room and probably from there the apartment as a whole.  From there, the ritual wasn't difficult, but it was quite long, and she found herself drifting into a meditative state as part of it.  The spell mentioned it exposed a part of her soul, to find the perfect spirit to match with her.

She wasn't certain precisely how long passed before her spellwork was completed, though the spell claimed it would take an hour; at some point, she entered the same sort of state she typically did in the leadup to the full moon.  She snapped out of it right as the last of the incense burned away, but nothing seemed to have changed as she looked around the room...

"Rrrribbit."

"Oh!"  Adaine gasped, as a weight leapt from her bed and onto her shoulder, then fell down into her open arms.  The most perfect round frog she'd ever seen, too spherical and cute to be natural, had found its way into her (and Aelwyn's) room.  She squeezed him tight to her chest, the same sort of peace that had come to her only in a few moments settling down on her as she did so.  He smelled of magic, of her magic, rather than of the sorts of slimy things frogs normally smelled like.

She held him out in front of her, peering at his expression - he seemed very thrilled to be here, if she did say so herself - and considering his cute form.  "..I will name you...  Bogariel Frogariel, for formal paperwork.  And Boggy the Froggy for short.  Every familiar deserves a nickname, I think."

Not that she'd actually seen that many familiars, which was maybe inexcusable, because less than two minutes into having one she was pretty certain she'd kill someone to keep him around.

She bounced to her feet, deciding to go see if anyone else was home to introduce him to - Tracker and Kristen had headed off for a date after school, and Jawbone had stayed at work longer than Kristen and her had stayed at school, and Aelwyn hadn't gotten back from her community service job yet, but any of them might have gotten home while she was zoned out and just decided to leave her be.

And, indeed, Jawbone was in the living room, though he was talking on his crystal, a rare look of worry on his face that got Adaine to freeze up, her arms squeezing around her new friend, who bulged out on either side of her arms.  "....Uhhuh.  Right, right.  I'll be there as soon as I can, Sklonda, thank you for calling."

Oh, that couldn't be good; it was really just a question of whether the call was for Aelwyn, Kristen, or Tracker at this point.  Adaine looked up with worry, and Jawbone gave her a look of concern in turn before sighing and trying to reassure her.  "Aelwyn's okay, and Sklonda made it clear that she's not really in trouble, but there was an incident she was involved in.  Want to come along to pick her up?"  He asked, giving the frog a smile, though he could undoubtedly also smell that the frog was made of magic.

He was helping keep her calm, she was pretty sure.  Aelwyn being in anything describable as an "incident" could only be bad.  "...Sure.  This is Boggy.  It's okay if he lives with us, right?  He's my familiar now."

Jawbone chuckled, but put a hand to her back, sensing that she might need the help not getting too worried.  "Of course, kiddo.  You have to feed him, though."

...She'd have to check if familiars actually ate.


It didn't take long to get to the Police Department, though Adaine did remember before walking in that she was technically still a fugitive from justice and escapee of this very place.  As, for that matter, was Aelwyn.  Hopefully nobody would try to make a big deal of it, but she thought she'd be able to get out without Worrel and her agents around anyway even if they did.

Sklonda met them at the entrance, and Jawbone thankfully drew most of the attention as they made their way to her office, where Adaine hadn't been since her very first arrest.  Aelwyn was visible through the glass, which did give Adaine a sense of relief; she wasn't in a cell, at least.

"..She hasn't said anything since she got here."  Sklonda was saying, Adaine having missed some of their talk.  "I think she might be in shock, really, but all the witnesses agree she was defending the students and teacher she was with.  It'd be a clear open and shut case, if she were with the Academy or if she didn't have the record she does.  Even with that, there's just some paperwork you need to fill out before I can release her back to your custody, and she'll probably need to testify."

Jawbone nodded, glancing through the window at Aelwyn.  "...Adaine, do you want to sit with her while I take care of that?"  He offered, and she nodded in response, Sklonda letting her into the office and then shutting the door behind her.

Aelwyn didn't even look over at her, staring at a blank spot on the wall.  Adaine approached her cautiously, keeping Boggy in both hands.  There was blood on Aelwyn's clothing, and as someone fairly experienced in this sort of thing, Adaine was pretty confident that it wasn't hers.

"Aelwyn?"  She asked, not getting any kind of a response from her sister.  She paused, then moved into her line of sight, cautiously offering Boggy out into where Aelwyn's hands were.

That seemed to get a response, at least.  Aelwyn startled, as though awoken from a trance, and then looked at her.  "..Adaine?"  She asked, uncertainly, her hands lifting Boggy up and looking at him with a little confusion obvious on her face.

"That's my familiar, he's going to share our room now.  Are you okay?  Do you want to talk about what happened?"  Adaine still wasn't certain what HAD happened, other than that Aelwyn had evidently been in a fight.

"Didn't know you wanted a familiar.  Adaine, I think I killed somebody again."  Aelwyn said, looking up, eyes wild.  "I didn't.. I didn't mean to.  I was just trying to keep them occupied until everyone could get away, but..  I don't know what happened.  I swung the practice sword, and there was just this... this.."  Words seemed to fail her, and she shook her head.  "I shouldn't even feel bad about it.  I shouldn't.  He was there to try to kidnap a child.  And he attacked me.  I didn't mean to, but maybe I should have."

Adaine nodded, slowly, processing that as she took a seat in the chair next to Aelwyn's, leaving her frog in her sister's hands for the moment.  "...Do you know what happened on my first day at school?  Like, the details of it?"

Aelwyn paused, seeming to come out of her own head a little, clearly confused why she was asking.  "I know there you were involved in some kind of skirmish that ended with Aguefort dead, somehow.  Temporarily, obviously, now.  Kalvaxus was..  very pleased that he was gone, though surprised.  It wasn't something he had planned."

Adaine mmed, taking Boggy back as Aelwyn offered him back over.  She still didn't like thinking about this too much, but.  "Well, there was a whole.. thing where a hellmouth ended up infecting the lunch lady.  It was supposed to be targetted on Kristen, actually, to try to end the world, but it got on lunch lady Doreen, and she attacked us along with these weirdly cute corn monsters.  The corn was actually the problem, but we didn't realize that at first, and..  Well.  I didn't know she was innocent, and she was trying to kill us, and I was out of spells and it was my first day, and I had grabbed her ladle from her and I just..  hit her with it, a few times, until she stayed down.  For good."

Aelwyn was staring at her now, in a way that made it obvious she hadn't known these particular details even if she had had a vague outline of the fight.  Of course their parents hadn't shared that with her.

"Anyway, it turned out she was just possessed, and it took me a long time to get over some of what she said while she was dying, but I guess I'm just saying that sometimes you can only do your best, and maybe that means sometimes you have to hurt someone doing something bad to stop them, even if you wish you didn't.  If you hadn't been there, what would have probably happened?"

Aelwyn licked at her lips, giving the question actual consideration.  "They definitely would have kidnapped that girl.  I think the teacher would have probably died trying to stop them, but maybe she would have had the sense to not get in the way."  Sense, it was clear, that Aelwyn was wondering when she'd lost.

Adaine nodded, and leaned over to hug Aelwyn's arm.  "...I'm glad you're okay.  It sounds to me like you did the right thing, then, and it's better that you were there."  She had at least a suspicion about what might have happened, what her sister might have done, but better to not wildly speculate right now.

Aelwyn fell quiet again, but she seemed much more present than when Adaine had stepped into the room at first, and they waited in a not-unpleasant silence until Jawbone and Sklonda returned.


Aelwyn had stayed quiet and distant through dinner that night, though it had become even clearer than in their conversation that Aelwyn had been in the right.  Two other attackers had been arrested, the students were all safe, and there wasn't even significant property damage in spite of the fight being within an exhibit hall.  

Adaine had had a whispered and brief conversation with Kristen and Tracker, and as they finished eating Kristen of course just broached the topic straight up without any leadin.

"So, Adaine said she thought one of us might know something about what you did.  Can you tell us about what happened?  Not, like, the fight exactly, but what it felt like when you..  used this ability you don't understand, right?"  Kristen asked.

Aelwyn must have been really desperate for answers, Adaine privately thought, because this was an approach that would have gotten a curt response in almost any circumstance from her normally, even in her present state.  Instead, she bit at her lip, looking hesitant before admitting.

"It was three on one, and I didn't really have any way to hurt any of them.  I was trying to transform into a wolf, or preferably a form like Jawbone's, because I wanted to use claws, not bite.  I, um."  Her eyes darted over to Tracker for a moment; she seemed to be expecting judgement from the four of them, but everyone waited for her to finish.  

"I was pretty desperate, and I..  I remember asking for Galicaea's help, to transform.  And then I saw an opening, swung the sword, and it was like I had hit him with a truck.  I think I might have cast some kind of spell - it definitely drained my reserves - but I have no idea what it could have been.  I didn't prepare anything offensive, and I don't have any spells in my spellbook that are anything like that even if I had."  Aelwyn admitted.  Tracker and Jawbone looked uncertain, but Kristen just nodded at that.

"..Right.  Okay.  Do you think you could come by the Academy to talk to some people?  I'm pretty sure I know what this was, but they'd know better than me for sure."

A little of Aelwyn's prickliness popped back up.  "Can you just share your speculation now?  I'm sure I can look into it."  Or maybe that was just not wanting to go near the Adventuring Academy.

Kristen hummed, giving Tracker a glance, before saying.  "Well, if you insist...  It's not something I can do, but my parents were paladins.  Are paladins.  Of Helio, which you obviously wouldn't be, but...  it sounds a whole lot like what you did was a Divine Smite."

Aelwyn went rigid, staring at Kristen, though it wasn't with anger or anything.  Adaine spoke up, worried about what might happen if they pushed her too far on this.  "..Just come speak with one of the paladin instructors?  They should be able to tell, or give you more information if it's uncertain.  And in the meantime, if that's not it and it was just a fluke or a miracle of Galicaea or whatever else, it's still a good thing."

But Aelwyn seemed tense for the rest of the night, and made her way to their shared bedroom early; Adaine followed after, giving Kristen and Tracker a thankful smile.  They wouldn't hold someone having a crisis of faith of sorts against them, though Adaine suspected Aelwyn's crisis wasn't about the faith part.

As Aelwyn prepared for her trance, Adaine placed Boggy on the bed, asking.  "Mind him for a moment once you're done?  I'm not sure how he's going to react to his summoner suddenly being a wolf."  But it was mostly an excuse, both to get Aelwyn to hold Boggy again, and to add one more comment once Aelwyn had picked him up, because Adaine thought she knew what was hitting Aelwyn so hard about this.  One more thing she was going to carve out of their parents' flesh, someday.  "...You don't have to stick to their idiotic expectations anymore, Aelwyn.  If you're going to be at least partly a paladin, I'm sure you'll be a great one.  You should get to be who you are, the same as any of us."

Aelwyn did look at her, as she turned to wolf form after stating that, making an argument about it that wasn't one-sided impossible, but she just nodded tightly, squeezed Boggy before placing him next to Adaine on the bed - he appeared to still be Happy To Be Here even when Here was next to a wolf - and then laid down herself for her trance.


The weekend and thus the day of their move came up quickly.  Adaine had removed several boxes worth of dishes from what was needed to be moved during the full moon the week before when she'd (according to both Aelwyn and Jawbone, which it was deeply unfair that Aelwyn remembered parts of her sort-of-first full moon when Adaine still struggled to even keep wisps) smashed into Kristen's room, but that was really just a drop in the bucket versus what was coming, even with most of the furniture not in good enough shape to be worth saving.

Two wizards using Floating Disk went a really long way into making it easier, and Gorgug, Fig, and Sandra Lynn all showed up to pitch in, so they had the moving van loaded in record time, and Adaine had just taken one moment to linger and say goodbye to the first place that was really home.  She wasn't completely certain if any of the others would understand the sentiment; Aelwyn hadn't been there long enough, and Tracker and Jawbone had been through a few different places together.

They hadn't left a forwarding address.  Jawbone was pretty sure the deposit would cover most of the damages, but the damages were pretty extensive.

None of them except for Jawbone had actually seen the house they were moving into, though his warnings had been fairly clear to Tracker, Kristen, and Adaine, and they had in turn told Aelwyn.  Still, it hadn't quite prepared Adaine on a.. scale factor.  The house was enormous, decrepit, definitely both cursed and haunted, and an absolute delight.

"..Why don't you girls go pick out bedrooms we can move your things to?"  Jawbone directed towards the four of them, even though that would make loading up the floating disks impossible since they would follow Adaine or Aelwyn.

She hadn't actually talked about this with Aelwyn, and there were enough bedrooms in the house that they wouldn't have to, but just looking at the place from the outside it was obvious where she wanted to stay.  And..

"...Want to split that tower?  We can get bunkbeds.  Or I can get a hammock, really."  Adaine asked, only waiting for the slightest hint of a hesitant nod from Aelwyn before shifting into wolf form so that she could Dimension Door the two of them up there and stake a claim before Kristen or Tracker did.

That turned out to be unnecessary; both of them found rooms more suited to their own desires.

By the time the day was done, and everything was moved in, and Adaine and Boggy were in the new hammock and Aelwyn was in bed and some of the ghosts were making creaking noises throughout the house, Adaine decided this place was just about perfect to be her second one to really be a home.

Notes:

Much like the Jacket, we're getting a couple things I couldn't stand to leave out forever; Boggy made it just in time for the 40th chapter celebration! This (and the manor) is still like 5-6 months before they move in in canon.

I gave the guy Aelwyn crit-smote with a level 5 spell death saves for her sake; the version of this chapter where he succeeds is probably a little less angsty but she'd still be upset. He rolled 10, 13, 4, 1, oops. At some point she'll realize she could have saved him with a Lay on Hands, but I cannot emphasize enough that Aelwyn has no idea what she's doing with the paladin levels yet. She'll be proud of them eventually; for now, she's both confused about the loss of identity as pure Wizard and literally uncertain about how she did any of that.

Next chapter has another familiar canon thing returning... kind of.

I did throw a couple of Aelwyn's memory fragments from Chapter 31 that I didn't end up using on tumblr here; as normal, if you don't feel like dealing with Tumblr, I'll be moving all that kind of missing content into a third story in this series at some point.

Chapter 41: Key

Summary:

The group settles into Mordred Manor. Aelwyn goes shopping for linen with her lesbian housemates.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

In her first night in their new home, Adaine dreamed of her deaths.

She dreamed of water, surrounding her and crushing her and filling her lungs even as a ripping current pulled her down deep into the sea.

She dreamed of a red shape looming over her, and a sharp pain through her chest, and weight crushing down on her.

She dreamed of something within her, something cutting open wounds within her body faster than her regeneration could handle, a slow and agonizing way to die.

Adaine dreamed of more than one assassin with daggers and knives and poisons, of fierce monsters bearing down upon her and overcoming her defenses, of an endless tide of devils overwhelming her.  She dreamed of her deaths, and those of her predecessors, and those of her successors, until they all mixed and melded together in her mind.

It wasn't the most restful night she'd ever had, and she knew upon waking that it had been more than eight hours since she had gone to sleep, still in wolf form in the hammock.  Aelwyn was absent from their new tower room, which would make sense since her trance would have been finished long before.  Boggy had left the hammock at some point in the night, but was resting down on the bed.

Maybe he had gone to visit Aelwyn when she'd still been here, or just had wanted to explore.

Adaine rolled out of the hammock, back in elf form by the time she hit the ground, landing on both feet and dressing, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and glancing at Boggy.  "Want to ride along?  I'm going to have to figure something out for taking you to school, but my shoulder will work for around the manor."  She offered; Boggy, apparently agreeing, jumped out towards her.

He wasn't on pace to even get close, but he teleported the last few feet in a shimmer of magic, landing on her shoulder.

She started on her way back down to the kitchen, trying to remember the path without resorting to magic.  She was pretty certain there had to be some secret passages through this place; she'd look into them later, but the geometry didn't make sense otherwise.

The kitchen was empty when she got down there, and everything packed away; she must have really overslept, to miss breakfast entirely.  They didn't have much stocked up, so she reached into her jacket and just grabbed a slightly overripe banana, continuing to wonder the manor and starting to just explore.


A memory of a fragment of Aelwyn came to mind, reminding her that she never got lost as long as she didn't get in her own way, that her instinctive sense of direction was always right.  It was almost certainly a part of being the Oracle.  But this manor was going to really put that to the test, if she kept using all of these secret passages.  So far, she'd found several different sets of them, leading between different rooms, including at least a couple of rooms that were only accessible this way.  She'd come out of one into the chapel that Kristen had set up in, another into a room full of chains that Tracker had - though most of the ones Tracker hadn't brought weren't silver so they were just going to be decorative - and then found one from there that led up onto the roof.

This place was about seventy-five percent hidden rooms and passages by volume, she was pretty certain.  Mapping all of them might be a project of months.

It was a chilly, overcast day, and glancing up Adaine knew she had about two minutes before a cold rain was going to start.  Best not to linger too much out here.

Adaine used Mage Hand to pull open a window, dropping down from the roof and through it, her foot catching on the sill and sending her falling in an undignified heap as she was distracted upon realizing partway through the motion that this room actually did have two people in it.  Boggy landed gently on top of her head, magic making his landing much more graceful than hers.

"Aah, Miss O'Shaughnessey."  Arthur Aguefort said from where he was sitting on a slightly musty couch across from Jawbone.  "We were just wondering if you had awoken from your slumber just yet."

She pushed herself back to her feet, suddenly very aware of just how much of a mess she must be after wondering through dusty passageways and long-abandoned rooms.  "Er, yes."  She said, feeling her ears twitching a little bit.  "Good morning."  She tried, getting a chuckle from Jawbone.

"Hell, you must have been pretty worn out, kiddo.  Aelwyn and Tracker and Kristen went shopping for some supplies.  Principal Aguefort and I were just discussing the protections he's going to be placing onto this house."  Jawbone added.  "And one other alteration he's asked to make that I've agreed to."

Aguefort pulled a folder out.  "That does remind me, Miss O'Shaughnessey, that I should update you on current events related to you beyond what has been publicly reported.  Fallinel has issued a demand that you be turned over to them as a precursor to any full peace negotiation.  They have not actually requested the same for your sister, yet.  It seems likely to end the armistice unless they are willing to back off of this position."

"Well, they can suck it."  Adaine muttered, grumpily.

"Indeed.  I will communicate that to them the next time they call.  However, at the same time, I must caution you that there are elements of the Solesian council that would not like to be at war with Fallinel.  You may also want to try to avoid being caught making too much trouble in the near future, so I suggest heavy use of illusory and concealment magics when you are doing illegal things."  He said, evidently not needing to pretend that she wouldn't be doing further illegal things.  She just nodded at that.

"Very well.  I will also not be assigning you further quests that take you out of the country, for now, and strongly suggest you not leave it by choice."  He glanced over to Jawbone.  "Then, if we are in agreement, I shall get started?"  Jawbone gave a nod in return, and then Arthur Aguefort vanished from the room, leaving Adaine feeling slightly off-kilter again.

At least SHE was still in the same place, this time.  And didn't have detention, and wasn't going on a dangerous mission.  Ahead of the curve, really.

Jawbone gave her a glance, and then asked seriously.  "Tough night?  Do you want to talk about it?"

Adaine hummed noncommittally.  "Just nightmares, I think."  She did not really want to relive them again, especially since her actual next death, whenever it might be, most likely had been somewhere in all of that.  Reliving Kalvaxus killing her had been bad enough, and given the last time she'd had THAT topic broached, with Riz yelling and almost crying about how Jawbone had looked after seeing her after...  No.

Jawbone nodded, considering for a moment and then asking.  "Would you like a.."

She was next to him, in a warm embrace, before he even finished the question.


She didn't have any particular plans for her day from there, even beyond the rare sleeping in.  She probably should be studying, or doing more mapping of the house, but instead she wound up with a warm bowl of soup from Jawbone and some quiet company, the patter of the rain against the ground and roof outside soothing.  It would maybe be a good day to check if the roof was leaking anywhere, but they hadn't found all the rooms directly under it, she was certain.

She was just going up towards the tower when the door to what she was pretty certain was a linen closet burst open in front of her.  Maybe one of the ghosts they'd been warned about?

Arthur Aguefort stepped out of it to her slight confusion, and, much to her delight, Ayda followed, a key clutched in her hand, a bag at her side.

"Oh, hello!" Adaine said, her day brightening immediately.  She hadn't expected to see Ayda again anytime soon outside of Sendings and letters.

"Hello, Adaine O'Shaughnessey."  Ayda said, and Adaine got a sense that she was just as surprised to be here as Adaine was to see her.  "My father and yours have gifted me with a teleportation method specifically from the Compass Points to here, so that I will not have to relocate it.  Did you know that you have an adorable frog on your shoulder?"

Adaine reached up, cupping Boggy into her hands, and offered him out to Ayda.  "His name is Bogariel Frogariel, but you can call him Boggy.  He's my new familiar."

Ayda took him from her, examining him seriously.  "...As ever, your spellcraft remains magnificent.  I would think this much more than an elementary spell, to look at him.  Have you come up with a method to keep him with you while you are a wolf?"  She asked, glancing up.

"Not yet, but I'll figure something out.  I've only had him for a few days.  He doesn't mind sleeping near me when I'm a wolf, at least."  Adaine said, noticing that Arthur Aguefort had wondered off, maybe to cast more protective magics or maybe just to give them some time to talk.

Ayda nodded again.  "Maybe some kind of harness...?  I can work on it.  On that note, I have something I have been working on that I was planning to gift you at the socially acceptable time of Solstice to avoid any imbalances between us, but to my delight I found out that it is also considered acceptable to give a present upon moving into a new residence.  A.. house warming gift, though I believe my presence will contribute more to the temperature of this place than the gift will."

She handed Boggy back, Adaine placing him carefully on her shoulder, and then dug into her bag, coming out with a scroll.  "I have been.. concerned about your lack of offensive tools while a wolf for some time, as you know.  And that has only grown with my father warning me of your death sentence from Fallinel.  I'm afraid you'll need to do the work of translating the incantations to your wolf form yourself, but I thought this spell would help.  You seem as though you frequently wish to bite people but are held back by your desire not to spread your curse."

Adaine took the scroll, her curiosity piqued, and looked over it.  This was a spell that had been crafted for her, quite literally - Adaine's Fierce Fangs - and she suddenly couldn't read it through her tears.  She'd have to examine it later, but just the fact of Ayda going this far for her was enough for her to know it was an incredible gift.

"Thank you, so much.  May I hug you?"  She asked.  The two of them still weren't very good at it, elbows and awkwardness getting in the way, but it was the the thought that counted.


Adaine showed off the tower to Ayda from there, before they settled in downstairs at the kitchen table to allow Adaine to copy the scroll into her spellbook.  "Do you want to copy Find Familiar once I'm done with this?"  Adaine asked, as she worked.  She'd have grabbed the conjuration book to allow more efficient work, but Principal Aguefort was still around somewhere and also she still hadn't admitted to her frequent thefts and damages to other libraries to Ayda.

"Yes!"  Ayda said, loudly, obviously delighted by the idea.  "But I don't have a new residence or anything.  I could probably find it in one of the books at the Compass Points..."  She said, trailing off.

"...Just show me your familiar once you've summoned it.  I'm pretty sure every wizard should have one.  I need to talk Aelwyn into it, too."  Adaine suggested, even as she finished copying the spell over and offered the book over to Ayda, flipping it to Find Familiar.  Noise came from the main entrance, and Adaine stood up and walked over to spot Aelwyn, Kristen, and Tracker through the door, loaded up with bags of what looked like they were mostly linens and such, a Floating Disk trailing along being Aelwyn with several more bags. In spite of the rainstorm, Aelwyn was completely dry, Tracker was mostly dry except for being damp on one side, and Kristen was soaked and also covered in mud, her bags also looking quite beat up.

"What happened to you?"  Adaine asked Kristen, trying to hide her amusement.

"Your sister's spell didn't quite work as advertised."  Kristen responded, the accusation (hopefully) joking.

Aelwyn, who looked a little strained, and probably didn't realize that Kristen wasn't serious, spoke up at that, "..When I said it was a shield against water, I meant the rain.  I did not mean that it could hold up to you slipping and falling into a gutter."

"Sure, dude.  Well, I'm stealing one of your towels since mine will need washed first, and I'm going to see if I can find a bathtub somewhere in this place for a hot soak.  Wanna come, babe?"  She asked Tracker, reaching into one of the bags on the Disk and coming out with what did look like a very nice towel.

Tracker, unsurprisingly, did not turn that down, following along after Kristen and leaving Aelwyn to venture towards the kitchen where Adaine and Ayda had set up.  "Did you have fun, at least?"  Adaine asked, examining the contents of a few of the bags.  Blankets, nicer towels, a few bathrobes...  Generally, the kinds of things beyond the ability of the Jacket to produce, or nicer than what it would.

"..I do like Tracker's company."  Aelwyn was willing to admit, taking a seat and glancing over at where Ayda was copying the spell.  "You look like you've had a fun day, too.  Want to tell me about it?"

Adaine didn't think she had that much to say about the day, but she started to describe it anyway, and the three of them ended up in a deep conversation about spell creation until well into dinner.

Notes:

A slightly different spell for Adaine, in different circumstances. She probably should be more worried that literally every person who cares about her is worried that she is in an abnormal amount of danger but at least they're all trying to do things about it, as Riz said a few chapters back.

Adaine's new spell, which has the same damage scaling as her Furious Fist would have but has to be cast at a minimum of level 3:

Adaine's Fierce Fangs
3rd level, Evocation. Vocal components.
Casting time: Bonus action
Duration: One minute (Concentration)

This spell causes silvery energy to coat the teeth and fangs of the caster. While this spell is in effect, as an action the caster may make a melee spell attack roll against a target. On a successful attack, the target takes 6d10 force damage and becomes immune to contracting the Curse of Lycanthropy from the caster from this wound or from further wounds inflicted within the next minute. If the caster is in a form that has a natural bite attack, the target of this attack must make a strength check against the caster's DC or become grappled. This spell ends upon the first successful attack made.

Casting this spell at higher levels adds 2d10 damage per level above 3rd.

Chapter 42: Conversation

Summary:

Ayda has a procedural question about friendship. Aelwyn wants something Jawbone won't give her.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Ayda started spending increasing amounts of time hanging out with Adaine and the others, and sometimes with the others without Adaine, over the next couple of weeks.  She wouldn't currently allow either Adaine or Aelwyn to use the portal to the Compass Points - "My father Arthur Aguefort made it very clear that doing so could lead to imprisonment or death for either or both of you and I will not be the one to cause that" had been her explanation - but she was willing to bring books out, which gave Adaine a resource without needing to plot another heist from the Aguefort library or worse having to talk to the school librarian about lifting her ban.

Adaine was kind of thrilled to realize that Ayda was getting along with her friends, though some more that others.  She seemed particularly to enjoy spending time with Fig, with or without Adaine there, and usually declined invitations on the rare occasions that Fig, Adaine, and Aelwyn were all uninvolved.  She and Aelwyn also at least sometimes talked without Adaine, though those conversations always seemed to be very centered on magic and the art of spell creation.  

Aelwyn, even in her clearly still-damaged mental state, had a flare for it even beyond Ayda's abilities, though she'd seemed impressed by Adaine's Fierce Fangs when she'd taken a look at it.  She had declined the offer to copy it herself, however, seeming to think it should belong to Adaine and Ayda alone.

Aelwyn and Ayda's conversations seemed to mostly start during school hours; Aelwyn was doing volunteer duty still, but that was only a day or two a week for various activities with different classes at the town's schools, and given that everyone else other than Tracker was busy during those times Adaine supposed it was no surprise they would end up talking extensively.

Adaine was attempting to complete her own return gift to Ayda without her sister's help, though she might end up having to take it if she got stuck.  Still, it was a divination spell, and that was an area (maybe the SOLE area of Wizardry) even before her time in the orb and under Feeblemind that Aelwyn hadn't matched her at.  She had a while still, though, if she wanted to give it for Solstice and couldn't find an excuse before then.

It was after one of those outings without Adaine but with Fig, Kristen, and Tracker that Ayda found her to talk, afterwards, laying in her hammock in the tower.  Aelwyn was out that day, volunteering as a chaperone for a class of Mumple students to Bastion City, her first time working with people around Adaine or Aelwyn's own ages; she wouldn't be back until quite late, she'd said, though it wasn't an overnight stay.

"I have a question I need to ask you about friendship," was how Ayda opened the conversation, and Adaine shut the book she was reading and looked down, blinking.  

"Of course.  I'm not the most experienced either, but I'll give you the best answer I can."  She replied, rolling out of the hammock to land on her feet carefully in front of her friend, giving her full attention.  Matters of friendship were deeply serious for Ayda, Adaine had found, and so they were serious for her as her friend.

"I have been concerned for some time about this, but I was worried that to even ask you might mean hurting you.  I thought about asking your father and wizard of the heart Jawbone about this, but then I thought that that itself might be considered hurtful, as though trying to conceal this."  Ayda said, taking a deep breath before continuing.  "I am worried that my feelings for you and my transitive best friend Figueroth Faeth are not identical, as transitivity would imply that they should be."

Adaine paused, considering that for a moment.  "..Do you.. not like Fig?  I thought you were getting along, but it's not actually a requirement that you be friends with all of my friends, though I would like it for you and for them if you did."

"Oh, no, I like Figueroth Faeth's company very much.  And I like your company very much.  But I do not think it is the same.  For you, I wish to spend time with you, to teach you and learn from you, and occasionally when I hear of your adventures and the dangers you face to take you back to the Compass Points and do everything I can to ward it from elves who are not werewolves.  For Figueroth, I..  I believe it is something that may run even deeper than that.  I am sorry."  Ayda said, looking both panicked and ashamed.

"..Wait, are you saying you have a crush on Fig?"  At that look of incomprehension, Adaine clarified.  "Romantic feelings?  Like, I'm not sure, you want to kiss her?"

"Oh.  Yes, I think that is how I would describe it.  But I do not think those feelings are transitive back to you, Adaine."  Ayda said, fidgeting as she admitted to that, and Adaine hummed.

"Well, I think that's perfectly fine.  You met her through transitive properties, but that doesn't mean it has to stay that way, right?  And, um.  I'm not really sure that I have interest in that kind of a relationship with anyone, though I'm only fifteen, maybe that'll change."  Adaine said with a shrug.  "I have to admit, I don't really get the appeal of kissing, but if you and Fig both want to do it, go crazy.  Keep it a little less public than Kristen and Tracker do, maybe?  Or at least not in the kitchen here?"

Ayda frowned, considering that, too.  "Well.  That brings me to my question, then.  How am I supposed to tell Figueroth Faeth that I feel this way for her?  How can I tell if she feels the same way about me?"

Adaine reached a hand up to touch at her ear.  She'd thought Ayda had maybe already talked to Fig about this, but it made sense if she hadn't.  "...I admit, I'm not certain.  This isn't really an area where I have any more knowledge than you.  You could talk to..."

She trailed off for a moment, considering her options.

Aelwyn hadn't seemed like she knew the names of most of the people she'd had various flings with, Adaine was pretty sure. She wasn't certain how much of that was self-destructive and how much was a genuine disinterest in the romantic side of the equation, but either way it meant that wasn't the direction to go.

She hadn't been there for Gorgug's first date with Zelda (having been in an induced coma in the hospital at the time) but she'd been assured it was very cute.  Still, it was hard to think of two girls less similar than Zelda and Fig.

Fabian had some sort of crush on Aelwyn still, she was pretty certain, though she wasn't actually sure Aelwyn remembered making out with him at that party.  Given that he hadn't talked to her about it yet to Adaine's knowledge, not really a choice there.

Riz seemed, if anything, to have even less of an interest in romance than Adaine herself did, though he was also still young and might experiment, she supposed.

Kristen would be the obvious choice, except the thought of sending Ayda to Kristen for advice seemed like intentional cruelty after half a second's thought.  Adaine herself couldn't understand half of what Kristen was saying when she was attempting to give advice.

On the other hand..  "...Tracker.  Tracker managed to get through to Kristen, who was in pretty heavy denial at the time about even being gay.  But you should be ready for if Fig isn't interested; I've only ever seen her flirting with old men.  She'll be kind, though, I think.  But Tracker will give you the best advice of anyone I know on this."

Ayda admitted, her wings dimming a little as she did.  "I am hopeful Figueroth cares about me, even if not in the way that I would like."

"...Don't worry about that much.  The thing about Fig is that she cares about everyone."  Adaine said, trying to be as reassuring as she could on this unfamiliar ground.


Whatever advice Tracker gave, it must have been good.  Ayda had upgraded Fig from 'my transitive best friend' to 'my paramour' by the end of the week.


Aelwyn stared at herself in the mirror, trying her best to get her hair to cooperate and do anything other than 'point in many different directions'.  Unfortunately, while it was growing back (and she wanted very much for it to continue doing so), it was currently at a length that was a maximum level of unruliness.  She didn't really have anywhere she needed to go today.  It was a Saturday, and most of the denizens of the manor were out doing other things, Adaine included.

..She didn't have anywhere she needed to go, but she did have something she needed to do.  And she'd wanted to look her best for it, or at least not look like she'd just gotten out of bed without so much as brushing, even though that's exactly what her hair wanted to do.  She finally gave up and just pulled a hat on, deciding that in another three or four days it would start reaching a better length and she'd start really being able to work with it.

She made her way down to the living room, using one of the secret passages Adaine had pointed out to her as a shortcut.  There was no reason to be nervous about this.  This was just a.. just a practical arrangement.  Pragmatism was important, in her current situation.  And the deadline was upon her.

If she kept telling herself that, she could maybe trick herself into believing it long enough not to panic and back out.  She used to be so much better at self-delusion.

Luckily, Jawbone was in the first place she looked, working on a shelf in that room that had proven unbalanced when they'd tried putting anything.  "Oh, good morning, Aelwyn!"  He said, waving a hand with a hammer at her.

"Ah, good morning.  Do you.. maybe have a few minutes?"  She asked, trying to steel her resolve.  She could get through one conversation.  She'd managed seventeen years (give or take) dealing with her parents.

She just wanted to get through this one without lying, unlike most of those.  It made things a lot harder.  Worse, Jawbone had made it clear that he wanted to hear what she truly thought, and not just what she thought he wanted.  Difficult, at best, even if Adaine seemed to think he was being completely honest and Aelwyn couldn't disprove it.

"Of course, I was about ready to take a break, anyway.  I swear this thing is cursed; I've remeasured three times and it seems like it should be flat."  Jawbone said, setting the tools down on the table and taking a seat.  "What can I do for you, Aelwyn?"

She swallowed.  She just needed to get the words out, that was all.  "..I.  Well, my birthday's not long, now."  She waited for him to nod; she'd been half expecting him to bring it up, given that they were down under two weeks now.  "I.. still worry that you're going to regret making the offer you made, someday.  Still, it would be.. foolish of me to pass on it.  But.  I want to ask for a promise from you, before I.. before I go forward with it?  If that's not too much, I know you're already doing so much for me by doing this."  Aelwyn added, her stomach twisting.

Jawbone nodded, slowly.  "..What kind of promise is that, Aelwyn?"  He asked, his full attention on her.

"I just..  Before anything, I need a promise that if it ever came down to it, if you ever had to make a choice legally or otherwise between shielding me or Adaine, you would shield her."  Aelwyn said, rubbing at her eyes, her vision blurring a little bit.  Damn it, she'd wanted to at least be stoic through this.  She probably hadn't even had to ask for this; Adaine was the daughter he had wanted, and this was just a practical favor to her, but.. she needed to stop herself from even having any hope of deflecting future problems onto Adaine, of ever letting her mind grow back to the way it had been.

She felt his hands on her shoulders, and a great sigh, and.. oh, she'd said the wrong thing by asking for this, but she'd needed to.

But when his voice came, it was gentle as ever, instead of weighed down with disappointment the way she'd expected.  "Aelwyn.  I know why you're asking for this, but it's not something that someone who wants to be a loving parent could ever agree to.  It's not normal, to always choose one child over the other, and it's not right, and it would be doing both you and Adaine a disfavor if I agreed to it.  There are always ways to try to help both of you, to do right by everyone.  Okay?  I'm not perfect either, and I'm sure I'll make mistakes, but I would truly love if you put trust in me to do my best for the both of you."

Aelwyn hesitated.  That.. that was reasonable, and made sense, but still.  She bit her lip, not really wanting to say the next part aloud, but he needed to know it.  "...I don't know if I can ever trust myself again.  I've done so much wrong, and I think...  I'm trying to be better, but how can I trust my own judgement with that?  Can you at least promise me you'll tell me if I'm acting badly?"

Jawbone paused before continuing.  "...That, I can promise, because I would do that for Adaine or Tracker or Kristen or even Ayda, too.  Aelwyn, that's the kind of thing most people do have to learn, from family or otherwise; it's a rare person who's possessed of an inate sense of justice.  So, that's just asking for me to be your parent.  And I'm more than happy to do that, I really am.  Can you allow me to be a parent for you, then?"

Aelwyn sniffed, trying to come up with any kind of response to that, but she just nodded instead.

"Can I give you a hug?  And then we can take care of the paperwork, we'll make it the priority for today."  Jawbone said, squeezing his arms around her when she nodded again, unable to stop herself from openly crying now.

Later that day, when she was filling out forms testifying to her desire to do this, Aelwyn reached a spot on the form that caused her to hesitate in a way that none of the rest had, even though as part of it she had had to recount her treatment in Fallinel (particularly by her father, and of her mother seeing it and simply leaving) to the best of her ability.  This was a much simpler question, a yes or no, not something that should have required too much thought.

It felt like a final turning of her back on her homeland, one she still had some memories of that were from being a small child (as opposed to the remaining, fragmented recent ones of being tortured for months), and at the same time like she was stealing something from Adaine, to say yes, even though she was certain Adaine wouldn't see it that way.

But...  

Allow him to be a parent to her.  And she had agreed.  And... she wanted to mean it.

Aelwyn checked the box yes to change her name.

Notes:

I believe this effectively finishes the 'Aelwyn moves in' and 'Mordred Manor movein' arcs for now, so probably a LITTLE less fluff for a bit! Probably not much less Aelwyn PoV though. She's trying, y'all, but she's still a mess.

Also, I might at some point try to actually write the Ayda and Fig conversations here as supplemental material or as a one-shot but trying to do even close to as well as the source material handles it feels like an impossible task.

Chapter 43: Bolt

Summary:

The Bad Kids eat at the Bad Diner. Aelwyn plots new ways to get to school.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Aelwyn was nowhere near her, a dozen miles away signing adoption paperwork, the first time she saved Adaine's life.

The Bad Kids had gotten together on a Saturday; Ayda was occupied with Compass Points business, so they'd seen it as a good opportunity to hang out in a way they hadn't really done enough of since Kalvaxus.  Adaine privately was hoping it would help repair some of the tension that had still been there ever since her argument with Riz, even though they'd smoothed it over as best they could.

They hadn't been smart enough to pick up a quest or anything, though, and it was too cold to justify anything else.  They ended up going to a diner that Fig and Gorgug had been mailed gift certificates to, Gorgug driving his parents' van.  "I think it's from a fan of the band, you know?  Hoping we'll stop by there and give an endorsement to the place."  Fig had said.  Adaine, privately, was a little skeptical about the endorsement part upon seeing the place; they'd been to a lot of sketchy restaurants in Elmville but this might be the greasiest looking of the lot yet.

Riz had spoken up at this point, even though they all knew he could eat just about anything.  "..This place hoped you would give them an endorsement?"

"...Maybe they just want to see rock stars in their place, huh?"  Fig had said, folding her arms.

The food had proven just as poor as Adaine had feared; she'd gotten a BLT in hopes that they couldn't possibly get that wrong, and even it was just barely edible.  Still, it gave them an excuse to sit at a table inside and be loud for a while, without just hanging around Mordred Manor.

"I'm pretty sure we're going to end up moving in by Solstice."  Fig was saying, waving a hand around.  "Mom and Jawbone seem to be getting along great."

Adaine laughed, sipping at her water.  Which somehow also tasted just a little greasy.  "You don't need to actually live there to just come and visit Ayda, you know.  Dad set aside a room for her, in case she doesn't feel like walking the extra fifteen feet to Leviathan, I guess.  I think it's mostly to make her feel more welcome, really, but we've got no shortage of rooms as long as you don't mind one that might be in a dank secret passageway."

It was good to have just a social occasion with her friends, again, and Adaine could feel a little tension rolling off her back.  She didn't even mind when the waitress and Fig ended up in an argument over the gift certificates.

"Those are fake, hun.  We don't have gift certificates here.  Does this really look like the kind of place that people send their friends to as a gift?  Someone's been playing tricks on you."

That wasn't really the most rousing defense of the restaurant, but it WAS convincing enough for Adaine to believe that they were fake, and Riz seemed not far behind her.  "..Why would someone want to get you two to come here?  Can I see the certificate?"

"Let's just go, the Ball.  I'll pay for it, this entire place would be pocket change to pay for."  Fabian said with a huff, going to get the bill.  Not that Adaine minded that, because she didn't really carry money and it was awkward fishing coins out of the Jacket.

Riz had insisted on taking the certificate anyway, reading through it.  "..Why would they require you to have a party of six to use a promotional gift certificate, exactly?"

Gorgug shrugged.  "I thought they were just wanting to get the band there as a group when I looked at that."

"Yeah!  Plus our manager, for the sixth.  So I thought I'd take advantage and just bring you all."  Fig said, with a smirk.  Even though it had obviously not worked.

Something about that certificate seemed wrong, though.  Adaine took it, frowning, as they made their way out of the restaurant's exit.  "I think..."

She skipped the ritual,  casting Detect Magic.  The certificate that Fig had been given had previously had a spell on it, but there were just traces left now.  Looking deeper..  something designed to trigger when it was taken to a certain place?  Maybe Aelwyn or Ayda could figure it out, exactly.  It didn't seem to have had any effect on them within the diner.

There was a twanging sound, just at the very far edges of the range that she could hear with her elven ears and werewolf senses, and Adaine looked up from the sheet at the same moment as Riz started to move, sensing it as well.  Almost on pure instinct, a hand lifted up and brought up a Shield just before a crossbow bolt would have caught her in the neck, instead sending it bouncing off and then onto the ground somewhere in front of her.  "Ambush!"  She called out, looking around with eyes wide.

Another bolt, a moment later, but Gorgug had stepped in front of her by then and it caught him in the side, to her alarm.

No-one came out.  Her ears caught footsteps, fading, but she couldn't spot anyone, nor did her friends who had lept into action at her word and the attacks, Kristen quickly tugging the bolt out of Gorgug and healing the wound in case it was poisoned.  Which it clearly was, but not for him, Adaine thought.

It was pure silver.

"..I think they're fleeing.  Maybe a solo assassin attempt?"  Riz asked.

That was probably the case, but if so none of them were able to track the assassin.  They did find the bolt on the ground, also a pure form of silver.  Either of these in the right place if she hadn't seen them coming could have very well killed her.

She wasn't certain how they were planning to get away with her corpse to turn in if they'd succeeded, or for that matter how they were going to prevent Kristen from resurrecting her, but she wasn't certain she wanted to know either.  Something to look into later, she decided, because as the adrenaline of that brief sort of combat faded it was replaced with worry.  That had either been someone under a Greater Invisibility or someone VERY good at sneaking about, and she was going to need to be much, much more paranoid.

Kristen was hugging her, and she realized she'd frozen up.  "Hey, it's okay, we've got you.  Go ahead and let go, if you want, we can get you home."

She ended up just curling up as a wolf between Kristen and Fig in the van, trying not to spiral too deep about the attack.  It hadn't been a very thorough effort, but it still could have ended with her death; they could only get worse from here.

She failed at not spiraling deeper, even as a wolf, starting to imagine a life spent needing to dodge invisible assassins around every corner.


Riz frowned to himself within the van, still looking over Fig's copy of the gift certificate.  "...When did you say you got this?"

"I dunno, a couple of weeks ago."  Fig said, but she was looking stressed about it and trying to cover that rather than actually not caring, her hand resting on Adaine's head where she was shivering and resting as a silver-furred wolf next to her in the back seat of the van.  It was never completely clear to Riz when she was like this if she was really aware of what was going on around her, since sometimes she was and sometimes, she wasn't.

He was mad at himself about this one, more even than Fig or Gorgug.  The whole deal had seemed sketchy from the start; they should have left right away.  He should have insisted on it.

"..Probably either something magic on the certificate to track when we were there or just someone at the restaurant was in on it.  If it'd been a couple weeks, maybe they weren't able to get the full force together in time but still tried?  It seemed a little weak."  Riz worried.  "They must have had some plan for if it hit, or maybe it was just an agent of Fallinel instead of someone after the reward.  Can I take these for evidence?  Adaine can look at them later, too."

"They're not following us now with them or anything, are they?"  Gorgug asked, even as they pulled into the Mordred Manor driveway.

"Too late to worry about that now.  There's enough protections on this place that they're going to be hard-pressed to hit it, anyway; if they had the resources for that, we'd have had a big fight at the restaurant."  Riz decided as they got out of the van, Adaine apparently recovered enough to follow after.

"Oh, hey, I didn't expect you all back yet!"  Jawbone called from somewhere in the house as they stepped through the door, and glancing around to see who wanted to speak up, Riz started towards the living room.  Fabian followed, the others staying with Adaine.

Jawbone was there, of course; so was Aelwyn.  A second glance, there, because she looked like she'd been crying.  Were they intruding on a therapy session?  As much as Riz didn't like Aelwyn, he also didn't want her to snap and go back to trying to kill them, but she would probably want to know this sooner rather than later, too.

A closer look around the room and he spotted the paperwork on the table between Jawbone and Aelwyn.  Oh.  Well, if this was a happy moment, they'd already spoiled it, so just forward through it.

"Adaine's okay."  He started with, because that was the most important thing to let them know, and that was a leadin that got both of their full attention.  "Someone set us up so they could take a shot at her, but she noticed in time and they missed, and then Gorgug shielded her.  He got hit, but he was okay; they were using silver bolts."

As he went into the longer explanation, he started to try to think of ways to investigate further, to track down anyone who might have been in on it, but a creeping dread was settling onto him.  Unless they could deal with the problem at the source - Fallinel - Adaine was probably going to need to be paranoid about this for the rest of her life.

Which meant the people who cared about her needed to be paranoid for her, because she certainly wouldn't be careful enough on her own.

He just had to convince the other Bad Kids of this.


The planned day out ended up turning into an evening in well enough, Fabian thought.  Adaine had eventually gotten herself back into elf form but still seemed a little out of it; she was resting her head against Gorgug's side, having thanked him for protecting her, and Jawbone had ordered pizzas for the group.  "No discounts, no worries, right?  I'll pick it up, most places won't deliver here because of the curses anyway."

Riz and Aelwyn were in a discussion - which was weird to watch - over the gift certificate, Aelwyn's spellbook in front of her as she shook her head, a worried frown on her face as he moved closer to the two of them.  "..There's not going to be a way at this point to find exactly where this came from.  Maybe before the magic was used up on it, but it seems to have just been a one-time effect when you actually took it to the restaurant.  It seems like a longshot attempt, so my guess is there's probably a bunch of similar things going on.  It's not how I'd do it, but low risk, high reward, right?  They only have to succeed once, if they can prevent reviving her."

She was still a shadow, at most, of the bright flame she'd been at that party.  Maybe that was still worth pursuing, but it felt a little gross to do right now, Fabian had decided.

"How would you do it, then?"  Fabian asked, curiously.  "Not Adaine, but..  someone with similar protection and capabilities to her.  And circumstances."  Asking Aelwyn to make herself plot to a method to kill Adaine was probably just going to make her spiral, and then they'd have two elf wizards who mostly couldn't hold a conversation right now instead of just one.

She still seemed to fixate on it for a moment, then did pull herself out, thankfully. "Depends on the resources available, but trying to attack in between here and school seems like the most straightforward route.  Probably on the way to school; the time is a lot more predictable for that.  There's a lot of protections here, and at your school there's a whole lot of half-trained adventurers to worry about.  Getting someone into a position she'd trust might work, too, but she's tough to fool with anything like.. like an illusion of Jawbone, maybe.  Might be a way that someone who didn't know her as well would try, though.  But it sounded like this person might be a lone operative, so she's probably going to need to worry about them taking another shot from hiding sometime."

Aelwyn was still frowning, and pulling up a map of Elmville on her crystal, starting to map out different routes to get to the school.

Well, that might not have been as helpful as he'd hoped, but at least it would send Aelwyn into a paranoid fit of figuring out protections instead of anything darker.  Fabian would call that a win for the moment.

Notes:

Good thing SOMEONE insisted on making you learn and prepare shield, Adaine.

Adaine won't generally spiral at the threat of death or from violence, but the idea of needing to be ready for combat at an instant's notice for the foreseeable future (and she can foresee a whole bunch of future)? Yeaaah, that's a lot for a fifteen year old to worry about.

I've moved over some of the extra material I'd posted to Tumblr to the third story in this series, plus notes I had about the differences between Lunacy Adaine and Canon Adaine as of a couple chapters ago. I'll still be posting things like cut content there first, but eventually it'll end up over here in that.

Chapter 44: Guard

Summary:

Riz and Aelwyn discover a common hobby. Adaine has a conversation where the participants are a quarter-visible between them.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Adaine sighed to herself as she got ready for school, the Monday after that first assassination attempt.  A few days ago, she would have been thrilled to see Riz and Aelwyn getting along; even after returning her Abjuration spellbook, Riz had seemed suspicious of her, and Aelwyn shied away from talking to any of the other Bad Kids unless they made an effort to engage her.

And it was nice that the two of them had a common interest.  She just wished on some level that the common interest had not been her, even though being met with that kind of concern was kind of nice.

She'd been slightly bemused at first by it, up until the point where they seemed to be each trying to out-paranoia the other; Aelwyn with a full list of spells she should cast before leaving for or from the Adventuring Academy, Riz with increasingly obscure and bizarre routes to school.

That had eventually reached the alarm stage once Aelwyn, to Adaine's shock and the general dismay of everyone else there, won the informal paranoia contest, maybe the first time Riz had lost in that category.

"We should.. or I guess I should, or Adaine should?..  modify everyone but Adaine's memory so they don't remember any of these plans.  Or maybe so that we remember wrong plans?  What do you think?  I'd have to teach Adaine how, or you'd have to trust me to do it because I'd have to do mine last."  She'd asked Riz, who was staring at her in horror as she casually discussed that as though it were a fait accompli.

Thankfully, Jawbone had interceded at that, and while he'd knelt down and put an arm around Aelwyn and talked quietly, she'd still been able to hear.  "Aelwyn, do you remember we agreed to earlier today?  This isn't something you should do, okay?  Are you even certain of what kind of damage a Modify Memory spell will do to your mind at this point?"

"O.. oh.  Well, I could maybe try to make it triggered if one of us was to be captured or tortured for information?  ...No?  If it's for her sake..."  Aelwyn had whispered, looking a little confused.

"Remember what I said about doing a disfavor to both of you?  You shouldn't do that, either."  And whatever had been meant by that, Aelwyn had just looked troubled and nodded, resuming her work with Riz and eventually the two of them had presented her with a daily calendar and plans for the next four weeks.

Mage Armor, Augury to see if the planned route was safe, Invisibility for the trip there and back, and then sneaking some of the most backwards ways imaginable on foot half the time rather than taking the brief ride with Jawbone.  Thankfully Mordred Manor wasn't far at all from the Academy; unfortunately, they had decided that meant sometimes that she should go insanely out of her way to avoid the obvious paths.

Today wasn't as bad as all that, thankfully.  She was going to be tempted to go wolf on a few of the really bad days, just for speed.  This one was just going to involve cutting through Cravencroft Cemetery, which was abandoned this early in the morning.  The dice she preferred to use for Augury had come back with a good result, and so she hadn't had to fall on the various backup plans that had been prepared for her.

Backup plans that were somehow less dignified than tiptoeing through a graveyard, invisible, at the crack of dawn.

"Oh, hey, Adaine."  Came a voice from just behind her, getting her to nearly jump out of her skin, whirling around to see a faint image of Zayn Darkshadow there.  "It's kind of early to be heading to school, isn't it?  Why are you invisible, anyway?"

Adaine sighed in relief but held the invisibility.  Just because Zayn could see through it didn't make it worthless.  "Fallinel's put a reward on my head, some people are trying to kill me to collect.  My party and my sister are being a little... zealous about me taking precautions."

"Aah.  Well, that's okay, right?  At least it means that you're not alone."  He said, glancing around the graveyard.  "...I mean, if you get tired of it, you can come by here more often."

Adaine paused, considering that offer.  "..Zayn.  Are you.. happy here?"  He did seem happier than he'd been before, but it had to be lonely here.

"I mean, it's way better than anywhere I lived before I died?"  Zayn said, which.. she had been in his apartment, and that was true enough.

Still.  This was too sad.  "...Jawbone and his niece and Kristen and me and my sister all just moved into a super cursed and haunted old house.  If you might want to come haunt there, instead?  It's not much further from the Academy, for getting to school, just over that hill.  You'll have to put up with a lot of howling around the full moon, though."  She warned him.  "If you need a formal invitation from the house owner or anything, just tell Jawbone I told you to ask."

Zayn nodded at that, considering.  "Hey, thanks, Adaine.  That sounds great.  I hope you don't get assassinated, though you're welcome to haunt here if you do, too."

"Thanks, Zayn, but I think I'm committed to an afterlife.  Or to tormenting my birth father for an eternity, I'm not sure if that still applies."  She'd kind of like it to, though.  The rest of time wasn't too long to try to make her parents pay for what they'd done, to her and Aelwyn both.


She had been fifteen minutes later than scheduled after stopping to talk to Zayn, and she hadn't been able to send anything on her crystal because it had also been invisible.  This had naturally caused Riz to be extra-anxious when she popped back into sight near the entrance of the Academy next to where they had gathered.

"..You didn't have to come here early just to meet me.  It's fine, I just ran into a friend and wanted to talk."  She explained, giving Kristen a confused look when she started making kissing noises.

"We were worried you'd run into trouble."  Riz said, sighing.  "You'll use one of the emergency signals if you DO get attacked or anything, right?"

"Ayda'll get alerted if I get hurt badly enough, you know.  It was fine, don't worry about it.  I'm being careful, I'm following the plans, I just wasn't going to be rude to a friend who could start a zombie apocalypse if we made him too upset, yeah?"

Adaine was fairly certain she was immune to ending up a zombie courtesy of already having lycanthropy, but still, no reason to tempt fate.

Hopefully they would at least let her be a few minutes off in the future without going crazy about it.


Unfortunately, her opinions on the actual class time were starting to solidify, and now even become worse.  Ayda being able to teach her better was one thing; she was, after all, another diviner, something the Academy sorely lacked.  But...

Aelwyn didn't like to talk about it, but her spellcasting had been damaged by her torment in Fallinel, and she still sometimes ran into gaps where her mind clearly wasn't right, moments where she seemed to lose the language to communicate ideas or concepts that were still fully formed somewhere in her head.  And yet, in spite of that, in spite of all their bad history together, AELWYN was better at teaching her spells than her instructors at the Academy were.  Which had started to make her think that maybe the instructors at the Academy were just kind of not great at their jobs.

Maybe something to complain to Aguefort about the next time she saw him, though that was jumping on a live explosive runes.  At least if he sent her to the Swamp of Ruins or something Fallinel would be very unlikely to find her, so long as she kept the Compass Points pendant on.  There was always the chance he might teach her himself for a class or two, though, which was both intimidating and exciting as a possibility.

Her disinterest in another round of trying to make a better magic missile or firebolt aside, her grades in the wizard classes weren't great anymore, partly because she stopped doing assignments that were obviously just busywork with little redeeming academic value, partly because of her frequent absences.

Some of the elective classes that weren't specific to wizardry at least still were going well.  Her General Arcana class was easy, and Esoterica remained interesting on a class to class basis, even if she mostly just spent it passing notes back and forth with Riz.


Her current academic dissatisfaction aside, Riz and Aelwyn's plans had worked well enough through the first week, which was to say no one had made an attempt to kill or kidnap her on the way to and from school.  She wasn't doing any after class activities, and she'd been skipping watching Bloodrush practices.  But the season was winding towards the end, and it would be rude of her to miss what might be the last game, especially since this was the match against Hudol, so she had talked Riz and Aelwyn into adjusting the schedule to allow her to go to that, at least.

She was sitting in between Fig and Kristen; Tracker and Ayda had come out as well, though Ayda was attracting quite a lot of attention for many reasons.  She was also not paying any attention to anything that was happening aside from Fig.

"I'm going to grab a drink, anyone else want something?"  She asked, next to the two making out couples, beginning to get a little uncomfortable between them, moving Boggy from where he had been resting in her lap up to her shoulder in preparation for the walk.

"I can get that for you."  A familiar voice said behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder.  Adaine turned, looking confused at the wood elf behind her, who watched back for a moment, then pointed her hand out at Adaine.  Aelwyn's voice spoke into her head.  "...You should stay here, Ayda has a ward running."

Adaine responded to the Message, alarmed.  "You definitely shouldn't be here, there are so many Hudol students here!"

Another casting later, and Aelwyn had just a hint of her old condescension in her voice.  "That's why I'm disguised, obviously.  Well, and to avoid Ostentatia Wallace hitting me with a hammer again, mostly.  The Hudol students can't do anything to me, anyway, I already got expelled and even in my current state none of the ones who would bother showing up for this could touch me."

Aelwyn left, coming back a while later with two drinks in her hands and a bucket of popcorn slightly behind her carried by a Mage Hand, offering one of the drinks and the popcorn bucket down to Adaine.

"I am certainly not rooting for your Academy, but I think as an expel-ee of Hudol I'm allowed to root against them."  Aelwyn said, a smirk on the wood elf form she'd taken's face as the game continued.  "...Maybe for Percival to get hurt, too.  Or he might have graduated, I can't remember if he was a senior or not."

Adaine stayed quiet, not knowing the answer, and just split the popcorn with her sister.


The next week, in quick succession, had a few events.  Aelwyn's eighteenth birthday was Thursday; her second full moon with Jawbone, Tracker, and Adaine was Wednesday, meaning that Adaine at least was likely to be unable to do much celebrating on the day of.  Adaine had already gotten one present for the birthday itself, bartered with from Ayda - though celebrations of them had never been a big deal in their family.  That hadn't been specific to just Adaine, or even just to the two of them; Adaine wasn't even certain when her birth parents' birthdays were.  Maybe if you expected an infinite supply of them, it diminished the value of any single one.

Still, there was one other thing she wanted to get Aelwyn.  It had been almost two months since she was rescued, but Adaine hadn't seen her transform at all (aside from a full moon, presumably, that Adaine herself did not really remember).  The curse wasn't good, but being able to go into wolf form was a great boon to make up for some of it, she'd found.

Tracker, back before Adaine's own very first moon, had been right when she'd said it was easier in the days near the moon.  Adaine had selected Sunday night to make the attempt, mostly because of not having had to blow a lot of energy on getting to and from school.

"Aelwyn.  I thought I might try to teach you something?  As an early birthday gift, maybe?"  She said to her sister, a little uncertain now that the time had come.  Maybe Aelwyn didn't want to be reminded of the curse the rest of the month, but she at least should be able to in an emergency.  It was a lot faster running away as a wolf, if nothing else.

Aelwyn looked up from the book she was looking through, anyways.  "...What's that?"  She asked, curiosity clear.

Adaine did not actually demonstrate; Aelwyn had seen her do this dozens of times by now, and in any case Adaine did not think, with zero transformations outside of the moon, that it was about a lack of mechanical knowledge.  "I think you should practice and learn how to take a wolf form when you need to."  She said, instead, and that got Aelwyn looking away, a hand touching at her other shoulder, where Adaine knew scars from her own teeth were.

Adaine sat down on the bed next to Aelwyn, Boggy leaping down from where he'd been perched on the dresser to Happily Be Here at Aelwyn as support.  

Aelwyn said, not meeting her eyes or looking directly at Boggy.  "Tracker tried with me last month, a little.  I couldn't get it; she thought I might just need more time."

Adaine nodded, thinking that over a moment.  "..I think she might have been right, but not really literally?  For me, it's a state of mind problem.  It still takes me a while to get it, but really I have the opposite problem of you; I'm more likely to become a wolf without meaning or wanting to.  I assume you haven't ever actually taken wolf form even when I wasn't around?"  Adaine asked, waiting for the shake of the head before continuing.

"See, I have a theory that...  For Tracker, and Jawbone, they were both way younger than we are now when they were bitten, I think.  So they didn't have as much baggage getting in their way, so...  Anyway.  I think what it might be for you is, um.  You're too embarrassed about being a wolf to let go of control.  Or, not even embarrassed, but..."  She started to trail off, Aelwyn interrupting.

"...You think Fallinel's attitude about it has stuck to me."  Aelwyn said, but it wasn't defensive.  She seemed to be contemplating the idea.  "I suppose I could see that, if enough of me is revolted at the idea...  It's, ah, not like I'm unpracticed at hating parts of myself."

It was a good sign, that she could say things like that out loud, Adaine reminded herself.  It was progress.  "Right, well.  I think you need to focus on being okay with it.  It'll probably come naturally, at least a little, if you can remove that block.  Just close your eyes for me, and picture yourself changing, and know that nobody here is going to be mad at you for it or anything."

She softly coached Aelwyn that way for nearly half an hour.  She was close to giving up and looking for another approach when it happened; a whimper of pain escaped Aelwyn - even the willing transformations were not exactly comfortable - and then, Boggy softly croaking at her, there was a silver wolf in the clothes Aelwyn had been wearing.

She was about the same size as Tracker, so larger than Adaine herself was as a wolf but smaller than the full wolf form she'd very rarely seen Jawbone take.  The fur was almost a dead match for Adaine, though her eyes were the same golden that Jawbone or Tracker carried rather the slightly glowing silver that Adaine had been told hers were as a wolf.  "Hey, there you go!"  Adaine said, even though it had taken far, far too long for it to be practical.  Speed was maybe something Aelwyn could train towards, and just this moment she seemed to be confused, probably by the ways in which senses reprioritized themselves while a wolf.  At least the form came with instinctual understanding on moving in it; it would have been embarrassing, having to relearn how to walk, Adaine thought as Aelwyn kept moving around.  "You might be stuck like that for a little while at first until you can get more practice at changing back.  I mean, it still takes me a while before I can, but I know Tracker's a lot faster at it than me so you probably will be too."

Adaine smiled at her happily, making her way back to her feet, bringing Boggy up to her shoulder.  "..Come on, let's show Jawbone and Tracker."  She said.  It would help, for Aelwyn to show herself and not be rejected, Adaine thought.

Notes:

Jawbone is, of course, referring to Aelwyn's request that he stop her from acting badly. In fairness, not caring about the cost to herself of actions properly is ALSO a problem Adaine has. (Also, he's not wrong that Aelwyn doing further modifications on her own mind is probably pretty dangerous at this point, given that her mind is already under severe reconstruction, but even canonically Aelwyn seems willing to modify her own memory at the drop of a hat; she does it several times)

Also Mordred Manor gets one step closer to its canonical occupancy. Just need Fig and Sandra Lynn and Ragh and Lydia!

Because it might be unclear in the text - Adaine is not yet aware that Aelwyn and Jawbone proceeded with the adoption; they probably would have told her after signing the paperwork, except the assassination attempt was a distraction, and now they're kind of holding off for it to go through.

Chapter 45: Purpose

Summary:

Aelwyn does some home repair. Jawbone doubles his official daughter count.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Aelwyn had intentionally avoided taking any volunteer work for the day of or after the full moon, and so unintentionally ended up with the entire week free.  Her schedule had been getting fuller before that, as she'd become more trusted she suspected, but thankfully she hadn't actually had to fight anyone since that first mission.  She was, on the bright side, staying well ahead of her required community service time now, and she'd found that she didn't actually mind being around the groups of kids now that she wasn't really being treated like one.

The free time was a little much, really, but at least now she had an entire cursed manor to help work on instead of just sitting around an apartment while everyone else was at school, particularly on days where Tracker was busy.

Today, Tracker was probably around, though everyone else was at the Adventuring Academy; if Aelwyn remembered right, it was one of the days where Adaine was going to be taking a particularly obscure route back and so would be home late if the Augury okayed the route.

Indeed, Tracker was in the living room when Aelwyn headed in there for the first thing on her list.

"Oh, good morning Aelwyn."  She offered from where she was having breakfast.  "Did you end up sleeping the same way Adaine does?"  

"Yes.  I admit, I'm not certain why she loves it so much, I lost an extra four hours."  Aelwyn said, with a shrug as she made her way over to the shelf against a window that wouldn't stay level, no matter how much Jawbone worked on it.  Her dreams had been every bit as unpleasant as the memories she usually sifted through while trancing, if weirder and much more prominently featuring Kalina.  Both of them had wound their ways back to her time in a trance denial orb.  Maybe Adaine got better ones.  "I was an elf again when I woke up, too, so I'm not really certain how I ended up changing back."

"That's the same way Adaine did it her first time.  Me too, for that matter.  You'll figure it out eventually."  Tracker said, encouragingly.  Aelwyn pulled her spellbook out, working up towards a Detect Magic in relative quiet.

Ten minutes later, she opened her eyes as the ritual completed.  This spell was slightly dangerous to use within the Manor, not in the sense of a real threat but in the sense of the first time she had done so she'd wound up needing to lay down with a headache for a couple of hours afterwards; it was just an overwhelming amount of information if you weren't very careful about where you looked.  Aguefort's wards were all over the place, but focused against external threats, easy enough to ignore so long as you didn't look anywhere near the keystones or near whatever the hell that teleportation portal he'd installed in what was supposed to be a linen closet was.  There were just so many other effects layered everywhere that you had to focus very tightly, such on this shelf specifically and not look around the room.

"Huh.  Who OWNED this place before Jawbone, anyway?"  Aelwyn asked, examining what had to be the most petty curse she'd ever seen, a shelf cursed to be able to hold only a specific object and to be unremovable from the wall.  She couldn't really tell what object that was without having it there, but at a guess this was from someone who wanted to keep the decor the same for an eternity.

"We're not sure.  They apparently died like fifty years ago?  There was a caretaker for the place for a while but I think they were just preventing it from falling over."  Tracker answered, not looking up from her reading as Aelwyn pulled gloves on that she'd brought.

"Well, I should be able to remove this one, at least."  Most curses, unlike the curse of lycanthropy shared by most of the household, were still within her ability to handle, and Remove Curse would have to be cast from her energy; no slow and steady option there.

She could feel Tracker's eyes settle on her as she reached out and touched the shelf, murmuring the words to the incantation, and..  The curse ended, the entire shelf fell off the wall, landing on the floor with loud noise as she jumped back to not have her foot landed upon.

"...Guess the curse was the only thing keeping it attached to the wall."  Aelwyn said, after her heart settled down and her breathing steadied.

"I'll get a hammer and some nails."  Tracker answered with a sigh, dog-earing her page in the book and standing.


The next afternoon, Aelwyn found herself standing in a Bastion City courtroom, her hair now thankfully at least long enough to tame, wearing the nicest clothes she'd been able to pull from Adaine's jacket that were able to cover up most of her scarring from her time in the prison orb.

She was kind of wishing that she'd taken Adaine's offer, made wistfully that morning when Aelwyn had convinced her not to miss another day of school this week, to bring Boggy along.  (Bad enough, that she was making Jawbone miss a day of work.  Sabotaging Adaine's education would be no good at all; at least one of them really ought to graduate, and it clearly wasn't going to be Aelwyn.) The frog was growing on her in spite of herself, and maybe it would have made her seem a little younger, rather than what she was, which was someone two days short of her eighteenth birthday squeezing an adoption in to cheat the system.

Still, given everything, the odds of her first court appearance not being in handcuffs (silver ones now) or ending with her going to jail was probably quite low so she had to feel a little bit grateful for that.  Somehow, she'd still ended up here before Adaine, who had according to Jawbone done this process via crystal from a jail cell with her friends there.

There wasn't much required from her for this part of the process; the judge, who didn't LOOK like a man who would have ever needed Jawbone's help sneaking someone across the border, had asked her a few questions about her desire to go through with it and her treatment in Fallinel, but all of it had been well documented before now.  Jawbone had to do most of the talking.

They were only the active case for about fifteen minutes before...

"On behalf of the Council of Chosen, I pronounce this adoption finalized; congratulations, Mr. Jawbone O'Shaughnessey, and your daughter, Miss Aelwyn O'Shaughnessey."  A bang of the gavel pulled her back out of her head, and she hugged Jawbone when he offered and Tracker when she did.

"Come on, let's get home."  Jawbone said, as though that weren't an hour and a half train ride away.


They threw a party for her that night; a combination of a 'Happy Adoption!' party and a 'Happy 18th Birthday' party, since the day after the full moon would be more than slightly rough for her and Adaine, at least.  Tracker and Jawbone weren't at their best the day after, either, if not as debilitated as Adaine generally was; Aelwyn, in her one moon where she wasn't being constantly tortured, had been better off than Adaine but certainly not in what she would call a partying state.

Maybe a little like the morning after some of her past parties.  She'd always been able to fake her way through those.

It was mostly Adaine's friends and some of their parents, definitely nothing like the parties she was used to.  One of them brought a cake, which at got her attention; birthday cakes hadn't been a thing growing up.  There was other food, too, and two supplies of punch - one specifically marked as to be left alone, so Adaine and any others who didn't want to imbibe whatever might get put in the other one could avoid any issues.

It was a Tuesday, so Aelwyn really wasn't certain what to think about this tacit admission that there'd probably be at least some alcohol; worried about what kind of wretchedness Fig would put into the non-safe punch.

Ayda also came, though it was possible she'd been planning to wonder through that night anyway.  With Fig there, she'd said just a brief greeting to Aelwyn, but Aelwyn would try not to take offense to that.

Other than Tracker, Ayda, and maybe Kristen things were still tense at best between herself and Adaine's friends, so it wasn't really a surprise when she wound up after a couple hours sitting in the living room with mostly just adults; Riz's mother (a COP of all things, and not just that but one that a VERY fuzzy memory said had been the one to arrest her on that ill-fated night at Ostentatia Wallace's) and Sandra Lynn were there, and Jawbone had been in and out.  Zayn had come in a few times too; she hadn't really known him firsthand, but she'd known of his part as a catspaw and she wasn't really eager to have a talk with his ghost about it, no matter how friendly he seemed to be with Adaine.  She'd met Sandra Lynn several times, never failing to end up feeling like she was failing some kind of test on whether she was safe to be around her daughter.

Naturally, the test today involved a serious conversation.

"So I think getting citizenship gets you out of the ongoing requirements for your amnesty, doesn't it?  Have you thought about what you're going to do with your free time?"  Sandra Lynn asked, and...  Huh.  That was technically true, though she hadn't really thought about it.

"I.. think they might still be able to arrest me?  But I don't see a reason not to keep doing it.  It fills some time, and it's not really like anyone's about to hire a dropout criminal werewolf."  Aelwyn admitted.  "I can't really go back to school, I don't think I'm ever going to be suited for doing research again anyways, and..."  She trailed off, not certain if she wanted to admit what she was about to say out loud.

"And?"  Sklonda jumped in, pressing her.  Given that Sklonda was part of the 'they' who might be able to arrest her, Aelwyn felt some pressure to answer.

