What Does This Button Do?

[Yanahalqah]

The Naer sneered, sarcasm coating her words and turning them in nothing short of venom. Yana listened stoically, not really caring whether or not this woman had a high or low opinion of her. All she wanted was to get her help. Nothing more, nothing less. Sure, perhaps it would have been a good idea to pretend to have come to her aid out of pure altruism, but Yana knew herself well enough to know she couldn’t keep such an act up for very long. Besides, altruists did not ask for anything in return did they? It would have been hard to ask for a favor directly after having saved this woman. Instead, she’d have to go through the process of conversation, being friendly and nice, getting the Naer to say something like “I am eternally grateful for you saving my life. On my pride as a Naerikk warrior, I will nnot forget this debt I owe you” or something along those lines. Then Yana would have to wait for a couple trials, dozens, if not more, and then seek out the Naer once again, pretending to have come across the gadgets only recently. Too much of a hassle.

“Hmpf,” Yana shrugged, “keep thinking in stereotypes if you wish. For all I care, the whole of Idalos can keep doing so, it will only be beneficial for me in the long run.” After all, it allowed her to do unexpected things, like not dying when she was stabbed with a poisoned dagger. If people did not take deviations from the stereotypical or the norm in account, it would only serve Yana to survive for that much longer.

Either way, the Naer did seem to agree on going along with the Yludih’s proposal. Naerikk pride and all that. She did offer some backstory, though it was compressed in one single breath. Still, in context it provided enough information for Yana to gain some insight in the Naer’s situation. Exile, failed attempt at vindication, Yvithia’s mark, and assassins? One did not need a rich imagination to fit there pieces together. Nevertheless the mark was a shocking discovery. Yana had seen it on a couple of Eídisi, but never on a Naer. Did this mean this woman had earned the blessing of Yvithia? What had she done to deserve it? Yvithia was said to despise the Naerikk.

“It is not,” she admitted, “but I will not stop you from enlightening me if you so desire.” Though Yana suspected she had a pretty firm grasp on the Naer’s background already, she would not mind to hear the actual circumstances from the Naer herself. As long as she did not ramble on and on about it, that is. It would be greatly appreciated if she kept it brief and to the point, if she told her at all. The woman referred to the Iron Hand then, apparently either slow on the uptake, or a little too distracted by the fact she’d been almost killed to respond when Yana had introduced herself. “It is, indeed. City guard, yes,” she confirmed.

Surprisingly, the Naer’s reaction to the sword was one of … well, it was hard to tell. Awe, shock and confusion probably were pretty accurate guesses. She revealed it to be a rather important item, one with a lot of prestige. To be in the possession of one was an honor reserved for the upper echelons of the Naerikk, it seemed. So that Naer from in Treidhart was an important figure? She never would have guessed. Especially since she’d died so quickly. “I’ll help you,” she’d said with a cocky tone of voice, as if she were the best of the best, their only hope, “but you need to swear fealty to Augery.” And then she’d been easily dispatched of by Xiur’s beast. Doran and Yana had been able to deal with the Brux themselves. Yana’s opinion on Audrae’s army hadn’t been too high ever since. Sure, she was well aware they were formidable foes, but they were so easy to deceive it was almost a sick joke. It was quite ironic, really.

“I did not kill her. Her overconfidence in her abilities resulted in her underestimating the power of Xiur’s Avenger, and ended up being her demise. I merely looted her corpse when we dealt with Xiur’s minion.”

She hoped that would be enough to convince Linika that Yana was not an enemy of Audrae at all. Sure, she had been planning on killing the Naer, but since the Brux had done it for her, she was not to blame. In case she was not yet convinced, Yana added, “I am not aligned with any of the Immortals, nor do I oppose one in particular.” She frowned slightly. “Well, except maybe Xiur, but that would be a one-sided enmity from his side only.” Opposing him had been something of a coincidence though, and she hoped that Doran’s actions were more than enough to have caused the Immortal to focus on him and not her. Maybe he’d even forgotten, that would be preferable. “That said, I hold no love for any of them either. I am completely neutral,” she concluded, “I serve only myself and myself only.” She sighed, giving Linika a “will that do” kind of look. “As for the other items, I would gladly tell you all about them if I knew what they were.” There was a certain measure of sarcasm in her voice. “All I know is that one looks like a medallion of sorts, and the others like bracelets.”

The Naer seemingly agreed to help, though in exchange for knowing more about Yana. The Yludih worried. Was this a good idea? The comment of being more than she seemed to be had her mind questioning whether or not she should go to such lengths to know the purpose of the items. It was impossible that the Naer knew about her true race. Yana had made no mistakes. Then again, the woman did bear Yvithia’s mark. The Immortal could read minds, and if the mark bestowed some of her power onto mortals, then… but she’d have been found out immediately if that was the case. The Naer would have had no need to question her…. No, that was not right. There would have been no need for Yana to answer. Questions were meant to get her mind to focus on the subject of the question, which then could be read. An unfocused mind was impossible to collect the right information from, she imagined. This might pose a problem. Thinking was not something she could control. Then again, Yvithia already knew all about Yana. There would be no benefit for the Naer to leak the knowledge of her race to the city. And, if the Yludih played her cards right, she might be able to find out more about the mark.

“Sure, I will let you ask any question you have about me within the privacy of my own room. In exchange for you telling me the purpose, effects and usage of the items first.”

