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Steel in Harmony
Ashan 71, arc 718, Viden
She could only say now that she should have known better. After all, she was not truly forbidden to enter The Devil's Advocate, the far more disreputable drinking establishment only a single corridor closer to Viden proper. But the patrons of The White Fox Inn, the cleaner and nicer version where she'd decided to go instead, clearly felt her presence was bringing the Devil's Advocate atmosphere within their proximity; and they didn't like it.
A Good Look for Viden
Vhalar 21, arc 716, Oscillus
Faith's rope did not look to be long enough to reach the bottom of the chasm before them. Strangely, the surroundings offered no immediately-apparent help. Battle raged outside of the Tomb of Tried once again. It had paused briefly as all stopped to stare in shock and wonder at the burst of blazing ice that had shattered the roof and cascaded horizontally across the sky in every direction.
Now it seemed that a determination to see there be some point in that Immortal sacrifice was the motivation for the renewed fury of the Heroes of Idalos to bring blade and bludgeon to the forces of Lisirra, Syroa and Aelig. It was becoming ever less sure that Audrae had been as much a part of this conspiracy as the other three. Some even spoke of her being responsible for the undoing of their plot.
Linika was indifferent to the library...
She was on the receiving end of jeering and sneering in pretty much every location in this city, so the library felt like neither snare nor sanctuary to her. Really, only her job station lacked the racist debasement she suffered as the belligerent naerikk in Yvithia's city. It was a frustration to be unable to clarify to these presumptuous jerks how much she had done, and was continuing to do, for the Immortal and her place of power.
But then again, the library was no worse either. In fact, at this particular time she was actually eager to return. She was returning from the IA detention level, not as an inmate, but as an arresting officer. It had to be kept hush-hush to maintain her position as Viden's most unlikely spy. And in truth, this incident had not really fallen under the normal purview of her role in the IA. The target was not an insurrectionist targeting the sanctity of Viden specifically. This was a full-fledged global issue, with her friend, Faith, seemingly at its core.
She had inadvertently uncovered a spy for the lich, Ellasin, and had prevailed, with some assistance, to acquire a source of information regarding her plans. That source was the one of whom she had now taken her leave, safely warded in his cell, awaiting questioning, to return to the library and give Faith the news. The woman was a marvel. Linika had no doubt that even after being confronted by the fact that spies were following her, Faith would swiftly default to her happy, helpful self. Had it been herself, she'd have been pounding on the door of the IA facility demanding at least one of the offender's eyes to keep in a jar at home on her shelf. He had two, after all...
Knowing that she could use a share of Faith's serenity, she hurried her pace just a bit, but was confounded to see her in close proximity to the one of the few other naerikk in town. her name was Alora, and she was some sort of fire mage. They'd shared an incident several trials earlier, though it had not followed the pattern of the incident with Faith a short while ago in this same library. Events had evolved in such a way as to pretty much force Linika to reveal her Xypha abilities. Now, this would not be proof of any marked status, necessarily. She had simply stated that the power she was using was through the power of Yvithia. Mostly the conversation had been about her break with Audrae.
She still was unsure if this woman may yet be concealing some loathing and ill-intentions toward her. She genuinely had not seemed to have been harboring any such resentment. But you could never be entirely sure. It was somewhat of a coincidence that Faith was targeted by Ellasin, a spy being exposed this same trial, and now, this woman just happens along as well. It set her suspicious mind to considering scenarios where that first spy had been intended to be caught, the better to let this one slip by unnoticed...
The sudden realization of how quickly her suspicions escalated brought a blush of shame to her face. She knew Alora deserved better than this silent indictment. But before the true cause of her blush could be detected, a source of anger came along to provide cover for it. "What's a stupid naerikk doing in a library? What could she possibly want to learn that could be of use to civilized people?" said a conspicuously loud voice.
Turning as if in distraction, she addressed the eidisi woman who had spoken, "Hmmm? Oh, I'm sorry, I was looking at a book citing the hundred most closed-minded, childish, self-centered bitches who'd ever stood as a paragon of disgrace to their entire race, and I noticed they left you out. I was going to mention it to the clerk so we could get it corrected."
There were a surprising number of quiet chuckles that followed Linika as she plopped into a seat near the two women, "Faith...Alora..." she said with accompanying nods to both, "Boy, you've just gotta love the library, dont'cha?"
She was on the receiving end of jeering and sneering in pretty much every location in this city, so the library felt like neither snare nor sanctuary to her. Really, only her job station lacked the racist debasement she suffered as the belligerent naerikk in Yvithia's city. It was a frustration to be unable to clarify to these presumptuous jerks how much she had done, and was continuing to do, for the Immortal and her place of power.
But then again, the library was no worse either. In fact, at this particular time she was actually eager to return. She was returning from the IA detention level, not as an inmate, but as an arresting officer. It had to be kept hush-hush to maintain her position as Viden's most unlikely spy. And in truth, this incident had not really fallen under the normal purview of her role in the IA. The target was not an insurrectionist targeting the sanctity of Viden specifically. This was a full-fledged global issue, with her friend, Faith, seemingly at its core.
She had inadvertently uncovered a spy for the lich, Ellasin, and had prevailed, with some assistance, to acquire a source of information regarding her plans. That source was the one of whom she had now taken her leave, safely warded in his cell, awaiting questioning, to return to the library and give Faith the news. The woman was a marvel. Linika had no doubt that even after being confronted by the fact that spies were following her, Faith would swiftly default to her happy, helpful self. Had it been herself, she'd have been pounding on the door of the IA facility demanding at least one of the offender's eyes to keep in a jar at home on her shelf. He had two, after all...
Knowing that she could use a share of Faith's serenity, she hurried her pace just a bit, but was confounded to see her in close proximity to the one of the few other naerikk in town. her name was Alora, and she was some sort of fire mage. They'd shared an incident several trials earlier, though it had not followed the pattern of the incident with Faith a short while ago in this same library. Events had evolved in such a way as to pretty much force Linika to reveal her Xypha abilities. Now, this would not be proof of any marked status, necessarily. She had simply stated that the power she was using was through the power of Yvithia. Mostly the conversation had been about her break with Audrae.
She still was unsure if this woman may yet be concealing some loathing and ill-intentions toward her. She genuinely had not seemed to have been harboring any such resentment. But you could never be entirely sure. It was somewhat of a coincidence that Faith was targeted by Ellasin, a spy being exposed this same trial, and now, this woman just happens along as well. It set her suspicious mind to considering scenarios where that first spy had been intended to be caught, the better to let this one slip by unnoticed...
The sudden realization of how quickly her suspicions escalated brought a blush of shame to her face. She knew Alora deserved better than this silent indictment. But before the true cause of her blush could be detected, a source of anger came along to provide cover for it. "What's a stupid naerikk doing in a library? What could she possibly want to learn that could be of use to civilized people?" said a conspicuously loud voice.
Turning as if in distraction, she addressed the eidisi woman who had spoken, "Hmmm? Oh, I'm sorry, I was looking at a book citing the hundred most closed-minded, childish, self-centered bitches who'd ever stood as a paragon of disgrace to their entire race, and I noticed they left you out. I was going to mention it to the clerk so we could get it corrected."
There were a surprising number of quiet chuckles that followed Linika as she plopped into a seat near the two women, "Faith...Alora..." she said with accompanying nods to both, "Boy, you've just gotta love the library, dont'cha?"
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<3 <3 <3