She darted her eyes around, making certain Adaine wasn't around (unless she was spying magically, but a Detect Magic would take too long, and she hadn't prepared See Invisibility) nor were any of her friends.  "...and I kind of like doing it?"  She admitted.  "I mean, most of the kids are obnoxious brats, but some of them have been okay."  Not the ones around her or even Adaine's own age; she'd been mocked by them for chaperoning them when she was clearly not an adult herself.  Which, they'd been MUMPLE students; they should have been grateful someone with some kind of useful skill would be there if they ran into trouble.

They hadn't, and she'd just had to eat the mockery.  That was still better than the alternative of some kind of attack actually happening.

She pulled herself back out of the spiral of memory of a dying man and a warm sword in her hand that took her into, realizing that Sklonda had said something after that.  "Ah, sorry?  I missed that."

Sklonda nodded, a frown on her face.  "Well.  Of course, there's nothing wrong with liking what you're doing.  Is there something in particular you enjoy about it?"

Aelwyn frowned, considering that question.  "I'm not really sure.  Maybe it's just feeling like I'm doing something useful?  Even though I'm sure it would generally be fine without me."  Mostly, parents ended up filling the roles, and they were rarely anything like as shorthanded as they'd been that day at the museum.  She'd typically been the strongest person along, but not always, and it had been rare that there wasn't SOMEONE else who could fight in a pinch.

It still felt kind of right to her.

Sandra Lynn cut in.  "..It's just, at some point soon you might want to start thinking about what you want to do in the future, long term.  There are night classes available, Aelwyn, or alternatives.  I believe Tracker is doing pure self-study?  There's no need to have everything planned out, not at all, but I think it might help you to have goals.  For yourself, not just for other people."  She added, before Aelwyn could even open her mouth to point out her main current goal was Adaine not being assassinated on behalf of their country of birth.

That was enough to make her pause.  "...Can wanting to keep people safe be a goal?"  She asked, aloud, folding her arms uncertainly.

"...It can be.  To some degree, it's what I do.  There are resources, things you could use in pursuit of that, if you wanted to make that your work."  Sandra Lynn said.

Aelwyn nodded.  "I.. I'll think about it."  She promised, surprised to discover she meant it, before excusing herself to go back to the kitchen for more of the definitely-not-alcoholic punch.

On her way there, she accidentally turned the corner and walked directly through Zayn Darkshadow, which left her absolutely shivering and him looking a combination of annoyed and embarrassed.  "Oh.  Aelwyn.  Congratulations on the adoption."

That was right.  He was an orphan.  ...Had quite a lot in common with Adaine, actually, now that she thought about it, from the little she knew.

"...Thank you.  Sorry about that.  Zayn, you were in the foster system, right..?  How lucky did Adaine get, after our parents disowned her?"  Not herself; she could have gotten through to adulthood, and in any case any trouble that had landed on her head would have been richly deserved.

Zayn paused, looking her over.  Whatever he saw, he eventually answered.  "Luckier than I hope she'll ever know.  It's bad for everyone, but it's worse for high elves and I think almost every werewolf kid I've ever even heard about besides her and Tracker have ended up living on the street or in jail.  I guess both of them did that for a while, too, actually.  Jawbone's incredible; I'm glad he let me start haunting here."

Aelwyn nodded, frowning and thinking to herself over that answer.  "..Ah.  Thank you for answering honestly, Zayn."  She said, before continuing to the kitchen.

Notes:

Aelwyn's starting to solidify some things in her heart, at least. I think this is the first chapter that's 100% her PoV? I'd have to double check that. It's not likely to be the last, regardless.

I'm posting this the morning of what is, here in the US, Thanksgiving Day. Regardless of where and when you're reading this from, thank you all for doing so; I'm deeply appreciative to have an audience for this beyond just myself in a few months.

Chapter 46: Sneak

Summary:

The O'Shaughnessey family has their first full moon in Mordred Manor, Kristen included. Adaine finds out something else she's better at than Aelwyn, to her surprise.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Adaine bounced her leg as she waited to get out of the Esoterica class that was her last of the day.  Normally one of her favorites, because every lecture was different and interesting, but with the energy of the full moon being mere hours away and today's topic not being something she wanted to hear one more word about, it was rather awkward.  She was trying to limit her amount of missed school at this point; the solstice only being a month away meant that moonrise was much earlier, though, and she would have had trouble focusing this close to it even if it weren't for the lecturer going over the current state of relations between Fallinel and Solace.

At least nothing had been directly said about either Fallinel's bounty on her head nor that it had been her sister and parents to kick off that war.

It did bring a thought to Adaine, though.  The Bad Kids had been using Elvish for a long time for more private communications, but given how much they were likely to need to fight elves in the near future...

We should invent a new language after all for working against Fallinel Circle Yes or No she wrote, sliding that over to Riz, who looked at her consideringly and then circled yes.  She smiled back and gave a thumbs up; she was sure if they presented it completed to the other Bad Kids they'd eventually agree.

At least if they bothered them enough.

Ignoring the lecture and retreating to the written word solely which was always much less stressful, she started making notes and writing out a basic structure for a language, leaning over so Riz could see and object to anything he didn't like.


This was going to be a strange full moon.  The first one in Mordred Manor, of course, but also the first one where Kristen would be remaining in the same home as them.  Her chapel was being temporarily warded against werewolves by Aelwyn, in what Adaine privately thought was a test run in case Sandra Lynn and Fig did end up moving in soon.

Kristen had been warned to not risk coming outside of her room until dawn.  Adaine was privately betting she slipped through the hidden passageway to check on Tracker anyway, but that would.. probably be okay.  Tracker, at least, wouldn't be a problem unless Kristen got too close.  If Adaine or even Aelwyn ended up in there...  Well.  Calm emotions had been effective enough in jail, she guessed.

Ayda probably wouldn't come through that night, though she might in the morning; as a Celestial Ayda had immunity to lycanthropy, but Adaine still hadn't wanted to hurt her or bite her, so she'd always left Adaine alone the nights of the full moon in Leviathan.  She'd said she would come the next day when she could, though, and that would be a kindness.

Especially because Adaine was also starting to worry that, for her, this moon might be a particularly bad one.  She'd managed to scribble down almost ten full pages of notes on her language project before Riz had shaken her out of it, the class long since having ended, and she'd made the emergency call to take the most direct and fastest route home after putting an invisibility on herself.  She would have shifted to a wolf form to make the trip faster, but she was pretty certain that she wouldn't have been able to get back out of it before the full moon hit.

Not that that was necessarily the worst thought.

With Kristen actually in the house, she let her take the job of helping Tracker out (or, rather, in) and instead started to wonder around the house, keeping Boggy with her.

She tilted her head, looking down at her familiar and considering whether it would be safe for him to be out tonight.  She could always resummon him, of course, but...  there was no reason at all he should have to get hurt like that when she could leave him up in the tower or even keep him stored away ethereally.

But he really might help her in the time leading up to the full moon.

She tried to communicate the question to him wordlessly, and since he was really a piece of her magic and maybe a normally-missing part of her soul, he understood.  Boggy croaked, and radiated reassuring Just Happy To Be Here energy, instead of any not sureness.

That was clear enough, then.  She'd see if it helped, and hopefully her more.. feral side would be in a good mood tonight, or at least would leave her frog alone.  She squeezed him to her chest tightly, trying to communicate her gratitude that he'd put himself in the line of fire for her comfort, and then turned a corner into one of the sitting rooms and found Aelwyn there on one of the couches that had been in the house when they'd moved in.  A good enough place to wait it out, especially since the mug in front of her meant that Jawbone was likely around somewhere.

Also, if Aelwyn was sitting there, it meant it had already been checked for curses, even if she was looking a little distant at the moment.

Hopefully her sister would be a little more in touch with reality in the leadup to this full moon than her previous one, but Adaine couldn't blame her if not, not when she was having a hard time staying fully present even with Boggy there herself, even with well over an hour and a half left until moonrise.  Adaine dropped onto the couch and immediately laid out to rest her head against Aelwyn's side.

She'd have to invent sign for the new language too, maybe.  Or make it a primarily sign based language.  Maybe that would help some?  But no, it was really the thought of trying to communicate more complex thoughts that just made her shut down around this time, not just them being verbal.

At the contact, Aelwyn startled slightly, looking down at her with a momentary confusion.  "Oh, you're alive!"  Aelwyn said, relief clear in her voice, but her sight still seeming a bit distant as she looked down at Adaine, and just where had she been mentally?  After a moment's consideration, Adaine lifted Boggy up and offered him over, Aelwyn taking him gently from her.

A moment later, Aelwyn was a little more focused, glancing down at her and away from the emotional support frog, and clearing her throat.  "Ah.  Adaine, good evening."

She didn't start panicking about their parents or anything, this time.  That was probably a good sign that Boggy and her own presence helped.  "Are you.. looking forward to having more space to run around in, this time?"  Aelwyn asked, and..  that was a question that was more complicated than yes or no, so she shrugged.

That drew a confused look from Aelwyn, so she forced herself to say what she meant.  "..It's me, but it's not me too."  She explained, not really certain how else to.  This was something she might have to share through Detect Thoughts if Aelwyn really wanted to know it; that was actually a reasonable thought to offer, sometime down the road.

After all, Adaine had dredged through the worst of Aelwyn's memories.  Sharing a few of her own worries might only be fair.

Aelwyn seemed to consider that, then nodded.  Maybe she would understand that kind of feeling, actually.  She started talking, but truthfully Adaine had burned through a lot of her remaining focus by answering that last question, so she just pressed her head against Aelwyn's side and felt the comforting buzz.  Eventually, at some point, Jawbone joined them, and the two of them were able to converse while Adaine just enjoyed their company and mentally counted down the remaining time to moonrise, a clock that was constantly in her head but never so precise as in the last couple of hours.

They stayed like that until time came, Aelwyn and Jawbone talking and Adaine only really listening to and understanding occasional snippets of it but just taking thrill in the company.

And then... instead of the usual complete blankness of memory between moonrise and morning, or the foggy memories as though through cloudy glass that she sometimes got, Adaine had crisp memories.  Not complete, just tiny snapshots, but still far more than she normally got.

Leaving Boggy unhurt but behind in the sitting room.  Dashing up and down the stairs to the tower, after all.  Howling back and forth across the manor, trying to find where Aelwyn and herself had lost track of each other after she'd squeezed through one of the secret passages that Aelwyn's larger form couldn't.

There were still more gaps than memories, but it was a good sign, she thought, not long after waking up in a part of the manor she didn't yet recognize with no windows and a rotting rug as the sole furnishing.  Aelwyn was kneeling over her, looking pretty bleary herself, and frowning.  "You okay?  ...Not sure how we got here.  I think this is some kind of cellar?"

Adaine shrugged.  If so, that meant stairs to get back up, and she wasn't going to be climbing any of those for a least a few hours.  "S'okay, I can just rest a while."  She spoke up, Aelwyn shaking her head in response.  

"I haven't checked this room for curses, and it smells kind of moldy to me anyway."

That was fair enough, but Adaine still wasn't going anywhere.  Aelwyn rolled her eyes once this became clear, placing a hand on Adaine's forehead and casting a spell Adaine did recognize, dragging them through a Dimension Door.  They came out in their tower, on top of Aelwyn's bed, Aelwyn asking.  "Can you really not cast right after, too?  I know you know that spell, I got it back from your book."

Adaine shook her head.  "..It's not that.  I don't prepare teleportation spells for the full moon.  Worried wolf-me will figure out how to cast them and hurt someone."  But the prior night had been progress in that area, she thought.  Maybe she wouldn't have to avoid that forever.

Aelwyn just placed a blanket on top of her and then unsteadily made her way down to the kitchen to get breakfast.  "Happy birthday!"  Adaine called after her, remembering at the last moment to do so.  "Your present from me is on our desk!"

Hopefully, she'd appreciate it, and Jawbone and Tracker's gift as well for that matter.


That Friday, Adaine's pre-school-trip Augury came up with a mixed result, promising both good and ill.  That was a first, and it got a frown out of her.  She'd had a few Woe results - which sent her onto backup plans - and plenty of positive or purely neutral results, which had mostly served to start to warn her if having gotten to school that day was really going to be a good thing or not.

Riz and Aelwyn, maybe having less of a grasp on the uncertainty this particular spell (or divination in general) could provide, hadn't really given her instructions on what to do in this circumstance.  On the other hand, Aelwyn WAS home, and if it might keep her from being screamed at later...

Oh, and keep her safe, she supposed.  Mostly she was interested in not getting Riz mad again, though.

She found Aelwyn in the dining room at the table, working on transcribing the spell Adaine had gifted her into her book.  It wasn't customized work, yet, though knowing Aelwyn there'd probably be some kind of modification to it soon enough, but it was just within what Aelwyn could still do, meant for the wizard who used both spells and swords, and would go great with the gift from Jawbone and Tracker of a short sword that could be used as an arcane focus.

"Hey, are you free for a little bit?"  Adaine asked.  "I got a weird result off my Augury and some extra security on the way to school might not be a bad idea, if you want to take an Invisible walk for a while."

Aelwyn paused in her writing, then shut the book.  "...Ah.  I can always come back to this, sure.  Give me two minutes?"  She asked, starting to pack away her things while Adaine waited.  "..One invisibility spell or two?"  She asked, thinking that over.  Aelwyn knew the security measures Adaine took, of course, having come up with them in conjunction with Riz and been convinced to not wipe them out of her own mind.

Adaine thought over that.  "...Best to do two.  If we run into anything where it needs to be dropped for me, you can be a reserve."

Aelwyn nodded, and they each used their own Invisibility, Adaine grabbing onto Aelwyn's shoulder and then her hand so they could avoid losing each other.  She got a little bit of a shocking realization, as they started out the door and along the planned path, Adaine taking the lead.

She'd always thought of Aelwyn as being the sneaky one, and maybe that was still true in terms of their attitudes generally, but it certainly didn't seem to be true when it came to actually SNEAKING.  Not that Aelwyn was even truly terrible able it, but her footsteps weren't muffled enough, she was kind of bad about brushing into things as they walked.. if Adaine was paying attention, she was pretty certain she would be able to tell where Aelwyn was under that invisibility, even if they weren't holding hands.

She wasn't certain at all that the reverse was true.  Months in Leviathan, and all her recent practice sneaking to and from school, had maybe made her a lot more suited for being clandestine than her sister was.

Today's route didn't quite take them through the Far Haven Woods, but it did take them near it, walking along a path that ran at the edge of it all the way to the Academy.

They were most of the way there when she spotted it -  a wounded dog maybe fifty feet away, near the woods, whimpering in pain and bleeding.  She almost automatically took a step to go help when she paused, and squeezed Aelwyn's hand as a signal to wait when her sister also started to move that direction.  Pointing at where she knew her sister to be...

"..I don't smell blood.  Do you?"  A mistake, but maybe if this was a trap wasn't planned by someone who knew that werewolves had keen senses even when they weren't wolves...

"...Ah.  No."  Aelwyn sounded uncertain; they hadn't planned this far in advance.  If the other Bad Kids were here, then that would be fine; Aelwyn and Adaine hadn't actually fought on the same side, though, and there was a lot less in the way of strength in numbers with two than six.

On the other hand, the two of them were both invisible and had Nondetection effects on, so...

"Let's wait it out and see if they drop it eventually?  We can maybe get some information about who's trying to kill me."

They had about forty-five minutes on invisibility, and after almost forty of those, the dog had continued to whine and beg.  But not get any worse, or any better...

And then, just when Adaine was about to suggest that they sneak far enough away to refresh Invisibility, at least twenty minutes after she should have been at school and in class, the dog shapeshifted up into a man wearing beaten leather armor.  "Alright, Muse, I'm done laying in the dirt for today.  This plan of yours isn't fucking working."

Three other figures dropped out of their own Invisibility, over near the tree line behind the dog, and Adaine's hand tightened around Aelwyn's.  Two of them had crossbows, loaded with what she could tell from here were silver bolts.  The third was clearly some kind of a spellcaster, a wood elf woman who was somehow familiar to Adaine, someone she'd definitely seen before but couldn't remember where.

"Oh, quit yer whining, cur.  All you have to do is lay there in the dirt until we get lucky and we stumble on whatever path she's taking.  Boothe's paying a fortune for proof of her bein' dead after burning his ship, and Fallinel's paying even more than that.  A couple weeks in this landlocked shithole is a low gods-damned price, but if you're not willing to pay it you can fuckin' swim back from here to Leviathan."

That was enough of a spark that Adaine remembered exactly where she'd seen this woman before.  Not in person, but in the book of book thieves from the Compass Points, one of the two that Ayda had ever told her not to go after because she'd either end up dead or killing her would be too much political trouble for the library.

She wondered which one it was, but either way..  best to talk to Ayda before making trouble.

Unfortunately, the four pirate assassins seemed more interested in an argument (three on one; the wood elf's money argument appeared to be carrying the day, and the two with crossbows seemed scared of her anyway) than in leaving, and their invisibility was about to run out.  She messaged her sister one more time, and then the two of them moved directly in the opposite direction of the pirates rather than trying to go past.

They made it far enough away to duck behind a tree just in time for the Invisibilities to expire, Adaine's a moment before Aelwyn's.

Notes:

I definitely knew I would be using one or both of the two OC NPCs mentioned waaaaay back when Adaine was getting her assignments from Ayda at some point around here. I reserve the right to use the pirate beholder one later, but he was not one of the four here.

Steel Wind Strike is an actual 5E spell that involves making a bunch of magical attacks with a weapon and optionally teleporting afterwards; it's a higher level AOE, and will use one of Aelwyn's higher level spell slots, but it a) DOES really fit with the style of any wizard who's using a sword and b) actually is better than you might think. She can't smite from these attacks, since they're spell attacks, though.

The sword isn't as fancy as the Sword of Sight that Adaine canonically gets that can also be used as a focus; it's magical but has no other effects. It's still a lovely gift from Jawbone and Tracker, and something that Aelwyn will find very useful.

Chapter 47: Word

Summary:

The group plots a reverse uno card for an ambush. It works out well enough.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Adaine's crystal, silenced as ever for her trip to school, had blown up with messages by the time she was able to look at it again.  They'd snuck back to the manor, rather than heading to school, and she was already going to miss at least her first full class for the day and probably most of the second.

None of the messages were from the school, of course.  Fig hadn't gone to any of her right classes for their entire freshman year, and in fact Adaine herself between werewolf issues, being in the hospital, and being in jail had missed somewhere between a third and half of all of her classes, and she didn't think the school had ever contacted her about it.

Missing when her friends weren't, though, for a second day in a row when people knew her patterns?  It wasn't just the other Bad Kids who had reached out, though the tone of their messages was much more..  aggressive.  Zelda and Ragh had both sent messages saying they hoped she felt better, for one.

By aggressive it really mostly just meant Riz, though, who had sent, between the group texts and her conversation with him, twenty-seven messages asking where she was and if she was okay.  Several of the others had been worried too, but none of them had been quite so expressive about it.

She started typing up an explanation in the group chat, deleted it two sentences in, and just sent 'im okay well talk at lunch.'

"Should I know who Boothe is?"  Aelwyn asked, breaking the silence.  "It's not a name I'm familiar with, to have money on your head, but these things do slip my mind."

"I didn't even realize he DID have money on my head.  I've never met him in person, but I did set his ship on fire while stealing a library book back from him.  I guess he took it personally?  Or, no, it's probably a reputation thing.  Pirates can be kind of weird with that stuff.  We need to talk to Ayda, Boothe isn't really the problem for right now.  I think she'll know something about that wood elf, and I think she's more dangerous than Boothe is."  Adaine said, continuing to reply to messages.

"She'll probably be by after lunch, or after school.  Are you going to go in to the Academy?"  Aelwyn asked, a worried frown on her face when Adaine looked up.

"I think I should, if for no other reason than to keep Riz from killing me."  Adaine said, wincing as she went back through the backscroll and added another message.  'saw maybe running into trouble, brought aelwyn, its fine really'

"Yes, we wouldn't want to add to the list of people who want to kill you."  It was rare these days to hear that tone of familiar sarcasm in Aelwyn's voice, and maybe Riz wasn't the only one upset even if Aelwyn wouldn't yell about it.  "Speaking of, may I have that full list sometime?"

Adaine paused and gave it serious consideration.  If Boothe was coming back to bite her in the ass, it probably was worth thinking about who else might turn back up.  "...Well, there's Fallinel of course, Angwyn in particular I think might - I came close to killing him once and hurt him pretty badly again, and both of those were in like four on one fights where I was the one - there might be a few other people in Leviathan but Ayda would know better than me, any remaining agents of Kalvaxus but you would probably know who they are better than I do...  Hm.  There's a decent number of dead people, if they ever came back as ghosts?  That's without getting into the people who would want to kill me just for being a werewolf or the oracle.  Besides Fallinel.  I don't actually think Riz will, though he might scream at me more if he thinks I'm not being safe enough.  And Ayda has said some things about occasionally thinking of kidnapping me and putting me somewhere safe-ish in the Compass Points, and she doesn't usually make jokes about that kind of thing?"

But when she looked back over, Aelwyn was staring at her in that way that meant at least half of what she was seeing was that damned orb, her ears pressed flat, a tremble in her hand as she tried to fight through it.  "..Wh.. when you say you came close to killing Father..?"

Oh.  Right.  Adaine did not think that this was Aelwyn being upset that she'd made the attempt.  "...He's obviously got access to magic beyond what either of us do," especially now, but even before Aelwyn's 'atrophy', "but he's a soft target.  Probably all that contempt for practical casting, but he could have benefitted from at least doing some jogging or the like.  One upcast Fireball and he was down and bleeding out, and if he had been alone I'd have been able to finish him then and there.  Any kind of fair fight and I think I can take him.  You can, too; I'm not sure if it really came down to it if I could fight you off without my friends, you know?  And I have no idea on mother, I haven't seen her since we were arrested that night.  But father?  If I ever get the chance to fight just him, he's a dead man walking."

Aelwyn just shook her head at that, her trembling growing worse, and Adaine's resolve against their birth parents just hardened further.  Aelwyn was fully capable of fighting off the version of Angwyn Abernant that existed in reality, Adaine knew, if she could get past the one that existed in her head.

Adaine added into the group chat 'actually scratch that missing school today come to the manor after?'  There wasn't a Bloodrush game this week, so hopefully everyone would be able to come and they could make plans for Monday, but for now she was going to sit with Aelwyn until her sister fully returned to the present.


That afternoon, the Bad Kids plus Ayda and Aelwyn gathered.  Adaine had stuck around the Manor all day, even making lunch for Aelwyn and herself if you counted retrieving sandwiches from her jacket, watching a movie next to her on the couch in wolf form.  She could at least justify it a little bit off having been attacked that day, but Jawbone would understand her real reasons, Aguefort wouldn't care, and her wizarding instructors could go to hell at this point.

Ayda had brought the book, and Adaine flipped through it, stopping on the page.

"...Yeah, that's her."  Aelwyn said, frowning at the picture.  "One of the other ones called her Muse, I think?"

Ayda nodded, tilting her head and looking down at the page.  "A stage name, but I do not know her real one.  It is a little surprising Boothe would go so far as to hire her, unless he just put a general bounty and it became worth her while for the opportunity to double-up with the bounty from Fallinel.  She wouldn't be likely to try to capture you alive for the higher rate.  You said she was working with a crew?"

"I didn't recognize any of the others, but the trap involved a druid playing at being a wounded animal."  Adaine confirmed.  "And two more with crossbows and silver ammunition."

Ayda frowned down at the page, before explaining.  "...This woman is a known assassin in Fallinel.  There are very few people who would walk away from an individual fight with her, but she is likely to have a harder time with a group.  She usually works alone to my knowledge, but it may be that she didn't want to do so within Solace, or it may be that she anticipates a fight with a larger bunch."

"Is she a rogue, then?"  Riz asked, looking at the record.  "The books she stole..."

"...Are extremely advanced and technical tomes on musical magical theory.  She is a spellcaster of a similar nature to my paramour Figueroth Faeth, though of course her music is inferior in every way.  Well, other than arcane potency, but I am certain you will surpass her there someday."  Ayda reassured Fig, who gave a thumbs up in response.  "Most concerningly, and most well known within Leviathan, she is said to be able to strike down a foe with a single note.  If one cuts through the rumors and researches it, as I have from concern that I might need to fight her one day myself, she is likely utilizing a spell known as Power Word: Death.  There is no chance she will be able to do so multiple times, but if she is able to cast that, one of us will die.  Probably Adaine, if that's who she is here to kill, but she might use it upon myself or Aelwyn if she recognizes us as threats - and she will know who I am if she sees me, certainly - or, worst of all, Figueroth if she recognizes a superior talent out of the jealousy that would surely ensue."

Adaine nodded, considering that.  "..We'll just have to try to stop her from casting it, but maybe Kristen you should stay in the background a little at first, just in case?  You can revive one of us, but it's going to be a problem if you die."  Again.  Kristen was ahead of everyone else in the party with two as it was; Adaine and Gorgug just had the one each.  "That all just makes me think we need to trip the trap as a group more, though; we'll have protection in numbers against that, to some degree.  Aelwyn and I will need to particularly watch out for the crossbow bolts, too."

They made plans well into the evening - including some definite arguments over the details - deciding to go for it that Monday morning.  Even if this didn't get rid of the threat entirely, it would send a message to any other bounty seekers that there would be a cost to be paid.


Aelwyn was not at all happy with the plan that had been made, but she hadn't felt confident enough in her standing with any of the others to oppose Adaine more strongly.  She had been one of the people most arguing for Adaine not to be the one to spring the trap, that Aelwyn should do it or Fig or anyone else, really.

Adaine had been worried that any deception like that would both be seen through and that the need to maintain a disguise self would make it so the other spellcasters were needing to keep more people invisible.

The hot goblin - Riz, she should make certain she thought of them by their names, it was good practice - had been on her side, but Adaine had carried that argument with everyone else, and given that she was the only one who would know where they were going using scrying it was difficult to argue.

Traveling with this large a group of people under four different invisibility spells was awkward, at best, a chain being led.  Adaine was in the lead, and Aelwyn was next, and everyone else was in a chain from there, hand in hand to the very back where the cler.. where Kristen was.  She lived with Kristen.  She could think of her by her name, and not just as 'the cleric I like less', especially since if things went wrong the cleric she liked less would be the one who was needed for bringing Adaine or Aelwyn or someone else back from death.

However, Kristen was maybe the least stealthy person Aelwyn had ever been around.  Riz was back there trying to help her.  It didn't seem to be going well, and Aelwyn was glad the plan included her falling off as soon as they spotted the foes.  Speaking of which...  Adaine squeezed her hand, the signal, and Aelwyn squeezed Ayda's incredibly warm one behind her, and on back and back presumably until everyone knew they were there.  Ah, there the dog was, looking just the same as on Friday, right down to the minor illusion of blood.

The chain was broken, everyone fanning out, Adaine heading straight for the dog.  Ayda and Aelwyn were sticking close-ish to her, to hopefully be ready to Counterspell; the others would hopefully be close enough to catch the two crossbow users.  Adaine was supposed to wait, to give people time to get in position, and then...

There it was.  She appeared, the only one under her own invisibility, into the grove that the dog was at.  "Are you okay there?"  She asked, in her best 'silly girl talking to animal' voice.  Which wasn't very good.  Adaine was better than her at moving silently, maybe, but she was still truly terrible at lying.

It probably didn't matter, anyway.  The crossbow users weren't together, but there they were, firing at Adaine, who teleported away through a Misty Step.

A little too slow.  One of the arrows had definitely landed, judging by the smell of blood in the air, but Adaine looked to be still up and okay-ish if hissing in pain.

Everyone else dropped out of Invisibilty, and Fig used her own Dimension Door to get the barbar.. to get Gorgug over to one of the crossbow users, a scream of fury (at Adaine getting injured, or maybe just at the world) going through the air before he laid into the pirate.  The wood elf, on the other hand, appeared close to where Adaine had teleported, right near where Aelwyn herself was, a Dominate Person winding up already with a florish of the hand and a sung note, and directed at Adaine.  "No!"  Aelwyn yelled, throwing an abjurative rune in the way, shattering the spell.

She was going to make it her mission to not let this woman get a spell off, or if she did to be desperate enough that she was trying to kill the one in her face with Counterspells and a sword, not Adaine.  Who would hopefully have some sense about her and retreat, not that Aelwyn actually thought that likely.

Next to her, Ayda vanished, and a small kitten dropped to the ground in her place.  That must have been the druid, but she would leave that for Adaine and Ayda and the others to handle; her entire focus needed to be on the bard.  She stepped forward, pulling her new, decidedly not blunted sword, and swung it at the woman, trying to again fuel it with the might of her spells.

Using this against inanimate objects, just for practice, when it hadn't mattered she'd managed to make it work maybe a fifth of the time.

Now?  With someone she needed to protect on the line?  It was as easy as a cantrip straight off her brain, the sword slashing into the woman even as bright light shone off it.

Behind her, she heard gunfire from Riz and an 'a-hah!' of Fabian swinging at someone, and Adaine incanting a Dispel; in front of her was the problem.  "..Didn't expect two elves.  We're only here for the one, you know?  And you, Aguefort, you're a long way from home.  Maybe I should be payin' the library another visit."  But there was stress in her voice; an ambush had turned into a fight where her side was outnumbered two to one, after all.

A crossbow bolt slammed into her ward, heavily damaging it but the silver not getting through to her skin, to her relief.  A distraction, still, and hopefully one that the others would take care of soon; that must have been from the attacker Gorgug and Fig hadn't gotten to.

And then the wood elf opened her mouth with a deep breath, obvious energy building to Aelwyn's arcane senses, and her Counterspell was just a little too slow and too weak for something of this power but it was directed at her, not Adaine.  She'd succeeded at what she'd wanted, she thought morosely as the note sounded out and the spell smashed into her, an icy tingling running all through her body...

...And then, just as suddenly, it was gone.  And she was still alive, if trembling a bit.

Adaine, still with a silver crossbow bolt sticking out of her side but now in wolf form - and when had that happened, and WHY, it couldn't possibly be advantageous - slammed into the bard, Adaine's Fierce Fangs in full effect as she bit into the woman's leg.  Aelwyn's eyes swept back behind in the battlefield, and the Bad Kids were cleaning house, the two crossbow users on the ground and probably dead, the Druid ominously just missing.

"..Surrender.  We've got you surrounded and you just burned your best spell."  Aelwyn offered, not really wanting to kill someone else, even in these circumstances.  It was probably better not to just casually murder people once you had them beaten, right?

She really needed to talk to Jawbone more, if she was going to work with these insane adventurers.  Or Tracker.

Though...  The Galicaea in Tracker's teaching would have wanted her to protect the pack.  Oh, well, the offer was already made, and tension seemed to be building around her as they waited on the wood elf to respond.

"Oh, t'hell with this."  She said, trying to kick Adaine off her leg and Teleport, unable to take an unwilling living creature along.

Aelwyn's counter was neither too slow nor too weak, this time, and collectively the group seemed to decide that that was also a declining of mercy; Aelwyn wasn't sure which of them killed her, technically, though Fabian, Riz, Fig, and Gorgug all contributed.

Afterwards, she had another case of the shakes, but she did not feel anywhere near as guilty about this fight as she had her last.

Notes:

I rolled for the counterspells here; Aelwyn has a staggering +10 to her counterspell rolls as a 10th level abjuration wizard, but the DC for a 9th level spell is 19.

I had already decided to be friendly to Aelwyn when I ran her HP numbers to determine how this would go - she would have gotten a revival if she'd died here, of course, but it would have been another snippet for her afterlife that we will still almost certainly get at some point. There are two things I'm doing that are friendly interpretations - first, I gave her max HP for a paladin level (it should be a wizard level since she was a wizard at 1) and second, I went ahead and gave her the 13th level of HP even though she doesn't have the class abilities yet since she hasn't figured out her oath fully, though she's made pretty great strides there in the last couple of chapters.

She's got a +3 con mod, so 13 at level 1, plus 9*2 for two more paladin levels worth of hp for 31, plus 10 levels of wizard at 7 each for another 70 for... 101 max hp.

Power Word: Kill kills the target if they're at 100 or less.

This fight brings the other bad kids to decently past level 9; Adaine is a hair's breath away from 10 and will likely get it from Quest XP soon rather than another combat.

Chapter 48: Class

Summary:

Adaine seeks to invent a better basic spell. Adaine is also very concerned with Gilear's nutrition.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Their successful reversing of the pirate's ambush had cheered the Bad Kids up considerably, and it was probably worth contemplating that the thing that so often helped them grow closer as a group was wild vigilante justice.  Though they had only killed three out of the four; when the druid had come out of Kristen's Banishment, they'd just beaten him into the ground and handed him over to Sklonda.  Ayda had taken the wood elf's corpse back to Leviathan to claim some of the bounties that had been on her head and would be getting a share of the money back to the Manor crew

It had not, however, gotten Aelwyn or Riz to let Adaine stop sneaking her way to school, especially since the silver crossbow bolt wound she'd taken took nearly a week and a half to heal to the point of not needed to be bandaged.  She'd gone to school through that one, even if she'd spent more time than she'd care to admit to finishing up Ayda's gift for Solstice and inventing her new language with Riz - hand signals and all.

Now they'd just have to convince the other four to learn it, too.

She'd moved on to another spellcraft project, attempting to make a modified version of Knock that wouldn't alert everything in earshot that a Wizard was fucking with their locks, but this one wasn't going very well on her own.  She'd broken down after a few days of playing with it with zero progress and talked to Aelwyn, who had frowned at her notes for half an hour while eating noodles before speaking.

"...The issue here, I think, is that you are attempting to alter the fundamental nature of the spell.  The name itself implies the noise, right?  You should be able to cover it up with another spell, but I don't think you'll be able to work elements of Silence in here without just crafting a new, much more complicated spell.  Is there something you need this for where casting Silence won't work?"

Adaine had shaken her head, before admitting.  "Nothing specific now, but I'm hoping to get back to doing work for Ayda with the Compass Points next summer if we can get Fallinel to back off, and a lot of those pirate spaces are too tight to use Silence in without catching myself in it."  Which then made Knock impossible.  "The whole situation with Boothe started because I got noticed and set the ship on fire as a distraction from them shooting at me.  Better if I do everything so that I don't get noticed, right?"

Aelwyn nodded, drumming her hands on the table.  "I suppose, Adaine, but I think you're looking at the very least at using a fifth or sixth level spell to do what you want in one spell.  Very inefficient.  Isn't this kind of thing why you keep Riz around?"

As slightly dismissive as that was, it did make some sense, and it would give her something to keep working on with Riz, though Adaine didn't think Aelwyn had meant it the way she was going to take it.

The next day at lunch, she brought the topic up to Riz.  "Hey, can you teach me about picking locks?"

"Maybe.  Why?  Is there something you need to get into that I can't just help you with, or you can't use a spell for?"  Riz asked, and she lifted her hands up.

"Not right away, but I've been kind of working on a lot of infiltration stuff and..  Well, I'm hoping to get back to work at the Compass Points sometime."  She hadn't really explained what she'd done all summer to Riz, though, not that part of it...  "See, a lot of what I did for Ayda was break into places and steal back library books from pirates who had stolen them, and it was a lot better when they didn't notice me, so I've been working on getting better at that.  So that I don't have more people like Boothe trying to send assassins after me."

Riz - and Fabian, and Gorgug, who had both expressed similar sentiments in quieter ways - presumably also wanted her to have fewer assassins after her, so she felt like this was a compelling argument.  Riz eventually agreed to several sessions after school.

She picked up the skill reasonably quickly.  He was a good teacher, and it was the kind of fine motion she was actually pretty good at.  All she really had to do in exchange was give Riz more details on what she'd done in Leviathan, which he was weirdly curious about.

At the end, she figured out why, because he told her, folding his hands.  "...Adaine, I'm pretty sure you're qualified to get listed as a rogue multiclass with this if you wanted to.  Or you could keep it a secret, but it might make up for some of your grades if you do an official multiclass?"  He was well aware of her recent struggles in the pure academic areas, though she felt like in terms of practical progression as a wizard she was in great shape.

She had a slightly more practical question, because if she'd already learned the skills, she might as well get credit for them.  "Is there a..  way that I do that?  Only, to my knowledge you don't ever actually go to rogue classes."

Riz nodded, pausing.  "Well, there's a few ways to do it, but I think I know the one you're going to pick..."


Riz had been right, of course, about her choice of methods.  One option had been that she could try to talk to Gilear and convince him to add her.  She'd eliminated that one off the bat; she tried not to talk to Gilear when she could avoid it, finding it a little too depressing.  Another was that she could 'assassinate' one of the rogue instructors by getting the drop on them with a weapon, but she'd never even seen them around.

The third option, the one she was going with, was that she could just break into Gilear's office where the student records were kept and change her class listing herself, which she was doing on a Friday night with hopes that Gilear would be busy with his date night with Fabian's mom.

She had asked Riz to tell Aelwyn and Jawbone that she was fine for the night, and what she was doing if they really wanted to know, and then gone into one of the restrooms and waited there for everyone to leave and all the lights to be turned out.  She wasn't certain if anyone still monitored the cameras - with Biz dead, the AV Club was kind of coasting by to her knowledge - but it wouldn't do any good to be caught for that, so she dropped an invisibility onto herself and tiptoed down the hall towards Gilear's office.

The door was locked, but it was nothing harder than Riz had her practicing.  Maybe that was intentional, if beginning rogues were expected to be able to break into here.

Or maybe the worse challenges were inside of the office, she realized, looking around in the dimness of the dark after slipping through the door.  There were several file cabinets, and she hardly wanted to be here all night looking for which one had her file.

She glanced around, double checking that no cameras were set up within the office before dropping her invisibility, pulling a twig from her jacket pocket and winding up a Locate Object for her student record.

It wasn't in any of the obvious file cabinets, which.. were concerningly stacked high with yogurt on top, empty or full she couldn't tell from her height. 

No, it was under the desk.  She pushed the chair aside, pulling up the rug, and... ah.  There it was.  A series of four safes in the floor, probably one for each year if she had to guess, but she knew which hers was in.

The problem was, Riz hadn't really taught her about cracking safes.  Maybe she could use Knock on this?

Shutting her eyes, a habit she'd picked up in Mordred Manor, she cast a Detect Magic and reopened them.  There was definitely magic on the safe, specifically set against Knock.  She wasn't sure what would happen, but she knew it would be bad.  Dismissing that spell, she decided to at least try on the safe.

Just a slight glimpse into a future where she managed to open it...

And with a click, it popped open, where to her slight surprise it was not in fact all of the second year students.  The folders in here were all thick, but looking through them...  All of the Bad Kids were here, and so were the Seven Maidens (who were all of sort of questionable years as they attempted to fuck with the system to stay together as long as possible) and exactly no other students.

Adaine pulled her own folder out, one of the thickest of even those, and started off on the first page by just getting done with what she'd come here to get done, pulling a pen from her jacket and changing her official classification from Wizard (Divination) to Wizard (Divination) / Rogue (???).

Then she started taking advantage of the opportunity, flipping through her record.  Aguefort apparently didn't contribute to this file - none of her dealings directly with him were in here - but there was still quite a lot.  Apparently, she actually WAS officially banned from the library now, though nobody had bothered to tell her, and she was suspected of several thefts from the library, only a couple of which she had actually done so someone was taking advantage of her reputation to cover their own thefts.

There were copies of a lot of the documents related to her name change, her citizenship, and her involvement with the deaths of no fewer than four members of the staff, copies of police reports, copies of some of Kalvaxus' monitoring of her...

Weird, that they'd kept this all in there, now that he was dead.

She pulled a scrap of paper out of her pocket, glancing back up at the normal yogurt-laden filing cabinets before scribbling a note down.

Gilear,

Please just ask Jawbone to help you get real food sometimes.  Fig worries about you and I'm pretty certain this isn't proper nutrition.  Also, I'm a multiclass now.

Adaine O'Shaughnessey

She'd just finished dropping that onto the desk when a voice sounded beside her.  "Oh, hey, congratulations!  Welcome to the rogue life!"

Adaine - just - managed to avoid jumping out of her skin as Penny Luckstone stood up from the other side of the desk, her head not reaching far above it.  She managed to calm the trembling, before asking...  "...How.. how long have you been there?"

"Oh, not long, just a couple of minutes!  But I didn't want to interrupt you if you were in the middle of your test, I just check on my file every week to make certain nothing's gotten added to it without me knowing.  You can just leave the safe open if you want, I'll close it after I'm done."

Adaine nodded, putting her folder back together and back into place.  "Hey, do you know why your folder is in with mine, anyway?"  She asked, curious.  Penny was a senior, supposedly, though she was maybe trying to get reclassified as a junior to get another year of the Seven together?  Adaine really needed to start paying closer attention when Zelda spoke.

"Oh, yes!  It's because our parties are considered troublemakers and have much larger files than average.  Most everybody else is in the normal file cabinets.  The other floor ones are mostly financial records."  Penny offered.  "Hey, let me know if there's anything I can ever do for you, okay?  Like, we super appreciate everything all of you did about the whole kidnapping thing."

"...Can you ask Ostentatia not to murder my sister?  She's trying to do better and she's probably going to need to come by the school a few times."  Adaine asked, after a few minutes.

"...I'll see.  I think she might have worked it all out last time anyway."  Penny offered, with a wave of her hand.  "Um, one other thing, do you know if Jawbone ever does any jogging or anything?  Working out?"

Adaine stared at Penny, uncertain why that might be coming up.  "Not really?  Dad's been taking up some house repair stuff, lately, but that's by necessity.  Being a werewolf comes with a certain level of physical fitness that you don't really have to do anything else for."  It had certainly been good for her physical strength, for one.

"I see.  Oh, well!  Talk to you later, Adaine!"

Adaine, still uncertain about that last part of the conversation, dropped another invisibility into place and then made her way out of the school and home.  Aelwyn was already in a trance by the time she got there, but Adaine curled up on her feet in wolf form instead of using the hammock, taking a deeper sleep, satisfied with her night's work.

Notes:

So! Adaine's level 10 now, with 9 in Wizard and 1 in Rogue. Unlike Aelwyn, this is a dip, and Adaine's main class by far will remain Wizard (though she'll probably get a second and maybe a third level of Rogue, maybe not within the context of this fic, which still allows access to level 9 spells eventually).

Like Aelwyn's Wizard/Paladin, this is kind of a terrible multiclass mechanically (though the reverse of 2 in Divination Wizard and the rest in Rogue is far more interesting, particularly for a non-Arcane Trickster to get access to cantrips and level 1 spells as well as portents). The main benefits at level 1 are proficiencies and expertise - sneak attack does very little for her. Adaine's expertise skills are going to be Stealth and Investigation, which does get her up to a frankly absurd passive 22 investigation. (Her Thieves' Cant, reflavored, is the language she and Riz invented together.) Level 2 is slightly more intriguing with cunning action, and then level 3 would depend on her subclass.

Flavor-wise, on the other hand, I think this makes a ton of sense for Lunacy Adaine specifically and not for necessarily a canonical version of her, and I've been building to it for a whillle, much more obviously in recent chapters as she got close. Adaine has been sneaking and stealing and all sorts of other rogue-like things since at least her time in Leviathan, she's much more blatantly criminal at times, and unsaid in the text but definitely on her mind is that being a multiclass into a martial class is a giant middle finger to Fallinel as the Oracle. Hopefully people like it!

Edit: Oh, hey, also this chapter gets me across 50,000 words for the month of november in this fic, marking a successful nanowrimo if I had actually signed up for it or if just adding to an existing work counted, but still! I'm pretty proud of that!

Chapter 49: Numbers

Summary:

Aelwyn talks about her goal openly for the first time. Gilear fills out paperwork.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

As the Solstice approached, and no fresh disasters happened, and Aelwyn stretched on into the third month of her new life, a fresh kind of terror surrounded her, which was almost comforting in a way.  She continued volunteering, and working on trying to get better at using the sword, and other things that successfully filled most of her days, but eternity was starting to stretch up before her.

It wasn't like no dangers loomed - Kalina's threat if Adaine were ever to go after the Nightmare King or Fallinel loomed large in Aelwyn's thoughts during the nightly torment that was trancing, and surely the current stasis wouldn't be forever regardless - but for the first time Aelwyn could remember, she was being asked to select her own future.

It was, in two words, fucking terrifying.

The one her parents had wanted for her was out even if she had wanted it.  A life as a researcher wasn't going to happen, and marrying a high elf politician for prestige was off-the-charts laughable for her these days.  And she hadn't wanted that; at no point had she wanted any of that.

When she'd started rebelling against it, she hadn't really had any thoughts at first beyond just numbing herself and getting OUT of the house, releasing some pressure.  That had lasted up until she'd first dealt with Kalina, and from then on if she'd been forced to guess where she'd be by the time she was eighteen her guess would have been dead, but unlike Penelope or Biz she hadn't had any real goals coming out of it.

Thinking about it now, Kalina probably would have kept her alive after all, even if Kalvaxus didn't seem like the sort to have loyalty to his minions.  What future she would have had, though, she had no idea.

As for if Adaine hadn't rescued her...  Aelwyn was pretty damn certain at this point that while the Court of Stars might (MIGHT) have been able find someone willing to Wish a more cooperative version of Adaine (though good luck with that part) back to non-werewolf status, Aelwyn herself would have rotted in that orb until they forgot why she was there before they found the same for her.  That future was worse than death, and she lived it still most nights during those trances.

She had tried sleeping as a wolf, the way Adaine did, a couple more times.  That hadn't made the experience more pleasant, but her dreams had been more creative in her misery; rather than only thinking of things that had happened, whether the orb, or Kalina, Kalvaxus, Penelope, or Biz, or the wretch she had been allowing Adaine to suffer their entire childhood, she got to experience fresh hells that hadn't even happened.  Several of them had been focused on the numbers that had consumed her mind since she'd looked them up, dreams of Adaine dead on the streets after being disowned, or in jail for decades instead of 'just' a few months.  Trancing at least was familiar ground, and only half as long, so trancing was what she stuck with for now.

Still, none of this helped with what she needed now, which was to find a future to work towards.  She had.. she had the thoughts of one, of something she could work towards, and even take pride in if she could actually accomplish it.  This was something she wouldn't have talked to anyone about under threat of torture in the past; maybe Jawbone was getting through to her.  But he couldn't be the one, not to admit that she still wasn't certain, not when he'd done so much for letting her have this choice.  Adaine was out for the same reason.

Adaine's party had been.. less tense around her since they had fought on the same side against those pirates.  That did help, but it still wasn't enough that Aelwyn was going to talk to any of them about it.

That left two people who Aelwyn decided she'd at least be willing to try to talk to, and Ayda was going to be the less emotionally attached to the topic.  Aelwyn would start with her, and only speak with Tracker if she was still feeling unsure afterwards.

"Can I talk to you about a topic with a promise that you won't tell anyone else about the conversation?"  She asked, one afternoon when they were alone in the Manor.  As damaged as Aelwyn felt sometimes, she had the feeling that Ayda had not gotten to talk to very many other wizards, and Aelwyn still felt decent at contributing to discussions of spellcraft at the more mundane levels.

Ayda tilted her head.  "..It depends on the topic.  Is it anything that will bring harm to Adaine O'Shaughnessey, or any of the other residents of this home?"

Aelwyn put her hand down on the book Ayda had brought from her library today.  "...No.  Well, nobody other than me, maybe, but even that would just be unforeseeable circumstances."

Ayda nodded, and said.  "I agree with the exception of reserving the right to break it if necessarily to prevent serious harm.  Do you need a written contract, or will my verbal promise do?"

"..Verbal is fine."  Aelwyn had started growing used to these quirks of Ayda's, though she was curious.  "...You never seem to ask Adaine about contracts in conversation.  Can I ask why, before I move on to what I wanted to talk to you about?"

"Adaine and I have a standing contract of friendship and another of employment that cover most circumstances."  Ayda said.  "They are contracts that I have ever been the greater beneficiary of, though she has disagreed with that assessment."

Right.  Something to think about later, maybe, or ask Adaine about the details of.  "I am trying to decide what I want to do with my life."  Aelwyn finally said.  "Or, well, I think I have a goal, a problem I want to work on and make better, but I have no idea how to get there or where to start.  It's not something I could do right away, for certain."

"Can you tell me the goal?"  Ayda asked, tilting her head.

"...You might need some background first."  Aelwyn decided, reaching into one of her bags.  "I'm not..  I'm not totally sure what kind of childhood you had, Ayda?  It's not something I need to know, either, if you don't want to talk about it.  But, I've done some looking into things, the last few weeks."  She'd talked to Zayn at her adoption party, and she'd gone to the public library, and she'd found statistics that were kept but certainly not advertised.

She handed over the relevant book with a bookmark at the table she was about to reference.  "So, basically something like nine out of ten people under eighteen who are bitten, have it take, and don't get treated in time to avoid turning end up homeless for at least some time.  That apparently includes Adaine, who was lucky enough that it only lasted a few weeks, but most of the time it's much longer than that.  I'm the only one of the four werewolves living here who's never had to sleep on the streets, in fact.  Half of them end up in jail - again, that actually includes all four of us, though maybe I don't count for that since being a werewolf had nothing to do with my arrest.  About a quarter won't live to be eighteen."

Admittedly, that was only about two and a half times the normal rate of one in ten.  The adventuring economy was dangerous all around.  The other two were massively worse than the numbers against the general population.

Ayda looked at the chart, frowning.  "I did not realize it was quite so dire as that, but I know very little about Solace as a nation.  I assume your goal is to change these numbers, somehow?  How big is the scale, what are these percentages of?"

Aelwyn nodded.  "I would..  I would love to even think that getting them to zero, or even the same rate as for most children, was something that was possible.  But just... it has to be less bad than that.  I can't think about that chart without thinking of what would have happened to Adaine if Jawbone hadn't been there.  It's a few hundred a year, nationwide.  Way less than that in Elmville, of course."

"This seems like a problem that is beyond one person fixing without help to me.  You may need to gather resources, or allies, for some time before you can do anything about it.  But there are probably smaller things you can do to assist, for now, while you try to gain those things?"  Ayda suggested.

That.. made sense.  "Right."  Aelwyn said, feeling something come together in her mind, like puzzle pieces she'd been banging together but not quite fitting.  Not fully there, not yet, but closer.  "I.. just need to do what I can to make it better, not perfect.  To be better myself, too, and help other people be better if they want and I can.  It's the only real way to repay everyone else for helping me, right?"

And then she saw it, what she could do for the moment to help.  "...I don't have the resources to make a dent in this chart in most ways.  But..  A lot of people end up stuck with lycanthropy because they can't afford to have someone remove the curse; it's very expensive if you're not insured.  Not everyone, certainly, plenty just end up losing control and transforming before they realize, but I can.. maybe make it known that I won't charge, if they reach out to me for this and they can still be cured by it.  I know Jawbone was like that, at least."

It wasn't enough, not even close.  But it was SOMETHING for right now, while she worked on making herself good enough to start tackling the bigger version of the problem.  Tracker could probably spread the word, if anyone knew of someone who accidentally got bitten and could be treated...

She glanced up at Ayda.  "...Thank you.  You are a good listener.  Please let me know if there's a favor I can do you in return?"

Ayda nodded, slowly, considering.  "I will.  Noone has ever claimed I was a good listener before."


Part of the process of gathering resources was learning more about her own abilities and making them more reliable.  She'd been putting off talking to anyone formally trained for far too long about being a Paladin, and there were night classes that she could be set up with, but the semester started after the Solstice, so she needed to move on it soon.  Sandra Lynn had, for some reason, recommended talking to her ex-husband about them; apparently people who had to drop out of the Adventuring Academy for one reason or another often ended up involved with them.

Aelwyn had been reluctant to step foot in the Adventuring Academy, but Adaine had assured her that she'd be unassaulted by a certain dwarf at least.

"Besides, Gilear's office is right at the front, there's at least three good escape routes from there to get off campus."  Adaine had added, knowledge which begged for follow-up questions from Aelwyn that she did not deign to give, though...  

"I've been in that office before.  That part isn't the problem."  She reminded her sister.  Assuming it was the same one Kalvaxus had used, at least, and it sounded as though it was.


Aelwyn had not actually met Gilear before her appointment with him; apparently, he had been a fixture at the apartment complex until the start of summer, when he had taken up with Fabian's mother.

Fabian's mother had, according to what Adaine was willing to share, been on a years-long bender prior to Bill Seacaster's death.  If finding this man attractive was the result of a hangover from that, Aelwyn privately decided about halfway through their meeting - which mostly had consisted of Gilear talking and Aelwyn half-listening - maybe there were at least some upsides to having been detoxed from the inside of a prison sphere.

"..Er, sorry."  She said, realizing he was waiting on her to respond to a question.  "I missed that."

"Yes, Miss O'Shaughnessey.  I asked whether your purpose for attending classes was primarily to gain the knowledge they have, or to receive accreditation?  From the records Hudol sent over, you could likely get a basic degree as a Wizard in a relatively brief time.  If you are wishing to delve more into your Paladin abilities, or have a full acknowledgement as a multi-class, then that will likely take you at least three semesters, if you do summer classes.  You could perhaps cut this time shorter by joining in quests as a hireling; there are programs to allow for those taking night classes to gain academic credits that way."  His tone was unchanged, though she wouldn't be surprised if he was annoyed.  At least staring at him kept her from thinking too much about the last few times she'd been in here.

Aelwyn thought it over.  "I do need the accreditation, but I'm most interested in learning more.  If it takes a little longer that way, I think that's okay."  Jawbone had made clear - repeatedly - that there was no time limit on her staying in the Manor, and she should stay close at least for the two plus years Adaine had left at Aguefort.  "I would take a quest if it's a worthwhile one, but I don't think I can safely leave Solace currently unless something changes with Fallinel."  She added, because she could always start on college courses if she got through those.

By the time she'd left the office, he'd helped her fill out the necessary forms and signed himself up as a sponsor, then promised to file them.

Aelwyn had to ask, at that point, because having seen him and having seen Sandra Lynn...  "...You and Sandra Lynn really raised Fig?"  Demon blood couldn't be THAT strong an influence on personality, surely.

"Yes, somehow.  I understand your tone of disbelief, but even still Figueroth is the sole source of pride and achievement remaining in my life."

Aelwyn wasn't going to argue with that, certainly, leaving him with a polite "Thank you" afterwards - despite the aura of raw patheticness he put off, he hadn't had to take that time for her.

Notes:

A slight buildup chapter, mostly establishing Aelwyn as growing more solidly interconnected as a sort-of respectable citizen. Next chapter should be the Solstice, and then we're on the train towards Spring Break...

It'll probably just be a beach trip once we get there, right?

Updates will probably be slower for a week or two, and also Never After is about to start releasing so at a bare minimum some of my writing time will be eaten by watching that and the AP.

Chapter 50: Hunt

Summary:

A long-sort-of-planned vacation happens. Adaine catches her own food.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

December's full moon was the weekend before Solstice, after the local schools already let out on breaks.  That left Aelwyn without volunteer work, Adaine and Jawbone (and Kristen) without school obligations, and the werewolves of Mordred Manor on a road trip out to the middle of nowhere before the full moon.

Jawbone, Adaine, and Tracker had had plans to take one of the full moons in summer and go to a remote wilderness area that was safe to run free in for a moon; Adaine's unexpected trip to Leviathan had thrown that off.  With one thing and another, this was the first one that had lined up to allow for that trip to happen, and the weather was supposed to be... not warm, but warm enough.  Not snowing, or anywhere near it.

Adaine had prepared Tiny Hut anyway.  They wouldn't care during the full moon, undoubtedly, but somewhere warm the next morning might be well worth it, and she wasn't taking her spellbook with her to use a ritual from.

They'd loaded into the car early in the morning for what was supposed to be a six hour drive.  Jawbone was driving; Tracker had never bothered getting her license, Adaine was still too young, and Aelwyn still sometimes got disoriented and lost her train of thought, normally something that could be worked around but definitely not something to risk behind the wheel of a car.

This was, at most, Adaine's second experience with anything that could have been called a road trip, depending on if the drive back from Bastion City with Ayda and the others counted, and to her knowledge it was Aelwyn's first (though she wasn't completely certain).  They'd always just had their mother Teleport them for longer trips.

Unfortunately, two hours or so in, Adaine was starting to really have trouble focusing on her reading.  Days of the full moon were always a little difficult in school, with too much anxious energy building up even early in the day, but maybe it was something about traveling or just the cramped quarters of the car.

She glanced across at where Aelwyn seemed to be having no difficulties with her own book; Aelwyn's occasional issues with her mind putting her into the past had been much more frequent on her previous full moons, even with Jawbone doing his best to ground her, so it was good to see focus in her eyes.

Though...  "..Are you reading pirate fiction?"  Adaine asked, amused, getting a look at the cover and realizing it wasn't at all the academic tome she'd expected.  Not one of the books she'd read, but she'd helped recover plenty of the genre over the summer and could all but smell it.

"...It was the best selection Ayda had to offer that she was okay with me bringing on a trip like this where it might become damaged."  Aelwyn replied, not looking up.  "Besides, I'm not completely certain how fictional this is and how much it's just a knock-off of Bill Seacaster's life story, or at least the Leviathan parts."

"What makes you say that?"  Adaine asked, curiously.  She wouldn't have really thought Aelwyn all that familiar with the history of Leviathan or that of Bill Seacaster.

"Mostly that the protagonist's name is 'Bull Gleechester' and his ship is called the Executioner.  I suppose I could ask Fabian to verify the authenticity otherwise, but this would have been before he was born.  It is.. not very well written."  Aelwyn said, flipping the page.  "But there's something strangely compelling about it anyway."

Adaine, torn between honesty and loyalty to her friend (at least while he was absent), said "Aah.  Well, you can probably judge it for yourself, though Ayda would be who I'd ask after anything about the state of Leviathan."

"I suppose that would be more current, and she's probably studied the history."  Aelwyn agreed, glancing up.  "...Lose interest in that necromancy text?"

Adaine pulled Boggy down from her shoulder and into her lap, giving him a squeeze.  "I'm having more trouble focusing today than I usually do this far out."  She admitted, still having the ability at least to express it.  "It's always a little rough, but I didn't really feel like I was making any progress."

They stayed like that for a while, anyway, with Tracker passing out snacks from the front and Jawbone eventually starting to sing when they lost signal on the crystal for a little bit and Aelwyn losing focus here and there but otherwise describing what PROBABLY weren't real things that happened in Bill Seacaster's life if Adaine had to judge.  Adaine considered taking a nap for a couple hours, deciding against it because if she went wolf form she probably wasn't going to be able to change back before the full moon.

Instead, she decided to return to a topic she hadn't pushed for a while, but if Aelwyn would pressure her into taking insane, paranoid levels of precaution for getting to and from school, it was only fair...

"...When are you going to summon a familiar, anyway?"  She asked, looking down at Boggy rather than directly at Aelwyn.

Aelwyn made a neutral sounding humming noise that meant she was about to tell something that was true but wasn't important.  "You say that as though your own familiar hasn't hopped down from your hammock to sleep next to me most nights, anyway."

That WAS true.  Adaine had told Boggy to do that if Aelwyn seemed to be having a particularly bad trance.  It'd been about two out of three nights, and Adaine suspected it would be higher except he was probably returning to her on nights when her own dreams were stressful.  "He recognizes you could use one, that's all."  Adaine said, giving another squeeze.  "...You really should, though.  I think it would help you."  Boggy had been a great stablizer for her, and while she hadn't seen Ayda's fish familiar that often since she'd summoned it, Ayda seemed a lot happier too.

Aelwyn glanced at Boggy, and Adaine knew she liked the frog - obviously, who wouldn't, but she'd shown real affection towards him.  "Maybe.  We can talk about it after the full moon, alright?"

That sounded like Aelwyn was just putting it off again, and Adaine didn't quite understand why she was.  "..Okay.  I don't have words for how much he helps, though.  It's like a little puzzle piece of me that broke off magically, or something?"

Aelwyn mumbled something in response to that that Adaine couldn't make out, even with her quite good hearing, but that got Jawbone to look into the mirror at them.  "Drop it for now, Adaine?  And Aelwyn, we'll talk about that later, okay?"

Adaine, slightly puzzled, nodded and settled back in for the last stretch of the ride.


Aelwyn played with the sleeve of the loose hooded jacket she'd worn for this excursion, trying everything she could to keep herself focused on the reality of the situation.  They'd left the car behind in a dirt parking lot with zero other cars there and walked almost three miles since then, drawing to a stop in a clearing.

"Everybody knows a bunch of werewolves come to this general area for the full moon, or mostly just live out here, so nobody else visits around the full moon.  There's less visitors because of it being winter than we would have had in the summer; we might see some of the locals, or we might not."  Jawbone was saying, cheerfully.  "It's been a while since I made it out here, really."

That was at least interesting, but a glance at Adaine - who had dismissed Boggy after they'd come to a halt - made it clear instantly that her sister was already too far gone to the moon to listen closely, let alone ask any followup questions, but Aelwyn was genuinely curious about at least a couple of points around this.  Hopefully she wouldn't put her foot in her mouth the same way she had during the familiar discussion; she already knew Jawbone was going to have nothing but concern about a joke about not really wanting any more pieces of herself around.

Mostly a joke.  That Adaine wouldn't have found funny, that's all, that's why she muttered it.

She sighed, unable to even convince herself of that in her own head, and turned to Tracker.  "Have you been out here much then..?"

Tracker nodded, not quite looking straight at her.  "I stayed out here a few months before I went and found Uncle Jawbone, after I left my parents."  Right.  Aelwyn had known there was a time period where Tracker was homeless; it was fair enough if she didn't really want to talk about it in detail.

Rather than pick at that scab any more she looked up at the dusk sky, humming.  "...Is there anything I should expect different?"  She asked, as though they hadn't discussed this a half dozen times before.  But it'd make her feel better to hear it again (and maybe help keep her mind from drifting back to one of those miserable full moons inside of a prison orb), and Adaine would appreciate Jawbone talking even if she wasn't really hearing.

"If you can manage to keep yourself close to the rest of us, that'd be good.  Or just follow Adaine; I think she's the most likely to tear off on her own, so I'll probably mostly follow her."  Jawbone said, patiently.  "If you wind up hunting game, you'll be fine if you eat it while you're a wolf but if you have any in the morning you'll still want to cook it at least a little.  Bears should be hibernating this time of year, so that shouldn't become an issue.  I was kind of worried Adaine might pick a fight with one when we were planning to come here during the summer."

He'd only specifically mentioned that one other time, when he'd first brought up doing this for the weekend a few days prior; Adaine had been embarrassed but hadn't denied that she might.  Aelwyn thought she might seek a sleeping one out after all.

"Otherwise, you've got your crystal secured so we can find each other if something happens and we get separated, right?  And you've got magic, of course, beyond that."  Aelwyn nodded; her crystal was in a pouch on a necklace that should be safe from whatever she got up to through the night, and regardless it was too late to worry about it now, only twenty minutes or so before the full moon.

Adaine was laying on her back now, staring up at the sky.  Aelwyn rubbed her hands together, briefly considering trying to wheedle a tea out of Adaine's jacket before it got too far gone, but no.  "Well.  Hopefully we'll all stay together, then."  Aelwyn said, a bit of primness sneaking back into her voice.  She didn't need to do that to talk to Jawbone, but.. a lifetime of habits wouldn't leave her right away, and that one wasn't the worst to have, she guessed.

Before, Aelwyn would have..  would have definitely redirected mother and father to where Adaine was clearly not in her right mind and playing in the dirt.  Easy enough to see.  Do that, and then get away for a few minutes while they were dealing with her, and as long as she didn't get caught by either of them everything would be fine.  Until she WAS caught, WAS punished even if they didn't call it that, and then, and then....

Jawbone's hand touched her shoulder gently, and with a glance up and an internal instinct she'd learned was quite precise about this, Aelwyn realized she'd lost almost five minutes there, and they were under fifteen minutes to go.  "..Ah.  Sorry."  She said, with a shake of her head, pulling her hands down into her sleeves.

"You'll be fine.  It's much more..  enjoyable, out here with plenty of room to run; it's just kind of a long trip to go far enough out to be safe."  Jawbone said, reassuringly.

Aelwyn even believed him, sitting down next to Adaine, glancing down at where she was staring at the near-dark sky.  "Right.  Thank you for bringing us; it should be interesting to see how it goes."

She carried on with absent talk as best she could with Tracker and Jawbone right up until the moon rose, and the three of them who weren't already in hybrid forms lost control of themselves, the transformation still painful for Aelwyn at least, fur and claw and so many sharp teeth coming in...

Adaine was off like a shot within seconds of the moon coming across, of course.  Aelwyn did her best to keep up.


Adaine woke up with a memory of a chase through the forest, a strangely full stomach as though she'd had a feast the night before, and a feeling of something sticky down her front.  The ground was cold beneath her and the smell of death filled her nostrils.  There was a warm pressure against her side.  She wiped at her face, lifting her hand in front of her bleary eyes.  It had come away covered in drying blood and other mess.  She stared at it for a moment, then, glancing around towards where her nose sent her, spotted the deer carcass with a sense of relief.  It would have been her luck to somehow find a person out here, but if she'd just ended up hunting then that was okay.

Asleep next to her was Aelwyn, who looked almost as messy as Adaine felt, though the blood was mostly limited to her face and hands and Adaine was pretty certain she herself was covered in it; her clothing was ripped but the pouch with her crystal in it around her neck way unharmed, and unsurprisingly she was barefoot.  She didn't spot Jawbone or Tracker right away, but she also didn't feel like standing up to look for them.  Halfway across the clearing was the carcass of a deer, still with most of the meat on it but definitely clawed and chewed upon.

She struggled to sit up for a moment, then gave back up and just collapsed against the ground, her entire body still aching.  The motion seemed to wake Aelwyn, at the least, who woke up and looked straight over to the dead deer, then back to Adaine herself, pushing herself up and into a seated position.  "Aah.  Adaine.  Good morning."  She said, falling back into that tone of when she was stressed, which was at least a little amusing when there was evidence of their bad table manners all over both of them.

The snap of a nearby branch had both of them looking over, and Adaine could feel a growl escape the back of her own throat, but it was Jawbone and Tracker approaching, Tracker in a full wolf form, Jawbone of course in his hybrid one.  "Oh, you two are awake, good.  There's a creek about five hundred feet that way if you want to get cleaned up at some point!  No pressure if you don't feel like moving, though."

The plan had been to camp out the day after; it was a plan they ended up following, with Jawbone getting tools from Adaine's jacket to more properly butcher the remaining meat.  The smell eventually attracted a few of the actual locals, who Jawbone negotiated with to take most of it and the rest of the carcass; they'd need it more than the four tourists, after all, and in any case there was only so much that could be done with the tools available from the Jacket of Useful Things.

By the end of the day, Adaine was at least recovered enough to be able to bring up a Tiny Hut to everyone's approval - it was getting cold - and Aelwyn had actually Prestidigitationed herself and Adaine mostly back to clean and they had a lovely if somewhat mismatched dinner of venison steaks and s'mores.

It wasn't something she'd want to do every month, Adaine decided as they rode back to Elmville the next day, but it was definitely something she wanted to do again.

Notes:

I lied and Solstice is next chapter; this was going to be just a brief mention but then I felt like expanding it out.

(We will actually be getting an Aelwyn familiar at some point. I refuse to not do it.)

Chapter 51: Solstice

Summary:

Ayda gets a new spell. Adaine and Aelwyn get a greeting from estranged family.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The second annual Bad Kids And Associated Families Solstice Party did end up getting moved to Mordred Manor, after all, for a few different reasons but Adaine privately thought that Ayda was the last straw - far too likely to start a fire in a cramped space like the Thistlespring tree.  With more advance notice than they'd had for Aelwyn's adoption party, there were far more guests, and more cooking in advance. 

None of the manor residents were very good at baking the sorts of deserts that would be typical for a Solstice party.  Adaine's suggestion that they just pick up a lot of ice cream had been rejected four to two (Aelwyn had sided with her, not having any idea what sorts of deserts should be involved in a Solstice party), and they'd made a group effort to actually bake.  Even Aelwyn pitched in, with Zayn giving her step by step instructions on a brownie recipe he'd known and making certain she didn't have an unnoticed dangerous freeze-up.  It had resulted in them having enough slightly burnt cookies, dry brownies, and something that was supposed to be a fruitcake for everyone to have as much as they wanted.

They'd just gotten pizza for the main meal, though Jawbone had to go pick it up since most delivery drivers still wouldn't go near the place.

In spite of having been looking forward to it for a while, now that the event was actually here it had turned out there were too many people in the house for Adaine to really be comfortable, even though she knew and liked almost all of them.  All of Fig's parents were there - she wasn't even completely certain if it was Ayda's first time meeting Gilear or not - and so was Zelda, and Ragh, and Penny might be here, and Fig had been speculating that Sandra Lynn would be moving in soon after, and just overall it was enough that she'd snuck away to the roof for a little bit, taking Tracker's standing offer of letting her dig into her supply for the first time on a non-full moon just to try to avoid ending up a wolf.

Though, really, there probably wasn't anyone who would react that badly if she just hung out at the party that way.  Maybe Zelda or some of the other looser affiliated sorts; Gorgug's parents probably wouldn't mind or anything, though, for instance.

Adaine watched the half moon in the sky above the manor, the chill of the winter night settling in even as she breathed in the anise-laced weed, her nerves settling a little bit as she rested her other hand on Boggy's head.  She'd make her way back down in like fifteen minutes or so, but...

The sound of a window opening up nearby got her attention, and she looked over to spot Fig climbing out onto the roof, a flask in hand, followed by Ayda.  They were probably either looking for privacy or looking to hide for a moment from Sandra Lynn; Adaine would check which it was and clear out if she needed to, but best to let them know they weren't completely alone.  "Oh, hey!"

She could deal with just Fig and Ayda.  She'd wanted to speak with Ayda at some point tonight, anyway.

Fig gave her a look over and then a smile.  "I didn't know you were going to sneak away from the group for drugs!  We snuck away for a chance to talk and maybe drink some."

Adaine laughed, but admitted.  "I snuck away from the group because it got to be a little too much.  I'm hoping I can go back without a problem after.  Though actually, can you wait here a minute, Ayda?  I need to retrieve something, but I wanted to talk tonight anyways."

"Of course, Adaine O'Shaughnessey."  Ayda said, cheerfully, and Adaine handed her Boggy for the moment for safekeeping, the Froggy and Ayda as ever mutually delighted by one another's presence. 

Adaine nodded, moving over to the appropriate part of the roof to get within range, and then holding the joint in her hand Misty Stepped into her and Aelwyn's wizard tower.

Aelwyn was there, laying on the bed and staring up at the ceiling, eyes unfocused but distinctly not in a trance; she didn't even react to Adaine's appearance, which was always worrying.  Adaine used a Mage Hand to snag the scroll she'd come for, putting the joint in her mouth long enough to gently touch Aelwyn's shoulder.

A little focus returned, and Aelwyn spoke after a moment, her voice softer than normal.  "Oh, Adaine.  Did the party end, or were you just stepping out for a bit?"

Adaine shrugged.  "More the latter.  Got a little too crowded.  Are you okay?"  She'd thought Aelwyn would at least end up speaking with some of the parents like she had at her adoption party, rather than hiding up here.

"Too many Maidens for me to want to ruin the mood by being there."  Aelwyn admitted.  "You?"

"Needed a minute, but I'm probably going to go back down, and I wanted to give Ayda her gift while I have a chance to.  She and Fig found me on the roof."  Adaine admitted, and Aelwyn skeptically eyed her at that.

"It's far too cold to just hang around out there, Adaine.  You'll end up sick.  There are plenty of empty rooms, or I can find somewhere if you want to have this one." Aelwyn said with a frown.