***

Yana’s room was nice and warm, a pleasant departure of Viden’s freezing temperatures. Yludih were not made for such extreme cold, but with some warm clothing, she could cope. Just as Linika had predicted, the guards had been easily persuaded by the Naer, not asking too many questions, let alone ones that were too difficult to answer. They’d been able to move on fairly quickly. Maybe it had helped that the guards had been human, and that Yana, looking like an Eídisi had been accompanying Linika. That and the mark of Yvithia, of course. All in all, things had gone rather smoothly.

The Yludih had swiftly taken the gadgets out of the closet she’d put them in, having placed them on a small table. There were six bracelets, one medallion, one scope, and of course the switching sword. She knew what the latter two did, but had placed them next to the other items just in case they had some other features she did not know about.

“So, what do you think?” she asked the Naer, her eagerness only subtly affecting her voice. She was so close. How long had it been since she’d come in the possession of these items? How many people had she approached with hopes of unraveling their mystery? The end of her quest of appraisal was in sight, and her asterism pulsed rapidly. “Do you know what these are?”

[Linika]

Linika eyed the objects rather blandly. After the initial shock of seeing the sword, the woman's own words painted the same picture that the naer was already seeing on her own. This was no great champion of some Immortal; just a mercenary, more like, in the right place at the right time to loot an elite soldier of her hard-earned trinkets.

In another time, and another place, she might have been contemptuous of such self-serving lack of devotion, and refused to extend any aid whatsoever, regardless of the implied life-debt. But too many people believed that the Naerikk lack of mercy and compassion went hand-in-hand with a lack of honor. And not only did honor demand a compensation for having had her life saved, she was not, in truth, feeling her usual measure of reverence for any of the Immortals right now herself.

The mention of "Xiur's Avenger", however, brought an ironic glint to her eye. It all added up so splendidly. She realized that the event this woman must have been involved with, and the presence of the Naer Swordmistress, all stemmed from her same warning to Augiery that had brought about every recent change in her own life, including the very attempt on it that now had her sitting with her savior, contemplating the betrayal of semi-secret Naerikk gadgetry.

She started to laugh, and not entirely in bitterness either; there was genuine mirth within. her gaze turned to the ceiling, and some unseen target, "Oh, you are loving this aren't you." she chuckled. Her gaze lowered to find the eidisi woman still awaiting some response. "I'm sorry, there is so much history to all this. But I can tell you some other time. Right now, you should know that the Queen of this city resides in my mind, so if that is a problem for you, we should perhaps discontinue this exchange. I myself have nothing to lose. It is up to you."

The woman gave no indication that this was a concern, so Likina shrugged and looked the items over. It tickled the back of her mind that an eidisi would have no hesitation to embrace anything Naerikk right here in the seat of Yvithia's power. Even going so far as to reject any claim of devotion. The scope caught her interest. She could think of no special capability it should possess. The only likely thing would be that it possessed some charm to see in darkness, which was what the medallion provided. But a Swordmistress would have sufficient blessing to have no need of it.

"So you know what the sword is. Well that's a sign of good sense that you did not harm yourself in the process of discovery. But I suppose you saw her use it, so you knew there was potential danger." She looked at the scope uncertainly, "I think this goes along with the medallion, which will cast a long, impenetrable darkness with good tug; enough to fill a large room, say 100 feet square. It can probably do this once a trial. I guess the scope allows you to see through it, but I'm not sure, because a Swordmistress should have long since been blessed with this ability anyway."

If the eidisi did not stop her, Linika would pick the scope up, genuinely curious if it did have any additional capability. She would be sure to look around and see that the woman before her was a Yludih. If this happened, Linika would not have any real issue, feeling that this explained the woman's mercenary attitude as well as equalizing their position of knowing each other's secrets, her own being the mark of Xypha. If the "eidisi" did stop her, Linika would retain some strong curiosity about her.

In either event, she would move on to the bracelets, "The bracelets are essentially an easy-in-and-out, personal infiltration and escape set. Here, this first one? Is for cutting holes in windows to reach locks. You stretch it and then apply it to a pane of glass. Stretching it makes it leak a special acid to its surface that will dissolve glass. The acid won't burn skin right away, but you don't want to let it dry on you. Bring a rag or something with you. The ring will shrink back down to normal size after a bit. I think you can get two such uses from it before the acid is spent and you'd need a new injection."

She focused now on two others that each had a chain-like series of 6 stout links, and a third that had two decorative buckles with straps on opposite sides. "This one is the central gear, and these two with the chain things are the lines. You buckle down any of those chain links and hook the ring onto anything you think will hold your weight, and you can jump from three stories up to land safely. The gear slows the release of the line enough that you won't do any worse than maybe sting your feet a little. The gear has two buckles so you can strap down both line rings if you need to fall further."

Her look sagged a bit with bad news, "I'm afraid they don't work in reverse. I mean you can't toss them up to catch on something and expect them to drop down and pull you up. Either you get in with some sort of act, or I suppose you could pull the line out manually and hope to throw it like a grappling hook. You'd still have to climb though. It's really, really thin line, hard to climb, but very strong. Kidnapper silk, I believe. Also I'm afraid I don't know how you get the ring unhooked from above once you reach the ground. Probably some slack and a trick flick of the wrist to get to come off. I'd practice that move."

before she picked up the last two, she wiped her hands to make sure they were dry. "You don't want to get these wet before you use them, but it looks like the wrap is still on them. These are just bindings for anyone you need to keep tied up. Or they can sort of unroll into a thin sheet to use as a gag, or even smother someone. They are made of the "Climbing Binder" vine, which is nice and stretchy and flexible until you soak them with salt water, then they shrink and harden like iron."

She examined them a little more closely, pointing out the glossy finish and a pearl-like decoration adorning them. "Right now, they have the glossy husk wrap on them, but you can tear that off to expose the vine beneath. This little pearl here, is actually just a dose of the vine's sap. It will soften the binding when you want to take it off...IF you want to take it off."

A shrug embellished her final details, "You may think salt water is a little inconvenient, but you'll be glad of it if you get caught in some rain. It doesn't have to be actual sea water. Just regular fresh water with some salt mixed in will work fine. Now, as for replacements of stuff that gets used up...I'm afraid I can't help you there. I suspect the Swordmistress had some connections to restock this stuff, but I don't know who or where they are. I would expect there are alchemists here and there with friendly ties to Augiery. Is there anything else?"

[Yanahalqah]

For a moment it seemed that Linika would refuse to reveal the secrets of the items after all. She stood there eyeing the objects, but she did not touch them, nor did she appear to be seeing them at all. Yana thought that she might be weighing her options, wrestling with her pride maybe? After all, the woman still was a Naer, even if she was marked by Yvithia. Even though she was an exile, she probably still considered herself to be part of the collective Naerikk, and was unwilling to freely reveal secrets to strangers. The Yludih could understand that completely, but was not too pleased thinking about the finish-line to be blocked off at the last possible moment. She’d gotten her hopes up now, and to crush those into dust… it was a cruel thing really. One of the reasons she had not cared that Doran had decided to try and send Xiur into Vri’s embrace. She might have even approved of it, secretly.

The Naer chuckled then, speaking to herself, apparently, and then making apologies for her mind dwelling on the history of these items. Yana did not mind, it meant the Naer had not backed out of the deal. To learn that Yvithia could be watching though… that was concerning. Or would have been, if she’d been in the city for other reasons than work.
“I have undergone an interview with Yvithia herself when I began my stay here. I am positive she knows everything about me already.” She finished it with a casual shrug. She too had nothing to lose.

Yana then listened closely as the woman began explaining the tools, starting with the medallion and the scope. Both could come in handy, it seemed, though they were very situational. She wondered if the other items were the same. She’d thought the scope useless at first, seeing as it did not enlarge like a spyglass would. Of course, Yana had never used it in the dark, nor had she looked at people with it, only at some objects in her room. Because of this, she was blissfully unaware of what Linika was seeing through the scope.
“So it just lets you see in the dark?” she muttered to herself, feeling quite disappointed, if she was being honest. Then again, she had been far more disappointed when she had learned the scope was not a spyglass.

The bracelets themselves were a whole different story, with each one seemingly having a different purpose and use. Unfortunately, these too seemed to be very situational, and with the exception of the ones used for climbing, couldn’t be used more than a couple times before they were spent. A bummer. The saltwater bracelets were kind of neat, though to bind people she preferred thumb-cuffs, which were just as small, and did not need to be soaked to work. However, she could imagine a couple other uses for the bracelet which a thumb-cuff just wasn’t made for.

She nodded thoughtfully, pondering the usefulness of these items. Naturally, the sword was a great addition to her arsenal, and the medallion could come in handy if she needed to make an escape. However, she would need the scope to actually see something, and darkness wasn’t guaranteed to impede Naerikk.
“You think the medallion can be used outside as well?” she asked, feeling that it would be a whole lot more useful if it could. She had a feeling that it wouldn’t though, suspecting the darkness might just seep away since it was not confined. It was a strange notion to think of the darkness as a liquid, and it made no sense at all, but that was just how she thought of it. Besides, this was a magic medallion, those things never made any sense.

“Otherwise, no further questions,” she stated. “Now then. I am prepared to keep my end of the bargain.” Truth to be told, she had worded her agreement in such a way that it gave her a loophole to not actually answer the Naer’s questions, but well, Yana doubted the woman would spread any information she gained to the citizens of Viden. Linika had seemed very distrustful and hateful of them, after all. Her sarcasm from before had been a good indicator of that. “Ask any questions you may have.”

[Linika]

It was time to find out several truths. It had occurred to Linika that the glowing, crystalline nature of the figure before her did not absolutely imply Yludih heritage. In truth, Linika had never seen a Yludih in their natural form, but there were stories aplenty.

It was possible that this scope revealed divine empowerment. Yet the woman's claim of her generally mercenary lifestyle did not gibe with that. It was true that Audrae would encourage a 'favored' individual to deny their blessing or worship. But that was largely in part with her domain of 'Deception'. It was as unlikely that this 'eidisi' was that distant from Yvithia as it was that Linika would normally be distant from Audrae. Still it was possible.

Her own situation gave credence the fact that it was possible. But the odds, the sheer unlikelihood of two such contradictorily aligned members of races so nearly puritanical in their devotion to their respective matrons...It was beyond the realm of reason.

Perhaps the scope could be a device designed to expose mages. But no magic had been used in the fight with the three assassins that she could recall. A spirit? That did not feel right. An Immortal, or mortalborn? The latter was far more likely than the former. Still, it did not sit right that this device should expose a bright, crystal of a humanoid for any presence of divine blood. 'Is there an Immortal of crystal?' she thought for a moment.

'Or perhaps this is all a charade.' the naer considered silently. 'We've got a woman who is likely a Yludih, yet she possesses the gear attributed to a Naerikk Swordmistress. She goes in the guise of an eidisi, yet shows no inclination to have any particular regard for Yvithia. Could she be an infiltrator? Testing her own disguise on a true naer to see if it holds up under scrutiny?'