Adaine nodded.  "I'm going to go back down one way or the other after I give this to Ayda.  I think she and Fig were looking for some privacy, even if they wouldn't say so.  You shouldn't worry that you're going to ruin the mood, if you want to be down there, but otherwise I'll be back up after the party, okay?  Zelda and Penny are both very forgiving, and they both would have known you would be there when they were invited."

Aelwyn shrugged in response to that, but hopefully she'd at least stay out of whatever memory she'd been in when Adaine had found her.

Adaine burned another Misty Step getting back to the roof, where Fig and Ayda hadn't moved from where she'd left them, talking with that sappy expression on Fig's face she got whenever she thought about Ayda.  (Quite a lot, these days.)  It cheered Adaine up to see her best friends so happy, at least.

"Here!"  She said, offering the scroll out to Ayda.  "Solstice is an appropriate time to optionally give a gift to a friend."  She hadn't gotten anyone else gifts, nor had they her, but Ayda wouldn't just take this without a reason and it would hopefully be as appealing to her as Adaine's Fierce Fangs had been for Adaine.

Fig, who hadn't known about the spell, looked curious; she'd known that the manor crew weren't doing gifts beyond the party.

Ayda opened the scroll, reading over it with a fascinated expression before tears of flame started, fortunately not coming near the scroll.  "..This..  This is a magnificent work of divination magic, Adaine O'Shaughnessey.  Thank you.  I shall add it to my spellbook at the earliest opportunity."

Adaine smiled, relieved; she'd thought Ayda would like the spell, but it was good to have Ayda's Find Friendship be well received, anyway.


Adaine had eventually made her way back down to the main party and was delighted to see that Aelwyn had actually come back down from their tower, even if she was mostly just keeping to herself and chewing on one of the cookies.

Adaine herself ended up getting drawn into a drawing game that Riz, Gorgug, and Fabian were playing; Adaine naturally quickly caught up on points, without bothering intentionally using her Oracular talents to cheat.  (She would have if it had been necessary, though).  The crowd did start thinning out a little bit while she was busy with that.  She didn't see Penny anymore, though that might not mean anything, and the Thistlesprings eventually made their way out, Gorgug promising to come by the next day.

Fabian left not long after along with his maid and his mother and Gilear.

It was mostly down to those who lived in the manor, plus Fig and Sandra Lynn and Riz and Sklonda, and Adaine was starting to feel the second wave of social energy her break had provided her wear off, when she heard Aelwyn gasp in a strangled, alarmed voice from where she was sitting in a chair near the corner of the living room.

Turning that direction, Aelwyn was.. was trembling, in what looked like actual fear, and Adaine couldn't see what might have set her off.  She didn't have the slightly vacant look she normally did when her mind went elsewhere.

Jawbone was making his way over there already, so Adaine left it to him rather than overcrowd Aelwyn for the moment.

And then a voice rang into Adaine's own head, one she had not heard in most of a year, clear and pompous as ever, and she knew what must have struck Aelwyn so.

"Adaine, daughter.  Greetings on this Solstice.  My fervent wish and goal is that we shall be together again as a family by the next one."

Adaine growled, drawing several looks right away away from Aelwyn, and though she could have responded to the Sending in her own mind, she spoke aloud, instinctively, her voice a full snarl.  "If you come near either me or Aelwyn, I will make the world a better place by ripping your throat out with my teeth, 'mother'."

She could feel herself losing control, could feel the claws and fangs starting to emerge, and then felt the underlying rage vanish in an instant.  Glancing over to where Tracker and Kristen had been cuddling, Adaine saw a wide-eyed Kristen looking at her, clearly having just cast Calm Emotions.  One minute, then, to deal with it.

"Ah.  Sorry about that.  Arianwen decided to Send me, and I assume Aelwyn, a holiday greeting."  She explained, thinking over the matter calmly for the moment.  Fifty seconds or so to go.

The only way she was going to avoid going into her much more dangerous form and doing a great deal of potential damage was by already being full wolf when the spell ended, she thought.  It was more difficult to manage when she couldn't lean on the anxiety she almost always was feeling on some level, but thirty seconds later, eyes shut, she managed to drop down to all fours, still keeping away from the others, half of whom wouldn't need to worry too much about her bite anyway - Ayda was immune, and obviously Aelwyn, Tracker, and Jawbone did not have to worry about becoming werewolves.

Tracker came over to her, Jawbone still staying with Aelwyn, but in spite of her best efforts, Adaine still bit into the foot of the nearby table when the Calm Emotions wore off.

Notes:

A little bit of a short chapter, but I really wanted to end it there! Originally the camping trip of last chapter was a few paragraphs here but I think I like this better.

Ayda's new spell:

Ayda's Find Friendship
4th level divination, verbal and somatic components.

When cast, gives an instinctive understanding of the location and path to the caster's closest friend within 1000 feet. If no friends are found within 1000 feet, this spell will instead locate the person within 1000 feet most likely to become friends after a sincere conversation.

If cast by Ayda Aguefort or Figueroth Faeth, in the event that no current or potential friends are found within range, a voice will verbally remind them that wherever they are, and wherever or whatever state she might be in, Adaine O'Shaughnessey remains their eternal friend. For all other casters, the spell will end with no effect in this case.

Chapter 52: Acceptance

Summary:

The manor gets two more tenants. Aelwyn makes a new friend.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The mood around the manor was tense for a few days after the interrupted Solstice party.  Aelwyn had sunken in on herself almost as badly as the first weeks after her rescue from Fallinel, and Adaine...

Kristen had seen Adaine angry plenty; she seemed to war between anxiety and rage (and occasionally anxious rage) in a way even Gorgug didn't.  But she'd never seen Adaine sustain it so visibly for so long on the rage side.  She was trying to be gentle with everyone else in the manor, and mostly succeeding, but she was clearing boiling under that.

Tracker and Aelwyn were out today, Tracker driving Aelwyn out to try to remove the curse on some recent werewolf bite victims, which both Kristen and Tracker hoped would help pull Aelwyn out of her funk.  That left Adaine to Kristen, she had decided.  

She was expecting to find Adaine buried deep in a book when she climbed up into Mordred Manor's wizard tower, and was a little surprised to find that she was working on practicing her lockpicking instead.  It didn't seem to be going well, judging by the pair of snapped off tools sitting on the desk.  There was no chance she hadn't noticed Kristen's approach, of course, but she stayed focused on the task at hand, the little practice lock popping open after a few moments of Kristen watching.

"Do you need something?"  Adaine asked, clearly trying to hold her temper in restraint, equally clearly failing.

"I was worried about you."  Kristen said, both because it was true and because nothing seemed to bewilder and disarm Adaine more than simple, clear concern about her.  "And I wanted to try to talk to you."

"I...  right, okay."  Adaine said, turning her chair around, a frown creasing her face.  "What about?"

"Well.  I thought you might need to hear this, more than anything.  Sometimes..  it's like me and Yes?.  Sometimes you make something, and it turns out that you and the thing you make don't really get along and shouldn't have anything to do with each other.  But that doesn't mean that the thing that got created sucks, right?" Kristen offered, gesturing at Adaine.

Adaine's face screwed up in what looked like disgust.  "..I'm not sure whether to be more offended on my own behalf that you're comparing me to your annoying god or on your behalf that you're comparing yourself to my mother."

Kristen nodded.  "It is a difficult choice, but it should give you something to think about.  Anyway, you just.. can ignore her, I think, and live your own life.  She's hardly going to come here, I'm pretty sure we could take her as a group.  So you two can just ignore each other forever, until she finds something new."

"...Are you suggesting that I should hope my awful parents have another child?  Aside from all of the many other problems with that, Aelwyn said she thought they had fallen out with each other after she was taken by Fallinel and given that the last time I heard from my father he was adamantly in favor of my death I guess maybe that's true."  Adaine said, still sounding kind of grossed out at the thought.  Maybe Kristen wasn't being obvious enough?

"Well, I mostly mean you shouldn't concoct some kind of plan to go find and murder her, at least not alone?  Like, if you're going to do that, take the rest of us with you this time?  I know Riz is worrying about it again, and I think Fabian and Gorgug and even Fig are going to side with him this time if you do it again."  Kristen tried, laying it much more obviously out.  "Also, we're meeting up with everyone to get ice cream in half an hour."

That at least drew Adaine out of the tower, even if she was still protesting that she hadn't had any plans to go out of her way to kill her mother.


Adaine truly wasn't planning to seek out her mother, and she wasn't sure why none of her friends seemed to completely believe her on that.  Sure, she'd gone after Aelwyn without telling them, but they should understand the difference between rescuing someone who was in trouble and seeking out someone dangerous and hated.  Still, she made an effort to set aside her anger and be more social after the talk with Kristen, and she was glad to notice that after having helped treat several cases of lycanthropy that had been caught early enough that Aelwyn seemed to come back into herself more as well.

Luckily, the remainder of the winter break contained a nice distraction - Sandra Lynn and Jawbone had made the decision to move in together, which meant Sandra Lynn and Fig were moving into Mordred Manor.  That did mean Aelwyn and Adaine needed to dig Floating Disk out of their spellbooks for the first time since their own move a couple of months prior, though they probably could have easily gotten by with just one of them.

Especially when it turned out Fig wasn't even going to use her bed and instead was planning on sleeping under the trapped piano everyone who lived there had learned to leave alone, for some reason.

"...That can't possibly be good for your back, Fig.  And Ayda's going to have a hard time fitting in there."  Adaine pointed out, to no avail.  Ayda was busy with a children's storytime, but was supposed to be coming by that evening; maybe she could convince Fig not to sleep in a literal cursed trap.

Or she'd just find it charming.

"Yeah, but it's cool and that's what matters the most.  You got your thematic wizard's tower, Kristen got her weird abandoned chapel, this is the perfect place for a true rock star bard!"  Fig claimed, and Adaine couldn't really argue with that logic.

Well, she could have, but she wasn't going to.

There was a little bit of an adjustment period, more with Sandra Lynn than with Fig; Jawbone had never minded whatever Kristen and Tracker got up to so long as they were being safe, or any of the various drug use (legitimately medicinal in Adaine's case and sometimes Tracker's; purely recreational for Kristen) other than, Adaine knew, encouraging Aelwyn to stay clean whenever she'd mentioned the occasional longing for drink or drugs, and that was more because he was worried she might be desiring them out of self-destructive impulses than anything else.

Sandra Lynn was not quite so open, though it had just taken one brief conversation for her to not give Adaine or Tracker a hard time about the occasional anise joints.  Tracker and Kristen on the other hand...

Not Adaine's direct problem, not unless she did end up developing an interest in that kind of thing, but Sandra Lynn was trying to put water back into a shattered glass on that one.

The Saturday before classes would resume, Aelwyn approached her after dinner, whispering a request as though it were something to be ashamed of.

"Can you pull, ah, those incenses and other components from your jacket for me?  I don't keep any of those in my kit, and the sword won't work as a focus for it.  And give me an hour or two privacy in the tower?"  Aelwyn asked, without looking straight at her.

Adaine smiled, and handed them over without giving her sister too hard a time about it, just whispering back.  "Let me know if you need help coming up with a name?  I'm very good at coming up with cool names."

Aelwyn's eyes flickered to where Boggy was resting on her shoulder, and said with just a hint of sarcasm.  "Yes, quite.  If I don't think of one, I'll let you know, but it feels like something I should do myself."

She couldn't really argue with that, though she suspected she would not be part of another familiar's name.  That was okay; Garthy and Adaine the Fish was quite enough on that front.


Aelwyn sat at the desk she and Adaine shared and read through the ritual three more times to make certain she remembered everything about it, breathing in and out to steady herself as she lit the incense.  The spell mentioned a meditative state as part of it; she had partly put this off so long because she was worried about losing the thread of the ritual during that.

It was just a level one spell.  She could try again, if she had to.  It would hardly be the worst failure of her life.

She'd just have to admit to the failure to Adaine to get more materials.

The smell of the incense hit her nose right away, of course, and at some point in the process she lost focus, the desk going blurry.  But it wasn't the same as normal; she didn't start replaying some memory in her head, of the orb or of her failures to help Adaine or any of the things she had done for Kalina or Kalvaxus.  

No, this was somehow more vulnerable; she knew that the spell was trying to call out to find a spirit who would see her own soul and decide she was someone worthy of joining itself to.  Adaine had repeatedly called Boggy a previously missing part of her soul when trying to convince Aelwyn to do this, and while Adaine had not been literally correct Aelwyn could see what she meant.

Would there really be a spirit willing to attach itself to her?  It was possible for the spell to fail if the answer was no, Aelwyn knew.

It was thus a little alarming when she stirred from her reverie, the clock on the desk marking that just over an hour had passed, and no familiar was obviously present.  She frowned, glancing around the room.  Had she gotten it wrong, somehow, or had she truly been so pathetic still as to be rejected?

There was a blur of motion out from under her bed towards and out the door, which she had left slightly cracked open to allow the incense to not completely clog the room.  "..Oh!"  Aelwyn sprung to her feet, dashing down the stairs after the creature.  Had this spirit joined her and then immediately regretted the choice?

She was supposed to be able to see through its eyes somehow, but she didn't actually know how to do that yet, or how to instruct it as she was supposed to.  So instead she just followed after, the slight scent of her magic reaching her nose now that she was away from the incense, the difference between it and Adaine's magic subtle but clear.  

She, in fact, was so focused on the smell that she didn't fully realize where she was going until she stepped into the music room, sliding to a halt as she saw Adaine, Ayda, and Fig all there, staring at her.  "Aah."  She started, uncertain how to ask if any of them had seen her familiar when a black streak came from under the piano and jumped up and at her, her arms automatically moving to catch the figure.

A black weasel with a patch of white fur on the top of her head squeaked up at her, then continued climbing up and draping off her shoulder, her hair not even yet grown back to shoulder-length.  She reached a hand up to touch it, then glanced back over - even Fig's expression had softened a little, but she still felt a need to explain.  "Sorry, she.. ran from me at first."  Aelwyn was still not sure how to feel about that.

"She probably just thought you needed some company.  Did you think of a name?"  Adaine asked, her voice soft, though Aelwyn could just tell her sister was close to bursting with the effort of holding back on a suggestion that almost certainly rhymed in some way.

Still.  The smell of her familiar, now that it was up close, wasn't just entirely of her wizardly magic.  There was the slightest hint of what she could do with a sword or the minor healings she seemed able to sometimes do now, something of the version of her goddess she had chosen to follow and the conviction she was starting to form for herself.

"Moonlight."  She decided, reaching a hand out and letting her familiar poke at a finger with her nose.  "Her name is Moonlight."

Notes:

Much like Adaine earlier in the fic, this chapter (and the familiar's naming, in particular) is the point where Aelwyn really accepts that she's just permanently a werewolf now; she's much more reserved in those kinds of emotional declarations than Adaine is, but using a spell like Wish for selfish needs even if she were still ever going to be capable of it isn't compatible with the convictions she's forming.

For the familiar form, I gave serious consideration to the poisonous snake or the weasel, or if I wanted to be extra mean giving her a cat. Obviously, decided on the weasel. Who immediately after this scene gets so much attention from Ayda and Adaine in particular, but Fig too.

We're getting really close, in a chapter sense, to Spring Break time; the next couple of months in between is relatively empty. I hope you're enjoying the good times now. :D ..Though I have somehow jammed, um, 37 chapters and counting into the space between the last episode of FHFY and the first episode of FHSY if you don't count the oneshots, and obviously things are going to go very differently.

Chapter 53: Conspiracy

Summary:

An estranged couple works towards reconciliation. Aelwyn tries to help make a cake.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Angwyn Abernant sat in his tiny office in Calethriel Tower and seethed at the state of what his life had become over the last year, a few weeks short of the anniversary of his daughters' arrest and everything going to Hell.

His position, lands, and fortune gone.  His wife, vanished into the night, working on who-knew-what.  Both daughters now monsters with little hope of recovery; one likely to be executed in the near future, the other likely insane at best.  Worst of all, any hope of recovering any sort of standing would never come to pass with those three loose threads dangling, particularly Adaine.

Even once they were all dealt with, it would be the work of centuries, likely.  They had him handling the most dull busywork, clearly just to keep him occupied and out of the way.

The one thing he did still have was his security clearances, at least, so he had been able to keep up with what little information there was, mostly again on Adaine.  With the state of relations between Fallinel and Solace, there was some uncertainty on what had been done with Aelwyn, and Arianwen was all but impossible to track.

All he'd needed to give for that and for a promise that Aelwyn would just be recaptured and not executed as well was to testify at Adaine's trial, a low enough cost.  Adaine being executed was an embarrassment to the family, of course, but at least it would stop the bleeding of being a constant and consistent problem.

He closed his eyes.  Arianwen could be convinced to return, if whatever scheme she was up to failed and he could find safety for her.  They could still find a cure for Aelwyn, eventually, and she could be stored away indefinitely once recaptured without much cost.  It would be hard, much too hard, but he could recover still.

But he didn't deserve to have to.  He had climbed this mountain once, and he did not deserve to have to wheedle and work his way back up for hundreds of years just to get back towards the peak, just because of the actions of his broken younger daughter.

If only they'd at least killed her the first time they caught her, or if only she hadn't been the Oracle to supercharge the embarrassment.  Most of the others in the tower wouldn't hold conversations beyond the necessary with him at this point, blaming him for the loss of the Oracle, for not being able to control Adaine.

This was really his own fault, for having panicked when she initially turned in front of him.  If he'd been wiser and calmer, she could have been 'transferred' to a school in Fallinel after all, quietly buried somewhere and disappeared after a quick and painless (for him) execution, rather than being disowned and cast out and left alive to embarrass them.

He glanced at the document he was working on, then set it aside with a heavy sigh.  It was pointless, just more access control lists of the grounds of the tower and the associated Vault.

A voice sounded into his mind.  Arianwen, reaching out at last.

"My darling husband.  I have a new ally for us, and a new opportunity.  Are you open to this?  It will be a fruitful one."

Angwyn swept his eyes around the room.  He had been loyal to the Court of Stars for all his life, and they had not returned that loyalty recently.  This room was proof enough of that.  He considered the words, what they would really mean...

"I'm listening."  He started, counting the words in his head mentally as he spoke into the Sending.  "Exactly what is it that this ally of yours has to offer to us that would be better than the Court of Stars?"

There was a moment's pause, while Arianwen was casting the spell again undoubtedly.

"Our lands and wealth restored.  Our daughters, uncursed, loyal, and most of all obedient.  Control of the Elven Oracle, and through her, all of Fallinel."

Angwyn Abernant licked his lips, and looked down at the paperwork, thinking of the centuries of work that would be necessary to get less than what it was his wife was suggesting.  She had not been fully loyal to him, but she would not lie about something like this, and it was difficult to trick her indeed.  She would not promise such a thing without some idea of how it is that it would happen.

He would be better off with Adaine dead than with her still ruining his reputation.  But if Arianwen had some thought of a way to force her to be the Oracle in truth while also obeying her parents, as was right?

"...I am interested.  Please let me know what it is that you need from me."  He said, not bothering using the entire word count.  They would need to arrange a better communication method for full plans, but he would hear her out.


Aelwyn wasn't sure what she'd expected from her night classes as a Paladin, not exactly, but whatever had been in her mind was not what it was a month in.

She had always been a talented student, of course; even outside of needing to meet her parents' expectations, Wizardry had always come naturally to her, and even now with her mind unable to hold the most complex spells she was still better with what she could do than most wizards she had ever met (though being around Ayda Aguefort, who was just as good and without that new handicap, was good for humbling herself.)

That was.. maybe not the case now.  Her paladin class had about a dozen students, all picking it up as a second discipline in the same way she was, as the class section was specifically for people doing so...

Sort of picking it up in the same way she was.

The others in her class all had some commonalities:  They were all older than her (most of them by at least a decade), and every one of them had used weapons and armor in live combat for years.  None of them were Wizards, and she was apparently the first Wizard to move into Paladin-ing in at least a decade to come through these classes; the closest of any of them in the current class was a Bard, and even he was well-practiced with swords and armor.  Most of them struggled with the magical side of things that she had started getting a pretty good grip on; the energy they could put into their swings even with their much heftier weapons was soft, compared to what she could manage, and once she'd figured out how to use Cure Wounds she could use it just as well as she could any of her Wizard spells, which was to say far better than even the Bard.

The problem, really, was that she wore down even over the few hours of class and that her defensiveness could not match the others.  She couldn't even move in some of the heaviest armor she'd tried to fit, and even the slightly lighter stuff tired her out, though she could at least move in it.

She'd had a conversation with the grizzled old dwarf instructor, Hedin Bronzeaxe, who was missing two fingers and an eye from his last (successful) battle before retiring into this role.  

"I think you need to get used to wearing it, more than anything else."  He'd said, gruffly but not unkindly.  "I see that spell you cast on yourself, and it's better than nothing certainly, but real armor can be tougher than that, won't eat up your energy, and can't be dispelled.  You've got a good heart, and a lot of potential if I'm any judge, but my suggestion would be to start with a chain shirt and wear it from the moment you wake up to when you're getting ready to sleep until you're really comfortable in it, and then we can see about working your way up.  I don't think you'll ever want to wear the really heavy stuff, but a shield and some half-plate I could see on you for certain, you just need to put in the effort."

The instructor was the only one she knew for certain knew she was a werewolf, though she thought the others would probably pick up on it; she'd already missed one class because of the full moon.

And so, still an obedient student, Aelwyn was pulling on her chain shirt over her clothing even though it was a Saturday, and even though she wasn't doing any kind of work today.  Adaine was still asleep, a wolf in her hammock, with both Boggy and Moonlight resting next to her.

Aelwyn wasn't even entirely certain how Moonlight made it up there, to be truthful, even though she did about half the time at night while Aelwyn herself tranced.  She didn't think her familiar could teleport or jump that high the way that Boggy could and did.

"Do you want to come with me and help?  We can get breakfast and coffee started for everyone."  Aelwyn whispered to her familiar, quiet so as to not awaken Adaine.  Aelwyn was a terrible cook, but she'd been trying to learn at least breakfast food, since she was usually awake before anyone except sometimes Sandra Lynn (who usually started her trance later than Aelwyn tended to).  She wasn't certain how much it an actual reassurance and how much it might just be a placebo effect, but she did generally seem to do less bad with breakfast when her familiar accompanied her.

To her secret delight, not only did Moonlight accept by climbing up her arm and onto her shoulder, Boggy hopped his way to her other shoulder as well.  Moonlight usually (certainly not always) would; Boggy was a treat.

It did make trying to sneak her way downstairs without waking anyone else a little more challenging, but she thought she managed it anyways.

She was slightly surprised to see that she wasn't the first one downstairs for once, Sandra Lynn already puttering around in the kitchen, a number of mixing bowls out.  "..Good morning."  Aelwyn said quietly, not wanting to get in the way and not certain what Sandra Lynn was making.

"Oh, good morning, Aelwyn."  She said, distracted.  "There's some coffee left if you want some?  I'm just starting on a cake for Fig's farewell tonight."

Aelwyn nodded at the offer of coffee, before asking with some slight confusion "..Fig is having a farewell?"

"Oh, you must have been at class, I think I assumed Adaine would have told you."  Adaine had already been asleep when Aelwyn had gotten home the night before; she just shook her head in response and waited for Sandra Lynn to continue.  "Fig and Gorgug got approval from the Academy and some tour dates, so they're going to be going on a short tour with their band for the next six or seven weeks starting Monday.  I have to admit, I understand how it counts for academic credit for Fig; she is a Bard.  I'm not certain how Gorgug is getting any?  But he's not my child, so I try not to interfere or worry too much.  The Thistlesprings are good people."  Sandra Lynn said, as she sat a mug of coffee in front of Aelwyn.

"Ah."  Aelwyn said, uncertainly.  "Are they just going within the country, at least?"

"Yes, the Academy still isn't permitting any of their party out of the country so long as the Fallinel situation stays the same."  Sandra Lynn said with a sigh.  "Fig was really trying to hold out for Leviathan, but I don't even know that pirates know anything about rock music.  I think that was just because she wanted to see where Ayda's from."  Ayda had continued, even with her 'paramour', to enforce her father's request that none of them be allowed through the portal to the Compass Points.  Aelwyn was looking forward to seeing it someday, from the descriptions Adaine had given.

"Probably."  And there was a thought.  "How did Ayda take it?"  Probably not very well, if Aelwyn had to guess.

"She's making a schedule for how to Teleport to as many of the shows as possible without leaving her library unguarded for too long."  Sandra Lynn said as she whisked at a bowl.  "She did offer to take anyone who wants to go with her along from the manor, if you'd like to go to any of the shows.  I know Fig's hoping Adaine makes at least one."

Aelwyn hummed, noncommittally.  Adaine, she was pretty certain, would not really enjoy herself at a concert on its own, but she wouldn't want to disappoint a friend (though hopefully she'd manage to retain control of her form).  Aelwyn, on the other hand, was worried she might be tempted to have too good a time at one.  Maybe if she was there with Ayda and Adaine...  "I'll think about it."  She decided.  "I've never been to a show like that sober."

Sandra Lynn made a noise of concern at that, and Aelwyn knew that would probably eventually mean a talk with Jawbone about that, though he already knew most of her worries there.

Rather than leave it on that note, Aelwyn reached for something, anything else to talk about.  "..Have there been any intrusions from Fallinel lately?"  She finally decided on, though she suspected that if there had been and Sandra Lynn had heard about them, Adaine and Aelwyn would have known.

"No, they've been quiet on the physical front.  I think it might be the political you need to worry about more, right now."  Sandra Lynn admitted.  "Though I know Aguefort's on top of it there.  You should just try to be a kid, Aelwyn.  Gods know you haven't had enough of that."

Aelwyn shook her head, Moonlight leaning over and sniffing at her cheek after the motion; she raised a hand up to stroke once along the weasel's head before doing the same for Boggy for fairness' sake.  "I am an adult, legally.  And I have to worry about it, if for no other reason then because Adaine won't let it stop her from doing something if she thinks it's right."

Sandra Lynn sighed.  "I wish I could disagree with that part, but..  you're still a kid in all of the ways that really matter, and you will be for years, yet.  I'm not saying you shouldn't pay attention, of course, but it shouldn't be something you have to worry about."

Aelwyn sipped at her coffee, rather than have to deal with that sort of sincere concern, then looked around.  There had to be a better subject than that.  "...Is there anything I can do to help with the cake?"  She finally asked, and Sandra Lynn smiled.


Adaine woke up to a fuzzy memory of dreams of a forest and an unusually empty room.  Aelwyn being out of the room before she woke up wasn't unusual - Aelwyn only rarely slept in her own wolf form, the opposite of Adaine - but often Boggy, Moonlight, or both would be there still.

Adaine dropped down from the hammock, not bothering to shift back to being an elf for the moment, having wanted more practice at this anyways.  Shutting her eyes, she tried to see if Boggy was in range to see through his.

She was firmly rewarded with a view from atop a counter in the kitchen of Aelwyn being tutored on whisking techniques by Sandra Lynn.

Snagging her day's planned clothing from atop her dresser in her mouth, Adaine padded down the hall towards the one bathroom with a shower they had found so far that wasn't in the master suite.  They were certain there had to be more somewhere - they'd found at least seven rooms that had to be countable as bedrooms - but no luck finding them so far, which meant that bathroom time was the true commodity of the manor.

She managed to get there first, not that surprisingly since Aelwyn was busy and everyone else liked to sleep in on Saturdays, and eventually made her way downstairs after a refreshing and long shower, bleary-eyed Kristen and Tracker both waiting by the time she got out of the shower.  "You should let us go first next time, we can get two done at the same time!"  Kristen called after her.

At least she hadn't walked in on them much since the move from the apartment.

Adaine made her way down the stairs, waved to Zayn when she spotted him down a hall, and came out into the kitchen finally.  Something had maybe gone a little wrong at some point with the process - at least, she didn't think Aelwyn was supposed to have what appeared to be cake batter splattered across her shirt and face - but Jawbone and Sandra Lynn and Aelwyn were all there and all seemed cheerful enough.

Rather than crowd things further, she sat down at the kitchen table, Boggy making a jump across to land in her lap with a ribbit.

Aelwyn sat down across from her after a moment, Moonlight nowhere to be seen just now which probably meant she was getting into something she shouldn't be.  "Good morning, Adaine.  Heard some of your party are going to be gone for a while?"  She sounded nonchalant about it, clearly forced, so Adaine thought through what the worry might be for her sister.

Aelwyn liked Fig well enough from what she could tell, but not so much that she'd mind one less person in the house for a month or two.  She wouldn't have any strong opinion on Gorgug at all.  So this.. was probably about Adaine herself.  And probably not about her emotional state.  "..Yes.  I think I will try to make it to at least one of their shows this time; I missed all the ones last summer.  We can talk to her and to Riz and Ayda to try to figure out a secure way to do it?"

The smile that snuck onto Aelwyn's face, usually so severe these days now that she was making an effort to be more honest with her expressions, made it clear she'd hit the mark.  "That's good, then.  We'll figure something out."

It was a good start to what would hopefully be a great day.

Notes:

This chapter is the first true villain PoV in a while, maybe at all depending on how you count Aelwyn's early appearances when she was definitely villainous but not nearly as bad as this jerk.

I needed a shower after writing that first section, not going to lie.

We also get a check-in after a little bit of a small time skip with our sisters; it's been about a month since the last chapter, with nothing particularly noteworthy happening during this full moon.

Chapter 54: Tower

Summary:

The Bad Kids go to a concert. Adaine makes a tough moral choice and lives with it.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Adaine did not end up taking Ayda's offer to help teleport her to as many shows as possible; there were too many dangers involved in them to go to each and every one, if it became known she'd be there.  But she was going to the one tonight, in Bastion City, which meant an overnight stay - the last train left for Elmville well before the concert would end.

Which had meant the rest of the party, plus Tracker and Aelwyn, plus of course Ayda were all going.  Aelwyn was absolutely only going because she was worried about assassins, and Riz was probably the same with some desire to support Fig and Gorgug; Fabian and Kristen and Tracker were probably mostly going for the show.

Though Adaine wouldn't put it past them to also be prepared for trouble.

Probably not as much as Aelwyn, though.

"..Okay, I didn't say anything about the armor or the sword because it's still Solace, there'll be other people armed there, but the shield is too much."  Adaine finally spoke up as she watched her sister consider the shield she'd started carrying and practicing casting while holding in what spare time she had.  "It's probably going to be pretty crowded as is, you'll end up hitting people with it."

"Do you think so?  It's really not that much, but I'm not very practiced with it yet.  You're probably right."  Aelwyn eventually agreed, setting it back down on their shared desk with a sigh.

Adaine frowned, glancing over her sister - she didn't look that much like a concert attendee; the chain shirt was concealed under another top, but it all was rather bulky in sum, at least for a rock show.  "You could probably just use Mage Armor, if you're really worried?  Or try to relax for the night?  It'll probably be fine, and Fig's set me up with a bailout saferoom to teleport to if things start getting back.  I prepared Dimension Door and Misty Step both as an elf and a wolf this morning, so all my bases are covered there."

Aelwyn glanced over, a matching frown on her face.  "...I'm not going to relax, I'm going to help make sure you and your friends make it back safely, okay?  If you all want to cut loose, you should be able to."

Adaine tapped her hand at her side, considering whether to press the issue further.  "Everything I can try with a divination also came up clear.  I don't mind you being prepared, but it's not work for you, right?  At least try to listen to the show?  I'm sure Ayda would really appreciate it."

That was an argument that at least had a chance at working, but Adaine wouldn't push it too far.  She was just wearing a normal outfit, her jacket and a t-shirt, with a skirt in case she did end up getting overwhelmed and going wolf.  Aelwyn made a noncommittal noise, and Adaine sighed and squeezed Boggy, putting him down on the desk.  "Keep Moonlight and Jawbone company while I'm gone, Boggy."  The rock show would almost certainly be too much for a little frog like him, but she'd rather let him be free than dismiss him if she didn't need to, even if it meant not having access to him for the night.

Half an hour later - twenty minutes after they were supposed to be - they arrived in a blink in a park in Bastion City that was familiar to Adaine, she realized.  "Isn't this where we waited last summer?"  She asked Ayda.

"Yes; it's much more reliable to use magic to reach places you've been before, and I have not been to this venue."  Ayda said, as they started walking towards the venue.  "I've missed two shows already on the tour because my Teleport from the written instructions was too inaccurate to get there before it started."

It wasn't too far a walk, and it was still daylight when they got to the club that the Cig Figs were playing that night, with more than an hour to spare before the opening act was going to come on.  Fig and Gorgug had time to greet them and show them around the venue, including...

It was supposed to be a security closet, except no-one was actually working security in this club ever and none of the cameras were actually real, so what it was was a small, mostly insulated space she could hide in, and Fig had prepared it with some pillows and a blanket just in case.

"I hope you don't need it, but better to be prepared, right?  And maybe just knowing it's there will help some."  Fig had said, before Adaine had hugged her tightly, grateful beyond words for the consideration.

She still took it slow, most of the rest of the group - Ayda and Aelwyn excluded, but to her surprise including Riz at Fabian's slight pressure - indulging in drinks or drugs.  Worried about the crowd that was already forming just for the opening act, Adaine held off.

Over the course of the opening act, she seriously considered casting a Silence bubble around herself; unfortunately, there would be no way to reserve that just for herself without hitting a large chunk of the room.  She at least pulled earplugs from her Jacket, which helped a little bit; the thumping of the baseline still pushed into her chest, and something about this was horribly familiar, and her breath came up shorter and shorter with each one...

And then she wasn't seeing the same place, anymore.  She was seeing the Black Pit around her, and someone who she loved with all her heart, who was her DAD, who wasn't in any control of himself was biting into her arm.  Pain started wracking throughout her entire body, that first and damning transformation driven by the music of DJ Brainz, and...

...And the thudding baseline faded slightly, as she felt the tug of a Dimension Door pull her along, but she still wasn't seeing the present.  Now, instead of the past, she was seeing..  somewhen.  Now, or the future probably, but it was a place she'd been before.  Only once, but it had been memorable.

She was floating slightly above the courtyard of Calethriel Tower, and looking at the sky it couldn't be now; it was just before dawn in her vision, and it would be night currently there now.  The atmosphere was mostly quiet, and she spotted who appeared to be Kir striding across the courtyard towards the Tower when a loud cracking sound pierced the air.

Looking around, Adaine could not see what came of it, just watching Kir straighten with alarm and stare towards the tower as it began to collapse, dust and dirt covering the air, bricks pouring down around them.  Adaine watched in silent horror, thinking of how large the tower was, how many people being held like Aelwyn and herself might be in there, whether truly for crimes or just at the whims of the elvish high council...  Though maybe they were better off crushed by the stone of the tower than being trapped for who knew how long.

Maybe if she was lucky, her father would be inside when this happened, if she allowed it to happen.  She could maybe stop it, maybe give a warning, though if it was the next morning it would be difficult to do so in time.

A stray stone flew for Kir, who raised a hand up and stopped it with a shield.  A shame, that she would evidently survive this, if Adaine allowed this future to come to pass...

Should she?  Could she even really stop it?

She came back to herself, still an elf, wrapped up in the blanket in that security closet, Aelwyn kneeling in front of her and holding her hands.  "Breath for me, please, Adaine.  In, slowly..."  Much louder on the right than the left; she must have lost an earplug.

Aelwyn was trying one of the breathing exercises; they'd modified most of them, since Adaine was usually a wolf when they were needed, but Adaine didn't think a panic attack was exactly what had happened to her.  The memory of the Pit had been so vivid, and Calethriel Tower was definitely a vision.  She looked up at Aelwyn, who sighed in relief.

"Are you back with me?  You started to pass out, out there, so I brought you back here just in case.  Your eyes were glowing silver, as well.  I wasn't certain if it was an Oracle thing or if you just got overwhelmed."  Aelwyn explained, and the music even through the walls faded out, faint applause making it through.

Adaine shut her eyes for a moment, examining how she really felt.  A slight headache, but nothing too bad otherwise.  "...I'm okay, I think.  I got a little overwhelmed.  Um, I don't think I ever told you, but I got bitten at a club while loud music was going.  By Jawbone, actually; the music was made to make werewolves and vampires lose control."

Aelwyn huffed out a breath.  "I see."  She certainly would be able to understand getting stuck on a bad memory, Adaine thought.  Unfortunately, the next piece of news might inflict exactly that on her.

"I also, um, had a vision.  Of Calethriel Tower collapsing.  I'm not sure why, some kind of magical attack or something, but it's going to happen in a morning, and if it's like these kinds of visions normally are for me, it's going to happen tomorrow morning.  Do you think we should try to prevent it?"  Adaine asked, because she wasn't certain what it said about her that her default answer to that was 'no'.

Aelwyn's eyes went wide, and she snarled...  "Of course not!"  came out of her instinctive, almost ferally, Adaine convinced for a moment she could see fangs under what was normally a really solid grip that Aelwyn had on her own form compared to Adaine.  But after a few moments, that passed, and Aelwyn seemed to deflate.  "...Except.  There's a bunch of people in there that have nothing to do with the Court of Stars, or are probably just as much their victims as anything else."

Adaine nodded at that.  Aelwyn was right; she wouldn't put herself at risk for this, but at least giving them warning, giving them a chance to evacuate...  Maybe it would buy her enough goodwill that they'd call off the bounty, though she wouldn't hold her breath.

She pulled out her crystal, looking through the past calls, back months and months to before she had rescued Aelwyn, the first day of school.  Nearly a dozen calls from the same number.  Hopefully, they would answer now.

"Traitor Oracle Abernant.  I don't suppose you are calling to arrange turning yourself in for your execution?" sneered the voice on the other end of the crystal, Kalari making it extremely tempting for her to just hang back up, as she angled the crystal to make certain Aelwyn wasn't visible on the other side.

"Hardly.  I was calling to do you a favor, actually, but if you're going to be like that..."

"Now, now, I didn't say I wouldn't listen."  Kalari said.  "Though in person would obviously be better."

Adaine just ignored that; this man was not the one who would die if she didn't get through to him.  "If you don't do something to change it, Calethriel Tower is going to collapse, soon.  Probably tomorrow morning.  It looked like everyone inside would almost certainly die, in my vision."

"Is that supposed to be a threat, Abernant?"  He said, and Adaine blinked, uncertainly.

"Of course not.  I know how to make threats, if I need to make a threat!  For example, if you call me Abernant one more time, I will find you and kill you, personally.  It's O'Shaughnessey, as you damn well know. This is me, trying to warn you about something that's going to happen.  Do something or don't, it's not my problem anymore."  She declared, closing the connection angrily.

Fig's voice was coming muffled through the wall now, and then a much more familiar song came through the wall, just as loud as anything the opening act had done but somehow much more comforting, and Adaine pulled a replacement earplug out from her jacket, rubbing her trembling hands together.  "..Come on.  I have to at least see a few songs of Fig's."  She told Aelwyn, who startled and nodded.


Adaine managed to make it through most of the set before she had to retreat back to quieter environs (and more importantly, less crowded ones) and just let herself go into wolf form to relax, sprawled across the pillows and under the blanket, listening to one of her two best friends in all of existence sing through the walls.


They had a sleepover that night in a hotel suite Fig and Gorgug had rented out for that purpose, knowing that the entire party was coming.  Aelwyn, Tracker, and Ayda came along, of course, though Aelwyn mostly kept to herself and Ayda mostly kept to Fig's side, with Tracker sitting in Kristen's lap.  Adaine just stayed in wolf form, resting between Gorgug and Fig, her energy just about used up staying with the concert as long as she could manage.  She watched while the others gossiped, and laughed, and played cards.  Ayda taught them a Leviathan game that heavily involved gambling; Adaine didn't bother warning them not to do that against Ayda, because if they hadn't learned not to bet against a divination wizard from dealing with her then they probably didn't need the money anyways.

She tried hard not to think about the deadline Calethriel Tower was most likely under, of the option she could have taken to send to Kir or Angwyn directly, if she'd really wanted to stop it wholeheartedly.

The Bad Kids mostly didn't make it to proper beds, falling asleep where they were, even Fabian.  Adaine herself had ended up being used as a pillow for Fig, though she didn't rest well.

She was torn on whether she had done enough, or maybe even done too much.  She hadn't decided it even by the time the next night that word came through that several Elven governmental buildings had been destroyed, Calethriel Tower included, and that what remained of the Fallinel government was blaming an attack by Solace.

Notes:

So there's still a couple of choices I need to make on exactly how we get there, but we're getting into the nitty gritty from here. Time for things to go downhill for a while!

Chapter 55: Detective

Summary:

Riz watches Aelwyn make pancakes. Adaine and Riz come to an agreement.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Riz Gukgak had done his best to forgive Adaine for her repeated deceptions and reckless risk of her own safety, in exchange for her (sometimes) listening when he'd pressed her on elements of security.  He'd found an unexpected ally in that in the form of Adaine's maybe-still-evil sister of late, and bonding over her nascent rogue training had helped smooth things over further, even if they had so far had zero success talking any of the other Bad Kids into learning their shared language.

But just because he had forgiven, didn't mean that he had forgotten.  If anything, he kept even more aware of Adaine's state, because she'd made it equally clear that she would do what she thought she needed to.  And so, the morning after the concert they'd all made it to, within the suite of the hotel, he most decidedly noticed that she still seemed rattled.

Not really a surprise, necessarily, given that she'd been bothered enough that Aelwyn had had to bail her out and then she'd had to leave again later, and she'd spent the entire night in wolf form, something she only tended to do when she was really down, but this was the first time he'd ever seen her remain that way into the morning.  It was enough that he actually approached Aelwyn while she was alone in the suite's small kitchen.

Well, that and the smell of coffee.  Aelwyn didn't even say anything to him before setting a mug with the hotel's logo on it in front of him, turning back away and starting to dig into the pantry, her chain shirt obviously weighing her down.  She'd tranced in it, for that matter, he knew, though she could prestidigitation it clean.

"...What are you looking for?"  He asked, distracted from the question he'd come in for, taking a sip at the coffee.

"I was going to see if there was stuff to make pancakes; they actually stocked the fridge and pantry.  I guess being a rock star has its perks?"  She sounded more curious than anything at that, though slight alarm bells were ringing; Adaine was a terrible cook, and he thought someone had mentioned Aelwyn being the same.

"Do you know how to make pancakes without making a mess?"  He asked, thrown from his initial line of questioning.  He could bring it back to Adaine after making sure they weren't about to all get food poisoning from whatever Aelwyn was about to make.

"Sandra Lynn's been teaching me breakfast food.  I should be able to do it."  Aelwyn said, though the frown on her face made him still a little worried about it as she dug out ingredients and a bowl from the fridge and pantry, starting to mix up batter.  "Ayda will want to stay with Fig as long as she can, so we probably won't go back until late this afternoon or this evening, I would guess.  Ah..."  She paused, as she heated up the pan on the oven.

He watched, noticing a slight tremble in her hands.  Nervousness, maybe?  Though what about he couldn't say; they were just pancakes, even if they went wrong.  "Is everything okay?"

Aelwyn reached a hand up, absently touching at the side of her face, presumably not noticing that she was getting a bit of flour onto herself.  "I usually do this at home, and either Sandra Lynn or Zayn is around.  Can you.. can you just prod me out of it if I start to, ah, seem absentminded?  The smoke from it burning would do it too, but I'd rather not ruin them."

Absentminded...  or just absent.  Riz had seen enough of Aelwyn's momentary flashbacks to know what she meant, even if she would clearly rather not have asked this.  A vulnerability he was surprised she'd show him, even if he was just the most convenient person.  "Of course.  Did something particularly bad happen during the concert?  I kind of understood last night, but Adaine seems to have taken it much worse than normal."

Aelwyn frowned, before turning back around to the pan, pouring some of the batter into it.  "You should talk to her about this one if you want the details.  I don't think it's a direct threat, but she had a vision and had to make a choice I don't think she wanted to make."

Riz nodded at that, sipping his coffee, watching Aelwyn work.  And then.. not work, at one point between flipping pancakes.  "Aelwyn, they're burning."  He said, even though he wasn't totally certain it was true yet.  It would be soon enough.

"..Ah.  Right.  Thank you."  She replied after a moment, starting to stack them onto a plate, some of the others starting to drift this way now that they could smell food.  Including Adaine, who had shifted back into her normal self while he'd been talking to Aelwyn.

His favorite part of the language they had built together was Adaine's insistence that it included robust hand signals, with a vocabulary suited for what the two of them would discuss; they wouldn't have to talk out loud through what was already a loud conversation as Fig said "Oh, is that mom's recipe?" and Aelwyn started serving what were very slightly burnt pancakes after all and Fabian talked about a "peasant's meal - but delightful, I'm sure" with Aelwyn evidently having more restraint than Riz would have credited her with to not attack him on the spot, even as he stumbled and tried to fix his mental gaffe.

Oracle Vision OK? was a quick set of signals, Adaine's slightly bleary expression catching on to it after a moment, her hands lifting to start her own signs back. They could be a little more subtle with them when they needed to be, but that took longer and noone else would care, too used to the two of them practicing the language when they got a chance over the last few months.

Not an emergency. Elves, bad things to bad people.  Told them. Adaine's hands ran through, before she shrugged at the end.  Not certain how telling them had gone, then.  He could get the details later; it didn't seem likely to be anything that Adaine would run off on her own regarding, at least, so it could wait until they had time to really talk.

Plus, Adaine had started eating and her hands were busy.  There were limits to the language, after all.


Aelwyn was relieved to be home, once they had passed the afternoon in Bastion City and Fig and Gorgug had to get on the tour bus and continue on their way.  She wasn't entirely certain when Mordred Manor had started to become associated with safety for her, the sort that she normally had only really found in her abjurer's ward, but at some point in the last few months getting back there after one of her classes or volunteer jobs or even a trip to a concert had become a warm thing, like slipping into comfortable shoes.

Partly it was the wards, of course; there were few places they would be safer from threats.  And partly...  She still wasn't comfortable with the idea that people actually saw her, and didn't run screaming.  But Jawbone had never seemed anything but sincere with it, and Adaine had risked her life to save her, and...

It was okay, she thought, to be glad to be here, no matter how fancy the hotel had been or how shockingly good a guitar player Fig's demon father was.

"Did you all have fun?"  Jawbone asked as he poured stew out to everyone for dinner, Riz and Ayda having stayed over for it.  Aelwyn allowed herself to zone out of the conversation a little bit, knowing Jawbone would understand, chewing on a chunk of the beef.

A buzz against her side shook her out of it, her crystal firing off, probably a message or a change of schedule for the week ahead, or a last minute request that she sub in for someone who had backed out of some field trip or other.  Except a moment later, another, and another.

She mumbled an apology, pulling the crystal out and glancing at it.  Not any messages, not directly to her, but rather news alerts on topics she'd set up to alert her.  Her eyes widened, looking over the crystal, and then up at her sister who was watching her skim the news.  "...Adaine.  You should check the news, now.  It was far more than just Calethriel Tower."

In fact, it became clear over the next several hours, Adaine's vision had been of the tip of an iceberg.  Several government facilities had been hit (that they knew of from here, in Solace), including the Tower, the Hall of Records, and three magical research facilities, all within from what Aelwyn could tell moments of each other.  Coordination like that...

Well, Aelwyn knew one Tabaxi capable of it.  She just couldn't speculate like that.

And then it got worse, as more news came out.  There were conflicting reports of who was in charge, of who had been killed, of who might be missing.  But there was one piece of uniformity - Fallinel had decided that Solace must be responsible for this, and were demanding concessions.

It all made for a sleepless night for Aelwyn at least, Adaine resting her head but also never fully getting to sleep nor trance as Aelwyn kept staring at reports into late hours, the lists beginning to coalesce into something that could be trusted.

And all of them agreed, in a way that made Aelwyn uneasy in a way she could not explain, even to herself:

Angwyn Abernant was listed among the missing.


Adaine knew exactly how she had felt, upon learning that her father was missing and, perhaps, dead - she'd felt great, except it would have been nice to have confirmation of the death part.  She had chosen not to Send to him, which would confirm his death or life, though she suspected Aelwyn might decide to at some point.

That had been a bright spot in a whole mess of muddled feelings.  Her warning had clearly been both ignored and insufficient, and she had no idea how this was going to affect the bounty out on her head or Fallinel's general attitude towards her.  Maybe it would depend on who ended up actually in charge, underneath the fiction of the immortal Dancers and the Oracle and all the other nonsense of Fallinel, but it seemed likely that at least it might buy her some time while the focus among the people trying to seize control was on each other.

One of those was Kir.  That wouldn't be a good outcome for Adaine personally, she was sure.  A shame the brick had presumably still missed.

She wound up spending most of Monday 'attending rogue classes', which mostly consisted of finding a secluded spot in one of the school's closets to hide and read through some of Riz's notes from freshman year while really just keeping an eye on her crystal for every scrap of news she could get, lapping it all up even long after it became clear that the shock that had allowed actual news out had lifted and was being replaced by those splintered factions starting to accuse one another of being complicit with the attacks.

She'd have to do a proper study session with Ayda, Aelwyn, and/or Zayn later to make up for the time, but that was where most of her learning came since the summer, anyway.

She did at least go to Esoterica, partly to return Riz's notes, partly just so her friends wouldn't think she was missing.  Riz gave her one look and started signing at her with a signal she was the one giving him almost all of the time - one that was phrased as a command, not a question or request. You sleep tonight.

She momentarily considered just how out of it she must seem for RIZ to have the gall to ask that of anyone else, shook her head, then shrugged.  She'd try, and it wasn't like there'd be any more real news that could reach them.  The full moon was approaching that weekend, so Adaine (and the manor generally, though even Aelwyn didn't get as affected by the moon's phases as Adaine) would likely be a little higher energy anyway, but it shouldn't stop sleep.

Searching for a distraction, she did ask him at least a question, though during a lecture they had to be much quieter and more subtle with their motions.  Any interesting cases?  She did sometimes like to help out, even if it was just by listening.

Over the next several minutes, she kept one eye on him describing finding a missing stuffed animal for Ragh and the other on the lecture, scratching an occasional note down but not terribly interested in today's topic of scrounging for food in the wilderness without ending up poisoned.  Her Jacket took care of that for her.

Eventually, Riz did move on.  Looking Nightmare King again soon.  You help?

Adaine considered a moment, then just gave a thumbs up.

Notes:

I'm sure I killed off Angwyn here, definitely. Don't worry about him anymore.

Some notes about multiclassing that had come up in the comments, particularly for Aelwyn:

Multiclassing in 5E is kind of interesting in that you do not get all of the benefits for your first level in a new class that you'd get out of starting in that class. In particular, you'll generally get fewer proficiencies - Adaine, for instance, got light armor proficiency, a skill proficiency, and thieves' tools out of starting in rogue (plus other level 1 benefits like expertise and sneak attack) but a level 1 rogue gets FOUR skill proficiencies.

This is relevant for Aelwyn because multiclassing into Paladin (and for that matter Fighter) gives Shields and Medium Armor, but does NOT give Heavy Armor proficiency, which is why she won't ever wind up wearing the really heavy stuff - she'd have to take a specific feat for it that basically only does that, and her dex bonus is good enough that it's not really worth it. She also only has one attack for the moment, putting her even further behind her classmates who started martial, though she can get to two attacks eventually.

What she DOES have over those classmates is a whoooole shitload of spell slots. The way calculations for this work is that the slots are combined from all classes that give them and you can use them for either class' stuff. Paladins (and Rangers) give at half the rate of a full caster like a Wizard, so Aelwyn has the same spell slots as a level 11 Wizard would now, including a sixth level slot that she can only use for upcasting (or for a smite, though smites cap out on damage with level 4 slots). She has +2 charisma and is for class benefits purposes a level 2 paladin, so she can prepare 3 level 1 paladin spells in addition to her wizard spells. One of these is Cure Wounds, which she can upcast quite effectively.

If one of her classmates is, say, 9 fighter/2 paladin, that classmate will get two level 1 spell slots a day for casting spells or smiting. Aelwyn currently has 16 total slots, and she can get some back on a short rest as well as part of the Wizard class. In her own mind, she mostly sees the places she's short of the others without really accounting for the places where she's much better off.

Chapter 56: Shadow

Summary:

Aelwyn reveals why she hasn't sworn her Oaths yet. Adaine gives Riz key information.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

It took quite a lot of adjusting, Aelwyn thought, to a reality that she was never quite certain who might be at the dinner table that night.  The only unknown there growing up had mostly been Adaine and whether she'd end up missing dinner to a panic attack or to a punishment; while dinner parties had been a thing, they'd been planned carefully in advance, with Aelwyn prepared with dress and topics of conversation, as though she were a pony for show.

Adaine had been kept carefully out of focus, present briefly to demonstrate that she wasn't dead but certainly not allowed to talk.

At Mordred Manor, on the other hand, regularly there would be guests with or without notice, an unfortunately high percentage of which had been either directly or indirectly targeted as a result of Kalvaxus' plan last year, or were related to someone who had been.

Aelwyn had eventually been coaxed into not hiding in the tower when Zelda Donovan occasionally came with Gorgug.  She had not yet said anything to the girl.  Sorry felt both insufficient and like too much - she hadn't had anything to do with Zelda's kidnapping directly, but the plot couldn't have gone nearly as far as it did without her.  With Gorgug on tour, that hadn't come up in a while; maybe she would try to talk to Jawbone to sort out what she should do before it arose once more.

Tonight, thankfully, it was just Fig's sad elf father, plus Sandra Lynn and Jawbone.  Adaine was doing something with Riz, and Tracker and Kristen were having a date night.  Aelwyn wasn't entirely clear on WHY he was here - Fig was still on tour, and it seemed..  unusual to her that he would just want to have dinner with his ex-wife and her lover without her present - but she still had to be on reasonably good behavior for it.  She still owed him for the help with getting into night classes, after all.

The full moon was only a few days away, always an interesting time around the manor just because it tended to leave most of the residents with more energy.  Adaine usually showed the effects the most by a lot, Aelwyn knew by now, often spending time even outside of her sleep as a wolf to burn off some of the energy; Jawbone the least, but even he would have an extra spring in his step.

That wasn't including her.  She couldn't really tell if she was acting any differently, though she definitely felt it.  Right now, as Jawbone cooked and Sandra Lynn and Gilear chatted, Aelwyn was reading one of her class texts, trying to find a workaround for her issue with her Oath (though she knew that she wouldn't find one; the very idea of trying to find a technical loophole was an affront to it), the noise just background for her.  She'd pay attention and put it away once dinner started properly, of course, but that was likely to be another half an hour to an hour.

It had taken her a long time to even get comfortable with that.  Studying was something to brag about having done, not to do in front of guests, in the Abernant house...

A gentle touch on her shoulder, and Aelwyn startled, looking up to see Jawbone.  "Aah?"  She asked, not quite forming a full thought.  She must have zoned out again, and pretty badly if he'd noticed while she was reading.  "Sorry, I'm okay."  Thankfully, she was most prone to these episodes while she was doing things that reminded her of memories from before her time in the prison orb; she almost never had episodes when she was volunteering or practicing anything practical, and only rarely during Paladin classes.

"No need to apologize for that, Aelwyn!  I think Gilear was wanting to ask you something, though."  Jawbone said, cheerily.  "Dinner'll be ready in about fifteen minutes, too."

Aelwyn gave a glance down the table to where Gilear was sitting, raising an eyebrow as she closed the book she hadn't really been reading.

"Ah, yes.  I was just asking how your classes were proceeding?"  He said, in what almost felt like a parody of a High Elf's accent.  Wood Elves didn't usually talk like that, and she hadn't quite asked why he did.  There wasn't a reason to upset him, or Fig, or for that matter Sandra Lynn.

Sandra Lynn talked like a native of Solace, though.

"Mm.  Well, they could be worse, but I feel like I'm stalling out a little bit lately."  Aelwyn admitted, glancing back down at her book.  "Most of my classmates have found and started swearing their Oaths."

Gilear nodded.  "And you have not yet found the ones you wish to abide by?"

Aelwyn shot a glance over to Jawbone, listening in the kitchen.  She hadn't discussed this with him, yet, though she didn't mind him knowing.. some of it.  Most of it.  But the details...

"...Ah.  Well, not quite that."  She said, buying herself a moment, though Gilear seemed to sense it was a touchy topic.

"I do not mean to press you on it if you are not wanting to discuss it.  I simply was going to offer, if you wished, to place your name among those that might be contacted by parties looking for hirelings for their Quests for the year."  

Aelwyn nodded, grateful for the conversational exit, and then decided not to take it.  She couldn't go into the details of why, but...  "...I know the Oaths I want to take.  I am not yet able to live up to them, so I can't swear them right now."

Specifically, of course, she could not swear them so long as she was still keeping silent on Kalina, but she also couldn't swear them while selfishly risking everyone's life by opening her mouth about Kalina.  She might never be able to actually swear them, because of the contradiction.

More likely, something would break on one side or the other, sooner or later.  Aelwyn was not going to be able to stop Adaine from doing what she wanted, even if she was willing to interfere to help Kalina (and she no longer was), and Kalina was clearly already on the move, anyway.  The attacks in Fallinel had to be her doing, even if Aelwyn couldn't quite see the goal of the game at the moment.

"Are you certain you are not being too hard on yourself?  What oath is it that you think you cannot live up to now?"  Gilear asked, and...  She had walked into this one.  No, she had walked herself into this one, she realized, because not talking about it was eating away at her; she was a fraud, to not be able to find a way through this.

She glanced down, carefully looking at the scars on the back of her wrists.  She covered them, anytime she was outside of the house and most of the time within it, but they were a reminder of her 

"It's not one of the standard oaths, the one that I want to swear.  The version of Galicaea that Tracker has introduced me to doesn't have an official order of Paladins, in any case, not like Helio or Sol or even like the church I grew up in, so there's not really a template to work from."  Aelwyn admitted, though 'want' wasn't even the right word for it.  She'd been slowly piecing it together over months; she had it written out in three places, she just needed to speak the words in front of witnesses.

Well, and then live up to them for the rest of her life.  That was the hard part.

Sandra Lynn and Gilear were both watching her, now, and she could feel Jawbone's attention on her too.  She bit her lip, then made the choice.  She wanted Jawbone to know what she was trying to get to, even if she wasn't there yet, even if she might never get there.  She even wanted that from Sandra Lynn, who was helping her learn to make breakfast and worried about Fig at every turn and yet kept trying...

Gilear was also there, but that was okay.  She hadn't fallen low enough to really care what he thought of her, at least.

Aelwyn opened the book back up, pulling the well-folded paper out, using a Mage Hand to carry it to Sandra Lynn.  "...I can't read it aloud to others until I'm ready to actually swear it, but there's nothing wrong with sharing.  My instructor has seen it, often enough."  He'd helped her nail down the wording, but the essence had had to come entirely from her.  It felt like handing over a part of her soul; she hadn't even talked about this with Adaine yet, though she'd in roundabout ways talked about it with Zayn and Ayda and others.

Sandra Lynn looked down at the paper in her hands, then back up to Aelwyn.  "Are you sure you want me to read this?  We didn't mean to pressure you, if you're not ready."

Aelwyn shook her head.  "No, I think..  I think it might help.  Even if I can't swear them yet the way I'd like, it still commits me to start to try to."

A nod from Fig's mother, and she smoothed the paper, reading what Aelwyn had written in her neat script, in Common rather than in her best Elven, in a clear voice.  "I swear to attempt to be a better person each day than I was the prior.  To never allow myself to not act when I could help by action.  To protect those whom I hold dear.  And to attempt to make the world kinder in those ways, large and small, that I am able."  She paused, looking at the paper, and then added.  "Aelwyn, I do not know much about Paladin Oaths, but these seem like a lovely set of principles.  Which do you not think you can do yet?"

"...There's a conflict.  Between the second one and the third, specifically."  Aelwyn said, knowing that her tension would be obvious to at least Jawbone and Sandra Lynn.  "I, I have information that could prevent harm, except sharing it would put me and people I care about in danger.  A lot of it.  Even saying this much is a little bit dangerous."  Kalina was watching, and listening, but Kalina always would be until the day Aelwyn finally died.  This would probably prompt a visit from her, if nothing else.

Jawbone broke the silence that followed that; they might have been exchanging looks, or maybe they'd just been looking to see if she would elaborate.  "We'll try to sort it out later, Aelwyn, but I think you know what the solution to that is.  When you're ready, tell us, and we'll do everything we can to help."

Aelwyn swallowed.  The problem with that, she knew, was that the list of people she 'held dear' kept growing, against her will, and every one of them was still threatened by either action or inaction.  "Thank you."  She said, putting it off for just a little bit longer.

The 'vacation' that Kalina had promised and that she had been given in the months since her rescue at Fallinel...  Aelwyn wasn't Adaine, and she didn't have visions of the future, but she could still feel them coming near to their end.


It took Adaine an embarrassingly long time into reviewing what Riz had found about the Nightmare King so far to realize that she had relevant information that she'd never given him.  In her defense, there'd been a lot going on at the time, and he'd been very angry at her in the aftermath of those events for other reasons, and she'd just gotten so distracted with Aelwyn's recovery that she never quite had gotten around to bringing up Kalina.

Of course, now it was months since she'd last seen the strange Tabaxi woman, and she was left trying to figure out how to bring the topic up to Riz without him getting angry with her.

"This is going to be so much easier once the money from killing Kalvaxus comes through and I can get that office space."  Riz grumbled from his spot on the couch, digging through one of the boxes.  Sklonda had banned having more than one conspiracy board for the time being due to lack of space, and the active one was on Porter, the barbarian teacher, which Adaine thought had to be Fig's fault.

"Don't be angry with me?"  She started, getting him to look up with alarm from the file on the fallen kingdom of Sylvaire he had started looking through.  That probably hadn't been the best way to start.

"What is it?"  Riz asked, warily looking at her.

"I forgot to tell you I met a servant of the Nightmare King.  A few times, but I didn't know that was what she was until the last time I ran into her when I was in Fallinel, and I forgot to tell you because so much else happened, and I'm sorry about that but please don't be mad?" She was rambling, she realized, but it had been so hard rebuilding the relationship and setting it back wasn't something she wanted.

Riz squinted at her.  "..Why don't you tell me about her now, then?"  He was trying to be patient, she realized.

Adaine nodded, and started to explain.  How she had first met the woman in the Elmville public library, then a second time at the Compass Points, then the final, most confusing time in the time freeze in Fallinel.  How she had been able to move, and how she had explained that the Nightmare King might be happier with Adaine in charge in Fallinel, somehow, then the current situation.

How Aelwyn had started growling at her, even through the Feeblemind, and had clearly recognized and been recognized by her.

Riz sat quietly, after she was finished, thinking it through.  Adaine tried not to fidget while he did, not to prompt him or interrupt his thoughts.  "...I doubt Aelwyn remembers what was happening during your escape, really, right?  But we should still ask her about this.  Soon."

Adaine nodded, relief flooding through her.  "...She's trying to be better, I'm confident in that.  We can go over there tonight, if you want?  Or maybe waiting a few days until after the full moon might be better.  She doesn't get as worn out by it as I do, but she still might be more cooperative then; it's kind of late, tonight, and she'll probably be trancing by then."

Riz tapped his fingers, thinking through it. "I'll come over the day after the full moon.  We should have plenty of time to talk, then."

Notes:

They don't actually have a quest yet for the nightmare king, which is why Adaine and Riz are willing to let it go for a few days!

Those paying close attention will notice that Aelwyn's vows don't exactly line up with any of the actual mechanical Oaths and instead are a mishmash of Redemption and Devotion. I'll probably just pick one of those to go with for mechanics purposes, but these are the actual Oaths she'll be swearing when the time comes, and I like her really struggling to feel worthy of doing so.

Chapter 57: Blood

Summary:

Adaine and Aelwyn navigate around what they haven't told each other. Aelwyn pieces together what she'd been told.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The night before the full moon - which at least was on a Saturday, so she wasn't going to miss more classes for this one - Adaine felt herself more nervous then she had been in quite a while.  Aelwyn had been seeming to do so much better, had been making real strides from what Adaine could tell.  She should just keep it quiet until Riz came the day after, and then deal with it.  But she found she didn't want to ambush Aelwyn in that way.

And so, instead, she made her way into the living room, where Aelwyn was half-watching a broadcast of the Cig Figs' concert of the night - at the moment, it was still the opening act - and half reading on her crystal while Moonlight, maybe more reflective of her Wizard's mood than Boggy tended to be (Adaine was rarely THAT Happy To Be Here, though she WAS frequently Not That Sure About This), climbed up one of the nearby curtains.

"I'll just Mend it once she's done."  Aelwyn said without looking over to Adaine.  "It's more trouble than that to try to keep her off of them."

"I'm not worried about that."  Adaine said, amused, letting Boggy jump off her shoulder to go play.  A shame Ayda was off at the concert; GAF could have joined them.  "Okay if I join you?"  But something in her voice must have given away her nerves, because Aelwyn glanced her way with a frown then flipped the concert off.

"Of course.  Is something wrong?"

Adaine hummed, even as she sat down next to her sister.  "Not wrong, exactly, but I wanted to warn you.  Riz is going to be coming over the day after the full moon."

Aelwyn snorted, Moonlight climbing back down and jumping up to the couch now that Adaine was there to sniff at.  "He's not that big a problem, really.  At least he's good to look at."

Adaine paused for a moment before deciding not to dig any further into that, leaning her head against Aelwyn's shoulder.  "...We're going to be asking you some questions.  About people you might have worked with or known about, before.  I didn't want to just surprise you with it, but it's relevant to what we're looking into."  She felt Aelwyn stiffen, not really a surprise.

"...Whatever are you looking into that you think I can help with?"  Aelwyn asked, her voice slipping into the prim tone that she only took these days when she was really stressed.

Adaine considered .  "Well.  The Crown of the Nightmare King was in Aguefort's office, but it got stolen sometime between when we broke in the day of prom and the end of the term.  Probably on prom night itself, from what we can tell, maybe even while we were fighting Kalvaxus.  Obviously we don't think you had anything to do with it, you were in a prison orb at the time, but...  I think you know some things that would help, right?"

A glance up, though, and Aelwyn was staring at her, her coloring having faded to even paler than normal, and.. she seemed to be gone, lost in some memory.  Moonlight curled up in her lap, offering silent support until she shook it off, shivering.  "...Adaine.  I'll talk to you about it if you really want, but be aware that it'll put you and me and anyone we tell in danger.  A lot of it.  Think about it, first?  I..  We might be able to have more time like this, if you don't poke at that.  Like these last few months.  Not forever, but I wanted to put it off as long as I could...  But I didn't know you were looking into something like that."  The shivering wasn't stopping, Aelwyn almost tangibly smelling of a terror, the sort that Adaine herself only really hit during the very worst of her panic attacks.

Adaine nodded, slowly.  "...Not tonight, certainly.  But I think we are going to need to talk about it.  Whenever we can leave the country again, we're going to be going after it, I'm pretty certain."

Aelwyn shut her eyes and turned her head away.  "...Ah.  I..  Adaine, it's a very bad idea, if there's anyone else who could do it.  We'll talk about it?  For now.. want to watch the rest of Fig's concert with me?  I saw Ayda on screen, a bit ago."

A delaying action, once more.  Adaine just nodded, shifting into a wolf.  Not even because she really needed to - though it was nice, this close to the full moon, and she was more comfortable with touch this way - as because it would be a reassurance for Aelwyn that she wasn't going to press the issue for the moment; she wouldn't even be able to ask a question unless Aelwyn chose to Message her for however long she was stuck, which this close to the full moon could easily be a few hours.

Aelwyn sighed again, flipping back on the concert and resting a hand gently on Adaine's head.  "Little sister, I feel like that's cheating."  But she did seem to relax into a comfortable silence, so Adaine would chalk that up as a win for now.

They watched Fig come on screen, others of the household joining them one by one for a time, but Adaine drifted off before they got to the part of the set where Fig usually dragged Ayda onto the stage.

Her dream, there, curled up next to her sister was the worst in a very long time.

It started with a vision of herself, at a desk.  Older, an adult, though an exact age was impossible to tell.  She was wearing regal robes, a crown atop her head, a scepter leaned up against her side.  A portrait, framed in gold, was mounted on the wall behind her of Angwyn and Arianwen Abernant.

Chains of gold and silver bound her legs to the desk, Kalina standing beside her in an advisor's position.  Petitioner after petitioner came before her, mouths moving, though as was typical no words were audible in her dream.  After each one spoke, Kalina leaned in to whisper similarly silent words, which her older self repeated, she knew without being about to hear, as though they were her judgement.  A look at her own face, and Adaine knew that the only relief she would have in this hell was the knowledge, the certainty that had been given her, that every Oracle eventually died.  How long she would be a puppet, first...

A flash, and she was in a dark forest.  Aelwyn and their father were the only two in this small clearing.  As Adaine watched, they spoke clearly angry silent words at one another, Aelwyn weeping openly, Angwyn stone-faced.

It came to blows, or at least blows from one side.  Aelwyn dropped her sword, unable to bring herself to fight back, a spell of Angwyn's that Adaine did not recognize but knew would place her under his control landing, Aelwyn crumpling to the ground as it drove into her already fragile mind.

Another flash, and she was elsewhere in what she knew must be that same forest.  Riz, Fabian, and Gorgug were bloody on the ground, Gorgug and Fabian face down in the muck, Riz with eyes unseeing staring upwards.  No sign of whatever foe they had been battling was around; whoever it was, Adaine knew they had been utterly unable to touch them.

Almost as ominously, there were no signs at all of Kristen, of Fig, of herself.  This was all one thread, all one possible future, she felt, so Adaine herself made it out in some form.. but what of the others?

No vision came to explain, further; the feeling of water, pressing in on all sides of her, and then she gasped and jerked awake.

She was still a wolf, still on the couch.  The show had been turned off, and the lights were out; everyone else was gone, other than Aelwyn, who had fallen into a trance where she'd been sitting, probably choosing to do so rather than waking Adaine to go to the tower.  Blankets had been wrapped around the both of them by someone - probably Jawbone or Sandra Lynn, though really anyone could have done so - and Moonlight and Boggy were both resting on the table, though the curtains were well and truly torn to ribbons by now.

The dream vision was crisp and clear for now, but she knew the details often faded.  Unfortunately, she didn't really have any sense of what had caused it, what needed to be avoided.  That future was one worth not having.

She pushed her head back under the blanket, for now, trying to get back to sleep, knowing she wouldn't get enough rest the next night to recover her energy and wanting to make certain she did tonight.  It was a long time coming.


Aelwyn went through the day of the full moon mostly expecting assassins to burst in through the door with silver weapons at any moment, wards or not.  She knew for a certainty that Kalina knew where the manor was, after all.

That it hadn't happened yet wasn't actually a surprise, if she reasoned it out - the Crown of the Nightmare King had sat safe from Kalina's agents for hundreds of years behind Arthur Aguefort's wards until he'd been dead for nearly a year; Kalina wasn't actually omnipotent, just very very dangerous - except that logic didn't have any kind of sway over the icy worry and fear that had collected into her chest.

Adaine was worse than usual for the day of a full moon, seeming only half aware of her surroundings, eventually sitting quietly in Tracker's room for much of the day.  Aelwyn checked in, between putting the anti-werewolf wards up for the night for Kristen and Sandra Lynn, Tracker and Kristen both in there as well though thankfully dressed.  Tracker seemed a little more worried than Kristen was.  "..I haven't seen her this bad this early before, not even for her first full moon."

Kristen hummed.  "She.. was pretty bad before both the ones while we were in jail, actually.  She probably is just worried about something, I bet that makes it worse."