Linika had not been in the fight in Oscillus, so she knew nothing of the fight between the two traitors and the Brux Avenger. Also, it was infuriating that she'd already told her what the items all did, so she could not trip her up with misinformation. Except for the scope itself...And that was the only item of them all that would legitimately be unknown to the average naer. So this 'eidisi' asking about it did not expose anything contradictory.

The scope was a huge item to Linika. She craved it now. Something that could expose Yludih...She caught herself with the reminder that she did not know positively that this was what it did. But even she did not really believe in the slim chance otherwise. Everything hinted at it...supported it...proved it! She had to have it! Such an item would make her indispensable to spy-and-counter-spy efforts everywhere! The rest of that gear she could get from a few loyal merchants who would not be informed of her apparently altered standing with Augiery.

And getting that scope might just be the thing to bring her back to her mother's fold...

She stood and walked around the table where the items rested. She could simply offer to buy the thing. The woman had clearly been disappointed in some aspect of it. 'Obviously she's never looked at herself with it. Why should she, really? Never looked in the...mirror? Does a reflection in a mirror work?'

Casually picking the scope up again, she shrugged, "Well we can see right now if it is for seeing in the dark." she offered as if it was out of boredom. "You can activate the medallion, and then you can look around with it." To build a bit more trust she moved close, but away from the mirror, just in case the Yludih would be exposed. Then she handed the scope back to her. She was confident that there would be no effective "Dark Vision" granted.

Then, with yet another disappointment, the woman may be willing to give it up cheap. She'd tell her she knew someone who collected such things and she could get a fool's price for it. In all honesty, the thing really wouldn't do a Yludih any good. Rumor said they could tell each other apart anyway. But it stood to reason that if she was a Yludih, she would probably not want it falling into enemy hands.

But were they enemies? It did not have to be so. Time would tell soon. And she still had her questions...

[Yanahalqah]

There was a ridiculously easy way to test whether or not the scope was for granting dark vision or not; using it in a dark place. Linika suggested it quite casually, but there was a hungry glint in her eye that raised Yana’s suspicions. It was only there for a moment, disappearing just as quickly as it had appeared, to the point where Yana wasn’t too sure whether she had imagined it or not. She remembered the hesitation the Naer had displayed before talking about the items. Was she planning on using the dark to take the items stealthily, and then flee? It seemed unlikely, especially since she’d given Yana the scope, which supposedly let her see in the dark. A sign of trust perhaps? To show that she was not up to anything funny? It could be a front, something to trick the Yludih in trusting her, only for the scope not to work.

However, absolute darkness would be a hindrance to the Naer too, right? Not necessarily. Linika had said something about the scope being redundant, since the Naerikk were granted with darvision anyway. An ability probably bestowed upon them by Audrae. It was hard to think of this Naer as someone in Audrae’s favor though. She had Yvithia’s mark on her face after all. Then again, she hadn’t sounded too thrilled with it though. Instead, the remark of Yvithia residing in her mind had been of frustration and defeat, reluctant acceptance even. Something among those lines for sure, if anything, she hadn’t sounded as if she was proud of it. Then, her alliance was still with Audrae and Augery? The condition that Yana needed to prove she was not the enemy of either seemed to reinforce this. Yet, Augery had sent their assassins after Linika. Did that not mean that Audrae did not see Linika as one of her loyal servants anymore? This was a complicated matter.

Maybe the Naer had merely fallen from grace, an event orchestrated by Yvithia? It seemed farfetched, but at least the Videnese God-Queen was more than devious and intelligent enough to stage such deception. An Immortal worthy of praise for sure, of worship even, but she had left a bad taste in Yana’s mouth after the war in Treidhart. Mortals wanted to worship deities that seemed to care about them, after all, and the “good” Immortals had displayed no such things. They had yapped on and on and on about the peace they wanted, the threat Aelig, Lisarra and Syroa posed, as well as the destruction they would bring upon the mortals. However, they had had no qualms of using their “beloved and treasured” mortals as a gullible army of fools to throw at the forces of the three opposing Immortals. And guess what? Those forces had not been composed of followers and zealots, but of creatures brought to life by the power of these Immortals. Yana personally believed that the “good” Immortals had been spinning the yarn over the eyes of their Champions, pointing the finger and calling others evil. Maybe the trio had had other motivations.

It all reinforced the notion that Yvithia might as well have been scheming something elaborate to get her hands on one of Audrae’s puppets. Yana was not one hundred percent convinced, of course, but the possibility was there. Why did it matter? To guess at Linika’s intentions, of course. To know where her loyalties lied was to know how she perceived the world. If she was Naerikk to the core, desperately holding on to the core believes and values of Augery’s society even though she was an outcast, there were certain things she was likely to do. One was to return to Audrae’s good graces. Yana was not a devotee herself, so she was not sure to what lengths anyone would go to achieve such a goal, but she could imagine that keeping special items out the hands of non-Naerikk was a fairly good start. Another would be to keep the secrets secret. Maybe divulging information of some less important items, but not spilling the beans when it came to more important ones. The only item the Naer had been very vague about was the scope, and even just now she had been handling it with an almost deliberate casualness. Yana was no fool. She was an excellent liar from a whole race of liars. Of course she could be fooled, but it would take more than the act this Naer was performing. She was not naïve; it wasn’t because she had opted for -relative- honesty that she had believed the Naer would do the same. True, they had their pride, but if put in the balance, what would weigh heavier? The debt to the person who saved their life, or their loyalty to their city and Deity? Yana did not fool herself by assuming it was the former. Linika was an unknown variable she was to be wary of. End of story.

Still though, why not test the scope out? A quick confirmation of its effect, or lack thereof wouldn’t hurt. She would not use the medallion though. That would be too stupid. Not only because Linika had suggested it, but because the Naer had not revealed how long the darkness cast by the medallion would last, and thus Yana was not in the know. She could darken her room sufficiently by shutting the blinds and closing the curtains though. If necessary she could even squeeze herself in the tall wardrobe and shut the doors. It would be dark enough in there for sure.

And so it was done, at least the first part. With the curtains closed, the room was cloaked in a veil of darkness that still allowed them to see basic shapes and outlines. More than enough to determine whether or not the scope could see through it. Yana brought the item to her one functional eye and peered through it, only for her sight to be met by the same darkness as before. It did not work. This scope was not meant for use in the dark. The Yludih placed it back on the table, and illuminated the room once more, not making any comment on what she had or hadn’t seen until that task was done.

“It does not work,” she said, with a slight frown on her face, and a trace of disappointment in her voice she did not need to act. Her void eye was focused on Linika’s face, gauging for a reaction and what that would tell Yana of her intentions. “Are you sure that is what it is supposed to do?”

Suspicions had already formed, of course. If a swordmistress could see in the dark, then why give them a scope to do the same? Let alone one that did not even do what it was supposed to do? It made no sense. It was no spyglass, and it was no darkvision-granting item. Both would have been useful, but only the former made sense for a swordmistress to have. However, the scope was neither. Obviously, they would not provide useless items to those distinguished warriors, now would they? Thus, one could conclude that the scope had a hidden function, one that Yana had yet to figure out. One that Linika either did not know about, or one she was pretending she did not know about. Either way, there was something up with that thing, and Yana was going to find out what it was sooner or later.

[Linika]

The naer shrugged as if it was of little surprise that the scope did not appear to work. "I said I guessed it went with the medallion. I did not say I was sure." The very fact that this Yludih was asking about these items made it likely that she did not know anything about the natural abilities of the naerikk race. The gaze she was now directing to her guest strongly suggested suspicion. This was nothing new to Linika. She had a daily diet of that here in Viden. Perhaps she could set the woman off-guard with a show of willingness, or even feigned gullibility, to reveal a racial secret or two.

"Look, it may not be for dark vision at all. That scope is not a normal component of a Swordmistress' gear. And anyway, Naerikk see in the dark without them, However, this does not extend to magically, or divinely, created darkness. Again, if you used the medallion, that would be a better test. Plus which, this level of darkness is hardly blinding. It may not even be enough to trigger the thing." She motioned dismissively to the moderate darkness achieved by pulling the blinds.

It was a tremendous nuisance that they had been seen together earlier. Of course, it was a benefit as well, in that neither of them could afford to outright murder the other without being the prime suspect. "Maybe it's just an heirloom of the Swordmistress' family and has no particular ability. A favorite toy that the woman grew up with and takes some sort of comfort in keeping with her. If you were to come back to my unit, I could show you a pillow I have had since I was a child...Stained and sewn up in several places, but I don't know...I've just never been able to leave it behind."

It was a lie, of course, but one that would require the familiar ground of her own unit, with its known hiding places, to expose. And of course, she'd go on to "correct" herself and recall that she'd taken it to work or something. This "Saeri" had displayed little knowledge of Naerikk abilities, and this was giving her another idea. It was possible she knew nothing of the "Gift of Shadow", the naerikk shadow-essence stun blast. She would not be able to approach her victim after inflicting it without the affect backlashing on her; it was an escape technique only.

But if the woman did not know of it, Linika knew she could feign being affected by it as well, blame it on some magic affect inflicted by some mutual enemy that had been hidden, hide the scope, and claim it had been stolen by this unseen foe while they were both dazed and debilitated. But she needed to have the scope back in hand before she unleashed it.

She made an effort to keep the conniving grin from her face as she held out her hand, "Here, let me see it again. I have an idea. I may be able to perform some process at work to reveal if it is magical in nature." Now to set the bait. If Saeri gave her the scope back, Linika would turn a sudden alarmed look towards the door, asking her host if she'd heard something, then unleash the Gift upon her.

[Yanahalqah]

The Naer shrugged, once again stating she was not sure what the scope was supposed to do. Yana could not ignore the feeling of being deceived however, knowing fully well that no liar would admit to lying unless confronted with evidence. Making wild accusations was pointless. For all Yana knew the Naer could have been telling the truth all along. Maybe the Yludih was just not trusting enough. The latter was indeed true, but all paranoia aside, the Naer could still be lying. Or at least withholding information. Yana did not really blame her for it; she would have too.

It only was problematic. It seemed that whatever else the Naer had told her was true, but that did not make her any more trustworthy. It could be a trick to get Yana to believe Linika was completely willing to tell her everything she knew, only to give her false information about something important. Not an uncommon trick, really.