Aelwyn just squeezed Adaine on the shoulder and left her under Boggy, Kristen, and Tracker's care; she had a suspicion her presence would not help her sister today.

It was something of a relief when the time actually came, because while Aelwyn generally kept her memories, she never seemed to have quite as many worries during the full moon, much more focused on the moment.  It was a little like the drugs had been in that way, though the forced moderation of it being once a month probably helped.  She went wild through the manor, chasing Adaine throughout, putting just what she'd have to admit to the next day out of sight, out of mind, buying just a little bit longer...

And then, even that had slipped away.  For someone so attractive, Riz had zero chill about him, something Aelwyn normally appreciated when it came to helping plan for Adaine avoiding being assassinated but lost some of the appeal when he was in Mordred Manor less than an hour after dawn on the night of the full moon.  Adaine was still passed out, and even Aelwyn was barely done scraping herself up off the floor, her legs unsteady as she looked around where they had ended up - they were on the landing halfway up the staircase leading up to their shared tower, with its many bookshelves - when Riz knocked on the door at the base of the stairs.

"...Are you serious?"  Aelwyn called down with a sigh.

"I was meeting with Adaine this morning!  We had an appointment and everything."  Riz said, not meeting her eyes.

"I know what you're here for.  Go get me a coffee, I'll get Adaine to our bed so she can rest, and we can talk once she wakes up."  Aelwyn said, exasperated as she wrapped her arms around Adaine and dragged her through a dimension door to Aelwyn's own bed.  The hammock wasn't great for the morning after.  

That woke Adaine, not too surprisingly, but Aelwyn couldn't really regret it as she put a blanket over her sister.  "..Feeling okay?  Only, your goblin friend seems to have decided he's going to be extra annoying this morning."

Adaine, thankfully, managed to speak, so she wasn't totally out of it still.  "Feel like every muscle and bone in my body rearranged itself against my will last night."  That got a chuckle out of Aelwyn - who didn't exactly feel great, herself - before she paused.  

"...One last chance to back out, Adaine.  We can probably put Riz off, if we both work at it."

"I think we're past that point."  Adaine said, shaking her head, fighting off her weariness and continuing on.  "And I'm in danger already, as you and Riz never stop reminding me.  I would always rather know then not know.  Wouldn't you?"

Aelwyn didn't reply.  She supposed that even if she wasn't just a wizard anymore (nor was Adaine, as odd as that was to think about) that that was still true for her, as well.

Eventually, Riz made his way back up, carefully carrying two cups of coffee and a tea for Adaine.  Aelwyn took hers with a hum, before saying, not looking at either her sister or at Riz but instead staring out one of their windows over towards the cemetery.

Aelwyn swallowed, and then, possibly, spoke her death into existence.  "...I didn't know the Crown was missing until Adaine told me two days ago.  I guess I shouldn't have put conversation this off as long as I have, but I can't even regret it.  The last few months..  have been an unexpected blessing.  Time I never thought I'd get, or even really want.  Adaine, if the Crown is missing, I know who must have had it, at least as of a few months ago.  I do not know what she will have done with it since, but the only one who could have had it was our mother."

Notes:

So yeah! As soon as Aelwyn gets told the Crown's gone, she knows immediately what the 'vital mission' Kalina said her mother was on must be. Also, all Aelwyn's cards are going on the table, but she doesn't know how to kill the Nightmare King at this point - I'm assuming much of her knowledge in canon was learned during her stay in Arborly with Arianwen, and even if it wasn't, there are holes in her mind that can excuse it.

I'm sure Kalina will take this conspiracy - entirely among three of her infected, mind, not that they currently know that about Riz - perfectly well.

Also, I have a Boggy plush staring at me now, reminding me to use the familiars when and while I can.

Chapter 58: Past

Summary:

Aelwyn explains Kalina to Adaine and Riz. Adaine explains patricide, and how she is in favor of it, to Aelwyn.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

There was silence for several solid seconds in the wizards' tower of Mordred Manor after Aelwyn announced that.  Aelwyn was gazing out the window, probably not wanting to look at Adaine; Adaine was staring at her sister in horror, and Riz didn't want to interject.  Still, when it became clear that Adaine wasn't going to - doing this the day after the full moon had probably been a mistake, given that it took much more out of Adaine than Aelwyn - he felt the need to speak up.

"...How do you know that?  Have you talked to your mother?"  She'd seemed genuine in being horrified at Solstice when their mother had messaged both Adaine and herself, but it had been a few months since then.

Aelwyn shook her head, not looking back towards them again.  "It's.. a longer story, to explain, but I saw her very briefly after being imprisoned, and I got that message in December, of course.  Can.. can you two listen, and not ask me anything until I finish?"  She sounded on the verge of crying, if Riz had to guess, and he took a sip of his coffee to buy a moment.

"I can.  I'll have questions after."  Riz said, and Adaine made a noise that was probably agreement, flashing him a handsign in their language confirming that.

Aelwyn shook her head and took a drink of her coffee, herself.  "...Half tempted to get alcohol to try and get through this.  I would if I thought it would help, still.  So, um.  I started sneaking out of our parent's house for parties when I was thirteen and Adaine was eleven.  Pretty mild stuff at first, looking back at it, but it felt so big at the time - there wasn't even alcohol or anything at the first one, it was just a classmate's birthday party that I don't think they would have wanted me at so I didn't ask and just went."

Riz desperately wanted to ask what this could possibly have to do with anything, as Aelwyn fell into a pause, before she seemed to shake it off.  "...Anyway, I kind of, um, ramped that up over time.  There was a real..  a real thrill in getting away with it, in them still thinking I was their perfect, obedient daughter, and eventually I did start using drugs and then selling them, and using my magic to spice up the party, and then I started getting paid to bring the party.  I mean, we grew up in a wealthy home, obviously, but this was money I didn't have to explain to our parents, more and more freedom as long as I could hide it from them, and they never thought to look as long as I didn't screw up in front of them.  And kept distracting them with Adaine.  All of those were things I decided to do on my own, but it's kind of important to explain what happened next."

Adaine had sat up on the bed, looking conflicted about what she was hearing; Riz stayed quiet, as Aelwyn had requested.  "..Anyway.  It was the summer before my junior year at Hudol that things really changed; I got to go on a trip to Fallinel at the start of it.  This was right after Adaine failed the entrance exam to Hudol, so our parents were maybe more focused on her than they'd ever been.  There was a party there, and a boy, and...  I don't even remember his name.  There's a lot of holes in my memories these days, of course, but I don't think I remembered it even the next day.  He wasn't my first, wasn't even all that interesting, but he was there and he was cute enough and the girl who was my first choice wasn't interested."

Adaine's face was screwed up; she didn't like hearing Fig or Kristen talk too much about this kind of thing (or Gorgug, who was much more private anyway), so certainly not a surprise that she wouldn't want to hear it from her sister, but Riz made a gesture requesting she keep quiet.  Aelwyn was clearly going somewhere with this.

"Anyway.  I didn't even make it out of that house before Kalina approached me.  She probably pushed the boy towards me, actually, but I didn't really understand any of this at the time.  She.. made certain threats, and promises, and after that point I worked for her.  I guess you could argue I still did until this talk started, but it was much more.. active for a while.  She got me into the Kalvaxus plot, and I'm afraid unlike him she's not an idiot."

Riz frowned, because he'd missed something in there, and Adaine was looking pale; he made the choice to interrupt, because otherwise he might not understand the rest of the story.  "Why would this person have pushed the boy towards you?"

Aelwyn finally turned around, her eyes red at the edges.  "Ah, right, sorry.  Kalina isn't a person, exactly.  You might hear her called the Shadowcat sometimes, and I think she has other aliases but those are the two I know.  She's a servant of the Nightmare King, and..  there's an infection, a disease that can be spread, that allows you to see her and for her to see through you.  Through blood, or through other bodily fluids; just being around someone won't do it.  No cure, unfortunately, that I'm aware of, though if there was Kalina would hardly tell me.  Our mother had done quite a lot of research on this at one point; she told me about some of it, once, talking about her old days in Fallinel.  But I know for a fact when she was doing that research, she was not infected, because that was well before I was born and I was not infected until that night."

"This..  she looks like a black haired Tabaxi woman?  I've met her, three times."  Adaine said, her hand clutching at her pillow.  Aelwyn did not seem at all surprised by this information.

"Right.  You would have been infected when you took a bite out of me, on Ostentatia Wallace's roof.  Um, if anything, that might keep us all from being killed.  I believe she'd been trying to infect more people among the Fallinel government for a long time; a lot of the top ranking members of the Court of Stars are very, very old, older than the fall of Sylvaire to the Nightmare King, and also very, very prudish so not exactly spreading the infection around.  It's much more common for those our age, I'm afraid, and there are plenty of people outside of Fallinel with the disease but she had never been able to reach the prior Oracle, or Arthur Aguefort, or many others who she would want to.  I think.. this is a little speculation, but I think that there is very little she wouldn't put up with to have Adaine eventually in a position of real power in Fallinel.  And I think she probably coordinated the civil war that's kicking off there, to remove a lot of those older, uninfected, to clear the way for Adaine to eventually go there in spite of her current death sentence, and also now that I know the Crown's been taken also likely to keep Fallinel from interfering in that."  Aelwyn drummed her fingers, then shrugged.

"...To finish the story, I guess.  Before I was arrested, I saw and talked to Kalina... often.  At least a few times a week.  Threats, of course, but she was also the closest thing I really had to a confidant; she knew everything I had seen and done, she wasn't a shortsighted idiot like Kalvaxus or Penelope Everpetal or Biz Glitterdew, even though she told me to go along with what they wanted.  And she wanted me to spread the infection as widely as I could among the partying crowd.  Since then, I've only seen her once that I can remember.  A while after you rescued me, the same day Ostentatia attacked me, while I was walking.  She.. mocked my condition, in her way.  Knew I couldn't teleport anymore.  And told me that I had a choice, that I could go find our mother, who was now working for her and was on a mission for her, or I could just stay and try to protect you.  And try to keep you from interfering with the Nightmare King, or with our mother, because while she wants you alive she wants that more.  Said she'd consider it my retirement, or at least a vacation, but that the deal was off if I told you any of this.  I didn't know any of the details of what mother was working on, but it must be the Crown.  It wouldn't surprise me, if Aguefort had it, if the only reason she had me help Kalvaxus at all was to get to a point where she could reach the crown.  She certainly didn't respect him."

Aelwyn sat back down, on the edge of the bed, and sighed.  "Anyway.  All this is to say.. Adaine, you REALLY shouldn't be the one to go after the crown.  She'll know you're coming, and... I think she may not be as able to kill us as easily as I had previously believed, but she's plenty capable and has lots of other agents.  What's happening in Fallinel is proof enough of that.  If anything, your friends who aren't infected should be the ones looking into it.  And..  I'm sorry.  It was selfish, not saying anything for even this long."

Adaine frowned, before speaking up.  "I.. knew some of that.  I didn't know the Shadowcat and Kalina were the same person, but I saw your memory of talking to Goldenhoard about the Shadowcat sending you.  I don't know that I can agree to most of those terms, but you're probably right if she can tell from us what's going to happen that some of the others should make plans instead.  Riz, you can tell them.  Is there a way to be certain who's infected and who isn't?"

Aelwyn thought it out, before speaking slowly.  "...If she appears again, we could try to get a picture of her, though now that I've said that she probably won't.  Only the infected can see her, even in pictures.  It doesn't extend to illusions of her, unfortunately.  It's most common among elves by a wide margin, though, so your friends are likely fine aside from Fabian and maybe Fig.  Uh, and Ayda, now, though I'm not sure if Ayda'd be immune in the same way she is to lycanthropy."

Riz glanced at Adaine, and they talked with hand signals for a moment, coming to an agreement.  "Right.  I'll tell everyone else about this, and then once the Cig Figs' tour ends, me and Gorgug and Kristen can make plans until we find a way to be sure Fig and Fabian aren't infected."


After Riz had left, probably to find Kristen, Adaine still wasn't feeling up to standing up in her post-full moon state.  She tried to give Aelwyn a smile, as horrifying as the thought of a villain who could hear and see everything she did was.  "It'll be alright; we're really good at finding ways out of things, you know.  Anything else left, or is that the end of your secrets?"

Aelwyn sighed, laying out on the bed next to Adaine.  "That's it, I think.  I mean, there's details and little horrible things and I do have holes in my mind still, but I don't think you really care to hear what drugs I did or who I fucked, either because I wanted to or because Kalina wanted me to or both."

Adaine paused.  "..Not really, but I will if you need me to.  I think you should talk to someone about those things.  Jawbone's certainly not going to judge you for any of that, or your therapist, or just...  Someone."

Aelwyn nodded, and Moonlight, either responding to some mental command of Aelwyn's or just sensing that her wizard needed the comfort jumped up onto the bed, climbing onto Aelwyn's stomach.  "I'll.. I'll try, little sister.  I'm much better at just pretending it didn't happen, most of the time, than trying to talk about it."

Adaine resisted the urge to point out the obvious, that the pretense could only last so long and the wounds only grew worse, because she knew that Aelwyn already knew it.  She did decide to share one more thing, knowing it would hurt Aelwyn in the present but hopefully help in the future.  "..Aelwyn.  Father's still alive, or could be again if he's dead, at least as of the night before last.  I had a vision of him in a possible future."

Aelwyn gave her a wide-eyed stare, uncertain why Adaine was bringing this up.

"I'm telling you because..  because I saw you fighting him.  And I think how that goes depends on you believing that you can beat him.  So this is me, your sister, and the Oracle, telling you:  If you fight back, if you use your will and your strength and actually try, you will absolutely destroy him.  Please do."  Adaine said, knowing that she had not seen exactly that, knowing that it was true anyways.

Aelwyn, who still had trouble actually speaking her feelings, stayed with her the rest of the day until Adaine felt up to walking again, after that.

Notes:

A VERY info-dumpy chapter, unfortunately, but I wanted to put Aelwyn blabbing on screen and there are some important details in what she knows and doesn't know.

I'm sure all this extra information in advance will make everything go totally smoothly for the spring break process.

Chapter 59: Quest

Summary:

Aelwyn meets Principal Aguefort and gets off on the wrong foot. Adaine invites her sister along for a Quest.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The Saturday that the Adventuring Academy's spring break started was supposed to be a quiet one.  Fig and Gorgug were due back from their tour on Monday, but otherwise it was as sedate as things ever got in Elmville.  

Aelwyn had been relieved to get word a few days prior that a plea deal had finally been reached in the case of the two living kidnappers from all those months ago, so she would not in fact have to testify in a court in the end.  That had been a rare moment of late of things getting less tense; otherwise, the two weeks since she'd confessed on Kalina had been spent constantly imagining her around every corner, seeing assassins where none truly were, and generally being even more of a wreck than she usually was.

Luckily, she was practiced at holding a mask together in public; she didn't think it had been noticed either with her night classes or with her volunteer work.  Both of those were also out in the coming week and a half, leaving Aelwyn a little uncertain what to do with the free time.

She'd decided to start with making breakfast for the Manor, though, with Zayn spotting for her in case she had a lapse.  She was making eggs, toast, and bacon, nothing that difficult, but Sandra Lynn hadn't gotten in until late and so wasn't up to watch her and the last thing Aelwyn wanted was to start a fire somehow because she was stuck in a memory of the orb or of her parents.

She was most of the way done with cooking for the six living people within the Manor at present - herself and Adaine, Jawbone and Sandra Lynn, and Kristen and Tracker - when she felt an alarm ring through her, someone pushing with a teleportation spell through the wards she had placed onto the Manor on top of the ones from Arthur Aguefort, and while she couldn't stop the teleport she knew exactly where it was going to land, which was less than five feet away from where she was.

Ignoring Zayn's cry of surprise as she did, Aelwyn reached over to the knife block right next to the stove, pulling out a chef's knife and turning to swing right as the intruder appeared, the energy of one of her mid-level spell slots flowing down into the blade.  She could use just about ANYTHING with this, she'd found, though things that were actually weapons were more effective.

Unfortunately, she'd already committed to the swing when she realized that it was Arthur Aguefort who had arrived in their kitchen; she tried to abort or at least redirect the swing and he, showing surprising spryness for a human of his age, managed to get a shield spell up, deflecting it further.  There was a horrible noise as Aelwyn instead drove the knife deep down and through the pantry door, putting a foot and a half long gash through it and also rendering the knife's blade utterly unusable.

"Well, I must say, that is a very spirited greeting!  Miss Aelwyn O'Shaughnessey, I presume?"  Aguefort asked, as though she hadn't just nearly put a fourth level spell's worth of energy straight into slicing him open.  She yanked at the knife a few times, pulling it free and carefully not looking at him out of embarrassment.  She'd helped kill this man, after all, indirectly.

But also, what the hell?  He knew there were threats to the residents; he'd put up most of the wards on the house himself!  Which explained how he'd gotten through those, but still.  "Right.  Um.  You might want to call first, or maybe knock at the front door, in the future?"  She asked, putting both hands on the knife in order to pull it out from the pantry door without using further magic. It was way too damaged for a Mending to fix, she realized, mournfully.

Repairs were just a reality of life around the Manor with the shape it was in, plus the damage done by four werewolves (though Adaine generally did more damage than the other three combined; Tracker never did any, since she always chained herself up for the moon) but that didn't mean she wanted to go adding to the task list.  

"I do not think I shall.  It's important to make certain that my students and their families are constantly aware of their surroundings and watching for those who might at any moment strike from the shadows!"  Arthur Aguefort said.  "You pass, by the way, though you may wish to use a more traditional weapon in the future."

Aelwyn, whose trances had been fleeting over the last few weeks, was unimpressed with this argument but also unwilling to argue about it with this man in particular, well aware that he both had reasons to disapprove of her and personal power the likes of which she couldn't have touched even before her setback as a Wizard.  "I assume you.. need something?"  Hopefully he wasn't just going to start dropping in on weekends, especially not just after dawn while Aelwyn was in the kitchen in her pajamas.  "Ayda will probably be through for a little while closer to lunch before she teleports to the concert, so you're kind of early if you're looking to talk to her."

"Oh, I should visit her soon, that is a good idea.  However, no, I am here for other reasons - this is the domicile at which the greatest percentage of the adventuring party registered at Aguefort as the Bad Kids resides, yes?  Miss Adaine O'Shaughnessey, Miss Kristen Applebees, and Miss Figueroth Faeth are all here?  I have several matters to discuss with all of them, including resolving some of the Kalvaxus situation and their Quest assignment for the year."  Aguefort pulled a folder from his sleeves, looking down at it.

Aelwyn felt a sense of relief wash through her.  "Fig and Gorgug are still on tour, like I said, but I can probably get Riz at least to come here?  He's definitely awake, anyway.  Fabian you might have to catch later.  I'm glad you have a quest for them, though; Adaine and Riz were close to doing something mad like going after the Crown of the Nightmare King."  A more normal quest would almost certainly distract them for a while, and hopefully keep them safe, and Aelwyn wouldn't have to push more for them to forget about the Crown for their own sakes.

"Aelwyn, the eggs."  Zayn said, from where he'd been watching this, and cursing she turned away to pull them off the burner, this batch burned.  

"...Want breakfast?"  She asked, trying out being a polite host the way that Jawbone would want her to be and deciding that in the future it would be reserved for people who hadn't teleported into the manor without knocking first (other than Ayda, who practically speaking was a resident).

"Certainly!  I do love to be served food and tea by reformed and captured villains."  Aguefort said, "Though I trust you will merely be poisoning me with questionable cooking skills and nutrition rather than any neurotoxins.  And I believe I have a solution that will make Mister Gukgak and the other Miss O'Shaughnessey happy, do not worry."

Aelwyn briefly considered whether she could get away with scorching the eggs a bit more before just piling the burnt ones onto a plate and passing it and a fork over to Aguefort, who sat at the table.  "I'll get Riz, he'll probably be here before you finish eating.  Kristen and Adaine will be down any minute now."  She'd need to make more eggs, but there was still bacon to stave them off for a few minutes.

She pulled out her crystal, thumbing down to where Riz's contact was (the only one of Adaine's party whose contact she had who didn't live in Mordred Manor); the past dialogue was almost exclusively about Adaine, of course.

hey your crazy principal broke into our house this morning and is looking for as many of you as i can get here, get the pirate's kid too if you can

She sent a similar text up to Adaine and to Kristen, though she knew Adaine probably wouldn't bother looking before stumbling down.  Kristen might, though.

She'd started the next batch of eggs when Jawbone wondered into the room, a fuzzy sweater pulled on.  "Oh, hey, boss-man!  Uh, wasn't expecting to see you in my house this morning."  He said, taking the pot of coffee that Aelwyn had left out and pouring himself a cup.

"Hmm?  Ah, yes, I am just having some of these delightfully crunchy scrambled eggs that your elder daughter offered me while waiting for the others of the house to become available." Aguefort said.

Jawbone said "Oh, yeah!  Aelwyn, you're gettin' way better at that," even as he made his own plate, snagging bacon and toast to go with his coffee, while Aelwyn felt herself warm up slightly to Aguefort.

Eventually, Tracker and Kristen made their way into the room, not even pretending they hadn't been sleeping in the same place; Riz, having climbed into a window somewhere, was just behind them, asking "Hey, was that hole in the pantry door yesterday?" right after showing up and prompting an embarrassed explanation from Aelwyn. 

Sandra Lynn was a few minutes ahead of Adaine as the last to show up. Adaine, Boggy balanced atop her back, hadn't bothered changing out of wolf form until she noticed their guest, ducking down a hallway and coming back blonde and adjusting her clothing into place; she must not have checked her crystal before coming for breakfast.

"Good morning, Principal Aguefort!"  Adaine said cheerily, the second time she showed up, in a tone of voice Aelwyn was pretty certain was fake.  "Is there something you need on this start of our vacation?"

"Yes, indeed!  I come bearing tons of money!  And news.  And a quest, of great importance!  Let's see, let's see..."  A mage hand started flipping through the folder.  "To start with, the current chaos in Fallinel has cleared up several roadblocks, and we have been able to finalize the seizing of Kalvaxus' hoard.  Each of the members of your party is entitled to a share due to your part in his defeat.  Through sheer coincidence, that comes to an even twenty thousand gold each, which has been transferred into trust accounts on behalf of your respective parents or legal guardians - separate accounts for Miss O'Shaughnessey and Miss Applebees, of course."

"Oh, right."  Adaine said, seemingly having forgotten that that money was coming.  "..Maybe I can find some enchanted pants that can handle suddenly growing a tail so I can stop wearing skirts next winter."  She said, not all that concerned about the money, evidently - Aelwyn could understand, since Adaine was both used to being rich but also to not having real access to that money.  Kristen and Tracker immediately sidetracked into a conversation about the fastest way to give away the money away, Kristen concerned about money being a corrupting influence.

Riz, on the other hand, was clearly thrilled. "Alright!  I've been waiting for this to come through; Mom promised me I can get an office once this money comes in so I can put up more than just one conspiracy board at a time again.  Bet I can be moved in by the end of the day."

Aguefort cleared his throat, getting silence from those gathered.  "Now, as for general news, the bounty from Fallinel upon Miss Adaine O'Shaughnessey's head - or Miss Abernant, as the bounty called it - is considered defunct as there is presently no government in Fallinel to turn it in to.  This means that your party is considered free to leave the boundaries of Solace once more, in addition to reducing the likelihood of another fire on campus this year."

Aelwyn sighed, and couldn't stop herself from interjecting.  "Have they confirmed the deaths of most of the Court of Stars, then?"  Kalina's plot or not, she couldn't be sad about that part of things.

"No, but they're disrupted for the moment, and that should be enough to allow for your sister and her party, who I am talking to, to complete a quest of utmost importance.  For, as you all should be aware, the Crown of the Nightmare King was stolen last year, presenting a grave threat both to the world and to your ability not to repeat your sophomore year, as sixty percent of your grade will depend on your party and whatever hirelings you might bring on retrieving the Crown from wherever it might be before the end of Spring Break."

With a wave of fear and anger mutually washing through her, Aelwyn strongly considered trying to kill Arthur Aguefort with a smite using the rather heavy frying pan after that announcement, up until he vanished a few moments later, leaving the folder behind.


Kristen, Riz, and Adaine immediately started going through the folder, Adaine frowning.  "...Sixty percent seems like a lot, right?  If I had kept my grades up, maybe I could pass anyway, but it seems likely it's just going to be all on that."

"That's what you're worried about?"  Riz asked, shooting a glance over to where Jawbone was talking to a stricken Aelwyn.  "I mean, we know who has the crown."

"We do?"  Kristen asked.

"Yeah.  I want to organize some of the files before we start travelling, but...  we should talk about it elsewhere.  And I think Principal Aguefort said something in there about hirelings?"  Riz added.  "Fabian's supposed to be here at some point, and we can talk to Fig and Gorgug by text about this.

Adaine, cross-referencing her crystal and the folder, spoke up.  "It doesn't look like there's a lot of details on that.  We could ask Gilear, maybe?  Or break into his office and find the records about it?"

They got caught up in a discussion there for a while, even once Fabian came over and started immediately talking about how his maid should be one of their hirelings, and Fig proposed Gilear going.  "I really think we should try to take capable adventurers."  Adaine tried to protest, because Gilear had to be the least useful person she could imagine going along.

Somewhere in this discussion, to Adaine's alarm and surprise, Aelwyn padded over in her rarely-used wolf form, the same silver fur Adaine herself had but with the golden eyes Tracker or Jawbone did instead of matching silver eyes, and about the same size as Tracker was; if she'd panicked enough that Jawbone had suggested that as a solution, she really must not have taken this quest being assigned very well.

That thought in mind, and her vision of Aelwyn fighting in the same forest as the rest of the party had been...  "...Aelwyn's on the approved hirelings list from the school, I know.  It would make sense for her to come for this, if she wants to."  Adaine spoke, Aelwyn's head whipping up and around to stare back at her.

And sure, they would have to talk about it after, but Fabian was enthusiastically on board, and Kristen and Riz both seemed at least willing to think about it, and Adaine squeezed her sister's wolf form around the middle to try to help calm her in the same way almost everyone else there had done for Adaine herself before.

Notes:

I mean, yeah, I'm sending Aelwyn along on the quest. I didn't have Adaine rescue a traumatized, damaged sister just to write her staying behind with Jawbone for the next however many chapters!

As for which other hirelings go, well, we'll see. It's amazing, looking back, just how much the dice rolls in the first episode for convincing different hirelings to come along really shaped the entire season, like Fig's nat 20 to convince her mom to go.

Aelwyn briefly warmed up to Aguefort because (she would be willing to admit) she thought he was bringing something to distract Adaine and Riz and also (she would be unwilling to admit even to herself) because he referred to her as Jawbone's daughter without hesitation, even knowing her full situation.

That went crashing down by the end, though, hah. Neither of our sisters have the highest opinion of him, though he has a much higher opinion of Adaine than in canon due to respect for her added level of recklessness.

Chapter 60: Crown

Summary:

A team composition is decided upon. Fig handles her parents.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Riz found something both tiring and thrilling about holding three conversations at once, even if two of them were about very similar topics.

The one that was different was texting on his crystal arranging for his mom to do what was necessary to get his super great office space finalized now that the money had come through from Kalvaxus.

They also had Adaine's crystal set up with Fig and Gorgug on the other end on speaker; the Bad Kids were having a fierce debate about who should be invited as a hireling or potentially cut into a share of any treasure they might come across, and who might qualify.  Adaine had a notepad up with a list of candidates.  Jawbone, Sandra Lynn, Tracker and Zayn had eventually left them to it, though Jawbone had taken the time to clean up after Aelwyn's cooking first; Aelwyn was still curled up as a wolf next to Adaine, and Riz didn't think she really wasn't paying attention but couldn't be certain. Adaine had said that she was unlikely to turn back to an elf anytime soon.  It was Riz's first time actually seeing Aelwyn transformed at all, though he'd known that she was a werewolf after her and Adaine's fight the past year.

The resemblance to Adaine was uncanny, so long as she kept her eyes closed.

The last conversation was exclusively between himself and Adaine through hand signals.  She'd already indicated that she'd had a vision that Aelwyn would be there; he hadn't been able to really press her for details yet, but it was clear she was taking the threat of this mission more seriously than she normally took threats to her own life.  That was probably a bad sign, really.  At least Aelwyn was a capable fighter, though, unlike some of the people under discussion to bring along.

At the moment, Adaine was making a bold stance that Riz didn't disagree with, but that he probably wouldn't put in quite such... direct terms, at least not to Fig.

"Look, I know you love Gilear, we all..  well, some of us love Gilear, or at least love you and know that you love Gilear, but there might not be a person in all of Elmville who would be LESS useful in a fight than Gilear is.  Fabian is only arguing for him to go because he is trying to get Gilear killed so he will stop sleeping with his mother, you realize that, right?"  Adaine said into the crystal.

"Nooo.  Don't you want to be stepsiblings, Fabian?"  Came Fig's voice back through the phone, Adaine twitching.

"Of course not!  I want Gilear out of my garage."  Fabian said back.  "Whether that's back into that apartment building or into the depths of hell, I really don't care, but he needs out of anywhere around my house!"

"The school will only pay for the first three.  Are we really going to waste one of those slots on a man whose most useful skill is being a vice principal who is just pathetic and not evil?"  Adaine asked.  "Or are we actually going to pay him hireling rates?  They're not cheap, especially not if we end up going out of the country."

"Who else is there who's better?"  Fig asked, and Riz knew she'd walked right into Adaine's preparation.  There had been a list made before the call had started, maybe because Adaine had seen this coming.

Adaine pulled out her notepad and started reading. "Aelwyn, obviously, since we've already invited her and she accepted.  Aside from that, from earlier, we had as strong possibilities from those we know who are capable adventurers Ragh, Tracker, Ayda if she's willing to leave the Compass Points for that long, any of the Seven Maidens but especially Zelda or Penny, Sandra Lynn, either of the Thistlesprings, Fabian was suggesting his maid who apparently used to be a pirate, and frankly I'd take Jawbone in a heartbeat over Gilear every day but I don't think even he's enough of a fighter these days to count.  I'd take Fabian's mother but he insists that to even offer to make her work for money would be an insult - which, I mean, I'm a high elf and so is Aelwyn and neither of us object to the idea, but whatever, Fabian."

"You two both count at least half as wolves and not high elves, you've said that yourself!"  Fabian cut in, before Fig cut him off.

"Look, fine.  Why don't we do this the easy way?"  Fig asked, over the crystal connection.  "Ayda for me, Zelda for Gorgug, Tracker for Kristen, and then Aelwyn still counts as Fabian's crush, right?  And Adaine and Riz don't have anyone, so it works out and we just have to cut Zelda in since she's a student."  Aelwyn did jerk her head and glance over at the mention of her name there; Riz had tried very hard to learn Adaine's body language as a wolf, and if Aelwyn's was at all similar he would have called her confused.

Still...  "H.. hey, why are you just assuming I don't have anyone, just because I'd rather focus on the adventures rather than talk about it in front of you all?  Maybe my partner would rather I keep it quiet, that's all!"

He could feel everyone's eyes on him, with varying degrees of disbelief and pity.  Even Aelwyn, he was pretty sure, though that was a look Adaine had never had as a wolf.  The look that elf-Adaine WAS giving him was one of 'what are you doing' mixed with pity, though he knew from her it wasn't pity that he was without a dating partner in truth.

"And just who do you have, The Ball, that none of us would have ever heard of until this moment?"  Fabian asked, a mocking tone that made Riz's stomach clench.

"You wouldn't know them!  They're named Baron.  From the Baronies, not anywhere around here."  Riz said, wincing internally.  He could have come up with something better than that.

You could come up with something better than that!  We've been banned from leaving the country for the last eight months.  You know I support you, there's no need to make things like that up. Adaine's fingers flew, making it much more obvious that she was signalling than the relatively passive words they'd been exchanging to that point; maybe luckily, everyone else was still staring at Riz too much to notice.

"Right.  I'm not sure I even need to dignify that.  If, ah, Baron wants to be invited as well then, feel free to give me their contact information and I'll pay for their hireling fee myself."  Fabian said, with an eyeroll.

Gorgug, who had apparently been texting, mercifully spoke up so Riz could just stew in that and feel awkward for a minute.  "Zelda says the Seven have their own quest to take care of, so she won't be available.  But she thanked us for asking and thinking of her.  We could get Ragh, maybe, if we want another barbarian?"

Adaine spoke up.  "Ragh might be fine.  Mostly, I just want to make sure everyone who comes along is at least capable of taking care of themselves whenever we get into trouble.  Speaking Sylvan is a real bonus, too; I don't actually know it and comprehend languages can get tiring to cast repeatedly."

"I know a little bit of Sylvan.  Gilear knows it!  See, he's useful!"  Fig said, clearly trying to press her argument well past the point of credibility.

"Doesn't that mean your mom, who is an actual adventurer, would also know it?" Adaine countered.

"Ugh, fine, if you're going to be so upset about it.  So mom, Ayda, Aelwyn, Ragh, Tracker?  Mom has Baxter, too."  Fig added.

"..We probably should figure out transportation.  Especially if we're going to go outside of the country."  Fabian said.  "I still say we should have at least one person we hire to cook and everything, whether that's Gilear or Cathilda or someone else."

"We could use the tour bus?"  Fig replied.  "Plenty of room for everyone on that."

"It's a little conspicuous.  And it can't fly or travel in the water, can it?"  Riz suggested.  "But mostly I think let's avoid transportation options where any of us have our face posted onto the side of it."

"I could get my parents' van?  I mean, maybe I could just buy it off them, now that I have some money.  They've done some artificer work on it over the years."  Gorgug said.  "We're cutting the tour shut, so we should be there tomorrow, but I'll get them to set it up for us to be ready if they're willing to sell it."

"Adaine you're in charge of getting my mom to agree to come!"  Fig added.  "If you can't talk her into it, we're bringing Gilear, whether you like it or not."

"Wait, I didn't agree to... oh and she's gone."  Adaine sighed.  Aelwyn had laid back out next to her, losing interest or just wanting to not be so obviously eavesdropping at some point.  Kristen and Fabian soon departed, Fabian to talk to Ragh, Kristen to get Tracker.

Riz sighed.  "Well.  I'm still going to see if I can get my office today.  Mom was threatening to throw out some of my files soon otherwise; I think she got annoyed about having to help me with the Porter case."

"Your mother objected to you stalking an innocent teacher because of Fig's insane theory that he has somehow been evil through all of this?  I can't imagine why."  Adaine said, her sarcasm sharper than normal.  A bad bit of anxiety, but Riz wasn't the right person to fix it.

He didn't even know for sure what it was from; being assigned to convince Sandra Lynn was possible, but so was the quest.

"...She paid for it and I was pretty broke until the money from Kalvaxus came in."  He tried to justify himself.  "Besides, it's not like I hurt Porter.  He seems like a really standup guy, honestly.  Want to come help me move?"

Adaine hummed.  "Maybe later, if you still need it?  I'm going to try to figure out how to convince a ranger to burn a ton of her vacation time for a dangerous quest and for spending time in a van with a group of high schoolers."

Riz left her and her sister to that.  He had an office to open.


Adaine sighed as she was left alone, at least other than Aelwyn, who judging by her usual level of success at shifting might be a wolf most of the day now that she'd ended up that way.  Adaine pointed at her sister, casting a Message cantrip.  "Anything you need from me?  Otherwise I'd best go talk to Sandra Lynn."

The response to a Message could be done mentally; Aelwyn didn't even have the practice at communicating yes or no that Adaine did, otherwise, nor the learned ability to cast at least a handful of spells while not an elf.

"Ah.  I can come with you if you want, or just go up to the tower for now?"  Aelwyn's response came, as she looked up at Adaine.  That probably meant she did have a preference between the two and didn't want to admit to it; Adaine would just be guessing, to pick one.

But maybe allowing for some moral support wasn't a terrible idea, for herself.

"...You can come with me, I think, then we'll go up to the tower and plan what to pack."  She didn't think Aelwyn had had general adventuring classes; preparing for a quest like this might be outside of her experience.  Adaine cast a Locate Person rather than search all over the manor for Sandra Lynn.  She found both Sandra Lynn and Jawbone in the living room, Jawbone reading, Sandra Lynn sharpening a short sword.

"Hey, um..  Can I talk to you for a minute?"  Adaine asked the ranger, who looked up, not unkindly.  "Of course, Adaine.  Any time. What do you need?"

Unfortunately, even with Aelwyn there and offering that moral support, Adaine felt her anxiety washing back up over her.  It might be time to try a new medication mixture again, she thought, mournfully.  She'd been so hopeful this was the right one.  It definitely didn't help her words.  "I, well, the party and I thought that..  Oh, well, first, we're supposed to find experienced hirelings for this quest, and Fig wanted to bring Gilear but I thought you might be more useful, so I..  No, wait.  Will you come with us for this quest?"  

She finally just cut herself off.  "..Maybe call Fig and talk to her about it?"  She temporized, because if she had to keep talking she felt like she might go into a full-blown panic attack and then they'd be stuck with two wolves and noone to have this conversation with Sandra Lynn unless she decided to cast Speak with Animals.

Sandra Lynn was looking deeply hurt and insulted - Adaine realized, belatedly, that she probably shouldn't have mentioned Fig pushing for Gilear to come - but some sympathy washed over her face.  Pity.  Adaine was going to be getting a pity response.  "I'll call Fig.  Why don't you sit down, Adaine, you must have had a lot dropped on you to get this quest out of nowhere?"

Oh, good, she must be OBVIOUSLY about to have a panic attack, too.

She took a seat anyway on the couch, Aelwyn jumping up next to her and offering quiet support, Jawbone doing the same on the other side.  She managed to at least stay in elf form, listening to Sandra Lynn and Fig talking in the background as she did so but not really hearing the words, and just hoped she hadn't messed it up so badly that they'd be stuck with Gilear instead.


Fig sighed, glancing around the cheap motel they had stopped in for the night on their way back to Elmville, though at least she and Gorgug got their own rooms.  Sandra Lynn had agreed to come, eventually, but her mom had seemed a little hurt both that Fig had thought of Gilear first and that she'd sent Adaine to talk.

It was going to be a great quest, though.

She dreamed that night, of the glory and fun that awaited them on their quest, on the riches they'd have on their return, on the crown that had been placed upon her head while she handled a minor errand or two in her sleep.

Notes:

Fig is going to be totally fiiiiine, don't worry! She's just got some important things to do. I'm sure Riz is fine in his office, too.

Updates are going to probably be 2-ish a week for a while, both because of holiday stuff (which is spread between this weekend and, like, the first couple weekends in January for me) and because I'm working on a fic for the D20 exchange! I won't go into too much detail here, but it's going to be another fantasy high AU with Riz as the PoV; my outline was like a thousand words but I'm hoping to keep it under 10k or so as a full fic. Keep an eye out for that in late January, along with all the rest of the explosion of art and fic from the exchange.

Also, I've hinted at it more than once, but this chapter makes it fairly clear that Aelwyn at least doesn't really remember Ostentatia's party until you at least get to the part involving attempted fratricide. Aelwyn/Fabian is a hilariously unpopular pairing in the fandom for one that does canonically (and briefly) happen, but I can understand why and it's not happening as anything other than a fling here (Aelwyn in this fic is aromantic, though pansexual), which Aelwyn in her current state will not do while it would spread Kalina.

Chapter 61: Oath

Summary:

Riz stays late in the office. Aelwyn promises her family a series of things, and means them.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Riz frowned at his crystal, within his awesome new low-rent office.  Adaine wasn't answering his texts, and she'd said she would probably come by the office tonight and wasn't yet there.  He wanted to run some theories past her, but most importantly he wanted to show the place off and she was by far the most likely one to appreciate it.

He flicked past Aelwyn's message from that morning about Aguefort and over to the Bad Kids group text, which had a lot of activity from Fig and Gorgug lately but not much from the others.

Hey anyone know if Adaine's okay?  She's not replying to me and I was expecting her to be here by now.  If anything, it was unlikely she would come at this point - it was getting quite late - but best to make certain one of the factions within Fallinel hadn't managed to snatch her, or some other misfortune.

He dug back through the boxes, looking back through some of his dad's stuff, deciding on what pictures were worth putting out in the office and if he might have anything about any of the countries they might need to visit, when the buzz of a response sounded.  Kristen had replied on the group thread.

panic attack after talking to sandra lynn, probably down for the night.

A picture followed before he could finish typing his response, showing two silver wolves cuddled together on a couch at Mordred Manor, the larger one's head resting protectively on top of the smaller one's back.  they're sweet huh?  bet you could blackmail at least one of them with this.  Kristen's followup came right after.

That sparked a round of discussion he didn't really want to be involved in - mostly between Kristen and Fig about whether Aelwyn or Adaine would be better to hold it over - so he just sent a thank you to the thread and went back to digging through the box, setting the crystal on the table.

He came out with a picture of his dad, toasting a Tabaxi woman, who wasn't holding a glass.  He'd seen the picture before, but something about it...

He frowned, peering closer at it.  The Tabaxi woman matched up to the descriptions Adaine and Aelwyn had given of Kalina, but he shouldn't have been able to see her.  And there was something else weird about the image, too.  Maybe it was an illusion; Aelwyn had mentioned that those could be seen by everyone.

He really should have gotten Adaine or Aelwyn to show him an illusion of her.

There was a knocking sound from somewhere within the office, and Riz stood up, turning towards the noise, the picture still in hand.


Adaine had a very strange dream that night, curled on the couch next to her equally sleeping sister.  Her dreams were almost always a result of being the oracle, were almost always glimpses of possible futures, even if it was hard to see how in the moment or even afterwards, when she remembered them.

This, on the other hand, was a dream of an impossible past.

Adaine was sitting at the breakfast nook of a house that had long since burned down in reality, her sister across from her, her parents in their familiar positions.  Aelwyn looked to be about thirteen or fourteen, which would have put Adaine herself at eleven or twelve.  

Arianwen and Angwyn, of course, looked the same as ever except for the part where both of them were smiling down the table at where Aelwyn had just passed over a plate to Adaine.

That part was weird, and Adaine felt a chill passing over the part of her mind that wasn't caught up in the dream, the wrongness of it striking her.

"Now, Adaine, did you make a decision on what school of magic you'll be focusing on?"  This was... a strange topic.  She'd never actually discussed that with her parents.  They hadn't cared, so long as she hadn't gone for something like Bladesinging.

She thought about storming off, but..  "Divination, of course."  She said, tilting her head.  Her focus on divination had been one of the rare things that her parents HADN'T picked at in reality, though they had questioned her ability to actually manage it plenty.

Kind of ironic, in retrospect.

"Oh, that's excellent, Adaine.  It's a good idea to spread our expertise out."  Arianwen said.  "Though of course we will be proud of anything you girls do.  Just keep that in mind, right, when you start to feel anxious?  Your father and I will be there to help, quick as we can."

The dissonance between this and her entire life experience caught up to her, and she felt herself plunging, the Abernant house and family fading away.  She fell, and fell, and fell, and then struck water unexpectedly, dropping into the sea with a shipwreck around her.  She was getting tugged down and under the water, her lungs flooding and the cold striking her to the bone.

She woke up, gasping for breath, the sun starting to peak in through the windows of the room.  A blanket had been draped over each of the two of them, and while Adaine was still in wolf form, Aelwyn was back to an elf, though she was still sleeping with her head against Adaine's side.

Or at least, had been sleeping.  Adaine's movement most have woken her, because Aelwyn sat up as well, a hand going to rub at her eyes as she did.  "I always feel like I've done something terrible to my back when I sleep like that.  At least the dream was just weird, instead of bad, this time."  Aelwyn complained, but that caught Adaine's attention.

She shifted up into elf form herself, ignoring the relatively minor pain of the transformation in that direction, and tilted her head as she asked.  "...What dream did you have?  I had a weird one too, nothing at all like my normal ones."

Aelwyn glanced away.  "..Ah.  I don't know that you really want to hear about it, Adaine."

"Depends on why you don't want to share.  Was it about our parents actually treating us well?"  Adaine asked, a suspicion running through her mind.  One that was immediately confirmed, as Aelwyn looked back to her in shock.  "Shit, do you have Detect Magic prepared?  I would have to get my spellbook to prepare it or cast it as a ritual, might be too late already but that definitely wouldn't help."

Aelwyn nodded, making a gesture and murmuring an incantation, her eyes shut while she did, a habit both of them had with this spell since moving into Mordred Manor.  "..You know how likely this isn't to actually show anything detectable with all the background magic here, I hope, little sister."

"Yes, but my dreams when I remember them are almost always of the future; it's part of why I sleep."  Adaine said, now sure she was right about something being wrong here.  Boggy gave a ribbit from where he was within the room, supporting her.

Aelwyn glanced around, unable to hold back the wince as the full force of seeing the wards caught up to her.  "...I see just the thinnest wisps of enchantment magic.  Can't believe it even got through to us enough to give us dreams through those wards.  No clue who it was or what exact spell it was from looking at it, but..  it was Father's specialty, wasn't it, as much as he had one?"

"Why would he want to give us good dreams, though?"  Adaine said, with a frown.  "I don't know a spell that would even be used for that."

"Might just be trying to make us think better of them, I'm not sure.  It doesn't seem to have worked, at least."  Aelwyn said, and that was the end of the conversation because both of their crystals were buzzing like crazy, Adaine snatching hers up from off the table.

Fig and Gorthalax had vanished in the night, along with the band's tour bus, and Gorgug and his biological parents were stranded at a hotel about an hour's drive away.

On top of that, nobody could reach Riz.

Adaine frowned, glancing over to Aelwyn.  "...You're willing to come, right?  I wanted to talk to you more about it, but... I think this might be a sign we need to go, now, not wait until Monday like we were planning."

Aelwyn nodded.  "There's.. there's something I should do before we go, though. Let me go get my sword and shield and Moonlight, and I'll get your spellbook too while you figure out what we need to do."  She moved out of the room towards the tower, though unlike how Adaine would have gone she did not appear to be taking one of the hidden passages.

Adaine sighed as she was left alone, preparing herself to burn far too many spell slots for this early in what might be a long day.  It would give them far more information than what they might get through more mundane means, though.

One Sending to Fig.  "Where are you?  Why did you leave Gorgug behind?"

No response, though Adaine could tell the message was received and that Fig wasn't dead.

Another to Riz.  "Are you okay?  Fig has gone missing.  Please, Riz, respond to me if you can hear this."  This one felt like it was retribution for all of the times Riz had been worried about her, but Adaine's anxiety was building as she failed to get a response again, though Riz was also alive and receiving the spell.

Finally, and she hadn't wanted to do this without news but felt she must, she cast Sending a third time.  "Ayda, Fig's gone missing and she's not replying to a Sending spell.  Please tell me you're not in trouble too."

This time, she was relieved in that she did get a response, though the contents were alarming if unsurprising.  "I will find her or tear the world into its components looking.  I will come once I have done what I can from here."

She passed along this message into the group thread, plus her own results, touching a hand to the pendant around her neck.  She was a little surprised that Ayda hadn't put a tracker onto Fig, but Adaine had been specifically targeted before they'd met.  This would probably get Fig one of her own, if and when they found her.


Aelwyn barely finished packing her and Adaine's bags, not entirely certain if she'd gotten everything they would need, before more incoming messages started; a new thread, between everyone who was to go on the quest aside from Ayda.  Gorgug's parents had a van they were evidently going to be using for transportation, and at the moment a discussion was going about who was a licensed driver.

Sandra Lynn was out from the errand, because she was going to be using Baxter to look for Fig through the sky.  Tracker had never bothered; this Ragh person - who Aelwyn had never actually met, though she knew he had been a party member of Penelope's - claimed to have failed the test when he'd tried, and Fabian was insisting that the Hangman did not allow him to drive other, lesser vehicles.

Aelwyn hesitated.  It would split her off from Adaine, but...  She was licensed, and she sent as much as a message.  Soon enough, the split had been reached - Adaine, Kristen, and Fabian would look into where Riz had gone while Aelwyn, Tracker, and Ragh took Gorgug's van to bring him back to Elmville, pending any news from Ayda.

A feeling of dread washed over Aelwyn.  This felt like a step into an unknown and unguaranteed future, like she might not see the Manor again when she left it.  If that was the case, there was one thing she wanted to do before they departed.  She whistled, and Moonlight crawled up to rest on her shoulder, and Aelwyn walked out of the Wizard (slash Rogue slash Paladin) tower of Mordred Manor balancing far too much equipment for one trip down the spiral staircase.

It was easy enough to get Adaine and Jawbone and Tracker to the side downstairs while they waited on Ragh and Fabian to get to the Manor, even if Kristen was clearly listening in.  It was no matter, really; most of her classmates had had formal ceremonies, lasting hours with entire congregations watching, but Aelwyn didn't really want that, anyway.

Her order was just going to consist of her, and these were the people she was doing it for.

They were looking at her with a little confusion, though, because she hadn't explained herself.  "I..  before we go.  Something I've been putting off that I shouldn't have for this long.  But we're going to need everything, I think, for what's to come."  Comprehension crossed Jawbone's face, at least; he was the only one of these three who had been there when she'd shared what these would be.

Tracker and Adaine caught on quickly enough once she continued, though, every word feeling like a weight she was placing on her own soul and a warm embrace at the same moment, her wording slightly different when she spoke it as she felt herself being guided in them.  "I swear to attempt to be a better person each day than I was the previous one.  I swear to never fail to act when I could help by acting."

She swallowed, glancing at Adaine and then looking at Tracker for the next one, not wanting to see her sister's reaction.  "I swear to do what I am able to protect the people who I hold dear. And I swear to attempt to make the world kinder than it is in every way that I am able to."

Saying them had been hard enough, it turned out.  Living up to them... well, that needed to start now.  What she had claimed to be could allow nothing less.

They didn't have much time after that, but Jawbone spoke up as well, rubbing at his eyes.  "Well.  I want you girls to remember while you're out there that you have a home waiting for you, and a mangy old dad or uncle who's waiting for you to get there.  I'm prouder than you know of you, of all three of you."

It was as good a ceremony as she could have hoped for, before they departed on their quest.

Notes:

And Aelwyn is FINALLY officially fully level 13 again, with 3 in Paladin and 10 in Wizard. All of her future levels will be going into Paladin as well.

It's probably worth mentioning that, even all this time later, Adaine still has a penalty dealing with Sandra Lynn and Sklonda because she's STILL embarrassed about getting arrested by the two of them. You'd think someone who gets arrested so frequently would forget it by now, but that one's the one that bothers her.

The start of the quest is going really well for our heroes, don't you think?

Chapter 62: Mirror

Summary:

Adaine, Fabian, and Kristen investigate a musty office for a misplaced ball. Aelwyn, Tracker, and Ragh take a road trip.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Adaine frowned at her crystal, standing outside of the address Riz had given her.  "...I was imagining somewhere a little nicer."  She admitted to Fabian and Kristen, who had come along with her, as she looked back over to the building.

"Why?"  Kristen replied, as they started inside.  It was a fair question, but the smell of mold still bothered Adaine as they started up the stairs.  It probably wasn't that bad for the others, she decided; sensitivity to loud noises and bad smells was just something she'd had to get used to over the year and a half she'd been a werewolf, but she didn't make a habit of hanging out in moldy buildings in particular.

Two flights of stairs later, they were outside of a door that read 'Riz Gukgak, Private Eye' in block lettering, getting Fabian to comment.  "...The Ball just rented this place yesterday after our meeting with Aguefort and he's already got his name on the door?  What a dork."

"I think he'd been waiting on the money to come through."  Adaine said, feeling obliged to defend her fellow nerd, even as Kristen tried the door and found that it was locked.  Adaine pulled her thieves' tools out and got to work, and it only took a moment for her to get the lock open.  "...Maybe he can get Aelwyn to put some wards up after we get back from the quest, though.  These aren't great locks."

The door swung open, and the worried feeling in the pit of Adaine's stomach leapt up into her throat as she saw the office.

The office was a mess.  It took Adaine a moment of looking around to tell whether that was just how Riz had left it or if something had gone wrong.  It was probably a mixture of both, but the bullet holes in the wall and claw marks gave clear indications of the fight that must have taken place.

"...Oh, fuck.  Riz?"  Adaine called out, pulling a bit of fur out from her jacket and casting a Locate Creature to see if he was somewhere in the office, worrying a little over the energy used - it was early in the day still and she'd burned through a decent number of spells already.

Especially since nothing turned up in response to her spell, but she'd had to try.  He must not be in the building, still.

They started to look around, searching for any sort of evidence of who had attacked Riz.  There were boxes of files - she was a little alarmed to see that one of the larger boxes now was just labeled 'Adaine and Aelwyn' - that look to have mostly been left alone, but one of the boxes had been spilled all over, what looked to be mostly personal effects. Kristen and Fabian spread out and started looking around as well, but Adaine's attention was drawn elsewhere.

She leaned down, plucking an old photograph off the floor.  A goblin wearing a tuxedo was lifting a glass in a toast, and his family resemblance to Riz was obvious, but that wasn't where her eyes were drawn.  Feigning toasting back with no glass in hand, Kalina was in the picture next to who Adaine assumed was Riz's dad.

Adaine's eyes went wide, staring at the picture. They'd thought Riz had to be clear, and that it was just Adaine and Aelwyn who had to be kept out of the loop on plans.  "Guys, hey, come here!"  She shouted, knowing she was on the verge of panic.  Riz had been the one to tell everyone else, the one who was supposed to be making plans and keeping secrets, and if his dad had been able to see Kalina...  had this picture been taken before Riz was born?  She had no way to know.

"What is it?"  Kristen asked, approaching alongside with Fabian.

"What do you see in this?"  Adaine asked, holding the picture up.

"Whoa, is that Riz's dad?"  Kristen asked, and Adaine turned the picture towards Fabian, who looked at the picture and then up at Adaine, confused.

"It's a hot goblin in a tuxedo.  Adaine, why're you freaking out about it?"  Fabian asked, and she probably did look like she was about to have a panic attack.  She felt like it, turning the picture back to herself, holding it up and touching where Kalina was standing.

"So neither of you see the woman standing right here in it?"

"There's nobody there, Adaine."  Fabian said, certainty in his voice.  "Are you feeling okay?  Or is this an Oracle thing?"

Adaine shook her head, a chill settling.  "No, but we really need to find Riz right now.  He told you about Kalina, right?  She's in this picture.  So you two must be clear of her, from what Aelwyn said.  My worry is that Riz might not have been, and maybe she tried to stop him from giving us this somehow.  Look around, see if he maybe had a hidden camera or anything here.  I bet he would have eventually, but he might not have had it set up yet, I was supposed to help him with getting moved in but I couldn't make it yesterday in the end."

The others went back to searching the room, and Adaine started looking as well.  Nothing useful on the desk other than the boxes, and she'd hold off for now on seeing what files he'd collected on her.  The standing mirror in the corner of the room was a little odd - must have been leftover from the prior occupant.  In fact, Adaine wouldn't have been surprised if all of the furniture was; it looked heavy, and she knew that he didn't know anyone besides herself and Aelwyn who could cast Floating Disk.

Adaine moved over to that wall, grabbing the mirror to pull it away from the wall to see if Riz might have hidden anything behind there.

That was where her memory stopped for the day.


Aelwyn didn't actually drive very often, certainly not anything as large as the van.  She had her license, but she'd gotten it back..  before.  She was generally okay as long as she opened a window so it didn't feel too much like being trapped in a see-through bubble, but she didn't enjoy it in the least, no matter how friendly Gorgug's parents had been as they'd handed over the keys.

Luckily, the road was almost empty, and the company was pleasant enough for this errand, Ragh in the shotgun seat, Tracker seated behind him.  It was Aelwyn's first time meeting Ragh, but he'd been surprisingly friendly with her given that the connection they did have would have been through Penelope.  Aelwyn was mostly keeping quiet, between focusing on the road and worrying about Fig and Riz.

He hadn't brought her up, instead talking with Tracker about some club Kristen ran at Aguefort that Tracker apparently occasionally helped with in spite of not having gone to school in over half a decade.  Aelwyn had missed the conversations about that, or maybe confused it with the church that Kristen ran and that Tracker sometimes helped with - Aelwyn found Kristen's god far less appealing than the version of Galicaea she'd decided to follow.

"Did they have a club like that at Hudol?  I've never thought to ask Adaine."  Ragh said, clearly trying to include her in the conversation more.

"Like what?  I'm sorry, I admit I'm not familiar with the club you're talking about and I was focused on driving."  Aelwyn admitted, knowing Tracker would see through a lie.

"Oh, like a club for LGBT plus people to support each other, or for anyone who's questioning themselves, or anything like that!  I don't know very much about Hudol, do they have clubs at all?"

Aelwyn hummed.  "Most of the clubs at Hudol are for academics, and those're mostly taken by people who are trying to cover for weaknesses.  There's Bloodrush, too, of course, but that's even worse, at Hudol only the most hopeless cases go into that.  I didn't actually do very many official extracurriculars, they were considered a little gauche at Hudol when you could just be focused on personal study.  Or, in my case, just be talented enough to get by without as much of it and use that time to do, ah, other things."

Ragh nodded at that.  "Yeah, that sucks, dude.  Aguefort didn't have anything like that until Kristen and Shellford and me started it.  Might have helped me figure out I'm gay earlier if it had when I was a freshman, but hopefully we'll be able to help some of the people who follow after us.  At least, that's the plan."

That, at least, was a familiar concept for Aelwyn.  She took her eyes off the road for just a moment to glance over towards Ragh, then sighed as she looked back to concentrate on her driving.  "I don't think a club like that would be likely to be approved by Hudol.  It's still primarily run by high elves, and a lot of the older ones like to pretend that hormones and passion and anything other than a marriage for purely practical reasons are beneath any of them."

"Oh, that REALLY sucks, dude." Ragh said, though Aelwyn hadn't really been bothered by it.

"I suppose.  I'm fairly certain that's part of why we ended up in Solace to begin with.  Adaine and I are extremely uncommonly close in age by Fallinel standards; she's about two and a half years younger than I am.  There's usually at least a decade or two gap between non-twin siblings in Fallinel, and we moved here not much more than a year after Adaine was born.  I think our parents thought it would be seen as distasteful back home."  That might have been part of why they'd always hidden Adaine away even before she'd started developing her anxiety, now that Aelwyn thought about it.

"Still, nobody should have to get married just 'cause that's what's expected, you know?" Ragh said.

Aelwyn laughed, though there was a little bitterness to it.  "Well, it's hardly the worst thing our parents would have expected of Adaine and I, and it was cut off the moment I was bitten anyway.  Besides, I'm trying not to spread around my other curse anymore - did Riz get around to telling you two about that?"

Tracker made a noise of affirmation, but Ragh said "Nah, I don't think so.  I don't know that much about you though, this trip will be a chance to fix that."

"Tracker, can you fill him in right quick?  It's...  probably a bad idea for me to talk about while driving."  Aelwyn decided, glancing up into the mirror.  She felt herself slam on the brakes, felt the van skid and Ragh and Tracker both cry out in protest, but all of that was distant to the fact that Kalina was perched next to Tracker now.

"You used to really seem to enjoy spreading that curse, Aelwyn."  Kalina said, even as Aelwyn regained enough control to bring the van to a stop at the side of the road.

"Hey Aelwyn, what's wrong?"  Ragh asked, but she felt frozen, her eyes fixed on the mirror and Kalina.  She tried to push through it, tried to speak up and explain, at least to Tracker, but what came out was a whine at best.

"Now, now.  I just came here to give you a little update, that's all, so you can decide if you really want to do this."  Kalina said.  "Your mother made a request that I not kill you if I could help it, and so you're not going to even get to die if you go on this quest.  I think...  you were doing so well after, what, seven months in that orb?  How do you feel about six or seven hundred years?"

A shudder ran through her at that mention, and a hand touched her shoulder.  Tracker's, certainly.

And then Aelwyn had a realization.  Something that had been bothering her ever since she HADN'T died after confessing to Riz and Adaine, something she'd known on some level since she hadn't had so much as another visit after talking about Kalina before this one, crystalized, and while she was still terrified she was also certain as she spoke, trying to hide the trembling in her voice as she met Kalina's eyes in the mirror.

"You wouldn't be bothering with these threats if you weren't worried that my presence would make a difference, Kalina."

"Oh, fuck, is she here now?"  Tracker said, squeezing at Aelwyn's shoulder.

Kalina didn't respond for a moment, golden eyes watching Aelwyn's face.  "...So be it, then.  I'll let your father know to prepare a prison orb for you."

She vanished, and Aelwyn gasped for breath, pressing her forehead to the steering wheel as she did.  She'd explain to Ragh, or let Tracker, and then they'd get back to the matter at hand, and she already knew how bad her next trance was going to be.


The quest was not off to the rousing start Fabian had hoped for.  The Ball and Fig going missing was bad enough; now Adaine was acting super weird, too.  He started digging through one of the file boxes while Adaine searched for hidden cameras, going over and fiddling with a mirror in the corner.

The files mostly seemed to be about the Seven Maidens, and about what the Ball had titled the 'Kalvaxus Kaper' which was dorky enough that Fabian needed to find him and yell at him until he changed it.

He was checking through that for anything of interest when Adaine started growling in a way that made the hair on his neck stand up.  "...Adaine?"  He asked, looking across the room at her.

Silver fur was covering her skin, she was hunched over, and even as he looked she lashed out and smashed the mirror.  "KRISTEN!  Kristen, get in here!"  He screamed towards the other room, and now there were two problems - Adaine turned towards him, her eyes red, and some kind of horrible creature was climbing out of the shattered mirror.  A skeletal version of the Ball, a mockery of his friend.

Adaine charged forward, lashing out with her claws, Fabian jumping back and narrowly avoiding the blow, his shirt getting slashed through.

The skeletal figure broke off, heading for Kristen as she poked her head back in.  "Oh!"  Fabian couldn't really help Kristen at the moment, however, because he was trying to figure out what to do about Adaine; he couldn't attack her, but she seemed awfully not worried about attacking him.  Eager to do so, even!

"Kristen, you okay?"  He asked, even though he'd been cornered by Adaine now.

"Yes, just.. OW!  Fuck!  I don't want to hurt this thing if it's Riz somehow!"  

"Adaine said he was alive and she didn't detect him here, I think that's just a monster!  Get rid of it if you can!" Fabian decided, even as he ducked just barely under Adaine's teeth and her claws slashed shallowly down his arm.  As much as he liked Tracker, Adaine, and Aelwyn, he did not want to join them on their full moon experiences.

"Did she say that before or after she started trying to kill you?"

Fabian came to a decision - as much as he didn't want to hurt Adaine, his sword wasn't silver and she'd requested that they knock her out rather than let her hurt them more than once in the past.  "I'm sorry, Adaine."  He said, because she'd overextended with that bite.  Adaine in general did not focus very much on protecting herself when she fought, even with Aelwyn's attempts to change that; her hybrid werewolf self was that taken to an extreme, and he surged forward, striking at her repeatedly, aiming for weak points.  Kristen could stabilize her after they handled the skeleton monster that definitely wasn't the Ball.

Unfortunately, while she was easy enough to land blows on, Adaine was more resilient than he'd thought she would be.  And stronger.  She lunged forward, Fabian slipping and falling as he ducked under, her claws driving through the plaster of the wall, dust and drywall crumbling down.

That left her open to a blow through the heart; he wrestled down the instinct to do that.  Kristen might not be able to fix it.  Instead, he thrust up and through her stomach, rolled out from under her, then stabbed once more through the shoulder.

Adaine swayed on her feet a moment, then pitched forward, the fur fading away and his friend left unconscious and bleeding in her elf form on the floor.  He whirled around just in time to see Kristen land some sort of spell that made the skeleton disappear, before clutching at bleeding claw marks of her own on her arm.

Definitely not off to a rousing start, he thought, even as Kristen came over to check on Adaine.

Notes:

Happy New Year y'all! I got my first draft on my exchange fic done; the first draft is right at 10k words but the final version will probably bloat a bit as there's stuff I want to expand on if I have time.

I also posted a very not serious one-shot about the Bad Kids plus Ayda and Aelwyn getting summer jobs.

Things are going Not Great for our favorite sisters in this chapter, huh?

Chapter 63: Van

Summary:

Our group reunites and licks their wounds. Fig is (sort of) found, Riz is still lost.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Kristen knelt down over Adaine, holding on to her banishment spell to keep the skeletal monster at bay - it should, hopefully, be gone for good once that finished.  It couldn't be from here, and it couldn't actually have been Riz.  She had to believe that.  "Do you think I should try to wake her?"  She asked Fabian, worried, after stabilizing Adaine with a very minor prayer.

"Well, it's either that or the two of us are carrying her down the stairs."  Fabian pointed out.  "Whatever possessed her probably won't stay, right?  She changed back to an elf, after all."

"Yeah, she did that when she died, too."  Kristen pointed out, but she fed another small prayer into Adaine, some of the wounds Fabian had given her knitting shut.

Adaine's eyes blinked open, red, and a growl started in the back of her throat though she remained an elf.  She sprung to her feet and lunged even as Kristen felt herself pulling back, falling on her backside.  Fabian was more prepared for this possibility, though, his fist slamming into Adaine even as she went for Kristen, dropping their friend back down to the ground.

"Fuck.  Whatever happened must have really messed her up."  Kristen said.  "I could just blind-burn a restoration spell on her and it would probably work, or we can get Aelwyn to look at her once she gets here?"

It was at that moment that Ayda Aguefort appeared with wisps of light from a teleportation spell around her, looking around the room as she arrived.  Kristen didn't consider herself super close to Ayda, but she felt a profound sense of relief anyway.

Ayda then looked straight to Adaine, asking.  "What has happened here?"  She bent down over Adaine, touching the pendant that she had worn since the previous summer, even as she looked back over to Kristen for an explanation.

Fabian was the one that spoke, though.  "She went completely berserk out of nowhere after talking about a picture and messing with the mirror over there.  Another monster came out of the mirror; I think she might have gotten herself cursed."

Ayda nodded, frowning and working through an incantation, her eyes starting to glow in a way she'd seen Adaine's do before.  Detecting magic.  Ayda let out a noise of concern, and turned to Kristen.  "I do not recognize what this is.  You maybe be able to remove it, or perhaps Tracker, if she's close, if you're more likely to end up in another fight.  It's also possible that Aelwyn would know more about it; she is an abjuration specialist and recognition and removal of curses is something she has more expertise in than I do.  If we want, we can let her rest for now until they can look at it, and that may be the safest thing to do rather than attempt to remove it without knowing precisely the effect.  The mirror is definitely magical, do either of you have shards from it in you or any other wounds?"

Kristen held out her arm.  "That skeleton creature got me with its claws a bit.  The picture Adaine was showing us is on the desk, though.  She saw Kalina in it, she said.  Wasn't there for either of us."

Ayda looked at the arm, and shook her head.  "You appear clear of magical ill effect.  That mirror makes me dislike the idea of remaining here, however.  One of you retrieve the picture and anything else you want to take from here, the other reach out to Aelwyn or Tracker about when they will arrive here; I will carry Adaine O'Shaughnessey out of this place.  We won't be able to wait for her to recover before pursuing any leads on my paramour or Riz Gukgak."  She said, leaning down and scooping Adaine into her arms gently.

Kristen went and snagged the picture of Riz's dad from where Adaine had left it on the desk, and Fabian spoke up.  "Oh, hey, it looks like there's a lead on Fig; her agent reached out to Sandra Lynn because she got a hotel room in Bastian City.  It's going to be a while, though, Tracker said - they ran into some kind of trouble, she's being a little vague about it."

That drew Ayda's attention, of course.  "We need to get going, then.  Anything on Riz at all?"

"Nothing other than this monster and what we found here.  Adaine said he was alive and not here, though."  Kristen said, glancing back down at the picture, then holding it up to show to Ayda over where Adaine was cradled into her arms.  "I guess we should check and see who can and can't see Kalina, from what Riz had said about what Aelwyn told them."

"I see a well-dressed goblin.  There's.. Hm."  She looked around the room, then back to the picture.  "This picture is somehow much LESS magical than the ambient level in the office.  There's definitely something odd about it."

The whole situation was odd, and bad, Kristen thought.  If only she'd had a less useless god to help with it.


Aelwyn had managed to regather herself enough to resume the drive about fifteen minutes after Kalina's visit and pull back onto the road, and so Tracker had made the decision not to tell her about the rather worrying news from Fabian until they reached where Gorgug was so that they had someone else who could drive this van.

Not that Tracker wasn't worried herself, but between Kristen and Ayda's care Adaine would be in good hands, and they had no real way to get there any faster, especially if Aelwyn started spiraling about Adaine as well.

The news about Fig, on the other hand, was at least helpful in that it gave them somewhere to go.

They pulled up to a shockingly decrepit motel half an hour after resuming, Gorgug waiting outside with a bag as they arrived, Ragh having notified him right as they pulled up.  He took the keys from Aelwyn - who still had a slight tremble to her hand, now close to an hour after Kalina's visit - and asked.  "Where are we heading?  For Fig, or do we need to go get them from Elmville first?"

"We need to retrieve them from Elmville, I think."  Tracker spoke up, glancing at Aelwyn.  "Ayda's there now.  Adaine got into some trouble and got cursed; Ayda wants you to take a look at it before they remove it."

Aelwyn's eyes went wide, and she looked to her own crystal, starting to type in the thread and asking followup questions of Ayda through Fabian and Kristen, sitting in the back seat.

"...I'll speed some."  Gorgug decided, as everyone else settled in and they started the trip back, Tracker sitting next to Aelwyn to offer quiet support while Gorgug and Ragh talked in the front.

They'd made it about halfway back, Aelwyn seeming to relax a little bit, when she finally spoke in a quiet voice meant just for Tracker's ears.  "...She's going to be okay, I'm pretty sure.  Probably even on her own after a while, likely either an hour or a day, but I asked them not to wake her up until we get there if they're not going to remove it without us."  There was a tightness around her eyes that meant that that wasn't everything, but Tracker had been dealing with Aelwyn long enough to know when not to push her; Aelwyn would come to Tracker when she was ready to talk about whatever that was.

"That's good, then?"  Tracker asked, more than asserted.

"I think they're hoping I'm going to be able to look at the curse and track Riz down somehow from it, but it's not likely.  Ayda or Adaine are more likely to be able to utilize their divinatory magic for it, really, though...  I'm actually worried Riz might be on another plane, somehow.  We'll see."  Aelwyn said, rubbing her face with her hands.

Whatever was bothering her beyond that, though, she kept to herself until they arrived back at Riz's office, Ayda, Kristen, and Fabian piling into the van, an unconscious Adaine placed in a seat carefully by Ayda even as Gorgug immediately peeled out and started heading for Bastion City, Aelwyn beginning a series of rituals and arcane examinations that Ayda seemed to understand but that were well outside of Tracker's own expertise.

"Okay, describe what happened a bit more to me, if you could?"  She eventually asked, listening as Fabian and Kristen each laid out what they had witnessed - not that much, though, and the explanation wasn't long as a result.  It was enough that Aelwyn still seemed strained, by the end, to Tracker.

"I was right that this would eventually wear off, but it's got most of another day on it.  ...This is probably going to hurt her.  Ayda, hold her feet; Tracker, get her hands?"  Aelwyn said, rubbing her hands together, clearly psyching herself up for it before speaking an incantation, Adaine's body jerking even in her unconscious state, a smokey, black energy blasting off of her and out through where one of the windows of the van had been cracked for Aelwyn's sake.