To call the scope a comfort item was a bridge too far though. If Yana knew anything about the Naerikk, it was that they were a prideful bunch. There was no way that they would admit to having a comfort item with them. Was that not an embarrassing confession that revealed weakness? Besides, if they were so battle-hardened and trusted soldiers, why would they need such things in the first place. No, no, no. Yana was not buying this at all. That scope had some sort of hidden properties, and now her suspicion that Linika was intentionally not saying anything about those abilities. She had an agenda of her own and was trying to make excuses, hoping to convince Yana that the scope was simply a toy. Or that it did not work in natural darkness. Magical darkness, yes, but natural darkness? No, that was impossible. Of course, ‘cus that did make sense! Ah, but wait, maybe it was just a comfort item, you know? Because the big, bad, tough swordmistress misses her mommy and couldn’t handle being alone for two bits without having her scope with her. Sure, yeah, whatever you say.

No, there had to be something to this scope. If Yana had made this, she would have infused it with an ability to see through walls or something, but the scope couldn’t do that either. It could not see in the dark, it did not enhance vision like a spyglass, it did not allow sight through walls, … what could it do? Thinking that the Naerikk was not lying about this was a ridiculous notion. Accepting it was a comfort object was just laughable. Yana could not accept it. That was too much of an anticlimax. She had not gone through all that trouble just to find out that the scope was a goddamn toy! There was no reason for a swordmistress to carry toys around, there was no way they needed comforting. There simply had to be some secrets to this item. Maybe it had hidden mechanisms built in that prevented outsiders –the enemy, non-Naerikk—from using it. Like… a phrase in the Naerikk language –what’s it called—Grovokian? All hail Audrae, greatest of Immortals, or something. Maybe they had to trace a pattern across the surface of the scope, drawing a rune or a symbol with their fingers. Something like that, anything!

In the end, Linika said that she could check for magical properties, perhaps having felt Yana’s skepticism. Of course, the Naer was not going back on her previous guesses of the scope’s function. She had never said that what she had said was true after all. Linika was at a loss too, or so she wanted Yana to believe. The Yludih was onto her. She was sure that when given the scope, the Naer would claim not to have found any indication of a magical nature, and that the scope had, in fact, no special abilities whatsoever. Just to prove herself right, Yana handed the scope over.

“Well then,” she said, “let us go immediately.” The Yludih had no intention of letting the Naer alone with the scope. If the “process” Linika was speaking about was indeed legit, good, no problems. But if it wasn’t, if she was looking for an opportunity to switch it out for a fake… Yana would be present while the Naer did her thing, she decided.

No sooner had she handed over the item, than the Naer said something in an alarmed tone of voice about hearing something outside, presumably. Yana had heard nothing, of course, but decided to play along, turning her head in the same direction as the Naer’s, the beginning of a sentence leaving her mouth.

And then… nothing. Quite literally. Nothing.

Yana could not see a thing. She was plunged in a never-ending darkness, robbing her of her sight. The distinct sound of complete silence filled her ears, and the lack of drifting scents stood in stark contrast to the otherwise barely noticed abundance of them. She could not feel her body. Her arms, her legs, her head, nothing. It was as if all of a sudden her soul had been ripped from her body, and cast out into the dark. Was this… death? Had Linika made use of her distraction to clobber her over the head? Impossible. With what? Surely Yludih were not so easily knocked out, let alone killed. She had not felt a thing. Besides, she was still thinking. She thought, therefore she still existed. Then what was going on?

The void then? Nulliem?! Had it caught up with her? Had her body and mind succumbed to the negative influence, transforming her? Was that possible while she was still in the waking world? Maybe. But then, wouldn’t she be completely gone? Her personality and mind eroded?

…

Maybe that had happened. Maybe she was now only a fragment of her soul, trapped inside a Nulliem. Seeing only flashes every now and then. Unable to exercise control over her body, or her actions. Unable to use the senses of the being. However, would it not be crueler to allow some idea of what was going on though? Allowing the fragment of former self to see, hear, and feel what was going on, but unable to stop it? The sick mind that had placed the Nulliem in Uleuda surely would have thought among the same lines?

Or. Or maybe this was not the afterlife, maybe this was not a far-off corner in the mind of a Nulliem. This could be the work of an enemy stand. An enemy attack she knew nothing about. An ability granted by the Immortals? Something to incapacitate a target. After all, Yana was very much incapacitated. She was blind, deaf, and had lost all control over her body. Heck, she could not feel it at all. She did not know if she was standing, sitting, laying down, or even breathing. She felt no pain, she was not sure if her body was moving her arms and fingers when she tried. It was difficult to try too, moving was a strange thing after all, you did not really think about it. You just did. But did she just do now? Or didn’t she do? Was she silent? Or was she screaming? Maybe she was producing a shrill sound from her mouth, like glass scraping over glass. She hoped she was. Maybe it would be a sound that cut through bone, inducing headaches and goosebumps, and shivers running down the spine. Yana knew that if she was, she did not stop. She did not need to breathe anyway, so in essence she could keep it up forever. That is, if she was indeed screaming. She did not know. Maybe she was trashing around. Maybe she had even hit her attacker in the process, hopefully even injuring them.

And then it was over. Suddenly. After what had felt like a long time, but had probably been no longer than a couple trills. Suddenly all sensory information rushed back into her head, giving her back what she had lost. It was as disorienting as the lack of them had been. Yana noticed first that her body hurt. She was laying on the ground, and had probably hit her head, if the stabs of pain were any indication. Her mouth felt dry, her eyes were watery. She snorted the beginnings of a runny nose back up. Her body trembled, asterism pulsing way too fast. Her breaths came out ragged and rapid, if she had had lungs, she would have probably passed out as a result of hyperventilation. She slowly got back to her knees, then her feet, feeling weak and sluggish. And yet, her body was on high alert, flight or fight reaction activated and primed.

She remembered the more important things then; the scope, the alarmed look on Linika’s face… Linika! Her eye searched for the other woman frantically, finding her quickly. She was here still. Of course, she was. If she did not want to be the prime suspect of the anomaly Yana had experienced, it would be a bad idea to run. Then again, if Linika was the culprit, which seemed at least plausible, this whole thing was a bad idea. But for now, Yana would play along. She carefully studied the Naer’s appearance, comparing it to how she herself felt after experiencing the attack, or ability, or whatever that was. She did not doubt that the Naer would be trying to deceive her, if she was responsible for this. The Yludih also noted the absence of the scope. Really now? A quick glance told her the rest of the items were still there. Yana had the sword still on her as well. Why would a scope with no abilities suddenly disappear, but the magical medallion and the switching sword would be left behind? How odd.

“What... the hell… was that?” Yana managed, having calmed down enough to attempt to speak. “And where is the scope? What happened?” Truly, she did not really have to act her confusion, for the most part.

[Linika]

The scope was in her hands again!

It was almost too hard to believe. Plainly the woman... 'Were yludih even any actual gender?' ...didn't trust her. Linika could hardly blame her, and took pride in the feeling that she had truly managed to work the situation this effectively.

But it was time to create the next element. She twitched just slightly and turned her head; first toward the door, then back at Saeri, her eyes wide and intense. "Did you hear that?" she hissed quietly. Just the choice of the word "that", rather than "something", was an important element, as it made it more immediate of a concern. By using it, she was leaving no apparent doubt that she had heard something, rather than leaving an element of doubt that there had been a sound at all.

It lent more legitimacy to her instant move to the spot behind where the door would open; enough to be out of backlash range of her "Gift of Shadow". Her immediate display of the brief tension required to expel her shadow essence at her target was also able to be assumed to be a defensive brace for a possible attack.

But that attack was now flung upon Saeri. The effect was satisfyingly instantaneous. The yludih/eidisi swooned and collapsed. Linika did take interest in noting that the creature did not revert to some other form with this loss of senses. It was a good thing to know. It marked an impressive level of shift control.

The naer knew that her victim would have no senses to detect the opening and closing of the door, which fortunately, had not been locked behind them. Linika was glad she did not have to try to find a hiding place within the unit itself. That would have been tremendously problematic. There would be no creaking of the door, or sounds of outside ambiance heard; no subtle differences in the smell of the outside air to be detected, no sudden draft to feel upon the skin. No increase in ambient light tweaking the eyes.

But there was no time to delay either. It was important to remove herself, to prevent her shadow essence from returning too swiftly. But it also grew increasingly debilitating to keep her essence away from herself. The power was only ever used as a quick escape from an immediate threat.

She hurried outside, looking around to find a spot where she could stash the scope, and return later to recover it. Naturally, her eyes scanned everything nearby, always watching for surveillance. The possibility that Yvithia or her minions could somehow sense the use of this ability was not to be dismissed either. The thing was, she actually wanted to be stricken by weakness, to add credibility to her charade.

The backlash of the Gift had to be timed correctly. She needed to stretch out the duration of the effect, until she could not bear being separated from her own shadow essence any longer. That way, both she and her victim would both be truly just "recovering" from the incident. She would not have to fake it. She would be weak for several trials afterwards as well, all part of the act.

Seeing no one observing her, she took the time to walk a couple of blocks away, the strain of such separation already telling on her. There was no way she endure the time or separation to go all the way to her own unit, but she saw one unit with a wooden porch with plenty of space beneath it.

She marked the unit number and went as if to sit from some long walk; in truth, the lack of her essence making her exhausted slump believable. She bent over with the fatigue and slipped the scope in and behind the left riser at ground level, making an effort to get no dirt on her hands. She had no doubt Saeri would demand a pat-down and examination. The soil on her shoes would be passed off as having simply occurred on the initial walk over. As well, she would inflict a full ration of anti-naerikk accusations as the motivation for the yludih's predictably bad attitude.

Returning, she literally stumbled through Saeri's door, exhausted. Her shadow essence sprang back to her, doing little, after such extended separation, to ease her affliction. Confidence of success notwithstanding, Linika felt like she'd been run over by a wagon.

[Yanahalqah]

Yana was not happy at all. Not only had she been outwitted –a feat that had only been possible due to her ignorance of what she thought might be supernatural Naerikk abilities—but in the process she had also lost the scope. To make matters worse, she had a headache, her body was a trembling mess, and she was sweating as if she’d gone through three breaks of non-stop drill. The latter two were not side effects of collapsing on the ground, no, but from her mind working against her. All that, and Linika was still here, still pretending to be not deceiving the Yludih. Did she really think Yana was not onto her? Did she really think Yana was that naïve? There was something to be said about being underestimated, which she usually encouraged because it gave her an advantage. Now however, she found it to be infuriating. And yet, despite fuming on the inside, she kept her voice neutral and her expression blank. She’d play this game. She’d get her scope back.

Still, Yana knew well enough that she could not play the part of a naïve fool without raising the Naer’s suspicions. The woman was not stupid herself, she probably was aware that Yana was not trusting her at all. Yana would have to cater to that fact in order for her act not to be discovered. It was real backwards logic. Pretend to be suspicious as to divert the attention from being suspicious, it made so little sense that it actually did make sense, somehow. So when she laid eyes on Linika, who looked rather worse for the wear, Yana did fire of the questions of what had happened, and where the scope was, but then stormed to the door. She ran a couple steps outside, furiously looking around, as if she thought that maybe, just maybe, the imaginary attacker was still around somewhere. In fact, they were. They were in her room, after all. Yana cursed under her breath, then walked back inside, a scowl on her face.