Aelwyn pressed a hand to her sister's cheek, a pale light passing between them as she burned a great deal of energy on a healing spell, and Adaine started to breath a little easier, passing into what looked like a more normal sleep, Ayda and Tracker carefully placing her in a seating position.  "How long to Bastion City?"

"We can be there in like three hours if I speed!"  Gorgug called back.  "There's not too much blood and stuff on the chairs, right, if she's okay now?"

"Adaine's pretty good at getting bloodstains out with prestidigitation, don't worry!  We'll let her sleep, then.  I'm sorry; it'll make it easier for me to recognize if we run into this sort of magic in the future, having had me look at it, but I do not have any better of an idea of where Riz is."  Aelwyn said, sighing as she did.

Ayda spoke up at that point.  "We may want to focus on finding Figueroth.  It is unlikely that their disappearances are unrelated, and finding one may lead to the other."

Luckily, they'd gotten a name at that point, which started a round of calling the hotel to try asking for further information on Fig's room, everyone taking a turn trying to talk the desk attendant into giving up at the very least if Fig was actually there.

That went poorly at first, at least until Ayda took over.

Then it went poorly, still, but at least in kind of an impressive way, Tracker's eyebrows raising as she listened to Ayda speak.

"If you do not put me through to my paramour, Figueroth Faeth, right this moment then I shall disassemble your hotel brick from brick and drop each of them into the sea..."  Ayda waited, then frowned.  "She hung up, I think.  I shall have to fulfill the threat once we arrive."

"Would you do that for me, babe?"  Kristen whispered into her ear, getting Tracker to give her a grin. 

"Don't go missing just to try and find out, yeah?"  She offered back, before looking up to Ayda, whose flames were worryingly out of control for the confined space of the van.  "We'll get her.  They wouldn't have put up such a stonewall if she wasn't there."

The hours rolled on, and the day turned to night, Tracker settling into Kristen's lap to give enough room for everyone to do what they needed, Aelwyn worriedly checking on Adaine every half hour or so, Fabian grabbing a nap for a bit while he could as well.

They'd all been to Bastion City before, but there was something much more ominous about this trip.

That Fig was, in fact, there in the Hotel Cavalier was more or less proven by the Cig Figs' tour bus being outside of the hotel.  Tracker shook Adaine awake, her cousin mumbling to herself and disoriented but at least not attempting to murder anyone, and then they all headed in to see if they could find their friends together.

Notes:

A little bit of a transition chapter! As a minor spoiler alert, it probably won't be that often that our full group here gets into the same fight (only Sandra Lynn is missing) so enjoy me scrambling next chapter to try to somehow cover like ten people on the hero side when I always struggle with group action scenes to begin with!

Will Ayda and Aelwyn be more useful in this fight than Gilear was? We shall see! (yes)

Chapter 64: Elevator

Summary:

The bad kids are the worst hotel guests. Aelwyn gets a nickname from Ragh.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Adaine felt nearly as bad as the average day after the full moon when Tracker shook her awake, her head pounding, a sticky feeling on the back of her throat, and no clue where exactly they were or how they had gotten there, other than that Gorgug's van had been the transportation and that she'd bled quite badly on one of the seats.

They weren't anywhere near Riz's office, at least.  And Tracker, Ragh, Aelwyn, and Ayda were all there, when they'd been quite a long way away last she'd known.  And it was dark out.

"Ah, you're awake."  Fabian said, in a bright tone that usually meant he was trying to cover up something else.  "Feeling a lot less murder-y, I hope?"

Adaine paused long enough to consider her mood.  "...I kind of do want to kill someone.  What happened?"

It was Aelwyn who answered, putting Moonlight down on her shoulder.  "You touched a cursed object, Riz and Fig are still missing, we think Fig's in that hotel but they're not answering questions over the phone.  Feel up to casting a locate spell once we're in there?  Ayda might murder the desk clerk if they don't answer her questions, otherwise.  Sandra Lynn is supposed to meet us here, she was following up a lead in Elmville."

Adaine offered a finger out to let Moonlight sniff at it, but she kept her eyes on Aelwyn.  Placing her familiar like that probably meant she was worried about needing to heal Adaine in the near future.  Adaine reached a hand up, pulling Boggy out from his temporary home in the ether, holding him in her arms.  "..I'll just go ahead and get the spell up before we go inside, yeah?"

Ayda was heading for the door, though, and the three of them followed at the back of the group, Fabian and Aelwyn both looking like they were expecting her to have trouble, which just made her more determined not to show how much she actually was hurting.

The Hotel Cavalier was quite fancy, and well-staffed even at whatever point of the night it was now (ten days to the full moon, something in the back of her mind said).  Ayda and Gorgug had approached the desk, talking to an Air Genasi behind the counter - Ayda was being quite stern already, so they were on a time limit - even as Adaine burned another of her spells on trying to detect Fig.  Whatever had happened to her hadn't been very restful, she realized as she felt the drain on her already low magic reserves; hopefully they wouldn't be in for a fight.

She perked up, though, hissing to Aelwyn and Fabian.  "She's here, downstairs somewhere.  Maybe we can get onto the elevator?"

Aelwyn, however, was frowning as she watched the conversation, then glanced over towards the two gorillas working near the elevator.  "Something seems wrong."  She shut her eyes tight for a moment and then reopened them, and though she had not cast a spell there was a faint glow to her blue irises.  One of her paladin abilities, maybe; Adaine would have to ask her later, because she immediately stiffened up and then cast a Message at Adaine.

"All of the workers are demons.  Fairly strong ones.  Can you teleport Ayda to wherever Fig is?  There's no chance they let us through."

Adaine had only prepared Dimension Door as a wolf today, and it would be her last fourth or fifth level slot.  Still, she nodded to Aelwyn, then cast her own Message over to Ayda.  "Get ready to let me teleport you, then you might need to free Fig from something."

Ayda snapped her head around, unfortunately giving a little bit of warning to the clerk that something was up while Adaine was coaxing her anxiety to the front, Boggy hopping off her to land on Aelwyn's head looking suddenly much less certain about the situation, Moonlight scrambling off to the floor as Adaine felt the now-mild pain of her most common transformation flow through her.  That set off a flurry of activity around them, which Adaine ignored as much as she could manage to while she rushed forward, placing a paw to Ayda's foot and howling out the incantation to Dimension Door to the ceiling of the fancy hotel.

She'd have to trust in her sister and friends to handle whatever was upstairs, because as she and Ayda appeared they found themselves with seven demons, a very obviously mind-controlled Fig, and Riz, chained down to an altar with Fig looming over him with an ominous-looking knife.

That was bad enough, but Kalina was also there, in the background.  As soon as Adaine noticed her, she rolled her eyes, walking away and leaving Adaine with no time to worry about her - they were too outnumbered for that, and Adaine would be stuck in wolf form for this fight, not that she'd had many spells to work with anyway.

Luckily, Ayda had been ready for the teleportation, and she caught Fig with a Dispel Magic even as the demons were cringing back in surprise.

"Ayda!  Let me up, please, please!"  Riz called out from the altar.  Adaine couldn't really see him very clearly - she was pretty short as a wolf - but he didn't sound happy no matter how relieved Adaine was to see him.

"Oh, um.  Hey, Riz, sorry about that."  Fig said, grabbing him and doing her own Dimension Door out of his bonds and over to where her guitar and all of his things were.  She sounded and looked guilty, no matter that she'd clearly been under some kind of control.

"Don't worry about it just make sure we can get out of here!" Riz screamed, pulling his gun from a bag.

The demons had recovered, six ape demons she recognized as Barlgura and one vulture-like skeletal one she recognized as a Vrock, and were clearly getting ready to fight.  Adaine whimpered, knowing this was going to be a hard fight.  She still had a few Misty Steps or Fierce Fangs available, but the others would need to do most of the work.

At least she could just bite these.  Fiends, like celestials, would be immune to lycanthropy.  The Vrock, being different, was probably the one in charge; she let out a howl, silver energy gathering into her mouth, and leapt forward to sink her teeth into the Vrock which started immediately trying to shake her off.  She clung fiercely, doing her best to ignore the taste and then to ignore the pain as one of the Barlgura smashed its fist into her side, knocking her several feet away but taking the Vrock to the ground as she dragged it along.

Maybe the others would be able to get past the lobby to join them soon.


Aelwyn had her hand on her sword by the time that Adaine went wolf and teleported away with Ayda, but they hadn't taken the time to warn everyone else.  Hopefully Ayda and Adaine could break Fig out quietly, and the rest of them would just be a distraction.

"Oh, hells, we're blown.  Kill them!"  The desk clerk yelled out, and then a number of illusions got dropped and everyone could see what Aelwyn's divine sense had already told her about the Demonic nature of the hotel workers.

Luckily, Adaine's party seemed to always be at least a little prepared for violence even without the warning that Aelwyn had had, and most of them were in motion before Aelwyn's sword cleared the scabbard.  Gorgug, the only one left who had been talking to the clerk now that Ayda was wherever Adaine had teleported them to, gave out a cry of rage and leapt over the counter, the genasi illusion fading and leaving a pure demonic appearance, like an extra-concentrated version of Fig.

Fabian sprung over towards the elevator, where the bellhop and porters had changed into a vulture demon and two ape-like demons, evidently planning to take all of them on, thrusting his sword into one of the apes repeatedly.  Ragh joined him a moment later, his scream of rage even louder than Gorgug's.

Tracker seemed to hang back a little, watching to see whether any of the others would need her help; Kristen similarly didn't rush forward, though she did a prayer that caused a number of clouds with the word 'Yes?' emblazoned upon them to appear around her.  Aelwyn resolved not to ask about that later.  She loved Tracker more than she really wanted to admit, but conversations with her girlfriend always hurt her head.

Aelwyn moved over to join Ragh and Fabian near the elevators, both because of more opponents being there and because of it seeming the most likely place for even more to appear, raising her blade and pushing a middling spell's worth of energy into it, slashing down at the same ape that Ragh and Fabian had hit, the holy energy even more effective than normal on a demon as it howled out in pain.

"Good shot, A!  Hoot fuckin' growl!"  Ragh snarled out.

Aelwyn didn't have time either to process the new nickname nor to mention that she'd never actually attended Aguefort, because it turned out that revealing her ability to Smite might have been a mistake.  The birdlike one screamed "Kill the paladin!" and they all gave that a very good try.  Her abjurer's ward showed cracks as soon as the first punch came in from the first ape-like creature, and then three more landed between the two of them, bashing through the ward completely and smashing her in the face.  Not silver, not a blade, but powerful and painful blows anyways.

The price of being up next to the opponents, she supposed.  She had to get better about bringing the shield with her everywhere; it was sitting atop her bag in the van at the moment because it had felt like too much for a hotel.

Fabian finished off the one that the three of them had weakened, at least, and then he and Ragh started on the other ape and Tracker and Kristen now seemed to be helping Gorgug.

The elevator door opened, and the vulture-like bellhop demon stepped back into it; Aelwyn made the decision to pursue it and attempt to cut off reinforcements, slamming another, lower-level Smite into the demon's back even as it fiddled with the controls, the elevator door shutting behind her and starting to go down.

Well.  Hopefully the other five could handle the remaining demons; they couldn't afford to get flooded with them, so she needed to stop this one.

It turned away from the controls of the elevator, raking claws across her face; she snarled back, fighting down a burst of rage that wanted her to cut fully loose and into her own hybrid wolf form, knowing that was a terrible choice.

Instead, she plunged her shortsword and a higher level's spell worth of Smite energy into the demon, chunking through it.

Now to just figure out how to stop this elevator without trapping herself on it.


The battle was going better than Adaine had feared it would when she'd realized what she'd teleported herself and Ayda into and worse than she'd hoped.  Ayda and Fig had both had group spells they were able to use and land, though they'd had to be cautious with how they placed those, and Riz had easily finished off the Vrock she'd had held in her teeth.

The problem was that they didn't have any of the people who were good at being the ones to stand in front there.  In fact, Adaine herself had been forced to kind of fill that role, but it mostly meant that EVERYONE was looking a little rough.  Five of the Barlgura were still up, and one of them had gotten Riz into its hands and was squeezing, a popping noise that Adaine did NOT like to hear eliciting a scream of pain from Riz, but two others were laying into her and she wasn't doing much better.  She manage to at least nimbly duck out of the way of one of them, but the other slammed into her twice, a whimper escaping her throat involuntarily.  

Fig yelled "Drop him!" at the one grappling Riz and played a note on her guitar; evidently that worked well enough, because it did in fact drop Riz, also covering its ears.  "Oh, what do YOU know about music?"  Fig added, bitterly.

"Thank you!"  Riz said, from where he was pushing his bleeding form off the ground.

A ding from the elevator even as Ayda dropped one of the remaining apes with a Firebolt spell and Adaine turned towards it, eyes widening.  They definitely couldn't take on reinforcements at the moment, though maybe the apes were retreating - two of them headed straight for the elevator as the door started to open.

"Oh shit, oh fuck!"  her sister's voice came out of the elevator, and then there was an actual incantation and Aelwyn flickered briefly next to each of the demons before appearing next to Riz, her sword held out in front of her, two of the demons that had been closer to dead falling over.  

With even that much reinforcement, that was enough to shift the tide of the battle from precarious to decisive, Ayda and Riz each finishing off another demon, Fig saying.  "We should get the hell out of here!  But I need to go by coat check first, it's important!"

By the time they rejoined everyone else in the lobby, those remaining upstairs had finished off those demons.  They grabbed as much evidence as they could, Fig grabbed a bunch of gems from the coat check, and they hauled ass before the police could get there and arrest those of them that were technically fugitives, fleeing into the rich city life of Bastion City.

Adaine, still in her wolf form, rather insistently cuddled up between Fig and Riz in the van as the people who currently had proper vocal cords discussed where to go to look over what they'd gotten, her head resting on Riz's leg protectively since Fig's attention was mostly on Ayda on her other side.  She could understand why they got so upset with her more now, even if this only made her all the more determined to protect them.

Notes:

Group fight scenes are my bane! So I split this one up a little bit at least. No Gilear DOES make this go more smoothly because they don't spend a ton of time trying to protect Gilear.

Fabian at least can understand why demons that are weak to holy energy would try to focus down a paladin, so his ego doesn't get just crushed the way it does when Gilear gets murdered.

Hopefully all of the action makes sense enough!

Chapter 65: Gemstones

Summary:

The gang recovers from their battle and examines their loot. Gorgug realizes his van has a very, very, very offroad mode.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

They parked outside of a diner somewhere in Bastion City, trying to ignore the police sirens.  Truthfully, Riz still had quite a large gap in his memory; he wasn't certain how he had gotten from being dragged into a mirror to being sacrificed by Fig over a hundred miles away.  He'd started trying to go through some of the evidence that they'd grabbed on their way out of the Hotel Cavalier, except Adaine in her wolf form had fallen asleep half on top of him and seemed to be refusing to move.

He was going to remind her about this the next time she did something stupid to put herself at risk.  He just wished he wasn't so certain there would be a next time for that.

Glancing past her, Fig and Ayda were kissing, which just reminded him of how he'd gotten into this situation to begin with.  He needed to warn them, but...

But he really didn't want to have the conversation.

He was looking through the registry from the hotel as much as he could around Adaine for now when Aelwyn turned around from in front of him, holding out a familiar picture.  "Can you see Kalina in this?"

"..Yeah.  You found that picture?"  He asked, sighing as he looked at it, seeing his father and Kalina toasting each other.

"Kristen did.  Looks like you're joining myself and Adaine in information quarantine.  Unfortunate.  Fig, can you.. Fig, one moment, then you can go back to kissing Ayda, but I need you to look at this and tell me what you see."  Aelwyn said, clearly trying to be patient.

"Huh?  It's a hot goblin in a tuxedo, why?"  Fig said, having not overheard one bit of the conversation to that point.

"Just a goblin?"  Aelwyn pressed, keeping the picture held out.  "Nobody else?"

"Yeah."  Fig said, and Aelwyn relaxed at least a little bit.

"Okay.  We'll have to check Sandra Lynn when she catches up with us - she's supposed to be here soon -  but for now it's just me, Adaine, and Riz, everybody else is clear.  Not that I really expect this to come up, but you and everyone else should avoid any situations where you'd get bodily fluids from any of the three of us."

Tracker spoke up at that point from where she'd taken shotgun next to Gorgug, who had driven; Ragh, who'd gotten a little roughed up in the fight, was piled into the back seat and was taking something he'd referred to as a power nap.  "That's unfortunate.  My best healing spell involves a blood transfusion."

"Well, I guess try to let Kristen handle the three of us if you can?"  Aelwyn said, frowning.  "Or me, though my healing abilities won't match up to either of you.  Adaine and I both regenerate, of course, as well."

"Figueroth has healing spells, as well.  We should be covered in most cases."  Ayda said - apparently she COULD focus on the conversation while kissing Fig.

Riz decided now was as good a time as any, cutting into that conversation.  "Baron's not real."  He said, trying not to look at anybody and ending up just looking down at Adaine, who he had woken up with that declaration and who was looking at him with what was either pity or 'I told you so' and he wasn't sure which.

"No fucking kidding, the Ball.  We know."  Fabian called out from the back of the van; he'd climbed in after they had parked, the Hangman parked alongside.

"No, I mean..  right, but Baron IS the one who attacked me and kidnapped me.  A creature made out of my lie, from a mirror in my office.  So I don't think any of us should lie if we can avoid it anytime soon."

"Oh, you mean that cursed mirror?  Adaine broke it when she got cursed earlier, the Ball, and Kristen vanquished the creature inside.  You should be fine."  Fabian said.

"Technically I just sent it back to wherever it came from!  Which means it might be inside Riz right now, if it came from a lie he made up..."  Kristen said, leaning up and over the seat to peer down at him; he stared back up, then decided not to let her finish whatever mad theory might come next out of her mouth.

"There's not a skeleton monster inside of me!  I mean, there's a skeleton, yes, but..  Look, all I'm saying is that we should probably cool it on any lies or they're going to be maybe used against us."  Riz suggested, the sound of Baxter landing nearby getting everyone's attention, Aelwyn climbing out of the van with the photo to speak with Sandra Lynn.

"Right, right.  What happened to you, Fig, then?"  Kristen finally asked.

Fig, distracted from Ayda once more, turned towards Kristen and then seemed to remember something.  "Oh, fuck!  I think I trapped my dad in a ruby, for one.  Something happened in my sleep to control me, I was having a really nice dream on one level and doing a bunch of horrible stuff at the same time."  She started digging through the gemstones they'd gotten from the hotel, coming out with a ruby, staring at it.  "...I don't remember how I got him out the last time.  Feels like there's magic beyond what I even did."  She said, frustrated.

Ayda leaned past her, even as Adaine lifted her head back off of Riz's lap, looking at the other gems and eventually poking at a sapphire with her nose, looking back at Riz expectantly.  He could pick up on that body language and plucked the sapphire out from the gems.

Ayda spoke up.  "There looks to be some kind of curse on that ruby.  I believe it's intended to kill the being inside, should you attempt to break them out.  You said it was your father?  I presume you mean your devilish father and not the yogurt elf one, Figueroth?"

"Yeah.  Ugh, we'll have to figure out how to get him back out, I don't think I put that curse on.  I cast some magic I don't really understand to trap him, but I don't think it was anything like that, they must have done it after I gave it to them."  Fig said, shaking her head and turning the ruby in her hand, and then placing it in her pouch.  "We'll figure it out, right, Ayda?"

"Of course."  Ayda said, leaning in for another kiss, Riz looking away and down towards the sapphire.

"I wonder how they managed to cast that spell on you?"  He wondered.  "Was it just because you had the wrong dream?  It seems like a very...  Nightmare King sort of ability, but I don't know how we guard against something like that."

Tracker spoke up at that point, saying "I might be able to do something.  There's a prayer I know that's meant to protect an area from bad influences and bad dreams.  It's going to take a lot out of me to use it every day, though, so if you want me to do that I won't be as helpful the rest of the time.  And it can only cover so many people at once; a few of us will have to stay outside of it, and I won't be able to do it in the van, we'll have to find somewhere with either some celestial energy or somewhere that the light of the moon can more fully reach.  It's too mechanical, in here."

"You're so great, babe."  Kristen said, sappily looking across the van at her girlfriend and leaving Riz feeling even more awkward, though Fig and Ayda had at least stopped for the moment even as he looked over the gemstone.  

"Adaine seems to think there's something special about this.  Can you see anything?"  He asked Ayda, who took it while Riz himself went back to the guest log for the hotel, flipping through it and frowning.

He didn't really want to talk about this in front of Fabian, but he had to.

A reprieve from that conversation was bought by Aelwyn opening the van's door, a grim expression on her face.  "Sandra Lynn's infected, too.  Adaine, can you change back yet, or no?"

Adaine flowed back up into her elf form, Riz cringing away just a bit - it was WEIRD being that close to her when she did that, especially since he caught the slight grimace of pain as she settled back in that normally she managed to hide.  She looked terrible, a darkness around her eyes, lingering effects of the curse Fabian had mentioned, perhaps.  She didn't say anything yet, just looking at her sister curiously.

"When did you first see Kalina?"  Aelwyn asked, bluntly.

"I'm pretty certain it was at the start of summer, she was pretending to be a librarian...  Why?"  Adaine asked.

Aelwyn nodded, tapping her finger against the photo she was holding, then handing it back to Riz.  "It means she waited at least a few months to show herself to you.  I'm wondering if Jawbone might have picked it up somewhere and been the source of the infection for Sandra Lynn, but if he had then that would have probably meant he infected you when he bit you, instead of me infecting you when you bit me.  Kalina can play a long game, and I guess it doesn't really matter, but we should assume she knows everything you did at least back to when Jawbone bit you if any of that is relevant."

"Oh.  And it wouldn't be possible to tell now, because Jawbone's infected if Sandra Lynn is..."  Adaine said, frowning.

Ayda, meanwhile, was talking to Tracker and Gorgug, leaning over and offering the sapphire to Tracker.  They were actually being a little quiet, but Riz definitely heard her talking about celestial energy, the gem being passed back and forth to Tracker and then to Gorgug, who put it into a device on the van's dashboard.

Still, Riz, really not wanting to get too deep into the conversation about whose parents were sleeping with whose again, decided this was as good a time as any to distract the others.  "So looking at the log, um, it goes back a long time.  Fabian's dad used to come here a lot.  And it looks like someone who was here recently, who might have dropped off some of these gems, also always stayed when Bill Seacaster did.  So I bet it was some kind of illicit smuggling operation, maybe when he was supplying palimpsests to KVX bank.  If we want to follow that lead, we'll just need to find out who Garthy O'Brien is."

He didn't expect that to be a particularly exciting statement to anyone but him and maybe Fabian, but Adaine and Ayda's heads both whipped around, staring at him in a disconcerting unison.

Luckily, that was interrupted by the van starting to talk, which distracted everyone for a while.


"So this person is on the pirate city of Leviathan?"  Fabian asked, clearly thrilled at the thought as they sat at a large table in a diner, Adaine holding her pendant in hand and rubbing a thumb across it, staring down at her plate of food.

"Garthy O'Brien was my sole friend prior to the arrival of Adaine O'Shaughnessey at the Compass Points."  Ayda said, bluntly.

Adaine picked up from there.  "They're the person who owns the Golden Gardens in Leviathan.  Where you told me to go?"  She reminded him, and was shocked when Fabian looked away.

"I.. may have asked Cathilda for a recommendation to give to you.  Papa usually handled the travel arrangements, when we went.  It has been a long time for me."  He sounded slightly ashamed of that, enough that Adaine felt a little guilty.

"Well, it really worked out, because it's how I got an introduction to Ayda.  And my really cool tattoo, actually!"  Adaine said.  "They're an expert on curses - they knew I was a werewolf the second I walked in to the place, even though it wasn't the full moon or anything.  And even if they were involved in some smuggling, they're a pirate, that's not that important, but they might be able to break the curse on that ruby?  And tell us more about what's going on, for that matter."

That got Fig to brighten up.  "Oh, that'd be really good, because we really need to fix what I did.  I can't believe I fell for that."

"You can't believe you fell for a magic spell from an ancient evil nightmare entity?"  Adaine asked.

"..When you put it like that I definitely can, but I shouldn't have."  Fig said, lighting another clove and starting to smoke, a waiter appearing at her elbow instantly.

"Madam, there is no smoking allowed here."  The waiter said, leaning in.

Fig snapped her fingers, and the clove appeared unlit, though to Adaine's nose it was a billion percent obvious that that was an illusion.  Not something that werewolf senses were required to see through, either, judging by the scowl on the waiter's face.  And on Sandra Lynn's.

After they got kicked out of the restaurant, they made their way back to the van, Kristen at least carrying the takeout boxes they had gotten for Gorgug and Tracker who had stayed behind to work on the van and talk further with its new spirit.  Adaine pulled a sandwich out of her jacket, tearing it in half and offering the rest to her sister who hadn't gotten very far into her own plate.

"We can probably swing by Leviathan?  It's not like we have any other leads unless we want to actually go to Fallinel in an attempt to track down mother, and it's always possible she went through there with the crown at some point.  Might have to either go back to Elmville to use the portal or just teleport there with however many of us want to go, though.  I'd rather we all stick together and keep those spell slots available, but it's not like we just can steal a boat or anything."  Adaine said, sighing as they reached the van, Gorgug stepping out as they did.

"...Guys, my parents are crazy.  This van is a boat!"

Notes:

Sorry about the delay on this one! I've put up a number of one-shots that are treats for the D20 exchange, several of which are likely to be of interest to anyone who's interested in this fic (I am particularly proud of The Ghost of Me)

A little bit of a transition chapter, but we're returning to Leviathan next chapter and things are going to be Fun there.

A couple notes here because it's things the reader should be able to realize but requires pretty in-depth knowledge of FHSY - Zelda's not angry at Gorgug here because, unlike in canon, the Bad Kids extended an invitation to her to come along; she couldn't take it, but just being offered and not feeling forgotten helps a lot!

Also, while Aelwyn's speculation here that Jawbone probably infected Sandra Lynn and might have been how Adaine actually got infected does make internal sense, she's wrong - as in canon (revealed through a post-series Q&A with Brennan because the players didn't pursue it), Sandra Lynn had a one night stand with Gorthalax after he and Sklonda were together but before they were exclusive, but after she and Jawbone were supposed to be exclusive (which Gorthalax didn't actually know, since he's aware Jawbone is poly). If they actually check Jawbone, he IS infected now so there's no way other than a really awkward talk with Sandra Lynn that they'll ever figure this out.

Chapter 66: Camp

Summary:

Tracker makes a better van. Adaine talks with her maybe-future mother-in-law and her sister.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The van being a boat turned out to be the least of what had been discovered, Adaine learned in between Tracker taking enormous bites of her takeout box.

"Yeah, so we should be able to fit nine people at a time for now.  I'll have to renew it daily.  That's the most I can do, but it'll be warded against any kind of nightmare invasions hopefully."  Tracker said, as though that hadn't been impressive enough.  But it turned out that the nature of that space was almost a pillow fort, a crawlspace that would allow for them to both be comfortable and generally hang out.  Apparently it would even be fire-resistant, which made Adaine feel a little extra warm and fuzzy towards her cousin on Ayda's behalf.

Well, nine of them at a time could be comfortable and hanging out.  The other two (plus Baxter and the Hangman, who was arguing fiercely with Fabian about not liking the van) would need to be outside the van, though at least they could be on the van's roof.  Worse, that was a magical limitation, rather than really a physical one, so they'd need to actually be careful about not overloading it.

That had led to a discussion between the three people who might be at least resistant to the influence of any sort of sleep-based magic, though it was at least a little worrying for Adaine.  "I can still trance, even though I usually don't anymore."  She explained to Sandra Lynn.  "But sometimes I have dreams even as an elf, and sometimes I end up shifting to a wolf in my sleep.  Still, safer than anyone else I think."

"Well, we can try rotating?  If there's a chance you end up dreaming, then you should take your rest inside the van, but you could trance there and then Aelwyn or I can change out with you once the four hours is done so that at least we get something soft every other night."  Sandra Lynn suggested, a plan that Adaine and Aelwyn both agreed to.

The decision was made not to start sailing until the next morning, which Adaine appreciated.  She could at least prepare Water Breathing, then.

With the day winding down, they were starting to set up to camp, Sandra Lynn pitching a tent for the comfort of those hanging around outside, and Adaine was resting with her head up against the van, Aelwyn giving her a glance.  "You could go ahead and start your trance in the van, you know?  No-one's going to blame you for turning in a little early."

"I'll be fine for a couple more hours until the others start to sleep."  Adaine said, even though she wasn't entirely certain how true that was.  Aelwyn, seeming to be able to tell that, tilted her head questioningly and pointed at Adaine's jacket, waiting for a nod of permission before reaching in and pulling out a compact mirror, which she opened and turned towards Adaine without even saying anything.

Adaine, looking into it, was faced with black bags under her eyes and a generally not-great appearance.  Not even in the same realm as Aelwyn had been back when she was rescued, of course, but that that was the comparison point was a bad sign.

"Consider it medical advice from the person who decursed you?"  Aelwyn said.  "Come on, I'll go in with you, I want to see Tracker's magic more before I'm sneaking in halfway through the night and risking waking people."

Adaine didn't even make it through that tour before she was into a trance, one which was mostly filled with thoughts of her memories of drowning in dreams.  Not the most restful, but she managed to come out of it four hours later feeling refreshed anyway, Boggy having taken advantage of her rare rest in elf form by cuddling up on her stomach on top of the blanket that Aelwyn had wrapped her in.

As quietly as she could, she made her way out of the van, into the dead of night outside in the abandoned parking lot they'd set up camp in, Baxter sleeping next to the van with Sandra Lynn leaning against him.  Aelwyn's feet were sticking out of the tent, and peeking inside Adaine could see her sister in a trance, Moonlight (maybe having learned the habit from Boggy, maybe it was just an inherent thing with familiars) curled up next to her head.

"She'll be a couple more hours."  Sandra Lynn said quietly.  "But she was low on spell slots so she offered to take the outside rest for tonight so she could get it done earlier."

Adaine nodded, trying to ignore that twinge in her stomach she got whenever she was alone with Sandra Lynn or Sklonda.  "Ah, thank you.  If you need, I can keep watch while you rest?"

"Most of them didn't sleep until about the same time that Aelwyn went into her trance.  I'll keep you company until she wakes up, if you want?  It's probably best to have two on watch as much as we can.  I mean, it's your call."  Sandra Lynn said, leaning her head back and looking up at the moon.  (Waxing crescent, Adaine knew without also looking, in every corner of her soul.)

"I don't mind."  Adaine said, and she took a seat next to Sandra Lynn, nestling into Baxter as well, Boggy in her lap.  It was a little chilly, now that it was late at night, and Adaine quietly started examining her spellbook at least for the brief period it would take to switch in Water Breathing.

That distracted her enough that she answered honestly when Sandra Lynn asked her a question she normally would have lied to a non-Jawbone adult about.  "Are you looking forward to sailing tomorrow?"

"No, I dream of drowning too much to really want to."  She finished preparing Water Breathing - she probably wouldn't need Ray of Sickness on the middle of the ocean anyway - and glanced up to notice that Sandra Lynn was giving her an odd look at that answer.  "Er, the last Oracle drowned, so it's mostly dreams of that, I'm pretty sure."

"Is that part of the power..?"  Sandra Lynn asked, concern now in her voice rather than idle small talk.

Adaine rushed to reassure her.  "Oh, yes?  I have prophetic dreams a lot; it's part of why I started usually sleeping instead of trancing.  Most of them are helpful if vague, but sometimes I guess my power's in a bad mood and shows me different ways that the Oracle has or will die, or ways I might.  Or, um, did.  I don't see Kalvaxus killing me nearly as often as drowning, though, that's the most common one."

"That seems worse than trancing to me, but I suppose if you get some information out of it..."  Sandra Lynn shrugged, tilting her head back.  "Maybe there's something to sleeping that I'm missing out on.  Fig certainly took to sleeping instead of trancing, too."

Adaine didn't think that was quite for the same reasons, but she didn't want to go too far into that.  "It's mostly pleasant, most nights.  Much more than trancing, for me.  I end up focused on memories of my childhood when I trance."  She admitted, trying not to let the shame of that show.

Sandra Lynn seemed to know enough to not press on that topic - and, well, she'd been the first one besides Adaine to see the papers casting her out of her family, so maybe she would understand Adaine not wishing to dwell on it.  They sat in silence for a while, before Sandra Lynn broke it again.

"I talked about this with Fig earlier, but I don't know if she shared it with the rest of you.  Obviously I'm an experienced adventurer, but I'm not of school age anymore.  For a quest like this, for Aguefort, you have to be the ones making the call in the end, not me.  And mostly, that should be the seven of you who are Aguefort students, though you can get by more with the other three since they're at least of the right age and Aelwyn is in an adventuring class even if it's not Aguefort."  Sandra Lynn said, sighing.

Adaine nodded, a frown on her face.  "If it came down to it though, it seems a little too important to botch on the basis of it being bad for our grades, right?"

Sandra Lynn chuckled.  "Well, I suppose that's true, though you probably will want to make certain that you do well enough to get Fig and Gorgug through the year.  I don't think touring has been good for their GPA.  It's been...  nice, though, to see Fig so happy.  She was thrilled when you made it to a show, finally."

They talked a while longer, by far the longest conversation she'd ever had with Sandra Lynn, about the Cig Fig's tour and about what flying on Baxter was like ("I'll take you sometime, a Fly spell doesn't even compare") and eventually, Adaine felt the knot in her stomach at least loosen some.  She'd known it was irrational, of course, but talking did help.  She'd have to try the same with Sklonda, sometime, though the time might be harder to find with her.

Aelwyn sat up a couple of hours later, coming out of the tent with a blanket draped around her shoulders and a weasel at her heels, hitting herself with a couple of prestidigitations.  Sandra Lynn excused herself at that point to head into the van, about as sneakily as Adaine had managed on her way out, leaving the sisters together with the sleeping Baxter.

Aelwyn sat down next to Adaine, in the warm space Sandra Lynn had just left, and looked her over, sighing.  "Well.  You look to have recovered, at least."  Something more stiff there than usual, a tone Aelwyn normally got these days when she was in her own head about something.

"Yeah.  Thanks for clearing the curse on me; the fight at the hotel might have gone a lot worse for everyone if I'd been down still.  How was your trance?"  Not that that was the most important thing, but the curse wouldn't have lasted forever anyway.

Moonlight, crawling up into Aelwyn's lap and then from there onto her shoulders, squeaked insistently at her wizard, who eventually sighed and drooped just a little bit before admitting.  "Shallower than normal.  I caught more of your conversation with Sandra Lynn then I normally would have.  Do you really..  do you really dream about dying, that much?"

Seeing where this might be going, Adaine glanced away, reaching down into her jacket.  She hadn't thought to dip into Tracker's stash, but maybe the jacket could at least provide one anise-laced joint if they were going to have this conversation, and indeed she managed to come out with one.  A quick spell later and it was lit, Adaine taking a drag off it before offering it to her sister, who looked more amused than anything.

"...I suppose one wouldn't hurt, but is while you're out on an adventure really the time?"  Aelwyn asked.

"Leviathan is at least a couple of days on the sea away, and I'm not going to be able to do much of anything to make the boat get there.  I guess I'm backup navigator, but Ayda is literally the person in charge of charting courses for Leviathan, so that's not exactly likely to come up.  You won't even be that.  It's fine."  Adaine said, and her sister leaned over, taking a puff as well as Adaine offered.

Settling back in, she returned to the original question.  "I do dream about it, yes.  I mean, it's not every time I sleep by any means, but I dream about the past sometimes and about possible futures a lot and..  I want it to be a long time, Aelwyn, but it was made clear to me by Eleminthindriel that every Elven Oracle eventually dies.  Could be tomorrow, could be thousands of years."

"No, I.. I've known that part.  I took a short lecture series on the Elven Oracle in the upper section at Hudol." Aelwyn said, and Adaine put a pin in that to come back to because it would be good to know what was believed about the Oracle even if it might not be true.  "It's more, just.. if you're dreaming about those deaths, drowning and Kalvaxus, deaths I caused, it makes me all the more confused about why you ever rescued me.  I mean, I had never done anything to earn it, certainly, and you risked your life with that mad plan of yours and Arthur Aguefort's."

Adaine breathed out slowly, smoke rising up from her into the night's sky as she thought about how to answer that.  "...Do you have Detect Thoughts prepared, Aelwyn?"  She finally asked, leaning her head against her sister's shoulder, offering the joint over again.

"Yeeess..."  Aelwyn said, a little hesitant, but seeing where she was going.  "Are you sure?"

"It's only fair.  I certainly saw yours, and it's.. easier.  Words don't get in the way, this way."  Adaine said, the anxiety of being that vulnerable by choice covered up at least a little by the drugs and the knowledge that the intimate level of what she had gotten of her tour through Aelwyn's mind had been in no small part due to its fractured state.

Aelwyn gave her one last look to make certain that it was indeed what she wanted, and then Adaine felt the intrusion into her mind and allowed it.

She focused, instead of resisting in any way, on showing Aelwyn the truth - all those times that Aelwyn hadn't done anything for her as a child, then her side of the sending conversations that she wasn't even certain if Aelwyn remembered; the guilt that had accompanied that, knowing that she'd gotten her sister cursed in a way that might have been a death sentence in Fallinel.  The choice she'd made to rescue her, and then a hesitant love and worry growing into a fierce pride as Aelwyn started to find this version of herself, started trying, most important of all.

She didn't know precisely what Aelwyn had seen, only able to try to guide her thoughts, but her sister was crying when she came out of the spell, blotting at her eyes with her sleeve.  "...Galicaea, Adaine.  Riz is right about you.  I..  can you make me a promise, please?"

"What's that?"  Adaine asked, knowing better than to blindly agree about such a thing.

"No heroic sacrifices on this quest, okay?  We'll.. we'll figure out a way to both come back from this, somehow.  I'll try if you do."  Aelwyn said, and just what had she seen to ask for a promise like that?

"...I'll promise it if you will."  She finally agreed.

 

Notes:

Conversations while stopped for the night are a TTRPG staple! I'm sure this promise won't come back up.

Next time, we should be starting on Leviathan Arc 2: Electric Boogaloo, where there absolutely won't be consequences for any past actions on anyone's part.

Chapter 67: Wave

Summary:

The Bad Kids fail to appoint a captain. Fabian takes a swim.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Fabian glanced around the van, currently drifting down the river towards the Celestine Sea, and decided it was time to establish a few things before they actually reached Leviathan.  Sandra Lynn and Ragh were the ones currently outside the van, flying overhead on Baxter. Ragh had been excited for the ride, he thought.  The Hangman was strapped to the roof, after what had taken a lot of convincing.  (If he didn't know better, he'd think the Hangman was jealous of the van.)  It was mostly the rest of the party he needed to talk to, anyway.

"Well!  Now that we're at sea, and on our way to Leviathan, we'll need to establish ourselves as properly a crew and a captain among us.  The pirates of Leviathan aren't like us; if we aren't all united on the same crew and are trying democracy there, they'll eat us alive."  Fabian called out, drawing everyone out of their various magical cubby-holes and into the main area of the van.

"Oh.  Well, Gorgug's captain if we have to have one, it's his boat."  Fig said dismissively.  "I think we can just do our own thing though."

"As the head of the Compass Points library, I'm not allowed to be on any one of the pirate crews within Leviathan."  Ayda spoke up.  "Neither is Adaine O'Shaughnessey, as a staff member there.  Also, as awful as they generally are, only a very small percentage of those of Leviathan are cannibals."

"That was figurative.  And Adaine has been back in Solace for something like eight months."  Fabian pointed out, a little put out because he wouldn't actually be able to make a great case against Gorgug.

"Yes, but I've given her an appointment for as long as she wants it.  And we have a contract already."  Ayda said, Adaine looking over from where she was sitting with Aelwyn against a wall and giving a thumbs-up towards Ayda, then doing another set of gestures that drew a laugh out of the Ball and made no sense at all to Fabian.

"Fine.  Then the rest of us who aren't on the staff of the Compass Points need a captain.  I am willing to do it, of course, as the only one who has been to Leviathan who isn't on the staff of that library."  Fabian said, trying to ignore the nomination of Gorgug.

A few minutes later, after narrowing down who got to vote to the non-Adaine members of the Bad Kids (Before which Tracker had supported Kristen and Aelwyn had, for some reason, supported the Ball who she called "Riz") the vote wound up as a tie, with Fabian and the Ball both voting for Fabian, Kristen and Fig voting for Gorgug, and Gorgug voting for Fig.

"Sounds like no captain, then!"  Adaine said, pulling a pirate's hat out of her jacket and placing it on her head, then coming out with another blouse and skirt.  "Anyone else want something to help fit in before I go change?"

"We're still two or three days away from arriving."  Ayda pointed out, getting a shrug from Adaine.  Ayda likely fit in as much on Leviathan as she did in Elmville, Fabian secretly suspected, still feeling a little hurt by the vote as he climbed out of the van and to the roof.  They were just hitting the sea, and it spread out before him, and Fabian reached up and touched his father's eyepatch as he looked out in what he was pretty sure was the direction of his father's city.

It was no matter if his friends didn't want to support him.  He could find his destiny there, he was certain of it.


Adaine made her way back into the main area of the van after changing into what she thought of as her Leviathan outfit (though, of course, it was just one of a dozen similar outfits taken from the jacket; being in Leviathan had been hard on her clothes even beyond the fact that being a werewolf was hard on her clothes) and glanced around, frowning briefly as she noted Fabian's absence.

Hopefully he wouldn't be sulking too much about the vote.  It was probably just as well that she hadn't been allowed to take part, since she'd have voted for Gorgug, she thought as she ran a hand across her pendant.  Aelwyn and Ayda were talking in one corner, and Adaine touched Tracker's shoulder to get her attention as they went to join them.

"I was kind of hoping to get a chance to talk to the two of you together before we get to Leviathan."  Adaine said, a little nervously as she pointed at her sister and cousin.  "Not to exclude you, Ayda, because you can testify to this too.  The two of you probably want to prepare yourselves for when we get to the city.  I can get you a mask but honestly they don't really help very much..."

"...Prepare ourselves for what, exactly?"  Tracker asked, Aelwyn's eyebrows lifting.

"Oh.  Um.  Well, I'm not sure how to discuss the magnitude of it, but.  The Compass Points is great.  Maybe my favorite place on Spyre other than Mordred Manor, okay?"  Adaine said, glancing up to Ayda as she did.  "But the rest of the city stinks.  Not, like, figuratively although maybe that too but more...  I've been a werewolf and an adventurer for a while now, right?  I've been around a lot of dead and dying people and a lot of unpleasant stuff.  The stench of Leviathan is above and beyond any of it."

"It is a very stinky pirate city."  Ayda agreed.  "Though it has not bothered me to the degree that it does my best friend Adaine O'Shaughnessey.  I may be used to it, having lived there for several lives in a row, or it may be due to her keener senses.  Which the two of you would share; I presume that's why we are having this conversation?"

"Right.  I just wanted you to not be surprised the same way I was.  Well, you wouldn't be dropped face-first onto the deck, probably."  Adaine said, ignoring Aelwyn and Tracker's increasing looks of alarm.

"I'll..  keep it in mind."  Aelwyn finally said, after a few moment's silence, Tracker nodding as well.  "Is there anything else we should know?"

"I'm probably going to try to keep out of sight if possible, since there was still a bounty on me here the last we knew?  You might not want to give anyone your real name for a similar reason, Aelwyn.  But I think that's mostly the specific stuff."  Adaine said.

"Oh.  Should I also interject if I have knowledge you are not aware of that might be relevant?  I'm not certain how this normally works."  Ayda asked, and Adaine nodded.

"I know Sandra Lynn was worried about our grades if you all did too much, but I mean..  how are they going to find out?  We can always just lie to them."  Adaine said, the ghost of a smile going across Aelwyn's face.  "As long as we keep it from Sandra Lynn, at least."

"You wouldn't know this because you never arrived at Leviathan on board a ship, Adaine, but it is very likely that this vessel will be seized for parts and salvage when we arrive if we are not careful."  Ayda said.  "I will attempt to navigate us to a proper dock instead when we arrive, but you may wish to be prepared to offer a bribe just in case."

"...Yeah, that's probably one we should tell Gorgug and the others."  Adaine decided, breaking up the informal werewolf (plus half-phoenix) meeting and looking back around.  In addition to Fabian being gone, she didn't see Riz anymore; maybe he'd gone to try to settle Fabian down.

They split up, Aelwyn and Ayda heading to the roof of the van, Tracker going back to Kristen, and Adaine climbing into the shotgun seat next to Gorgug.  "Hey."

"Oh, hey Adaine.  You're looking very, um, pirate-y."  Gorgug said, glancing over and then looking awkwardly away.

"Thanks.  Want a hat too?"  She offered, not that she expected the group as a whole to pass as being from Leviathan.  She'd be happy if she managed it well enough, though the Compass Points pendant would give away who she was to anyone looking for the bounty anyway.

"Maybe when we get closer?"  Gorgug said, stretching out.  "There's not really much I need to do right now, though.  The van mostly has it covered automatically."

"That's right!"  A cheerful voice said from the van.  

Adaine nodded, tugging her own hat into place.  "Did you happen to bring any gold along with you on this?  I didn't bring much, really, and Leviathan doesn't exactly respect modern banking."

"Not really, we left in kind of a hurry.  Fig and Riz probably don't have any either, since they were kind of kidnapped.  You could check with Fabian or Kristen.  Why?"  Gorgug asked.

"Well, it's just that the van might get seized or that we might need to bribe someone for a docking situation.  Ayda's going to try to work on it.  Be ready for a fight, worst case?  Usually that seemed to be the way things could get resolved if nothing else worked on Leviathan."  Adaine explained, as though that hadn't been the way more or less her entire life had been for two years.

"Seized?  Right.  Okay.  Well, let me know if I need to do anything to help Ayda keep that from happening."  Gorgug said, alarmed and placing a hand gently on the dash of the Van.

"I can, sure.  She said we still have two or three days.  I'm going to keep casting Water Breathing on everybody anyway."  Adaine said, tilting back in her chair, joining Gorgug in a warm and companionable quiet.

They stayed there right until Fabian bounced off the windshield a few minutes later.


Aelwyn climbed up onto the roof of the van, just behind Ayda, glancing around.  She could just barely see a speck in the sky that must have been Ragh, Baxter, and Sandra Lynn.  Fabian was there, as well, waxing his strange living motorcycle that was strapped to the roof.  Looking back, she could see the coast behind them, but it was rapidly dropping away, the van-boat rocking in the waves under her as they moved.

"It is unusual for me to need to navigate without the observatory within the Compass Points, though this ship is obviously much more maneuverable than the floating wreck that is Leviathan."  Ayda said.  "I'll need to use both magic and more traditional navigation methods.  May I send a signal to you should I spot any hazards ahead, to relay to Gorgug?  I can likely reach you with a Message spell in passing, if you stay out here, and avoid the need to expend Sendings."

"Certainly."  Aelwyn agreed, taking a seat at the edge of the van, looking down into the water, the waves   A swim might be nice, though she'd almost certainly want to change first; she was wearing her chain shirt.  Not because she expected to be attacked, necessarily, but because wearing it to get used to it was itself something she'd grown used to.

Ayda took flight - which was rather impressive looking on its own, Aelwyn thought, given the flaming wings, not at all like the mundane look of a Flight spell - and headed up to speak with Ragh and Sandra Lynn; Aelwyn watched for a moment before looking back over to the ocean.

Somewhere beyond there was Fallinel, still in the midst of a civil war that Aelwyn was now certain Kalina had engineered, though at least that damned prison tower was gone.  Aelwyn and, more importantly, Adaine were each still wearing their respective nondetection jewelry, and Aelwyn did not think there was a side in the civil war that would not try to administer Adaine's death sentence once they were done with matters closer at hand, no matter that they'd been allowed out of the country for this quest.

"Do you even remember that party at Ostentatia's?"  Fabian's voice came, snapping her out of it and bringing a frown to her face, a throb of phantom pain coming from the bite scar on her shoulder where Adaine had ripped into her on that roof, her hand going to it automatically.

"Bits of it.  Mostly how it ended.  Why?"  Aelwyn asked, trying to bite back on a sarcastic tone, but Fabian sat down next to her.

"No, I don't mean the fight.  Before that.  The party."  Fabian said, before shaking his head.  "Doesn't really matter, I guess."  Except it clearly did, to him, and Aelwyn's memories weren't even complete enough to know why.  And then, something did come to her, not from the party but far more recent, when she'd been a wolf and listening to the group of them deciding who they should invite along.

"...Ah.  This is something to do with why Fig thought you had a crush on me, then?"  Aelwyn didn't think that he did, not really; if anything, she might have guessed he had one on Adaine, doomed as that would have been.  Still, as rough as she'd seen him be with his friends, he'd never shown her anything that wasn't a kindness, so she would try to return that favor.

A crush on her would be almost as doomed as one on Adaine, after all, if for somewhat different reasons.  He was attractive enough, but...

"What?  No.  I mean, I wouldn't MIND if you wanted to do something sometime, but..."  Fabian said, and Aelwyn realized she well and truly had missed something there, some gap in her memories, and while it was the least of what she had lost in that orb and the reconstruction after it still might hurt someone who had helped her.

"I..  would be a bad choice, Fabian."  She said, trying to be gentle but uncertainty leaking into her voice.  "If nothing else, there's a rather horrible infection you would get from me, and I've made the decision I'm not going to spread that any further than I already have."  And, while she wouldn't have minded a good time with him, she wasn't really interested in anything beyond that and wasn't certain if he would have been hurt by her making the distinction.

Fabian seemed flustered still by that, and she stood up, stretching her arms out and glancing up - this would have been a wonderful moment for Ayda to interrupt and need something, she thought, but stubbornly nothing persisted in happening even as Fabian made his way to his feet.  "Well.  Maybe once we find a cure and beat this, then, but I won't bother you before that day."  She didn't quite know how to explain to him that it still wouldn't be what he probably was hoping for.

It didn't matter, anyway.  She didn't really think Kalina could be removed.  "Maybe, if we do."  She finally said; he WAS attractive.  They could discuss it if it ever came about, through some miracle.

"Right.  Right.  Okay!"  He stood up, giving her a smile and one of those weird winks Adaine's friends almost all seemed to think was flirty, before the boat hitting a particularly large wave had Aelwyn fall onto her knees with one hand for support, and Fabian slipping over the edge, a splash rising from the water a moment later.

At least he was athletic enough to not need her to help fish him out.

Notes:

I'm certain it's not relevant that Fabian's in a vulnerable place as they visit Leviathan. Don't worry about it, it's a nice city, right?

Also, it is fun pointing out the areas that Adaine's personality HAS changed over the course of this fic - specifically, her disdain for the formal education system at large and authority figures generally. She's got some of the latter in canon, of course, but she's also shown to still care about grades and college and all, where this Adaine is at least considering options like working with Ayda after high school instead.

Aelwyn is really, really trying to not be toxic. The canon version wouldn't have tried to hide her laughter at fishing Fabian out, even post-redemption.

Chapter 68: Net

Summary:

The Bad Kids get fished out of the sea. Fig disguises herself as him.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Finding a place to dock the van could have gone more than a little better, Adaine would admit to herself later.  She'd gotten the signal from Ayda to pass on to Gorgug but there had been a little bit of miscommunication on which direction to go, and so they'd found themselves caught in one of the nets around the miserable wreck that was Leviathan, tossed around the (thankfully soft) interior of the van, and eventually dropped onto a deck surrounded by a crew of pirates.

She'd passed the message back on to Ayda, of course.  Hopefully she'd be able to help with the negotiation, though it'd be a minute or two before she'd be able to fly this way.

"Should I stay in the van?  Only, there is a chance some of them might try to kill me for the bounty."  Adaine asked the group, running her thumb over her pendant.

"Just come invisible, in case there's a fight anyways."  Fabian said.  None of them had taken her offers of piratey clothing up, so really it was just herself and Ayda who'd have any chance of fitting in even a little bit, but her friends could handle themselves.

Well, Fabian had an eyepatch.  Maybe he'd get far enough off just that.

Adaine pulled an Invisibility spell around herself, slipping out just after Aelwyn and moving towards the back of the van as everyone else, led by Fabian, started to try to negotiate with the pirates who had fished them out of the sea, though Aelwyn and Tracker were both visibly trying not to retch from the smell of Leviathan and so might not have been completely themselves in a fight.

She had tried to warn them.  Oh well.

"I am Fabian Aramais Seacaster, son of and slayer of Bill Seacaster, member of this crew of equals!  How dare you try to lay a finger upon our ship?"

A warforged, who must have been Jamina Joy by reputation but whom Adaine had never actually met, rumbled to the front of the crowd seemed to be very skeptical of Fabian and of the group at large.

"How can you claim to be a pirate crew if you have no captain?  Regardless, this is now salvage of Leviathan, and we claim it."

Adaine was distracted from the conversation from there because someone was approaching her.  Or, no, approaching the back of the van, which they thought to be empty, she realized.  Some tiefling boy, who started trying to fiddle with the rear door, as though looking to break in.

Well, that just wouldn't do.  Shame she'd never picked up the habit of carrying a sword the way Aelwyn had, but they were just too dangerous when she wound up going wolf.  Though...

She reached into her jacket, and felt the hilt of what couldn't be a very high quality sword, tugging it up and out of her jacket and holding it out to the boy's throat as she dropped the invisibility.  "You'll want to stop right there... cur!"

She remembered to add a pirate-y insult at the last moment.  Ayda would be proud of her for trying to fit in.  Something about the boy smelled familiar; some kind of scent that cut through against the background of the city.  It reminded her of Bill Seacaster, somehow, in a way that most of the pirates of the city did not, which was strange because he completely lacked Fabian's father's swagger.

The boy's squawk of surprise drew some attention her way, past where Fig and Gorgug were for some reason now starting to set up with their instruments to play music - the negotiations must have gotten weird.  Jamina's lantern eye passed over the two of them, and there was a creaking sound of metal as the light focused on the pendant still around Adaine's chest.

"...You are Quartermaster Aguefort's pet wolf."  Jamina said, certainty in her voice even as Adaine was taken aback, a few of the pirates - not that many of them, but a few - giving her considering looks.

So much for not being noticed on the way in; she wasn't certain if that was a good pirate nickname or a terrible one.  Also, she was being looked at like she was expected to reply, and she'd been expecting to get by without having to do any talking since she was trying to sneak.

"Er.  Right."

The tiefling boy, his hands lifted up, took a step back and away from the sword while she was distracted, speaking up.  "Sorry, sorry, I was just taking a look.  I'm a big fan of Captain Seacaster's, that's all!  Alistair Ash, at your service.  Here, why don't you let me settle the debt with the Bosun here, make up for the misunderstanding?"

A cautious nod, and he went off and started speaking with the warforged; a few moments later, in a blaze of fire, Ayda landed next to where Fig was still taking accolades from some of the pirates who had just been introduced to rock music.

"...My paramour.  Did you already expose this city to the power of your music?"  Ayda asked, drawing Jamina's attention from where she was taking money from Alastair.  Aelwyn was staring at the coins that were being passed from where she was covering her nose with a cloth to what was probably little effect; Alastair came back over to the group with a smile.  

"Okay, I've settled your debts with the Bosun, we should take your, ah, ship and get out of this area quickly."  His voice reminded Adaine of Fabian, somehow.

"Why quickly?"  Fabian asked.

Aelwyn shot a glance over to where Ayda and Jamina were greeting each other formally (and with great awkwardness, particularly on Ayda's side) calling over.  "Ayda, we're going now!  Do you want to ride with or meet us later?"

"I must speak with Jamina Joy further.  Can you wait a few minutes, or Adaine O'Shaughnessey, can you remain as well?"  Ayda replied, and Adaine looked over curiously.

"Of course.  We'll fly and meet you all at the Gold Gardens?  Or, wait, I guess only Ayda and I know how to get there..."  Adaine said, tapping a hand to her side.

"The Gold Gardens?  Of course I know it.  I can show your friends there, don't worry!"  The tiefling said, waving his hand and then heading into the van.  The rest of the party crowded into the van as well, Aelwyn brushing past Adaine and pressing some coins into her hand with a worried look but not saying anything before leaving as well, the van driving off as soon as they were all in, the ride looking more than a little bumpy across the planks of Leviathan.

Adaine watched them go, feeling both more and less confident now that it was just her and Ayda.  There was less chance of someone making a misstep, but there were still a LOT of pirates, and if it came to a fight the numbers would have been nice.

She moved over next to Ayda and got ready to cast a Lightning Bolt in the event that it started going downhill.

The warforged looked to Ayda, then to Adaine herself.  "...As I was telling Quartermaster Aguefort, the Hellish Delivery is in the city at the moment, along with a number of other ships that are frequently absent.  Boothe or Whitclaw or others are likely to object to your continued role in the city if it seems you have joined with a specific crew, Quartermaster."

Adaine waved her hand, trying to dismiss it, at least in Jamina's mind.  "We're not going to be in the city long, and they aren't really a crew that's going to work within Leviathan.  They're just my classmates in Solace.  Fabian just, um, enjoys thinking of himself that way."

Jamina seemed uncomprehending, continuing on.  "You may wish to be wary, regardless.  Boothe is alleged to have hired a powerful assassin.  He was very upset about the burning of his ship."

Ayda spoke up.  "We did slay one such person several months ago, sent to Solace to kill or capture Adaine O'Shaughnessey.  The assassin known as Muse.  I claimed the bounty on her myself."

Jamina paused for a long time before resuming speaking, saying "And you returned the body intact, Ayda?" as though explaining something to someone slow.

"Yes, it was required for claiming the bounty."  Ayda said, as though not seeing the point Jamina was driving at.  Adaine did, though.

"...So she could have been revived?"  Adaine asked.

Jamina paused, glancing down into her hand where she was holding onto a number of rocks.  "...The money for your crew's fee appears to have turned to rock.  Is this the power of that music?"

Adaine, alarmed, looked down at the coins Aelwyn had passed her and then held them out to the warforged.  "Apologies, I think that may have been a trick of that tiefling pirate's.  This should be true coinage."

Jamina made an uncertain noise as she took this coin, before shaking her head.  "I must get back to work.  It is good to see you accompanied by others, Quartermaster Aguefort."

Ayda stuttered for just a moment, before saying simply.  "It is good to be accompanied by others, Jamina Joy.  Adaine, do you prefer to fly yourself, or shall I carry you?"

It wasn't as though a third level spell slot was that important, but there was no reason to waste it; Adaine decided to stay an elf, though, and let Ayda scoop her up that way, carrying her off towards the Gold Gardens.


Aelwyn had been hearing on and off for months about Adaine's time in Leviathan, and how much she had loved it aside from the homesickness of being separated from her friends.  She was rapidly coming to realize that Adaine had spent a lot of time talking about the library and about Ayda and not very much time talking about the rest of the city for a reason.

For starters, it was apparently filled with idiots.

"Why would you try to pass off fake money to someone we're almost certainly better off just paying?"  She asked with a bit of frustration, trying to ignore the bumpiness of the ride.

"Oh, I figured why pay if you didn't have to?  I mean, a hundred gold is a lot of money.  I could rent five cantrips for a month for a hundred gold."  Alistair replied, which was just asking for more followup questions.

"What do you mean, rent cantrips?"  Were there low-level sorcerers or wizards here who would just follow you around and cast cantrips for money?

"Oh!  I'm a warlock of old Bill Seacaster, since he managed to get some power down in Hell.  He just charges money, doesn't want your soul or anything, it's way better than any of the other patrons that are available.  A great deal, really.  Any of you want to be a warlock, actually?  I can get a referral bonus if I sign one of you up."  He seemed to think this was genuinely a good idea, and in spite of herself Aelwyn couldn't help but speak up.

"You couldn't just learn how to cast spells the normal way?  I know for a fact that the Compass Points has books you can learn cantrips from."  She'd never asked Ayda to bring any of those out - why would she? - but she knew Ayda had them.  Only an idiot would become a warlock, she thought, especially at those prices.

At least Fig had the excuse of mostly just wanting a connection to her dad.  Aelwyn could kind of understand that.

"What?  No, do you have any idea how hard it is to be a wizard?  That's way too much work just for some spells.  And you have to be born with sorcery.  Warlock's the way to go if you want to get things done."  Alistair said.  "And Bill Seacaster's providing a way of the future to do it."

"Papa always was an innovator and an opportunist."  Fabian said, staring at Alistair; he hadn't been able to quite look at her for the past couple of days, and Aelwyn was worried she'd genuinely hurt him.  She didn't know how to talk soft, still.

"That's what you took from this?"  Fig asked, which seemed fair.  They parked the van under Alistair's lead, evidently under the belief it wouldn't be able to reach the Gold Gardens since there were not precisely streets here.

From there, they were walking, and Aelwyn kept her hand near her sword, but her shield on her back.  She did shut her eyes briefly, feeling a pulse of her Divine Sense, just to check if there were any more demons in their immediate area - the staff at the Hotel had her a little paranoid.

Fig and Alistair both felt fiend-ish, whether because of being tieflings or because of being warlocks.  A number of holy symbols also pinged as having been blessed in the party.  Otherwise, it seemed clean.

Which wasn't to say there were no threats.  While she'd been worrying about that, some dwarf pirate had grabbed Riz by the collar of his shirt, and Aelwyn started to yank her sword out.  Violence wasn't the quickest solution, however, because Fig stepped in, turning into a copy of the dwarf and leaving Aelwyn momentarily reassessing whether Fig was, in fact, an idiot who had become a warlock.

Aelwyn must have missed something, some briefing on superstitions here, because moments later the dwarf had released Riz and jumped through a porthole in the side of the city.

Tracker stopped Kristen from following, and Aelwyn looked around.  There was a crowd on the street, and noone seemed to notice this death, or care.

This place was heartless, completely, and it would turn on them just as quickly.  Aelwyn shivered a little bit, before they resumed their walk towards the Gold Gardens, and now she did clutch her shield in front of her and kept her hand actually on the sword.

Notes:

It's been a second! I'm really sorry about the wait! It shouldn't be this long again, just some things got in the way of my rewatch and I wanted to rewatch this arc before writing it. A few things:

First, there's a D20 fanfic discord, for both writers and readers of it! I'm kicking around ideas on here, and it's been good fun, though it's still small and cozy. Invite is at https://discord.gg/MtyQcZ9pYB

Second, my fic for the D20 gift exchange got published! If you like this, you'll probably like it! It's over at Dreams on AO3. It features Riz, Kalina, Adaine, and Fig prominently, including a wild magic sorcerer class for Adaine that I love.

Third, I've started another multichapter! The chapters on it are shorter, and given that Lunacy is likely to be slower for a bit because I'm doing my FHSY rewatch with a friend whose schedule is not reliable, it'll probably be a lot of how I fill my time not writing this. I still expect to finish Lunacy by about May or June of this year. This one is about a younger Aelwyn and Adaine running away the summer before Aelwyn would start upper classes at Hudol after their parents' abuse turns physical against Adaine and Aelwyn finds just a little spark of courage to at least run. You can find this one at Missing

Chapter 69: Snuff

Summary:

Two Bad Kids walk into a bar. Then, the rest of the party also walks into a bar.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Adaine and Ayda landed just outside the entrance to the Gold Gardens, Ayda setting Adaine back down on her feet.  Adaine tilted her head, considering for a moment.  "Think the others beat us here?"

"Most likely not.  Not enough of them could fly, and finding somewhere to leave the van will have been challenging, I am certain."  Ayda replied.  "...Should we wait out here for them, or allow them to find us inside?"

Adaine did think about it, but it wasn't much of a choice.  The perfumes within the Gold Garden would help to cover up at least some of the stench of the city outside, and in any case Garthy might give two friends information they wouldn't provide once it was those same two friends plus another giant group.  "They'll find us."  She decided, and the two of them headed inside.

Garthy was there at the bar, with a crowd of patrons drinking and gambling and doing all the usual activities of the Gold Gardens.  One crew seemed particularly gloomy, led in their drinking by a mind flayer who seemed to be their captain; he gave a sharp look at Ayda as they walked past, Adaine noticed, frowning but then looking to Garthy.  Plenty of people in the city didn't like either Ayda or Adaine herself because of slights, whether from Ayda herself now or even in many cases from her prior incarnation.

"Ayda, my darling girl.  And Adaine O'Shaughnessey, as well.  I hadn't heard that you were back in Leviathan; is your school allowing you back outside the country, or is this a more clandestine visit?"  Garthy said, smiling and leaning forward against the bar.

"Oh, they let us out.  Kind of forced us, actually.  The rest of my party should be along in a few minutes, actually; Ayda and I were just needing to take care of some business with Jamina Joy."  Adaine said, glancing back towards the entrance.  "You'll recognize them when they come in, I'm sure."

But Garthy might not be quite as willing to talk in front of the others, Adaine realized, as to Ayda and Adaine who they knew.  Adaine leaned forward, sighing.  "Is it okay if I ask some questions before they get here?  It's not like you're in trouble or anything, but they can be a little...  They can be a lot.  We ran across your name in connection with a hotel where two of our party were kidnapped to that was being staffed by demons."

"Ah.  I think I know the hotel you mean.  I had to flee it the last time I was there because of the demonic presence; lost some gems of worth."  Garthy said.  "Do you want a drink, loveys?  We have juice or water if you'd like, Adaine, assuming you still can't have alcohol with your medications." 

Adaine felt a warmth wash over her and smiled at the offer.  "I've changed medications since then, but I'm still not supposed to have alcohol, no.  Tracker and Kristen have the full list of what I can and can't have, but juice is fine for now."

"Of course, darling.  Ayda, want anything?" Garthy said, even as they started to pour some sort of juice concoction together - Adaine was not going to ask what possible fruit it was being sourced from here.

"My usual tea would be as delightful as always."  Ayda said, and Garthy nodded, pouring a cup of water and holding it out, Ayda channeling flames into the water and Garthy using it to make tea.

"What quest is it that had you looking into that, perchance, Adaine?  I was there for a matter with Bill Seacaster, but he's been dead for many months now."  Garthy said, waiting on the tea to steep but keeping one eye on her.  "Dead and causing more trouble here than he had in quite some time.  It's been a restless few months here in Leviathan, but that is sometimes the way of things."

"Ah, Aguefort - Arthur Aguefort, our principal - has us looking into the missing Crown of the Nightmare King.  It was stolen from our school last spring."  Adaine admitted, with a shrug.  "It's sixty percent of our grade for the year, too, but..  it seems like a very dangerous task, I admit."

Garthy sat the cup in front of Ayda, a more serious expression on their face.  "...The Crown of the Nightmare King, is it?"  They asked, even as Ayda took a sip of the tea.  "It passed through here, some time back.  A high elf woman had it under a disguise good enough to trick me, temporarily, though she was quite badly wounded by the curse upon it.  This was before the current war in Fallinel kicked off.  I broke the curse, which also revealed what the Crown was."

Adaine nodded, feeling a frown tugging at her lips.  It seemed all but a confirmation, but...  She cast a minor illusion, showing an image of her..  of Arianwen Abernant.  "This woman?"  She asked, wanting to confirm one way or another.

Garthy glanced down at the image then nodded, looking Adaine in the eyes, but not quite looking at Ayda.  "Ah.  Family can be... difficult."

"She isn't family anymore.  Do you know where she went, after you broke the curse?"  Adaine said, trying to calm her temper.  Garthy wouldn't have known that that was quite that touchy a subject.

Ayda, looking slightly uncomfortable, said.  "They are taking quite a while.  I will go outside and make certain they can find us, Adaine."  A nod, and she was gone, Garthy's eyes following her before return to 

"I do not.  I kicked her out of the Gold Gardens as soon as I realized.  I doubt she would have stayed in Leviathan for very long, however."  Garthy said.  "...It's hardly the only thing poisonous and cursed coming out of Fallinel these days, unfortunately.  Some of the facilities that were attacked in the opening acts of the war were conducting...  interesting... research.  Some of the products of that research have started to leak out."  Their eyes turned towards Adaine once more, and she frowned, thinking that through.  "Some of which undoubtedly went missing.  One of those facilities, I have heard, was conducting research into the nature of the Oracle, but none of the practical products of that research, whatever they might have been, have come through here."

There was a tingle up Adaine's spine.  Whatever that was, it sounded.. bad.  Very bad.  "Ah.  Thank you for that information, Garthy."

"Of course, lovey.  You've paid back the favor you owed me and more, you know.  I.. worried, for her.  To see her make friends, to fall in love, it has been everything I had thought that I might not see for her.  Thank you."  Garthy said, patting her hand and placing the juice in it.

"Ayda has done more for me than I've ever done for her."  Adaine protested, though not owing Garthy a further favor was probably good for her.

"I believe she would say the same of you.  Might be the nature of friendship, when it's between good sorts, lovey."  Garthy  

She nodded, and Garthy glanced back towards the door.  "Judging by how smitten Ayda is looking, I believe that is the rest of your party with her.  Please let me know if you all need rooms, drinks, or anything else for the night?  Or if any of your friends require medical aid or the like."

"I'm sure we'll be getting rooms, at least."  Adaine said, though she doubted how many of the others would actually get tattoos.  "Thank you, Garthy."

"Of course, lovey.  Enjoy your stay, and consider tonight at least a break from your dangerous quest."  Garthy said, cheerily.  "I'll get you all a table."


Aelwyn sat carefully at the table the party was mostly sharing and tried not to think on the many, many temptations that were available to her here.  It was worse than the concert they'd been to, because there Adaine had been largely doing quite badly and it hadn't been technically legal for her to obtain most of those things.  Here, there was nothing against it except her own will and worry of what would happen if she started allowing herself those indulgences.  Moonlight had clearly sensed something being off, and was doing her best to distract, but...

It helped a little that Adaine seemed to be avoiding them as well, of course, even if that was mostly due to her medications rather than worries about inherent flaws in her nature.  She was talking over what she'd learned from the bartender; the idea that their mother had been through here with the Crown not that long ago made the urge to find out what exactly the concotion Leviathan called 'snuff' was because she was fairly certain it wasn't just tobacco.

"Anyway, I'm not completely certain where to go from here; it seems like she may not have been able to teleport with the Crown?  We should probably investigate around and see if we can find anyone who took her to another destination, because I don't think she was going to Fallinel."  Adaine said, having explained that their mother had been through here.  That was making the temptations worse, not better; the general agreement that they'd do that in the morning didn't help either.

Some of the other patrons had been giving them annoyed looks; Aelwyn wasn't entirely certain why, but it was probably due to some kind of insufficient pirate-ness judging by everything else she'd seen in the city.

Several of the others were breaking away from the table, with the business concluded and drinks and drugs to be had, and Aelwyn found herself for the moment just sitting with her sister.  Adaine gave a look of what Aelwyn was pretty certain was amusement towards the others before glancing over.  "...Do you want anything?  There is some normal food and drink on the menu here."

"No, I'm good.  I do want to see Ayda's library while we're here, if we can."  Aelwyn admitted.  "It seems the thing both of you are the most proud of, and what would interest me the most.  That I want to actually indulge in, at least."

"Oh, of course!  I think she wanted to show Fig it privately tonight, but we can spend some time there tomorrow, maybe?  I'll show you where I stayed, actually, I think you might love it."  It wasn't like their room in Mordred didn't have similarities, with the number of books around.

Aelwyn nodded at that, her hand reaching down to absently pet Moonlight, who had climbed down into her lap, and waited quietly for some of the others to come back.

She missed something in those next few moments, clearly, but the sound of chairs scraping and weapons being drawn drew her attention quickly enough, Moonlight hopping down to the ground with a squeak as Aelwyn herself turned without touching her sword.  Fabian, Kristen, and that mind flayer pirate were in some kind of argument, Kristen with a mug in hand, Tracker just half a step back from the two of them.  Even with Aelwyn's improved hearing, she couldn't quite make out what was being said, but the crew with the mind flayer had weapons out.

The bartender intervened before things actually came to blows, and somewhat to Aelwyn's surprise it was the mind flayer and his crew that seemed to be told to leave, defusing the situation.  Aelwyn watched as they passed by, fuming, shooting dirty looks at Aelwyn herself and particularly at Adaine as well.

"...They seemed nice."  Aelwyn said, forcing herself to relax and sit back down once the pirate crew was gone.

"Yeah.  I wonder if Kristen or Fabian did something to set them off, though.  Usually I had to break into a ship or something before an entire crew wanted me dead."  Adaine said, staring at the exit, and then shaking her head and giving Boggy a little squeeze.

"Probably."  Aelwyn said, thinking of how she might have hurt Fabian without really knowing how not to the other day.  Being gentle was not in her nature; had there been a better way to handle it?

Adaine seemed to sense the mood shift, though, and spoke up.  "Have you decided what tattoo you're going to get?  One comes with the fee for staying here."

Aelwyn blinked at that, then looked down to where she knew Adaine had a tattoo on her ankle.  "...Ah.  This where yours was done?"  It didn't actually seem like a terrible idea; a nice distraction, really.  "I haven't thought about getting one at all."

"You should think about it at least!  They won't make you get it if you don't want, but the artists here are pretty good."  Adaine said, and Aelwyn felt a surge of gratitude as she realized that Adaine was trying for that distraction intentionally.  Aelwyn wouldn't want to get anything done on her own ankles the way that Adaine had - her scarring was even worse around there than around her wrists - but maybe on her forearm or upper arm...

"...Are you going to get another one, then?"  Aelwyn asked, uncertain.  The pawprints Adaine had for Tracker and Jawbone were cute, but fairly subtle compared to most of the extensive ones she'd seen in Leviathan.

"Oh, I think so.  I know what it's going to be already, though."  Adaine said, with a smile.

That discussion carried her through as Riz tried snuff, as most of the Bad Kids plus Tracker and Ragh got very very drunk and many of them got much more impulsive tattoos, and in general as she and Adaine wound up feeling like they needed to try to be the sober ones just in case, though truthfully neither of them really felt able to keep up with the others.  She wasn't entirely sure when the conversation turned, in her head, into actually trying to find something she would like, but by the time Kristen was passed out on top of their table she had settled on her own idea and moved off to get it done, not telling Adaine exactly what she was getting.

By the next morning, a bandage wrapped around her aching arm (matching the one around Adaine's same ankle as she took a rare trance in elf form; she wasn't certain exactly what Adaine had gotten done, either, but was looking forward to seeing it, since they had kept their final choices secret from each other) Aelwyn was about ready for a day in a quiet library, so the plan for the visit to the Compass Points really was quite exciting.

Somehow, in spite of the incredible amount of drugs he'd had the night before, in spite of his body being absolutely covered in new tattoos, Riz was still the one to come to pull Adaine and her out of bed.  "Hey, um, Aelwyn, Adaine.  Do either of you know where Fabian went?"

Notes:

Hi! Yes it's been a minute, yes I'm sorry!

Any guesses for Adaine and Aelwyn's respective new tattoos? Don't worry about what Fabian might be doing. It's probably nothing but good choices.

Also DEFINITELY don't worry about what research and practical experiments into the nature of the Oracle might be missing.

Speaking of missing, yes there is irony that I've managed to land in Leviathan and dealing with Garthy around the same time here and in Missing; these things happen!

I forgot to mention last time, but I got given some pieces of fanart for this fic for the D20 exchange! Check them out on tumblr! They're really cute scene selections, I feel.

Chapter 70: Powder

Summary:

Fabian has a Bad Day. It starts to expand to everyone else.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Adaine rubbed her eyes as she looked at Riz, frowning.  Unlike Aelwyn and herself, his new tattoos were exposed to the air.  All of them, since he was shirtless, probably because otherwise that would hurt quite a bit.  It had to be fairly painful anyways.  She squinted at the tattoos, almost all of which seemed to be short words or descriptive phrases, and then realized that half of them were in a language that they'd ended up almost exclusively using in sign language form but that they HAD started with a written form for.  The others were all names.

Given how much her ankle was bothering her from just the one tattoo, she was kind of surprised Riz was standing, though not at all surprised that he clearly hadn't slept at all.

"...Riz, I don't think you should take whatever it is you took last night again.  Did you get everybody we've ever fought or might fight against put on there?"  Including along one side a 'Arianwen Abernant' and 'Angwyn Abernant', which was more than a little weird to see.

"I got all of us, too!  But I used my back for that, because I'm less likely to forget those."  Riz said, turning around, and... there was an alphabetical list there of everyone who had come along on the quest, under the header of their word for 'Friends'.  A rather generous list - Adaine, Aelwyn, and Ayda were the first three names, but Baxter was the fourth and the Hangman was listed as well.

He'd used their last names, too.  O'Shaughnessey was on there three times, for herself and Aelwyn and Tracker, and none of them were either spelled correctly nor the same as each other.

"Right, well.  Fabian probably just went to see the city, but I can check on him if you're really worried.  Have you even slept?"  Adaine said, sighing and deciding that she would not be there when Sklonda found out about this one.  A third level slot wasn't the end of the world, but she was still in the habit of saving them; still, between herself and Aelwyn and Ayda they should have Sending needs covered.

She didn't feel nearly as refreshed as usual, after that trance.  Maybe her body had gotten too used to sleeping for a trance to really do the job anymore.

"Hey, Fabian, where are you at?  Riz is a little worried, so I just thought I'd check in with you."  Adaine said, expecting back a normal message and maybe a location or maybe just some indignation from Fabian at being tracked by his friends.

She didn't expect what she got, which was actual sobbing and gasping for breath, and a "Adaine?  I..  can you help me, please?  I'm stuck in some rigging and Chungledown Bim is coming for me and told me he was gonna..." before Fabian got cut off for the word limit.  Aelwyn and Riz both seemed to be able to tell she was alarmed by what she'd gotten back, before she even said anything.

"Is he okay?"  Riz cut in, even as Aelwyn started to pull her chainmail on once Adaine shook her head.

"It sounded like the answer is no.  He said he was caught in some rigging?  And like someone else might be trying to find him to hurt him."  Adaine said, frowning.  "I'm trying to think where that would even be, but..  I'll see if I can find him and get him out.  Aelwyn, can you Send to Ayda and get her and Fig looking too?  Maybe Gorgug and Kristen and Tracker as well if they're not in the Gold Gardens still."

Aelwyn started on casting Sendings - she had more energy to burn than Adaine did still, especially with Adaine about to blow one of her more powerful spells to try to find him.  She reached into her jacket pocket, grabbing out a bit of fur, and then held it in front of her face as she incanted, feeling the spell take hold.  Nothing.

"He's more than a thousand feet away.  There's a lot of places where he could get caught in rigging, to be honest.  I'll try to cover as much ground as I can while holding the spell, I'm going to go wolf to do it.  You two get everyone else, Ayda can track where I'm at through the pendant so we can meet back up.  Tell them it's some person named Chungledown Bim; the name doesn't mean anything to me but Ayda or Garthy might know who that is."  Adaine said, just waiting for their bare nods before tugging her pendant out from under her shirt and jacket.

The anxiety about the level of trouble Fabian sounded like he was in made shifting into wolf form even easier than normal; she sprinted out of the Gold Gardens, planning to try to cover ground as quickly as she could, bounding through the early morning streets of Leviathan and trying to avoid as much as was possible getting anywhere near those already involved in brawling or other street activities.

The smell was even worse when actually in wolf form.  She'd kind of forgotten.

It was only about three or four minutes of running before she felt the locate person seize onto a location, and from there she took less than two minutes to reach where Fabian was, panting by the time she got there but still doing okay in spite of the sprint as she came up on where a number of pirates were pointing at a figure dangling about six feet from smashing into the deck, very tied up by the ropes and, as she drew closer, smelling of blood and piss and vomit.  Fabian was passed out, which must have happened in the intervening time, maybe from dangling head-down, maybe just from stress or the injuries he obviously had.

"See if he has a coin purse on him."  Carried to her from one of the pirates as she approached.  She growled openly; there were a lot of them, and a fight would be bad, but she just needed a moment's opportunity and it did draw their attention.

Unfortunately, one of them evidently knew about her.  "Oh, boys, it's Aguefort's pet wolf!  There's a pretty good bounty on this one, just mind the teeth if you don't want to end up a bitch like her."  A pirate with bones woven into his beard said, pointing a cutlass out at her.  She snarled, getting them to back a step up.

That was all she needed; she sprung up, getting a paw on Fabian's face where it dangled free from the ropes, howled at the sky, and they were through a Dimension Door and onto a roof she had passed on the way there a good distance away, out of line of sight of the pirates.  It would still be a while before she'd be able to turn back, and Fabian was unconscious but alive, so she hunkered down to make it at least a little harder to spot the two of them if the pirates bothered actually looking.

Adaine waited there, hunched down over her friend, until backup arrived.


It wasn't that long before others started drifting in; Ayda and Fig got there first, of course, Ayda maybe drawing some attention on her flight in but also being well known.  Fig had rubbed Adaine's head for a moment, maybe sensing how out of sorts she was by finding Fabian like this, before kneeling down next to him and healing him enough that he had woken up.

He hadn't said much as everyone else had arrived and they'd started heading for the Gold Gardens; eventually, Adaine was able to come back out of her wolf form, frowning to hide the pain that always accompanied shifting, especially in that direction.  "Fabian, what happened exactly?  Did you have some bad reaction to whatever you and Riz were taking last night?  At least you didn't end up COVERED in tattoos..."  She'd been busy keeping Aelwyn company the night before; she must have missed whatever had gone on.

Fabian hadn't been this obviously distraught since prom, and he'd both been upset with her for dying and she'd found out later that he'd killed his father that same day.

"No, no, it was... mostly just Riz who took that.  Can we just go?  We got the information we needed for a lead about the Crown, right?"  Fabian asked, and Adaine frowned.

"...Seriously?  I mean, we're probably going to take a day or so to recover and so that Ayda and I can try to divine where...  where Arianwen might be.  We don't have any destination to go to right now.  Did you get attacked?"  Pirates were, as a rule, fairly aggressive; she could see Fabian maybe having made some bad assumptions and pissed off the wrong group, but it still didn't explain just how cowed he was.

"Was it Whitclaw?"  Kristen asked, and Adaine could see that at least a few of the others recognized that name, even as Fabian reluctantly nodded.  "Did he have his whole crew or something?"  Another nod.  "Then we'll help you get revenge!  The rest of us can hold off his crew, and you can go for a one-on-one fight!"  Kristen said, lifting a fist up, clearly trying to cheer him up.

"Or we could just all focus on him and kill him?"  Adaine suggested, glancing to Ayda.  "..If it's not a problem for Ayda and I to get involved, at least.  No good if the Compass Points is going to need Ayda defending it and she can't continue on the quest, after all."

Ayda frowned.  "It should be fine if we come along, but I think he would need to make the first move on us.  It would depend on how it came across to observers, I think.  Assuming we won; if we lost Whitclaw would probably attack the library regardless."  

Fabian was shaking, though, and Adaine sighed again.  "Maybe we should just get both of you some sleep first, and then see about finding them.  Did anyone besides Aelwyn and I actually rest last night?"

Ayda raised her hand.  "Fig and I slept very comfortably after..."  Before Fig made a gesture, cutting herself off.  That was probably just talking about a kiss, really, Adaine thought; Fig was surprisingly shy about her relationship, especially for someone who both acted the way she normally did and who lived with Kristen and Tracker.

They continued discussing just what had happened for a little while, not yet heading back to the Gold Gardens even though Adaine had suggested it a few times - if they got into a fight now a lot of them might be a little slower than normal.

"..Oh, there's smoke up at the Crow's Nest."  Ayda said, frowning up at the sky.  "..I do not think that is at the Compass Points, but it may spread regardless.  Is that from the fight that you had, Fabian?"

"No, not exactly, though it's nearby...  Look, we can't really get involved in internal matters here, right?"  Fabian pleaded, but Ayda ignored that.

"Would you all be willing to come?  I cannot allow that to go unchecked."  Ayda said, and Adaine nodded.  "Of course!"  Ayda waited a bare few seconds to receive nods from everyone, Fabian's being the last and clearly reluctant, before using her Teleport to take the group of them up to the Crow's Nest, just outside of the Ramble.  Which was what was on fire; a group of pirates were driving nails into planks barring the doors even as screams came from within.

"Whitclaw."  Fabian said, nervously, and as Adaine glanced over she realized Fig had pushed him to the front of the group; he looked terrified, to Adaine, who started to open her mouth.  She could see who he was looking at: the mind flayer who had been in the Gold Gardens the previous night.

That mind flayer's voice had nothing but mocking in his voice.  "Fabian Arimais Seacaster.  Wretched cowardly fruit of a cowardly man's loins.  Got one group massacred so ye decided to go find another, is it?  Shove off and run away and leave Leviathan, maybe you'll be lucky enough to survive once I'm King.  Otherwise, well, you don't seem to have much of a brain but maybe it'll make a nice snack."  He glanced over towards Ayda.  "I was going to just cut out funding your library, Quartermaster Aguefort, but if you're foolish enough to oppose me I'll be purging it by fire too, just like this retirement home for them that never was bold enough to truly seize the moment.  You - and your pet there, for that matter - should stick out of this business.  I intend to be crowned before the day is up."

Ayda glanced back, before asking "Do you think you have more command of fire than I do, then?  Shall we test that?"

Whitclaw's tentacles wavered, before he shuddered with a sigh.  "I see.  Well, if you're insistent upon this fight, far be it for me to deny it.  But you have made a lot of enemies over the years, Aguefort, and so have your friends, and at least one of them would also like a word."

Adaine saw it coming just a moment before it happened, diving out of the way of an object that flew at them not from where Whitclaw was but from behind, a twinge of divinatory magic the only reason she saw it coming at all, covering her head.  But it wasn't an explosive, exactly; a glittering powder burst out and into the air, filling the air near them.  Within seconds, Aelwyn and Tracker both started coughing, horrific, wet noises, a whimper of what Adaine recognized as pure pain escaping from Aelwyn.

A glance in that direction, and a figure was standing on the other side of them, in front of several more pirates near an alley; a wood elf woman that Adaine had last seen as a corpse, her face half rotted, her eyes sunken, her hand outstretched from where she had thrown the bomb of what Adaine realized must have been silver powder.  "...Missed the main one, but looks like there were a couple of other wolves among the sheep, yeah?"  She taunted, voice hoarse and cold as the grave she should have been in.

Notes:

Okay! This chapter fought me, and I ultimately decided to NOT rehash every bit of Fabian's Bad Day on camera; it was largely the same, but he was actually hanging in the rigging for a whillle and obviously thanks to Ayda helping them catch Whitclaw at the Ramble the fight is going to be happening in a different location.

Also, certain Kalina-related elements of it have NOT happened, you'll notice.

Look, I could pretend having the fight here's not purely to make my life easier as someone who already struggles with group fight scenes and finds the Row and the Ruction fight incredibly confusing but I believe in being honest with my readers.

Also, there's going to be a sequence of unfortunate events in the next few chapters. Sorry?

Chapter 71: Fall

Summary:

Aelwyn falls off a ledge. Ayda fixes an error, permanently.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Aelwyn was, unfortunately, no stranger to the pain of silver.  The thick scarring near her wrists and ankles from the months of being cuffed in Fallinel's hell for her could attest to that; she'd wound up getting her tattoo on her upper arm simply because the skin was more even there, even if it would be covered most of the time.

The silver powder she had just breathed in made the pain of silver on her skin, even in incredibly hazy memories of her wolf form, feel far less by comparison.  It was as though she had swallowed pure lava, except instead of cauterizing blood was coming up and into her mouth, her breathing labored.

All bad.  Worse that they were surrounded on both sides; the rational part of her brain said that she needed to contribute as much as she could as quickly as she could, because she was already swaying on her feet and her usual style of defense was going to be out.

There would be no communicating that to the others.  She likely wouldn't be able to use any magic that was going to require an incantation, either; so many options, cut off before a fight had even begun.

Luckily, the spell Adaine had given her for her eighteenth birthday did not use one.

She flourished her sword, stepping through the ether and appearing through magical means at four of the pirates around the wood elf assassin, finishing by striking at Muse herself.  Three of the pirates went down, though one managed to dodge out of the way; at the last, when she appeared next to the wood elf, she drove her sword deep into the woman's gut.

Hopefully the others would be able to take care of the mind flayer while she worked as a distraction.  Hopefully they would pick up on that part of the plan that Aelwyn had put into her own head.

The elf looked at her, and was apparently less affected by having a hole in her than Aelwyn was by the silver bomb.  Not really a surprise, but unfortunate.  That hoarse voice came again, even as the sounds of battle went on behind her...  "Aah, softened you up enough, this time, I think.  I don't fail twice."

Aelwyn tried to counter what came next, what she'd known was coming, what she'd made certain to make herself a big target right away for just as she had in the original fight with this woman.  Better by far her than Ayda or Adaine, especially now that she was all but out of the fight already.  Her incantation, if it was present at all, was far too sloppy to stop what came next, victory gleaming in the wood elf's sunken eyes as a Word of Power passed her lips.

Aelwyn felt an icy tingle that she had felt once before, at odds but still miserable alongside of the lava in her lungs, but this time it did not go away on its own.  She felt control of her body leave her, as though she were a puppet with her strings cut, the world tilting as she fell forward towards the deck, her sword and shield clattering as her grip was lost on them.

She never hit that deck of rough plank as it rushed up at her, a pure black filling her vision, a complete absence of sound in her ears.

And then... it didn't end.  There was still more.

The pain in her lungs was completely gone.  So was the constant but lower level of pain in her knees and elbows she barely even noticed on a daily basis, ever since she'd spent over half a year getting tossed around the inside of a prison of force.  The air was a pleasant cool temperature around her, with none of the stickiness of the salty air Leviathan had had.  

She opened her eyes to find herself eyeball to eyeball with dirt and grass, and pushed herself off of the ground only to find that she had paws, not hands, at the moment.  Full wolf form, though she couldn't remember having gone into it.

A mere idle thought and she felt herself shifting up to her elf form, though without the usual level of pain that accompanied the change.  Without the minutes-long agony of needing to focus and try the way she normally did to voluntarily shift either direction, either.  A look around, in wonder.  She was in a full field of grass, with occasional trees.  An enormous full moon was hanging in the starry sky overhead, but she felt as in control of herself as she'd ever been, and even though she had never been here before she knew where she must have been.

Adaine had told her about the afterlife she'd ended up in briefly after Kalvaxus had killed her.  Aelwyn hadn't expected she would find her own way here, however.  Hell had felt a lot more likely; deserved, truthfully.  Maybe nonexistence, if she'd been particularly lucky.

Apparently, whatever force decided these things disagreed with her assessment.

Aelwyn dropped back into a wolf form - being able to do it at will was a wonder that would have told her this was heaven even if she didn't have Adaine's description - and shivered.  She would.. at least get to know Adaine survived, if she didn't arrive here, even if the group wasn't able to revive her.  For the moment, waiting to see if that revival would come, she basked in the light of the full moon above, tears leaking from her eyes.

She had done everything she could to help.  The others would be okay.  She had to believe in them, that was all.


Ayda Aguefort hated dealing with the politics of Leviathan.  According to her journals, she always had.  She hadn't had to do so for a while, other than the eternal problem of her budget, but her hand was being forced now.

Luckily, she was reasonably skilled at the principle form that politics in Leviathan took - combat.

A set of scorching rays struck out from her hand into Whitclaw, even as most of the group sprung into action around her.  Tracker was clearly struggling to even stand, and Kristen rushed to her side; Aelwyn seemed a bit better, turning to deal with the group that had been behind them and then flickering out of Ayda's peripheral vision.  Adaine continued to rush away from the cloud of silver dust, having managed to stay clear.  She managed to catch several of Whitclaw's crew in a spiderweb.

Figueroth was playing a soothing rhythm on her bass guitar, something with protective magic behind it that seemed to be helping keep Whitclaw's own magic at bay; Ayda felt a rush of love run through her.  Her paramour was so clever.  She wasn't certain where Riz was, but his gun rang out; he was contributing in his way.  Ragh and Gorgug had charged in, with her future mother-in-law supporting with arrows.

Fabian seemed unmoving and just kind of staring.  Ayda wasn't certain why; perhaps it was a ploy.  If so, it was an odd one; he even ignored as one of the lesser members of Whitclaw's crew charged him, only recoiling once a slash had been landing and rushing away from the action.

"AELWYN!"  Adaine's voice rang out over the battlefield, and Ayda jerked her head around to where Adaine's sister had been holding off the back group.  Most of that group were down now - quickly, too - but Aelwyn had crumpled to the deck, and the assassin was still standing over her.

A smirk from her, and a "Oh, so sad.  Guess she won't get in the way to protect you anymore, ship-burner" and a spell that Ayda and Adaine both were out of range to counter; a blast of wind and noise that sent Aelwyn flying off the edge of the Crow's Nest and dropping down to the deck below, which would surely kill her and make the corpse very difficult to find at best.

"My paramour, I shall return!"  Ayda said, the calculus instantly done.  She was the only one with the skill at flight to maybe catch up to Aelwyn; she was bound to Aelwyn through a transitive contract of friend's-sister, and she still would rather like to make a contract directly with Aelwyn herself sometime.  The elf acted as though they had, at points.

Even more, the fault for this lay with her, Ayda grimly considered.  She had delivered Muse for the bounty in a shape where a resurrection had been possible.  Not an error to repeat, she decided, seeing a bullet wound from Riz join damage Aelwyn had done with her sword before falling.

Ayda started rushing towards the edge that Aelwyn had fallen from while making the gestures for the highest and most destructive spell she had prepared.  A sickly green beam shot out from her fingertip, striking the undead wood elf.  Already injured, it turned her into a puft of dust before Ayda even reached the edge and leapt off, diving after Aelwyn, her wings spreading aloft as she dove.  Aelwyn was tumbling, tumbling, and Ayda was gaining on her but the distance to the deck was growing short, and...

Less than a hundred feet above the neighborhood below the Crow's Nest, Ayda managed to snag her fingers around Aelwyn's ankle, pulling both of them out of the dive more evenly, starting the flight back up to the Crow's nest and hoping she could get there in time.

Aelwyn's skin was stone cold to the touch, as though she had been dead for hours.


Adaine's skin crawled, but she could not let herself be distracted.  They were down two of their strongest combatants until Ayda got back with Aelwyn, who would be okay and Adaine could not let herself think otherwise.

Three, really, because Fabian still wouldn't fucking move, locked up by fear of Whitclaw.  Adaine hadn't thought he'd be so heavily affected.

It really didn't help that Whitclaw seemed to have decided to focus on her.  Tracker was still on her knees, being tended to by Kristen; both clerics and two of their three wizards having been out of the fight seemed to make Whitclaw's decision, or maybe it was just that Adaine had a stake in Leviathan and with Ayda momentarily out of reach that was enough.  Either way, it meant she was having to retreat more than she liked; she far prefered to be on the attack, but she could tell that was a terrible idea.

Besides, in spite of everything, they were winning.  Aelwyn and Ayda, before leaving, had removed the forces on one side; Gorgug and Ragh were making sharp work of much of the rest.

Adaine snarled as Whitclaw managed to catch up with her again before a plan came to her.  A misty step over to the flaming Ramble, and a shift into her wolf form, and then one of her spells she always kept prepared in wolf form...

A loud Knock rang through the air, and the doors to the burning Ramble opened, and a number of singed and coughing old pirates came out into the streets.  They weren't helpful, mostly, but they were equally unhelpful to everyone, a distraction, and then Gorgug and Ragh caught up to Whitclaw who was being yelled at by several of them, and then Whitclaw was down.  Adaine would be stuck this way for quite a while, so hopefully someone would explain, but the combat seemed in the bag.

It was almost enough that she was distracted from her worries, up until Ayda, Aelwyn cradled in her arms, landed back on the Crow's Nest, carrying her over to Tracker and Kristen.  It wasn't what she should be focused on, but Adaine couldn't help but notice - Aelwyn's bandage around her arm had been lost, at some point, and on the pale upper arm of what Adaine was quickly realizing was her sister's corpse there was a new tattoo from the night before.  A large crescent moon, with two animals cuddling together sitting on the section at the bottom of the crescent - a frog and a weasel.

Notes:

Hiiiiii don't kill me please it's actually going to get a little worse from here, but I promise she's not perma-dead.

Also hey Ayda! Your first PoV! I'm always scared of getting her wrong, but she's so important in this story that it's actually absurd that she has no PoV chapters to this point.

I remain bad at group combat but hey I'm trying.

Chapter 72: Dream

Summary:

Aelwyn gets removed from heaven. Adaine has a dream.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Adaine, back in her elf form, sat in a room in the Compass Points much quieter than the immediate aftermath of the fight outside the Ramble had been, Aelwyn's body laid out on one end of a long, wraparound couch.  They had pulled her armor off, and Kristen had used a spell to get almost all of the silver dust out of her lungs while she was deceased and it wouldn't impact her as much.  Much of the party was recovering from their wounds and having presumably more somber drinks at the Gold Gardens; Fabian had been speechless, still, and Adaine hadn't really had time to figure out just what it was that had gone so wrong with him, but hopefully Gorgug and Riz and Ragh would be able to.

The exceptions were in this room.  Tracker was here, preparing to spend an hour in an attempt to bring Aelwyn back, in spite of her own breathing still being labored, though at least she'd stopped coughing up blood.  Kristen was there to try to keep Tracker upright for that hour; she really should be in a sickbed herself, but Kristen hadn't had Raise Dead prepared and Tracker had insisted that the sooner they tried, the better.  Aelwyn following the same god that Tracker did might also make the rite more likely to work, but Adaine refused to think too much about the possibility of it failing.

Ayda and Fig were also there, on either side of Adaine herself.  Ayda hadn't stopped worrying ever since it had become clear that by the time she'd gotten back with Aelwyn's body, it was too late for the Revivify spell that they normally relied upon to work.  The two of them were mostly helping to keep Adaine herself calm, she realized.

It wasn't working particularly well, but at least they were trying, and she'd avoided having a panic attack bad enough to force her back into wolf form at least.

On some academic level, it was interesting watching Tracker work at a longer prayer and if the spell in question had been lower stakes, or if her cousin weren't having to occasionally take a moment to hack up a mixture of mucus and silver dust and blood while Kristen kept pouring restorative magics into her, then Adaine would have been interested in that part of things more.  As it actually was, though, she was too afraid of the consequences of failure to do more than clutch at Ayda's hand tightly while Fig kept an arm around her shoulder.  Moonlight was chittering and curled up in Adaine's free hand; Tracker had thought her being there might help. 

Finally, after what felt like an actual eternity, Tracker reached some fevered pitch in her voice and the outline of an electric blue wolf shot forward from her and into Aelwyn.  Tracker's coughing grew worse, and louder, and Adaine almost stood up herself to check on her when another cough joined in, and then a gasp for breath from Aelwyn, whose eyes were miraculously open wide and bloodshot with sparks of the electric color of that wolf.

Adaine paused a moment, looking at Tracker's pale face briefly even as Kristen supported her, before breaking over to stand next to Aelwyn when Tracker didn't object.  Color wasn't quick to return to her, but she was moving and breathing and... and crying, it looked like, actually.  Adaine didn't hesitate, placing Moonlight down gently and letting the familiar climb up and onto Aelwyn's stomach even as Adaine took her hand.

"Welcome back."  She said, not totally certain how Aelwyn would want to be greeted, but not wanting to overwhelm her - even coming back from a revivify had been pretty rough, from what she remembered, and Tracker had warned that the longer someone was dead the harder it was on them to return.  Even the couple of hours it would have been for Aelwyn would be a lot, though the spell could work for up to ten days.

Her sister was at least able to speak, her voice hoarse but very much present as she squeezed gently back.  "Adaine?  You're okay.  Is everyone else safe?"  Tears were rolling down Aelwyn's face, and Adaine nodded, wanting to reassure her.

"We won.  Some of the old pirates who were trapped in the Rabble died in the fire, but we saved a lot of them, too.  Ayda got revenge for you, and Gorgug and Ragh killed Whitclaw.  We're probably going to need to take a couple of days to recover, anyway, so you should have plenty of time to rest and recover, okay?"  Adaine whispered, glancing down to where Tracker was being helped into sitting by Kristen at the other end of the couch - she looked almost as bad off as Aelwyn did, now that Aelwyn was alive again.

Aelwyn started to struggle to sit up, still crying, and Adaine reached a hand over to help, Moonlight protesting with a chirp but eventually climbing up onto Aelwyn's shoulder and nestling into her hair.  Aelwyn leaned forward, and Adaine could feel her sister's forehead bumping into the side of her head, before a whisper came, clearly meant for Adaine alone or at least not for everyone in the room.  "I saw it.  You know.  The place you described; the clearing, and the forest.  It was...  better than I deserve, I feel."

And now Adaine felt her own vision blur, shaking her head.  "It isn't, if you were there.  Aelwyn."  She lifted her foot up onto the couch, unwrapping the bandage from her ankle and showing her tattoo, the pain mostly faded from it.  A third pawprint had joined Tracker and Jawbone's; one for Aelwyn, matching the size of Tracker's.

Aelwyn stared at it for a moment, and then, seeming speechless, just wrapped her arms around Adaine and allowed most of her weight to rest against her.

They descended into more open crying and hugs at that point, until Aelwyn started coughing again; expected, from what Kristen had said. They had been able to remove most of the silver, but Aelwyn's lungs had still been damaged beyond what the regeneration would be able to handle, at least in the short term, even if it wasn't quite as bad as it would be for Tracker to recover from.

Eventually, Adaine did allow herself to drop back into wolf form as Aelwyn and Tracker both were close to passing back out, deciding she'd guard the both of them and remain with them however long they needed.


The mood was not nearly as cheery as the night before, Riz thought, but maybe that was for the best.  He didn't have room to get another batch of tattoos, after all; his body was still hurting all over from the last set.  Right now, somewhere in the city Aelwyn would hopefully be alive again, and Tracker would be able to rest, and generally that the worst of the physical injuries they'd gotten in that fight would get a chance to mend.

Of almost equal worry, though, was Fabian, who still had barely talked, mumbling something about chungling down - not slang Riz knew but it was probably something gross if he had to guess.

Sandra Lynn was at the bar drinking and talking with Garthy; Ragh and Gorgug were on either side of Fabian, trying to cheer him up.  Riz climbed up into a barstool next to them, eating some of the food that had been brought out for their 'celebration.'

"Look, man, you've really got to push through this.  Everything's going to be okay, right?  They'll get Aelwyn up, and no harm done, yeah?"  Gorgug said, squeezing at Fabian's shoulder.

Fabian looked up, and Riz was shocked to see how bleak his expression was.  "My father's cult is almost all dead.  And the remaining members are going to kill me, because I didn't live up to his legacy.  Because they don't think the way I killed him was good enough, and.."  He shook his head.

Ragh frowned.  "I don't think living up to his legacy is something that's your problem, dude.  You helped fight a dragon last year, yeah?  You're a total badass, nothing to do with whether your father was or not!  It's pretty fucked up that he made you kill him in the end, anyway."  

That didn't seem to totally convince Fabian, who stared down into his beer, an uncertain expression on his face.  Riz was distracted from that, though, by Ayda approaching from the entrance, a rare sight without Fig by her side.  Garthy visibly brightened at her appearance, and everyone, even Fabian, turned to look at her.

"Figueroth decided to remain with the others for now."  Ayda said, delivering what was probably to her the most important news.  "Tracker O'Shaughnessey's spell worked; Aelwyn is resting now.  It seems likely that we will need to remain here to allow the two of them to recover for at least a few days."  

Riz let out a breath; he hadn't really realized it, but at some point in the past several months he'd genuinely come to like Aelwyn, and it was a relief to hear that she would be okay.  He looked over to Fabian, thinking that that might help him too, but no.  He was still staring down into his drink, and remained that way long into the night, long after Garthy and Sandra Lynn wondered off somewhere, long after most of the others had gone to bed and Ayda had returned to the Compass Points.

Riz really wished that someone better at this could tell him how to fix things with his friend.


In spite of everyone wanting to stay and guard and comfort Aelwyn and Tracker, they really were all quite worn out; they hadn't gotten a full chance to rest before the fight, after all, and now that the adreniline and everything was gone it was easy to feel the absence.  Kristen had joined Tracker and Aelwyn in sleep first; Fig had followed not long after, though she'd at least given Adaine's head a rub first.  Even Moonlight and Boggy were dozing, both curled up on Aelwyn.  Adaine was tired herself, though she at least had gotten a full trance and so was not necessarily as exhausted as the others.

Ayda came back in eventually, flushed brightly - the others must have talked her into a few drinks, though she wasn't showing the effects in the way that they did.

"Oh, Adaine O'Shaughnessey, are you still up?"  Ayda whispered as best she could, clearly not wanting to wake the others, or at least Fig.  Adaine lifted her head up in acknowledgement, feeling her mouth open up in a yawn before Ayda also placed a hand briefly on her head.

"Since my paramour Figueroth is asleep, I think I will go to the observatory for a time and read the stars.  We may be absent from Leviathan again in a few days, and it would be good to have given them an updated course."  Ayda said, scritching Adaine's ears for a moment before sighing.  "I would ask if you want to come along, but I know that you would almost certainly rather be here when your sister awakens.  I will see you after dawn?"  Ayda offered, and Adaine tapped with her paw once for yes.

It wasn't long after Ayda had left that Adaine could feel herself drifting off to sleep again after all, her breathing settling out, her head resting by Aelwyn's feet.  She was unsurprised when she started to dream, but she was more than a little surprised at the content of the dream.

It was a repeat, for one, of a dream of a past that had definitely never been.  A breakfast, across from an Angwyn and Arianwen Abernant who loved and supported her, with her charming and friendly big sister Aelwyn, completely free of scars.  A smile that resembled the best of those rare ones that Aelwyn gave now.

It was wrong, but...  But Adaine couldn't help but remember that Aelwyn had just died protecting her, protecting them earlier that day.  Didn't they both deserve to have been happy, for that long?  Didn't they both deserve to have been raised by this loving version of their parents, not the monsters that had actually done so?

That one moment of weakness, of doubt, and something snapped into place past the guards in her mind.  Adaine could feel herself being stuck in the dream, dropping into character and passing the plates back to her big sister even as her eyes opened back up on reality, twin sights both held before her eyes.

Notes:

I couldn't resist getting this chapter, where a character comes back to life, out on Easter even though I am in fact not Christian.

As for Adaine, don't worry! Bad dreams can't last forever.

Edit: Oh! Mechanical notes. Both Aelwyn and Tracker have levels of exhaustion (two for Aelwyn, three for Tracker) plus a max HP reduction from the silver in the lungs - Aelwyn's down 25%, Tracker 50%. This'll restore slowly over time - they get a hit die back per long rest. Aelwyn also currently has -4 to EVERYTHING (Ability checks, attack rolls, and saves) from the strain of being raised from the dead; this'll go away one point at a time for every long rest she takes.

Chapter 73: Parents

Summary:

Adaine sleepwalks. Riz sleeps in a hallway.

Notes:

As I post this, it is April 14th, which is the birthdate I have arbitrarily assigned Adaine within this fic as well as basically all of my others.

Happy birthday, Adaine! Let me give you a treat, here.

Chapter Text

Adaine was in two places at once, and she wasn't in control of herself in either.  Of everything she remembered, this felt the most like a hazy full moon where she might remember about half of it afterwards; she never really felt in control of herself, then, but she was coming to realize immediately that there were worse things to be controlled by than the feral instincts of her wolf hybrid form.

Right now, for instance, in the breakfast table of her dreams she felt herself ask.  "Do you think we could get a dog, sometime?"  She'd never dared to ask her birth parents such a thing; even a familiar was something they had seen as a weakness, which was why she hadn't had Boggy until far too late.

"Darling, only if you can train it to stay off the furniture.  Animals shouldn't be on the furniture, after all."

In her other sight, the much hazier one than the dream, Adaine dropped on her paws off the couch she was sleeping on, leaving her place at Aelwyn's feet; Kristen and Tracker and Fig were all in the room, but she was being quiet enough that they would surely sleep through it.  She'd gotten so much quieter at sneaking around since her first time in this city, after all.  Animals shouldn't be on the furniture, but she didn't have to be one; she ignored the pain and stayed quiet as she grew back up into her elven form, tugging a shirt and skirt out of the jacket before letting it fall to the ground as she changed.

In the dream, she played with a necklace that she had on, Mother tilting her head and examining her.  "...Adaine.  Why don't you let your sister wear that for today?  There's a special jewel I have in the other room that I think would suit you perfectly.  If you wouldn't mind retrieving it for me?"  Adaine felt her lips curl in a smile; usually, Mother's jewelry was off limits, after all.

She tried to snarl, to fight, anything.  But still, locked out of her own body, almost out of her own mind...  the hazier half of her reached up around her neck, removing for the first time in months the pendant Ayda had given her, the Compass Points emblem dangling from it.  It would alert Ayda if it was removed against her will, but not if she removed it herself, that small part of her that was outside of both halves thought despondently as she placed the pendant around Aelwyn's neck instead, then leaned in and kissed her sister on the check.  Only hours removed from her afterlife, Aelwyn was unconscious, not even trancing but instead fully passed out.  Boggy and Moonlight were still resting on her; Adaine mentally ordered Boggy to stay with Aelwyn.

Hopefully, her sister wouldn't blame herself for whatever was about to happen.  Adaine hadn't been ready enough for this, either, it turned out.

Silent footsteps across to where Fig had fallen asleep and was loudly snoring; it was a testament to how tired everyone else was that no-one had woken from that.  Adaine's hand moved carefully to where she knew Fig had stored a special ruby, pulsing with infernal energy and warm to the touch as Adaine came out with it.

In the dream, Mother and Father smiled as she came back out with ruby earrings in place, and she flushed red under their attention.  Better than that necklace that was now around Aelwyn's throat, certainly.  It was Father who spoke this time.  "Girls, you both look wonderful.  I'm sure you'll do incredible in front of our guests."  The front door opened, and standing there was a tabaxi woman Adaine knew.

Kalina, that small portion of her mind that was currently her own whispered.

In the haze, she stepped out of the room within the Compass Points, walking past where Rowlings was managing the front desk, just waving to the old pirate and not bothering speaking with him as she strode past, out the front door and into the plaza in the night, down a ways and through an alley and behind a house and to where her Mother and Kalina were standing and waiting.

"See, Arianwen?  I've gotten her here.  You should go before it wears off; if she resists the teleport, it's going to be much more of a problem.  Have Angwyn start locking her down right away, but nothing that will damage her divinatory abilities.  I'll be along shortly, I want to say... hello to a few people."  Kalina said, tail flicking and teeth showing even as Adaine flung her will desperately at whatever this effect was.  Surely she could resist a Teleport, surely she wouldn't by dragged off to a fresh hell with her Father...

"Of course.  See, darling?  I told you we would be reunited."  Arianwen said, in that infuriating way of hers, and without actually drawing closer than the ten feet she had to be within for the spell.  Adaine felt herself being pulled into some place else, even as the dream began to unravel around her.

Too late, she came back into herself more fully, released from the dream and whatever had been done to her.  The smell of sea and salt and piss and vomit was gone, replaced with a much more earthy scene of dirt and forest.  They'd arrived just outside of a cabin, and Adaine snarled and pushed her fury into herself in a way that she hadn't fully since the fight with Kalvaxus, fur sprouting at her hands, claws growing, and..

"Ah, none of that, Adaine!"  Angwyn's voice sounded, a Hold Monster spell snapping into place and locking her in the middle of turning towards Arianwen, the transformation finishing but her memory holding in a way it often didn't in this form.  "Killian, restrain her, and retrieve the ruby."

A wood elf she did not recognize approached and placed manacles on her wrists and legs, made of silver judging by the immediate burning pain where they brushed against her fur-covered skin.  "I would have him muzzle you, Adaine, but we will need you to be able to speak if this is going to work.  Now, then.  Hold still, yes?"  Angwyn asked, as though she had a choice.

Enchantment magics started weaving onto her.  Ones she did not know, but that couldn't mean anything good for her.  She fought back, as hard as she could, now prepared for this, and pushed through the spell even though she did not recognize it.

A sigh.  "Always so stubborn, Adaine.  Just because you are a beast for now doesn't mean you have to act the part, too."  Angwyn said, but Arianwen spoke up at that point.

"Adaine, please.  What your father is trying to say is that we are here to help you.  You and your sister both.  You just need to give us a little help and cooperation, and we'll have you both set back to rights within a week or two, and then some.  Our whole family will be far better off and stronger together than we are apart."  Arianwen said, sighing and shaking her head even as Angwyn's hands crackled with another, even more severe looking spell.

Adaine was unable to reply through the spell holding her in place, unable to do much more than whimper slightly at the pain of it.  Still, she fought through that second spell as well.

Arianwen sighed as they seemed to realize it had failed once more.  "...We can try more once we've softened her up some, darling.  We can go ahead and start the regimen without her being cooperative, in any case.  Killian, be ready to carry her to the table, please.  Mind the teeth, it wouldn't do to have another creature around."

An outstretched hand from the woman who was supposed to have been her mother, and a Word, and Adaine screamed as pain wracked through her body, the hold monster spell dropping.  She could feel herself being lifted off her feet, but the pain from Arianwen's spell overrode even her fury, her claws shrinking back into her body, her wolf hybrid form retreating.  In spite of her anger and fear, it was an elf who Killian carried inside of the cabin and placed on a table within, surrounded by needles and potions and scrolls and all kinds of other things that couldn't possibly be good for her.

A prick of one of those needles, and the world started spinning around Adaine, dropping her shortly after into a dreamless darkness.


Riz stood guard outside of the door Fabian had finally started to rest in.  Fabian hadn't really drank all that much in the end the night before, or talked about exactly what had happened.  Riz would have to compare notes with Adaine later; she'd been the first to find him, after all, but Riz rather suspected she was working a similar vigil for Aelwyn at the moment following her death.

It was just kind of an unbelievable change.  They'd have to work through whatever had happened to steal all of his confidence, all of his usual skill, and then left him... cowering.  Afraid.  In a way that made Riz uncomfortable to see from any of his friends, but most especially whatever must have happened to make FABIAN act like this was undoubtedly a horror.

Riz had planned on just pulling an all-nighter when he'd started this watch, but in spite of how much he had tried to fight against them his entire life, his body did have certain requirements, like a demand for a constant stream of coffee for an all nighter.  Riz thought that Garthy might have coffee available, but that would hardly keep the door guarded, and so he was substituting with just a few moments of resting his eyes.

"Hey, kid."  A voice came from above him, where he'd ended up slumped against the doorway, and when he looked up Kalina was there, just as she'd appeared in that picture and as Adaine and Aelwyn had both described her.  Her foot was on his chest, pinning him in place.

That was a little more embarrassing since he knew she wasn't precisely real.

"Fuck!  What do you want?"  Riz said, lowering his voice after the curse, not wanting to pull Fabian out of his much-needed rest.

"What do I want?"  Kalina repeated, looking down at him.  "Did Aelwyn not tell you?  I suppose she didn't want to risk some of the rest of you showing some sense.  I want you all safely back in your homes in Solace, Riz, rather than interfering and getting yourselves killed.  You've already lost, after all, so why lose even more?  Just for some grade, for some old man who would have a better chance at this than you by far if he cared to ever deal with a problem directly?"

Riz stared up at her for a moment.  "We haven't lost yet.  And it's not just for some grade; it's going to be a problem for everyone if the Nightmare King returns.  I read some about the last time."  With Adaine's prompting, mostly, but it hadn't been good certainly.

Kalina laughed, a nasty sound that wasn't quite bitter.  "Did you really?  And you think you can believe everything you read, Riz?  Your father would be disappointed, to see you so wrong, if he could see you from Hell.  Wrong about so many important things, too.  Do you want to know what else you were wrong about, or would you rather it be a surprise?"  She leaned her face in.  "It would be a delight to see you surprised, I think, but I'm hopeful you still might reconsider before you make a bigger, dumber bet with your life, kid."

Riz felt his blood boiling, ignoring most of that last part to focus on the most important thing to him.  "My father was a good man.  He would never be in hell, and you should know it."

"The gods work in mysterious and often treacherous and stupid ways.  Did you think being good would protect you from that?"  And that was what a bitter Kalina sounded like, Riz realized, staring up at her.  "You know what, I will let it be a surprise, how wrong you are.  Wrong about your father and how he died, wrong about anything to do with this quest, wrong about whose door you should have been guarding tonight while they slept..."

He couldn't help it; he gave a gasp at that last one, and Kalina smiled down at him, or at least showed her teeth.  "Oh, oops.  Spoiled the surprise on that one, didn't I?  Maybe you and whoever else is left should go home, Riz, before something terrible happens to you, too, kid."

And then she was gone, and maybe it was just a trick to make him look silly but he couldn't choose to not look into it.  He started with Fabian, opening the door and going to shake him awake.  Riz would make certain each and every one of them were safe, and then they wouldn't be sleeping anywhere apart from each other for the rest of this quest.

 

Chapter 74: Vision

Summary:

Adaine takes her medication. Aelwyn misses her sister, but does have a frog.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

It was always good when a plan came together as it should, Arianwen Abernant decided.  Two key resources for the greater plot obtained in one stroke, with the assistance of their ally - a key to get into the Forest, and guidance for how to make the rituals they were planning both fire off successfully.

One was much more important than the other, of course.  No point in bringing the Nightmare King back if their payment did not work as needed.

It would just now be a matter of seeing if the research and experiments they had stolen really did have any fruits.  It was almost certain, from what the notes wrote of testing with lesser diviners, that Adaine would suffer some lasting damage from this.  Perhaps the ritual would fix it; if not, it was the price of a lack of cooperation on Adaine's part.

Arianwen held the potion she had been mixing up in front of her, and sighed, looking over to her husband.  "It is ready.  Have you finished?"  Angwyn's part in this was no less tricky; too many enchantments on Adaine, and the Oracle's talents wouldn't function.  Too few, on the other hand, would leave Adaine as stubborn as ever, unwilling to share whatever insights she gained through the potion.  She must be compelled to speak and speak truthfully, and not to escape or attempt to maul them, at a minimum.

"Almost.  Another few minutes."  Her husband replied, where he was working a series of enchantments over Adaine's sedated form where they had laid her onto a table, and really he seemed to be taking a bit too much delight in having regained just one of their daughters.  Aelwyn was still absent, after all, and truthfully so long as they remained werewolves neither of them were truly their daughters.  Feral creatures, far more, no matter that they seemed to have some shade of the personalities the girls had once had.

Well.  It wouldn't be a problem soon.  That was part of the point of the ritual, after all, part of why they needed to gather as much power for it as they possibly could.  It WAS a pity they hadn't been able to gather Aelwyn as well, but even if she was more likely to be cooperative than Adaine, containing two werewolves would have been far too dangerous, and Aelwyn wouldn't be nearly as useful.  They could retrieve her after, get all of them back together to return to Fallinel triumphant.

Arianwen gave the potion one more shake, glancing over as her husband finished.  "Nothing that will impair her mind from doing what it must, yes?"

"Of course, dear."  Angwyn replied, a tone in his voice she didn't love, but she had reminded him of that thrice already so she supposed it was fair.  "We'll start with what the experimental notes suggested as a standard dose, then."  The speculation had been that the dosage might be different for the Oracle versus another diviner, but whether that was lower or higher had been uncertain.  They would have to adjust on the fly; there wasn't enough time to play it too safe.  Kalina would want them to move, now that they had the devil's stone.

Arianwen leaned in over Adaine's unconscious form, still dressed in the short sleeve shirt and skirt that she'd had on when Kalina had brought her.  A number of scars were obvious on her, including what must have been the cursed bite to begin with and the rather unsightly tattoo on her foot.  The ritual probably wouldn't get rid of those, but they could clean them off after with lesser magics; neither would do for the Elven Oracle, especially if she was being more active in taking control after the current unpleasantness.  Not a worry for the moment, but something to plan for.

She prepared another syringe with the potion, injecting it carefully into Adaine, watching to see if there were any immediate signs.  None would have been expected - it typically took about half an hour for anything to show in the test subjects, and that wasn't starting with them sedated, though that should have been wearing off any time now anyways.

It was a little bit of a surprise when Adaine started to thrash about almost right away, Arianwen springing back with a bit more haste than she normally liked to need to show, convulsions wracking through the Oracle on the table, her head slamming back into it.  She started to speak, but it was a fevered speech, incomprehensible as individual words if it was even in a real language and not simply in tongues.

"Angwyn, hold her, please."  Arianwen said, frowning at the thrashing, and then as that stopped but quite clearly was still being tried within her husband's Hold Monster.  Adaine's eyes were open and blazing silver now, and a foamy spit was starting to escape from her mouth and her nose.  A failed experiment; too high a dose, or maybe just too much at once from nothing.

Another, much stronger dose of the sedative and she was out again, if still seeming to twitch a bit, probably still having premonitions for dreams.

"...We'll have to work her up to that, I think.  Keep her on a lower grade of it for a long time."  Arianwen decided.  "Maybe change the compulsions slightly too.  We'll come back to it after a break to let the current dose clear out."

They couldn't wait long, though.  They had places to be and rituals to conduct.  If the success of that meant pain for their wayward daughter, then so be it.


Aelwyn couldn't exactly call what she fell into a rest, exactly.  It certainly wasn't a trance, and it wasn't the sort of sleep that she had when she very occasionally slept as a wolf; it was something that before yesterday she would have called like being dead except it turned out that being dead had actually been quite vibrant.

For one thing, she really didn't feel much better when she woke up than she had after being brought back by Tracker yesterday.  There was a lot of commotion for one thing, more shouting than she'd thought Ayda would allow in the Compass Points if that was still where they were, and it was several voices.  There was a weight on her chest - Boggy and Moonlight both were on top of her, something that did help keep her from panic for a moment, at least until a hand roughly shook at her shoulder.

She cracked her eyes open, looking up and seeing that Riz had joined Kristen, Tracker, and Fig in the room with her.  Adaine and Ayda had evidently left at some point.  Tracker looked almost as exhausted as Aelwyn felt, but Riz looked worried beyond measure.

"Kalina talked to me, and said I was guarding the wrong person, and we can't find Adaine."  He said, plainly, and Aelwyn struggled and sat up, Moonlight climbing onto her shoulder as she did, Boggy rolling down into her lap...

...And a chain around her neck made itself clear, an amulet that had been placed around her unnoticed dropping down and dangling.  A chill ran through her as she reached down and grabbed it, staring down at the Compass Points amulet that had been around Adaine's neck since sometime between when Aelwyn had tried to murder her and when Adaine had rescued her from the hell that had been Fallinel.

"...Oh, fuck."  She breathed out, looking back up at Riz wide-eyed.  

Kristen picked up and held something off the ground.  "Here's her jacket, too."  

Aelwyn didn't hesitate; she'd thankfully been keeping Sending prepared for the event that they got split up as a group again.  "Adaine, where did you go?  Are you okay?  We're worried you might be in trouble, so please respond."

No answer came in return, though the knowledge that Adaine had received this message did come through.  "She's alive but not responsive.  You said Kalina said you were guarding the wrong person?"  Not that Riz should feel bad about it, half of them had been in the room, whatever had happened.  "Do you know where Ayda is?"

Fig shook her head.  "No, but she wouldn't have expected us up this early, she might be busy.  You don't think something happened to her too, did it?"

"I doubt it, but she's far more likely to have the tools to find Adaine than I am."  Aelwyn said, shutting her eyes for a moment.  She could dredge up enough energy to send off another message, surely.  "Ayda.  Adaine's missing.  Can you get down here right away?  We need your help, please."  

Ayda, to her credit, barely had responded "I will be right there, Aelwyn O'Shaughnessey" before she was there, but by then Aelwyn was starting to shake off some of the numbness and replace it with sheer terror.  Kalina had clearly had plans for Adaine for a long time, and Adaine being alive was only a small comfort given what kind of horrible things she might go through.

It certainly didn't help when Ayda frowned a few moments after arriving, accepting the pendant back from Aelwyn and starting to work magic.  "...She is not within Leviathan anymore.  It will take quite a while longer before I will be able to track her closer than that.  Some of you may want to ask and see if anyone else saw what might have happened, if she was entranced like Figueroth was; I know that she did not have a long range teleportation spell of her own."

In spite of feeling like a slightly reheated corpse, Aelwyn dragged herself to her feet.  It was her Oath to do anything she could to help with protecting and saving someone she loved, after all.

If only that didn't feel so hopeless, right this moment.


Adaine floated, somewhere between a dream and a trance.  Eyes were all around her, just out of sight but clearly on her.  She had a headache, fiercely pulsing painfully, and no memory of just why she might have such a thing.  She hadn't drunk anything at the Gold Gardens the night before.

At the thought of drinking anything, memories flooded into her brain.  One was solid, of Fig at the Solstice party in their freshman year, spiking the hot chocolate and sending Adaine into long slumber from a bad interaction, of the aftermath of that and then all the spiraling effects of Kristen and Tracker choosing to help keep her safe and of her being able to use certain drugs safely and all the indulgences there, right up to sharing a joint with Aelwyn only a few days ago.

That was enough to make her head hurt, but it was nothing compared the the less solid memories.  Instead of one possible future, one vision, she was assailed by them, endless visions of future versions on her that had been forced off the anxiety medications or had been drugged by someone less kind than Fig or had changed to something with different interactions or had decided to just have one glass to celebrate with Aelwyn or it was expected of the Elven Oracle at State Dinners and she MUST do what was expected or this or that or or or or...

A thousand thousand maybe-future drinks slammed into her mind because of her one stray thought.  She thought she knew why she had the headache now.

The thought of it sent her looking back, at a solid memory of a place she'd never been, a research facility in Fallinel that did not make her think any better of the place.  Before she really had time to explore it, though she immediately knew she must be being treated to the results of that research, a voice boomed through her mind, and she knew that she would not be able to disobey it.

It was her mother's voice.

"When must we depart Arborly by in order to have a future in which the Wish ritual and the rebirth of the Nightmare King are both successful?  What preparations must we make?"

This time, the thought was forced, and it was worse.  How soon her party, Aelwyn, Ayda, and everyone else would arrive depended on a whole lot of factors.  Two to three days seemed to be the most common, but there were a few where it was much quicker...  And she could see the aftermath, as much as she felt like her head was on fire to do it.  There was a wet hot feeling running down her face, as though she had a nosebleed, and since she didn't in whatever dream space this was it probably was happening to her actual body.  

A hasty departure would leave behind information, would allow the party to arm themselves.  It might not help, but while she had to answer truthfully she could choose between truths if they didn't catch on, and she had to try.  She spoke into the sky, but she could feel her actual lips moving.  She was answering in reality, too.

"You must leave immediately.  Gather only what is absolutely essential to performing the rituals before entering."  

Notes:

So yeah! Hope you don't mind this party being split for a little bit. Or kind of trippy visions of the past and future, because that's what Adaine's next several PoVs will be.

It's fiiiiine everything is fiiiiine she's just having her brain overheated by having to see far too many possibilities (and is in the care of people who do not view her as a person.)

Chapter 75: Mother

Summary:

Aelwyn gets the message. Adaine finds a future worth working for.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Needing to trust in Ayda to find where Adaine had gone was true, but it wasn't easy, Aelwyn thought.  The best thing that she (and Tracker, who was nearly as hurt) could do to help her sister was to be ready to go once Ayda had that location, ready for a fight at that very moment to get her back from Kalina or their mother and father or whoever had her...

...It was a lot easier to know that then it was to do it, but she was trying, even going to far as to go into her wolf form for a while and getting Fig to hit her with a sleep spell.

She'd come out of that and managed to change back into an elf, at least, deciding to go and check with Ayda to see if there'd been any updates.  Adaine had been spotted walking out of the library, but they had yet to find anyone who had seen her in Leviathan at large before she'd left the city.

Boggy had stuck around.  Aelwyn was pretty certain he would only vanish if something caused him to be dismissed or if Adaine summoned him wherever she was, though.  It was still something of a weird comfort to have him there, even without Adaine.  A little piece of her magic that was floating around, or maybe even of her spirit.

Aelwyn took him along with her to go and find Ayda.

"Ah, Aelwyn O'Shaughnessey," Ayda said, looking rather exhausted by her standards.  Aelwyn could hardly blame her.  "I have not yet found an exact location for your sister; however, I am confident of a general direction.  She is to the south.  Another day's worth of spells and I should be able to narrow it considerably."

Aelwyn nodded, offering Boggy out silently.  "I'm going to try Sending again, now that I have some energy.  Maybe whatever effect that kept her from replying before will have worn off."  It was hopelessly optimistic, but she had to try; if Adaine was just imprisoned, they might be able to get more rapid information than what Ayda could get.

Ayda held Boggy, and Moonlight chittered even as Aelwyn cast, hoping against hope that Adaine would answer.

"Adaine, we're coming to help you.  Any information that you can give would be helpful, the sooner we get there the better."  Aelwyn said, releasing the spell a few words before the limit.  The limit that she knew of no way to break, and it had been powered by her magic.

Evidently, her magic was not the only one in use in the exchange.

She rocked backwards as though she'd been shot with Riz's gun in the head as not one response but an incomprehensible chorus of replies came through, all giving different information, all worded slightly different, all directly into her mind, all Adaine somehow.  Thousands or tens of thousands or millions of her.  Aelwyn was stunned, and felt blood trickling down out of her nose from the sudden unexpected assault as she dropped to the floor, even as Ayda made noises of panic and Moonlight protested, nudging at her face with her nose.

Ayda evidently summoned Kristen and Fig through a Sending of her own, and Aelwyn didn't manage to sit back up until Kristen's healing magic helped, but in that time she had plenty of time to think on what had just happened, to replay it in her mind.

And...  in that reply, one word HAD managed to come through, said by almost all of the replies.

A place, she hoped, though it wasn't a location that Aelwyn was familiar with by name.

Arborly.


Fabian sat at a table at the Gold Gardens, with Riz and Gorgug, and tried not to feel useless.  Adaine was missing, stolen away again, and probably without any plan for an escape now.  Their wizards were working on it, he knew, but there was nothing he could do for her.

Nothing he could do for the warlocks of his father, either, who had been so impressed to have him along and then so unimpressed by the reality of him.  By who he was.  Who wouldn't be unimpressed at this point?  The skills he had learned were useless; he'd needed to be rescued, and Riz had even been guarding him when Adaine had been kidnapped.

"It's going to be okay, you know?  You just need to pull yourself back together.  We'll get her back."  Gorgug said, seeming to sense his mood, looking at him with eyes that were kind enough but didn't understand at all.

Papa had expected him to be his legacy, but hadn't taught him in a way that let him understand this place at all, not really.  Had expected everything, right up to and including expecting Fabian to kill him at the end, and Fabian had done everything he could to live up to those expectations, and hadn't been given the tools to do so.

It wasn't fair, not at all, and at the least if he was going to fail he should have had his papa there.  Should have been contacted from beyond the grave by him if anyone was going to be, instead of whatever the marketing scheme of warlocking that had been set up by him was.

A spark of anger boiled inside of Fabian, covered up for now by the lack of anything on this plane he could direct it at.


Adaine knew that her body was currently being almost puppeted, forced to walk along with her Mother and Father into the woods.  She knew because she could see having left, and she could see all the myriad futures in which they were in the forest, but her awareness of the present was almost completely absent.  She didn't think she'd been administered more of the drugs; at the least, she hadn't been questioned yet for more details about the future, something she knew would be coming soon enough, and the intensity of the visions had settled down... a little bit.  Not enough.  

Her head was pounding with pain, and there was an aching in her feet and legs that might be from the current moment and might be from the most likely futures that were all involving a long walk into the woods.  She was only vaguely certain just how much time was passing - her visions were far better about showing her what then they were about giving her a when.

Eventually, there was an intrusion into her mind, but it wasn't from any of her captors.  Instead, it was Aelwyn's voice, a little feeble but better than the last time Adaine had heard it fresh off of being raised, asking for information on where she was.

In spite of herself, as she tried to answer, she found her mind being flooded by visions again.  "We just left Arborly, I think I tricked them into leaving behind information that will help, you need to get there quickly.  Be safe, please."  She replied within this one, but something.. something happened, and there was a drain on her own arcane resources as she replied.  As she replied more than once, from whatever the drugs were doing to allow her to see all these separate futures.  Well, hopefully Aelwyn would get the right thing out of it.

Adaine's mind, now focused onto her sister, was going to be busy dealing with what might happen to her.

Flickers of Aelwyn dead in Arborly, in a sea of lava, in the Forest.  Many, many, many possibilities for ways, but most frequently at the hands of one of their parents, grossly enough.  Another, maybe worse - Aelwyn would almost certainly claim it worse - Aelwyn trapped inside of an orb, unresting.  The shell of her being contained, and that one stretched on for nearly an eternity; Adaine wasn't certain what had happened to displease their parents so much as to waste the resources but knew for a fact that Aelwyn would vastly prefer the futures where she was simply dead.

Others, maybe less bad than that, maybe worse where she was deadeyed and being controlled by layer after layer of enchantment.  Maybe she, too, was in her own mind in those; maybe, without the need for allowing her to have access to an Oracle's power, Aelwyn wasn't allowed even that by their parents or Kalina.

Show me a future where she can be happy, Adaine thought, despairing.  There must be at least one.

Many of the paths dropped away from her mind, and she was able to focus on a single one, ignoring that there were still a multitude of other possibilities and definitely ignoring that that multitude was so much smaller than the number of futures where Aelwyn ended up dead soon, or enthralled again by Kalina or their parents, or trapped back in an orb with no rescue coming.  This was one of the furthest out, past almost anything else that could happen to her that Adaine had the foresight to see.

This vision didn't include Aelwyn, at first.  Instead, she was in a place she knew, though it had been resurfaced and was thrumming with magics of protection and preservation in a way that Adaine had seldom felt before on even the most allegedly secure locations.

She was in the kitchen slash dining room of Mordred Manor, at a point in time where it long since should have rotted to the ground and it had not.  Two teenaged human boys chased each other through the room and then outside, laughing.

Or..  no.  Not quite human, not anymore; even though her own body wasn't truly in this place she could still sense it.  Werewolves.

Still not certain of where Aelwyn was in this future, but curious about the house, Adaine started to wander through it.  The manor's layout hadn't been substantially changed, though it did look like a room that Adaine was pretty certain was just a storage room at the Mordred of now had been converted into an additional bathroom at a peak.  The house was mostly quiet at that exact moment, but clearly well loved as she passed bedrooms with strands of lights and comfortable beds and drawings posted and that same protective magic running throughout.

Without really making the decision, she found herself climbing the spiral stairs to the wizard's tower, to the bedroom that she and Aelwyn shared currently, and she was correct that Aelwyn was there, sitting on a chair and looking at the person to whom this bedroom must now belong, Adaine realized instantly.  She was torn on which of them to look over first, but it was Aelwyn, sitting in a cozy chair, who she had looked at this future for.

Aelwyn was...  was elderly, really.  Elderly in a way that high elves normally never were, no matter how long they lived.  Her once-blonde hair was completely grey, and thicker than it had been in her youth.  Between that and the set of her face now, she had something of a wolfish visage, and she was heavily wrinkled in a way that somehow made the still-thick scars on her wrists and ankles seem less obvious, along with a number of scars Adaine didn't know the source of that she must have picked up over the years.  She was wearing what looked like an outfit picked for comfort, a fuzzy sweater over shorts, and she was speaking with the person who must actually live in this room now.

There was no bed in here, but there was a small perch dangling from the ceiling, meant for the child incarnation of Ayda that could not at this time be older than ten, her flames smaller but no less intense, and Adaine felt a surge of affection for the both of them.  Ayda was the one actually talking, once Adaine got close enough to hear.

"...would be disappointed in me if I did?"  Ayda asked, a familiar serious frown on her face, and Aelwyn shook her head in response, before speaking in a slightly croakier version of her current voice.

"Ayda, darling.  I would only be disappointed in you if you chose to do something just because you would think it what I want.  I've known many versions of you, and every one of you has been different from the others, but every one of you has been a delight.  All I want for you is to be as happy as you can; if you feel the tug of adventure, this time, then that's wonderful and I'll do everything I can to prepare you for it, for the world at large.  Just know that this place is your legacy as much as it is mine, and you are always welcome to come home when you need to."

She lost her grip on the vision, it slipping away even as Ayda and Aelwyn continued talking, but.. that was the version of Aelwyn that Aelwyn wanted to be, Adaine thought.  There was at least one way left for them to get to it.

Adaine, her mind still feeling overheated and overloaded, started tugging at the strings of the future, trying to find the set of actions she should take to head towards that road, that future where at least some of them would get to be happy, with ruin on either side if the slightest thing went wrong along the way.

Notes:

And with this chapter we cross the 200k mark! We're in the legitimate home stretch now so there's a good chance this is the last milestone like this we hit (though it might get to 250k).

This future vision of a foster mom to werewolves (and half-phoenixes) Aelwyn has been hinted at more than once throughout the back half of the story, but we're a little more explicit about it here and I hope people like it.

Chapter 76: Village

Summary:

Ayda rolls a teleport mishap. Aelwyn plays diplomat.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

It turned out that Fig had a connection to the town of Arborly, made through some Gnomish music producer she and Gorgug had met during their tour the prior summer.

"Yeah, I think we can just crash there long enough to find Adaine and get out of there.  Or maybe we'll be lucky and find her and the crown together."  Fig said, pounding a fist into her open palm where they had gathered near the van.  "Two for one and then we're done."

Aelwyn suspected it wouldn't be anywhere near that easy, of course, but she knew Fig wouldn't actually think that it was, either.  Ayda had needed to regain her spells from what she had burned through looking for Adaine's precise location before she would be able to teleport; she was preparing for the spell now, looking at a map of the area.  This town was on the outskirts of the Forest of the Nightmare King, in what had been Sylvaire once upon a time.

While it was best for them to get there as soon as possible, it would also be best for them to not end up teleporting to the wrong place, which would always be a risk since Ayda hadn't been there and there was no arcane circle there but could be reduced by her studying the available information on the town.

If they misfired, they could easily end up just about anywhere.  Aelwyn had always been careful with the spell, back when she'd still been able to cast it, and that had not been at a time in her life when she had been careful about very much at all.

The rest of Adaine's party seemed much more eager this morning than they had right after Adaine had vanished, much more resilient than Aelwyn herself felt.  Maybe that was the fragility and exhaustion of her death and the silver powder burning through her lungs; it had lightened a little bit, but every breath was still a tiny piece of agony, on top of her generally cruddy feeling, though at least the headache she'd had after Sending to Adaine had passed.

Tracker and Ragh were already in the van when Aelwyn quietly climbed in, Tracker still looking what was for her quite pale where she was sitting in the furthest back seat.  Aelwyn made her own way back there, sitting down next to Tracker, keeping quiet for the moment, resting her hands on Moonlight who climbed into her lap.

It was Tracker who broke that silence, her voice much more rough than normal, and of course it was with concern about Aelwyn rather than any worry about herself.  "You doing alright?"

There were a bare handful of people in all of Spyre Aelwyn both owed and would give an honest answer to that question to, but Tracker was one of them.  "No."  She said, shaking her head and reaching into a bag along her side; she had Adaine's Compass Points pendant in there, the metal cool against her hand, Ayda having entrusted it back to her after using it to locate Adaine.  Boggy was with Ayda for the moment, providing a stronger link than any other object could to his summoner for further divinations.

Tracker seemed to understand that she didn't really want to elaborate, resting a hand on the top of her head comfortingly.  "It might be a little bit, if you want to try to nap or trance.  I can wake you if they need you."

Aelwyn considered the offer, then shook her head.  "No, I should be okay.  Ayda might be ready to go any minute now."  It was true enough, but Aelwyn still let herself zone out for a few moments, not a trance at all but at least a somewhat comfortable moment during which she carefully tried not to think of any of their theories of what could possibly have happened to Adaine to cause the effect that the last Sending had had.  The pressure of Tracker's hand against the top of her head did help with that.

It wasn't that long before the others piled into the van, Ayda the last to climb in, the entire vehicle shaking as Baxter landed atop it.

"Bracing yourselves may be advisable.  Teleporting unfamiliar places has a high chance of going wrong."  Ayda warned, before beginning her incantation after nobody objected.  Aelwyn watched her at work, trying not to feel jealous of the casual mastery Ayda showed over the spell.  She was putting it at their disposal, after all; it was hardly Ayda's fault Aelwyn could no longer command that level of magic.

The mastery wasn't quite as masterous as it could have been; after the spell kicked in, Aelwyn had just a moment to regret not having prepared Feather Fall, the tug of gravity driving the van straight down.  In that moment Aelwyn managed to wrap Tracker, still fragile, in her ward but couldn't quite fit it around the both of them.  A second or so later, the van crashed into the ground, sending Aelwyn face-first into the seat in front of her even as Moonlight's claws dug into her leg with a chittering complaint, creaking and the sounds of the van settling and everybody else pulling themselves out and checking that they hadn't been hurt badly.

"...I hope you were all sufficiently braced.  We are here."  Ayda said, managing to sound completely unruffled, and Aelwyn looked out the window at the foggy forest outside, a chill running down her spine.


It would have been nice to be able to enjoy her rock star status to absolutely trash the producer's house with a wild party, Fig thought as she left Gorgug trying to do something with his now somewhat-crumpled van and everyone else unloading out into the yard of the tree, but it wouldn't exactly be appropriate while her best friend was missing.  They'd find Adaine, and then they would party, and...

...And right now, right this moment, there was something calling to her.

A tidal wave of brambles and twisted trees and a nightmare of a forest was in the far distance, visible above the treeline of the more normal forest in the immediate area.  She wasn't certain how long she stared at it exactly before she was brought out of her reverie by Ayda stepping in front of her.

"Are you well, my paramour?"  Concern, of course, but shown in Ayda's own way.  Fig glanced around, making certain that nobody was looking before standing on her tiptoes for a quick kiss.

"Yeah, I think so.  Any bead on Adaine?"  Fig asked, hoping against hope that she would still be in the immediate area though she suspected it would not be as easy as that.

"...She is somewhere in the direction you were staring from the best information I can derive.  Every spell I use is being interfered with in some manner; the results are not consistent.  We will likely need to pursue her into the forest in order to retrieve her."  Ayda said, seeming unworried about such a dangerous task.

Or maybe just willing to risk it for her first and best friend, Fig knew, a rush of love flooding through her.  Another kiss was fine.  Then they could get to work.

The plan had been to ask around this village for information about Adaine, or maybe about the Abernants or about Kalina, but Fig wouldn't question an instinct as strong as what she had now.  "Hey, can you help me get to the weird-looking tree barrier?  I think there's something there that I need to check."

Soon enough, they were getting a bird's eye view of the forest and village as Ayda carried her through the sky, the trees that had been carved into homes, the village almost hidden as though worried about being noticed on the outskirts of what from this perspective looked like a disaster about to crash down upon it, one they were heading straight for.