Her eyes fixed on Linika then, studying her for a couple moments. She wasn’t looking too good, really, but Yana did not doubt it was an act. Another trick. Something to cast doubt in the Yludih’s mind, to cloud her judgement. It did not work. It was too convenient that someone had attacked with an ability that cut off all sensory input, the moment Yana had handed over the scope. Sure, it did paint Linika as the culprit, but maybe that was what she had been aiming for. Reverse psychology. No criminal would do anything that would make other’s suspicious of them, right?

“I will frisk you,” Yana stated, not even asking whether or not that was acceptable. “Stand still, put your feet a shoulderlength apart, raise your arms to the side.” She then quickly searched the woman for hidden objects, quickly and professionally, but could not find the scope. Yana could almost feel the Naer smirk at her. For a brief moment she considered asking her to take her pants off, to make sure she had not hidden the scope in her nether region –as she had seen a female smuggler try once—but then dismissed the possibility. There wouldn’t have been enough time for Linika to do that, she thought. After all, Yana had only been out for… how long had she been out anyway? Trills? Bits? Half a break? Longer? She couldn’t tell. She had no idea. Surely not a break had passed, judging by the light outside, and the shadows cast, which hadn’t changed a whole lot from before she’d passed out. Less than a break was still a long time though. Yana leaned heavily on the table, both hands balled into tight fists.

There were many things one could do in a break. Many places to go and hide. Who knew where the woman had been in that time. For all Yana knew she could have hidden it in her own room somewhere, then returned here. She made a “tsk” sound at the different possibilities. She’d been played like a fiddle, hadn’t she? Well then, it was only fair to return the favor. Yana had no idea where Linika lived, though she was certain that the citizens of Viden would know. There weren’t a lot of Naerikk in the city after all. It was possible that a whole lot of people knew exactly who she was, where she worked and where she lived. Finding her again wouldn’t be a problem. The problem was that Linika probably was aware of this too. She might have hidden the scope somewhere else.

Would the Naer go straight to the hiding place, or would she go home for the trial and return later? Yana would do the latter. What the Naer would do probably depended on whether or not she felt confident in her victory. If she felt that Yana had given up, or believed it had indeed been someone else that had stolen the scope, would she go pick it up first? There was a slight chance. There was a far greater chance she would just go home, lay low, and wait a couple trials. Though Yana had patience in abundance, she could not tail the Naer for trails on end. She had work to do here, people were expecting her to show up. However, if she followed the Naer only for the rest of the trail… maybe she’d take her to the scope. Or maybe she’d go home. But still, then Yana had gained some intelligence at least. There was no doubt that the scope would, at one point or another, be taken to Linika’s room. Then it was only a question of getting in –break down the door, smash a window—and finding the item. And if Linika carried it with her at all times, well, all she had to do was beat her down and take it. It was not a good plan by any means, but it was the best she had, for now.

[Linika]

Saeri's angry demands were entirely predictable, and Linika had her theatrical response well prepared. A brief look of surprise and confusion, followed by a sulking anger with overtones of resignation while she muttered something about "...distrust...naerikk....typical..." She spared herself no dignity in making it clear her enemy was free to search in whatever extreme she felt was necessary, spreading her legs accommodatingly.

Saeri chose not to take her up on it though. Linika briefly considered making some additional caustic remarks questioning her 'hesitation to bring full humiliation upon her', and that how 'as a naer she surely deserved it', but decided her triumph was enough.

There was no question what sorts of thoughts were going through the yludih's mind. The fluctuating expressions on her face only served to let Linika know what order they came in: suspicion, embarrassment, anger, recap of events, suspicion again, frustration, calculation, assessment, plotting, frustration again, anger again, resignation, reconsideration, second-guessing...On and on it went as Linika stood there, arms up, expression mostly blank, but with a hint of vindication.

"May I put my arms back down then? What would you have me say? How do I prove my own condition? If I fail to run a mile from the after-effects of whatever this attack was, you'd only say I was sandbagging. Whoever did this left the rest of the stuff, and we never did find any useful ability in the scope. Someone who knows better, now has possession of it. And I'll tell you what, in my old culture that was how things were supposed to be."

A sweep of her hand encompassed the rest of the Swordmistress' gear, "You still have all those, and they are quite useful. You should consider yourself lucky. I know that I do!" Linika made an effort not to smirk at some of those comments. They were hidden barbs disguised as innocent truths. She qualified her remark nonetheless, "I mean we could both be dead." The looks they gave each other definitely supported this.

A shrug was her final statement on the events, as she turned toward the door. There was no way she was going to get the scope this trial. Probably not the next either. And when she did, she would be watching for anyone nearby. knowing Seari was a yludih gave her to realize that any person watching, regardless of race, or probably gender, could be her.

And once she got it, there was no way she'd be taking it to her own unit. She had no doubt the woman would find where she lived in very short order. No, she would take it to the Veridin Wing and secure it in her locker, or even one the medicine cabinets. Academy security would not some stranger ransack the private lockers.

At the last, she turned back to depart with a sneer, "Oh yes...questions...I'll tell you what, forget it. I already know everything I need to know about you."

Unless Saeri flat out attacked her, she would leave, content to let her stew on that...