They landed about fifteen feet from the edge of it, and up close it was all the more impressive, a clear view of how it seemed like a true barrier.  Fig moved up to it, Ayda just behind her.  "It's a most impressive bit of spellwork."  Ayda spoke up, and Fig suspected she was looking at it with senses beyond the ordinary.  "There is something infernal about it.  We possibly should get Aelwyn O'Shaughnessey to look, as well; she frequently has insight about the construction of magic, and I have never seen the like of this, but it is abjurative at its core."

That might be a good idea, but Fig wasn't going to try to bring Aelwyn in on it right this moment; she instead reached a hand out, touching at one of the vines while carefully avoiding the thorns.

"We can probably just cut through it, I think.  Get a fucking chainsaw, maybe, and make our way straight to Adaine."  Fig said, frowning.  "I don't want to leave her a second longer than we have to."

She continued to think that might be a workable plan right up until Ayda joined her and the thorns came alive to try to strike her paramour down.


They weren't even out of the manor's yard that Ayda had teleported them into before they were being confronted by the locals.  Aelwyn wasn't certain where everyone else was - they had split up to search through the tree for supplies and food and maybe somewhere they could make a base of operations while Gorgug looked to see if he could do anything at all to fix the damage the van had taken from its sudden unexpected descent - but she and Gorgug were the only ones there when a number of archers had made themselves known.

A large number.  At least twenty that Aelwyn could see, with arrows nocked.  She was not at all certain that those were all of the archers, either; they would be far more used to this environment than she was.

Globe of Invulnerability was another spell that Aelwyn had been capable of once upon a time but was no longer.  She was missing those more and more lately, it seemed.  Hopefully this wouldn't end with her made into a pincushion; that would be a tremendously uncomfortable way to die.  They seemed more focused on Gorgug and the van, however.

"You, invader!  Explain yourself and this machine or die."  In Elvish, which to Aelwyn's knowledge Gorgug didn't speak, though he was squinting in the direction of the lead archer.

Deciding she had better intervene before things really went wrong Aelwyn strode forward and spoke up, in Elvish herself.  She didn't actually speak Sylvan, if these people did; Sandra Lynn did, but Aelwyn was pretty certain she was doing some scouting on Baxter.  A shame, because these looked like rangers and she might have been better for this than Aelwyn.

She'd have to do her best, and the lead ranger looked almost impossible to make happy.  Aelwyn reached back into her childhood, to that part of herself she tried not to show very much anymore, and spoke very carefully and properly.

"He doesn't speak Elvish.  We are here on a quest from Solace; one of our members knew the owner of this estate, and had permission to stay here while we work on our quest.  We had a minor accident when we were teleporting in, which is why you may have heard a loud crashing noise.  I am sorry about the disruption, but it was unintended."  Aelwyn said, folding her hands in front of her.

She must have been out of practice at it.  The woman did not seem to be impressed, at least, by her politeness.

"...You speak with a Fallinel accent, high elf, but you claim to be from Solace?  And that you somehow know a resident of Arbory from there?"  A sneering disbelief, and Aelwyn was thrown a little off-balance by that.

"I am a citizen of Solace now, yes.  I immigrated from Fallinel, along with my sister."  It was close enough to true, or rather was just dropping a lot of the complexities of the story.  "Among other things, she was captured, and we believe she was brought to near here.  We're also attempting to find the Crown of the Nightmare King before it can be returned to the forest."  She finally decided to offer, and that last part at least got a reaction out of a lot of the archers.

It also got a creature she hadn't even noticed to speak up, a fox that was near the lead archer.  "...The Crown of the Nightmare King, you say?  That is sealed away securely in a vault in Solace; surely they would never allow it to be removed from the heavy guard they must be putting on it."

Aelwyn carefully didn't think about how it had been described as just sitting on a shelf in Arthur Aguefort's office, nor about that it could almost directly be traced to her own actions that her mother had had the opportunity to steal it.  None of that was going to make these people less upset with them.  Instead...

"It was in the care of Solace's greatest and most powerful hero, in the place of the most power within his fortress.  Unfortunately, he was temporarily slain for a time last year, and during that time some of his works were disrupted.  The Crown was stolen during that brief window of vulnerability, and we have been sent to track it back down.  It was last known to be in possession of an older high elf woman, if you have seen any visitors like that."  Aelwyn dug her crystal out, as she spoke.  She didn't have any pictures of her parents, but she found a good one of Adaine in her elven form, turning it towards the group.  "Or if you've seen my sister."  Best not to mention the lycanthropy either; she suspected if she made it clear that she was a werewolf herself, she'd be dealing with those arrows after all.

The lead ranger frowned.  "Not her, but I have seen an older woman in town, accompanied by her husband.  They were both quite rude; she was here before he was, and I believe they were staying at the inn in town, the Owl and the Harp.  They vanished a few days ago."

The fox spoke back up.  "I believe you, even though you seem quite young to be sent on such a key mission.  If the Nightmare King may get back their crown, anything we can do to help stop it will be at your disposal.  Please, ask for anything that you need."

Aelwyn, feeling a bit of despair starting to sink in, tried to get as complete a picture that she could pass along to the others as possible, but a part of her could not help but worry.  These people, this city, they would all be wiped out if they failed and the Nightmare King returned; were they wrong, to think that Solace should have treated it more seriously than sending students?

Something to worry about later.  They were the ones who were here now.

Notes:

Hiiii please don't kill me I've been kind of blocked on this for a bit but I think it's time to try and bring it to a conclusion so here we go. I can only hope that the ending that I have planned will be satisfying to those who have read to this point, not least including myself; I've had the picture of it in mind forever but translating that to words in a narrative is never guaranteed.

Chapter 77: Ritual

Summary:

Adaine sees herself and doesn't care for it. Aelwyn finds hope amidst death.

Notes:

Well then! I have something of a deadline now to get this thing done, don't I? Guess I'd best make myself fixate onto it until it's finished. I'm certain that this will work as a strategy!

That being said... JUNIOR YEAR MORE CANON TO PLAY WITH! I'm sure a lot of my favorite headcanons will get disrupted, potentially including things like the age difference between the sisters (ages are wildly inconsistent in Fantasy High/FHSY, but Adaine and Aelwyn are stated to be 16 and 18 respectively in the finale) but I don't care I'm so happy.

Chapter Text

This close to the Nightmare Forest, Aelwyn was not necessarily happy that the party had split up, especially without really going over it to start with.  She wasn't certain where Fig or Ayda had gone, but Gorgug had decided to go to the Tinkerer's hall, and some of the others had gone with him.  They were mostly going to be seeing if someone could help with repairing the van, but Aelwyn had gotten a promise out of Gorgug that he would ask if either Mother or Father had been there.

She'd managed to snag Riz, at least, before he'd split off; Kristen, Tracker, and Sandra Lynn had gone to look for Fig and Ayda.

"Let's see if we can find where my parents were staying.  The locals mentioned an inn here."  Aelwyn told Riz, who hadn't really fought her on it.  Ayda would have been very useful to have along, but better to look sooner rather than to wait on her to get back, and this close to the Forest Aelwyn didn't want to burn through spells for Sending if she didn't have to.

The village wasn't large, probably because of being an insanely ambitious reclamation project, and it did not take terribly long for the two of them to find the Owl and the Harp in the middle of the town.

"How should we...  you know, go about asking for them?  Can you do the talking?"  Riz asked, seeming oddly nervous to Aelwyn, at least.

"Isn't talking to people a pretty big part of investigating crimes?"  She asked, raising an eyebrow before shaking her head.  "You should work on that, but I suppose now isn't the time."  Aelwyn was certainly fully capable of asking a few questions, anyway.  The inn was fairly quiet, no surprise this early in the morning, but it looked to be primarily a restaurant and bar that maybe had a few rooms.  That made sense; Arborly couldn't get travelers THAT frequently.

There was a wood elf cleaning the bar, who squinted at them before looking at least slightly surprised.  "Travelers?  Are you looking to get rooms?"

"Not right now, but something to eat wouldn't go amiss.  We're looking for an elven couple who came through here, maybe with a girl a few years younger than me."  Aelwyn said, showing the best picture of an elven Adaine that she had.  "The woman would have looked a lot like me, but with much longer hair and thick glasses."  Aelwyn's own hair was back to shoulder length, at least, but a far cry from the length she'd once kept it or that of her mother.

The innkeeper was scowling, though, as soon as she described mother.  "Didn't see the girl, but this woman and her husband checked out a week ago.  Been here for a little while.  Cheated me on the bill; the money they paid was an illusion, but they were gone before it wore off.  It wasn't a small bill, either.  Set me back for the year a hefty amount."

Aelwyn blinked in a slight disbelief at that, spotting Riz narrowing his eyes at her out of the corner of his eye, but nodded.  "Well.  I'm not surprised by that.  Was there anyone in town they were working with, or anywhere they asked directions for?  I'm after them for unrelated reasons, but if I can find them then I'll do what I can to make certain you get made whole."  She didn't really have very much money herself, but Adaine had some from Kalvaxus' hoard and the bill couldn't be that much.

The bartender watched her for a moment, scrubbing at a glass that didn't really seem to be getting any cleaner, before sighing.  "They were working with a local named Killian.  A deeply unpleasant man, a wood elf from town.  You'll recognize him if you find him; he's the only elf in town who can grown a beard."

Aelwyn nodded, considering for a moment.  A week would have been well before Adaine had been taken from Leviathan; they must have had a base of operations where holding her captive wouldn't draw as much attention.  "Do you happen to know where Killian lives, then?"

It wasn't long before they were stepping outside and back into the misty morning, Riz behind her, directions to a cabin just outside of town that Killian had apparently resided in freshly obtained.

"Something wrong with that information?"  Riz asked, and of course he had noticed her reaction.

"...It's a little beneath what my parents would have considered their dignity to use an illusion to trick someone into not paying them.  They must be running low on funds.  They certainly would have cheated someone before, but not in a way that made them a 'common' criminal."  Aelwyn said, with a shrug.  "It probably doesn't matter, if they're already into the forest, it's just odd.  What do you think, straight to the cabin or should we try to get the others first?"

Riz seemed to think that over, before deciding.  "You can Sending if we need to get them, right?  Let's go take a look ourselves, before we make the place too crowded.

A nod to that, and Aelwyn followed along, a hand scratching along the top of Moonlight's head for reassurance as they went.


Just what was happening to her body at the moment, Adaine was not entirely certain.  Nothing good, she knew, but it didn't necessarily matter right now:  Between the divination drugs, and the enchantment magic that was layered onto her, she couldn't really affect it in any way.  They were in the forest somewhere, and she was being made to march along, and that would be happening for quite some time or maybe had been happening for quite some time or...

She was having a hard time telling when she was, in short, without even getting into the headaches that were creeping in that must be a side effect of this drug.  The amount of damage likely being done to her at the moment was one more piece of wood on the fire of things Adaine didn't want to think about right now.

The best she could do instead was look to the far future, to see if she could find any way she would be able to influence it into a direction that was better or worse.  There were so many possibilities, endless ones; there still must be something she was able to do.

But it needed to start by her looking in on the one that was by far the most common converging point, the way that almost all of the paths now ended, the one that she was terrified of on an instinctive level without even looking.  Her anxiety medications had started flushing out of her system by now, certainly not helping anything, but.. she did not think that that was the only reason she was afraid.

She allowed a vision of that future to overtake her, and found herself standing near a line of high elves, heading through an ivory doorway and into what looked at a glance like an elaborate room.  She followed along the line, not having to worry about being stopped or seen in this sort of a vision, and moved past and through elves as they went through that room and up some stairs and to an office and finally to a door with two guards on either side that was shut.  A man, dressed all in black, came out through that door as Adaine reached it.

"The Oracle will be unable to see any more petitioners today.  You may return in two weeks' time for the next open session."

That started what, for high elves, was quite the outcry, and looking at them closer Adaine realized many of them looked underfed, or afraid, or...

Something was terribly wrong.  Rather than stay and listen to the arguments, as the guards brandished magical looking spears at the crowd, Adaine slipped past the man and through the open doorway.  In contrast to the elaborate halls and stairways, this office was relatively small, dominated by maps and arcane texts and a single desk.  Behind the desk was an extremely exhausted looking woman, an older elf, but old in the way that elves typically got rather than the actual elderly appearance Aelwyn had had in her earlier vision.

Really, if she wasn't prepared by having been told this was the Oracle, Adaine might not have recognized herself in this defeated-seeming creature.  Adaine had been able to tell that Aelwyn and the children had been werewolves in the prior vision, as well; this one made it quite clear that Adaine was not.  At least, not anymore.  A wish spell or divine intervention, at some point, used selfishly.

Fury and fear rose up in equal measures.  The fear won out, as the head of Fallinel's government, Elven Oracle Adaine Abernant, puppet of the Nightmare King looked up and, impossibly, met her eyes.

"What..?"  The elder version of her said, frowning.  "Impossible.  I never..."

Adaine, terrified that her elder self might be able to impact her back, withdrew from the vision, the headache she had already had turning piercing as she let out a whimper that might have even gone all the way through to her actual body.


Aelwyn knew, even before they had gone into the decrepit cabin that Killian had allegedly resided in, that they had the right place.  Not in any kind of a pleasant way, though:  She could smell blood.  And something else, something familiar...

"...I think Adaine was here."  She said, even as Riz was working on the picking the lock on the door.  It swung open, and Riz let out a gasp that was a little surprising coming from him.

At least, it was up until Aelwyn looked in as well onto what was, to her, instantly clearly the site of a ritual sacrifice.  "Oh, fuck."  She said, eyes wide.

"Did they.. Is this Adaine's blood?"  Riz asked, but Aelwyn shook her head.

"I doubt it.  They wanted her for more than this, I'm sure of that.  More likely, this is either someone we don't know about or Killian's."  She shut her eyes, concentrating for a moment on her recent classwork before opening them back up again.  Telltale signs, all over the place, a lingering energy...  "...A fiendish ritual.  Probably whatever they needed the gem with Fig's father in it for.  Let's search for anything useful, and then we can get Fig and Ayda to take a look as well if there's anything uncertain.  Don't touch the blood more than you have to."

"Kristen, maybe, too.  Clerics fight against these kinds of things, right?"  Riz asked, before they started searching the cabin, Riz going in a much more organized manner than Aelwyn did.

There was an obvious and unfortunate discovery right away, though - an exam table with straps, with bits of fur caught in the buckles.  Definitely Adaine's, very obviously.  There were discarded bottles and needles near that, and Aelwyn started gathering those for Kristen to look at later.

"Aelwyn, I think I found something, can you take a look at this for me?"  Riz called over, and Aelwyn forced herself to pull away from the table where her sister had almost certainly been drugged and likely tormented, biting at her lip as she did.

"I don't know how much longer I can stay in here."  She admitted, taking a look at what Riz had found.  Tomes and notes, in mother's handwriting, in a mixture of Elvish and High Arcana.  Notes that were... detailed information on the Nightmare King, and on Kalina in particular.  Charts of an infection; a discussion of different treatments, of failures.  And of successes.

"Is this anything that can help us?"  Riz asked, standing on his tiptoes to look at the chart she was examining.

"I'm pretty sure there is.  Come on, let's get out of here for now, and go get the others."  Aelwyn said, her hand lingering on top of a section of the notes discussing how this 'dark entity' had been fought back in certain segments of Fallinel in the past.

She didn't understand much of what that was describing technically - it was much more medicinal than it was arcane - but it made one thing clear immediately, something she'd never really dared to hope for:  there was some kind of a way to remove Kalina from a person short of death.

By the time they made it back to the music producer's manor, the group that had gone to the Tinkerer's hall had beaten them back and were hanging out on the lawn, maybe because Fig wasn't back yet and she was the one who had been invited.

"They were apparently buying a bunch of supplies through the Tinkerer's hall,"  Gorgug said, "so we got everything they got in case any of it was something that we needed."

Aelwyn nodded, frowning. "Well, they were doing multiple rituals, but it's possible that one of them was to allow entry to the forest.  Can I see?"

Most of what the three boys had gotten was the sort of thing she might expect, except that for some insane reason...

"...My parents got three bricks of Dusk Moss?"  Aelwyn asked, her eyebrows creeping up.  "Do you have any idea of what the street value of this much would be back in Elmville, assuming the entire Solisian government didn't land on your head before you could sell it?"

"They got one, but we thought it might be a good idea to get more, since there's a lot more of us.  We got double of everything else, and triple of that."  Gorgug said, with a shrug.

"You could get a party like ten times our size all high off one brick, with room to spare."  Aelwyn said with a sigh.  "But they wouldn't have gotten it without a good reason, I guess.  I certainly don't think they got it just so they can have an illusion.  Any word from Kristen or the others?  We found quite a lot, but it would be better to just share once, and I think Ayda or Fig or Kristen would be the most likely to know more."

They hadn't, but it was less than three minutes later that all five of the others arrived together, Ayda and Fig having joined up with Kristen and Tracker and Sandra Lynn at some point.  Fig was on the verge of tears, waving a scroll around as she marched up, and not so much as giving a hello before launching straight into an explanation.

"I've been summoned to Hell.  They're putting Gorthalax on trial."

Chapter 78: Rage

Summary:

Aelwyn helps Ayda go to Hell. Fabian misses his papa.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The group gathered outside of a shrine that apparently had a portal to hell in it, preparing to go support Fig in her efforts at this trial.

Not that it was a wholly altruistic thing, even though Aelwyn had no issues with Fig's devilish dad:  the research they had found made it quite clear that to get into the forest, they were going to need the help of a sufficiently powerful member of Hell's power structure, one with the same power as Gorthalax had and that had been used to get the rest of Aelwyn's blood family past the barrier surrounding the forest.

If a devil had the authority to put Gorthalax on trial, the thinking was going, they definitely had to authority to get a group of adventurers through that barrier.

"I'm not sure how long the portal will stay open, so we need to go through quick."  Fig said as they entered the shrine, approaching a portal that had been sealed up in a manner very similar to the barrier around the forest.  Tracker was waiting outside, planning on staying behind and watching over the van because of something that had happened within the shrine - it hadn't been terribly clear to Aelwyn what, exactly, but Tracker was in such bad shape still from the silver powder that Aelwyn worried about how she'd do in Hell anyway.

Aelwyn was one of the last to step into the shrine, glancing around, and immediately she was struck by a feeling like there was something dreadfully wrong in the pit of her stomach.  Her skin began itching, as though the full moon were approaching, in spite of the fact that it was still quite a while off.

Was that just proximity to the portal to hell?  She tried to force herself to ignore it, even as Fig stood in the open portal, Riz clinging to her back.  A hiss of pain escaped Aelwyn regardless, almost as though something was clutching at her heart and squeezing.

Ayda was the one who made her way over, asking, "Are you injured, Aelwyn O'Shaughnessey?" and Aelwyn started grasping for an answer, a growl starting up in the back of her throat that she REALLY didn't like as she looked up at Ayda.

Past where she was looking at Ayda the briars around the portal came to life, grabbing Fig and throwing her (and Riz, who was clinging to her back) through.  Fabian was faster to react than Aelwyn was; he gunned the Hangman, the bike and riding making it through just before the briars snapped shut and the portal winked not only close but out of existence entirely.

That started an alarm from the remaining party members, not to mention a screech from Ayda, but even with the portal gone Aelwyn couldn't get a panicked feeling out of her body.  She stumbled towards the exit of the shrine, and to her shock felt herself shifting painfully into her wolf form, normally something that took her a great deal of effort outside of the full moon.  Unlike Adaine, who ran into this problem quite a lot, Aelwyn was not dressed in preparation for it; she crashed forward into the ground outside the shrine, the equipment that she had taken up in service of her Paladin lessons now quite awkwardly trapping her, her chainmail and shield and scabbard all getting in the way as she tried to dig her paws and the rest of her body out of it.  

A moment later, familiar smelling hands were there helping her; with Tracker's aid, Aelwyn was able to dig herself out, looking rather mournfully at her equipment and then up at her adopted cousin, who looked understandingly at her.  "There must be some kind of anti-werewolf effects in there, to harm both of us but not anyone else."

Regardless of that, the remaining Bad Kids seemed to have reached some sort of choice in the time Aelwyn had been dealing with her shift, Ayda marching out in the lead, her entire body rigid before she looked down at Aelwyn, the intensity of the flames coming off of her far greater than normal.  "Aelwyn O'Shaughnessey.  Once you are able, I would appreciate your assistance.  I was already quite close on learning the Plane Shift spell to assist with Figueroth's father, but now I must exact a fierce retribution on the Hells as soon as possible.  I would ask for your aid in completing my research, and then I shall drown every devil in hell to retrieve my paramour, as is a wizard's right."

Aelwyn, slightly alarmed, could hardly argue in her current state that Fig probably was fine in Hell, but they needed the spell anyway.  She did a nod, as best she could, and with Gorgug and Tracker helping her carry her stuff headed back to Holly Hill to go and spend the time to make herself an elf once more.


Plane Shift was a spell above and beyond what Aelwyn could hold in her damaged mind, these days, but she could still help Ayda research it.  Sadly, it wasn't one she'd ever had in her own spellbook, and certainly not within the book she had access to now.  She'd never had a need of it; Teleport bore some semblance on a theoretical level, however, and that had helped her help Ayda close some of the gaps that would allow for the spell to navigate between planes of existence.

Not that Ayda had been very far away from it; she'd been working on the spell throughout the quest since Fig had trapped her father into a gem, and only stopped when her energy had become needed for tracking Adaine instead. 

Ayda was a comfortable research partner, at least, even if she was quite intent on learning the spell throughout the last several hours.  Aelwyn had very seldom had someone to work with who could speak on her own level; Mother's theory was beyond her own at times, still, though Aelwyn thought for practical matters of spell manipulation that her own skills were close.

Mother's research was currently in the clerics' hands, hopefully to find some way to replicate the cure that it had hinted out.  Aelwyn didn't even dare to think about that too deeply; that was something best kept from Kalina, if they could at all.

"I wish we had access to my father's pocketwatch again."  Ayda said, frowning down at her own spellbook as she continued transcribing the spell from their combined efforts.  "It would make this simpler, at least, than needing to rush as much as I can."

Aelwyn wouldn't argue with that, though she somehow thought Arthur Aguefort might be unreliable on allowing them to borrow it, given everything.  She'd had it before, even if the memories were a little muddied, and had hardly used it in a way he would be likely to approve of.  "They're in a court; we can trust in Fig and Riz and Fabian to stay safe for one night, I think.  Well, mostly in Riz."  Aelwyn stretched out a little bit, looking down at the book she'd been studying from.  "It's just a matter of writing it out at this point, not really anything we can do to rush it."  Nothing more Aelwyn herself could do to help at all, other than offer moral support; unless something drastically changed, she would never be able to cast a spell of this complexity and power again, so there would be no point to putting it into her own spellbook.

Ayda glanced up, and frowned.  "Yes.  I do not plan to rest myself before casting this, but you and the others should be prepared in case the forces of Hell are foolish enough to oppose us."

That was the sort of thing Aelwyn would rather talk Ayda out of, but instead she nodded and sat back in her chair, allowing herself to drop into a trance.  It wasn't the most comfortable position she'd ever rested in, but it wasn't the worst, either.  As usual for her rests, her mind played out a reel of the greatest hits of Aelwyn O'Shaughnessey (nee Abernant); mistakes she had made throughout her childhood, times she had not done the right thing, had not stood up for her little sister.

It was still better than what it could have been; trancing only allowed for memories.  Had she slept, she might have been able to make up ideas of just what had happened to Adaine in that room she and Riz had investigated.

Still, while she physically did feel a little bit better after the rest, coming out of her trance to find Ayda studying the spells she had written out to switch them in her mind, it was hardly an emotional catharsis.  Ayda, seeming to finish up at precisely the right moment, snapped her spellbook shut and stood up.

"You're awake.  Good.  I am prepared, as well.  Let us get the others."


Court was back in session.

Fabian had already been feeling quite useless on their quest since his failures in Leviathan.  His killing of his father had hardly made the impression on the pirates of that city that he would have wanted it to; Adaine had had a stronger reputation in that city than he had, and he had only made his worse in spite of their victory over Whitclaw.

Their victory, that of the group.   Certainly not his.  Gorgug and Ragh had struck the killing blows on Whitclaw, Adaine had saved many of the pirate elders from the burning Ramble, Aelwyn had died and Ayda had saved her corpse and Tracker had gotten a lung full of silver, EVERYONE else had contributed, and he had only been able to stand there in terror as they had slain an enemy of his through his father.

One bad day, maybe.  One really, really bad day.  But when was the last time he had truly contributed on this quest?  He certainly was the least useful person here in hell.  Virtually anyone else on the journey would likely have been more use in Hell.  Even Gilear, if they'd brought him from Elmville, might have been more use here than Fabian was.

Fig and Riz had done all the talking in court, and had come up with a plan for once the session had resumed.  Riz had even managed to locate his father, who was apparently down in Hell somewhere and needed saving.

Fabian had asked the Hangman to try to reach his father, for better or worse.  The Hangman hadn't seemed certain if that had been successful, given the hunt that all the Devils of hell were on for his father and his ship.  They'd even lit a beacon, before the court hearing had started back, and even after murdering the man Fabian couldn't ever hope to escape his shadow.

He rocked back, pulled out of his reverie as the head judge (and all around awful seeming person, even by devilish standards) planted a kiss onto Fig, who had flames burst around her as she was proclaimed the Archdevil of the Bottomless Pit.  The plan had worked.

Except...

"Now, then, it's just a matter of returning the stolen property of that hellhound that you brought with you.  That is not of this domain."  Vraz the Mean said, looking directly at the Hangman.  Fabian felt a flicker of fear within him.  She couldn't mean to try to strip him of that.

He wouldn't allow for it.  The Hangman was all he had left.

Fabian stood up, still feeling uncertain, but knowing this was right.  "That is mine by right and by law.  I took it from a man that I killed, the only law that truly matters in the end: The law of the blade."  There were footsteps behind him, heavily.  Fabian ignored them, staring Vraz down instead, trying not to show his fear.

Probably failing.

"The law of the blade?"  She said, her voice high pitched, making a rude gesture.  "That isn't a contract, and it's no law on the books.  Maybe you should have tried, I don't know, READING like your friends did.  The hellhound will be returned, and if you want to talk about the law of the blade we can talk about it while I cut your liver out and feed it into the Pit."

"The boy is right, lady.  We have an injunction, supporting his claim by the law of the blade."  A voice came from behind him, turning to look, Fabian spotted a figure.  Dropping from his disguise, a nightmare version of his father appeared, a devil - or demon, perhaps - with cinders for teeth and a glowing eye, and enormous nightmare of an eye, and a third, enormous and demonic arm on his left side.  His normal left arm held a gun, which fired into Vraz, who dropped to the ground.

"Come, me darling boy, we shall make our escape!"  Bill Seacaster's voice rang out, and Fabian felt himself being lifted into the air even as a horde of demonic pirates smashed into the room, grabbing the others and lifting them as well.  They flew along a rope up into the flaming sky, to a ship that Fabian had only briefly glimpsed once but that he had had nightmares and dreams of.

A ship made from a red dragon, one that had at least briefly killed a good friend.

Fabian hardly had time to think about that, however.  He and Riz and Fig were barely deposited onto the deck before Bill Seacaster was shouting, in an almost laughing tone, "Look out, me boy!", pointing behind him.

"Papa, what..."  He said, not even having time to continue the question before a tiefling with half a skull and flaming eyes was swinging a sword at him, Fabian just barely managing to duck under the slash.  The ship shuddered - there were attackers coming, flooding up from the Pit they had just left, but Fabian had a more immediate problem even as Riz and Fig were knocked to the deck of the ship.

"A little help, papa?"  He asked, even as he was unable to dodge Alistair's next swing.  "Alistair, please!"

"I'm going to kill you, you coward!"  Alistair said, the rage clear in his voice.  "Spent good coin, and then you didn't even have the courtesy to die with the rest of us, but I'm going to fix that right now.  You aren't leaving this ship, not ever!"

"Yes, well, it's not my fault you're an idiot."  Fabian said, hissing in pain at the gash opened along his shoulder.  "Papa, can you not control your crew?  We have devils we need to fight."

He could feel Papa's eyes on him, literal flames now but just as judgmental as ever.  "Do you..  need my help?  He should be no match for you, my boy, not with the blade.  Not as the man who killed me, nor as me precious and beloved son."

The spark of fury that had been filling him ever since Leviathan ignited, fiercer than ever, even as he blocked another blow from this moron of a warlock with his scabbard.  "I never WANTED to be the man who killed you, Papa!  That was what you wanted, and I wanted to make you happy!  It was your dream, not mine.  Not at all."  He could not look at his father, not with this fight going, but still those damned eyes burned into his side.

Still that disappointment, just like when he'd called his papa a privateer in front of his friends.

Bill Seacaster's voice held something Fabian had rarely heard out of his father when he was alive, as he spoke next, even as Fabian took another wound from Alistair.  "What is it you wanted, then, me darling boy?  I would give it to you, if I be able."

Fabian felt the fury rising up in him and felt tears coming to his eyes and most of all felt some connection to this man who he loved and who had loved him and yet who had never really understood him, and he yanked on something deep within himself, a truth he'd never dared to speak since he'd ripped himself apart the day of prom the prior year.

"I wanted you with me, Papa!  That's all I ever wanted!" Fabian roared, his voice rising even above the devils of Hell flying to meet the ship and the noise of the cannons preparing and Alistair Ash trying to kill him.

Next to Fabian, a ghostly apparition of a pirate in his prime appeared, the mortal version of the fierce demon that now captained this ship.

Fabian Seacaster went into his first Rage. 

Notes:

For the record, as we head into the final few chapters, where things severely overlap with canon - such as characters' personal fears for our Bad Kids - I am likely to gloss over them in the background. There's going to be a LOT of Aelwyn PoV in this next little stretch.

I really need to sneak a Gorgug PoV in here somewhere before the end, too, though.

Edit: Oh, right! Fabian's multiclass! The Bad Kids didn't go to Fallinel as a group, so he didn't reconnect with his mother's side of the family; instead, his self-loathing and fury at what he did to meet his father's expectations has grown into Rage, he's much more About the Hangman, and he's now a 6 Fighter (Cavalier)/3 Barbarian (Ancestral Guardian) instead!

Meaning, for current classes etc:

For our major NPCs/PCs!

Adaine, for what good it is currently doing her, is a level 9 Divination Wizard/level 1 Rogue.

Aelwyn is a Level 10 Abjuration Wizard/Level 3 Paladin (with a homebrew oath)

Gorgug has actually LOST his multiclass, because of never getting into that fight with Zelda and thus never needing to build a cell tower, and is a level 9 Barbarian.

Fabian is, as of this chapter, a level 6 Cavalier Fighter/level 3 Ancestral Guardian Barbarian.

Ayda is a level 13 Divination Wizard, Tracker is a level 10 Twilight Cleric, Ragh is a level 11 Berserker Barbarian. These are all my best guesses as to their canon levels and classes.

Riz, Fig, and Kristen are all as they were canonically at this point, level 9 Inquisitive Rogue, 8 Whispers Bard/1 Warlock, and 9 Life Cleric. The latter two change in canon pretty soon and nothing has been shown that would necessarily derail that in either case.

Chapter 79: Counter

Summary:

Aelwyn fights a former "friend". The Astral Plane calls.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

There were a few things that were immediately obvious as problems, once Ayda had cast the Plane Shift spell to throw the group of them through dimensions and into one of the Nine Circles of Hell.

One, not at all surprising, was that everything seemed to be on fire.  The ground and the sky and there were explosions of flame all throughout, the sound of cannons firing not far away.  Somewhat more surprising was that they seemed to be upside down on the deck of a ship, one made from some sort of draconic scales, though gravity at least was holding them on that ship.

Fabian was fighting with a zombie of some kind of a tiefling.  Fig must be around, as Ayda's spell had been focused on her, and Riz hopefully was, but Aelwyn did not immediately spot them.  Even without focusing, the senses she'd been training in Paladin classes were itching at her; they would help her figure out the biggest threats (other than everything).   Aelwyn shut her eyes for a brief moment, concentrating on spotting the most powerful fiends around.

She was almost blinded, opening them back up.

There was a background flood of powerful devils coming for them and a fleet of similar ships to the one they had landed on, and virtually everything here was fiendish that wasn't part of the party.  Ayda, as normal, lit up with what Aelwyn had always previously considered a powerful Celestial energy.

It was being overshadowed, now, even just on the deck of the draconic ship, ignoring the masses flying towards them right now.  There were two in particular that were almost offensively bright on deck:  One was a twisted-looking pirate captain styled devil, at the helm of the ship, who was yelling words of encouragement to Fabian, who Aelwyn couldn't even look directly at with her Divine Senses.

The other, dimmer than that man but not by much, and FAR more worryingly for Aelwyn, was Fig, who Aelwyn now easily spotted through the crowd.  This was new - Fig had been around when she'd been practicing plenty, and while she had registered as fiendish it had been absolutely nothing like this.

Aelwyn was maybe a little slow to actually help in the battle while she was distracted by this, but everyone else arriving with her had been alert and ready to go, springing forward to help their friends, and Aelwyn tugged her sword out of its scabbard at least, planning to wade into the crowd.

...Was that Johnny Spells, getting clobbered by Gorgug?

The hesitation from that realization turned to ice in her chest as a voice she hadn't heard in over a year spoke up, cutting through the din of the battle.

"Aelwyn Abernant, as I...  well, as I don't live and breath.  I don't suppose you're here to bring us back into the world, are you, traitor?"  Penelope Everpetal's voice rang out. Aelwyn turned towards where she was standing near the edge of the ship and spotted her, a twisted mockery of a tiara made with silver shards that had been embedded into her head, a burnt, blood-soaked and ripped prom dress clinging to her form.

"You've looked better, Penelope."  Aelwyn said, an ache somewhere in her soul.  She hated Penelope, hated all of the people she'd worked for under Kalina's orders, but she'd done as bad or worse than anything Penelope had.  Certainly she had killed more people.  She easily could have ended up here alongside her, had Adaine's bite caught her fully in the neck instead.  "However, I don't think I ever technically betrayed you.  Goldenhoard's plot had fallen apart long before I got out of Fallinel custody."

"Oh, then you'll turn on the brats that killed the rest of us?  Kalvaxus over there probably isn't worth saving, but I'd give quite a lot to get back out there.  All the better if we can stick them in hell in our place.  Though I can't help but notice one of them is missing; are you playing substitute loser for your sister?"  Penelope asked with a sneer.

She'd probably picked up that Aelwyn wasn't going to agree, what with the way she had lifted her sword in front of her, the point held between them.  Penelope was the first to move; her hands lifting up to cast a spell deeply familiar to Aelwyn.  One she'd used plenty in the past, a Cone of Cold.  Aelwyn reached out, blasting the spell out of the air with a Counterspell with some extra mustard on it; Penelope's attempt to Counter back deflected off.

"Guess you should have studied a bit more, Penelope, mm?"  Aelwyn said, even as she moved to close the distance between them.  The ship shuddered under her, but she would need to trust in the rest of the group to take care of themselves; she was confident that she could take Penelope, but it would be important to not let her get any spells off or she'd hammer the entire party.

Penelope was surprisingly quick, though, or maybe Aelwyn's practice with the sword still needed work; she caught only air with her swipe, her sword glowing with the moonlight energy she'd wanted to put into the fiendish form of her old supposed conspirator.  It didn't go unnoticed, evidently.

"What, are you some kind of Paladin now, too?  Aelwyn Abernant, holy woman?"  Penelope scoffed.  "You might as well try to tell people you're saving yourself for your wedding day, Aelwyn."

There was a screech of pain from the direction of the rest of the group, and Aelwyn glanced over to see a devilish Biz Glitterdew, with skeletal flaming wings, being shot out of the sky by Riz, the motion letting her spot that Dayne Blade was charging at her.  She managed to raise a Shield up, catching his sword long enough for Fabian and Gorgug to catch up to him, but it took her focus off of Penelope for just a moment too long.  A blast of icy air slammed into her, and into Gorgug, Fabian, and Dayne behind her, and maybe into others well beyond them, eating through Aelwyn's Ward entirely for the moment and biting into her skin.

There was a screech of protest from Ayda, in fact.  Definitely others well beyond them; Ayda had been fighting off several devils, the last Aelwyn had noticed her.

"Babe, what the hell, I was trying to help!"  Dayne protested, just before Fabian and... and what seemed like a ghostly pirate of some kind picked him up between them and hurled him off the ship.  The attack seemed largely defeated, other than Penelope.

And then a figure in armor slammed into the deck of the ship with a burst of fire.  Aelwyn recognized him immediately, even though she hadn't dealt with him very much - Daybreak.  An extremely powerful Paladin in life, with red energy pulsing through his neck.

"I can try to keep Penelope locked down, if you all can fight him."  She offered, before chasing after Penelope, her sword slashing through the burnt and bloodied prom dress and biting into the Prom Queen's side.

The ship shuddered again as it was struck by some attack that Aelwyn could not see, however, leaving her sprawled at Penelope's feet.

"Not exactly the most graceful of Paladins, are you?"  Penelope asked, before she began the extremely short incantation for a Misty Step.  Aelwyn snatched it out from under her from another Counterspell, using the arcane energy of the teleportation to rebuild her Ward just in time for Penelope to slam a Firebolt into it.

There were twin screams, from behind her where Daybreak was fighting everyone else.  Kristen, in pain, and Tracker in outrage.  Aelwyn didn't dare to take her attention off Penelope again to check on them - Tracker and Sandra Lynn could both heal, and a lot more healing would need to happen if Penelope got off another spell.

Galicaea, protect them, she pleaded in her head as she climbed back to her feet, pushing a large chunk of power into her sword and slashing it downwards and diagonally at Penelope's shoulder, the blade gleaming with moonlight.  Penelope brought up a Shield of her own, seeing the blow coming.

Aelwyn's sword smashed right through it, cutting to where the prom queen's spine would have been when she was alive, and then Aelwyn felt some further power channel through her, a soothing calm, that moonlight releasing from her sword and into the air even as Penelope made a wet noise of protest.  A glance back, and...  there was a faint glow surrounding Tracker and Kristen and Fabian, who she could see immediately; Daybreak tried to bring his sword down onto where Kristen was laying on the ground bleeding, and it caught on the delicate bubble of a shield that had surrounded her, just enough to bury into the deck beside of her instead of going through the cleric.

"You bitch...  not loyal to anyone, are you?"  Penelope asked, her weight slumping onto Aelwyn's sword.

Penelope didn't really have room to talk, but Aelwyn no longer felt like arguing with her, no longer felt like dealing with her.  This probably wouldn't be the last time, if even death hadn't been able to stop it, but...  "Goodbye for now, then."  Aelwyn said, with a sigh, and lifted a foot up, pushing Penelope both off the blade and off the side of the boat, down (or up) towards a fiery sky.

She started to turn back to see how the others were doing when a voice called out.  "Kill the paladin!  The living one, not...  Get to it, you assholes!"  That left Aelwyn with very little time to prepare before she was being swarmed by imps and other smaller devils, swiping her sword at them but mostly staying on the defensive, trying to not let their claws get to her or for the group to overwhelm her.  The sounds of the battle continued around her, but she backed away from the edge as she fought them, cleaving one in half at it dove at her, another sinking long fangs into her leg, a burning pain shooting up as that leg seized up.

She stumbled backwards, putting her sword through that one's head and prying it off her, but the pain in her leg remained and she couldn't put weight on it without it buckling under her and there were still several devils trying to kill her.

"Brace for impact!" came a fierce shout, Fabian with a confidence Aelwyn hadn't heard from him since before Leviathan, but there was nothing for her to brace against and her leg wasn't supporting her properly.  A loud crash sounded, and Aelwyn felt herself flying across the deck until the back of her head met something solid and the world around her went black.


When Aelwyn awoke, the sky was no longer on fire.  Quite the contrast; it was completely empty, in all directions.  Aelwyn knew exactly where they must be, as Sandra Lynn offered a hand up from where she was kneeling and must have been the one to heal Aelwyn.

"What happened?  How did we get to the Astral Plane?"  Aelwyn asked, pressing a hand to her own chest and pushing another large heal into herself.  There were still a lot of undead-looking pirates around on the deck of the ship.

"Is that one of my minions I hear?"  Kalvaxus' voice sounded, Aelwyn's eyes and head jerking over in that direction.  "Get me out of this situation at once, Aelwyn."

Most of the others were over in the direction of the prow of the ship, where Goldenhoard's head was, but there was someone missing.  Aelwyn double checked, looking around and doing her best to seem like she wasn't unnerved by Kalvaxus still speaking even spread out as a horrific ship.  "Where's Riz?"

"In a Heaven, we think, it's a long story.  We were about to ask Kalvaxus for anything he knows about Kalina or the Nightmare King that you don't."  Fig said, "If he can resist the urge to look up my skirt for a second to answer us, the pervert."

Aelwyn kept staring at Fig, even as the dragon made a noise of protest.  "Right.  Okay.  I'll let you do that, then."

"Aelwyn, you obey me right now, we had a deal."  Kalvaxus said.  "Start with killing the tiefling, please."

Aelwyn shook her head, stepping away, her knees trembling as she did.  "...Even when I worked for you, it was only as long as Kalina wanted me to.  I was never your minion, Kalvaxus.  You were never really in charge, and everyone knew it."  She added, knowing that would twist the knife, knowing he had at least temporarily killed Adaine at one point.  "Except, I guess, you.  Always the puppet to your minions and Lieutenants.  The Nightmare King, Penelope, Kalina...  Probably a lot more I never knew about."  She walked to the rear of the ship, rubbing her sleeve at her eyes and trying not to openly cry.  

She was still there a few minutes later, when the party seemed to have wrapped up its conversation and Fig called over.  "Aelwyn, we're getting ready to go!"  She had a scroll in hand, a portal ripping open back to the material plane as she read from it in infernal; Aelwyn spoke the language, but she tried to tune it out, staring at the deck of the ship as Fig read what seemed to be a long list of arcane legalese.

Bill Seacaster - for that was who the devil even more fearsome than Fig had evidently become must be - made his way over, the monstrous arm and his more normal ones all tugging Fabian into a fiercely strong hug.  "Me darling boy.  Know that if ye call upon me, any devil or god who tries to stand in my way will be torn limb from limb that I might be by your side.  I'm sorry that I did not think how hard the separation would be upon ye, or I would have sought to slay death while I was still alive."

Fabian squirmed out of the grasp, but he was smiling as he spoke.  "Papa, please."

Something about that left Aelwyn feeling cold inside, but she chose not to examine it too closely for the moment, instead following the group from the emptiness of the Astral Plane and back into the misty forest around Arborly.

Notes:

As mentioned, I'm going to try to avoid rehashing things that are TOO close to canon, even though we're a little bit closer than I love for this chapter. This does mean a lot of Aelwyn PoV, which is going to be true for a few more chapters, I think. In this chapter, that particularly includes Riz's adventures with his dad, which are all incredible and maybe have a few lines different where he mentions worry about Adaine but are generally the same as canon.

I decided to homebrew, with assistance from PawPunk, the mechanics of Aelwyn's Oath at least through the level she is in this fic. We see one of her Channel Divinities in this chapter, which allows her to use it after using a Smite to give any number of people she can see who are at or below half their max HP an AC bonus equal to her charisma until her next turn - basically a slightly worse Shield but potentially for the whole group, as part of another action.

Chapter 80: Antagonist

Summary:

Adaine and Aelwyn have separate meetings with everyone's favorite slightly ill-behaved cat familiar.

Chapter Text

For the first time in... she wasn't certain how long, Adaine came slowly back into full awareness of the current state of her body, rather than simply the increasingly severe headache she'd had and the vast array of possible futures and the past that she'd been able to access.

This was a little unfortunate, because the current state of her body sucked.  She was laying in the center of a small clearing in a forest, the trees looming overhead, moss on the ground underneath uncomfortable up against her face.  There was a red glow coming from somewhere; out of the corner of her eye, it seemed to be from a figure just on the periphery of her vision.  Her head wouldn't move; her body, as a whole, seemed completely outside of her control, aside from being able to move her eyes.

A familiar burning, aching sensation was coming from around her wrists.  Silver restraints, of some kind.  Even if she could move, her hands wouldn't be free.  Normally, that would be quite painful enough; at the moment, it paled next to the headache.  Her body had a general soreness, particularly around her legs; she must have been doing quite a lot of ceaseless walking, while she hadn't been aware of reality.

Father - Angwyn Abernant - was in a trance next to a tree on the edge of the clearing, nearly as stiff in his rest as he was the rest of the time.  Arianwen was nowhere to be seen.

In a quick motion, seemingly coming from behind her, Kalina appeared, her face mere inches away from Adaine's own as she bent over Adaine's body.

"You recovered from those drugs quicker than Arianwen thought you would.  Interesting."  Kalina said, tilting her head.  Adaine wanted to cast something, to try to run away, or even just to reach out and claw at Kalina however real she was or was not.  She might as well have wished for Galicaea herself to come down and save her; nothing happened, other than Adaine's breathing growing more ragged and quicker.

"Well.  I guess you can't talk, but that's okay.  I did have something I was meaning to say to you, at some point, and now is as good a time as any, isn't it kid?  It's not as though you have anywhere to go."  Kalina sounded amused, settling down into a cross-legged position in front of Adaine, dominating her field of view.

"You see...  I know you think I'm here to hurt you, and that's just not very fair.  I haven't done anything to you except give you fair warnings about what might come if you took certain actions.  And you've ignored me, every time, and look where it's gotten you?  But that's okay.  I've managed to make things work in spite of that.  It might cost some of your friends, if they aren't smart enough to back off soon, but you and me...  I think we're going to be working together for a long, long time, kid.  I know it, in fact.  But I don't think you're going to really be upset about it."  Kalina said, reaching a claw out, touching it to the very tip of Adaine's nose.

Adaine tried to focus on letting herself become a wolf, hoping that that form would be less paralyzed and could make a run for it.  Not that it would be likely to help, but at least it would be a way to fight back in some small way, to show defiance in the face of... of all of this.

It was completely useless; she couldn't shift any more than she could otherwise move.

"Look, we maybe got off on the wrong foot, but I've been with you for more than a year now.  Nowhere near as long as with your friend Riz - I'm practically his godmother, you know - but long enough to start to well and truly know you, Adaine O'Shaughnessey.  I know that you do really want that name, almost entirely because of it not being Abernant.  I know that all you really want, though, is that you want someone to love you and tell you you're special, and the good news is that you absolutely are, kid.  And I know you hate Fallinel quite a lot.  More than almost anyone I know, except for myself and my boss.  Which is really interesting, because you're one of the few people who might be able to take charge of Fallinel.  So I think... when you're working for me and my boss, and you WILL be working for them soon, you have two choices.  They won't matter for anyone but you, Adaine, it won't make a difference to any other person in the world which of these you choose."  Kalina said, glancing away and then kneeling in very close to Adaine's head, the breath that Adaine knew the Tabaxi didn't have playing against her ear as she whispered.

"You can hate it and fight it all the way and still help my boss and me get revenge on that pit of a country and every last one of the people who live there, or you can relax and work willingly and enjoy it, Adaine.  Kid, I'd much rather have you on the team willingly, but in the end it doesn't make a difference to me.  Think about it, huh?  I'm going to get your mom and let her know you could use another dose, yeah?"

Kalina vanished, and Adaine was left in the clearing with the source of that red glow and her trancing father, desperately trying to wiggle her fingers or work some sort of magic or anything, anything at all that could help her out of her current situation.

There had been no paths at all that she had seen where she got away from the Abernants in the forest.  One did not appear to her now.  She hadn't so much as managed to twitch a muscle aside from her eyes and her breath before her mother was back in the clearing, pulling a needle from her pouch.  The pain of that needle wasn't even noticeable over the headache before she sank back away from her body and into the oblivion of the futures.


Not long after they got back to the material plane and Arborly, Gorgug was a little surprised to be grabbed by Kristen.

"Hey, uh, Bad Kids plus Ayda and Tracker minus Riz and Adaine meeting in five minutes in the van.  Without Aelwyn, Ragh, or Sandra Lynn finding out, if you can manage."  She said, looking around as though one of those three might leap out of the shadows at her.

She hadn't asked for him to get any of the others, so she probably didn't need him to.  Instead, he went to check on the van in the time that he had before that.

He wasn't really sure what he had expected, but the van was still smashed up from their arrival, not having managed to somehow fix itself in the time that they had spent in Hell.  He looked over it, but didn't really have any sense of what to do to fix it.  Maybe his parents could have, if they were there, but the tinkerers here hadn't sounded like they really would have any idea what to do.

He thought again about what Kalvaxus had told them about his money, and his hoard.  This van was the fruit, for him, of that hoard.

They might need to be rid of all of that money.  And the van.  Something to think about, after whatever it was that Kristen wanted to talk about.

Oh.  Right.  With Riz in Heaven until they could Plane Shift to go get him, and Adaine... gone, for now, Aelwyn, Ragh, and Sandra Lynn were the only ones in their group who could see Kalina.  That was probably the criteria being used, not just that Ayda and Tracker were dating Kristen and Fig.

He'd figured that out just in time that people were starting to trickle towards the van, and they all climbed in, staying in the normal section rather than climbing into the weird blanket fort under the seats that Tracker could make.

In spite of Kristen being the one to call the meeting, and their awful circumstances, it turned out that the reason for meeting was in fact inspiring and hopeful, the six of them leaning in and whispering in spite of being in the van.

"Right, so."  Kristen said, holding up a book Gorgug didn't recognize.  "I'm pretty sure I've got a way I can cure our friends from being affected by Kalina.  A couple of ways, actually.  But I want to talk about it before I just go and, like, do it."

Gorgug perked up; that was the best news they'd had in a while, really.  "Yeah?  Why would you wait?"

"I can only do one person a day right now, because it takes the most powerful magic I've got, and if I do it Kalina's going to be alerted. But I think there's a way I can make a cure, and it's just going to take a few ingredients we don't already have from the forest.  If Fig can get us in there, then we can go in, get something, and cure all of them at once..."  Kristen trailed off, though, worry clear on her face.

"Everybody except Adaine, you mean."  Fig said, folding her arms up, the worry clear.  "...Are you thinking we go in tonight, before we go to get Riz from heaven?"

"It'd be really good to have the cure available when he gets here.  And yeah, I can't do anything for Adaine right now, but I think we shouldn't go deep into the forest after her with Kalina still in anyone's heads - I can try to make some extra doses, and have my own magic ready, so we can cure Adaine as soon as we find her."  Kristen said, shaking her head.  "They want her for something or they'd have killed her already, I think.  We need to rescue her, one way or ther other."

"So, what, are you thinking the six of us go in without the others to look for the stuff we need for the cure?  Sandra Lynn's going to be better at looking for plants in a forest than any of us are."  Fabian pointed out.

"I think we take them, we just lie to them about why we're going in.  And we split up, each group looks for one thing, so that we're in and out of there as fast as possible.  We should be able to get in and get out before time to rest, and if it comes to it I have my cure as a backup."  Kristen said, and Tracker spoke up after.

"It's a really awful disease, much worse than a normal one - I looked at what Kristen looked at, and I don't think I can cure it.  Aelwyn might, MAYBE, be able to; Paladins are really good at removing diseases, normally, but we'd have to explain the basis of the cure to her and that'd give Kalina a heads up.  It's a backup if we don't find the stuff, though.  We don't have four days to wait for Kristen to be able to cure all of them, and I don't like the odds if we have to leave three people behind, if they'd even be willing to." Tracker said, with a sigh.

With that, the meeting broke up, people going to gather things for a quick trip into the forest.  Gorgug lingered, wanting to say goodbye to his van.

Before he left, he pulled the angel in a sapphire from the van.  There was no reason to give that away with everything else; the angel only belonged to himself.


"Are we not going to wait for Riz?"  Aelwyn asked, in surprise, when Tracker interrupted where she had started on a trance to announce that they were heading into the forest to start scouting it a little.

"It's only going to be a brief trip.  Kristen thinks there might be components for a ritual on the fringes of the forest that will make us have less trouble with the illusions inside of it."  Tracker replied.  "And we can get going quicker if we can prepare that in advance."

Aelwyn sat up in shock at that, because...  Tracker was lying, she was pretty certain.  Leaving something out, at the bare minimum.

She would only be doing that for a good reason, probably, or she was possessed.  Aelwyn kept her eyes on her adopted cousin, for the moment, until the entire party had gathered near the briar wall into the Forest.  Given that the entire party was going along with this story, there had to be a reason.

Aelwyn would just have to trust it was a good one.

"We should find everything within the edges of the forest."  Kristen said, giving descriptions out of components for some sort of concoction.  Given that they would be found in different environs, they were splitting into three groups of three; Aelwyn herself was going with Kristen and Tracker, looking for lung ray pollen.

Hopefully they wouldn't be depending on Aelwyn to find it on some sort of stereotype about elves; Aelwyn had always been shit with finding plants in the wild, which was the sort of thing better left to a druid or a ranger.

The forest was... decidedly ominous, and only grew more so as they trod through it, the trees seeming warped and wrong even just barely on the other side of the barrier, Aelwyn's shoulder tensing up as she walked, and walked, Kristen and Tracker just in front of her.

And then, ducking under a bit of brush that she could have sworn had had Tracker just in front of her, she found herself instead in a muddy clearing, the sky visible overhead somehow for the first time since passing the barrier.  There was no sign of either Kristen or Tracker, no noise she could hear or trace of where they might have gone, but there was someone there.

Right in the middle of the clearing staring straight at her was Kalina, her teeth bared.

When she spoke, her voice was soft, but as cutting as ever.  "Aelwyn.  Stupid enough to come here after all, were you?"

Chapter 81: Restoration

Summary:

Aelwyn gets touched by a saint. The Bad Kids engage with the crafting system for the first time.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Aelwyn knew better than to bother going for her weapon.  She had nothing she could really do to fight against Kalina, but that ran both ways - there wasn't anything Kalina could do directly to her either, hopefully.

"Where's my sister?" She asked, instead, knowing that Kalina would be unlikely to be honest but that she certainly knew where Adaine was.

"You shouldn't worry about her.  She's just fine, being carefully cared for by your parents.  You should be worried about other people, because I seem to remember making a promise about what was going to happen if you kept up with this idiocy, Aelwyn."  Kalina said, shaking her head.

The clearing was really more of a gap in the trees at ground level than anything, a dome; the sky wasn't visible, overhead.  Aelwyn turned her head, trying to determine the way she'd come from, but there seemed to almost be a barrier around her, no way out of this little area.  "Well, I'm hardly going to back out now." She muttered, but Kalina heard, of course.

"No, you're not.  I think it's about time you came back over to your family - the rest of them are working with me, after all, whether they like it or not.  But I guess you're going to be more like your sister than your parents, in the end, so..."  Kalina trailed off, and Aelwyn shook her head.

"If you could kill me, you'd have just done it, you wouldn't be talking to me.  You're just in my head, in the end."  Aelwyn said, even though fear was gripping at her spine.  Where had Tracker and Kristen gone?  

Kalina strode forward, shaking her head.  "No, Aelwyn.  You've come here, to my master's forest.  To a place where illusions are very much real."  A claw swiped out at her cheek, and...

Pain rose up, and a pain that Aelwyn knew was very much real as she reached a trembling hand up to where blood was rising from a scratch that had appeared on her face.  It was already starting to close, of course, but...

"You're what, a half mile in?  Of course, you're a paladin now, and a werewolf, so I maybe wouldn't be able to put you down before you could make it out of the forest."  Kalina said, watching her far too intently.  "If that was what I was trying to do.  But killing you isn't the promise that I made, is it?"

And then, before Aelwyn could reply, Kalina vanished from her sight, and something impossible happened.

The sky wasn't even visible, but Aelwyn could feel the full moon on her, with no warning and no time to prepare, over a week before it was supposed to happen, her skin itching wildly.  She fell to her hands and knees, pain racking through her body, fingernails elongating into claws in the dirt, a hiccup raising up into a growl as she felt the chainmail grow tight around her torso, her mind starting to slip away from herself and into the mindlessness of a full moon.  There was no Adaine to chase to try to keep safe, but Kalina would undoubtedly provide a false scent leading her on...

She couldn't allow it, growling and putting everything she could into forming a mask, into hiding her true self, of hiding even this bestial part of herself behind doing what needed to be done.

If illusions were real here, if that wasn't just Kalina lying and it cut both ways, then Aelwyn had had seventeen years to get the illusion of self-control practiced.  She hadn't forgotten that, not yet.

It worked, for the moment, at least partly.  She managed to stay there, head pressed to the ground, snarling out as she heard Kalina's voice in her ear with no obvious visible form around.  "Oh, interesting.  Just how long do you think you can hold on, like that, Aelwyn?"

Her only answer was another snarl, because her mask was slippery, unused in over a year now, almost impossible to hold on to, and she knew there was no way out of this trap.

And then a hand touched onto her shoulder, and a warm spell went through her entire body, and the moon was gone as suddenly as it had appeared.  She was still in her hybrid wolf form, still in the dirt in the forest, but her mind was fully her own again, the pressure that had been cracking her control gone.

Tracker and Kristen were there, right next to her with Kristen's hand still on her should, and there was no sign at all of Kalina, and...  Aelwyn put two and two together, what must have happened, what couldn't possibly have happened, and stared at Kristen.

"It was her, right?"  Kristen asked, and Aelwyn nodded carefully, standing up, holding herself back from the mad urge to squeeze Kristen in a tight hug.  She'd spent no time in this form outside of the full moon, and she could feel the difference in her center of gravity, the tightness of her armor and equipment, the sharper hearing and smell than she normally had.

Jawbone stayed in this form all the time, and they didn't have time for her to force herself back into being an elf, because...  "Kalina was attacking me, she can.. she can do that in the forest.  We need to get Sandra Lynn and Ragh out of here, now.  You figured.."  Her voice was rougher than she wanted it to be for this, and tears were coming to her eyes.  But.. wait.  Illusions.  She could smell them, real as could be, but she could feel the moon before this.  "Did you really figure out a cure, or is this Kalina fucking with me?"

"It's real," Tracker said, "But you might not believe it until we get out of the forest.  We found what we were looking for, before we realized you hadn't followed us all the way.  Let's find the others."

Aelwyn allowed herself to believe it, even if she was keeping herself ready to be shocked by Kalina suddenly revealing the trick.  Unfortunately, the news they got on reuniting with the others made it feel less like a trick, because the news was terrible.  They found Gorgug and Fabian first, without Ragh.

"We lost sight of him for half a second, and he was just completely gone."  Gorgug said, shaking his head.  "Can any of you do something to find him, maybe?"

The others looked at her - she could tell both Gorgug and Fabian were at least a little alarmed by her being wolfish at the moment, on top of the fear she could smell from all of them - but Aelwyn wasn't going to be able to offer them the help they'd want.  "I'm not much for divination spells at the best of times, I'm afraid.  We should get Ayda."

Finding a distraught Fig a few minutes later by herself only added to the knot of worry Aelwyn was feeling.

"Mom flew off on Baxter, out of nowhere, and then...  There was a weird thing where Ayda was talking about a cabin, and she just vanished.  We have to find her."  Fig said, hugging her guitar, tears running down her cheeks.

Luckily, Aelwyn wasn't the one who had to make the case that she wanted to make.  Shockingly enough, that was Kristen, who wrapped Fig into a hug.  "I know, but we can't now.  I need to make the thing, and we need to get ready to go deep into this forest, and we need to get Riz.  I can't heal anyone else today of her, anyway, not with a spell."

"Can we even do that without Ayda?"  Fig asked, and Aelwyn did not know the answer.  Hopefully Heaven would send him back without them needing to go get him, in the end.

They hurried back, once the choice was made - there were bird noises that were rather alarming rising up from the nightmare forest and drawing nearer, and Kalina was undoubtedly eager to kill Kristen if at all possible after that revelation.


Once they were out of the forest, the others had headed back into town straight away to make whatever it was that Kristen was making - Aelwyn suspected it was a medicinal version of the cure, from how Kristen had been talking, which was good if they only had one spell a day to remove Kalina given that there were at least four people they wanted her out of.

Aelwyn herself had stayed back away from the town, until she could get herself back into elf form.  The townspeople had seemed on the verge of filling them with arrows as it was; if an obvious werewolf wondered into town from the direction of the nightmare forest, Aelwyn was pretty certain she was going to find herself a pincushion, with even worse problems if the rangers kept silver arrows stocked.

It seemed likely they did, given the forest.

She had to remain at least a little alert even on the border of the forest, just in case something came along, but soon enough - no more than forty-five minutes - she felt those claws retreating, the agony of shifting much less severe in this direction but still present.  She rubbed at her wrists as the fur retreated, leaving her scarred skin behind, trying to focus on anything but the continuing pain.

The others had been heading to the tinkerer's hall; Aelwyn went that direction, as well, hoping they would have good news of some kind.  Something that had gone right, rather than them just wondering blithely into the woods and losing a third of their number.

She found Fabian standing guard outside of the hall, alone, and paused a moment.  She didn't know anything about alchemy, not really; should she even bother them, or just go get rested for the forest trip?  She was still down quite a lot of spells, and tired besides.  Not the best shape to go forest delving.

Fabian had noticed her, of course.  "Riz made it back.  He's resting in the van.  The tinkers are helping out, but it's still going to be several hours, if you want to rest."  He said, and his voice was softer than it had been, without the self-recrimination.  He seemed...  not happy.  How could any of them be happy, right now?  But more at peace than he had been, more certain.  It looked good on him, Aelwyn thought, though she just nodded and headed back towards the van.

Without the Celestial that had been in it, the van was just a van, protected by Kristen's spellwork and prayers but without all the additional space that had been there.  Riz was asleep, for once, curled up on one of the seats, his small size a convenience at the moment.  Aelwyn could have done the same as a wolf, but she needed the quicker rest of a trance.

Now that she was free of Kalina, would a sleep be free of nightmares?  Something to discover later, if she lived through the rest of this trip.  If she could retrieve Adaine, if they didn't all just die, if if if.

She had never really had hope of ever being free of Kalina, not while she was still alive, not since the day that she'd first discovered the true nature of the demon in her head, and yet...  Even as bleak as things looked, if that could happen, could they pull off the rest of it too somehow?

Her memories, in her trance, were for the first time that Aelwyn could remember not of regrets, not of her childhood bullying Adaine or the people she'd killed working for Kalvaxus or drugs or a party or anything else of the sort.  They were a lot simpler, a lot smaller, of cooking and being around Mordred and learning and...  Good.  Not great, not extraordinary, but just a day to day sort of good.

She was shaken out of the trance a little past the four hours she had to have by Tracker, the van having filled otherwise with most of the Bad Kids, Riz awake and swallowing some foul-smelling tincture Kristen had offered over as Aelwyn blinked at her adopted cousin.

"Are you ready?  It's time for us to go back in there.  We're ready."  Tracker said, her voice far more quiet than normal.

Kristen handed her another one of the tinctures.  "They managed to make more doses than we need.  If you find one of our infected people, just get them to swallow this, it should act pretty quickly."

A tiny miracle, somehow even more confounding than a work of powerful magic being able to cure Kalina's disease.  Aelwyn tried not to think about that too much for the moment; soon enough, they were all setting back out to the forest.

"Either everyone comes back or nobody comes back.  We won't lose any of our friends."  Fabian said, his voice firm as they passed through the barrier once more.

It was a desperate effort, in the misty morning of this evil forest, to try to find that message reassuring.

Notes:

Things are definitely going super well for our group! Though a Kalina cure is a big deal, after all...

I will mention here that Aelwyn, as a 3rd Level Paladin, is immune to being infected with new diseases and so Kalina will not be able to reinfect her; she's permanently cured of that problem, barring losing her Paladin levels. Unfortunately for Aelwyn before this point on the quest, with Solace very explicitly being based on a specific idealized version of America, gaining the insurance of being a paladin did not cover preexisting conditions.

In spite of Adaine being missing, the group heading into the forest for this final time is very slightly larger than in canon; Aelwyn and Tracker are both there.

Chapter 82: Asymmetry

Summary:

Kristen Applebees dies. Aelwyn faces her fears.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Aelwyn was pulled out of what had already been a not particularly restful trance by the sound of screaming.

They had been in the forest for what she was pretty certain was two full days, now, and had reached the temple of the nameless goddess who had once watched over these lands.  Or so Kristen had claimed; she'd been deeply into the information that they had found among mother's notes on the land that had once been Sylvaire.

Given that it had led to figuring out a cure for Kalina, Aelwyn wouldn't complain.  They'd gotten more information, too, about the curses that would need to be removed to defeat the nightmare king, and that they would need to deal with one of them to proceed further - this was likely to be their last place to really rest before things got impossible.

The travel had not been smooth:  There was still a possession problem, now that they couldn't have the van for a safe place to sleep, and they'd had to watch each other closely.  Aelwyn had caught Fabian with a dispel before he could murder Gorgug, at least.

Judging by the screaming, there might be need for another dispel.  Aelwyn grabbed her spell focus sword but left her chain shirt where she'd rested it atop her bag; it would take too long to pull it on.  She rushed towards the noise, the sounds of others moving from where they'd been resting, the odd itching at her skin that had been happening since they'd arrived at this temple continuing.

Fabian was the source of the scream, banging his hand on a very solid wall.  "Kristen!  Kristen's trapped in there, or her body is, at least!  I saw her get stabbed through the heart by one of the skeletons, the one of the unicorn!"

"It could have been an illusion."  Aelwyn tried, glancing around, spotting where Tracker had gone as pale as she could at Fabian's announcement.  "I'll...  I'll try sending to her."  Aelwyn decided, even with the need to preserve spell slots, even as Gorgug smashed through the wall that Fabian was beating on, revealing a room that could not possibly have been exposed to the air anytime recently.

Recently being in the last several centuries.  The staleness of the air couldn't be anything else, skeleton within or not.

"Kristen, I think the illusions might be getting more powerful, where are you?"  Aelwyn said into the Sending spell, and then felt it fail in a way where she knew what had happened:  The intended recipient was dead...  Or at least, that was how it felt.  Aelwyn shook her head.  "It didn't work, but that could be part of the same illusions.  There's something so wrong about this place."

"So if we're lucky, Kristen has been tricked by an illusion into wondering away, and if we're unlucky then she's dead."  Tracker said, clearly on the edge of a breakdown, not looking at all like she thought either of those were very lucky.  Aelwyn swallowed, nodding in response.

"...This is the only human skeleton in the place I've seen."  Riz said, frowning at the skeleton next to the statue within the room.  "At least, I'm pretty sure it's not an elf's skeleton.  Hard to be certain."

Aelwyn raised her hands up to her eyes and rubbed at them once, even as the others started speaking to one another.

"One way or another, we have to go get Kristen and Adaine, yeah?  I think we need to just go."  Gorgug said, and a consensus seemed to form among the bad kids that charging into the forest was the way to go.

"Remember, Kristen said we'll need to follow our fears.  The scarier something is, the closer to the center of the forest."  Fig said, and while they were trying to seem unafraid it was clear to Aelwyn again suddenly just how young they all were.

This was insane, that they were here instead of an adult adventuring party, that Ayda and Ragh and Adaine and Kristen were all missing.

She managed to pull herself out of it a little bit in time for the group to have reached the consensus that now was the time to go; she at least went back to where she'd been trancing, retrieving her equipment.  Fig and Fabian were still talking, were still trying to encourage everyone, but Aelwyn's eyes were firmly on Gorgug, who was holding a brick of Dusk Moss that could have paid for Mordred Manor if sold back home.

Even at the peak of her drug use, Dusk Moss hadn't been a favorite of Aelwyn's.  The detachment from reality had been nice, but allowing her own imagination to run wild was a bit of a different story.

"We'll meet back up in the center of the forest.  With everyone else, too - we're coming for Kristen, and Adaine, and Ayda and Ragh and Sandra Lynn too."  Fabian said, and then the Dusk Moss was lit and the fumes were in the air and Riz had taken off like a shot away from the temple without even allowing any of it to enter his system and Tracker was howling at the sky in the agony of Kristen's evident death without even having transformed and...

...And Aelwyn was alone, suddenly.  Completely and totally alone, with no sign of the others or the temple around her.  They weren't really HER friends, after all, not even Tracker - they were people who Adaine had shared with her, and now Adaine was gone, and it was just Aelwyn, alone in the nightmare forest.

A terrible thing.  Just Aelwyn had never made good choices.

She looked around - follow your fear, they'd said, but every direction seemed equally scary.  No help there.  She'd just have to pick a way and go.  Aelwyn stepped forward, passing under some trees, and went.  And went, and went.

Hopefully this was right.  She walked, and time felt incredibly fuzzy but she was walking for a very long time.  Hours, certainly.  Days, maybe?  But surely she would be more tired than that if it had been days.

Footsteps echoed behind her in her wake, the sound of someone crashing through the branches echoing off the twisted trees around her, but when she turned to look there was no one there.  A buzzing sounded at her side, instead, startling her.  Her crystal, which hadn't had service since they'd left Solace, buzzing with a received text.

She pulled it out, staring at it with eyes wide.  It was from a person she most decidedly did not have as a contact in this crystal, because they had been long since dead when she'd been given it by Jawbone.

Penelope Everpetal, asking when she was going to get around to finding a seventh maiden to take, and if she could just bring over some Dragon Spice the next time she came by as well.

"Do you think she's figured out even in hell that you never really answered to her?"  A voice spoke from just behind her.  "You were never HER tool, after all."

She turned, again, and this time managed to catch a glimpse of the person who had been stalking her.  Standing there, her hair ratty and tangled, her eyes sunken with a lack of rest that should have left her unable to even stand, scars thick around her wrists and ankles, clothing from a long-ago party almost rotting off of her, another Aelwyn looked down at the crystal even as it slipped from her fingers and to the forest floor.

"...I'm not anybody's tool.  Not anymore."  Aelwyn said, trying to project a confidence in that that she didn't truly feel.

"Yeah, yeah, I know.  You've changed.  You're better.  That's what you think, right?  It's kind of cute, that you think we can change, so I like to let you tell that particular lie.  We're so GOOD at lying, aren't we?"  The figure said, shrugging.  "But at some point, even you have to see through our own lies.  You've always been exactly the same on the inside, and you still are.  I'm just here to remind you of it, that's all."

The betrayal of that thought cut through even the slightly disconnected feeling of the Dusk Moss in her system, and she drew in a breath to argue with the other her, who glanced away and undercut her with a comment before Aelwyn could even think of what to say, what to counter with.  "I can prove it to you, if you want.  Real evidence that you won't change.  You'd be better off leaving it, finding your way out of this forest and being able to keep the comfort of the lie."  The direction the figure started to walk in wasn't the one Aelwyn would choose, was instead a rough path through the terrain.

"I am different, though."  Aelwyn said, finally arguing even as she followed.  "I mean, not all of it is for the best; my mind doesn't work as well as it used to, and I'm cursed to be a werewolf, and all of that, but those are all differences.  And there are good things, too.  I'm as good as I can be to Adaine, I certainly am not causing as much trouble or hurting as many people as I used to, I..."

"...am acting exactly how Jawbone wants us to act, aren't you?  Modeling yourself after him, I think, instead of Mother and Father, but that's not really any different.  You're still just being an extension of the person in charge of you.  That person has changed, for now, but that doesn't mean we have."  The other Aelwyn cut her off.

She didn't sound satisfied, as she said this.  She sounded exceptionally tired, beaten down, but certain, and that certainty rocked Aelwyn for a stretch; she fell silent, truly thinking over the words as she continued to follow her other self through the brush, branches and briars opening up cuts that resealed within minutes.

"It's not.. it's not a bad thing, to pick someone you admire and try to make yourself be more like them, if you don't like who you are, right?  Jawbone himself is proof that people change.  He was a drug dealer, and now he's helping people get through school, he's taking in strays like myself and Adaine, he's doing really great things."  She pointed out, but there wasn't a delay in the response.

The other her didn't slow, didn't look back.  "I never said people can't change.  I said that we can't change.  And I think you'll find that Jawbone's changed less than you think, anyway.  What do you think will happen, if he lost his job at that school, if he lost his insurance and now had a whole house full of people to feed instead of just himself and Tracker?  Because I think he'll be back to selling drugs to schoolchildren, and I think Tracker knows it too, and I think you already knew all of this.  You can see it any time Tracker thinks about the bad old days for her, because those bad old days could be bad new ones easy as that.  Will you be helping him with his dealing at that point, I wonder, if we're still his?"

"I'll help him avoid needing to do that.  I owe him that much, and I know he doesn't want to."  Aelwyn said, and that finally got the other her to stop, turning back around.

"What's want got to do with anything?  All that really matters is what is.  The second you see Mother or Father in person, you're going to be back yapping at their heels instead of Jawbone's, no matter what you want or what I want or what would be good."  The other her said, looking away.

This was just an illusion of the forest, probably.  But nothing it had said was completely untrue, was something that Aelwyn hadn't thought about or worried about herself.  Nothing it had said was wrong.  It just wasn't the whole story.

Aelwyn stepped forward, and wrapped her arms around the illusion of herself, shutting her eyes and smelling the exhaustion and pain and fear off of her.  "You're not wrong, that I think that I... that we need someone to follow, that I want some guiding light.  But we can choose who that will be, now.  We don't have to go back to them, not ever again, and even if I see them I think I can tell them no."

There was actual weight, there, a wiry, starved flesh of someone who had crawled and been unfed for months and months.  Even if this was an illusion, in this place illusions were real.

"...It's not time to think it.  It's time to do it.  I was wanting to bring you to both of them, but they've split up a little bit; he's just ahead, now.  Very near to the dead center of the forest.  Adaine isn't there, but he's the one maintaining control over her.  I hope I was wrong about us, but I don't think that I was..."  And with a whimper, even as Aelwyn squeezed her beaten down self to her, the other her vanished.

Or, no, never vanished.  She was still there, always.  All of Aelwyn's own doubts and worries and fears; they didn't go away that easily, but that self had been right.  Now was the time to prove it.  She wanted, more than anything, for the reprieve that had been the last several months before this quest, a happy house full of friends and family, jobs protecting and helping people who had deserved it, that could extend out and be her future if they all lived through this, without the specter of Kalina or the Nightmare King hanging over it.

She took two deep breaths, trying to steady herself, and then Aelwyn O'Shaughnessey stepped out from the woods and into a clearing, directly into the line of sight of her father.

Notes:

The Bad Kids (plus Tracker) are still going through the forest and getting bits of hope from one another; one of Aelwyn's fears, at this point, is needing to be unsupported and on her own and so she does not get that little boost.

At the end of this chapter, however, Aelwyn gets a reroll of a stat in the same way the bad kids do in canon! Her Wisdom is now 14, going from -1 to +2, so good job there. (I did actually roll for this but getting the boost to 14 is very appropriate)

Chapter 83: Patricide

Summary:

Aelwyn faces her past. The bad kids face a nightmare.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

They hadn't found everyone, but they were out of time to look.  Long past out of time, probably, Riz thought grimly to himself.

As they flew, rather than taking the rather precarious looking bridge, there was just enough break in the treeline to see, rising up above the spire of forest was a skeletal figure the size of a mountain, streams of shadowy energy coming off of it.

The Nightmare King, almost certainly.  Here, in this world.  They were late, and yet the crown was visible on the figure's head, and...  more than that, they were missing half their number.  They could hardly flee like this.

"What's the plan?  What can we do against that?"  Tracker asked from where she was clinging to Baxter beside him.  At least they'd have one cleric on their side; it was a group of six of them, preparing to land.  Ayda was carrying Fig, and he, Fabian, Gorgug, and Tracker were all on Baxter, and this was somehow going to have to be the group that fought that mountain unless one of their missing were already there.

Hopefully, they would be.  Aelwyn, at least, though some private part of Riz that he didn't like wondered if she had simply failed and turned away from her fears.  He could hardly blame anyone who did.  Sandra Lynn was clearly around, somewhere, but the arrows in Baxter when they'd found him were not promising.  There'd been no sign of Ragh, and Kristen...  well.  If she wasn't dead, then there hadn't been a sign of her, either.

They landed and set out, leaving Baxter rather than risking taking the wounded griffin into the fray, Fig hugging around his neck.

As they came up towards the twisted tree and the skeleton, mere specks beneath it, the energy flowing away from the Nightmare King became more obvious, twisting off towards another spire, the energy almost seeming to grow.  There were a handful of creatures and people already there.  Including Ragh and Sandra Lynn, but the way they were lifting their weapons was not promising.  There was no sign of Adaine, nor of her family, but a wood elf with a red glowing crystal in his chest was there, as was a hulking tree-ent and a rotting centaur.

And so was Kalina, even though Riz was pretty certain he wasn't infected.

"Aah, joining us at last, kid?  Your friend was very helpful with getting us to this point.  The Oracle, I mean, not your dead friend.  Not doing very well with this, are you?"  Kalina asked from the top of a set of stairs, and he didn't hesitate, pulling his gun and firing at her.

A kaleidoscope of myriad images of her split off, moving in different directions, dodging around the bullet and bending before recombining, a smug expression on her face.  "We don't have to do this, kids.  You all can fight me if you really want to; my boss there is busy, reestablishing their presence in the world, but even if you somehow beat me - and you won't - they could swat all of us with a mere thought.  But instead of dying, you could join up with the winning side, the same way Adaine already did.  Otherwise, here?  There won't be any sort of escape even in death for any of you."

Fabian gave a roar, and charged forward, the others not far after him, but the fear creeping in to Riz's mind was all the more real because of it.  They would go down fighting, if they had to, but this seemed like a fight that would be impossible to actually win.


"Daughter.  It is good to see you've come to join us."  Father - Angwyn Abernant - said from the other side of the clearing, looking straight at where she'd come from even before she'd stepped out.  He'd known that that was where she would be; this had been arranged, by the forest or by Kalina or...

Well.  Nothing for it, now.  Why was her resolve shaking, when she had known this would come?  Adaine hadn't told her of the vision of this conflict for no reason.  Her hands trembled, now, hearing his voice.  She tried to at least hide her uncertainty in her voice, and failed; she was trembling there too, as she spoke.

"...Father.  I've come for Adaine.  Where is she?"  Aelwyn asked, not moving to draw her sword yet.  This didn't have to come to a fight, surely.

"Your sister is assisting your mother with a ritual.  One that will cleanse both herself and you of the monstrous plague that has infected your body and your mind, among other things.  I cannot allow you to approach for now, but once it is completed then you are more than welcome to return to Fallinel with us, Aelwyn."  Father said, sternly looking at her.

"I would really rather not.  My last stay there was... hardly pleasant."  She said, flicking her eyes to see if she could see what direction he might have come from, any sign of this ritual that might be happening.  Nothing but the twisted trees in all directions; how he had even gotten here was unclear.

"Yes, well.  It is important that the disease of lycanthropy be contained, Aelwyn.  You should be grateful, that we expended so many resources to be able to keep you alive.  Adaine is to be the ruler of Fallinel, however, and she will need her family to guide her.  You will go back to being a good girl and a dutiful daughter, instead of this twisted diseased creature, Aelwyn."  He glanced her up and down, then frowned.  "Just stay right there.  It will be done in mere minutes, now."

"And you expect me to think that Adaine is going along with this plan willingly?"  Aelwyn said, allowing just a bit of disbelief to slip into her voice, more disrespect than she ever would have shown to her parents before.  More than she would have dared.  She needed to work her way up to this, to actually fighting him, and it seemed likely she wasn't going to have enough time.

"Your sister was convinced to help, temporarily.  And once the ritual is complete, I believe she will find it very convincing on a more permanent basis.  The Abernants will make for the perfect family to restore Fallinel from its current infighting to the proper place, guiding the other, lesser nations of the world through the ages, the hand of the Oracle steering that nation as it steers the world."  And with Mother and Father steering her, of course.

A whisper tickled at the corner of Aelwyn's mind.  It would be so much easier to go along, to do as they asked; they had Adaine, had all of the advantages here.  It was damning, that she couldn't be completely certain that it was the magic of the forest or of the enchantment wizard before her rather than simply being her own mind.

"I think...  that I will not wait here.  That I should go check on Adaine, and make certain this is what she wishes to happen, rather than something that is being forced on her."  Aelwyn said, her hand moving down towards her sword but not drawing it, not yet.

Light crackled down Father's arm and into his hand, the beginnings of an enchantment spell that would force her to follow a single command for a time.  "You will do as I ask, Aelwyn.  Now is not the time for disobedience; we are on the verge of victory, of fixing everything that you and your sister have broken."

That particular spell could be countered through either force of will or through arcane means; not trusting in her own willpower, Aelwyn reached out with a thread of arcane energy in just the right pattern to disrupt it, the light dissipating from around his hand, his brow lifting in shock.  "You've fallen this far, Aelwyn?"  He asked, and her right hand touched her sword's hilt.  He certainly noticed that, and as she tried to Misty Step to close with him she felt the energy of the teleportation snatched out from her in turn, leaving her trying to close through the muck of the forest on foot.

It seemed that the forest itself was on her father's side, of course; roots reached out, snagging at her, forcing her to fight slowly through them even as he backed away from her.  Another spell, this one a hold person, that she was forced to throw another counter out at rather than ending up helpless; she at least fired off a Firebolt at him, which went wide and caught a nearby tree on fire.

The tree seemed to scream.  Hopefully that was just another waking nightmare, and not some former resident of this cursed country turned into a tree.

"Very well, then, Aelwyn.  If you insist on harsher actions, then a harsher punishment is required."  Father said, and...

...Oh.  This wasn't something she HAD to counter, not the same way that she had everything else he had done.  It was just going to hurt, quite a lot.  A split second decision made, she clenched her entire body in preparation, starting another teleportation spell.  A lightning bolt, charged with excess arcane energy, raced across the field, and she was too slow to get out of the way.  Her Ward at least lessened the blow, kept the worst of it from hitting her even as what got through flooded her system with pain, but in the wake of that spell he wasn't prepared for her to teleport again, landing just before him.

A hand back to her sword.

If you fight back, if you use your will and your strength and actually try, you will absolutely destroy him.  Please do, Adaine had said, and requested, back before they had started on this quest, when she'd told Aelwyn of her vision of Aelwyn fighting him.

A choice, of who to follow and who to try to be like and what she wanted to be, and it wasn't this man, not at all.

A mix of the arcane and the divine flowed into and through her sword as she swung it, gleaming with moonlight, catching Angwyn Abernant in the side of the torso, slashing through him and sending him to the ground, the smell of blood and punctured organs reaching Aelwyn's nose almost instantly.  Her eyes went wide - this man had been seemingly an invincible inevitability her entire childhood, had shaped her and made her what she'd been to a large degree, and he'd always been so intimidating, and...  could he really fall in one stroke, like he was just another thug kidnapping a child from a museum?  Penelope had put up a greater struggle than that; most of the foes they had faced on this quest had, and he'd had the forest helping him, and yet down he didn't seem to be getting back up as she stood there frozen, the sword still held at the end of her swing.

He, somehow, was still awake for the moment, his hands moving to his side to grab for something.  Aelwyn stomped a heavy boot down onto his wrist to stop whatever he might be doing, looking down at him, feeling tears running down her eyes and her shoulders shaking and...

...She could still heal him, if she chose to.  He wasn't dead, not yet; the wound she had given would be death without magical healing, but quite a slow one.  Painful.

His voice, when he spoke, was weak, but filled with a level of contempt usually reserved for Adaine, growing slower as his blood drained from his body to cover the forest floor.    "A sword, Aelwyn?  You... really have become a beast..."

"Which way are they?  Tell me how to get to Adaine and Mother and I'll heal you before I go."  Aelwyn offered, desperate now, no idea how to get there.  She should have tried to learn to locate people from Ayda and Adaine, should have done something different than all the things that had led her to the here and now with needing a favor from him to help.

"I will not.  The wish will restore me, as well... and then we shall see about teaching you your place."  Angwyn said, before slipping away into unconsciousness.

...If there were effects on Adaine that he had created but that did not require his constant maintenance, his death would end them, some part of Aelwyn's brain that was always the abjurer whispered, and that part was right.

She wished, desperately, that that practicality was the only reason she had for putting a sword through the heart of a helpless man, weeping and screaming as she did so.

Notes:

Up next, an actual Adaine chapter! Welcome back to the narrative proper, Adaine, things are going super swell!

Also, you may notice that we have a chapter count. It's not impossible that I expand or contract it, but I'm like 99% sure that we're going to be at 87 chapters total, so...

Chapter 84: Matricide

Summary:

Adaine keeps a promise, and another Adaine breaks one.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The second time Adaine felt herself regain awareness over her body within the Nightmare Forest the situation was far worse than the first time.  She was standing in front of an arcane circle that had been traced out by her mother, a number of components laid out with precise positioning.  A purple and black energy was glowing, flooding down from the sky into the arcane circle, infusing all of the bits and bobs and seemingly random magical components that had been picked out and placed perfectly, a wind loudly ripping around the area that way probably no wind at all but rather the force of that energy.

This was a ritual to combine a Wish spell with the Divine Intervention of a god, to go even further than either of those things could go on their own, and both of those things could go incredibly far.  It was light-years beyond Adaine's current theoretical understanding, except that she had been the key, had provided all the answers that the genius of Arianwen Abernant or Kalina could not fill in on their own by looking to the future and finding one where they got it right.

Right this moment, that mostly only served to let her know how fucked she was.  This ritual going off had ended up with the her that had been behind that desk, running Fallinel as a puppet of the Nightmare King and Kalina.

In front of her, facing the other way at the top of the circle was Mother.  Adaine instinctually started to raise her hands to attack, and found that she still had silvered shackles on her wrists, but also found one thing that was much better than the prior time she had come awake, no matter that they were burning into her wrists:  She had full control over her body.  All of the enchantments that had been on her the prior time, the hold person, everything, they were gone.  She still had the pounding headache from the drugs, and her entire body hurt from who knew what abuse it had been through while she had not been in it, but she could, at last, act.

With no material components.  No use of her hands, or somatic components.  No real use to shift into a wolf given the wrist bindings, no use in running because if this ritual went off then it would mean nothing good for her.

She had one spell, prepared thankfully for her elf form less because she'd even expected to ever use it than as a just in case and a token of love for the dear friend who had made it for her.  She had all of her spell slots - they had been using her for prophecy, not for magic.

With the greatest amount of energy she could muster, she opened her mouth, speaking a quick arcane command that started to draw mother's attention even over the howling wind.  Too late for her to do anything but start to turn around, the spellwork finished, Adaine closing the distance and leaping forward.  Silver energy gathered to her teeth, extending out into strong and sharp fangs as she flung herself at the last moment from her charge, catching her mother in the throat and sending both of them sprawling, the taste of blood coming to Adaine's mouth and then pain coming from her wrists as they both spilled forward, rolling twice, before coming to a stop with Adaine on top, her knee in her mother's stomach.

Mother had fear in her eyes, stunned at the attack.  Adaine didn't hesitate, while she was still surprised.  She repeated the spell, and this time when she bit into her mother's throat and ripped, it was with full intent and aim, a promise that had been made the last Solstice that she meant to keep.  A warm liquid spilled down the front, and her mother kicked once, twice, before going still under her, Adaine spitting the flesh she'd caught out, panting for breath and then realizing:

Mother was dead.  Adaine, however, was still screwed.

The energy did not stop gathering.  The ritual was already fully in place.  All it needed was another twenty, maybe thirty seconds at the most to go off, Adaine knew, and it would do that without her mother's guidance at this point.  If she were to start just trying to disrupt it, she would either fail, or in the best case without knowing what she was doing she would level the forest for miles around in every direction.  The forest she knew her friends and her sister were in, now, as well.

Aelwyn might have been able to stop it safely, but she wasn't here.  Aguefort, maybe, either Arthur or Ayda.  They weren't here, either.  She needed someone who would know how to safely disarm such a thing, and she needed them right now, and she could not panic right now.  Think.  Think.  Anything that could help.

A lesson, from the most powerful (and craziest) wizard she had ever met, just before he had teleported her halfway across the world with no chance to prepare.  Or, well, not a lesson.  A question.  She hadn't been able to do this when Arthur Aguefort had asked her, and she couldn't normally do it either, but...

Adaine dug into mother's pouch, ignoring as best she could the smell and the trickling blood still draining out onto the ground, and came out with two vials and a needle, one of the vials half-emptied.  If she overdosed on it, so be it - she needed this to work, and needed it to work right now, and so she filled the needle as much as she could.  It wasn't purely a drug; there was a magical part to it, of course.  It would work right away, as it had every time prior.  She stabbed herself in the thigh, whimpering in pain but injecting herself.

The effects were immediate, but different than they had been prior, when she'd been under Father's enchantments as well as the drugs.  She was still seeing the forest around her, but it seemed slowed, greatly, compared to the vision in her head of a future in Fallinel.

There wasn't time to sneak around, in this future.  There wasn't a way that she was going to be able to trick an older, stronger version of herself, either.  There was only a hope that she had been holding out since she'd first seen that version of her.

Adaine rushed through the tower this time.  She did not think anyone other than her elder self would be able to see her, regardless, and that was the conversation she needed to have.  The Elven Oracle was alone in her office, at least, working on paperwork as Adaine barged in, looking up at Adaine as she entered and going pale.

"What trickery is this now, Kalina?"  The Oracle asked.  "I'm doing what you want; you can at least spare me the dramatic illusions."

"I'm not Kalina."  Adaine replied, tilting her head a little bit.  "But I don't think you want to be doing what she wants, do you?  Not truly, no matter what that ritual did to you.  No matter what they took from you.  How are they controlling us?"

She saw a little bit of familiar body language, there, for the first time.  A frustration, a rage, an impotence and inability to change.  It was something she'd had to use a lot less, in the last year and a half or so.

Hopefully, she wouldn't need to learn to again.

"Part of the wish was that Aelwyn and I would be obedient.  To our blood family, first, and then to Kalina and the Nightmare King after.  A trick, of course.  No Abernant but I was ever going to leave that forest alive, and so the Nightmare King got Fallinel without any struggle at all, even if it isn't official."  The Oracle said, shaking her head.  "If you are Kalina, you already know this.  If I am starting to lose my mind, then I suppose it's a fair price for what I've helped you do."

"Do you want to undo it, then?  Because I think there's a way."  Adaine said, and her older self looked up and stared at her.

"I told you.  I can't work against Kalina or the Nightmare King, and it's long since decided, anyway."  She seemed dismissive, slumping behind her desk, looking too small for the official robes she was wearing and the role she was playing.  One Adaine knew she hated.

"It is for you.  To me, you're just a vision.  A might be, not an is.  And you said you were loyal to the family first.  Well, I think there's a pretty damn good argument that I'm your little sister, in a very real sense, and I need help.  The ritual is about to go off.  How do I stop it?"  Adaine asked.

A tilt of the head; a bit of interest, at least.  "...I can probably make myself believe that for a few minutes.  Long enough to tell you that there is no stopping it.  I tried to disrupt it, tried to sacrifice myself and any of my friends or Aelwyn if they were nearby, and it was far too late.  If you break it, it will go off with whatever power it has already gathered.  More than enough to affect you, by now.  I assume you already killed mother?"

Adaine licked at her lips.  In the vision her head, at least, they weren't covered with blood.  "Yes.  If we can't stop it, can we redirect it?  Change the wish, somehow?"

Silence, for a moment.  "...Redirect it.  No. You would need decades more experience to do such a thing; you don't have anywhere near enough theoretical grounding for that, nor power.  I was nearly sixty before I would have been able to."

"Can you guide me through it, perhaps?  You were there, and I am here and there, and..."  She trailed off, hoping that the Oracle would pick up on her meaning. She did, clearly, thinking another minute, enough time that a second, two ticked away in the forest.  The edge of Adaine's brain was fire; she had definitely used far too much of the drug, was pushing every gift she'd been given by the divine powers in charge of the Oracle to the absolute limits.

"I..  maybe.   Maybe.  Are you...  are you certain?  It will be painful.  More than anything we've ever known, I think.  And it will kill us, almost certainly."  The Oracle said, the last almost an afterthought.

"Will it be more painful than being the only one of our friends to walk out of that forest?"  Adaine asked, and that settled it.  Her elder self stood up, and cast a Detect Thoughts, and suddenly she was back in the forest fully.  The arcane circle was now more purple than dark energy, very close to firing off Adaine was certain.

Her body was still hers, still free of any controlling effects, except she felt someone there with her, her older self in her head and in her limbs and guiding her from that hopefully-doomed to never happen future.

She moved to a point on the arcane circle where a scroll sat, written in her mother's fine elvish script, a long set of legal conditions and an incredibly complex wish.  Carefully, Adaine knelt down, yanking the scroll out of the box, her elder self working the magical threads necessary to plug Adaine herself in as a replacement for the source of the Wish of the ritual as it rose to a crescendo.  Energy began to spill into her, and it was all Adaine could do not to scream in pain as far more power than any mortal was ever meant to even touch flowed through her.

A whisper, from her elder self, in the back of her mind.  Speak your Wish and make it a good one.  It's likely the last thing we will ever do.  There was the echo, someone else speaking as well, some force behind that older self, but Adaine had no time to examine that now, not with the heat closing in and boiling away at her brain, not while knowing this would be the last instants before the ritual would fire, one way or the other.

Somehow, through all the pain, when she spoke it was still clear, in spite of the pain.

"I wish that my allies in this forest get what they need to make it home safely."

The arcane circle pulsed, around and through her.  The grasp on her future self, if it had ever been more than just a delusion of her divination magic, faded away and was lost; a beam of purple and dark energy shot into the sky in a column, spreading out from there like a firework, the last thing Adaine saw as she collapsed to the ground in agony, her vision fading to black as she dropped into unconsciousness.

Notes:

Hopefully, all of this makes sense! Just how real her future self is is a philosophical question more than anything.

As you can see, I added a chapter count to the fic after the prior chapter was posted; I'm pretty sure that's going to end up being the final count, now.

Chapter 85: Wish

Summary:

A wish is performed, and almost everyone is happy about it.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

It started in the interdimensional space inside of a ruby embedded in the chest of a dead man.

A rather crowded inside, at the moment:  An archdevil, her succubus, and her chained up pit fiend father were there, with just a little bit of a problem.

"Can you get him out safely?"  Fig asked, and Ayda frowned as her Dispel failed again, the curse remaining even as the lower levels she could manage sparked against the contingency holding Gorthalax hostage were the ruby to be shattered.

"I am trying, my paramour.  There was not enough time to take the rest that I would have preferred before we came here, and I am running low on energy."  The battle to even get to this point had been fierce, and neither of them wanted to think about what might be happening outside with the two of them not there.  The Nightmare King had not even been participating, not yet.

Ayda needed just a little bit more, just one more spell with enough oomph.  She shut her eyes, and...

...And, for a moment, she was back in the Compass Points.  The summer of the year prior, in her childhood bedroom, the little nook that Adaine had spent the summer in.  It was the morning after a full moon, and Adaine was all but comatose in her hammock, and Ayda was reading a story about friendship to her, and...

The moment passed, and yet Ayda inexplicably felt herself refreshed.  There would be time to question why and how later - for now, she thrust her hand forward, a Dispel with real force behind it shattering the bonds around Gorthalax, Fig's father freed at last.  Fig didn't hesitate, where she'd been waiting; a powerful blast from her bass, and they were out and back to try and aid the others against Kalina.


Far, far away, in the country of marvels that was Solace, things could happen that no other country in the world could manage.

In most countries, for wealth to vanish from a bank, it would need to be taken physically.  But in Solace alone, a set of arcanocrystals could fail, and then the backups to those could fail, all struck by a surge of energy from somewhere unknown, and suddenly all the wealth of a bank's customers was missing.

Much of it could be reconstructed from records.  The bank's management would estimate later that only a tiny number of accounts had been fully lost.

Half a dozen, maybe.

On the battlefield, a single coin, unnoticed in Fabian's equipment where he was bleeding out on the ground, showed a strange glyph upon it.


The battle was going terribly, Riz knew, and it was almost entirely because they couldn't lay a finger on Kalina.  None of them had been able to, this entire fight - she bent and twisted the world around her in impossible ways, even while able to strike at them.  Fabian had been all but disemboweled by her; Fig and Ayda had both been very very hurt before vanishing, too.  Tracker was trying to get to Fabian, but she was having her own problems with the horrific centaur.

The only thing that had really gone their way, and it wasn't a small thing, was that they'd managed to break Ragh and Sandra Lynn out of their brainwashed states.  They'd managed to fight off the rest of the twisted creatures that had served at Kalina's seeming command; that fight was still going, but it might not matter.

If they couldn't hit Kalina soon, they'd never beat her.  And even if they beat her, the Nightmare King was right there, still idle in this fight but looming over the battlefield with an impossible sense of dread.

They needed a miracle, Riz thought, to be able to kill Kalina.

There was the sound of a bass, and across the battlefield Killian collapsed, dead, even as Gorthalax, Fig, and Ayda reappeared.  Kalina was on them within moments, and for all of Gorthalax's power he seemed just as unable as any of the rest of them to touch the feral familiar, just as unable to stop her claws from finding purchase in himself.

Riz felt someone straightening his clothing, an invisible set of hands that tucked back his collar, straightened his tie, engaged the camera within it...


The vast majority of the incredible power of the ritual was spent performing the greatest miracle:  Broadcasting an image, sent from a tie.  To every crystal in Solace, for one, but also to every pool of water in all of Fallinel, to every mirror (enchanted or otherwise) in the Baronies, to every suit of armor or blade polished to a shine in all of Highcourt, throughout the world in any place where someone might have had Kalina's infection spread to her an image of a battle in a faraway forest appeared.

Precious few people understood what it was they were seeing, and even of those, the ritual did not have the power to maintain the display for very long, no more than a few quick seconds.

Just for long enough.


...and Kalina lost her speed, for just a moment, lost the millions of illusions coming out of her, and had Gorthalax's axe smash down into her, clearly dazing and surprising her.

An opportunity.  One Riz couldn't pass up, not at all.  His dad's gun was back in his hand in a smooth motion, his arm extended out, his aim true now that there was a single target and not a wild set of illusions trying to get him to shoot one of his friends.

A bullet, fired from his gun into the back of Kalina's neck, even from this distance.  No need to talk, no need for words, just a simple mission to avenge his father.

He wished he could feel better about it, as Kalina faded into mist, as Ayda hit the mist with a dispel, but the energy flowing out from the Nightmare King seemed to be doing so no more, and he could feel the attention of that giant skeleton turning from whatever it had been working on and onto the group of them.

"Get Fabian up, please!"  He called over to Tracker, but it wouldn't really help probably.  Just better to all die fighting together, as many of them as they could get.

He was interrupted from worrying about that too much by a skeletal hand floating over Fabian's body.


Kristen Applebees was having a very frustrating existence, at the moment, as she watched her friends fight for their lives, the love of her life barely managing to fend off a monster that had stalked these woods for centuries.

Neither fully dead nor fully alive, holding a staff and with spells from a new source in her soul, she had no way to impact the battle.  None of her spells were taking, none of her friends nor foes seemed to be able to see her.

Well.  One of them could.  The Nightmare King's gaze had been fixed on her, though it had been completely silent the entire time.

She needed...  she needed some way to affect the world, some way that she could HELP, just some way to get back to her friends.

Suddenly, to her senses, something was there that most definitely hadn't been before.  A hand, floating in midair near Fabian's fallen form, just bones with neither muscles nor skin.

Her hand.

Reaching out with the power of her new goddess, one that was probably dead herself, Kristen Applebees stepped from beyond and back into the world of the living, her hand glowing faintly of starlight.  She looked down at Fabian, leaning down and touching him, her healing far less potent than it had been under Helio but somehow much more satisfying.  "C'mon, bro, stop being lazy and help us fight."  She said, absently.

A coin had fallen out near him, with a strange glyph on it, she noticed as he started to stir, as the Nightmare King's full attention turned squarely onto her.

Kristen touched her staff to the coin, using it to dispel the mystery around the object.  A book fell into her hands, transmutated back away from being a coin, opening to a page featuring a goddess she knew and a person she did as well.  Herself and the mystery goddess.

The mystery goddess who was half a skull.

A spell was being wound up by the Nightmare King.  Something horrific, undoubtedly, that would scare them and make them surrender and somehow never quite kill them.

Kristen stepped forward, instead, all the closer to the figure.

If this was the form they chose, Kristen would deal with it, but she didn't think so somehow.  Perhaps a follower would give them a new one.  When she spoke, it was as soft as she could manage, but her voice carried over all the madness going on, over the cries of Gorthalax trying to fight this god.

"You who I love, who I praise, won't you tell me:  What is your name?" Kristen asked, before taking the last step into the God's immediate aura.


Aelwyn O'Shaughnessey had no idea where to go to find any of her allies, and no way to really go anywhere, the woods thick on all sides.  She was still near to Father's corpse, and...

It was enough that she was mostly just despairing now.  There was no way to know if killing Angwyn had helped Adaine, not without finding her, and Aelwyn had no idea what it was she could do to locate her.

...She gagged, again, pressing her forehead to the dirt, trying to ignore the pungent smell of the corpse, her stomach wanting nothing more than to empty at the horror of having killed even a father she hadn't particularly loved.  She wanted to go home, to cuddle up with Boggy and Moonlight and Adaine and Jawbone, to be safe and loved and all those sappy things she'd been missing most of her life.

She needed her sister, safe and sound.

A portal opened, just a few feet away, and Adaine, unconscious but breathing, fell out of it and onto the ground.  The portal immediately snapped shut behind her, but Aelwyn certainly didn't care about that.  Instead, Aelwyn sat up sharply, looking over and then pouncing, landing right next to her sister and pressing her hands against the side of her head.  

Breathing, but very very damaged, beyond Aelwyn's ability to heal here and now.  A fever in her head, a sickness in her veins.  A little power managed to burn out the sickness, at least, but Adaine still did not awaken.

Aelwyn started pouring the most powerful healing spells she could manage into Adaine, tears flooding down her face as she did.  She was still there, still putting everything she had into healing Adaine when a purple figure the size of a mountain came up upon them.

Notes:

Managed to just barely get this one out on November 6, which is my birthday. For my birthday, I have made a Wish. :D

Chapter 86: Completion

Summary:

The quest for the Crown of the Nightmare King is completed, and the party returns home.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Adaine opened her eyes to find that the world was full of purple and agony and the smells and sounds of friends and, somehow, still herself, even though she could remember being certain that the end had come.

Too much was trying to fit into her brain right now, a billion billion futures all competing for space now that she could no longer see them with whatever powers the Fallinel experiments had been able to give her, and the sky was moving above her, and she felt herself let out a whimper of pain even as she rolled onto her side.

Her sister was speaking somewhere near her, but it was a blur of noise, failing to cut through the haze of pain and overload of her brain.  She shut her eyes once more, which didn't really help much.

More voices, more conversation that she could not follow, and all she really wanted to do was greet her friends.  She'd missed them, in the indefinable amounts of time that had passed.

An idea managed to break through, or a desire, and there was a moment where pain went through her entire body before the thoughts retreated just a little bit, able to be pushed away in favor of a more instinctual approach as she retreated into wolf form.  Not completely, not at all, the haze of pain in her mind still there, but at least she felt she could come to her feet and face the world a little bit.

There was a moment to register that they were far above a forest, everyone she could have hoped would be there alongside her as they were carried in the enormous palms of a glowing purple giant of a god, before a weight slammed into her, pressure on all sides as Aelwyn desperately squeezed her in a hug.  More words, and though she still couldn't quite understand the words the tone was obvious.  Relief, and joy, and love.

A moment, Aelwyn pulling back even as Fig and Gorgug just as enthusiastically greeted her, and then a familiar weight settling into place with more words from Aelwyn as the pendant Adaine had worn for months prior was placed back around her neck.

She was so tired and hurt, still, but surrounded by the people she loved, on the way out of the Nightmare Forest below, Adaine knew that somehow everything was going to be okay.


Kristen's new god - Fig wasn't going to ask just how much of the Nightmare King was left in her, because so long as she was willing to leave them all alone and give them the crown so they could pass Fig would rather not ask - dropped off an exhausted group at the edge of the forest.  Most of her words were for Kristen alone, but she did speak to the group.

"I am sorry for not being able to heal you all further for now, but there were too many drains on my power in too short a time; I need to recover, myself.  Thank you for your help in my forest.  You are a clever and brave group indeed."

She had let all of them off and dismissed the briar wall with a quick motion, the barrier that had blocked the forest off gone in a moment.  They had climbed down, and Fig took that time to look at all of them: Ragh and Sandra Lynn looking still strained from their time being controlled, Riz and Fabian and Gorgug all beat up from the fights and their journeys through the forest, Gorthalax, seeming much less large than normal next to Cassandra.

Ayda looked more beautiful than ever, in spite of the exhaustion that was clear on her face and the wounds from the vines that had been restraining her.  Fig resisted the urge to kiss her; too many people were around for that, including multiple of her parents.

Aelwyn still had tear tracks down her face, looking at Adaine every few seconds as though worried she might vanish.  Adaine, still in her wolf form, was right at her heels off Cassandra's hand, jumping down to the ground.  Blood was still covering her face and running down her front; Fig was a little worried to ask whose it was, and Adaine had seemed unable to fully understand them anyways during the journey out of the forest.

Kristen was the last to step off, Tracker helping her down, and there was love both in the looked they exchanged each other and then in Kristen's gaze up at Cassandra, Kristen's hand still glowing faintly of starlight.

"We'll talk more once I get some sleep, right?  I had some ideas for miracles..."  Kristen said, glancing over briefly to where Adaine was sitting near her sister.

The purple hand raised up, and then a single index finger came back down, Kristen hi-fiving the end of it.  It absently went to Adaine, petting impossibly gently at the top of her head before replying in a voice they all could hear.

"I know you do, my Saint.  Have patience, I think.  Your friend will be fine, in the end, but sometimes the answer is rest and care, rather than magic.  But I am happy to talk miracles, once you have taken care of that rest for yourself."  Cassandra said.

They managed to make it back to Arborly, finding the village in an uproar at the disappearance of the briar wall, rangers with bows pointed at them as they reappeared.  "Hey!  You should all be celebrating; we've defeated the Nightmare King and reopened the forest!"

That did set them off to cheering, some staring in disbelief, and she turned to Gorgug to suggest he find a stick and something to hit with it and they could put on a concert to really show these people what a celebration should look like when she felt a hand grab on to her shoulder from behind.

"Miss Faeth, I must insist that you attend some bard classes in the future so that you do not do things like recklessly display the power of rock outside of the boundaries of Solace."  Arthur Aguefort said, from where he had apparently teleported behind her.

"Oh, come on, we just managed to beat the Nightmare King and win and now's a time to celebrate and rock out."  Fig said, looking over to Ayda for a little support against his father.

"Now is not the time to rock out, unless you want to pay for a few hundred child support payments."  Arthur Aguefort said and held his hand out without explaining what in the fuck he meant by that.  "Which of you has the crown?  You're rather late with it, but given that I've already had to use chronomancy to save you from that dark denim-filled fate, I can use it a little further to make you pass."

"Couldn't you just pass us and accept it late?"  Riz asked, even as Fig dug the crown out and handed it over, careful not to touch it.  It might not have been cursed anymore; Fig would rather not take that chance.

"That would be showing bias, and I need to be careful to be impartial towards the party of my daughter's paramour.  No, you must have it turned in on time, but also Miss Faeth has barely shown up for any classes this year and is likely to fail if you do not get the full sixty percent, and then Ayda may stop talking to me again."  Aguefort said, the crown disappearing in what might have been a portal through time and was better not to ask about most likely.

"So you are biased..?"  Riz asked, but Aguefort didn't answer, instead glancing around at the group.

"Now, then.  I don't suppose you found any treasure besides the crown on this quest, did you?"  Aguefort asked, and Fig shook her head, most of the others doing so as well.

"Ah.  Very well, then.  The school will have the checks for your hirelings - including the two elder Miss O'Shaughnesseys - ready by next week.  I'm afraid that you, ah, Bad Kids have all suffered an unfortunate setback, however, and may be completely broke now.  Mister Barkrock, your mother is recovering well from her body being recovered from the core of the world.  Also, your mother's actual body was being stored in the core of the world until the false one she was using was destroyed when your house exploded a week ago.  Also, your house exploded a week ago.  I think that covers what I needed to tell you; congratulations, this quest should be enough that you will graduate."

There was a moment of silence in response to this sequence of announcements, until Fabian and Ragh both tried to speak up, Fabian asking about his money and Ragh about his mother and home, and Fig patted Ragh on the shoulder.  "It sounds like everything's okay now, right?  You and your mom are always welcome to stay at Mordred for a while, if you need.  Hey, can you maybe just teleport us home if we're broke, at least?"  Fig asked Aguefort.  She wasn't certain how all her money would be gone, but it seemed like the sort of thing she should put her agent on.

"Oh.  Yes, very well."  Aguefort said, and soon enough they were back to the school.


Aelwyn breathed in the Elmville evening air deeply as they left the Aguefort Adventuring Academy campus and headed through the trails past the graveyard up towards Mordred Manor.

They'd parted from the others, who had headed for their various homes - or, in Ragh's case, to the hotel where Aguefort had put his mother up, with a promise that he'd talk to her about Fig's offer to stay with them, which Sandra Lynn had affirmed as well - but the majority of the group was heading for Mordred anyways, though Ayda would be heading back to the Compass Points once they were there.

"It's good to be back, isn't it?"  Kristen said, with a sigh.  "I could fall into bed for a month."

Aelwyn wouldn't argue with that, though she couldn't help but look back down to where Adaine was padding along beside her.  The body language was quite clearly happy, at least, but there was still a level of intelligence that was normally there that was missing.  Something similar to how Aelwyn herself had been, back when she'd been trapped inside of a Feebleminded spell; her memories of it were vague, but she could remember knowing Adaine even through it, and knowing she was safe.

Aelwyn put a hand down to rest on Adaine's head as they started up the final path to the manor, Adaine howling out at the building, probably wanting to draw Jawbone's attention.  Whether that was what she'd wanted or not, she got it; the door opened as they reached it, Jawbone there, Zayn hanging just behind him, and Aelwyn about felt her own legs collapse out from under her.  She managed to make it into the living room and to the couch before dropping onto it.  She lifted her hand up, bringing Moonlight back out of the ether and into a more tangible existence on her lap, Adaine jumping up on the couch next to her even as Aelwyn squeezed her familiar gently in a hug.

Adaine whimpered, and Aelwyn was pretty certain she knew the request, sending a message over to where Ayda was standing.  "Ayda, can you retrieve Boggy?"  Adaine's familiar had been left in the Compass Points, just in case; Adaine might not be able to summon him anytime soon, but he would surely help her.

"Yes." Ayda's response was simple; Aelwyn felt a flood of gratitude towards her, even as she vanished up the stairs towards the portal connecting the two places.

Jawbone, fresh off a reunion with Sandra Lynn and another with Tracker, came over to the couch, Adaine jumping back up onto her feet on the couch.

"Is she okay?  Sandra Lynn mentioned she seemed stuck."  Jawbone asked, and Aelwyn shook her head.

"...Our birth parents captured her.  Used some experimental drugs on her, too.  I don't know fully what; I removed them from her system, and...  I killed our father.  And I'm not completely certain, but I think Adaine might have killed our mother."  Aelwyn said, her hands rubbing at Moonlight's head as she admitted that.  "But Kristen's new god said she'll be okay, eventually, she just needs to rest."

Jawbone looked at Adaine, and then back to Aelwyn, and nodded slowly.  "It sounds like quite a journey for you two.  We should talk about all of that once you've cleaned up and rested, and I'll talk with the others as well.  But I'm so proud of you, of both of you, and so very glad that you've both made it back safely.  Welcome home."

And...  they had, Aelwyn realized.  There was nothing looming over her, nothing stopping her from finding a future she would want.  No Kalina.  No harsh parents, no Kalvaxus...  Adaine was hurt, still, but would be fine.  And then...  and then there could be a tomorrow, and a tomorrow, and another after that.

Jawbone pulled her into a hug as the weight that had been pressing on her for years, even in the best of times, seemed to lift away, one she had known all along was there but had never realized would be such a relief to no longer carry, and tears started streaming down her face.

"I'm glad to be here."  She managed to say, and even more to her shock managed to mean.

Notes:

One more chapter to go, an epilogue of sorts that is going to be very different than any of the other chapters of this story.

Thank you all for joining me on this journey! I hope this story has been something you've all enjoyed.

Chapter 87: Eternity

Summary:

Stories have to end, but there's always a what next, and a what next, and a what next...

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

LATER

Ragh graduated, when the end of the school year rolled around a month and a half later, and the Manor was decorated to celebrate with him after, a giant banner and balloons strewn throughout.  Adaine hadn't gone with everyone - she didn't think she was up to being around that big a crowd, yet, and she hadn't been back to school - but she was secretly determined to at least make it through the party in elf form.  Aelwyn had offered to stay with her, but Adaine could tell that she wanted to support Ragh too; instead, Zayn was keeping her company.

The time since the nightmare forest had been restful, but Adaine knew she wasn't fully healed yet, not least because she'd yet to be able to cast a single spell without feeling like she was going to die from the strain.  She'd only managed to get out of wolf form at all a week or so ago, after the last full moon, and even then it was just much more comfortable for now to exist in the other form.  Only Jawbone, Zayn, and Aelwyn knew she'd even managed that much; she was keeping it as a little bit of a surprise, for the others.

In anticipation of everyone else getting back, she'd gotten down to the living room as an elf and managed not to trip over her own feet doing it.  Having two legs again was weird.  As a treat for her success, she was stretched out on the couch, Boggy balanced on her stomach.

Her ear twitched just a bit; her hearing wasn't quite as sensitive as it would be in wolf form, but there was still the sounds of feet coming up the driveway, along with a rhythm of shouts she would know anywhere, even before the words started to clarify in her head.

"Hoot, growl!  Hoot, growl!  Hoot, growl!"

She sat up, and focused herself on not retreating, on not losing grasp of her body and her mind, and the door flung open, Gorgug and Ragh and Fabian at the lead but everyone just behind them having come to celebrate the big day.  Even Gilear had come along, undoubtedly invited by Fig.  Adaine had picked today to try to go a little more back to normal partly because she wanted to be able to really join the congratulations of Ragh, but also because she knew her friends would keep it focused on him and not make too big a deal of it, even if she couldn't quite manage the whole night.

It didn't stop them from looking delighted to see her as an elf, of course, but it stopped them from making a huge deal of it to her.

Still, the crowd became too much for Adaine quickly, and after congratulating Ragh (her voice maybe a little too soft as she did - she was out of practice at using words!) she retreated to the kitchen, which was a little quieter, just Lydia and Sandra Lynn and Aelwyn in there.  A sugary sweet smell had Adaine's full attention, something in a bowl that Aelwyn was whisking away at.  Moonlight was on one of the barstools, banned from the kitchen proper even though she probably couldn't shed as a familiar.

Lydia, who Ragh had correctly told them all ruled, was the one really giving instructions; she was a better cook than Sandra Lynn, anyway.  "Now you don't want to over whisk it or you'll end up with cupcakes that are like bricks.  You want it still airy."  She was saying from her wheelchair, even as Adaine walked over.

Aelwyn started pouring the batter into molds, giving Adaine a glance as she did before looking back down at her work.  "Get too loud for you out there?"  Aelwyn asked, a little sympathetically.

"A little.  Smells really good."  Adaine said, with a smile.  Still too softly; she was really going to have to practice getting louder again.  She eyed the whisk, dripping with delicious-smelling batter even as Aelwyn finished filling out the last mold.  "How long will the cupcakes be?"

"A couple of hours, probably, they need to cool off before I'll be able to frost them and I've been told sudden temperature changes from magic will spoil the recipe."  Aelwyn said, putting the tins in the oven, standing back up straight and turning to face Adaine.  Probably catching her looking at the whisk, still, judging by what was clearly an urge to lecture and an urge to laugh warring on her face.  Neither fully won, though Aelwyn did roll her eyes, pushing the bowl and whisk across the counter towards Adaine and saying, "I'd tell you not to come crying to me if you end up sick from the raw egg in that, except we did actually cover foodborne diseases in class the other week and I probably could use the practice."

The batter was delicious, and Adaine mostly managed to avoid getting too much on her face, and it never did make her sick.

Fig and the Sig Figs put on an impromptu show that night, and Fabian talked about the lawsuit he had going against the bank that had somehow lost all of their money, and Ragh was radiant with the joy of being an Aguefort Alumnus (and apparently he and Aelwyn were talking about taking some jobs as hirelings together - Aelwyn had expressed no desire to be an adventurer full time, but the pay for Spring Break had been reasonably impressive to her) and eventually Adaine wasn't able to keep herself in elf form but that was okay because she'd kept the idea that she would somehow to herself so nobody had really expected her to.

It was a great night, really.


LATER

It was hard to find things within the woods of Fallinel even before the country had been wracked by a civil war that had lasted over a year now, Tracker knew, but even the trees seemed on edge against her, in a way that she hadn't really experienced since her journey through the nightmare forest.

Will you remain a side player in your girlfriend's quests, or can you seek a better version of your own god, too?

She'd not had an answer, then - at the point she'd been going through the Nightmare Forest, she hadn't yet been told about the potential problems with Galicaea.  She wasn't totally certain she had all the answers now, but she was where she needed to be. 

Kristen would be okay without her, for a while.

Tracker did wish she had more company for this journey, with only Ragh's presence soothing her nerves as he walked a step or two behind her, but Adaine or Aelwyn would both have been lightning rods for trouble here; Aelwyn still might have come if Tracker had asked, but it was going to be hard enough for a werewolf to get traction here without it being an elven one and worse a traitor to the country's fallen government.  She'd managed to bring Ragh along, at least, and gotten a contact of some relatives of Fabian's.

His mother had told her to come to this forest and 'wonder around a while until something happened' and she would be met with a friendly face.  Tracker was starting to think it was a joke.

"'tis rare that we have visitors, in such troubled times as these, let alone one cursed with lycanthropy."  A voice sounded from behind a tree, an elven man stepping out.  His face was showing just the faintest signs of aging; on a human, Tracker would have put him in his forties, which meant that this was an elderly elf indeed.  His pronunciation was unusual, but he spoke in common; Tracker had learned Elven for this journey, but it was a courtesy she hadn't necessarily expected.

"I am looking for Telemaine Lomenelda.  His daughter and grandson send their love from Solace, and believe that he and I may be able to help one another."  Tracker said, Ragh moving up to stand beside her but letting her speak.

"Aah."  The man said, sounding deeply sad.  "They have not come with you, then?  It would have been marvelous to see my grandson, in his brief time in this world.  If you are looking for Telemaine Lomenelda, you have found him, of course, but I would ask your business before I admit you into Kei Lumennura."

"I have come to talk of our shared god, and an older version of her that has been forgotten by many here.  A version that might be more useful and comforting, in times where there isn't any order to be found."  Tracker said, meeting the man's steady gaze.

"Aah.  I remember.  Galicaea of the Hunt, yes?  I am...  old enough to remember when the lands here were rougher than they are now, war or not, and the churches much less formal."  Telemaine said.  "There are not many others left who are.  Even fewer than a mere moment ago, before this started.  The opening of this conflict, whoever was truly to blame, laid its targets out well if they wished solely to cause as much trouble as possible."

Tracker nodded.  "Right.  Well.  I think maybe Fallinel's road to peace could run through a little less formality and rigidity, don't you?"  She resisted the urge to twitch as he continued gazing at her.

She'd begun to think he wouldn't speak again, wouldn't continue the conversation, when he let a sigh out.  "There are fewer of the youths that are my charge than there have been in many an age, for you to speak to.  A tragedy.  Any death at war is, of course, but when those not yet even a mere hundred years old fall, how much potential is lost?  Art, joy, happiness, all gone over this temporary and ultimately pointless squabble.  I suppose you may not understand, as you are human.  Do you know why the werewolves were driven out of Fallinel to begin with, by the court of stars?  If you are a friend of my grandson's, then I presume you know the so-called Traitor Oracle."

Tracker frowned, considering what she'd heard from Aelwyn and especially Adaine.  That Fallinel hated werewolves, she knew, but why more than everyone else did?  It was hardly like they were popular in Solace.  "I don't mean to spread lycanthropy, just a different vision for Galicaea."

Telemaine waved a hand.  "Oh, of course.  I did not make these choices, but I remember them being made.  The reason would not impact you, regardless, not directly.  Lycanthropy must be eradicated from these lands, it was decided, because to spread the curse of being a werewolf was to spread the curse of aging and mortality.  Wolves age, even if they are normally elves.  That could not be allowed, the king of the age decided, and so it was done...  You may gain, in years, from it.  Humans do not live as long as wolves, yes?  But it had the potential to be the unmaking of a people.  There was some discussion about it, after the Oracle was condemned to die, that her curse will eventually take care of the matter."

Tracker frowned, thinking that over for a moment.  Was this something she needed to warn Adaine and Aelwyn over?  "...How long did they have, then?"

"Aah, time.  Days?  No, wait, centuries I think.  Maybe ten or twenty of them?  I am sorry, it is so hard to think in mortal terms.  They are all moments."

...A warning could probably wait, then.  She paused to think how to continue, but he looked her over once more.

"...Come.  I think the youths could use to be reminded of the goddess of the hunt, as well as the placid goddess of the moon.  Perhaps I shall listen, too."  And, with a sparkling of stars, the forest around them became a hot springs and a settlement.

It would be a small start to spreading the word of the Galicaea that she loved, but it WAS a start.


LATER

Gorgug adjusted his cap as he walked out of Aguefort's gym as a student for the last time.  Or maybe not as a student for the very first time.  Graduation was a strange thing, a little sweet and a little sour at the same time, and unlike when Ragh or Zelda had graduated he could feel the tension in the air as the Bad Kids left together, walking towards Mordred for what promised to be a killer last party of high school.

The sourness had been building for months, as they'd all come to individually realize and talk about that they were not going to be one of those select few parties who kept adventuring together after high school.  They just all wanted such different things, and maybe that was okay, but it had made him sad to think about as the calendar had rolled on whether he'd wanted it to or not until at last they were being pushed out into the world.

Riz was going to be going full time with his detective agency.  Kristen was going to be going full time with spreading the word (or, as Kristen seemed to like to call it, the Question) of Cassandra, even more than she already had.

Adaine had already shocked everybody (except maybe Jawbone and Aelwyn) by admitting that she wasn't continuing on to college, instead taking up work and studies with Ayda at the Compass Points full time.  Gorgug wasn't totally sure what Fabian was doing, but every time the subject came up he'd laugh and tell everyone to wait and see.

As for Gorgug himself, he and Fig were planning to tour for a while, build up enough money for whatever might come and enjoy life for a while.  It was more profitable than adventuring, certainly, and a lot safer, and...

Gorgug wasn't sure what he'd do after that.  Maybe he'd learn to make sculptures; something that could last.

Still, just because they wouldn't be together all the time didn't mean that this mood needed to sweep over the group.  "You know...  I think we were really great together.  And I think we'll always be a group, even if we're not active adventurers.  Right?"

Fig said "That's what I've been talking about!  Exactly.  Bad kids for life, one way or another!"  A round of people saying that, even as Mordred started to loom ahead, and then Adaine spoke up.

"Right.  Anything I can do to help any of you, let me know, and I'm sure that you'll do the same for me, right?"

Another round of agreement, and the mood did seem to lift a little.  Things weren't going to be the same moving forward as they had been, and that was a little sad, but there would be so many new things, and one way or another he was sure these five people would be involved in them.


LATER

In an immaculately kept bathroom, somewhere in the heart of Highcourt, Adaine waited under an invisibility spell.

It was well known - Adaine made certain it was well known - that the Oracle of Spyre could be contacted either through Solace or through the Compass Points.  She thought most of the relevant people knew she lived in the Compass Points most of the time, under the best protections that could be devised there.

It was hopefully not well known that the Oracle of Spyre took direct actions to prevent the worst visions that she saw.  Adaine didn't think it was, at least, but what was the point of knowing all of the answers without doing what you could to help?

And, most important of all, it was hopefully very well sealed within her records at the Aguefort Adventuring Academy that Adaine O'Shaughnessey had finished school with a rogue specialization of Assassin.

She shifted uncomfortably as she waited, perched invisibly on the golden sink closest to the entrance.  This was supposedly Prince Godfrey's private washroom, the one place where his bodyguards did not accompany him.  They should do sweeps before he entered, but they were lazy about it, she knew.  Trusting in the security that was supposed to prevent anyone from being in here to begin with.

A voice sounded in her head, one she was incredibly familiar with.  Ayda, though slightly bad timing.

"Adaine.  I bear incredible news, to you before anyone else.  Figueroth has proposed that we marry.  We each want you as our maid of honor."  Twenty-five words, slightly stilted, but Ayda's clear delight rang through even though Adaine had known Fig had been working herself up to propose ever since they'd graduated high school a few years before.

Bad timing, that she wasn't there, but she needed to take care of this tonight.  Godfrey was plotting a war of aggression against Fallinel, soon, and while Adaine was hardly on Fallinel's side generally that would kick off a whole addition round of wars and conflicts and it could all be cut off here and now.

At least she could reply within her head, without a need to speak aloud and maybe set off an alarm.  "That's wonderful!  Of course I would be happy to be the maid of honor.  I take it I should stay at Mordred tonight?  Congratulations!"  Best to give the loving couple their space for celebration, as much as she loved sharing a home with them.

It wasn't long before Ayda sent another message - another spell slot, she really must be exuberant.  "Yes!  I trust that your agreement means that you have some manner of cloning yourself for at least four hours.  Thank you, Adaine."

Adaine had just a moment to consider that - right, they EACH wanted her as the maid of honor, did she know of a spell that could do that? - before the door to the bathroom opened, and a human man stepped in, his beard slightly grey.  Adaine let the sending spell sit unanswered for the moment, her self-appointed mission the priority for a moment.  The door shut behind the man as he took a few steps in and...

She let the invisibility spell drop as she spoke an incantation and sequence of complex gestures, summoning forth the single most deadly spell she knew.  The Prince had but a moment to start to turn with shock on his expression before a three-foot long sword made of a rift between worlds bisected him horizontally, then again vertically, the scream he started to let out not even lasting an instant before he had no lungs with which to do so.

She waited a moment to see if the guards had caught that cry or not, the Blade of Disaster humming softly near her, before casting another spell and disintegrating the corpse, removing it from the reach of anything but a True Resurrection.  One that she knew would never come.

Less than ten seconds after her attack began, Adaine teleported back to the exterior of Mordred Manor, her mind now focused on the crisis before her:

Hopefully Aelwyn's research skills could help find or make a spell to let her be two of her at once for a wedding ceremony and a little bit before.


LATER

Riz Gukgak tried not to wince as his, ah, guest knocked one of the display cases on his desk off the edge.  Thankfully it was plastic, not glass, and just landed with a thud rather than shattering.

"Oh, sorry."  The boy said, guilt on his face, looking worried like he thought Riz might attack him for it.  A human, maybe somewhere between ten and twelve, who Riz had found diving for food in one of the dumpsters outside.  Riz had given him four ration bars - the only food he had here - and coaxed him inside to wait for someone he had promised could help, but Riz was also very bad with children.  He had been very bad with children when he'd BEEN a child, and that was a long time ago now.

Still, the scar Riz had seen on the boy's hand had made it very obvious to him just who might be able to help.  She'd even paid him a retainer to keep an eye out for cases like this, at least enough to cover his costs, and here one had just gone and stumbled right into (or outside) his office.

"Don't worry about it.  I'll fix it later."  Riz said, checking his crystal nervously.  Any longer and he might need to make conversation with the kid.

The mere thought of that was more exhausting than any length of time spent staking out a corrupt mayor's house, or any other work he might be doing.  At least this one would hopefully be helpful for the kid.

Just before the silence grew too long to bear any further, the bell over his door rang and Aelwyn stepped through it, wearing a short-sleeved shirt that exposed the heavy scarring on her arms.  She gave a glance and a nod to him, but then her full attention was on the kid, who was squinting in her direction from where he was standing, crouched down, on Riz's office chair.

"Hello, there."  Aelwyn said to the kid, taking the seat usually saved for clients, getting herself level with him.  "My name's Aelwyn.  Riz here said it seemed like you could maybe use some help?"  Riz didn't think the kid would notice, but Aelwyn quite clearly clocked the scar, and that it looked like an old one.  Certainly not a fresh enough wound for the boy to be cured of the disease, if he had it.

Oh, he probably should have introduced himself.  He'd given the kid a business card, though.  That had to be enough, right?

"...You smell familiar."  The kid said, quite the statement given the musk of the garbage coming off of him, not even getting into the dirt caked on his face and clothes.  "Are you..  Are you a wolf, too?"

Aelwyn tugged her shirt collar down, just enough to show the scar where Adaine had bitten into her shoulder and neck all those years ago.  "Yes, I am.  I asked Riz here to keep an eye out for people like me, like us who seemed like they didn't have anyone else who would help or anywhere else they could go to."  She looked at the boy, but he seemed reluctant to look back, and so Aelwyn sat back in her chair.

Aelwyn licked her lips, gently seeming to consider how to approach as the boy closed up.  "Of course, I understand you might want to keep that to yourself.  If you want, we have somewhere safe for people like us.  Somewhere you won't need to dig through the trash, I promise.  For however long you need.  I promise."  She was repeating herself; Riz could tell, as steady as she managed to seem, that Aelwyn was nervous about this.  "You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to.  Riz, do you have some paper and crayons, or pens?"  Riz nodded, and retrieved them.

"Do you want to draw for a little while?  I find drawing helps me relax."  Aelwyn had said, and the boy had started to draw a shape.  Trees, and a sun, and fields...  Aelwyn doodled as well, her lines crisp and neat, arcane symbols that Riz recognized from Adaine's books over the years.

After a time in which they both just drew, the boy said, quietly.  "'m Simon.  Is there something else I can... is there something to eat?"  Aelwyn had looked relieved and delighted as he'd spoken, and nodded, standing and gathering her things.

Aelwyn had given him a grateful look on her way out, even as most of her attention had been rightly focused on the child and ushering him to where they could get him a bath and a room and a more nourishing meal, and Riz allowed himself a moment of pride in doing something good.

He tried to hold on to that, in the years to come, when Simon started hanging out more and more in his office and took up calling him "Uncle Riz", which never failed to make him feel unbearably old.


LATER

Adaine in her wolf form padded out of the village of Arborly and off towards one of the edges of the Nightmare Forest that she knew to be unoccupied.  Thirty years of being reopened was enough for the new Sylvaire to start having some population, but there was an understandable reluctance by many to move back to a place that had been known as the Nightmare Forest for nearly a millennium.

Although it might have been the parts where dreams and nightmares were still real there, and reality was weird.  Most people would not want to deal with waking up to find their dreams manifesting around them.

It was a nice enough walk, no matter that she was on official business, and she paused as she got near the border to change back both into her elf form and into the official-looking robes she used when she was on important Oracle business.

She cleared her throat, standing ten feet from where the briar wall had once stood, and announced in her stiffest voice.  "I come bearing a message for Kristen Applebees, beloved Saint of Night and Mystery and Magic, on behalf of a priestess of Galicaea of the Hunt.  Hear me."

It started as usual with a light pressure on her head as the purple and starlight form of Cassandra took shape, the finger that was extended down mussing her hair up.  Not that Adaine didn't appreciate that a goddess liked her well enough to pet her, but it was a little awkward when she was trying to be formal.

Cassandra sounded infinitely amused as she spoke.  "Do you know what is in the message you bear, Oracle?"

"No."  Adaine replied, though she could have a guess.  Tracker and Kristen had been on again, off again for the last three decades and this sort of communication usually precipitated an 'on again' phase.

"I'll get Kristen.  She's on the other side of the forest at the moment; there was some discussion of trying to get some beachfront worship going that was slightly spoiled by our beaches mostly being cliffs."  Cassandra promised, another 'light' touch to the head, before vanishing.

Moments later, Kristen strode forward; her red hair was starting to be streaked with grey, but her hand still had that same glow.  "Adaine!  It's good to see you."

Adaine made a slight face.  "Neither one of you can talk your god into letting you just Send to the other still?"

"I think Cassandra likes to see you.  You'd have to ask Tracker about Galicaea's reasons, though."  Kristen said, reaching a hand out and taking the sealed scroll that Adaine had gotten from Tracker that morning.  Kristen opened it, and her face went as red as her hair had once been, vibrant.  "Oh, she's such a romantic, it's the same message she sent me that one time in senior year...  Tell her yes for me?  We can find somewhere to meet, maybe Arborly."

Adaine tilted her head, and Kristen turned the scroll back towards her.  Only four characters were written on it, and Adaine felt a faint embarrassment that belied her time living with Ayda and Fig... but those two were still a little private even around her.

'U up?' read the scroll.


LATER

The years passed, and their reunions become more infrequent, outside of funerals.  There were means to pierce beyond the walls of the planes that held the living and the dead, of course, means that Adaine was more than willing to use, but it was still hard.  She tried to keep in touch with the world; her nieces and nephews helped ground her, as Aelwyn took them in and gave them a home (and had a supply of energy that Adaine found rather tiring to even think about, in so doing) and Adaine got to periodically swoop in with presents and excitement, but her closest friends aside from her sister grew further and further away.

The first time that a little half-phoenix girl, the youngest of those Aelwyn had taken in at that time and the lone non-werewolf, spoke up and called her Aunt Adaine, she still had to spend an hour crying later in a room she could be alone in.  That she had known all along that it would come had never helped when it did.

Eventually, there came a day where there were only three of them left, and only two who remembered, and the argument over that was one of the bitterest things that she could remember from someone she loved and who loved her.

And then, after nearly a century of silence, she had a message in her mail from him.  Not sent through any sort of special means; it had actually gone to the address in Solace.

"If you are still willing to provide it, Adaine, then I could use the help that you offered once upon a time."

It was signed with one of the most famous signatures in all the world, Captain Fabian of the Seacaster, and included a first class ticket.

It wasn't hard to find the port that the Seacaster, the most famous and largest cruise ship in all the world, was currently docked at. Mostly because it was Bastion City.  Adaine had kept up with it for a long time, even without ever having stepped foot onto it.  She dressed casually, pulling her denim jacket out of the closet for the first time in ages, before Teleporting there herself.

It loomed over everything else in the harbor, a giant among normal mortals.  Skull and crossbones insignias decorated it, and she could hear the sounds of a mixture of shanties and drunken revelry throughout the boat.  For better or worse, a century after the sinking of Leviathan the name of Seacaster and the age of the pirates were remembered far more for this sort of family-friendly debaucherous environment than for the thieves and killers they had been in truth.

Adaine had never asked Fabian if that reimagining was intentional, though it must have been.  Their fights over Fig were bad enough, and his Rage had never fully faded.

When she found him, past the buffet room and the casino and the pool and the other casino and the bar and yet another casino, he was at the helm of the ship, which Adaine was pretty certain was purely decorative.

"Adaine!"  He cried out, and she got a good look at him.  He was in a uniform, crisp, and had a long white beard; he looked almost too dignified for the Fabian she remembered, but he also pulled her into a tight hug.  "I wasn't certain you would come."

"Of course I did, Fabian."  She said, patiently patting his back.

"Come, come, we should discuss things in private."  Fabian said, looking over to one of his crew.  "Bring the Champaign, and whatever the best dish of the day is, please!"

She hid her smile at that.  In spite of everything, Fabian hadn't completely changed over the time things had been silent between them.  He led her to a suite that oversaw the deck of the ship; she looked out, and saw a well-attended stage show where a group of pirates were doing a swordfight, complete with pratfalls and undoubtedly witty and cutting insults, though she could not hear them.

"Adaine.  I am sorry I let things go so long without reaching out to you, but I wasn't certain how to apologize properly."  Fabian said, a good start, and she turned her attention back to him, fully.

"Yes.  Well, I knew where to find you, too.  You should speak to Aelwyn, if you want to apologize to someone."  Adaine said, and Fabian shut his eyes.

"Perhaps I will, but...  what I contacted you has little to do with that."  He admitted, popping the bottle and offering her a drink.  She took it, though she wouldn't have more than half a glass still.

"What is it I can do for you, then, Fabian?"  Adaine finally asked, breaking the awkward silence.  Fabian's years were catching up to him, she noticed; wrinkles around the remaining eye, a little stiffness in his motion that had never been there before.

"I'm.. getting older, myself, Adaine.  And I find I've grown a little tired of this life; I want something a little more private, and quieter, than being the captain of the great ship Seacaster."  Fabian said, waving an arm around.  "It was great for a long time, but I think I just want a quiet garden or a beach somewhere, not all of this.  I've only got another fifty or hundred years left, and... we're the last two, Adaine."  He lifted a finger as Adaine opened her mouth to speak, anticipating her objection.  "I know, I know, but Fig really doesn't count for this.  She would maybe help me, but she wouldn't know why."

Adaine sighed.  She could hardly argue with that; Fabian wasn't wrong.  "So retire, then.  Are you wanting me to tell you where you're going to have the best twilight years?  I will if you want me to, of course, but it seems a strange reason to call me out here."

Fabian shook his head.  "No.  I wish to leave this place, but the illusion of this ship as a pirate ship and myself as the glorious captain of the seas...  I want to keep that.  Adaine, I want you to help me fake my death, in the most impressive, dramatic way possible.  In front of a giant crowd of people, of course; all those on this ship, at a minimum, but if we can do it in a port that would be all the better."

Adaine couldn't help but laugh.  "Are you serious?"

"Who better?  Adaine, I know what you've been doing behind the scenes.  I think all our friends always did."  Fabian said, gazing at her seriously, and she could recognize his younger self in the laughter that was behind that eye.  "If you can't give me a death that will echo throughout eternity, then who will?"

"I usually try to keep that as quiet as possible, not as dramatic and messy as possible!"  Adaine said.

"Just think about all the ways it could go the most wrong for that, then.  Please?"  Fabian asked, and looking at him Adaine knew she would not be able to refuse.

"Fine, fine.  Do you want the ship to survive?"  Adaine asked, pulling a pen and paper from her jacket, starting to scribble down plans.

"Of course I need the ship to survive!  I need to survive, too.  I just want it to look like I've passed on..."

They took notes and made plans long into the night, and Fabian 'died' the next day, and Adaine felt a hundred years younger.


MUCH, MUCH, MUCH LATER

Aelwyn stirred from a half-trance in her favored recliner to find that something most unusual had happened:  She was, seemingly, alone in the O'Shaughnessey Home (which some part of her still thought of as Mordred Manor, no matter how long ago she had renamed it.)  She struggled up and out of her chair, a great effort these days, aching protest coming from her knees and her feet and more or less everywhere else, her breath a bit short.

A note was on the table.  Lily (the elven werewolf who was among those taking over more and more of Aelwyn's own responsibilities, over the last century or so, as Aelwyn had struggled to keep the energy to be anything more than simply a figurehead) had taken the kids back to school shopping, in preparation for Blake to start at Aguefort and Evan's senior year, among other things.  Aelwyn hadn't been able to help them train as much as she would have liked, but they would do well, she knew.

Aelwyn felt a little bit of a yearning, as she looked around.  She had been preparing to fully hand the place off for a long time, giving the threads of carefully woven abjurative magic around the manor to Ayda, letting those of her successors who wished to help out pitch in more than she ever had before.  She'd strictly forbidden any of the various divination or chronomancy wizards, living or dead, in her life from warning her just how long she might have left; she wanted to give it what she could while she could, a long ago Oath committing her to nothing less.

That didn't stop a feeling of.. not even dread, creeping in.  Simply knowing.  Her time was very nearly up.

Aelwyn had long since moved her personal quarters to the ground floor; she'd started having trouble making it up and down the stairs, and done so less often.  It had maybe been thirty or forty years now since she'd made the effort, and she didn't think she could in her current state.  A concentration; a gathering of will.  Much faster than she'd been in her youth, but it still took her a minute or so before, pain wracking through her body enough to be higher than the constant pain in her elbows and knees, she managed to shift into a wolf form.  She had an urge, now.  She wanted to see the wizard's tower, one more time.

Even in wolf form, it was a slow and painful thing to make it up the stairs to the third floor.  Her legs didn't quite seem to want to work.  She passed a number of the portraits she'd had hung along the way, the people who had been raised and loved and lived here.  So many of them; some of them still living, but far too many already gone in their time.  There had been few other elves among the werewolves she had taken in.

A hallway, and even that level surface she was almost needing to drag herself across.  She hadn't realized this would be such a great effort.  The doorway, into the stairs for the tower that myriad Aydas had long called home, but that two werewolf sisters had lived in for a time before that.  The stairs up here were narrow, lined with shelves on either side; journals, now, of Ayda's lives, with smaller portraits of each of her (or his, for the one who had chosen the name Aiden) incarnations above the journals they had written to their future selves.  The current Ayda was an Evoker and an adventurer, doing wonderful things with experimental ways to blow things up.

Aelwyn was incredibly proud of her.

It did mean that the bed was made for her next visit, and a bit of dust was up here with no one having prestidigitationed in quite a while.  Aelwyn would just finish her nap up here, she thought.  Proper sleep, even, the way Adaine had always loved it.

Her entire body aching, Aelwyn rested her head on her paws and shut her eyes, feeling sleep coming over her almost right away.

When she woke up, things were different.  Not just her surroundings, which were now a vibrant forest with a moon hanging overhead, but SHE was different.  Her sense of smell, somewhat muted and faded over the years, had returned in force to her, smelling every tree and flower and drop of dew around her, every one of the many, many wolves who had passed through her.

Her body didn't hurt; not just the extra pain of recent years gone, but all of it, the aching in her elbows and knees that had been a constant almost her entire life since her torment as a youth in an orb replaced with smooth motion as she came back up to her feet.

A mere thought, and she was back in elven form, completely without any pain from the shift.  She stared down for a moment at her hands - unwrinkled, free of the scarring around her wrists from the shackles - and had but a moment to realize where of course she must be before a streak of fur collided with her, knocking her over and rolling and shifting and then finally coming to a stop with Adaine perched on her chest.

Two more wolves, both seeming endlessly amused from their body language, walked out behind Adaine.  Jawbone and Tracker; even so long later, Aelwyn would recognize them anywhere.

Adaine shifted into her own elven form, sitting on Aelwyn victoriously, looking not the elderly version of herself she had been before her own death but instead how she must have thought of herself, the form of her young adulthood around eighty or so, and spoke up.  "There are so many people who have been looking forward to seeing you again, you know that?"  Adaine said, shifting back to wolf form and tugging at the pajamas Aelwyn was still wearing, then trotting off in a direction where familiar smells lay.

Aelwyn, eyes going wide at the thought of it, followed off after her sister into eternity.

Notes:

First off, if you have made it this far, thank you so much for reading. I love all of you.

I have some additional materials and all that I may do, including exactly what happens with Fig and some level 20 character sheets, but for the moment this is everything, and that would be a separate story. I hope it's a suitable ending for everyone and that you've all enjoyed, and who knows what Junior Year will bring us but to be totally clear this ending sequence and epilogue has been planned for a long, long time.

Series this work belongs to: